The women coming or going to market wore fantastic pieces of gold jewelry. I had managed to purchase several old Malay gold dollars on this trip, but they were as nothing compared to what the women were wearing round their necks. In the Philippines I was appalled to see the prisons used by the Japanese. Daily the tide came in and flooded each cell to within a few inches of the ceiling. One of our guides took us through the Chinese cemetery, where elaborate houses are built for family graves.
Families come there to play mahjong and to chat together.
Traffic on the streets of Manila was unbelievable. Noisy and dense but colourful. Our hotel room looked out over a barrio. We could hear the roosters crow and wave at the children. Flying home on Singapore Airlines I felt very secure as the prime minister, Lee Quan Yew, was also on the flight.