Manila Chapter 1 (Intramuros & The Tragic Divisoria)

Mabuhay!
Hihi, i forgot to update my blog on Manila, sorry :P. So, that morning on my birthday 3rd Nov, 2014,  from Kalibo airport we flew to Manila. The flight was delayed due to some plane breakdown, they changed the tire i guess. The problem with AA is it didnt announce the reason of the delay of or put it on screen at least. So ppl were gathering around the gate and demand explanation. I pity the stewardess though. I went and asked the reason of the delay, she responded and i understood. So me and Kak Ani patiently wait for our flight. The delay was around 1 to 1.5 hour. We got on flight, around 1 hour we reached Ninoy Aquino International Airport Manila. Lots of Cebu Pacific Air planes here.

I already made few research on Manila, and the taxi is pretty much liars..So, we take the ticket taxi, metered and thankfully from Airport to our hotel in Makati, he didnt overcharged us. But lots of stories to come in this blog about Manila (they pronounce it as Mainila).

reach Manila!

Our hotel name was in Makati. Makati is a high-end district like Bangsar in Malaysia. So, the road and buildings are well planned, clean and have lots of security guards. We checked into our hotel, The E-Hotel Makati, it was nice, cosy, worth for staying and doesnt cost much, around RM120 per person for 3 nights. We checked in and we had some rest. Then we went outside and explore Makati.

Makati

One famous area in Makati is Greenbelt, they have greenbelt 1 to 5, business district and also entertainment like Greenbelt 2 & 3. They have pubs and clubs and fancy restaurants, fastfood and lots of expats here in greenbelt as lots of em stayed in Makati.

One of the Greenbelt area

Makati itself have lots of attractions, but we didnt have the time to explore its heritage like a Guadalupe church. We went to its shopping mall, Glorietta and had some lunch. we walked around the mall, it was quite big. The thing i like about Philippines is they dont tease you for being trans, or different,..well so far i was here. But they will stare at you definitely, hahaha.

The hotel gave us this, very infomative

After that we head back to our hotel, we got lost a lil..haha..Kak ani remembered some of the roads, but mostly we asked around. Esp the guards. All of Makati convenient stores use paper bags instead of plastics which is good. We reached our hotel and had some rest. That night we went out again to Greenbelt 2, the mall here have pubs, bar and restaurant. We stopped at Ayala Museum, didn't had the chance to go, it was closed at that time but from whar i read, its a good place to go.

So we had dinner here and enjoyed some live band. As we know filipinos mostly can sing well, so the singing of cover songs were good. Not many people, but most people were foreigners. Still my birthday..until 12 o'clock :P After that we went back to our hotel. Tomorrow we will be going to Intramuros, a spanish colonial city and meeting Kak Ani filipino friend Bless.

Live band in a Bar called Spicy Fingers in Greenbelt

That morning we woke up had breakfast, some bread we bought from 7eleven last night and asked the hotel receptionist to get us a taxi and she did. We hop into the taxi and asked the driver to take us to Intramuros. The traffic in Manila is bad as any southeast asian main cities, lol. But the different is there was lots of Jeepneys, a form of public transport in Manila.

Jeepney

Aand we reached Intramuros, paid the metered taxi although im sure he overcharged us as the amount is quite high compared to from what i researched, i hate Manila taxis. Personally for me, if one are to visit Manila, Intramuros is a must and most probably the only place in Manila that are worth to see compared to the rest of the city. Intramuros is fantastic, you feels like you are in the Spanish colonial age when walking around the city. It is quite big and have lots of attractions. We waited for Bless, kak ani's friend and while waiting, we walked around Intramuros wall, build like a fort by the spanish army, quite amazing, a lil dfrnt than british colonial cities like KL and Penang.

The Intramuros Wall

As we were walking, a trishaw approached us, Intramuros have tours with trishaw where the 'driver' or 'cyclist?' bring you around the main attractions in Intramuros. The price first he said is around 200pesos per person which around RM18 at that time, so we agreed to ride on his trishaw. Kak Ani went inside the Mcdonals first to buy some water and i did too to go to the toilet, haha! to pee. So, i waited for Kak Ani outside near the trishaw and as i waited one of the trishaw driver came to me and asked where i am from and i said 'Malaysia' and then he asked 'can u speak tagalog?' ..of cos not, still why do filipino think all malaysian can speak tagalog? for sabahan maybe. Thats not what surprise me, he then said to me 'u have good looks, your features looks like Jesus Christ'...i was like waddafak!, i never heard i looked like Jesus Christ!..i dunno whether to take it as an insult that i looked like a jewish man or as a compliment for general saint looks. lmao! but i smiled and laughed. Filipino mostly are catholics and lots of churches here and they are quite religious, so that explained. and also, they rarely see people of different color, esp darker skin,,so most of the time, they will stare at me.

Kak Ani and Jesus Christ a.k.a me

So, after we agreed with the price, the driver took us to Fort Santiago. Its like Fort Cornwallis in Penang, but this one is bigger and have lots of areas, stairs and alleys. It was built by the Spanish of course,

The entrance of Fort Santiago

The Top floor where cannons lies. Fire! to taxis who cheat! :P

As we were walking around here, Bless came. so we had some chitchat and told her that we already on tour with the trishaw. She said she can walk, but come on, so Bless ride another trishaw, and our next destination was the Rizal Shrine. Jose Rizal is one of Phillipines warrior, he fought for their independence and this area was built to memorize him as an icon of the country.

The entrance of Rizal Shrine in Intramuros

We walked around this area, there was guards wearing their old uniforms during colonization era and his museums telling all the stories about Jose Rizal, This place consist of valuable historic facts!

The guards

Here are some photos of Rizal Shrine and Fort, i really love this place.

This is Rizal Statue

I saw this and i was like, this is so cool and i decided to take a photo, hihi :P

 The museum shows all information on Rizal's life and struggle against their oppressor, the spanish army. There was stories on his got shot dead, his movement, families, allies, etc

He got shot, an illustration in the museum

Outside the museum, they call this Rizal Fort

After that, we went to The Manila Cathedral. This cathedral, very big btw was built in the 1600. can u imagine..1600, soo long ago. The architecture is very spanish that u feels like u are actually in Madrid. all the relics, writings and idols inside it are either made in Manila or brought in from europe. This cathedral is still functioning as usual, so u must respect people praying and u can see nuns everywhere.

Manila Cathedral

As all cathedrals that was built centuries ago, it looks a lil like a mosque bcos of the Kubah and minnarets. The windows are decorated with bible-related icons, like Jesus obviously, Mary as most filipinos have Mary idols in their homes. 

the windows

All the rooms that keeps ancient relics and idols are located on the left and right side, so it didnt disturb the middle side where people pray and listening to the sermon on Sunday like most churches.

The door of the Cathedral is my favorite part, very pretty and u can act like you are in that era because of the design, hahahahahahaha! btw i am not sure whether this area is under Unesco heritage, it should be!

After Manila cathedral, the trishaw driver brought us to the San Agustin Church. Church build in 1500. The tickets is around 5 ringgit if i am not mistaken. This church was damn old i tell you.

San Agustin church

The paintings and statues in here is mostly brought in by the spanish from europe and mexico. If u have the time to really look at it, u will see how old it is and how magnificent the paintings are. It is among the first church ever build here in the Phillipines.

440 years of Augustinians, the christians people i guess

The idols and paintings from 1500's Europe and Mexico, that is kak ani and Bless

To compare San Agustin and Manila Cathedral i would say, this church is wayy more beautiful, the altar looks like you are in the Vatican or sumthing. There are also a room where they put the priest, pastor etc who died there, from 1500 till now.

The altar

The garden of this church looks like andalusia i freakin tell u!..it looks like u r in some garden in ancient spain.

The garden of San Agustin Church

As we were leaving the museum, we saw this colourful tour jeepney, if i know i would book this one, better, safer, brighter..lol like a slogan. I also bought a 'hand made bird toy' that can fly after u twist the rubber.. It was a popular toy in Philippines, i asked Bless to buy it for me cos if i buy it ill got cheated, cos i already asked once and he mark up the price 2 times from its original price, Manila full of ppl who likes to cheat foreigners i guess idk. But the bird didnt last tho, it got broken, but u can glu it back..i buy it for souvenir only. Thank god its cheap.

Jeepney Tour

We leave San Agustin and head to Casa Manila. It was an old building turned into cafes and restaurants. Obviously expensive, we didnt have a drink, we just walk around it and it was classic. Intramuros itself is a very classic historical city.

ignore the skinny me, this is the outside of Casa Manila

some of the cafes here

The center part is what i like about this area, there's a well covered in moss and stairs that lead you to the top, u can circle the building in 1 round. It looks like the places you will find in game of thrones or series like that, hahahaha! to reach here we went thru a small tunnel that have more expensive bars n cafes..hihi

the tunnel filled with cafes

Bless and me, and the well

We leave this place and went to Baluarte De san Diego, a spanish fort as well. The road lead to here made me feels like i am not in Manila, haha,,.like im in some cities in Mediterranean.  

the city built in 1600 and me like a stick walking in the middle of it

Apart from all the typical cannons and tunnels, what i like about this fort is that u can see the metropolis Manila from the top. So you will be standing in a fort built in 1600 looking towards the new modern Manila. They also have this spiral stairs that is quite creepy yet beautiful leading to the top floor. It was before known as Nuestra Senora de Guia, okay im officially spanish after i said that. hihi :P

the entrance and my butt..lol

Baluarte de San Diego top floor, looking towards metromanila

The spiral stairs

another section of the fort, closed for cleaning. The filipino guys are cleaning it as u can see

This was our last destination in Intramuros, so the trishaw driver bring us back to the start point and we give him the price we agreed upon. Surprisingly he asked for more, as he said that amount is only for 1 hour, but we spent more than an hour, see the trick here? these people will trap you by saying this and that, which what i hate about Manila. We have to pay 400pesos each person! about RM35 ...and Bless tried to talk to the driver, but he said it is the price..so whatever, we just paid, we know he is tired and all but, u dont have to lie u know, i prefer honesty, and i believe with honesty, u will have a better life. I guess thats not how Manila works! . 

Our next plan is to go to Divisoria, its more of a place on the other side of Manila. This city have 2 faces, one is the high end like Makati, and the other half is for commoners like Divisoria and these two dont mix, which i found the real reason filipinos life is becoming harder and harder each day, just my opinion. 

We decided to take Jeepney to Divisoria instead of taxi since its cheaper and we have Bless with us so we have guide. She hold a Jeepney and we ride it. That was the 1st time i ride Jeepney. Not fun, cos packed with other filipino people and they stare at u cos of cos u look dfrnt. And i don't feel safe..bad feeling bad feeling. 

So we reached Divisoria, around 2pm. It was a big huge market place that sells lots of thing. very packed, very dirty, full of people. We stopped at a restaurant to have lunch first. I ordered the fish singgang, same recipe with malay food actually. i guess cos they have the same roots. the workers of the restaurant keep on looking at us again and again and again..analyzing me from head to toe maybe, as foreign ppl and trans (not sure they know tho). but if i talk, with my voice i guess they know! they maybe whisper 'Bakla', meh..Bakla is the 'not so nice' word for Transwoman in tagalog. 

So after the lunch, we went to the market to take a walk to see around the market. My advise is, dont come here..there was no tourist here and the place is so pack with people and you will feel so uncomfortable. People always stare at you. But well, the things are cheap though, The auntie keep on complimenting me again and again saying im pretty and tall and slender, they use the word 'maganda'..means beautiful if i'm not mistaken. The good thing is they don't look down on u cos u r dark, but since most of em rarely see people outside of their community, they will stare at you. Unless you look like em, so its fine. 

We went back and forth, kak ani keep on finding things to buy and i was already tired. I don't like staying at this place so long. But kak ani being her and her passion for shopping, keep on going here and there. Kak ani then wanted to withdraw money from ATM, so we saw one and there is 2 security guards outside it. Oh yea, manila got lots of security guard as the city is not safe. The guard told kak ani to not withdraw here as it is not safe. I already bad feeling again..i wanna go home, but instead kak ani and bless and me went into the wholesale mall there. 

The place is like a Chinatown as all the owners of the store are mostly filipino chinese. The mall is huge, lots of outlets selling wholesale from bags to clothes etc. But i'm not really interested as it getting darker soon here. But we stopped at 1 souvenir place and i got myself a bag made out of coconut shell painted in various colors. It is a very unique bag and i love it, something rare and made in philippines. So i bought that for 400pesos. So, we walked back to the Jeepney, i know something bad gonna happen when i have bad feelings, thats why i didnt take any picture (no pics here) as i dont wanna show my phone and my sling bag is always in front of me. 

This area is not safe. As we were walking..reach the outside of the market to Jeepney station, kak ani and bless crossed the road and a jeepney passed so im stuck in the middle..and suddenly i can feel a hand grabbing my neck! he pulled my gold necklace from my neck just like that!! i just got snatched! i cannot believe it, fucking filipino scums. I totally forgot about my necklace u know, i keep on focusing on the safety of myself, my bag and my phone that i forgot about the gold necklace. real gold yes but cheap one, not thousand ringgit worth, but still! . It had this jade as its gems, my bff Junior gave it to me. 

The jade fell down when that bastard pulled it, luckily it doesnt break and i found it in the middle of the road. I cant lose that cos it was given to me. Thank god the scum didnt get it. He also got the necklace i made when i was in Boracay, the one that have my name on it,but that one is just some stainless string, unworthy to sell at all, unless the idiot think its white gold. I actually already plan to leave it behind in Malaysia, the necklace..but cos i was so in a hurry, i forgot..and i bring it with me to Philippines. Aishh my mistake as well, careless. Thats why u dont see even 1 photos of Divisoria, cos i didnt even take out my phone. Fuck this place! im never coming here again..no tourist should, it is a dangerous place for a non filipino. filled with crime. Bless said, she saw a guy wearing black shirt before and suspect it was him. but whats the point, u cant see him anymore. we just walk out from there. 

This is me in the Jeepney before other people came in, see the thin gold necklace on my neck?

Reach Divisoria, i took this photo after everyone got out. and quickly put it back in my sling back,  Its like a station here, lots
of Jeepneys as u can see it.

We get into a Jeepney back to hotel, kak ani was like 'what to do now'...what to do!, we supposed to not stay there in that shithole for hourss. aih, already happened. beside, u wont dare to find the thief as u might invite more trouble. We hop into Jeepney and i just stay silent cos i was still in shock. for the fist time in my life i become a victim of a snatch crime. Bless asked me 'are u okay?'..yea of cos i have to be okay. i just feel lucky cos the Jade is safe, phew. The Jeepney driver asked what happened and Bless told him the story and he said sorry on behalf of the Filipino and said he regret what happened and like Bless said, as long as we were all safe. Never coming here again, Manila is not safe, manila is not safe, Manila is not safe. 

We reached hotel and just rest, i didn't go out that night and i said to Kak ani if he wanna go, he can go with Bless, i just wanna stay in the room. They didnt go out, we just chill inside our room and have some girl talk about kak ani ex bf, Bless's cousin or friend, not sure. and the we all fell asleep. 

For Day 3&4 click here!