Misc » Final Transit : Travel Blog

Floating islands of the Uros
This pre-Incan tribe lives inside lake the Titicaca, Peru, on islands made from the Totora reed. Sounds strange? Wait until you have stepped on these islands and walked on the wobbly surface. Careful, don\'t stand on the same spot for longer than 5 minutes, or else...
Peru: Photo Gallery | Peru: Travelogue

Jun '09

WOW Philippines: part 2/2

This post about imaginary travel is a collaboration between me and Anil from FoXnoMad. We exchange travelogues to a city we haven’t been to but the other has. I haven’t been to Manila, Philippines but he has. Later, Anil will guest post here about his time in Manila and we’ll see how close or off I am from his experiences. In this post I simply imagine a trip, based on what little I know about the city.

Read my previous post: WOW Philippines Part 1/2

Manila is a highly urbanized city and was going on a tour of the city through a tourist agency. I started my day with a simple breakfast consisting of bread, cheese and a pastry. I went to the starting point of the tour just outside downtown Manila. There were several tourists from China and Europe.

Walled City, Fort Santiago

Right in the heart of Manila is the Walled City – Intramuros. IT was constructed in 1571, during the period of Spain’s colonization of the Philippines and consisted of several European style architecture. The site is a timeless journey through forts and dungeons, old churches, colonial houses, and horse-drawn carriages. Marking its entrance at the northwestern tip, Fort Santiago is one of the oldest fortifications of Intramuros.

San Agustin Church

One of the four Philippine Baroque Churches inscribed in UNESCO’s World Heritage List, the oldest stone church in Metro Manila was built in 1586 and completed in 1606. An intricately carved door opens to the church. Somehow this colonial church reminded me a lot of Peru, especially Lima.

Japanese garden in Rizal Park

Considered as one of the largest parks in Southeast Asia. For 74 years, it was used as an executing ground by the Spaniards for Filipino rebels and mutineers.

Malacañang Palace / Museum

Malacañang Palace is considered to be one of the most historic structures in the Philippines. It has been the official residence of the highest chief executive of the country since 1863. Located next to the

Sapin-Sapin

I had some delicious desserts after lunch and dinner and it seems that Filipinos have a sweet tooth. Sapin Sapin is a Filipino rice-based delicacy, sprinkled with latik — latik is the reduction of coconut milk until all of the liquid has evaporated. Halo-halo is a cold dessert made with shaved ice, milk and sugar with typical ingredients including coconut, caramel custard, jackfruit, red beans etc. Sort of a big sundae – a calorie bomb which will definitely help to catch some sleep on the plane.

Halo-Halo

This short and quick trip to Manila was wonderful. Too bad it was restricted to an urban area, I heard wonderful stories about the beaches and the countryside and inshallah some day I’ll go there! Thanks Anil for this unique opportunity to fantasize a trip.

Disclaimer: I haven’t been to Philippines so I don’t know anything about the country first hand. All the social commentaries are based on information, stereotypes and hypothetical situations.

[Photo credits: Wikipedia]

Read part 2 of Anil’s imaginary travel to Saint Petersburg

¶ Blogged by Priyank Thatte | Tags: Misc

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Jun '09

WOW Philippines: part 1/2

Introduction:
Manila Flying to Manila, the capital city of Philippines, I was unsure of the things I would encounter. I did not get much time to research anything about the country so I am going to feel lost, but that’s the whole idea.

I had never seen so many Filipinos at a given time, but then I had just arrived at the busy Manila airport, what else did I expect? “Enjoy your stay in our country!”, the lady at the immigration desk wished me as she handed back my stamped passport. Baggage collection was a bit messy since I did not know where my belt was and the indicators didn’t seem to work. Manila airport is large and can get confusing at times. I was looking outside through the glass walls and I couldn’t wait to get out.

Generally, there are few things about Philippines that Indians know, possibly because there haven’t been many historical exchanges. However I do know that the country’s name is often mis-pronounced as फिलीपाईन्स while the actual pronunciation is फिलीपीन्स. I also remembered reading a BBC survey back in 2006 – of the 32 countries surveyed, Philippines was the country that disliked India the most. I don’t know why.

Manila city
Manila
A street near my hostel.

I stepped outside the airport and got a whiff of humid-salty sea breeze. It was quite windy, sunny and fresh, resulting into an immediate broad smile on my face despite the 22 hour long flight. I immediately located the taxi driver that my hostel had sent – a young guy who spoke only Tagalog (the national language of Philippines) and Spanish. The ride from the airport to the city center was great. Roads were broad, wide and the traffic was chaotic – how real!

Manila
Some place that was famous for electronics stuff.

The only thing I planned in advance was my accommodation – a cheap hostel but located in prime downtown. It was quite clean and I was assigned to a male dorm room with 4 other guys, but maybe they were out touring. I set down my stuff and crashed on the bed within minutes only to be woken up an hour later by some loud honking sounds from the street. I peeped from my window, it was some kind of traffic jam with buses, cars, tricycles, bicycles and people.

Manila
A downtown street.

Since I woke up it was prudent to go out for a walk. It was early evening and I guess people were hurrying back home. The area seemed very European to me for some reason, probably the effect of Spanish colonization. There was a huge shopping mall nearby and I like to visit shopping malls because they tell you a lot about a country’s contemporary urban culture. Most of the things were made in China, and you can pretty much get them anywhere in the world, so I didn’t buy anything except a coffee. I also booked a city tour for tomorrow, since that would be an ideal way to explore the city given my time and research limitations.

I was also surprised by the strong presence of religion (Christianity) and people really like to wear it on their sleeve – many people wore a necklace with a cross. There were many young people in the malls too, sort of a hangout place. I liked the overall sense of fashion, it was very colorful, funky and non-conformist. For some reason everyone loved dark sunglasses. Wearing sandals or flipflops is not among my greatest taste, but given the heat I guess it’s essential.

Manila
Mall of Asia is the second largest shopping mall in Philippines

After walking around for a couple of hours, I returned to my hostel for an early night. The hostel owner prepared some soup (complimentary!) and that was exactly what I needed. I had it with some pieces of bread. The hostel had a good communal area where you could meet fellow travelers and exchange stories. I heard great things about the beaches and its a pity I didn’t have enough time to go there.

Manila
Sinigang na baboy: Pork-Tamarind soup with lots of Tofu

So that was my day 1 of 2 in Manila, pretty relaxed and enjoyable. Did you know that approximately 10% of the country’s population works abroad? Amazing! Oh I learnt how to say Yes (Opo) and No (Hindi) in Tagalog. I have a city tour tomorrow and I depart the country tomorrow after the tour. I am excited about touring the city.

Photo Credits: Stefan dangelle1 express000

Disclaimer: I haven’t been to Philippines so I don’t know anything about the country first hand. All the social commentaries are based on information, stereotypes and hypothetical situations.
Read about Anil’s imaginary travel to Saint Petersburg

¶ Blogged by Priyank Thatte | Tags: Misc