What You Shouldn’t Miss

 

Intramuros, “The Walled City”

• built by the Spaniards in the 16th century; it was the original city of Manila and seat of government during Spanish times

• eat in any of the restaurants serving Pinoy favorite or take a kalesa ride around the complex

• San Agustin Church: only building left standing after the Battle of Manila in World War II.  One of four baroque churches in the Philippines cited in the UNESCO’s World Heritage List.  Visit the crypt of Spanish conquistador Miguel Lopez de Legaspi and explore the museum for its collection of religious and cultural artifacts

• Manila Cathedral: reconstructed by National Artist for Architecture Fernando Ocampo.  Elevated into the rank of minor basilica in 1981

• Fort Santiago: where Jose Rizal was imprisoned before his execution; has an extensive collection of Rizal memorabilia at the adjoining museum

• Casa Manila: represents a typical 18th century upper-class house

 

Other Notable Churches

• Binondo Church: a fine example of baroque architecture; noted for its octagonal bell tower

• San Sebastian Church: only the second all-steel church constructed in the world; designed by Gustave Eiffel who was also behind the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty.  Prefabricated in Belgium before being shipped to the Philippines in six ships

• Quiapo Church: minor basilica known as the home of the Black Nazarene

 

Drop by other notable landmarks such as Rizal Park/ Luneta (site of Jose Rizal’s execution; largest park in South East Asia), National Museum and the Malacañang Museum.  Treat the kids to a visit to Manila Zoo, Museo Pambata or Manila Ocean Park.

 

Enjoy the world-famous Manila Bay sunset and marvel at interesting buildings such as the CCP (Cultural Center of the Philippines), Coconut Palace and Manila Hotel.

 

 

 

What to Eat

 

For the truly adventurous, sample street food such as balut (boiled duck embryo), tokneneng (batter-covered eggs friend in oil), isaw (grilled chicken intestines), helmet (grilled chicken head), adidas (grilled chicken feet), or betamax (grilled chicken blood).

 

Fall back on franchised chains such as Jollibee (#1 fast food in the country), Goldilocks (#1 bakeshop), Kamayan, Max, Dencio’s or Gerry’s Grill, or international brands such as McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, Subway and KFC.

 

Drop by Dampa Restaurant and hand-pick the seafood you want cooked and served at your table.

 

Make reservations at La Cocina de Tita Moning, a pre-war Art Deco home converted into a restaurant which serves authentic 1930s fine dining fare.

 

Treat yourselves to hotel buffets with theater kitchens that feature a mix of fine local and international cuisine, such as Spiral in Sofitel and Circles in Makati Shangri-La.

 

What to Bring Home

 

Visit the Ilalim ng Tulay in Quiapo for native handicrafts with carvings, shells and cane work.

 

Brave Divisoria, specifically Tutuban Center for cloth and 168 for clothes, shoes, accessories, toys and all kinds of goods mostly from China.

 

Go to Greenhills for branded surplus clothing, South Sea and freshwater pearls, techie gadgets and furniture.

 

Max out your credit cards in high-end shops found in Greenbelt, Powerplant, Podium and Bonifacio High Street.  ExploreSM Mall of Asia, Megamall and North Edsa which are included in a list of biggest malls in the world.  

 

Check out Salcedo Weekend Market in Makati for fresh fruits and vegetables, potted plants homemade baked goods, organic and regional food such as balo-balo, tapang usa, Vigan noodles, and burong asan.

 

Manila,capital city of the Philippines,Intramuros,San Agustin Church,Manila Cathedral,Fort Santiago,Casa Manila,Binondo Church,San Sebastian,Quiapo Church,Rizal Park,Luneta,National Museum,Malacañang Museum,Manila Zoo,Museo Pambata,Manila Ocean Park,CCP,Coconut Palace,Tutuban,SM Mall of Asia,Salcedo Weekend Market', 'A quick guide to what to eat, what to shop for, and the things you shouldn''t miss in Manila'Seagulls, Sea Lions and a Monster Sundae'I don’t know what happened, but at a certain point, Tomtom the GPS just turned into a little diva and started giving us bad directions.  It was acting a little wonky in L.A., but the sister thought maybe Tomtom was calibrated for North California and was still adjusting.  But on the day when we needed to go to the pier in Alameda, it just decided to take us in circles.  Good thing my sister knew her way around town enough to make an intelligent guess where to go.  We parked and off we went for a 30-minute ferry ride.  A lot of the people on the ferry smiled or nodded to each other, probably because they saw each other pretty much every day on their way to work.  

 

 

I had fun taking pictures of the underside of the Bay Bridge as we passed by.  Soon enough, I saw the clock tower of the Ferry Building, which signaled that we were about to alight soon.  It was my sister’s first time to ride the ferry too, so she wasn’t that sure what our next step should be.  Our ferry tickets came with tickets for a street car to Pier 39, which was a good thing, because we didn’t feel like finding out how far it would be to walk the distance between 38 piers.

 

Energized by the food we just consumed, we ended up hitting several more shops.  My sister got to talking to the middle-aged Pinay woman managing one of the souvenir shops we went to.  She spoke about seeing some of our artistas who were there for the Kapamilya caravan, and was irked because some of them visited the pier and was smiling at everyone who looked at them.  “They think everybody’s looking at them when hardly anybody was paying attention to them—I surely wasn’t,” the woman said in Filipino.  I don’t understand what her issue was, but I’m sure that conversely, if the artistas walked around avoiding making eye contact, she’d think they were snobs!  There’s just no pleasing some people, I guess.  

 

After picking up some knickknacks, we turned a corner, and suddenly we were on a boardwalk overlooking little docks where sea lions hung out.  Right away, we identified the Alpha Male of the bunch, surrounded by what seemed to be a bevy of female sea lions.  We were sure he enjoyed all the attention (lookie here, my sister the medical professional also likes making up stories!).  Of course I started clicking away on my camera.  At one point, I noticed a medium-sized sea lion, lying on her (and yes, in my head, it was a female) belly by herself on one dock.  I took a picture of her and thought, you’ll find your partner soon enough, little one.

 

[Doing some research though for this blog entry, I found out that we were probably wrong about the bevy of females—it turns out that most sea lions that hang out in that area are actually male.  So now should I be jealous of the few females who are in the bunch because the odds are in their favor?  Haha]

 

During our correspondence prior to my trip, my sis and I decided that we would skip Alcatraz altogether. Instead, we decided to walk to Ghirardelli Square, where we ended up sharing a huge butterscotch sundae, which we really enjoyed, until we couldn’t ingest any more.  Even I, with my hypersweet tooth gave up on it even though there was a good half cup of ice cream, syrup, nuts and chocolate chips sitting near the bottom of the glass!  We also enjoyed looking at the machines they used to actually make chocolate on one end of the store.  But when it came time to decide if I would buy chocolate to bring home with me, I passed, partly because you can buy Ghirardelli in Safeway and other places, but also, truth be told, I still preferred See’s and knew these would be the chocolates I would be hand carrying back to the Philippines.

 

We made our way to Fisherman’s wharf where we overdosed on fried clams and calamares.  I was quite amused by the seagulls, which were everywhere: flying over our heads, crossing the street, staring at us in the hope that we’ll throw them some leftovers.  It was my turn to act like a kid as I kept trying to make sneak attacks on them, hoping to get pictures of them up close… and my sister just let me act all silly, because I guess, that’s just the kind of thing that sisters do.