Blog # 14 - Manila

                                                              Blog # 14 - Manila

         Philippine contrasts - Approaching Manila Early morning  

                                  Manila - City Skyline

                                Port area perspective is quite pretty

                   Greeted by local welcoming committee

Check out the bus driver's seat. He uses bamboo to cushion him from

the heat

  

Old fashion buses are used for an inexpensive way to get around. The city government wants to get rid of them. Due to nostalgia and cost for a ride, the locals want to keep them.

We took a tour with emphasis toward "Modern Manila." The major street we were were driving on was used as a WWII military runway

We were amazed at the changes! The last time we were in Manila was in 1970! At that time, most of the city buildings were two and three storied high!

We did not know the largest American military cemetery was in Manila.

Over 36,000 soldiers are buried here. There is another large percentage of deceased troops that have yet to be identified.

It's interesting to see how the plots are marked. The Veterans cemetery in West Los Angeles uses solid, rectangle markers with the names of the deceased  inscribed on the markers where as in this facility, crosses and Jewish stars are used.

                                Grounds were quite nice

The facility had an excellent audio-visual program

There was emphasis about Philippine guerilla warfare and how bad the Japanese army treated the Filipinos population.

            Typical "war maps" depicted the battle activities 

                              Deceased engraved on walls

                                    A moving experience

All of the state seals were on the walkway. It's interesting that Wyoming's moto deals with "Equal Rights1"

This is another museum which was an unexpected treat. Ayala is a wealthy family that built malls, invested in the cities infrastructure and, of course, built the museum.

This is a touch screen that informs the visitor about each of the items at the museum.

We were very surprised to learn the civilization living in the Philippines pre-Spanish colonization was extraordinarily wealthy having discovered and used gold as part of their life. 

                 Gold jewelry was discovered in the mid-1980's

       Considering the era, the complexity and designs was amazing

                                                    Belt

                                                 Earrings

                    Gorgeous Shawls from the Spanish era

            The designs, use of color and detail was amazing

Close up of the above shawl

Another close up photo of a shawl

                        This is how the shawls ae worn

              Models of ships used during the early Spanish years

We know have a better understanding when it came to the Spanish searching for and taking gold from the indigenous people throughout the world

Heading for dinner