Around the World Again

Manila, Philippines – March 6, 2018

It has been a long day and as I start writing this it is only 9:38 p.m.!

The seven of us on Bonnie’s Manila tour met at 7:45 and started our tour at 8:00. We first drove past Manila Bay (the site of Dewey’s defeat of the Spanish in the Spanish-American War), by reclaimed land that now has numerous casinos as well as the Mall of Asia, and through a very poor section to a Jeepney factory.

When WWII ended the US government decided to leave behind many Jeeps. Some of these were sold and some given to the Filipinos who started modifying them as mass transit. Today most of them are not made from Jeeps. The factory we saw takes old parts and puts them together as well as fixing Jeepneys. I’m not sure there is such a thing as a “new” Jeepney.

From the Jeepney factory we headed to see the “Bamboo Organ” constructed by Fr. Diego Cera in the early 1800s. We were shown around the museum, seeing some of the original keys, as well as a demonstration of how the organ works. Then we were taken into the church (St. Joseph’s) where the organ was played for us.

Heading back into the center of Manila we visited Rizal Park named for the Filipino hero, Jose Rizal who was executed close to where the park is now located in 1896 after being convicted of treason against the Spanish. From there it was a short drive to the old walled city of Intramuros.

We toured Fort Santiago and in the museum saw the cell where Rizal was held during his trial as well as information about him and his life and death.

Lunch was next (we were all wilting by this point) in a very nice restaurant called Barbara’s. It was authentic Philippine food again and other than the salad fixings and rice, I’m not sure what it all was.

At this point it was almost 2 pm and we were scheduled to have two more stops – the National Museum and Casa Manila. As all aboard was at 4:30 and we wanted to be back at least an hour before that, we chose to just go to the museum. We saw many of the displays including interesting ones on weaving, textiles, and artifacts from the wreck of the San Diego.

We were back to the port just after 3 pm where I spent the rest of my Philippine money.

Showered and didn’t do much of anything until time for afternoon trivia. Only Rodney, Bonnie, and I played. We had 13 out of 17 correct and the winning team had 15.

1)How many engines are on a 747?

2)How many eyelids does a cat have?

3)What was the first motion picture filmed in color to receive the Best Picture Oscar?

4)What is the only bone in the body not connected to any others?

5)What natural fabric is used to make denim?

Went out on deck as we sailed out of the bay. We passed a USN ship, the Bonhomme Richard according to the captain, which had a deck full of helicopters.

I was invited (along with the rest of the trivia team) to our morning teammate’s birthday celebration in the Canaletto. The team (Rodney, Marilyn, Tom, Jeanette, and I) sat together along with one of the dance instructors, Kirsten. We ordered one of each of the appetizers (except the soup) and shared. Almost all of us had the special for the evening – lasagna – which was delicious. I had gelato and birthday cake for dessert.

I am not posting pictures tonight. I am too tired to sort through the 250 pictures (that’s after trashing the poor ones!) for today. Also, the internet keeps cutting out (I have been knocked off three times in the last hour!) Check back tomorrow.

One sea day before Hong Kong.

Street scenes…