| Earnings YTD | HP | HELIOS | GLD Owed | GLD Held | Off Chain |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day 19 | 80.958 | 0.708 | 525.9 | 428.856 | 0 |
| Day 18 | 65.378 | 0.538 | 470.9 | 330.014 | 0 |
| Day 17 | 43.154 | 0.307 | 412.3 | 273.156 | 0 |
| Day 16 | 35.645 | 0.235 | 365.1635 | 227.204 | 0 |
| Day 15 | 25.957 | 0.122 | 323.3945 | 163.979 | 0 |
| Day 14 | 20.761 | 0.07 | 323.3945 | 155.63 | 0 |
| (Day 13) | 12.523 | 0.043 | -178.88 | 0 |
What would I show you in Manila?
I have spent a lot of time in Manila. Not so much because I like Manila but rather because it is the capital city of the Philippines and the place I'm most likely to get what I need if it is a specialty item. When I come here I usually try to look at different areas and see what is interesting in them. Mostly Manila is just way way too crowded with people to have many sites to go see.
Which is kind of sad.
Yes there are bars, KTV and other entertainment sites but again those are indoors and not exactly cultural. There are lots of good restaurants. There are big malls. There are great places for various services from manicures to pedicures, facials to hair styling, massage, spa and more. But natural sights? Parks? Museums? Those are much more lacking
Usually I just tell people that Manila is a necessary place to navigate in the Philippines on the way to more interesting places outside the capital.
However, today I had friends come from Canada and they are only in Manila for a couple of days and they aren't going to go to any of the cool beaches of "out of Manila" areas.
I got to play tour guide.
What did I come up with?
Well, traffic is bad in Manila so going from place to place takes a lot of time. I could try to take them all over the city but there a lot of cities that make up the greater Manila area and seeing all would mean driving all day and never getting out of the vehicle :)
Now they decided to get a hotel right beside the airport. Sort of. There are actually three terminals in different parts of the city. Getting from terminal to terminal can take an hour when traffic is bad. If you don't know the city you can easily get ripped off just trying to get to your hotel.
Unfortunately for my friends they landed in Terminal #1 and they had a hotel near Terminal #3. Walking distance from Terminal #3 (even with luggage).
If they knew the travel hack they would take the shuttle bus between terminals and use the airports skybridge to let them out close enough that they can see the front door of the hotel they are supposed to go to.
But they didn't know so instead of free, they paid over $100 HBD. (sigh) There are advantages to knowing a city when you travel.
From their hotel I chose ONE place
The best place for them to visit is Intramuros. Break down the wall it translates as "Inside Wall" . You see Manila used to be a walled outpost of the Spanish for a very long time. The Spanish had a fort inside the wall called Fort Santiago which is a cool place to visit. Inside the walls there are many historic sites such as Universities, Government buildings and very old Churches. Now the city has grown up inside the walls but many of the old buildings are still there.
Result: An interesting place to visit because of the old buildings and historic nature.
But there are interesting places along the path from the airport and Intramuros
Rather than just leave the hotel and head directly to the historic sites I figured we would stop along the way.
First Stop
Our lady of Perpetual Help national shrine.
A very old and very majestic Catholic church. Beautiful grounds and a real piece of history was our first stop.
A little stroll
The shrine is right beside an area known as "Baclaran" which is a very densely populated Manila housing and shop area. It hasn't been gentrified so we walked through there to see just how dense and chaotic life in Manila can be. However, while it is chaotic, for those who live there, they figure out how it works and the rhythm of the city. For those who don't it is a bit of an experience.
7/11 and a bit of disappointment
We were hoping to catch a Trike from the 7/11 in Baclaran to the Mall of Asia. Unfortunately all the trikes that were there last year weren't there this year. Result: We didn't get a trike and when we thought about it we didn't bother seeing the Mall of Asia (even though it is truly a gigantic mall with a few thousand stores inside).
Manila Bay
There is a walkway along the Manila Bay.
We walked along the path for a while and seeing the ocean was cool, but it was hot and wrong time of day to do it so... We didn't stay long and kept on going to Intramuros.
Intramuros
Okay, we got dropped off at the outer wall. Ugh. There were electric trikes offering to take you around and see the sights and get a tour. But I really wanted to get the Kalesa (horsedrawn carriage). I knew where to flag them down in the center by the cathedral but walking there would have been a pain. So short trike ride (P500 for two trikes) and we were there.
(The oldest church in the Philippines according to the guide. Where we could get a kalesa outside)
Historic Buildings and Walls
We hired a Kalesa and went around Intramuros. We saw 500 year old churches. Rectories. Universities and more. Personally I liked the fortifications on the wall and the cannons of course.
Fort Santiago
The main base in Manila Bay was Fort Santiago. More walls, more cannons, and a position on the Pasig River. Much of the fort was destroyed during World War 2 but you can still see some of it restored and get an idea of the scale of the base from hundreds of years ago.
In addition to that Fort Santiago has two things to see inside.
- The Shrine of Jose Rizal
Jose Rizal is a national hero to the Filipino. He was executed on charges on trying to aid insurrection. It was absolutely a transition time in Manila when they went to Spanish rule to American rule but that's a much longer story. This is a shrine to a man who tried to help the Filipino and was executed for it. Anyways, seeing his letters, his books, the timeline of his life and death. Fairly interesting actually.
- The catacombs
Under Fort Santiago there are underground tunnels. During World War 2 it served as a torture chamber that the Japanese used to get information from Filipino. It is a memorial to those who died there and a very interesting place to visit.
It may not seem like much
However, it took hours to just do this. By the time we were done that? I wanted to take them to a mall or two and go for a late lunch. Their idea? Time to go back home and rest.
Overall, I'm glad I got to show them what they saw. There is more to see but for one short day? I think I chose the right place to go :D