We did get to Manila!

 We arrived in Manila in the early evening. Not too pretty a spot a place I wouldn't fancy venturing into in the evening! 

My excursion started very early the next morning, 7am, as it was a 3-hour drive out into the countryside! There were only 13 of us on the bus, which was in so much better condition that the 'bashed up' windscreen smashed ones of PNG! The air-condition

ing was so cold, which didn't help me as I felt I was coming down with a cold, or was it Covid?!

Villa Escudero was a seriously strange place! There was a museum containing items the family had collected in their travels. The first section housed animals in various forms - stuffed, heads only, or seriously sad  two elephants feet!!

There were collections of religious items, different clothing, 

etc. It was the weirdest thing I'd seen! Not surprisingly, we were not allowed to take  photos!

The next surprise was lunch! This property has its own hydroelectric plant, and there was a cascading waterfall. Imagine our surprise to see tables and benches sitting in the 'river', luckily only a few inches deep. Shoes off, we waded to get our food and sat with cooling toes. It was a little slippery, but no one slipped over! Such a strange experience!

Back at the ship, another dinner under the stars awaited us! Unfortunately, the Captain warned us that it was going to be a very rough 24 hours! He wasn't wrong. I took a couple of seasickness pills as a precaution and didn't get sick, but it was crazy!! It was a wild night!

No shower for me the next morning!! I couldn't handle it. Breakfast was interesting, with passengers running from side to side trying to get to a table, items  falling, but the crew managed to get our tea/coffee to us.

It seemed a little more stable lower down, but during one of the lectures, the swell caused a massive lurch, and you could hear glasses crashing to the ground! Most of us took to our cabins and tried to ride out the'bucking bronco'!! Packing our cases under these conditions was not pleasant!

Luckily, the sea calmed down down by early evening. The Captain was determined to get us to Hong Kong in time for people to get flights, so we powered on and started into the harbour about 6:30am. It was a rather misty start but turned into a nice day. It was sad to leave as I had such a good time.

I have had a couple of days wandering around HK - it must be 10+ years since I was last here! There is so much development going on!

I have caught up with Yvette, Kitty's daughter, which has been really nice. Leave for home tonight! 

Unfortunately I can't seem to add pictures!