Rizal Park

Friday, 5^th August 2011

We did not have any plans for the morning and Noah appreciated having a good rest in a proper bed.

Mum, Silas & Matt went to Robinson's (again) to buy a ball to take to the park this afternoon, and some snacks to eat. Unfortunately there was not enough time to also have a coffee at Figaro's.

We ate lunch at the canteen at Shalom, it was better than I expected except for the kidneys that I had (which was supposed to be pork).

Irene came this afternoon and we travelled via jeepney to Rizal park. Silas enjoyed his first jeepney ride, amongst the traffic with all the noise, diesel (and other) smell and the cramped space in the back.

Rizal park is quite well kept for a park in the Philippines, but the level of safety is well... non existent. All the play equipment is concrete, the slides are concrete, the bridges and fake wooden rails are concrete. There is a collection of concrete dinosaurs, fairytale characters made of concrete etc... Concrete slides are not very slippery and you need quite a bit of pushing with your arms to get down some of them. So many people were taking photos of Noah and Eden, they were quite taken with these white skinned light coloured hair.

Silas is quite happy to talk to Irene, in fact he bombards her with question after question.

We walked from the children’s playground around the water feature scale model of the Philippines.

We saw a giant brass statue of Lapu-Lapu, the Filipino warrior that killed Magellan. A little further on through the park we saw many horse drawn carts, people playing and socialising. Towards Manila bay is a monument for Jose Rizal, his bones are buried there. The monument is guarded by two guards who stand almost motionless all-day regardless of the weather. We observed them change position once, and we also observed the changing of the guards. All very precise and serious.

We then walked over to Manila bay, near the Hotel H2O. From here we had a nice fresh sea breeze (nice except for the smell of rubbish that was washed up).

After this we began walking along Roxas Bvd. Towards the Shalom Centre, past the American Embassy. What an impressive sight that is, I am sure that no one could easily get inside there without being invitation. It looked very American, strong and self sufficient, is probably has its own arsenal of nuclear warheads stashed inside.

It was beginning to get dark as we were walking along the bay, so we caught a cab back to Shalom. The ride took us along some very crowed back streets, through some seedy areas. Some establishments has signs like “No drugs, No weapons, No minors”.

After being dropped back we had toast with jam or 2 minute noodles for tea. Then off to bed for the kids while Sarah sent a few emails.