Around the World Again

Manila, Philippines – March 5, 2018

We arrived early in the morning and beat the other three ships into port. We were cleared to leave the ship just around 8:00.

Bonnie (trivia teammate) had set up a private excursion on Cruise Critic for the two days in Manila for seven of us. The first was to the site of the former Clark AFB (which at one time was the largest American base overseas). Her father had been stationed there in the early 60s and she wanted to see it again. We had three veterans on the tour, one of whom had flown into Clark a number of times during the 60s and early 70s.

We left about nine and although it is only about 45 miles it took us close to two hours to get there. The traffic in Manila rivals any other large city. We had a comfort stop at a very interesting place on the highway. It had a number of small stalls selling various products but also a number of chains like McDonald’s and Starbucks.

When we arrived at Clark everyone was disappointed that the museum was closed. Instead we walked around for awhile in the area of the parade field. We next looked for the remains of the hospital where Bonnie’s father had worked. During the height of the Vietnam War many badly injured soldiers were brought here for treatment. After getting directions from a number of locals, the hospital was found. It was abandoned in 1991 after Mount Pinatubo erupted covering much of the area in many inches of volcanic ash. It is now often called the “Ghost Hospital” because people have heard screams coming from the empty building.

Next we went to a park with planes from the Philippine Air Force (which took over part of Clark after the US left) next to some of the buildings that housed airman.

It was now lunch time so we went to a large mall. There are quite a few large malls in the Philippines and the guide said people loved them because of the air conditioning. Bonnie asked the guide for a suggestion of a restaurant that served typical Philippine food. He recommended a buffet that was very popular with the locals. I think we were the only westerners in there. None of us knew what we were eating but none of us came out hungry. A very nice lady came over and talked with us and then gave us some watermelon she and her family had brought with them.

After lunch we headed back to look at the K-Nine Cemetery and Clark Veterans Cemetery. At the entrance to the Veterans Center was a marker for the Bataan “Death March”. This began after the early April 1942 surrender to the Japanese. American casualties were estimated to be between 500 and 650 and Filipino deaths more than 10 times that. It was declared a war crime and General Homma who was the overall commander of the men in charge of the march was executed after the war was over.

We then started our trip back to Manila. We were scheduled to return by 8 pm but because we missed the museum we returned much earlier (around 5) beating the worst of rush hour (although you could have fooled me – driving in Manila is crazy).

Returned to my cabin exhausted even though we had spent a lot of time in the very comfortably air-conditioned van. About 7 I made my way to the Lido for dinner (Cyndi, Ed, and I had already told our dinner table not to expect us). While passing the Lido pool area I saw there had been tables set up all around it with table cloths and hats for the visiting families of the crew. Everyone was disappointed that they were not being allowed on before 7pm. The port authority had refused to allow them because there were four ships in port and security could not process the visitors. By the time I finished my dinner there were many crew family and friends all over the Lido deck enjoying themselves. Luckily, they have most of the day tomorrow to be with their loved ones.

Returned about 8 to my cabin. Spent a few minutes out on my deck and then caught up on e-mail and started on the blog. No show tonight – they are broadcasting the Academy Awards. We start tomorrow’s tour of Manila at 7:45 am so my goal is to be in bed by 10:30!

Street scenes…