So we made it out of the freezing Korean winter to the tropical Philippines – A place Shannon and I love!! This is our third trip and each time it gets better. We showed up in the early morning hours to Pink Hostel and crashed in our bunks

A fact that most people don’t know about the Philippines – It used to be an American colony. After the Spanish-American war, America took possession of the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Guam and Guantanamo bar in Cuba. The U.S. sent waves of English teachers over and this is why the Philippines is the easiest Asian country to get around using English. It is also the most Christian Asian country thanks to 300 years of Spanish rule before the U.S.

We slept only a couple hours before heading to the Chinatown area for a food walk!

It was Chinese New Year so the area was bustling even more than usual. We went on the food walk with Old Manila Walks. This particular tour was the Binondo Food Wok tour.

It started at this old church built by the Spanish in the 1500’s

Most of Manila was leveled during intense fighting between the U.S. and Japan at the very end of WWII. Tens of thousands of civilians were killed and the head Japanese general was executed by hanging for war crimes shortly after the Japanese surrender.

Our great tour guide, Ivan, took us all around a very busy Chinatown and we got to sample dozens of foods.

All throughout Manila, you can spot the iconic Jeepneys everywhere. These are public transit vehicles that are made from leftover Jeeps from WWII and other parts of vehicles forged together.

After a busy day walking around the hectic Chinatown area of Manila, we went back to Pink Hostel to relax in the commons area which has a nice pool, billiards table and ice cold Red Horse beers.

Yes, that is the same inner tube from Korea! Despite packing very light, we managed to fit it into our backpacks after deflating it. At night we hit our favorite grill spot, Super Six and caught some live music in the Malate area.