Christmas in Manila

Post date: 21-Jan-2010 05:52:28

Colin and I have always dreamed of being somewhere tropical for Christmas and in 2009 we made it a reality by spending Christmas with Liam and her family in +30 sunny weather. While we both really enjoyed learning about the Christmas traditions in Manila, I don't think we'd spend Christmas away from our family again. After all, Christmas really is about spending quality time with your family (but if you're religious it's about Jesus). We were able to embrace one of our traditions while we were away and that was to have Chinese food on Christmas Eve. We went to Chow King for supper with Carol. It was cheap, but tasty Chinese food.

We enjoyed a few San Miguel's on Christmas Eve. I always wondered why everyone wipes their beer bottles before they drink out of them or pour their beer into a glass. Well, I saw why on Christmas Eve. Some bottles can have quite the build up of rust on them. Manila is also one of the few places in the world where people drink their beer with ice in it. Odd, but it does keep your beer cold, but if you don't drink it fast enough it becomes a glass of H2o.

Everyone in the community hangs out in the streets on Christmas Eve singing videoke or setting off fireworks. It was a startling, loud, and smoky experience to see fireworks being set off so close to bystanders and houses. Part of the reason the fireworks are more smoky than Canadian fireworks is because they are set off so close to the ground and don't shoot up high in the air where the smoke can dissipate.A few random photos of Filipino fashion:

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