Manila, Philippines

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We decided to take it easy on our first day in Manila. We had been here before, in 2011, so didn't need to take a city tour or see the sights. We instead opted to go to a wonderful Arts & Crafts store we had visited in '11, have lunch at the Manila Hotel then take the ship's shuttle to a mall. We arrived at 8 but were in no hurry so got off the ship around 9. They had a number of dancers and musicians on the pier to greet us and gave everyone a necklace and hat! We'd been told that there would be 1600 visitors on the ship in this port, family of the crew. They were on the pier and in the terminal waiting to be cleared. They were all very excited to be seeing their family members, especially the kids. We decided to take a taxi to Intramuros, the old walled city, rather than walk as we'd done before. We asked to be dropped at the Manila Cathedral which was at the entrance. I also wanted to find a Starbucks to buy a travel mug. I have them from several different parts of the world. The Starbucks was closed so the taxi went back to the cathedral. That was closed too! It was being renovated. So he finally dropped us at a different church in the area. We walked around a bit. One street was crowded with people buying food, or just hanging out. It was a very poor area with kids playing in the dirt and very dirty. Kind of sad. 

We finally arrived at the store. This store is great just to browse, it has so many beautiful things on 4 floors! In 2011 we did not have unlimited luggage so were very limited as to what we could buy. This time, no limit! We spent a lot of time looking at everything spending about 2 hours there. We ended up needing a taxi to get back to the ship with all our purchases. We bought several beautiful baskets as well as other small items. I took several of their cards to give to others on the ship. Even if you don't want to buy anything you get a good look at the crafts of the country. 

We unloaded in our cabin then headed out to the Manilla Hotel.  It had poured while we were shopping but stopped by the time we left. It was now drizzling a bit. The hotel was just 2 blocks away but does not have a back door. We had to walk all the way around it to get to the main entrance. The lobby of the hotel is spectacular with huge brass chandeliers and many sitting areas where you can order drinks and appetizers. The hotel has a great history including having General McArthur as it's General Manager at one time. They have an archives room dedicated to McArthur which we saw on our last visit. We went to the buffet area for lunch but were told there would be a 30 minute wait. We returned to the lobby to wait with a couple from the ship who were having appetizers there. I had just gotten online with the hotel's wifi when they came to tell us that our table was ready. 

The place was packed. Mel went to look at everything while I set up my iPad to start downloading magazines while we ate.  It is always good when we find free wifi and this one was very fast. Mel returned with a plate so I went to see what I wanted to eat. I think the most interesting item I had was sautéed banana flower with shrimp! It was very good!

        

                                    Mel's plate, the sautéed banana flower is in the middle. 

We went back several times just to look at everything. It was one of the largest buffets I had ever seen with stations through out the room, one Chinese, another Japanese, etc. there was Indian, Korean and of course Filipino food. There were eggs cooked different ways along with French toast for American. The breads looked amazing but the most spectacular was the dessert station. They had 10 different flavors of gelato, many, many different kinds of cakes as well as puddings and pastries. They even had a chocolate water fall. It was impossible to choose just one so I selected about 8, most to just taste, a few were gone quickly. 

       

It was the best buffet we had ever been to. After almost two hours and having paid our bill, we decided to have coffee and a latte since it was included. We almost waddled out of there a good two hours after being seated. I have been careful about what I eat on the ship but this was one time that we just went for it. What a great experience. We walked back to the ship to freshen up and catch the shuttle to the mall. Once again it had rained while we were inside. We had had very good luck with the weather. 

It took at least 30 minutes to get to the mall because of traffic. Just the drop off area was jam packed with mostly taxis. Inside the place was a sea of black haired people. Mel asked a security guard what was going on. They were picking basketball players for their teams and everyone wanted to see. I stopped at Starbucks first to get that purchase out of the way then we walked around a bit. There is a huge grocery store in the back so we spent some time looking there. We saw some very unusual items like Mickey shaped chicken nuggets. Back in the mall we tasted flavored popcorn with flavors like strawberry cheesecake and white chocolate. It was quite delicious. We went up the escalator and into the large department store. I had bought tiny little girl things on our last visit as we were expecting a new granddaughter soon after we arrived home. We just looked around then headed back down stairs. There were stalls set up with jeans, shirts, handbags, etc. We bought some t shirts for less than $2 each. They may fall apart the first time they are washed but oh well! We went back outside and hopped on the shuttle to go back to the ship. 

We had missed dinner which wasn't a bad thing. We were still full from lunch! We did go up to the Lido to have something light to eat. We were ready to sleep by 10 pm as we had to get up very early the next morning. It had been a nice day in Manila.