South East Asia Trip: Manila in Two Days

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Our red eye flight was from Honolulu to Manila with Philippine Airlines with arrival at 5:00a.
The airport pickup was seamless, got some currency, and a 20 minute ride to Hotel H2O. This place was right on the water at Bay of Manila, by ocean park and Rizal park. Days after our stay would be the Shell EcoMarathon, for cleaner fuel innovation. Ironic with the immense pollution from vehicles with little emission standards. Anyway, gotta start somewhere, and why not a heavily polluted place first.




View from our room
Since we got to our hotel around 6:00 and still dark, we decided on a quick nap before venturing around on foot. We decided to check out Intramuros and Rizal Park.
This is where things got a bit eye opening and our initial ass-kicking of you-are-now-in-a-developing -country. Descriptions don't do justice, but I can give it a try...families making fire along the road and cooking chicken feet over a tin little box (smelled good though).  Walking by a person shitting next to a row of mini trees with signs noting "help the cause against global warming" in Tagalog.  Apparently, we didn't take the traditional tourist route to get there, because the stares we received were pretty interesting. We don't go for the touristy stuff anyway, so it made for an interesting walk. The street families didn't know who to stare at...the big tall white guy or the dark-skinned filipina with shorts on. Woman should be properly covered. Conservative is key. Something us Americans know nothing about.

We made it into the "Walled City" after being escorted by a police officer because we somehow landed ourselves on a private golf course. I'm not going to get into that. Intramuros was beautiful with so many churches and buildings from the 1600's.


















My advice: grab a map of the area. We went down a few alleyways that we probably shouldn't have. It was the first time I had that feeling of worrying about yourself but more so of your companion which was quite different then the days of traveling by myself or with the boys. Rule of thumb back then was to take care of yourself and your friends can handle themselves. I enjoy traveling with Janie. She is a thinker and a good judge of situations. Common sense is huge and it's nice to know I can trust her and value her thought process when decisions need to be made. We were probably overreacting and our senses were on overload. Give us a break...It was the first day of our trip. We didn't want to get nabbed right off the bat.


San Agustin Church


Intramuros


School kids at Intramuros




































After venturing around all the beautiful architecture of Intramuros, we walked to Rizal Park. Jose Rizal is a national hero, and rightfully so. Read his story on the link provided to see what he did for his people. The Rizal monument is a must see and to read some of his literary work will give you chills, especially if you are Filipino.
Rizal Monument
That day we ate some BBQ, which was very good. Veggies, herbs, and Produce seem to be smaller, but more potent. Garlic is half the size, but add so much more flavor to the dish. No complaints here.

Tinono and Pancit

Tosino
















On our 2nd day, we went to mall of Asia and Greenbelt in Makati. Very different and nice. Kinda makes you feel bad to be walking around near stores like Prada, Louis Vuitton, Hermes, when you were walking amongst the poorest a day earlier. It puts things into perspective and I can appreciate that.
Greenbelt Makati is very Westernized I must say. Very geared towards US/Euro/Asia tourist. I bet there are some people that visit Manila and don't leave Makati Greenbelt. Describe Makati in a sentence...We ate at this placed called Barcino Wine and Tapas and watched a UFC fight, while every 5th woman walked by with a Louis Vuitton.

Two full days and we were out of Manila. Getting around Manila was fairly easy. We took taxi drivers and fares ranged 100-250 Pesos (a few bucks). Drivers were very honest and nice. Manila was beautiful in its glory, eye opening for my virgin voyage, yet satisfying to core for my traveling bug.

On to Siem Reap, Cambodia to visit Angkor Wat Temples.

Cambodia Angkor Air



-DK






 

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