Manila Day 11

We got up at 4am and showered in preparation for our journey to the airport. Checkout was no problem and before long we were on our way. Cassian and Nicole had managed to get up before us and were already on their way to the airport by the time we departed.

After a bit of difficulty tracking down the Philippines Airline counter, this was because they were using the China Air counters, the long line to security and the brief moment when the whole airport took out their phones to film some celebrities that we had never heard of and didn’t recognise who were going through security, We finally made it to the gate lounge. 

The flight to the Philippines was smooth and passing through customs was straight forward. Nicole’s sister organised a Grab for us and the Grab took us to the oldest Chinatown in the world. We stepped out of the Grab and were immediately accosted by beggars and touts trying to sell us rides to various places. We found a small stand with a long line where they were selling a range of ube products including ube steamed buns and ube egg tarts. We picked up a couple of these tasty ube treats to snack on while we were looking for a place that sold sim cards. 

We tracked up and down the streets and spoke to a number of people who pointed us in all different directions until we finally came to the conclusion that people don’t use sim cards anymore. We had a digital sim but had not set it up for the Philippines and we were not able to do it with the WiFI at the airport. So what we really needed was some good WiFi so that we could activate our digital sim. We caught a tuk tuk to a nearby Starbucks where we bought a drink, connected to their WiFi and organised Christine’s international sim and downloaded one for me while we were at it. 

Once we were reconnected to civilisation we were able to navigate our way around the city. We wouldn’t catch back up with Nicole and Cassian until later in the evening, they had stopped at a Jollibee on their way out of the airport and as such didn’t make it to Chinatown. We navigated our way to a nearby restaurant where we were able to get a selection of Sichuan dishes for lunch. We found a bakery just around the corner from it where we were able to get some pan de coco and a few other tasty treats. 

Manila is a real Juxtaposition of worlds, around the Chinatown and surrounding neighbourhood there were beggars and homeless people everywhere, dogs and stray cats with puppies and kittens in the street and every crevice and waterway was chock full of refuse. In other parts of the city it is neat and clean with functioning facilities, streets devoid of stray animals, the traffic flows with people manning the streets and the intersections to keep it moving.

We walked to a local park that appeared to be full of homeless people, it was was directly in front of a colonial era style post office. It would later come to the light that the post office was still functioning until a large fire had burned out the inside of it only a few weeks before. It is currently under reconstruction.

We caught a grab from this point and were dropped off at Rizal park that was a couple of km away. Christine was able to practice her Tagalog with the Grab driver and ended up having a wide ranging conversation as we navigated our way through the busy streets. Rizal park has a large statue of Lapu Lapu, it was made out of bronze and had been paid for by the Korean’s as a thank you to the Philippines for their help during the Korean War. We were dropped at one of the entrances but being the weekend most of them were closed, including this one. We circumnavigated the park to one of the opened entrances and on the way we passed a Jollibee. This place was full of expensive fried food and it was difficult to see what the attraction was. 

We wandered around the park for a while before deciding to make our way to the accomodation. We arrived at the accomodation and were promptly given the incorrect room. We checked the description of the room that we had booked and paid for against the room that we were in and then Christine went off to reconcile the difference. Christine soon got everything sorted and we were relocated to the deluxe apartment with its three separate bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. Christine then spent some more time trying to get the WiFi working and helping Scotty to get his aircon going. 

We had a siesta and then made our way to the Venice Grand Canal Mall that was designed based on a Venice Italy theme complete with canals. This area of Manila was neat and clean with high end cars, well dressed people and and high end shops. We located the ticket booth and purchased a couple of tickets for the gondola ride. Scotty acted like paparazzi snapping photos while Christine and I rode the gondolas with a Filipino family. 

After our gondola ride we tracked down a Singaporean themed restaurant where we were able to get some tasty dishes for dinner. We finally met up with Cassian, Nicole and Nicole’s sister as we were leaving the restaurant. They sounded like they had had an enjoyable day out exploring Manila. We bought a few bits and pieces from the 7-11 and then caught a Grab back to the accomodation. Many of the Grabs are taxis who charge a fixed fee on the Grab app and then run their meters when you are travelling with them. Most of the time the meter price comes up less than the Grab price, I assume they pocket the difference.

Manila Day 12

We didn’t get up particularly early as we didn’t have a lot planned for the morning. We showered for caught a Grab to Makati City, a trendy little district where we ate breakfast at The Panco Cafe an Australian – Philippines fusion with the tagline “From Melbourne to Manila”. As such it served both Australian and Filipino dishes, both of which were delicious. After breakfast we wandered around the vicinity to walk off breakfast. 

We caught a Grab back to the accomodation and relaxed until the afternoon. In the afternoon we made our way down to Intramuros which is associated with Fort Santiago. Christine had organised with Bambike Ecotours to take a bike tour of the Intramuros on their Bamboo bikes. This was a great way to spend the afternoon and our guide filled us in on the history of the fort and the various colonial empires that had occupied it through time. 

After our Bike tour we enjoyed some ice cream from one of the shops there, wandered through a nearby art gallery and ate dinner at one of the restaurants. All in all a great way to wrap up a couple of days in Manila. 

In the evening we rested at the accomodation until it was time to head to the airport for our night flight back to Brisbane.