Manila by night.

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I can really feel the atmosphere of Christmas while in Manila. With the glitters of the beautiful neon lights in every nooks and corners of the streets and buildings it has turned the whole nation into a city of lights. Santa must have arrived earlier to this beautiful country where the majority of the people I think are strong believers in the christian faith. Together with my mother and siblings we had a fruitful visits to few churches and a faith healing centre in Taygatay. We had the opportunity too to join in the mass at Quiapo church. Many believe that praying to the Black Nazarene can produce miracles. Our first day was a long road journey to Baguio city which took 6 hours drive from the airport and only reached the place at around 10pm. On the way to Baguio city we stopped over for dinner and had the first taste of Filipino foods at a beautiful restaurant which I forgot to see the name of that restaurant. Paying 9,000 peso for 12 pax was a little over priced I think as the dishes weren't that much but probably because of the nice setting of the restaurant that added to the cost. Mom was so mesmerized by the live musicians that serenaded beautiful songs while we ate, generously tipped 500 peso much to my shock as I thought that it was all in the bill. But can't blame her as it is in her nature of being overly generous. She would put out her hands in the moving coach to give to the street children who came rushing during the traffic jam. There wasn't much to see in Baguio city but maybe it was only a night stay and a day for sightseeing before moving to Manila city. We went for the horse ride, went to see the mansion, grotto and a church. Bought few souvenirs from the handicraft stalls there before another long drive to Manila. Sitting long hours in the coach can be very tiring but the colourful and beautiful lightings that lined up the streets swept away my tiredness and released me of the thoughts of the distance. It could have been a dull and boring journey travelling on a pitch dark night without street lights in most areas but the glitters of the neon lights saved us from falling asleep. And I truly enjoyed the travels during the night. In between our programmed sightseeing we took off to do some shopping in those famous places like greenhills, tutuban, sm malls and Robinsons. Did not really enjoy the shopping as we have to fight our way among the sea of christmas shoppers. Really it wasn't a good time for shopping but we had a good bargain for most of our purchases. We came with one luggage but returned with three luggage per person! Luckily we pre purchased our extra luggage capacity with the airlines so wasn't too worried of the excess weight. Some of my siblings who were first timers to the Philippines were so overwhelmed with the much cheaper goods they get there compared to our pricey goods in my country promised to come back in the very near future for more shopping sprees. My elder sister bought a lot of religious stuffs which are of limited choices in my country. Unfortunately, time was so limited that I did not manage to go online to get in touch with other mylotters otherwise it would have been a real life meeting with people that I often interact here. Maybe I would be there again next year to venture to see more interesting places in this beautiful country.