PHILIPPINES 2: Continuing Harvey Phillips’ letter home in 1926 from his trip around the world on a freighter, describing his stop in the Philippine Islands.

“In the fields you see water buffalo drawing sledges and natives flaying rice stalks to get the grain. Had we had a few more days we should certainly have taken the trip up to Baguio, the Simla of the islands.

“Just as I was walking up the Escolta whom should I run into but none other than Ted Stevenson, the one person we wanted more than any other to see in the East. We had thought that he was in Peking, but it seems that he is teaching at the Canton Christian College, and was taking a week’s vacation in the Philippines. He had just returned from a trip inland, and was leaving the following day for Hong Kong. You can’t imagine how glad we were to see him, and the four of us had tiffin, dinner and a swim together before we left in the evening. Ted was (the class of ’25) at Princeton and is the son of Dr. Stevenson, the president of the Seminary.

Manila is a fine old Spanish city, but more expensive than any place in the world. New York is cheap in comparison. There is really nothing to buy except straw hats. Food, drink, entertainment and taxis are frightfully expensive. The only cheap thing we found were the caramettas, the two-wheeled carts which one hires to go anywhere. One does not walk in the tropics unless one can help it. You can take a carametta for one, two or three persons for about $.20 American an hour. The driver sits right behind the dashboard and keeps his little horse trotting at a fast clip.”