I’ve been back in manila for the last 12 hours and it sure is better without the rain, but there still isn’t anything that I feel comfortable taking photos of. Just like when I was in Cebu it seemed like I never could get away from prying eyes enough to snap a photo and I felt that I was exploiting people if I took a photo of their poverty. So I ended up carrying my camera all day and didn’t take a photo.

I ended up walking all around the financial center and the docks. There are a few things that I’m starting to realize about the Philippines in general and Manila specifically; it must be a dangerous place. I haven’t had any problems, but everywhere I go there are security guards, and as I mentioned before they are normally heavily armed. I’ve also been warned dozens of times not to show my computer… I even had one old woman get a security guard to come over and tell me that I shouldn’t show my computer. She was frantic when she was trying to explain to me. The thing was, was that I got it I just had to look at the map.

I’m staying in a different hostel than I did the last time I was here and this one seems better, but the neighborhood is a little bit sleazy. Each time I’ve left the hostel I’ve been propositioned by prostitutes, and they were not subtle in their intentions. I don’t think I’d stay here again just because of the neighborhood, but having said that, I’ve been propositioned all over the city so it may  just go with being “on the ground” here.

I leave for Hong Kong tomorrow morning and I’m starting to get a bit excited. I think I’ll have better opportunities for taking photos than I’ve had here and that will be a good thing. I plan on going to Macau for at least a day, and I’ve got about four walking tours planned as of now. It’s also the last part of my vacation so I’m going to try and do some relaxing too.