The Philippines -- City Life

Atrium of Shangri-La hotel at the end of Day 1

Last week Lisa took a trip to the Philippines with two of her colleagues. Isabelle grew up in the Philippines but immigrated to Canada more than 30 years ago to begin her career as a nurse.

Isabelle now teaches at the University of Calgary -- Qatar with Lisa and takes advantage of the (relative) nearness of Doha to Manilla by traveling home several times a year. This makes her a great local tour guide.

The adventure started in Manilla (an 8 hour flight from Doha). The city is noisy, crowded, hot and humid, even in the cooler month of February. There are lots of people, lots of colour, lots of traffic.

Manila is also the place to find knock-offs! Shoes, purses, sneakers, jewelry, watches. Because of the inexpensive cost of labour, companies (like Adidas) have shoes made in Manilla for the market in USA. Sometimes the factories produce "extra" sneakers and then make them available locally at a much reduced price.

The other type of "knock-off" is when one original Rolex watch (for example) is given to a factory to make a replica. The original watch is taken apart and reproduced in exact detail and then sold in the market at much-reduced prices.

There are also markets with local items --baroque pearl necklaces, ornaments made from caprice shell, lamps made of abalone shell, outdoor lighting made from coconut shells, salad tongs made from kamagong wood and mother-of-pearl. There are also many markets of local clothing items -- cotton, pineapple fabric, lots of polyester!

extra suitcase for all the purchases