Category Archives: Local Culture

Picnicking in Pila with TourFlair

A beautiful blue Manila sky dusted with talcum powder clouds.  For the first time in a fortnight there is no thick coating of smog over the city. We are heading south towards Pila on a gastronomic tour arranged by Filipina … Continue reading →

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Travelling Back in Time

Philippine heritage is a mixed bag of cultures that is reflected in its people, its language, its food and its architecture. During three hundred years of Spanish colonization, Augustinian monks constructed grand European-style churches all over the archipelago, the conquistadors … Continue reading →

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A Nuclear Theme Park?

In Britain there has been a trend over the past thirty years or so to convert old farm buildings and factories into beautiful homes. It is hard to imagine doing the same kind of recycling with the empty nuclear power … Continue reading →

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Five More Things I Love about the Philippines…

Jeepneys The jeepney is a cheap and popular form of transport in the Philippines. Originally adapted from US military jeeps left behind in the Philippines after World War II, today they are made in the Philippines, mostly from second hand … Continue reading →

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Abide With Me

Wednesday 25th April, 2012. ANZAC Day.  The 2012 Commemorative Dawn Service. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Heritage Park, Manila  They shall not grow old as we that are left grow old. Age shall not weary them, nor the years … Continue reading →

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Another Gold Star for Enderun Colleges

‘Enderun is committed to the highest international standards of academic excellence. Students receive professional training from leading figures in the global business and hospitality industries.’ Enderun Colleges offers undergraduate degrees in international hospitality management and business administration, as well as … Continue reading →

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The Pinkification of the Rainbow

  Have you been into a toy shop lately? You should. Walk into any toy shop and check it out. One end will be full of Lego and action figures and guns and games. The other end will be pink. … Continue reading →

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Life’s A Beach

‘The eye can observe nature and the mind describe it, but it is truly experienced in the soul.’ ~ Jill Murch (words and photo)   Earlier this year, I escaped to the beach for a few days R&R with my … Continue reading →

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It’s only semantics!

I am a trailing spouse. I don’t find it the most flattering of titles, it makes me feel like Virginia Creeper, ivy or a loose thread on his coat tails, with a definite inference that I am dragging on his … Continue reading →

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A Japanese Tea Ceremony

This week I witnessed a Japanese Tea Ceremony hosted by the Urasenke Manila Association at the Filipino Heritage Library. It was a fascinating, absorbing occasion, and one I felt honoured to attend. Tea first arrived in Japan from China in … Continue reading →

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