Stepping outside of my hotel this afternoon I was surprised to see that that sun had finally made an appearance in Manila during my stay.
Including the one day I was here when I first arrived, and then also when I came back from Baguio, this is the first time that I've actually had to wear my sunglasses to protect my eyes against anything other than dirt and dust.
The sun's presence has very much been felt in terms of the temperatures I have been existing in between 25-29C every day so far , but it's usually thick fog which definitely has something to do with the amount of vehicles on the road, and all the high-rise buildings which prevent any fresh air from making it's way into the metro area.
I had a bit of a later start today, although surprisingly my legs weren't feeling too much pain from all the steps I made them walk around the capital yesterday. I really wish my sadly broken Fitbit was still around because I feel like I would definitely have broken my 30,000 steps a day record.
Before my last full day of exploring the city, I roused myself this morning to watch some basketball on TV. Due to the fact that the Philippines are big fans of the sport (something the two of us have in common) I have been quite lucky each morning to have been able to wake up and watch live matches in my hotel room. It's strange that on the other side of the world, games are on at what is quite a regular time, but back home in England I end up staying awake until 2am to catch them.
I also went down for a hotel breakfast which this morning was hot dog sausages, scrambled egg and rice with some salad and crispy fries on the side. I feel like it has been quite beneficial for me to be able to stay in hotels where breakfast is served, but at the same time there isn't much choice, and what they do serve is a bit of a mix between Filipino and Western cuisine.
Breakfast in this hotel has been particularly chaotic as there are seven floors of guests, each floor with about 30 bedrooms on, and the first meal of the day is only served between 8-10am in a room with a capacity of less than 25 people. It's particularly strange, because I don't think anyone (the staff or the guests) really know how things are supposed to work. Sometimes people come and take your order, but other times you have to go up to the counter to ask - the places I stayed in Baguio and Cebu both had buffet breakfasts which in a way is much easier because people can just help themselves, and it doesn't become this awkward mix between table service and All You Can Eat.
I was planning to walk another Manil-lion miles today as I was heading beyond the bounds of Rizal Park where I went yesterday, with the aim of continuing on towards the historically rich district of the capital which contains many popular tourist spots.
As yesterday I headed along Roxas Blvd, and for some reason the Bay Walk seemed to be in much better condition today - don't get me wrong there were still piles of bricks everywhere, areas fenced off and parts where the path was incomplete, but perhaps because the sun was shining all down there today it looked a lot better.
Another sight I missed off yesterday - and also forgot to mention in my blog about what I was aiming for today - was Malate Church. I think I just glossed over it yesterday because I was concentrating on how unlike a path the Baywalk was. Paying a bit more attention today, and actually knowing where I was going helped me significantly, and about half way down the path between where I joined and Rizal Park I saw the church on the opposite side of the road so decided to cross and take a few photos. Reading the sign on the front of a very old and dilapidated building I read that it first opened in 1934, and was certainly showing its age. Very impressive though.
Continuing along my way I eventually came across Rizal Park and decided to cross the road in a bid to successfully navigate my way towards Intamuros. This was uncharted territory for me, but I knew that first on my list to find was Manila Cathedral, and considering I could see a towering church spire in the distance I figured that all I had to do was head in a straight line, and use that as a guide to get there.
Intamuros, I also knew, had a city wall around it, and as I walked down the side of what looked to be a large green space I followed the path of the wall as I continued. I saw people walking on there and thought that I'd missed my opportunity to get a view into the city from one of it's best viewing points, but upon closer inspection I realised that the only people using the wall were people playing golf at the Intamuros course I was walking alongside.
It certainly was a bizzare, and unique setting for 18 holes, and I later discovered that every three holes or so, people would have to get into their buggies and drive along the wall to the next pin.
I eventually came across a very grand looking archway with a wall going across it, and saw that the huge sign on it said 'Welcome to Intamuros' I figured I was in the right place...
As I have mentioned a couple of times, one thing that gets a little tedious in the Philippines (and most of Asia in fact) is that you're cursed with looking and being a tourist so every single person looking to sell something, show you something or beg for money comes towards you with great vigour. Usually you can wave their persuasion away if you're not interested, but on my walk I actually had a little girl follow me for about 50m down the road with her hands out asking for some money. It's quite sad really, and I have seen a lot of people out on the streets in my time here clearly sleeping rough or certainly lacking in enough finances to feed and shelter themselves properly.
People trying to sell you things, I don't feel for. Taxi's beeping their horns have become common place, but it seems around Intamuros the thing you have to be on your guard against is people offering you a tour of the city in their bike and sidecar contraptions. By saying that you need to be on your guard against them, I don't mean that there's anything to be worried about, but if you want a peaceful walk around that part of the city it is definitely best not to make eye contact with them because otherwise they'll be trying to cycle alongside you talking to you as one guy did when I was taking pictures of the cathedral. He was giving me all kinds of useful information, clearly trying to sell his skills as an excellent tour guide, but on this occasion I knew exactly where I was heading so he moved on.
When I got to Manila Cathedral there was actually a wedding going on - or at least photos from a wedding being taken so I felt a bit awkward actually walking inside the church itself. It looked very impressive though, comparing well to the one I had seen in Baguio and boasting a very impressive spire which, had guided me to the correct place eventually.
My other main reason for walking about an hour from my hotel was to take a tour of Fort Santiago - one of Manila's main tourist attractions.
The Fort is famous as being a prison for Filipino national hero Jose Rizal during the Philippines Revolution. It was also captured by the Japanese in World War II and used to hold American prisoners of war. It cost me 75 Pesos to go inside which is extremely reasonable to take a self-guided tour, and go through a museum explaining the history of the fort. There are spaces for picnicking, and a couple of little shops on the inside which sell traditional art and also souvenirs.
I spent about an hour walking around and taking pictures, being particularly impressed with the view of the inside of the fort, and also Manila itself from
the walls and guard posts which were dotted on about seven or eight parts of the structure. It was interesting to go inside the museum and read about Rizal, who aside from having a park named after him, I knew nothing about. It looks as though yesterday I walked past where he is buried (or at least a memorial spot for him has been made) but the museum is built where his prison cell was actually originally based, and there is also a spot in the middle of the grounds where he was executed by a firing squad in 1896.
The Fort itself is pretty impressive, and was built by
the Spanish in the 1500s. It was renovated around 200 years later, but maintains its authentic look though, naturally the bricks have started to show their age and many of the original features no longer remain.
It was certainly one of the more fascinating structures I have been to whilst in the Philippines, and was well worth all that walking to reach.
With my tour completed I headed back in the direction looking out for the ruins of San Ignacio Church and also the still standing St Agustin Church which are also within the walls of the city. I decided to walk back a slightly different way to the one in which I had arrived using earlier walking on the opposite side of the golf course there were dated looking cobbled streets and signs up showing what buildings currently in the district used to be occupied as.
I saw the familiar sight of Rizal Park ahead of me and wandered through to get to the correct side of the road to make my way back down the Bay Walk. Although it was quite busy yesterday for Valentine's Day, there were a lot more people walking or sitting in the park today. By this stage of the day I quite fancied an ice cream, but where I had to wait one minute to get some food yesterday I would have had to join a queue of twenty plus people so I decided that I could wait until I found somwhere a bit quieter.
Yesterday I walked past Ocean Park which is the sight of Manila's impressive state of the art aquarium, and I decided to go and have a look to see how much it would be to get in. It actually wasn't too badly priced, and was even open late into the evening, but I decided to give it a miss as it looked very busy and after all the walking my old legs could do with a sit down.
I chose to take in the Bay Walk from a seated position for a while once I got back close to where I had crossed the road to get to Malate Church. One thing that I read up online is that Manila Bay has excellent sunsets, and although there wasn't much of a view of the sun, the few rays that you could see looked pretty good as they glimmered across the water.
Just down below where I was sitting there were a few people fishing, and a couple of children even in the water swimming - I can only imagine how cold it would be to even dip my toe in the water.
I carried on walking stopping on the way to get the ice cream I had craved earlier and eventually getting back to my hotel at about 6pm.
So today marks the end of my stay in the Philippines. Tomorrow morning I will be travelling on to Malaysia to continue this journey in another part of the world that I have never visited before.
Although tiring, and sometimes confusing, I have enjoyed my stay in this part of the Asia. I would say that Baguio was probably my favourite location of the three, perhaps because of it's spectacular views and also it was the beginning of me attempting to find my feet on this trip. Manila was a close second with Cebu City not really making the impact I thought it would on me. I would definitely say that if I ever intend to return to Cebu I would definitely go searching out the beaches instead of the urban jungle.
As I commented when I first got here, much of the Philippines reminds me of different parts of Asia I have been to. It shares some similarities with South Korea, but more with Malaysia - it definitely has it's own culture and identity separate from those two countries though.
From the chaos of the traffic to the sight of what seemed to be thousands and thousands of people living in residential areas both in Cebu City and Manila, I know that I have only seen about 1% of what real life in the Philippines is probably like.
Being somewhere as a tourist it is always hard to dictate what things are really like. In Manila overall there are vast contracts between the area where I am in where there is rubbish all over the pavements and people sleeping rough to the area near Rizal Park where there is even a sign which says 'Cleanliness is next to Godliness' reminding people to keep the place tidy and correctly adhere to the rules of the road (if there actually are any).
I've picked up a little understanding about life here, and seen with my own eyes that this is very distant to the world we're familiar with back in England.
I feel like this was a good place to start my tour of Asia, and would definitely recommend that people come and visit if they have the opportunity just to see, smell and experience a few of the things I have in the last ten days.
Today when I was walking across the huge highway onto Roxas Blvd and found the delightful sounds of a Marching Band performing in front of the Philippine Convention Centre. There was a few people standing round observing and being a bit of a music nerd and enjoying their sound drowing out the traffic I recorded a couple of videos which can be seen here, and here.
Enjoy
Take me to Church
Hozier (2014)
Including the one day I was here when I first arrived, and then also when I came back from Baguio, this is the first time that I've actually had to wear my sunglasses to protect my eyes against anything other than dirt and dust.
The sun's presence has very much been felt in terms of the temperatures I have been existing in between 25-29C every day so far , but it's usually thick fog which definitely has something to do with the amount of vehicles on the road, and all the high-rise buildings which prevent any fresh air from making it's way into the metro area.
I had a bit of a later start today, although surprisingly my legs weren't feeling too much pain from all the steps I made them walk around the capital yesterday. I really wish my sadly broken Fitbit was still around because I feel like I would definitely have broken my 30,000 steps a day record.
Before my last full day of exploring the city, I roused myself this morning to watch some basketball on TV. Due to the fact that the Philippines are big fans of the sport (something the two of us have in common) I have been quite lucky each morning to have been able to wake up and watch live matches in my hotel room. It's strange that on the other side of the world, games are on at what is quite a regular time, but back home in England I end up staying awake until 2am to catch them.
I also went down for a hotel breakfast which this morning was hot dog sausages, scrambled egg and rice with some salad and crispy fries on the side. I feel like it has been quite beneficial for me to be able to stay in hotels where breakfast is served, but at the same time there isn't much choice, and what they do serve is a bit of a mix between Filipino and Western cuisine.
Breakfast in this hotel has been particularly chaotic as there are seven floors of guests, each floor with about 30 bedrooms on, and the first meal of the day is only served between 8-10am in a room with a capacity of less than 25 people. It's particularly strange, because I don't think anyone (the staff or the guests) really know how things are supposed to work. Sometimes people come and take your order, but other times you have to go up to the counter to ask - the places I stayed in Baguio and Cebu both had buffet breakfasts which in a way is much easier because people can just help themselves, and it doesn't become this awkward mix between table service and All You Can Eat.
I was planning to walk another Manil-lion miles today as I was heading beyond the bounds of Rizal Park where I went yesterday, with the aim of continuing on towards the historically rich district of the capital which contains many popular tourist spots.
As yesterday I headed along Roxas Blvd, and for some reason the Bay Walk seemed to be in much better condition today - don't get me wrong there were still piles of bricks everywhere, areas fenced off and parts where the path was incomplete, but perhaps because the sun was shining all down there today it looked a lot better.
Continuing along my way I eventually came across Rizal Park and decided to cross the road in a bid to successfully navigate my way towards Intamuros. This was uncharted territory for me, but I knew that first on my list to find was Manila Cathedral, and considering I could see a towering church spire in the distance I figured that all I had to do was head in a straight line, and use that as a guide to get there.
Intamuros, I also knew, had a city wall around it, and as I walked down the side of what looked to be a large green space I followed the path of the wall as I continued. I saw people walking on there and thought that I'd missed my opportunity to get a view into the city from one of it's best viewing points, but upon closer inspection I realised that the only people using the wall were people playing golf at the Intamuros course I was walking alongside.
It certainly was a bizzare, and unique setting for 18 holes, and I later discovered that every three holes or so, people would have to get into their buggies and drive along the wall to the next pin.
I eventually came across a very grand looking archway with a wall going across it, and saw that the huge sign on it said 'Welcome to Intamuros' I figured I was in the right place...
As I have mentioned a couple of times, one thing that gets a little tedious in the Philippines (and most of Asia in fact) is that you're cursed with looking and being a tourist so every single person looking to sell something, show you something or beg for money comes towards you with great vigour. Usually you can wave their persuasion away if you're not interested, but on my walk I actually had a little girl follow me for about 50m down the road with her hands out asking for some money. It's quite sad really, and I have seen a lot of people out on the streets in my time here clearly sleeping rough or certainly lacking in enough finances to feed and shelter themselves properly.
People trying to sell you things, I don't feel for. Taxi's beeping their horns have become common place, but it seems around Intamuros the thing you have to be on your guard against is people offering you a tour of the city in their bike and sidecar contraptions. By saying that you need to be on your guard against them, I don't mean that there's anything to be worried about, but if you want a peaceful walk around that part of the city it is definitely best not to make eye contact with them because otherwise they'll be trying to cycle alongside you talking to you as one guy did when I was taking pictures of the cathedral. He was giving me all kinds of useful information, clearly trying to sell his skills as an excellent tour guide, but on this occasion I knew exactly where I was heading so he moved on.
My other main reason for walking about an hour from my hotel was to take a tour of Fort Santiago - one of Manila's main tourist attractions.
I spent about an hour walking around and taking pictures, being particularly impressed with the view of the inside of the fort, and also Manila itself from the walls and guard posts which were dotted on about seven or eight parts of the structure. It was interesting to go inside the museum and read about Rizal, who aside from having a park named after him, I knew nothing about. It looks as though yesterday I walked past where he is buried (or at least a memorial spot for him has been made) but the museum is built where his prison cell was actually originally based, and there is also a spot in the middle of the grounds where he was executed by a firing squad in 1896.The Fort itself is pretty impressive, and was built by
the Spanish in the 1500s. It was renovated around 200 years later, but maintains its authentic look though, naturally the bricks have started to show their age and many of the original features no longer remain.
It was certainly one of the more fascinating structures I have been to whilst in the Philippines, and was well worth all that walking to reach.
I saw the familiar sight of Rizal Park ahead of me and wandered through to get to the correct side of the road to make my way back down the Bay Walk. Although it was quite busy yesterday for Valentine's Day, there were a lot more people walking or sitting in the park today. By this stage of the day I quite fancied an ice cream, but where I had to wait one minute to get some food yesterday I would have had to join a queue of twenty plus people so I decided that I could wait until I found somwhere a bit quieter.
I chose to take in the Bay Walk from a seated position for a while once I got back close to where I had crossed the road to get to Malate Church. One thing that I read up online is that Manila Bay has excellent sunsets, and although there wasn't much of a view of the sun, the few rays that you could see looked pretty good as they glimmered across the water.
Just down below where I was sitting there were a few people fishing, and a couple of children even in the water swimming - I can only imagine how cold it would be to even dip my toe in the water.
I carried on walking stopping on the way to get the ice cream I had craved earlier and eventually getting back to my hotel at about 6pm.
So today marks the end of my stay in the Philippines. Tomorrow morning I will be travelling on to Malaysia to continue this journey in another part of the world that I have never visited before.
Although tiring, and sometimes confusing, I have enjoyed my stay in this part of the Asia. I would say that Baguio was probably my favourite location of the three, perhaps because of it's spectacular views and also it was the beginning of me attempting to find my feet on this trip. Manila was a close second with Cebu City not really making the impact I thought it would on me. I would definitely say that if I ever intend to return to Cebu I would definitely go searching out the beaches instead of the urban jungle.
As I commented when I first got here, much of the Philippines reminds me of different parts of Asia I have been to. It shares some similarities with South Korea, but more with Malaysia - it definitely has it's own culture and identity separate from those two countries though.
From the chaos of the traffic to the sight of what seemed to be thousands and thousands of people living in residential areas both in Cebu City and Manila, I know that I have only seen about 1% of what real life in the Philippines is probably like.
Being somewhere as a tourist it is always hard to dictate what things are really like. In Manila overall there are vast contracts between the area where I am in where there is rubbish all over the pavements and people sleeping rough to the area near Rizal Park where there is even a sign which says 'Cleanliness is next to Godliness' reminding people to keep the place tidy and correctly adhere to the rules of the road (if there actually are any).
I've picked up a little understanding about life here, and seen with my own eyes that this is very distant to the world we're familiar with back in England.
I feel like this was a good place to start my tour of Asia, and would definitely recommend that people come and visit if they have the opportunity just to see, smell and experience a few of the things I have in the last ten days.
Today when I was walking across the huge highway onto Roxas Blvd and found the delightful sounds of a Marching Band performing in front of the Philippine Convention Centre. There was a few people standing round observing and being a bit of a music nerd and enjoying their sound drowing out the traffic I recorded a couple of videos which can be seen here, and here.
Enjoy
Take me to Church
Hozier (2014)
No comments:
Post a Comment