These fellows waited 4 hours to save us a place in line at immigration.
The phone rang at 6:30 am asking us to wake up and sign the immigration papers by 7:00 am. Half asleep we did as we were told. Then about 10:20 another driver picked us up we started the drive to downtown Manila to get fingerprinted and photographed for our missionary visa. When we arrived around noon, we discovered that the fellow who had the signed papers plus another fellow from the Church travel office had arrived at immigration around 8:30 am to get us a number for a place in line. So our wait was only 30 minutes instead of 4 hours. So in the end it took 3 support people about 6 hours to apply for our permanent VISA.
The traffic in Manila is the worse traffic I've ever been in. It's a mixture of cars, motorcycles, tricycles and Jeepnees (colorful buses) all fighting for the same space. at the same time. There is a semi-circle highway looping Manila that is called "The longest parking lot in the world." The trip downtown from our Hotel was 6.8 miles each way and the total round trip including the immigration took 5.5 hours. As we crossed the infamous McArthur bridge, the water underneath was grossly polluted and yet people still live along the river and use the water.
There was time to stop by the infamous Manilla Hotel for a quick peak inside. We asked to see the MacArthur penthouse, MacArthur's office during WWII but it was rented out.
Because we were dependent on drivers and traffic is so slow, we were only able to see the Manila Hotel and LDS Temple.
