Wednesday we were up at 4:00 am to get ready and head to the Davao City airport. Finally on our way back. We would be stopping and spending the night in Manila before the long stretch from Manila to Seattle. By now, we are so use to toting our luggage around that we have a system. One of my suitcases got misplaced in Family Circus so it’s getting to stay therefore I had to pack everything in my one big bag. Boy is it heavy. I will have great arm muscles when I return. We took one last ride on the Jeepney. I would love to have a Jeepney in the states and you guys would really enjoy riding in one. The airport was a typical airport so not much to say there. When we arrived in Manila we were picked up by a charter bus for the touring part of our visit. We visited the oldest remaining house in Manila with all of it’s carved furniture, china, and restored paintings. It was nice although it was extremely hot. No air conditioning in that house. No glass windows either. Just wooden slatted shutters that you could open.
After there we went to a fort and toured the grounds, another very old structure. The next place was my favorite. It’s the largest cemetary on foreign soil where 17,000 american soldiers are buried that fought in World War II. We fought with the Philippines during that war and the soldiers that died there were all buried on these grounds along with many unidentified soldiers. It was a sobering thought to think about the price these soldiers paid for freedom and the families that were impacted by this war. This reminded me of Washington D.C.s Arlington Cemetary.
After leaving the cemetary we headed to our hotel for one last evening in the Philippines.