I went to the Philippines for Christmas of 1995. I like being away on holiday at Christmas. I've celebratedthe festivities in all sorts of locations. There are two things I remember in particular about the Philippines trip. First, it rained a lot - and I do mean a lot. The photographs don't really give any idea of just how much. The night that I spent sleeping in the bamboo hut pictured below was one of the most miserable I recall, plagued by a recurring dream in which I woke up and it was sunny. The trouble was that every time I woke up it was still pouring down and my sleeping back was more soaked through than the time before.
The second thing I remember is that I spent a lot of time with Alison and that because of that I enjoyed immensely what was really not much more than a beach holiday with muddy jungley interludes. It was a wonderful trip.
Sadly that particular romance went the way of most holiday romances. We send each other birthday cards and christmas cards nowadays.
Still, to put in another one of those quotes I'm so fond of, as Arsene Houssay wrote 'We must always have old memories, and young hopes.'
Here are the pictures.
Local tribesmen prepare our dinner while ...
...we survey our luxury accommodation.
Even the Jeepneys sometimes find the weather conditions hard to cope with. It took us almost an hour to get past this particular mudslide. Shame we were on our way to a village that didn't have showers.
Of course if there were no rain then there would be no pictures like this one.
Waiting for a boat across to the next island. There are over 7000 islands in the group so boat travel is more or less inevitable.
And where there are so many islands then there are also beaches and where there are beaches there are of course children.
But we mustn't forget the boats.
Different day.
Different island.
Same old weather.
Same old mud.
While the accommodation can sometimes leave a little to be desired...
.. the views outside your front door usually more than make up for it.
On the whole Manilla is a big sprawling modern city with nothing very remarkable about it. In the centre of it however is the old walled city Intramuros which is a quiet enclave full of beautiful old architecture.
Other cities also have their intersting buildings. This basketball game is taking place outside the Cathedral at Puerto Princessa.
Jeepney's are the commonest form of transport. They usually have comforting little mottos over the windscreen such as ' The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom.'
Not to mention the fear of the driving.