Philippines Travel Series - Manila

Our travel philosophy is centered on a few simplistic notions: be one with nature and let it disclose its wonders to you, spend enough time at a place to actually feel like a local (eat, drink and live like a local) and finally, keep it simple. 

San Antonio Church

This year, without much deliberation Safi decided to take us to Philippines and unlike our previous trips, he left me in charge of planning! This was huge since he’s the planner and he’s brilliant at it and the chances of failure on my part were of mammoth proportions. For years, I’ve had the luxury of ‘tagging along’ and enjoying the ride so, this year when he delegated the responsibility to me and gave me 4 days to plan a trip – I knew I’d lose my mind. But after some excruciating hours of planning, re-planning and crying and fighting – we agreed on a travel plan that was 75% mine and 25% his. And since this was a spontaneous trip, we were both distressed with stress and till the day of our flight, we still hadn’t acquired our visas. Unfortunately, Safi had his visa confirmed while mine was still pending – it resulted in a few more hours of panic and chaos but needless to say, the people at Philippines Embassy were very kind and got mine done on urgent basis so I could actually join my husband on this leisure trip. However, the delay in acquiring the visa left us with only two hours to pack and mentally prepare ourselves for the trip ahead.

We were flying Thai Airways and had a night stay at Manila. Most travel blogs discouraged a long stay in Manila and some, skipped it entirely but our journey time was to be 16 hours and we decided it wise to spend at least a night and continue with the remaining journey after a short break.

We reached Manila after a really long flight and on landing, were greeted with a Thai Airways ad about human trafficking. We were certainly amused and slightly concerned about what lay ahead.

Fort Santiago

Manila International Airport is surprisingly old, small and slightly like the old Islamabad International Airport but our immigration process and baggage claim was speedy. Once outside the airport, we got our currency exchanged and also got two sims of two different networks – Globe and Smart – to ensure that we have constant mobile data no matter where we are in Philippines. Both telecom networks are similar and the packages they offer scarcely vary but my earlier research dictated that at some islands one of the two networks functions so it’s only safe to keep them both.

We then downloaded the Grab app - which is super convenient and all travel bloggers that I had read up on gave this a thumbs up.

Manila in May was at 42 degrees and for two sleep-deprived, slightly agitated and miserably hot tourists had absolutely no appeal on reaching. So no, Philippines was not love at first sight – it was mere disappointment. The unbelievable traffic, lack of greenery, ridiculous numbers of beggars, the dust, the noise and dilapidating buildings made me go ‘oh-no, this looks nothing like the photographs!’

View from Bay Leaf Pent House

We reached our hotel, Red Planet Amorsolo, where we got a compact room – though clean it’s not recommended if you’re claustrophobic. After a short nap, we woke up to not waste the remaining of our day and actually explore Manila. But first, we had to get more of our money changed but the conversion rates in main Manila were terrible. So after moving from one outlet to another, we settled on going to Malate and got a reasonable rate.

From there, our Grab driver dropped us off to Intramorous – the historical society of Manila and we were given our first real dose of Philippines.

Fascinated by the San Antonio Church, I walked towards it to take a few photographs but it wasn’t open for tourists and a mass was in course. However, seeing my disappointment, they let me in and also extended an invitation to Safi and we were simply blown away! It’s one of the most beautiful churches I have ever seen and the display was extraordinary.

Spicy Mango Tuna Maki

There, we hitched a ride on a trike with a tour guide named Michael who amusingly kept referring to himself as ‘the man with horse power’. Cycling and pulling the weight of us bulky-two, this man ceaselessly smiled and continued talking to us, giving us the history of Fort Santiago and the Manila Cathedral. These two landmarks of Manila are worth a visit – they are striking structures and deserve a few hours of exploration.

Michael then took us to Hotel Bay Leaf and guided us to go up to the Pent House there and have a view of Manila at night. With a dose of history, beautiful architecture and the evening breeze, Manila looked simply picturesque and we were glad our trike guide knew exactly how to cheer us up with a view like that.

Sashimi

From there, we said goodbye to him and walked around Manila. What we saw was abject poverty and it left us feeling rather rattled. Coming from a third-world country and continually seeing disparity of individuals, I had still never witnessed urination on pavements, people in tattered clothing sleeping on roads, exceptionally young prostitutes on road corners and it made me feel ridiculously sad for Manila. The place had character but the variable conundrums that merged to give it identity were simply dubious.

With this unsettling feeling, a hungry belly and exhaustion, we decided to grab a Grab and have some food since the last we ate was on the airplane. We took a drop at Little Tokyo and went to a restaurant called Kukiyofujiyama (unsure of the spelling) and had one of the best dinners of our lives!

This divine restaurant is Japanese-themed and serves some of the best food you’d ever find, anywhere! And for this restaurant alone, I’d be willing to go to Manila time and again.

We ordered Sashimi, Waqyu Beef Sticks and Spicy Mango Tuna Maki – and devoured it all. The insanity of flavors and the simplicity of cooking just left us speechless. This restaurant, for us, was the saving grace of Manila and is highly recommended.

Beef Wagyu Sticks

The food gave us a high and we felt excited to be in Philippines and for our journey ahead. We called in an early night – all set to take a flight to Bohol the next morning.