Last week I had the pleasant fortune of a few days off of work, giving me a four day weekend thanks to the midterm test period for my students. With a few weeks of lead time, I set about planning at trip to Manila, the capitol of the Philippines lying out in the South China Sea. Manila rose to the top of my list primarily due to cost-savings it presented and the relative proximity to my current home, making the trip easy to do in the time allowed. My expectations, based on readings and recommendations from others who have visited, were not terribly high. As it turned out, I had a great time and nearly every aspect of the trip exceeded my idea of how it would be.

I arrived early Thursday afternoon from Hong Kong and took a cab ride to my guesthouse in Malate. Malate is one of the main tourist districts, a small neighborhood in the heart of a metropolis that contains over 11 million people, and despite this, it has a small, friendly scale to it that lends the entire area a certain charm and joie de vivre that was a surprise to see. My guesthouse had a 5th floor patio area that overlooked one of the main streets, giving me a pleasant perch to watch the going ons below.

My arrival was marred by typhoon rains that had descended on Manila earlier, and I had to curb my exploratory ambitions in lieu of the weather, opting instead to wander to a large local mall where I watched a muay thai (kickboxing) tournament being held in the mall atrium. That night I indulged myself in Mexican food near my guesthouse, watching Filipino bands take turns performing covers on stage. As such, the first day was quiet and used mostly to familiarize myself with my immediate surroundings.

The second day I woke up at six to walk down to the harbor and try to board a ferry headed to Corregidor Island, 26 miles west of city and serving as the guardian of Manila Bay. For the unawares, Corregidor served as a US military installation at the outbreak of World War II, and it was here that General McArthur held his command and the Filipino president holed up for protection before evacuating. I was able to book a ferry out there as part of a tour group. The words ‘tour group’ gave me a fearful knee jerk from the general distaste I have for such activities, but on the boat ride over I did my best to ignore those misgivings.

On Corregidor, we were split into groups, and mine was roughly 15 in an open air trolley replica bus that popped from site to site, visiting war memorials from the US, Japan, and Philippines, as well as several old artillery sites on the island, the headquarters area at the high point of Corregidor, and a rebuilt Spanish lighthouse with a great view out to the Bataan peninsula. To be able to wander the ruined hulks of barracks and shell stores was a powerful experience, and through the tour, led by our spirited and sharp-tongued guide Stella, I felt a bit of affinity for the Filipino people, especially here on an isle where they fought and died alongside Americans against a shared foe. The tour was punctuated by a pleasant buffet lunch in a colonial styled hotel where I got my fill, and I was loathe to leave the clean air and greenery at the end of the afternoon.

The Philippines did a tour at the early 20th century as one of America’s only true colonies during our history before achieving full independence in 1947 or so. One of the legacies of this is free education, which in this case manifested itself best for me in the excellent English spoken by just about every Filipino I met. It turned me lazy but it was also a nice change from China where my conversation are stressful and filled with gaps. The Spanish who were there for 300 years before that brought Catholicism which is still strong today. More to come on my next few days in Manila soon, until then, the pictures are up