The Philippines: Around Manila (1)

Here are some pictures from around Manila, including Mapayapa Village II, Holy Spirit School, Megamall, and an uncle's Zoo. This is from our trip to the Philippines in January 2005. Click on a picture to receive a larger, higher quality version. Enjoy -- Jim

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Some pictures from around Mapayapa Village II, where my wife's parents live. It is a community in Barangay Holy Spirit in Quezon City (Metro Manila). Mapayapa means serene in Tagalog.
	These are from near where our folks live.



	The common area of Mapayapa Village II includes a basketball court.

	It also includes a butterfly garden.

When in Quezon City, Claire went to school at School of the Holy Spirit. We walked over there one day.

They happened to be taking class photos when we were there.

The school's alumnae association was holding some events to celebrate the school's 25th anniversary.
A cat resting under a school bus.

More of Barangay Holy Spirit.
	This house was visually appealing.

Some miscellaneous pictures from the Manila area.
Motoroized tricycles are common, an inexpensive means of travel, if you don't mind being crammed in.

A light traffic time. In this picture you can see a couple jeepneys, another popular method of transportation. The drivers tend to be aggressive in traffic, so they are called "king of the road". The drivers pay a fixed daily amount for the vehicle and they need to do many circuits to make any money.

A more typical traffic pattern. Driving is pretty chaotic there, with many vehicles on the road. Lanes markings are generally considered decoration and red lights are sometimes considered suggestions (de facto if not de juro). I didn't see as many accidents as you might expect though.
A view of Makati City, a business district where many international companies are located.

	Rizal park in downtown Manila.

SM Megamall is I think the largest mall in the Philippines. 6 stories tall, with each story being rather expansive.




	They have an ice skating ring inside.

	They have blind people giving good massages there.
	They don't cost that much either. The sign shows that a 60 minute massage costs 150 pesos (around $3 US).