Manila, Philippines
I visited Manila once before about 10 years ago. I was still able to find my way around this time, and the only major change I noticed was that the place seemed cleaner than the last time I visited. The best thing about Manila is that just about everyone speaks English, so everything becomes more accessible. The people of The Philippines are very industrious, and when we arrived, they had already printed up coffee mugs with selected photos (our photos!), as well as a t-shirt listing our crews manifest on it.
There's a big mall - I think it's called the Mall of Asia (or Megamall, or something). Normally I steer clear of such places, but this one had decent air conditioning... and an ice rink.
My memory is so bad about this stuff, but there is a mansion built mostly from coconut wood, that was supposed to be the residence of the pope when he visited, or something like that.
You can get guided tours of the place. Notice the lamps in the background.... coconuts!
I guess it is also a popular site for weddings, and such.
Our hockey team played the locals at the above mentioned mall. It must be difficult when everyone is wearing the same coloured sweater.
Rizal Park is a nice place to hang out. Not much to say here - it's a park, with monuments.
... statue at the park.
... another statue. I could probably look up more details about all this, butthen again, so could you.
A nice home to birds... at the park. I'm sure there are nicer places to go in The Philippines, and it would be nice to go somewhere besides Manila next time.