The High Life

Monday night we went out to have a drink at the Diamond Hotel. The hotel is just a road away from Manila bay which can be seen from a completely new angle from the Sky Lounge bar on the 27th floor. The walls were made of glass giving one a superb view of the surrounding area with its glittering towers and colourful lamps that cast a benevolent glow upon the bay. The bar was very subdued: low lit with oil lamps on the tables and the music provided by a pianist and lounge singer. The piano had a beautiful sound; I think it must have been a Steinway or of a similar quality and the singer had a fantastic, soothing voice. Maybe this makes me strange but although I'm only 22 I have to say that I much prefer this kind of setting for an evening out than some noisy place where one can hardly hear oneself speak. It was very relaxing and oddly comforting: you have a nice drink, the music is good, everything is right with the world. This is I suppose the product that the bar is selling. As we entered the lobby I saw some German girls who couldn't have been any older than me going up to their room and it made me wonder what life must be like for those for whom a hotel like that is their standard travel accomodation. I don't know, but one thing I do know is that I'm glad that I'm not somebody who has come to this country and stayed in the best hotels and eaten at the best restaurants all the time, oblivious to the political crisis and grinding poverty that affects so many here. For better and for worse I've seen the real Philippines: its people, its ways, its good side and its bad side. And that, I think, not a fancy hotel, is real travel.

In Christ through Mary,

Daniel

Today is the feast of All Souls when the Church remembers and prays for the eternal rest of all the departed. Let us remember them in our prayers: May the Divine Assistance remain with us always and may the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace +. Amen.