Christmas Day in Manila

Today is boxing day morning and I am sitting in the ruins of Fort Santiago in Manila writing this post. Yesterday I went to Resort World for Christmas lunch and a show. Resort World is an addition to the Airport Harriott Hotel which contains movies, a theater, shopping and a casino. It just screams money while standing in the middle of crumbling houses and poverty.

The tree below was inside Resort World. There is a small choir on the tree.

I had lunch at the buffet in the casino because I thought it would be cheap, but they actually base the meal price on how much you gamble so mine was expensive.

Then I saw Kaos, billed as a Broadway/Las Vegas show. It was unusual and full of talented people but Kaos is the right name for it. The cast was from all over the world including acrobats, break dancers, magicians, dare-devil bike drivers, stunt guys, lions and tigers and of course the cast of the actual story line trying to perform amidst all the other stuff going on. The costumes were great, the music by the Philippine Philharmonic orchestra was wonderful, the set was nice but the whole thing just fell apart in the middle of a bad idea.

Went to bed early to prepare for my 3AM phone call to the kids.