Kenneth Whiting (AV 14) - Naval Cruise Book

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- •i Almost half-way around the world from Boston, Dallas and Seattle lie the neorly 7000 islands of the Independent Republic of the Philippines. An ancient Filipino legend tells of a powerful giant who carried the universe on his broad shoulders until, tired and in anger, he cast his burden into the far-reaching waters of the blue sea beneath him. Some of the fragments disappeared, but those that stuck up above the surface of the oceans formed the continents and the islands of the earth. The people of the Philippines also have a story concerning the beginning of man. Centuries ago, the legend relates, o god and goddess lived on earth. Becoming lonely, they took clay, molded it in the form of human figures, and baked it. On their first attempt they did not bake the clay long enough; the second time they baked it too long; but on the third try they baked it just long enough. When the god and goddess breathed life into the figures produced in the three bakings, the first set became the white race, the second the black race and the third became the brown race. Thus according to the legend, the Filipinos, who belong to the brovyn race, were the perfect product of the gods. The land itself, a mountainous, heavily wooded terrain has a total area just a little smaller than our own state of Montana. The islands lie near the equator which explains it ' s hot, and a humid climate. The temperature hardly ever exceeds the mid 90 ' s but the humidity is very high, thus making the climate very uncomfortable. For the most part, English is the language spoken, but there are also more than 80 different dialects. To get to Manila, the largest and capital city, by ship, you will have to pass many famous spots including Corregidor and Bataan of World War 2, and your vessel will have been navigated through a maze of enemy ships sunk there during the war. Manila is a city of the old and the new. There has been a great amount of construction since the war. Several grim reminders still remain, among those are the walled city or more commonly called old Manila.