The Pope and the Philippines

As part of our whirlwind tour of Asia, we had a long layover planned for Manila. We were met at the airport by our good friends, Rod and Daisy Tingzon, who hoped to show us around their beautiful city. 

 
We weren't the only ones to arrive by plane in Manila that day…so did Pope Francis! As you can imagine, the airport was full of security and the city was expecting record crowds to greet him. In fact, the day was declared a national holiday and businesses were closed for the long weekend while the Pope was in the country. Luckily, we managed to leave the airport for a few hours and return in plenty of time to make our flight connection.

 

Due to road closures, we did not make it into Manila to see the historical sites. However, we drove out to Rod and Daisy's neighborhood and stopped for lunch at their country club, The Palms, which does not have a golf course…but has an amazing pool and gym facilities.

The Palms

We tried some Filippino food and I had my first butterfly tea…a mixture of iced tea, orange juice and grenadine.

Butterfly tea

From there, Daisy showed us a new condo development called Botanica.  Botanica video Daisy is one of the sales agents, and she could have sold me one if only I lived a little closer.

On the ride back to the airport, I couldn't help but notice that a popular mode of public transit is the jeepney. It is an open-air jeep that operates like a bus, carrying people down the main roads for a small fee. Back at the airport, we had more time to visit with the Tingzons as they were headed to Jakarta with us for the Pony Asia-Pacific Zone Meeting.

Jeepney