It was destination Manila, the second biggest city in the Philippines, on a warm September evening as we took off on a Cebu Pacific flight across the South China Sea. Our flight was on time, leaving us in Ninoy Aquino Airport at half past 11. We jumped in a taxi, and he so kindly took advantage of two tourists. Future advice, only get into a metered taxi!
A breakfast buffet awaited us the next morning. The selection was impressive as we filled up, on what promised to be an exciting day. Manila was busy, the streets were flooded with the famous Jeepneys, a cross
between a jeep and a bus, in all of their color, and all of their design, clearly the best way to travel around the Philippines. The Filipino people are a very religious race. We were continuously greeted with “god bless”, or “may god be good to you”, a god reference included in almost every conversation. On every street there happened to be a church, or a religious replica and the Filipino people seemed to come out in force almost every morning to pray. The Manila cathedral is an iconic building, right in the heart of the city. Founded in 1571, it has gone though some graphic events, it was damaged on more than one occasion by earthquakes, along with heavy typhoons, and flooding causing  severe damage to the interior. How it is still standing is beyond me!
We passed along the scenic Manila bay situated in the western part of Luzon. The bay was blocked with trucks, all rushing to collect their assigned merchandise. There is clearly a huge shipping trade among the surrounding countries, in particular China. I couldn’t go to the Philippines without sampling a burger at the famous Jollibee, a fast food chain throughout the Philippines, equivalent to McDonald’s back home.Then it was onto the famous Corregidor Island, listed as the sixth scariest island in the world.We took a cruise from Manila, with plenty of entertainment throughout the cruise, setting us up nicely for what was to follow. I set foot on my second Filipino island located about 50 kilometers
from Manila, with just another 7000 more islands to go, or something along those lines. Our guide directed us across the old war island and the damage was still in clear view. The Japanese famously bombed the island during the Second World War, and the damage was atrocious. The weapons that the Filipino’s were using at the time were outdated, and this caused the deaths of thousands of innocent men, women and children. There are still a lot of torn and ruined houses throughout the island, still on display. Even with the help of the Americans, it wasn’t enough to stop the dominant Japanese force. It’s impressive how powerful and dangerous the Japanese were, by far the deadliest force throughout the mid 1940’s.
Next on the list was Fort Santiago, along the Pasig river, where more than six hundred American fighters died during the battle of Manila. There was once a strong Spanish colony in the Philippines, which dates all the way back to 1521, and this was evident throughout the streets, as I walked past the likes of Soriano Avenue, Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, Ortigas Avenue, and Pedro Burgos Avenue. Our guide was a friendly man, that made us feel comfortable throughout the trip, even though we were approached by beggars on almost every block looking for a few extra Pesos.
Before our trip to the airport, we stopped off at the famous Mall of Asia, once the largest mall in the Philippines, and the 10th largest mall in the world. The offers were impressive, and the shops were almost full up, even though it was a Monday morning. I then sampled my first Filipino dish, a Pork Sisig, which featured a healthy combination of onions, chilis, citrus and eggs. Then we took off to the airport once more, to take off on a different route this time.
