Report # 61 Manila, Philippines February 28, 2014 Friday Day One Partly cloudy, 88 degrees

The crew tent on the pier in Manila

Manila, the capital of the Philippines, is one of the world's largest capitals. Metropolitan Manila is made up of 6 districts and 12 cities. How many people live here? Try 12 million. It is huge, and so is the traffic. The Spanish

Welcome to Manila

ruled here for over 300 years, giving the city much of its historical charm. More recent history finds Manila involved with much World War II activity, with extensive damage caused from the fighting between the American and Japanese armies. Who would guess that a number of years later, Manila would become a shopper's paradise with markets and malls galore? We hear that outside the city, the mountains turn lush with volcanoes, both active and extinct. The landscape turns into hillsides of rice paddies. Last but not least, the array of food from a blend of Filipino, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, and American can keep you busy for weeks of dining options.

But we only have two days here, so it is hard to see it all. As for us, we have taken tours of the old and new Manila more than once. Some of our buddies have gone on a ferry to see Corregidor Island, where many battles occured during the war. General MacArthur's headquarters were based in a carvernous tunnel on this island, making it even more famous....a very sobering place to visit. One of our destinations will be Rizal Park near the pier where we are docked, and a trip to Robinsons Mall for an afternoon of window shopping and lunch.

Lucky for us, there was a complimentary shuttle provided by the local Port Authority. It was running from 9:30am to 11pm to the Robinsons Place Manila Mall, which is great. The ride only takes 20 minutes if the traffic is moving. But first before we left, it was necessary to finish the blog from yesterday and get it sent. It is so hard to keep up with daily reports, and so far, we have been pretty disciplined in doing so. We only wish that the internet would cooperate all of the time, but that's another story. It has gotten much better. So while one of us typed, the other went down to check out the pier stalls and look for the promised maps Barbara H said the ship had ordered. Good thing, because all of the freebies were almost gone. We did receive one woven fan, a detailed map, info on the Intramuros district, and another map with fun things to do in the Philippines. Included on this map were fast facts and hints for traveling around the city. Oh yeah, we also now own two necklaces made of strings and painted wooden beads......all complimentary.

Local dancers and band

Entertaining us from 8am to about 10am, were a local band and native girls and guys performing the bamboo dance. Two of them were decked out in costumes of "big" people, which we have seen also in Mexico and Central America and even Brazil. By 10:30am, we were ready to go and so were three large buses that were waiting outside the gate. Between the passengers and some crew members, the bus filled quickly and we were off.

Traditional dance with bamboo sticks

"Big" people

Dance on a bench

Colorful costumes

Xylophones

"Big" people

Robinsons Place Manila Mall

Robinsons Place Manila is considered a regular mall here. Compared to the Mall of Asia, the third largest mall in the world, it is small. With over 600 dining, service, and shopping venues, together with Robinsons Department Store and grocery store, it more than big enough for us. There are four levels where one can find everything and anything you need or don't need. Some of the restaurants are open until 2am, taking care of the late night crowd that go to their theaters. There are four major entrances, all guarded by policemen armed with rifles. Yes, rifles. Need we say more? Most people stay inside this spacious mall just for the air-conditioning.

Customers at TGIFridays

Our main reason for coming was to get some exercise and go out to lunch. There were numerous pizza places, but most were the fast food type. TGIFridays was a better bet, since they serve some of our favorite Mexican cuisine. So we did end up getting one of the last tables for two available at 1:30pm. 

San Miguel Draft beer

We shared a chicken quesadilla and a platter of boneless chicken wings, crispy fried chicken strips, celery sticks, chips and dips. Our waitress suggested the San Miguel draft beer, which was served in a chilled 16 ounce mug. The beer cost the equivalent of $2.44. each. Good deal. We were halfway into our meal when Barbara H, our port lecturer, and Joanne, the future cruise consultant were seated next to us. We found it amusing that with all of the choices they had to choose from, the ladies picked Fridays, like us. We chatted until their entrees arrived, which turned out to be Mexican fare also.

A platter to share

Chicken quesadilla to share

We followed up our visit with a stop at Robinsons Supermarket on the first level of the mall. They have everything our supermarkets sell at home as well as Filipino food. We remembered from last year, that their 16 ounce Coke Zero bottles were about 50 cents each. We stocked up on those along with some bags of chips. While we were here, we always like to check out all of their items. 

The famous durian fruit cost about $3.50
 - has a "nasty" smell we heard

We found one interesting fruit sold here.....the durian. If you have never heard of it, you would think it was a strange-looking type of pineapple with a prickly skin, like cactus. It is what's inside that is nasty to those who do not have a taste for the fruit. It smells like something rotten, or worse. The sign on the fruit said it is high in fiber and good for digestion, like a laxative. Guess we will never find out, because we would not go within a mile of one that has been cut in half. In fact, we have heard that it is forbidden for anyone to bring a durian onboard the ship.

OK, it is healthy too.....you can have ours.....

The bus was waiting right outside the front entrance, and we were back to the ship in less than a half hour. The traffic was almost at a standstill on the main boulevard leading to the pier, and it was only 4pm. Bet the tours coming back at 6 or 7pm will have it a lot worse. Speaking of tours, some of our tablemates did the same tour to Corregidor Island, but did not book the same way. One bought the shore excursion through the ship, while the other went with an independent group. Should be interesting to see how they compared.

Relaxing in our room before dinner, we watched a movie about life in modern Manila for a young, but out-of-work homeless family. It portrayed the seedier side of the city, and we were surprised it was even shown while we were docked here. Very depressing to say the least. Let's just say crime has no good ending.

There were only seven of us for dinner, four of whom were pretty exhausted after their all day tour. It turned out that the Corregidor Island tours were identical, but the difference in price was $160. each. We have been there and done that many times by taking the HAL tours. But there is insurance involved with the more expensive tours, where there is zero coverage by going independant. Most times everything goes well, but it only takes once to be caught in a bad situation. It's a chance that many more passengers are willing to take these days, due to the rising tour costs on the ship.

Along with several Filipino items on the menu, we enjoyed the meatloaf with mashed potatoes entree this evening. Sounds funny, but sometimes good old down home country food is just what we needed. Add the small lemon tarts with blueberries for dessert, and we were happy campers.

It will be strange to be "parked" all night as we are spending another full day in Manila tomorrow. If the weather is as good as today's, it should be a nice day.

San Augustin Church (1571)

The Manila Hotel

Yes, we will have fun

World cruise t-shirt for 2014

Very few souveniers stands this year

Selling clothing

The revelers

Nice welcome

Part of the band

Filipino cooks from town coming onboard

Downtown Manila in the smog

The local kids ready to board

Family members of the crew

A typical jeepney

Busy streets of downtown

Many street vendors

Filipino street food

Numerous shops

Selling stuff

Modern mixed with the old

Inside the main entrance

Here's to good health

The pier at dusk

Working harbor of Manila

Some kind of club

Looking towards Rizal Park

The dock lights up

Aft deck entertainment

A party happening onshore

Looking right at the Manila Hotel

Lighted building downtown

Debby Bacon at the piano

Getting dark

Report # 60 Sailing Towards Manila, Philippines February 27, 2014 Thursday Partly cloudy, 85 degrees

We had a very nice experience today. Last week Shiv, the Executive Housekeeper, offered to give us a tour of the laundry facility on the ship. We gladly said yes, and would wait until he had the time to take us. We've known Shiv since he was the assistant housekeeper, and worked out of the office near our room. He has always gone the extra mile to see to it that we have everything we need once we board the ship. His office is now located on deck three, with the room closing near us. But we still keep in touch with him daily. Like we said, he is a great guy.

Shiv and the hard workers

On the way to the laundry facilities

The main hallway within the ship on deck B

One of the workers we never see

The sheet/pillowase/linen drying & folding machine

Expensive equipment

So, when we walked past his office today after our walk, Shiv came out and asked us if this morning would work for a tour.  All right, you bet. Meeting him in ten minutes, he led us down to deck B and the main hallway of the working deck inside the ship.  We entered the facility from the far end, so the order we saw it went in reverse. 

A new washing machine

Two more washers

Feeding the wet sheet into the dryer/folder

One big dryer

We began in room that housed the drying and folding machine for sheets, pillowcases, and table linens.  This unit was at least 10 feet long, cylinder-shaped, and worked like magic.  Clean and wet sheets, for instance, would be fed into the machine using a roller technique.  Almost instantly, they are dried with hot air, then folded lengthwise, and dumped into a tray underneath to be stacked.  It took only two workers to feed this machine.  By the way, all of the workers we saw were young Filipino men, who could stand the heat down here.  Also, the sheets are changed every fourth day for the passengers.

Towel dryers

Sanitizing washer

Washer used only for Noro virus decontamination

Across from this unit, were two very new washing machines that had been installed while the ship was in drydock last December in San Francisco.  They each have the capacity of holding 400 pounds of wet wash (sheets/pillowcases/towels/linens) in three compartments.  Built just like a front-loading washing machine, they have to have the correct amount of weight to operate right.  This is done by weighing the wet wash in a wheeled bin on a huge scale.  All the detergents are controlled automatically and the loads take about 45 minutes to complete.  When these units were installed, an outside wall where the soap dispensers were mounted had to be removed for them to be installed.  The wall was welded back after the job was done.

Automated detergent dispensers

More machines lined the wall,each taking 165# of wash.  Dryers followed, some of them took 120 pounds , while others took up to 200 pounds.  One separate washing machine, capable of extremely high water temperatures was used only for decontaminating NORO virus linens and toweling for one room at a time.  The good news was that the machine was empty, not being used.  Keep in mind, all of these machines run 24 hours a day, non-stop, to take care of up to 1380 guests and additional crew members.

Pressing

Hanging the finished wash

Reading the laundry slip

Sorting the folded items

Towels ready to go

All clean

The regular guest laundry facility was next to tour.  We entered where our blue bags of laundry arrive in large bins.  One fellow dumps the contents, one at a time, labels them with iron-on tags, then proceeds to separate the items by color and delicates.  All small items go into a mesh bag and are tagged with one label.  

Spotter

There was a spotting table, which is good to know.  Shiv did say that if you mark the laundry slip with special instructions, like for delicate handwash, it should be done.

A wall of cubbyholes near the tagger held the baskets that we get our laundry back in the room.  A group of fellows were filling them with the correctly marked items. Racks for the hanging clothes were lined up as well.  As we continued on, we found two steam iron mannekins that literally blew up the slacks and shirts with hot steamy air.  These can be found in any cleaners at home.  They are quick with little hand ironing necessary.  They did have ironing boards, both regular and the steam pressing ones.  The group of ironers were happy to show off their skills as we passed by. 

Steam presser

How it works

Old fashioned iron and table still used

Blanket dryers

Shirt blow dryer

Putting the shirt over the form

Puffing it up with hot air

We asked about cleaning pillows, duvets, and blankets.  All of the feather-filled items are fluff-dryed with 155 degree air to re-distribute the feathers.  It also helps to deodorize them.  The blankets are washed in regular machines.  They had two wet/dry cleaning units that use natural fruit-based oils to clean the clothing.  Shiv admitted that it was inferior to the usual dry cleaning you have onshore, but was as good as it gets here.  With that, we thanked all of the hard-working fellows for their demo.

The upholstery shop

All the indoor fabrics

The sewing room

Patterns for clothing

The workshop

Boss of the workshop

Tight quarters

Shiv continued to take us through the linen and alcohol storage rooms, and the upholstery and carpenter shops.  The most interesting was the sewing room, where we found four men working on crew clothing.  They actually make all of the uniforms for the officers and staff.  Yes, the dark blue wool suits worn are created here with patterns they have hanging on the side wall.  Only the white shirts are store-bought.  All broken and torn clothing is repaired in this room.

Cabins of the crew

Lastly, we strolled through the dry food storage and paper product rooms.  It was like going to Costco, with shelving full of the everyday items we use in the dining rooms.  We could see the opening where the palleted deliveries are off-loaded from the trucks on the pier.  Lots of heavy work is done here on delivery days.

The booze room

Lots of beer

Dry storage room

Paper product

Rice, flours, sugar

All of our condiments

Like a grocery store

Will restock in Hong Kong

Thanking Shiv, we climbed the narrow stairwell, and back to deck one aft where we had entered this very different world from what we are used to seeing.  Fantastic tour.  It how better can it be to be a private one at that.

The rest of the day flew by as we relaxed in the warm sun on the aft deck.  All day long, we had been sailing around the many islands of the Philippines as we headed in a northwesterly direction to the east coast of Luzon and Manila.  As the day progressed, more and more of the Filipino staff came outside with their phones to call home.  At one point, there were twenty crew members on the promenade deck talking to family members, making plans for the next couple of days that we would be docked in Manila.

While one of us was getting a haircut in the spa, the other was busy getting some local pesos to use for lunch or whatever we may need in town tomorrow.  We are still having some problems with the internet, either cutting us off, and refusing to log us off.  Keeping track of the minutes lost, we just have to fill out a form, and the request for lost time gets approved a day later.  Since so many of the passengers and crew are having problems, there is no question about refunding minutes.  The librarian admitted that he will no longer be using the ship's system, because he has lost so much money like us, and has had too much frustration with it.  Can't say we blame him.

While watching the sun go down around 6pm, we noticed how many fishing boats there were surrounding the numerous islands we were passing.  Each boat was lit up with a bright light, we assume to attract the fish.  Even some small rowboats were in the mix, which we could hardly see with our bare eyes.  Up on deck nine, it was touching to see some crew members watching the fishing boats as they talked away in their native language.  Bet they are really looking forward to Manila, as are we.

Sailing around the islands of the Philippines

Sailing around the islands of the Philippines

Sailing around the islands of the Philippines

More islands in the afternoon

More islands in the afternoon

More islands in the afternoon

More islands in the afternoon

Presents from last night....Tiffanys, no less

Tiffany logo

2014 Grand World Voyage coffee mugs

Design of the world