Last Sunday, we got to see St. Vincent De Paul, a very old if not the oldest Catholic church in Manila. You can read about it here.
I didn’t take a lot of photos there as a wedding was going on and that seemed disrespectful. I will say I was in the minority, lots of people took photos of the wedding!
Then we walked a short distance to Fort Santiago and toured the fort. The fort is also quite old and is considered to be one of the most important historical sites in Manila. I can’t do justice to a write up so take a look at this link.
Then we made a stop at the Mall of Asia. At one point, it was supposed to be the biggest mall in the world. I don't think it is any more, but it's definitely large. I took this photo facing west toward Manila Bay. I do love the ocean.
After that, we went to Okada Casino, which is further south from the fort and the cathedral. I’m not a gambler and I don’t care for cigarette smoke, but two of the folks on my team really wanted to see it so off we went. And one of them won nearly 1000 PHP! This photo is at the entrance; I think some of these decorations were up in advance of the Chinese New Year. It was pretty amazing to see.
We stuck around for the light show, which according to the Okada is bigger than the Belagio in Las Vegas. I don’t know either way but I will say it was really cool.
At the same time we were there, one of the Filipino people with us showed us real time videos of Taal, and we realized we could see the ash plume from the casino. Not only that, but what we thought were bug bites were actually tiny pieces of ash hitting us.
I’ll say I’ve never been in a situation where Facebook prompted me to mark myself safe or not safe, which was just nutty.
I didn’t take a lot of photos there as a wedding was going on and that seemed disrespectful. I will say I was in the minority, lots of people took photos of the wedding!
Then we walked a short distance to Fort Santiago and toured the fort. The fort is also quite old and is considered to be one of the most important historical sites in Manila. I can’t do justice to a write up so take a look at this link.
 |
| See the kitty? And the rooster on the right? |
After that, we went to Okada Casino, which is further south from the fort and the cathedral. I’m not a gambler and I don’t care for cigarette smoke, but two of the folks on my team really wanted to see it so off we went. And one of them won nearly 1000 PHP! This photo is at the entrance; I think some of these decorations were up in advance of the Chinese New Year. It was pretty amazing to see.
We stuck around for the light show, which according to the Okada is bigger than the Belagio in Las Vegas. I don’t know either way but I will say it was really cool.
At the same time we were there, one of the Filipino people with us showed us real time videos of Taal, and we realized we could see the ash plume from the casino. Not only that, but what we thought were bug bites were actually tiny pieces of ash hitting us.
I’ll say I’ve never been in a situation where Facebook prompted me to mark myself safe or not safe, which was just nutty.
1 comment:
It's interesting because in Las Vegas, there are a ton of people from the Philippines. I had no idea why, but your story about the casino makes sense to me. Looks like you are enjoying your time there! I was wondering if you were near the volcano!
Post a Comment