The SO's in town for two months (yay!) and we finally got the chance to spend weekends together like a normal couple. :) We love taking walks together and one Sunday - inspired perhaps by Carlos Celdran who just got arrested the previous week for taking a piss at the Church for meddling with government stuff - we decided to take a tour of Manila, on foot.
We woke up at dawn (4am!) and from UN Avenue started walking towards the Cultural Center of the Philippines (a distance of more or less two kilometers), taking pictures along the way.
It was a bit cloudy, but the sun was peeking through the clouds...perfect weather for a stroll indeed.
We enjoyed people-watching while walking and eating taho (soft/silken tofu with tapioca beads and arnibal) - there were couples, families, people jogging, old men fishing (yes, fishing) and kids swimming (yes, swimming!), vendors selling food and other stuff, and even those offering massage services by the seawall (we were tempted, but decided against it hehe). We saw dragon boat racers in training and stopped over to gawk at a father and son playing their bamboo marimba-like instrument.
We even saw this vintage Volkswagen van parked along the road, looking good as new. I found it so deliciously psychedelic I had to take a photo (I'm weird like that).
We rested a bit when we got to the CCP Complex. Did more people-watching...especially the health-buff group doing aerobics and all sorts of exercise regimen around the area. It felt festive! After a yummy omelet and corned beef breakfast at Tropical Hut near Star City, we started heading back. We crossed the boulevard and walked along the other side passing through Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and the now closed Grand Boulevard Hotel.
We stopped by Rajah Sulayman Park in Malate and passed by the Malate church.
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| Rajah Sulayman park in Malate |
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| Malate church |
Down the street in front of the church there was a food stand selling rice cakes,
kutsinta,
suman, sapin-sapin, and other Filipino
kakanin, which reminded me of breakfast/merienda in the province...my nanay loves
kakanin. :)
Just as we started heading back towards Roxas boulevard, we saw a calesa (horse-driven carriage) driving by and on an impulse decided to take a ride to Intramuros. Just like tourists. It was crazy fun! :) The driver, Ariel, was very perky and talkative but apparently photo-shy...he didn't want to have his picture taken, lol. He just volunteered to take our photos when he would stop at the historic tourist-y places and tell us an anecdote or two about them.
Finally we got off at Intramuros, the walled city.
It was like taking a Humanities II trip all over again. I loved the cobblestoned streets, the old (or renovated) buildings that really gave the place a historic feel.
It was my first time to go inside the Manila Cathedral (yeah, I don't go to the Manila area that much) and honestly felt a little underwhelmed. It seemed so much bigger on television. :) Perhaps its because it wasn't really the original structure, which was destroyed and rebuilt numerous times due to typhoons, earthquakes, and of course World War II. I can just imagine how it would have felt like inside if it was still the same structure built in the 1600s.
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| The Manila Metropolitan Cathedral-Basilica |
San Agustin Church reminded me of the the churches we visited during our Ilocos trip back in college. It's designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, under the classification "Baroque Churches of the Philippines." It was completed in 1607, and the interior is awesome, albeit eerily so. I just love structures that look, feel, and smell historic. It's like being brought back in time. :)
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| San Agustin Church |
I didn't even know that Miguel Lopez de Legazpi's tomb was in there. :) Eerie, but really interesting.
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| Miguel Lopez de Legazpi's tomb inside San Agustin church |
Of course, a tour of Manila won't be complete without visiting THE monument of monuments:
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| Rizal monument (Luneta park) |
We also didn't forget to get a photo of Kilometer Zero, right across the street. :)
After all that walking we went and got ourselves halo-halo to cool down. Yummeh.
I think people should do this at least once in their life - explore their own neighborhood. Sometimes we get so busy and caught up with big dreams of traveling the world and seeing other places, that we never get around to seeing - I mean really seeing - the beauty and sense of history that surround us.
Manila is a beautiful city...I mean, once you get past the poverty and traffic and pollution. Hey, even the big cities like New York or Paris have an ugly side to them.
This walking tour has been an experience indeed. And doing it with my significant other made it even more special. I didn't even feel tired.
I'm so ready for more. :))
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