The weather upon our arrival in Manila completely disrupted David's plans for his last week in Asia.
This had been the view from my bedroom window two weeks earlier on the morning that we had headed north to Angeles before flying to Bangkok.
This was the exact same view from my apartment after we returned. The skyline of Makati was completely obscured by typhoon Saola, the aftermath of which continued to inundate Manila with torrential downpours intermittently for the next 7 days.
Manila is unquestionably not a pretty city. However, it embodies and personifies the inequalities which are tragically regarded as mere facts of life here, rather than catalysts for much needed change. Lack of sanitation is just one of the many problems facing the metropolis.
Jeepneys, which enable passengers to travel for as little as 8 pesos (about 12 pence), remain the lifeblood of the city. Unfortunately carbon emission controls are not effective in the Philippines and the pungent fumes which Jeepneys emit into the atmosphere tend to pollute not only the environment as a whole, but also passengers' lungs in particular. The open entrance at the back of the truck creates a moving vacuum and the gases are consequently sucked back into the vehicle which everyone then breathes in.
The Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City was the setting for the famous Thrilla in Manila, the third and final boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier in 1975. Ali won the fight by a technical knockout after Frazier's trainer refused to let him come back out into the ring for the 15th and final round.
As the rain continued to lash down on Manila, David set off for a day tour with the ever dependable Arnel behind the wheel. His first stop was La Loma, the Lechon Capital of the Philippines.
Not surprisingly, business was scarcely booming in light of the adverse weather conditions.
With just the one window in the form of a windscreen and no doors whatsoever, Jeepneys are particularly exposed to the elements. Plastic sheeting offers only limited protection against the monsoon rains.
Only a short distance from La Loma, the Chinese cemetery houses some of the most ornate buildings in Manila.
A plot of land in the cemetery is procured on the basis of a 25-year lease. In prime areas, it can cost anything up to 50 million pesos (1 million Euros) before a building has even been erected on it. If the lease is not renewed after that time, the body needs to be exhumed and moved elsewhere. In light of such facts, it is not surprising that a visit to the Chinese cemetery is like visiting a wealthy Chinese neighbourhood.
Quite a sizable number of the tombs are fully equipped with all mod cons including kitchens, washrooms, flushing toilets, a garden and even an upstairs balcony.
Some people are employed as caretakers in the graveyard to protect and look after individual mausoleums. Others just live there without a livelihood.
The Chinese tombs offer a fascinating contrast to the American cemetery which is located across the city. This was built to commemorate over 17,000 U.S. military personnel who lost their lives, primarily in operations in New Guinea and the Philippines, during the two-year battle for the Pacific waged against the Japanese from 1943-1945.
The names of the dead are inscribed in numerous long columns on a giant memorial in the very centre of the enormous graveyard.
It is particularly interesting to note that despite the large number of crosses, there are no actual bodies interred in the cemetery. This is due to the U.S. policy of repatriation of fallen servicemen and women, which ensured that all actual corpses had already been returned stateside before the cemetery was built.
American influence is still very much in evidence everywhere you go. Filipino indefinite self-identity is a concept which is often seen as rooted in the country's colourful colonial history. Filipinos describe themselves as having spent 350 years in a convent and 50 years in Hollywood.
Jeepneys are a perfect present day example of a Pinoy's on-going joint love affair with Catholicism and all things American.
The vehicles are still manufactured in the old-fashioned way by hand at the Sarao Jeepney factory at Las Pinas. The enterprise was originally established in 1953 by Leonardo Sarao with a starting capital of just 700 pesos borrowed from his mother.
Likewise, the enormous influence of the Roman Catholic Church continues to be evident everywhere you go. As a direct consequence of having been a Spanish colony from the start of the sixteenth to the end of the nineteenth century, there are currently over 75 million Catholics in the Philippines.
Quiapo Catholic Church is reputedly famous for enshrining the Black Nazarene, a dark statue of Jesus Christ which many believers claim has miraculous powers.
Whilst God-fearing Jeepney drivers navigate roads across all parts of the city, there are nevertheless streets which even they fail to penetrate. Safety standards in the construction industry here leave a lot to be desired and can make driving conditions difficult.
Some pipes in the middle of the road are little more than open sewers.
A short downpour consequently often results in severe flooding.
In downtown Manila this is nothing out of the ordinary.
Trikes add to the constant congestion on the roads as locals try to scrape a living via any means available.
Substandard electrical wiring presents an additional danger and consequently parts of the city are often susceptible to brownouts.
At the northern end of Manila Bay, an organization known as PCF (Philippine Christian Foundation) has built a school on Smokey Mountain rubbish dump, which now successfully educates the children living among the worst excesses of the stinking waste piled high there.
The school is located on the banks of the river where local residents scavenge for a living.
Their homes highlight the level of poverty that many Filipino families have to endure.
The authorities here appear to be completely oblivious to their fate.
More information about the school can be found at http://www.pcf.ph/
Street children are on view in abundance everywhere you go throughout the entire city.
This makes it particularly impressive that despite the horrific levels of poverty, the city streets (and indeed those right across the country) are also frequented by a vast multitude of immaculately turned out school children, all of them dressed in clean, pretty uniforms.
The high levels of poverty are also reflected in poor quality housing, which is not difficult to find in numerous parts of the city.
Such flimsy dwellings offer little or no protection against the monsoon rains which can batter Manila sporadically for days on end for up to 6 months of the year.
The buildings directly on the seafront frequently take a pounding from the waves in stormy weather.
Damage to the pavements is often extensive and there is little provision of funds for repairs.
Typhoon Saola, which hit Manila on the very day we flew back from Vietnam, washed a tide of floating refuse from the South China Sea back into Manila Bay.
Children used the opportunity to scavenge among the debris in the hope of supplementing their family's daily income.
There was a unimaginably huge array of garbage to sift through.
The official clean up began the next day.
The scale of the task was disconcerting.
And amidst the official workers the children continued to scavenge.
During the days that followed, Saola continued to unleash evermore rainfall and with the antiquated drainage system completely overburdened, large areas of the city started to flood.
With the water levels rising, it became increasingly difficult to find shelter from the torrential rain.
Eventually, almost half the city was inundated and even the major transport arteries through Manila began to succumb to the rain.
Over half a million people were affected by the floods and it is estimated that Saola caused damage to the value of almost US$10 million.
Undeterred by the weather, David and I decided to make the most of our final weekend together by venturing out into the provinces. Since a flight above the Rice Terraces or a trek up Pinatubo was out of the question due to the ongoing storm, we decided to head south towards the tropical rainforest.
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