We didn't get to bed until after midnight and had to get up this morning at 04:00 since we wanted to leave for the airport at 05:00. We got away pretty much on time, though since the shuttle wasn't available that early, we just got a pickup taxi. It was a blast from the past for Dave and me. We spent many hours in such contraptions when we worked at Ban Thong and Chiang Kham refugee camps. At the airport, we were first in line to check in and enjoyed riding in business class here to Bangkok (when we booked our tickets for some strange reason it came out cheaper overall to fly some segments in business class and this was one of them). The next flight, to Manila arrived about 15:00. Rey Evasco, the pastor of the Manila congregation planned to meet us but something interupped that plan. In stead we were met by Mrs. Bing Soriano, a member who owns a travel agency, and who had helped us when we came through Manila in 2002.

Bing drove us to the Manila Hotel, the old classic hotel on the bay. It's 90 years old, and has a lot of old world class and charm. It's no longer the most luxurious hotel in Manila, there are others newer, more modern and more expensive. But both Dave and I like historic hotels, even if they're showing their age a bit.


Dave had been here before, and asked for a room in the old wing of the building and we were given one on the fifth (top) floor. Dave told me that Douglas Mac Arthur had stayed there during his time as Governor General in the Philippines. It turned out we had a room just around the corner from the suite named after him, where he lived with this family while he ran things in the Philippines.

That was fun, even if the room had seen better days.

Rey and Cynthia came by shortly after we arrived and we drove down for dinner to the waterfront restaurant where they'd taken us in the summer of 2002. We had a variety of Philippine dishes including chicken soup, beef in sauce, rice, and San Miguel beer. It was pleasant to spend the evening with them.
Dave and I were very tired from the short night before and we were going to have to get up at 3:00 the next morning to make our 06:50 flight, so we are making it an early night.