Manila, Philippines

Saturday, March 5, 2011       90 degrees                                8:00 AM – 6:00 PM



Port of Manilla with tents set up for crew famoly members



Celebrations when ship was leaving





Videoing performance




Releasing balloons as ship sailed away




Dancers on dock to greet us as we arrived




Band playing on arrival




Head chef on the ship owns this jeepnay




Rizal Park



On February 28^th, 2011 we crossed the equator.  As the center point of the earth, the equator is also the center of the tropics, the area lying between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.  An easy and interesting observation is to find the day that the sun is directly 90ology as Poseidon degrees above the observer at noon.  Overseeing the equator is King Neptune (known in Greek mythology as Poseidon) and In time-honoured seafaring fashion we will host a ceremony to ensure a safe passage.  There must be a sacrifice and the ship’s staff has searched from bow to stern to find the perfect offerings.

We transited the Philippine archipelago and entered the Philippine waters at San Bernadino Strait.  We crossed the Sibuyan Sea towards Verde Island Passage where we exited the archipelago on the west side of the Philippines.

Manila is the capital of the Phillipines and one of the cities that make up the greater metropolitan area of Metro Manila.  The Amsterdam is docked in South Harbour.  All the adjectives often used to describe the Philippines—jovial, laid back, casual, corrupt, shambolic, earnest and more are on display here more than anywhere else in the country.  It’s a truly teeming, cosmopolitan metropolis that gets bigger each day, both in population, with people pouring in from the hinterlands, and size, as new developments in all directions swallow up villages and rice fields.  Poor air quality – suffers from smog.

Manila can be a very discombobulated place, for it is really just a collection of towns with no definable centre.  The walled intramuros area was the traditional centre of Manila, but was mostly wiped out in WW11 and has never recovered.  Binondo, Quiapo, Ermita and Malate have never been more than a supporting cast for a star that doesn’t exist.  Historic Intramuros and Rizal Park (Tai Chi in the morning).   Marilenos colourful jeepneys to get around.



Checking the weight of the truck



Eobinson Mall





 

We walked through Rizal Park and then took the shuttle bus to Robinson Mall (4 story, huge mall).  We had a concert in the Queen’s Lounge by the children from the Hospicio de San Jose.  Bruce presented them with a cheque for $5,000.  We had the Ambassadors from the United States and the Phillipines on board.

Over 200 of the workers on the Amsterdam come from Manila so on the second day of our visit to that city their families were invited to visit.  Tents were set up on the dock and dinner served to approximately 2,000. 

We had a wonderful “sail away” party with marching band, majorettes, all the children from the concert, families of the workers on the ship and all the helpers on the shuttle buses.