Manila

To conclude our stay in the Philippines, we visited the capital city Manila. Unfortunately, Madlin did not like the city. There is a lot of poverty and the city stinks in many places. However, we had a great hotel. The room was on the 15th floor and we had a view of Manila Bay (although not very impressive). The room was cozy and we could watch Netflix on the TV. It was the first time in 9 weeks that we didn't watch on the tablet😍! On the first day, we slept in. Then we had breakfast and went shopping. Since heavy thunderstorms were forecasted for the evening, we stayed at the hotel and ordered food.

This evening was so relaxing for Madlin that she decided to spend the next day the same way. Chris wanted to visit the old town and went alone. The old town called 'Intramuros' is located in the city center. It is still completely surrounded by city walls and there are strict rules for construction projects in this area. Most of the houses are built in the Spanish colonial style. Besides, there is also the 'USA', a district within the old town where only Filipinos live.

On that day, Madlin received mail from Germany. She received the certificate of recognition as a social pedagogue from the state. Now she has it in black and white. For this reason, we celebrated the evening in a special way. We toasted with champagne and had a delicious meal in a rooftop bar. Chris' highlight was the freshly sliced roast beef. For Madlin, it was the salami on dark whole grain bread, closely followed by fresh oysters😂.

Tomorrow we will continue to Vietnam.