Wednesday September 18th and Thursday September 19th, 2013
After our brilliant time out in Palawan, I had a quick moment to check out the city on Manila. I had arranged a city tour through the hotel and as it started I realised a knew nothing about the history of this country. I'll get to all that thought because before that tour I had a day of shopping and some spa time.
Wednesday morning Debi and I got up relatively early (especially for the day after my birthday) for some breakfast before Debi had to head off to the airport. I then went back to bed and enjoyed a leisurely morning before tackling the mall......well series of malls. I wasn't really looking for anything in particular but managed to find some nice long skirts for work (nice light material to wear in the super hot summers) and a few other little items. It was kind of fun because the malls were already decorated up and selling Christmas stuff. Christmas carols were playing throughout the mall. It was very nice.
I had a pedicure booked for later in the evening (birthday gift from Mom and Dad) but took some time to relax in the mineral pool and steam room for a bit first. I haven't actually spent anytime at a spa like this since I was in the Cayman Islands and Debi was working at the Ritz Carlton so it was nice to relax for a bit.
I took a cup of tea into my pedicure but I was very nicely surprised with something else.
Yes that is champagne.......
........and chocolates. Another very nice surprise from Debi. My birthday celebrations just went on forever.
My pretty new toes.
I have to say it was a really great pedicure and a wonderful way to spend my last evening in Manila.
Thursday morning I prepared to head home but not before checking out a bit of the city. My flight was later in the day so I took the chance to catch a quick city tour. It was only 4 hours long and not nearly enough time to see everything but gave a great introduction to a place that I knew very little about.
The view of my hotel. This is in the area of the city known as Makati (which means itchy), and an area highly recommended for tourists to stay at. The land is owned by the Ayala family who bought the area, which use to be swamp land, for about 108 Philippine peso (about 2.60 CAD). There is no land for sale in Makati and is only available for lease for 25 to 50 year terms. Once the lease is up, any improvements that were made to the land belong to the Ayala family.
I mentioned in my first post that the Philippines is made up of a whole lot of islands. I think I said a few hundred but in reality it's over 7,000....7, 107 at high tide.......7,108 at low tide. Of course volcanic eruptions are forming new islands as well. The country is grouped into 3 main island groups, Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. Both Manila and Palawan can be found in Luzon.
The population of the Philippines is about 97 or 98 million. In additional to that, there is an estimated 12 million Filipinos living and working abroad. The unemployment rate in the Philippines is about 18% so the country relies heavily on money earned by those abroad. I think I've mentioned before I work with a large number of Filipinos, many of who's families remain in the Philippines and they send a large amount of their earnings home to them. As anywhere else they is a wide economic scale in the Philippines with people living on 1,500 USD/month (which obviously puts you in the top class) to $30 USD/month (which clearly puts you in the bottom class).
Once we left the hotel area the tour took us along Forbes Park, also known as "Millionaires Row". Obviously it is home to Manila's elite. Professional boxer and Politician Manny Pacquiao has one of his houses in this area of the city. Imelda Marcos, known for having over a thousand pairs of shoes also resided in the area at one time. Not much to look at as we drove by except cement walls and giant bushes blocking the views but you could certainly see the demographic change as you left the area.
The islands have a lot of history (like any place if you take a few moments to look into it) and as I said I didn't really know much about it until this trip. I had many wrong ideas but now that I've been able to see a few things and read some history, it makes more sense.
The Philippines were a under Spanish rule from 1565 to 1898 and you can certainly see the lasting influence of that in things like names and most especially in religion. 80% of the population identifies itself as being Catholic. There is about 10% Protestant, 5% Muslim, 2% Folk Practitioners, 1% Buddhist and 1% other. The Catholic influence certainly explains all the Christmas decorations and as I've been told by a few friends from the Manila area, "Filipinos just love Christmas".
Our first stop on the tour was at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial. The Spanish-American War saw the United States enter the Philippines in 1898. The Philippines welcomed the US at the time as it was seen as 2 countries joined in a common struggle against Spain. The Philippine Revolution against Spain had started in 1896. Of course that lead to a US occupation, which the was resisted by the Philippine Republic which lead to the Philippine-American War from 1899-1913. The Philippines remained a US Territory until 1946. I tell you all this so you understand why there is a American Cemetery and Memorial in Manila. Of course there are many other remaining American influences (plus a really, really big US Embassy) but one thing that I really liked is Highway 54. Highway 54 is named after 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry which was one of the first African-American units to see extensive service during the US Civil War.
The War Memorial.
There are 17,206 graves in the cemetery. It has the largest number of graves of US service personal killed in World War II but also holds war dead from the Philippines and other allied nations. It reminds me a lot of Arlington National Cemetery in the US but with more space and I think prettier views. It is considered to be one of the most beautiful cemeteries around.
A closer look at those grave stones
A beautiful day in Manila. A little humid (I'm very use to the dry desert air) but not too bad at all.
Once we left the cemetery we travelled along the busy streets of Manila. This nice man was selling bonsai trees at an intersection.
This man was selling cold bottled water, however we were warned to avoid buying food products from these street vendors as you have no idea how they've been altered.
Horse and carriage ride anyone?
Our trip was taking us to Luneta Park also known as Rizal Park. From 1823 to 1897 many executions took place at this location including on December 30th 1896, when Dr. Jose Rizal, a national hero was executed.
A look at the Rizal Monument in Luneta Park. It was completed in 1913.
A solider standing guard at the monument. The monument is guarded day and night to protect the entered remains of Dr. Rizal.
The park was under construction so mostly I got to see the monument but it is a very beautiful place that often host concerts and other events.
You can even take a Cinderella inspired carriage ride if you wanted.
We passed this on the way to our next stop. I don't totally remember the story behind it but I remember it looking out of place to me.
Our next stop was at a little shop where we were able to buy a few souvenirs and such. There was a lot of very nice hand made linen as well. I managed to find a few more Christmas decorations, some postcards....the usual. Stuff was on sale so I was able to buy a few pieces of Christmas linen for not too much money as well (hard to come by in Riyadh).
We then made our way to Fort Santiago. The walled part of Manila is known as Intramuros, meaning "inside the walls" and Fort Santiago is part of the Intramuros.
The old trolley in the old walled city. We didn't have much time to spend here.....so no trolley ride but we saw a few other things.
A few of the statues you will pass while walking to the Fort's main gate.
Looking at the Fort. Not the original facade, it was destroyed but in 1950's the Fort was declared a "Shrine of Freedom" and was restored. You can still see them working on it. You may also be able to see from this picture that the bridge and the gate to do not directly line up. That's of course so no one could make a straight run at the gate.
Not much left to tell you but these would have been more cells for prisoners.
There is Dr. Jose Rizal, in the cell where he spent his final days. Dr. Rizal was a novelist, poet, ophthalmologist, journalist and revolutionary. He was arrested and tried before a court martial for rebellion, sedition and conspiracy. When found guilty we was sentenced to death by firing squad. While the historical accuracy of his role in the revolution is often called into question, he was and continues to be one of the Philippines greatest heroes.
Dr. Rizal's footsteps. You can follow most of them from his cell to Rizal Park where he was executed. He was executed by a firing squad made up of Filipino Soldiers in the Spanish Army. There were Spanish Army troops on standby to shoot those soldiers in case they refused to go through with the execution.
This neighbourhood sits across the river from Fort Santiago and is home to some of Manila's residents living on 1 USD/day. The City is trying to relocate them to build a commercial centre but so far they have refused to move.
Looking across the river from the outer walls of the fort. Looking very different from my previous picture....yet sitting right next door.
Looking through the wall.
As we followed the upper wall of the Fort, along the top of the jail cells. Lots of trees and flowers. It was quite pretty.
Heading back out the main gate. You can see some more of Dr. Rizal's footprints.
Another set of statues in the park.
They look deep in conversation.
Once we left Fort Santiago we had one more stop to make. We had yet to visit a church and given the role of religion in this country we had to stop at at least one.
The San Agustin Church. It is said to be the oldest stone church in the Philippines. It was closed on this occasion so we were unable to view the inside. Just a tidbit of info about how religion influences policy, divorce is illegal in the Philippines so it leads to some very interesting family dynamics. There are many stories of couples agreeing to divorce and marrying others while living abroad but if and when they return to the Philippines, the new marriage is not recognised because the first marriage cannot be legally dissolved.
Yes, that stone dragon does look a little out of place. Two dragons sit on either side of the main entrance and were originally made of jade. Those jade statues were exported to Britain during the time of British occupation (and I believe are in a museum in London). They were eventually replaced with the stone dragons. They were placed there to make the Chinese who attended the church feel more at home. Without going into too much detail, there was a period that saw a large influx of Chinese workers (like many parts of the world) and their influence is lasting.
Eventually the tour ended and we made our way back to the hotel. I did a quick job repacking, checked out and then returned to the spa. My flight wasn't until the evening and I had to check out of my room by 1400 (2pm) but I could still use all the facilities so I stored my bags and spent some time in the spa, had a nice shower and then had a couple drinks by the pool.....followed by some mango cheese cake in the lobby.
My mango margarita....I may have had a couple.
My Mango cheesecake.....so good.
Eventually I made my way to the airport and back to Riyadh.
So in summary, great introduction to the Philippines. I will definitely be back, hopefully with some better weather and hopefully to do some diving. Lots of great things to see, some really interesting history and some amazing people. So glad I chose to spend my birthday here.
Julie
References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_groups_of_the_Philippines http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Philippines http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippines http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manila_American_Cemetery_and_Memorial
