It's been just over a week since we last blogged and we've been really busy! We spent a lovely couple of days at Steve's beach house at Anilao where we celebrated his birthday with lots of his and Cecile's friends; the weather was beautiful and the house is right on the beach and so we swam and snorkelled and also took a trip out on his boat to the Eagle Point Resort for a bite to eat (travelled on a huge inflatable off the back of the boat and saw some dolphins on the way back too). Skeet came with us too and did some swimming of his own!

We had a lovely meal all together on our last night, and left the following day for Manila where we spent two nights at the Riviera Hotel (cheapest we could find and still very nice). On our first night in the city, we navigated the MRT and the LRT to get to the Araneta Coliseum to see the Beach Boys - we really enjoyed ourselves and it was a great night, even if Mike Love is pushing 75...

We did a lot of walking on our second day, looking at the Rizal Park which has, amongst other things, a Chinese garden, a Japanese garden and a Chess area; walked through a huge and very busy maritime recruitment fair on the street and then took a horse and cart to Intramuros, driven by Ernesto who gave us the lowdown on the history of the place. When we finished there, we walked back to Pedro Gil for lunch and then walked down to see the Coconut Palace which was built by Imelda Marcos for the Pope's visit (apparently it cost so much money to build that he was disgusted and refused to go) but they were filming and so we weren't allowed in which was a shame.

Up at stupid o'clock the next day to get to the airport for our flight to Hong Kong - at an hour and a half this is the shortest flight we've had so far. The transport system here is fab - easy to use, clean and efficient, almost impossible to get lost! We headed for backpacker central - Mirador Mansions on Nathan Road - and managed to find ourselves a room in one of the guest houses for sixteen pounds a night. It just about fits a double bed, two backpacks and us, but it is very clean, we have our own shower room and toilet, and the people are very friendly. We also have (intermittent) free wifi in the room, with an internet cafe just across the hall which costs about a pound an hour.

We've been up to the Peak on the tram, taken the Star Ferry across the harbour (several times - we've now discovered the lower deck which is cheaper and only marginally less pleasant), taken a tour around the harbour in the evening and seen the light show, been to the Botanical and Zoological Gardens, taken a glass-bottomed cable car all the way up to see the Tian Tan Buddha (it's enormous), and visited Disneyland Hong Kong which was great as it was not crowded and we didn't have to wait long for any of the rides. They also have a special train to get you there which has Mickey Mouse-shaped windows; not a particularly cultural day out but good fun and we also went to a drawing class and learned how to draw Winnie the Pooh and Mickey Mouse.

We've booked an overnight train to Shanghai which leaves on Tuesday afternoon, and we've booked a nice-looking hostel there for a couple of nights before we head up to Beijing for Chinese New Year which should be an adventure! After that we're not sure yet - most likely Japan but we'll have to see what flights are available.

We posted some stuff home this morning - we've bought a few souvenirs and didn't want to carry them around in our backpacks - and the people at the Post Office here were very helpful.

We're having a great time and are really enjoying seeing lots of different places and experiencing different cultures; the one thing we've found odd is how un-multicultural everywhere we've visited so far has been - we're so used to being in London where you rub shoulders with such a variety of people that it's easy to forget that not everywhere is like that, but discovering all of this is all part of the adventure!

We've a few other things planned for the next few days before we leave Hong Kong, and need to start planning what we're going to do once we get to Shanghai and Beijing; all in all the Philippines and Hong Kong get a big thumbs up :)

Hope you are all well,

Simon and Jane xx