Manila

We arrived in Manila early Thursday morning on a new trip to the Philippines to participate in a family reunion with Maitri's clan in Negros and her old work buddies in Mindanao.

We quickly settled into the Pension Natividad, where we had stayed on a prior visit to Manila. Maitri's brother Shant met us later in the day and we lunched at Bodhi's in the nearby SM City Hall mall. We had brought him hardware to make music for some projects he is working on in Baguio. Before leaving the mall, we purchased an internet device that enables web connection anywhere in the cell phone area of service. This will allow us to stay connected when we are outside cities, as most populated areas in the country have cell phone coverage.

Later in the evening we met our daughters Shanti and Kamala who were arriving from Hong Kong. They had been staying there several days on the start of their SE Asian travel adventure. After resting overnight we spent the day showing them around nearby markets, malls, and some tourist sites.

Today, our last day in Manila before leaving for the beaches of Boracay, we plan to visit the Divisoria Market, Chinatown, and a nearby mall.