The Philippines

I'm giving Geordie the first word on the blog this time. He deserves it as you will discover when you read his words. This trip is one he has longed for ever since he moved in with me in 1979. (Gee, only 30 years ago.) And here's Geordie!

We are now in Manila and it is the evening of Sunday, November 8!

Yesterday Friday we spent 25 hours between beds. Up at 7 am, traveled 19 hours and to bed in Manila at midnight. The international date line and a time zone change of 16 hours and it is all confusing. But if you think of us we while we are here we will be 16 hours ahead of you. So at 9 am PST it will be 1 am the next day here.

Our flight to Tokyo was 10 hours. We had 4 hours there and then the flight to Manila was 5 hours. That was much faster that my flight here 50 years ago to attend the Scouting World Jamboree in 1959! That flight took 45 hours with numerous refueling stops. It was before the era of jets. Our route from Vancouver was via Anchorage, Northern Japan, Tokyo, Okinawa and into Manila. I have be dragging Nigel around showing him "my Manila". Sure has changed. There are huge high rises and an LRT!

We are staying in the Malate district 3 blocks from Manila Bay. We used the LRT after breakfast to go to Intramuros, the old Spanish walled city and the Santiago Fort. The LRT was easy to figure out. The city within the walls was quiet in comparison to the rest of city. Most of that part of Manila was destroyed by WW II so the buildings are 1945+. We had lunch at the Manila Hotel on the Bay. It is still the classy hotel in the city. When I was billeted here after the camp I used the reception desk to change my travelers cheques. The people I was staying with had access to a Mercedes and a driver. So nice to glide up to the hotel door and have the car door opened by the door man. The meal today was quite a bit more expensive than our hotel room in the Malate area. It was a buffet of Filipino foods and very good.

Last night we were picked up at the airport. I had arranged that service through our hotel. After we checked in out we went into Saturday eve on the street near midnight. Lots of dancing girls and boys trying to get us into bars. This is not the best section of the city but certainly lively and very safe. Of course you would not expect us to be in the Ritz area would you? Nigel would not let me be out long as he wanted to go to sleep.

The last typhoon was 7 days ago and there is no sign of it. The place is dry, 30 C and 100% humidity. We were both very wet as we walked all over the place today.

It is 7:30 pm and we will now wander out for the evening. Planning to go to Max's Restaurant. It is a chicken place built in 1945 and I ate there in 1959 with my Filipino family. Hope the food is just as good as I remember it. After maybe Nigel will take me out on the town. He is sitting beside me now yawning so I bet that idea is not a go.

It is great being here and you will hear more from us. Nigel is planning to do his travel blog and he tells me he is going to post this message to it. Is that plagiarism?