MaryFurr's "Tiger Meet 1998" and "A Fistful of Pesos" Tour Album

Being the diary entries by one fox puppet and her human :) After a break from overseas travelling, MaryFurr visits Asia for the first time - her destination, the tropical city of Manila in the Philippines.

**December 1998 / January - July 1999**
	In November 1998 Terry got another call-up to go overseas on business - this time to the city of Manila in the Philippines! The arrangement was that we'd both go over for December, return to New Zealand for Christmas, then go back on site for another six months of so. As there are no direct flights from New Zealand to the Philippines, we flew via Sydney. Here I am at the Sydney Qantas Club lounge, taking a well-deserved break.
	Because it was Christmas season, all the flights out of Sydney were heavily booked - including the one to Manila! So instead, we had to fly via Hong Kong, which added another 8 hours to the normal trip. Luckily, we got to fly Business Class this time due to the extra trip duration (we would normally fly Economy). On the left, this is me waiting for the connecting Manila flight at Chek Lap Kok, and to the right here's one of Terry's colleagues posing with me.
	Whew! After all that travel, I needed a break! This is by the pool at the New World Hotel in Makati City, the business district of Manila, where Terry and I were staying. Makati is one of the better parts of Manila to be - though I think New Zealand still is a lot better. On the other paw, the hotel is ten times better than anything we stayed in while in England!
	As per my previous trips overseas, I had to play the part of a tourist-fox. It wasn't that easy, as it is very hot in Manila, and there were no friendly trains or buses to catch! Just as well taxis were cheap... Anyway, one place I went to (pictured here) was the old walled city of Intramuros, dating back from the original Spanish colonisation of the Philippines. Very old, and rather battered after WW2, but very historical.
	Another important part of the Philippine's history was the revolts against the Spanish in the late part of the last century. This is me in front of a monument to Filipino heroes, especially one Dr J. P. Rizal, who was a noted Filipino non-violent revolutionary. Behind me you can see two of the honour guards.
	"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" - and the same goes for foxes too! Unlike the previous trips we had, this time there were other New Zealanders on the project with us, and we got to have a few parties in order to unwind after the working week. I was lucky enough to go to one once...
	... and one good thing about the Philippines is that alcohol is really cheap - so I had my first taste of gin at one of the parties I went to! I had a good time there, despite some people grabbing me by the tail and swinging me around - ouch!
	Another tourist trip we did was to go to Corregidor Island, a 90 minute trip away by fast boat in Manila Bay. It was an extremely interesting place to visit with a lot of the old ruins from the battles fought there during the Second World War. This is us posing with one of the mortar batteries on the island.
	Still on Corregidor, this is Terry and I on one of the coastal defence gun emplacements. Somehow, having a big hard 12-inch gun between my legs got this vixen strangely excited, an[Censored by the Management - Ed.] but people didn't seem to notice. The rest of the people on the tour thought I was cute, and before long were offering to take pictures of both of us together. Does this mean I'm famous?
	I knew there were supposed to be foxholes in battlefields, but I can't say I think much of this one! [Actually, that's a mortar gun! -Ed.]
	Here I am, still on Corregidor, this time outside the Malinta Tunnel which was used as an underground base by the Americans and Filipinos prior to the Japanese occupation of the Philippines. There is a light and sound show run in the tunnel outlining the events that took place during the war - on both sides, Allied and Japanese. All in all, Corregidor is a very moving place.
	Back in Manila, this is me with my newest friend, Rommel Ignacio! He's a very talented Filipino furry artist who lives in Paranaque, and we had the great pleasure of meeting him during our stay. This is outside his house just before we did a trip to Megamall in Pasay City - according to people there, it's the fifth-biggest shopping mall in the world!
	After a trip back to New Zealand at Easter (and enjoying a much cooler climate for a couple of weeks), Terry and I returned to the Philippines for the last four months of his tour. By this time, Terry had been moved from the hotel to a 'condotel' - sort of a cross between apartments and a hotel - which, while not as nice as the New World, did have more room and a few more facilities. Here's me in the living room.
	Here's Rommel Ignacio and I together again (left), this time at an IBM-sponsored company outing to "Enchanted Kingdom", a Filipino fun park south of Manila. We had a great time there! We all enjoyed a few good rides (Terry wimped out on the roller-coaster [Ha! Okay, but I got the photos of Rom on the thing - Ed.]), and in the afternoon we spent most of our time in the swimming pool over the road.
	Here's all three of us - Terry, me and Rommel - still at Enchanted Kingdom. This photo was taken in front of an old-fashioned carousel ride at the park by one of the park staff. After the event was over, we all went back to Rommel's place in Paranaque to look at drawings and stuff. As it turned out, this was the last time that Rommel was able to get together with us before Terry's return to New Zealand.
	The weekend before Terry's return home in July, he and his work colleague Hartoyo (right) were invited by one of the project team (Gil, left) to have lunch with his family., then go on a day trip south of Manila. This was a very enjoyable day, as Gil served up a quite traditional Filipino lunch with nice fresh fish and chili prawns for us, and the trip to the Taal lake and volcanic crater was very scenic too. Thank you Gil! Salamat po! This photo was taken by Hartoyo's 'golf-ball' PC camera, hence the different quality.
	Here I am at "The Palace in the Sky" at Tagaytay, with Taal Lake in the background. As you can see, the "Palace in the Sky" - a former resort of the Marcos's now open to the public - certainly deserves its name! Taal Lake is actually inside an extinct volcano crater, and the island to the right in the lake has a volcanic crater in it as well, which contains another lake... I had to be careful here as the wind was quite strong - it's a looooong way down!

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