I get to write a blog about a different city! except i'm not actually there anymore...

today i went to manila with amor and may to buy beads for the jewellery making. We found what we needed and i bought some stuff to as I'm really getting into the earring-making malarkey!

Manila is a bit like a big version of angeles - a bit scruffy in most places with a lot of traffic and a lot of pollution. Everything is bigger and a bit better organised maybe. We got a bit lost getting home (its a big place) but that meant i got to see more of the city. What struck me suddenly, which i think has been around me the whole time, is the massive difference between rich and poor. Yes there is a lot of that in most countries but aparently the philippines is famous for it. You will walk down a street and see a big, new, flashy building right next to houses made of cardboard.

We bought some gum and things off a street seller and it wasn't until about half an hour later that I zoned into the fact that it was a girl of about 8 years old who was on her own with the stall.... There are quite a lot of children who are forced to work in the market etc when they should be at school. Also we saw a beggar who had a very deformed baby with him. Its just shocking because you'd never really see that in the UK - people may complain about the NHS and social services but its a lot better than the little they have here. You can get free vaccines for babies which is something, except the health centres often have no medicine because the staff pocket the money.

On the bus home there was some strange Filippino horror film showing so every now and then there was a spine-tingling scream or some OTT dramatic music. Rather inappropriate in so many ways.... lol

also saw a bit of rural life from the bus - people working in rice fields (with the big hats you see in films) looks like really really hard work! The sun was HOT! Also buffalo and the volcano Mount Aryat - there's some photos of all those things... not great pictures but they're there.

Anyway it was a good day - a bit hot and tiring but worth the trip.