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Published: July 25th 2010
After five great weeks in Asia (mostly the Philippines),we are headed back home to Chicago in a few hours. I needed a break from packing and thought I'd squeeze in another entry about our further adventures around Manila.
We have been using Metro Manila as our home base for exploring the Philippines. The tourism infrastructure in the Philippines is still developing so in order to get to other parts of the country you mostly have to shuttle in/out of Manila. A lot of foreign tourist try to spend as little time in Manila as possible. It has an undeserved reputation as a congested, chaotic city that can only be tolerated for a few days. Personally, I think the city is a lot better now than fourteen years ago when I left. While poverty is still very apparent, there are more signs of prosperity and progress. While there is a long way to go, the effort that has been put in towards making the city more tourist friendly is apparent.
It may not be remotely picturesque or postcard pretty but for the intrepid traveler it is not difficult to uncover the charming aspects of this city.
Here are some of
the attractions we visited during our sporadic stays in the Manila area:
• Ayala Museum. A small but well organized and state of the art museum located right across from where we are staying in Makati. Currently they have a special exhibit on precolonial gold artifacts and another on precolonial trade. The latter showcases their collection of Chinese porcelain. The highlight of this museum though, are the dioramas chronologically detailing Philippine history from prehistory to the
People Power revolution of 1986. We happened to visit this museum on June 30th the inauguration day for the new president. I thought it was a very fitting time to visit since the new president is the son of Cory Aquino who headed the revolt in 1986.
* Rizal Park aka Luneta. Manila's central park is a welcome patch of green in city lacking in public parks. The center piece is a monument to
Jose Rizal the national hero. I was very happy to see that the park is so much cleaner and well maintained than I remember it to be. It used to have a rather sleazy and unsafe reputation. It was great to see people hanging out in the grass and enjoying the
park grounds. The one thing I could do without was the schmaltzy muzak piped in though loud speakers. Around the park there were several theme gardens (Japanese, Chinese, orchids) which we did not visit as it was just too hot under the noon sun. A perfect escape from the heat was the nearby National Museum.
* The National Museum. Housed in a huge neoclassical former government (finance department) building adjacent to Rizal Park. While there is a wealth of cultural and historical treasures here the highlights for us were the exhibit on the San Diego, the Mannugul jar and the Tabon man skull cap. The San Diego is a Spanish galleon that sank near Manila in the 17th century. The artifacts discovered give a snap shot of daily life, trade and ship building at that time. The wreck was discovered in the early 90s and is considered as one of the most important archeological discoveries here. The other highlight of the museum is the
Mannungul jar which is a burial jar almost 3000 years old. This was discovered in Palawan and offers evidence of a culture in the Philippines at about the time of the Great Pyramids. Lastly there is
the skull cap of theTabon man (which turn out is actually a woman) who is the ealiest know Filipino at about 24,000 years old!
We were surprised that for such a major museum there were very few visitors.
*• Intramuros. This the old core of Manila. A fortified city during the time of the Spanish it was already inhabited by the "natives" even before conquest. The walls surrounding have been mostly restored and the moat turned into a golf course. Within the walls are several points of interest that hark back to the Spanish era. Indeed Intramuros feels more akin to Europe than Asia with it's churches, cobbled stone streets and Spanish colonial buildings. We visited Casa Manila a model of a home in 18th-19th century Manila. While the building is a reconstruction the furniture were mostly original to the era. Also, we went inside San Agustin church which is the oldest in the country and houses a very interesting museum on Philippine religious art. The church is the only building to survive the bombings of WWII. Walking around Intramuros I couldn't help think how much more glorious it must have been before it was devastated by the war.
By some accounts Manila was the second most destroyed city (after Warsaw), and more than 100,000 civilians died in just the final battle to liberate the city. There is a war memorial (the Memorare) near the church commemorating their sacrifice. It's a pity that after the war, instead of restoring the damaged buildings, most were torn down. A major lack of foresight which resulted in the loss not just of the city's heritage but part of its soul.
* A (too)short stay at the Manila Hotel. The grand old hotel of the country. It may not be the trendiest and some guidebooks label it as "a little careworn and frayed" but there is no denying the opulence and history that it has been witness to. In the pre-war era it epitomized the height of colonial luxury and was visited by so many famous figures (we saw their pictures at the hotel archives) including Ernest Hemmingway, JFK and Jackie, Bill and Hillary and probably the most remembered ex-occupant, Douglas MacArthur. We were able to take a peek at the MacArthur suite which was huge, luxurious and had some of his memorabilia including his medals and several portraits donated by his wife
after he passed. However the most opulent room in the house was the Presidential suite. With its own pool, gilded baroque interiors and lavish furnishings it is a room fit for royalty. In fact kings have chosen to stay here including the king of pop. Seeing as how the room is decorated it's apparent why.
The hotel is under new ownership and there were many changes and renovation going on. The pool and gym/spa area were recently updated and was suitably state of the art, contemporary but seamlessly blending in with the rest of the hotel. There are several new restaurants and there has been extensive redecoration of common areas. With these changes and its unmatched prestige and history, it's not hard to imagine that the hotel will reclaim it's reputation as the hotel of choice in the city.
* American Cemetery. Was closed by the time we got there (around 5:30 pm one day). It was still a sight to behold even from behind the gates. White crosses as far as you can seen commemorating the almost 18,000 American lives lost fighting here in the Philippines in WWII.
* Cock Fights. I can already see the negative comments rolling
in. Let me preface this by saying that I've always believed that to fully immerse yourself in a culture and to somehow understand it you should be prepared to experience the less pleasant aspects of it, even things you maybe opposed to or conflicted about. Cock fighting has a long history and is popular and very much legal in the Philippines. Thankfully the actual fights are very short, often lasting no more than a minute. These cocks also lead better lives than the average chicken who end up on our plates. They are not caged but pampered and groomed until they meet their match. Of course there is betting and I was amazed at the accounting system. Everything was so fast paced with people just signaling or screaming out their wagers. After the match everybody settles up and pays using the plain old honor system. All things considered the whole thing is probably less gory and brutal than a bullfight but no less unsettling.
* Malate district. We dined and went to the bars in this vibrant area. While most of Metro Manila has succumbed to chain restaurants and malls, this old neighborhood district has plenty of independently owned bars
and restaurants. We dined at Casa Armas and enjoyed their wonderful tapas and other Spanish delicacies.
* • Anvaya Cove. Not really in Manila but in Subic bay about 3 hours north, this private resort was developed by Ayala Land. They are the leading developer in the country and it seems everything they touch turns to real-estate gold. Subic bay used to be the site of the major US naval base in the Pacific until 1992. Now it's a free port zone being developed for commercial and tourism. The drive to the resort is very different from most roads in Luzon in that there is still a very lush forest covering the area. The area within the US base was spared logging and was used by the Americans to train for jungle combat. As a result there are even monkeys crossing the road every now and then. The resort itself was a quiet respite from Manila and very plush with a beautiful pool as a center piece. The beach was OK with gray sand and a great view of the bay.
We go back to Chicago with many fond memories of Manila, the Philippines and all the wonderful
people we met along the way. It's hard to believe I was away for fourteen years and with as much fun as we had, I promise to be back sooner. There is still so much to explore in this very underrated destination.Until then we have enough memories to keep us dreaming of our return.
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Michelle
non-member comment
Great pictures!
I love the pictures of Manila! Anvaya sounds amazing! What a pool! Have a safe flight home! We can't wait to see you and John!