Manila

Thursday.  As quiet as this afternoon is, yesterday afternoon and evening were full of activities.  We arrived in Manila to local musicians and dancers who met us on the pier with signs to invite to “Have fun in Manila”.  We spent the afternoon touring the city.  One thing Manila has in common with every other major city is TRAFFIC.  But they also have Jeepneys.  Let’s see if we can explain this.  WWII brought a new form of transportation—the Jeep.  The war ended and many Jeeps remained behind.  Only problem was their small capacity of 2-3 people.  So the ingenious locals stretched the chassis, decorated the heck out of them, put long bench seats on each side and created the bus.  Sue is hoping we can buy one for our next vehicle—preferably to use to go down to get the mail, but they are long for that and for our garage.

Our first stop was the American War Memorial Cemetery.  The largest outside of the US.  It is quite moving with its white marble crosses stretched across the hillsides surrounding a chapel and memorial showing the names of those who gave their lives and showing the history of various battles.  Each state has it’s seal in the floor of the circular granite memorial and the marbled walls are covered with the thousands of names, including those of the locals who also died in fighting the Japanese.  The Japanese came to the Philippines to apologize for the ravages of the war.  Now the people of the Philippines look to both the US and the Japanese as partners in commerce and support and credit them with helping to advance the growth of the country.

Factoid:  The Philippines is an archipelago of more than 7100 islands.

Stop two, the Convento de San Augustin.  It is the oldest church in the Philippines, founded in it’s Spanish colonial days (1587-1606), this UNESCO site remains unchanged and survived the bombings during the war.  It houses an incredible collection of religious artifacts, many carved in ivory, and we wove our way though the halls to the upper balcony to be awed by the sanctuary below.  We have seen a lot of churches all around the world, but for some reason this one seems to stand out for us.  

Back to the center of town to drive down Ayala street.  It is a bastion of American fast food restaurants and other shops.  However places like McDonalds and Burger King are customized to reflect local tastes and are you ready:  serve fried chicken with rice AND spaghetti!!  Who would have guessed.

Fort Santiago was constructed by the Spanish to watch over the entrance to the Pasig river. We roamed around, saw the golf course which used to be the moat surrounding this ancient fort.  Eighteen holes played in a circle takes 4-6 hours to play and has lights for night play.  You better hit your shots straight since the fairways are VERY narrow.  This is the only public course in town.

Back to the ship for dinner and off again to Fort Santiago for a night time Barrio Fiesta.  Local entertainers shared the music and dances of the Spanish influenced north and the expressive tribal dances of the Muslim south.  The music was on bamboo styled instruments and the dancers were colorful.  The evening was capped off by FIREWORKS just for us.  They were quite well done and since fireworks are one Sue’s favorite things we were delighted.  Even better was the souvenir model jeepney we received on leaving.  Not big enough to drive, but a fun memory.  Given that Manila has two seasons, hot, hot, hot and hot and rainy you will not be surprised that we wilted and dropped into bed when we got back.  At least it was not raining.

Today we went onshore for 10 minutes to shop in the dockside shops that spring up for visitors.  We did not find any souvenirs so returned to the ship.  We watched the US Navy sailors do their morning exercises and sprints on the deck of the USS Blue Ridge destroyer docked in the berth next to us.  We could tell it was visiting day as we could young children on deck with their parents.  We also had visiting day as family members of the staff came onboard yesterday to tour the ship and visit with family.  And then we had a sendoff.  Two marching bands where on shore with their color guards, baton and twirlers.  They alternated playing for about 45 minutes and then in the final sendoff as we pulled away from the dock played Auld Lang Syne together, marched alongside us and waved.  Even the shop keepers waved.  We were all choked up.

Another fact of sorts:  Philippino is the official language, but most people speak tagalog as well as English and the rapid of both known as taglish.

Now we are at sea going through those islands and the seascape is dotted with outriggers some of which are very colorful.  We will be a sea this afternoon and tomorrow before arriving at Sandakan on Saturday.  The day will be a normal ship board day with lots of food, casino, swimming pools, naps, shows and more food.  What that means is you won’t hear from us till we leave Sandakan.