Saturday, what a day.

Here are Omay and Glenn, two of my friends here, in the Mediterranean cafe in the Podium Mall, Ortigas, where we went yesterday. The staff weren't very friendly and the service was passable but I didn't care because the food was really good and as I have to go halfway across the city to get decent European food I wasn't going to complain about something as petty as service. It's the food and the company that matters.

We had a really good time. We started out in Quiapo as I wanted to visit a church called San Sebastian that is one of the cultural treasures of Manila as the exterior is made entirely of metal. It sounds dreadful but it's actually very beautiful as it was built in 1891 and had withstood all the earthquakes since. Unfortunately it was closed but I got to see the exterior anyway which is very interesting. Later that day I learnt that this is a no-go area at the moment because of the sometimes violent anti-government rallies that form around it. Thank the Lord we didn't encounter anything like that, just a few beggars.

We then went to the Podium and Mega malls, had lunch and went to a few shops. I bought, among other things Raymond Arroyo's biography of Mother Angelica, the founder and CEO of EWTN, the Catholic television network that is the world's biggest religious network and is now broadcast to 105 million homes all over the world. She really is an amazing woman, Catholics and all Christians owe her so much.

I was surprised to find out that Oktoberfest has even made it to the Philippines. We went to a big avenue that had been filled with tables and chairs for the evening. For 150 pesos per person (1 pound 50, 3 US dollars) you got a table, as many beers and loaded nachos as one could physically consume and got to see live bands perform on the stage. At the end there was a rather hastily put together firework display that unfortunately caused the area where we sat to fill with smoke. Many sparks also rained down on us and burnt a big black spot onto my white linen trousers but never mind, it's all an adventure I suppose. I said that the closing prayer of the event should have been, "save us from the fires of hell".

Hope everyone is well,

In Christ through Mary,

Daniel