I’d been to Manila before, it’s a city of great contrasts and extreme poverty in places sprinkled with beautiful parks and squares and some stunning Churches. It’s pretty chaotic, the traffic is mad and some of the best tours seemed to head out of the city.

My travel buddy Jane’s son is married to a Philippine lady and they happened to be out In Manila when we were there, so we took the opportunity to meet up for the day and it was a real treat to see it through the eyes of a local.

We had a quick walk through the old town, Intramuros, a drink in a local bar and then headed off to the Manila Hotel to chill, chat and eventually grab some lunch.

I had pizza. I’d been craving pizza since Brisbane. But I did enjoy the local specialty Halo Halo for pudding. This ‘mix mix’ contained everything from shaved ice, cream, fruits, beans, coconut, syrup and while I mostly had no idea what I was eating I really enjoyed it

We didn’t do a lot else In Manila, just had a really lovely, relaxed day catching up with Janes family