It was elbows out at the baggage carousel. I had to dive in and grab my bag before it sailed away. Bill made it on time to meet me at the airport and expertly guided me to the area where the lowest fare cabs were locally (of course not conveniently by the entrance). It was so great to see him and I am really happy that our vacation officially began.

We checked in to the very beautiful Peninsula hotel in the Makati district. We were corralled into a VIP lounge, a very eclectic room with booths that were decorated as the Hindenburg in NYC, a boxing room, a room of shoes with a shoe chandelier and an Art Deco room.

It was a bit of a wait to check in, but it was worth it. We have a great room with a nice view of the city.

After freshening up we walked to the Greenbelt, Makati and had a bite to eat at Mesa. We had the pork belly, baby squid and duck fried rice. The service was slow and did not always get our order right, but the food came fast and was tasty!

We hearded over to the Ayala Museum. We first watched a film about the history of gold in the Phillipines, then toured two floors of the museum of gold, pottery, textiles, and paintings.

We really enjoyed the ornate pieces of gold jewellery, especially the chains and earrings. There was a beautiful gold sash that was a sign wealth on display too.

We really enjoyed the oil paintings from three artists dating back to the 1800’s. I really liked the man on a wood canvas by Juan Luna and Bill really liked the Palay Maiden by Fernando Amorsolo. It reminds Bill of his local office mates, from a different time and age.

We walked over the the Fairmont rooftop and happened upon an all you can drink cocktail happy hour. What could be more up our alley!?

The Humphrey Reunited Tour continued at the Okada Casino. We found the Japanese restaurant that Bill had previously gone to. I am not sure how he found it the first time, because it is not off the casino floor, it is down a hallway behind another restaurant.

The restaurant, imamura, was fantastic and the service was amazing. We sat at the counter and were able to watch the chefs preparing our sashimi and tempura. We initially ordered 6 pieces of sashimi each. Bill had tuna, salmon and scallops. I had tuna, dogfish and scallop. It was all so beautifully and expertly prepared and presented. We had shrimp, sweet potato, onion and white fish tempura, which was also fantastic.

The timing of our meal prevented us from viewing the 9pm water show, which we expressed to the chef, so he graciously supplied us with more food (mostly at our own expense) - a couple pieces of sushi, some pudding and matcha ice cream. Then we had some dessert that I would call petit fours, but am not sure if that is accurate. What I know for sure is, they were incredibly beauiful and delicious.

We capped off the evening with the water, music and light show that is similar to the Bellagio fountains in Vegas. There were two songs - Turandot by Pavarotti and Aerosmith’s I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing. It was accompanied by coloured water fountains in time with the music. Bill thinks the colour puts it over the top, but I thought it was very beautiful and moving (yes, I was crying, you would have too!).

We headed back to the hotel after the water show and I crashed hard. I walked into the room, laid down and immediately fell asleep. I woke up at 3am (I had a brief moment of “where are my pants?”), took off my dress, then went back to sleep!

Manila!