East Asia Travelogue
	Manila: No sooner Vinay and Nilima got married than they were transferred to Philippines.  After settling down for a while they invited us to visit them in 1996. The apartment was  in Legaspi Towers on Legaspi Street in Makati, the main commercial centre in Manila, the capital of Philippines. The inhabitants are all Roman Catholics and the life style is American. Around  Christmas time the whole roads are illuminated  with lights and there is competition between buildings and prizes are awarded for the best lighting. Every building in Makati has a swimming pool, basement parking and gun-wielding security guards. The roads are very clean and everything is spic and span. Land Mark and Glorietta are the main shopping malls. In Philippines there is a concept called a village, which is actually a fortified colony of 100 mansions each with a swimming pool, huge lawn, security guards, high security gate where our driving licence is kept as security. Ramanan and Bhat’s families used to stay in one such mansion. We frequently used to go to meet Bhat, Usha and their daughters, Sweta and ... The Malls here are really huge. The mega mall is 1 km long and has 12 theatres, a church,  several auction rooms , skating ring and restaurants  inside it.. 5000 cars get parked inside it. Another mall has a mini train and huge roller-coaster inside it.  Landmark and Glorietta are the ones we shopped in  and are near opposite P&G HQs.  Landmark is so huge that there are 20 cash counters and the 400 tables & 800 chairs each are arranged for people to sit and eat look as if they occupy only 10% of the floor area.  At Glorietta we liked to watch water jet spring up 6 stories high and fall down at the same place without spilling outside. It is in the area meant for people to sit down and enjoy a music band or sales promotion.
		A moment I cherished most was when I attended an MBA class in the Asian Institue of Management where I got a standing ovation for being a mentor of Mr. Nishikant Mukherjee, moderator of the class. We had many good Indian friends like Rohan & Sangeeta, Bhujung and Sandhya, Rajiv and Shika, Mala and her Sardarji husband and students like Nikhil & Bharat.  Inviting each other for dinner parties was the norm. Vinay & Nilima had organized a Diwali get-together around the swimming pool. They had taken us  to numerous restaurants for food and icecream at Hagen Daz. I used to walk with a group of Filipino friends early in the morning and from there go to the French Bakery for bread and coffee and on special occasions of someone’s birthday,  in some good hotels for breakfast. We went to Manila 3 times for a total period of over one year, but the last time we went we had our dear grandson, Shantanu for making out stay a memorable one. His story is written separately in his supposedly auto-biography. We used to attend satsang at Luzon City on some Sundays. There are a few devotees in Philippines too. Vinay once played the sitar at an ambassador’s house to entertain foreign tourists. Vinay used to get coupons on his credit card and we used to encash in a famous Italian restaurant.
		Boracay: Went with Bhat's family by plane and outrigger and disembarked in the sea itself near the coast and waded through. Stayed in Lorenzo Resorts in beautiful bamboo houses raised on stilts. Boracay is famous for its clear water and white sand beach. We cruised round the sea in a  glass boat to view corals and marine life. I discovered that I am  quite a good billiards player. We went the second time to Boracay along with shantanu. This time we stayed in another hotel in a cottage  Shantanu enjoyed the plane and the outrigger rides and in going round the garden seeing all the different varieties of flora and fauna.
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