Secrets of Manila - Philippines

After a fairly relaxing week in Kuala Lumpur my next destination for a quick holiday stint was chosen to be the Philippines. There had always been a small part of me that wanted to visit the 7,107 islands, yes, all of them. This of course would only be possible if you have the time and money to spend for this adventure, nothing more in the world would have been more exciting at that point. Of course with a job back in London the freedom to do exactly that was not given so I settled with just 3 areas of the Philippines to start with.

Let's talk about Manila in this entry. Previously I have had the honour of getting in touch with another blogger, Eye in the sky. I wrote him a few years back an email, being so impressed with his blog as well as the areas he visited that I just wanted to express that and we have been in contact ever since. When the opportunity arrived that I could finally visit the Philippines, the first reaction was to write him and check if I could maybe get some advice on this or that, getting a route together etc. I got so much more than I have ever expected, considering that we had actually never met before and in fact were still strangers.
 

Eye offered to take me around and pretty much took care of everything within my itinerary. I really think that Eye pretty much planned my whole trip including all the little details, which I really appreciated. He offered as well to pick me up from the airport which I gladly accepted.
 

So the day of my arrival came and I got into NAIA around 10pm in the evening with Eye already waiting and the arrival exit. Together with him and his brother they stopped first at my hotel for the night to drop off my backpack and then we continued onwards to the Greenbelt. Greenbelt is a shopping mall located at Ayala Center, Makati City, which is just near Glorietta and SM Makati. It is owned by Ayala Malls, a real-estate subsidiary of Ayala Land, which is an affiliate of Ayala Corporation. We were in the search for a place to eat but given the time most restaurants were already closed within the mall. 

 

The mall itself was pretty impressive and nothing what I expected. To be honest my expectations were pretty much on the low key due to the fact that I didn't do the research properly myself as well as the stories I heard and at last as well because of the picture that the media would draw on a regular basis. I would get to see that part at a later stage as well, but mostly I was impressed with the build and with the surroundings, the people and the general atmosphere. 

In the end we decided to go to restaurant not far from there and enjoyed together a really nice and yummy meal. As I wrote this entry for Manila a bit late, I hope I am forgiven forgetting the names of the dishes.

 

After dinner, all there was left to do for me was going back to my hotel. The story with this hotel is a rather random one. At first they were not accepting credit cards, and secondly as soon as I had dropped my bag in the room they have given to me, they knocked on my door and moved me to a different and much better room. The price I paid for the two nights didn't justify the first room, but for the second room it was fine. When I returned from dinner they greeted me very apologetic and told me that they made again a mistake and moved me back into the first room. That room, as I said before, was not worth the money I paid for. There were yellow sprinkles on the toilet (yuck) and dirty in general. I had to switch off the A/C in the middle of the night because it was simply too loud. Overall it wasn't a horrendous hotel, just not value for money. Later experiences will tell me that this is an exception. 

The next morning I had a quick little breakfast at the hotel. While they didn't have anything from the menu, I did enjoy the local breakfast with Akado bacon and rice.

 

We started with a walk around the Roxas Boulevard which was surprisingly closed for a fun run that day and it gave me the rare opportunity to take a picture of the complete empty boulevard.

During the walk we came across as well the below landscape by the Manila Bay, which overall I found disturbing, but at the same time it fitted into the overall picture. As a visitor it is sometimes hard to think there is not much you can do about it. A whole debate could be started on the question, how much help is good for a country. The little help someone can start with is by not adding to the problem a country is going through.

As I said at the beginning, Eye took excellent care of me and brought me to  all kind of sites, as well as the Plazuela de Staint Isabel, which is a memorial dedicated to all the innocent victims of the war in 1945. With War going on all the time around us, it is barely a thing of the past but as well as today.

 

 
 
San Agustin Church is a Roman Catholic church under the auspices of The Order of St. Augustine, located inside the historic walled city of Intramuros in Manila.
 

 

 

Statue of King Carlos IV of Spain in Plaza de Roma

 

 

 

Fort Santiago
 

There is a certain amount of fast food restaurants around and I got the opportunity to try some. Jolli Bee. They are famous for their chicken wings and 'pasta'. Overall it was a very interesting combination of flavours and while I enjoyed that particular meal, it unfortunately didn't make it onto my list of favourites.

We passed by the Manila Cathedral as well but unfortunately it was under restoration and we weren't allowed inside.

One of the more interesting place I got to visit was certainly the Bahay Tsinoy Museum. It showed a different aspect of another ethnicity in the Philippines and was well worth the time spend there.

From there we took the small little Cycle rickshaws to get to the next destination. I am sure they would ask normal tourists for a pretty high price, but again being around a local friend, this was not something I had to be concerned about as he has done the haggling for us.

Manila Central Post Office

The Chinatown in Manila can only be described as crazy! The amount if people, the market, the congestion, the mall itself was so overwhelming that I was pretty much only left with the option to follow Eye with every step to ensure I am not getting run over or worse, get lost.

 

From Chinatown we made our way to the University of Santo Tomas and it was the first time we used a Jeepney for as little as 8 pesos. If I would have been alone in Manila I most likely would have not dared to take one and was therefore once again so glad for the company I had throughout the days!

 

University of Santo Tomas (Unibersidad de Santo Tomas (UST))

 

One activity I have really been looking forward to was the Sunset at the Manila Bay, it simply fascinates me that you have something so beautiful and mesmerizing, next to a day to day life of hundreds of people that will see the beauty every day and I wonder how it influences their life?

Taking a good-night swim before going to sleep in one of the boats or on the rocks of the Manila Bay. Would I swim in there? Probably not if I had other options.

Most painful is probably seeing the innocent face and not being able to do anything useful. Are they happy since they don't know it any differently? Are they longing for a different life? Will they have the motivation to get out of there as soon as are able to think about their options? Who will be able to be a role model to them and show them with effort you are able to change your life which appears to be destined for you. Where are they taking hope from every new day they wake up?

The time came to try Balut, one local delicacy that is a must have when you are in the Philippines as this is certainly not something sold in my next door supermarket. I might some more pictures later on this experience.

 

 

Eastwood City was on our way as well. Well more very out of the way to get to as it was on the other site of the city and a medium length drive by taxi to get there. I certainly would classify this area as an expat area where more wealthy people spend their time as well as tourists from all classes. Not a typical sight you have on the majority of Philippine Island, but a nice visit well worth it.

They had great illumination around the city which made you feel like you are in a fairy land.

 

Another fast food chain with some tasty pulled pork, rice and onions. I have been told it is an American chain that is getting fairly big in the Philippines.

 

I haven't written yet about Rizal, who is a very important character when you get to know the Philippines. He is a national Hero and has as well his own park and you will be seeing a lot of memorials for him around the country.

Lapu-Lapu was a ruler of Mactan, an island in the Visayas, Philippines, who is known as the first native of the archipelago to have resisted Spanish colonization.

National Museum of Manila

 

 

 As the trip itself has been a while ago, many notes and thoughts during the first time in Manila were not documented. Usually I write my entries as soon as I return from a trip when the memories are still fresh and the impressions are easily springing from my mind to paper. But this time other things kept me occupied and I haven't had the time to spend more effort on my posts. I hope with all the other entries I still want to write as well as more about my trip to the Philippines an update will follow soon.

A big thank you goes out to Eye at this point already, without him the trip wouldn't have been the same and I will be ever grateful to know such a great person! I hope our ways cross again in the future were I can return the favour and be able to be on the giving side.

Happy Travels!