day 60 – at sea (and pictures of phillipines)

beautiful drag queens of manila

look in the background and see the
ubiquitous starbucks...

blurry manila mall food court

colorful jeepneys jockey for position

the rain begins...
traffic signals and lane lines are mere suggestions here

monument to dr. jose rizal,
national hero who was executed campaigning
for freedom from spain

many sidewalk vendors

manila ferry and part of cityscape from upper deck

my friend, vanessa, far right with her mother, baby daughter and cousin

my awesome piano bar bartender, don, and his wife, paz

my bar manager, willie and his wife and son

moody manila harbor pic

the pile of what looks like debris beyond containers
is actually the rooftops of many shack style structures
where people live in rough conditions

finally here are the manilla pics from the last coupla days!

one more day til we get to hong kong and then bob will be here!!!  the days go by so slowly as we get closer to hong kong, and i know that once he is here, they will fly by!  absence not only makes the heart grow fonder, it makes you a little nuts… some moments it’s difficult to concentrate!  it is hard to feel like people can really know me without also knowing my family… i am still the same person, but we are definitely greater together than the sum of our parts, or however that expression goes… you know what i’m saying! 

anyway, tonight in the piano bar we did an open mic night starring the guests.  that means that we also do an 11 am prep session during the day to get ready, go over songs, pick out keys, work out intros and endings, etc.  we also have people doing skits, playing the piano, the accordion, even a flute player!  we had a filipino crew show at 10, so i had to call the show over a little short and tell the rest of the participants we would do part 2 the sea day after hong kong… i just didn’t want the last few people to get up to do their thing and have the room walk out to go get a seat for the crew show… i think that was the right call, and i hope no one will be miffed because they were there and didn’t get their turn… i’d rather have everyone get equal attention.

the place was packed, and we also had a great filipino crew show.  i always take an unprecedented break for those, because they knock themselves out in the wee hours, after working very long days, to put those shows together, and it’s a one night thing only, whereas i am there every night… i did go back and do a final short set afterwards for my few late night diehards… some of them didn’t come because hong kong is tomorrow and early!!!  cheers, di