Intramuros

Within Fort Santiago

Manila doesn't have a huge number of tourist attractions.  One of the most famous, if not the most famous, is Intramuros.  It is a citadel built by the Spanish in the late 16th Century, to protect the city from foreign invasions.  It was badly damaged during the Second World War, but restoration work began in the early 1950s.  Today it is a mix of old Spanish-looking streets and buildings, some of which have been turned into museums, and an area where local Filipinos live, work and play.

After almost 11 months in Manila, this was a site which we had still not visited.  We decided to visit today.  We had heard mixed reviews from others who had already been there - some friends who live in Manila and most recently from my dad and sister who ventured there during their short stay in Manila.  So I dug out the Lonely Planet to get some tips.  One of the best tips was to head to Fort Santiago, where they have a visitor centre which gives out good maps of the walled city.

Horse and carriage

Fort Santiago has been made into a museum.  The grounds are immaculate and the buildings in a good state of repair (other than those which are under restoration at the moment including the Rizal Shrine).  As you wander around the fort, you spot many a horse and carriage (of many different designs).  Whilst the horses are tiny, they are in very good condition (compared to some of the ones we've seen in Binondo and at Taal Volcano).  You could walk along part of the elevated wall which gives views of the Pasig river and real Manila on the other side of it.

One of the quirks of Intramuros is that there is a golf course which wraps around it.  I'm no golfer, but I'm led to believe that it's quite a prestigious course here in Manila.  It was odd walking up to one of the walls and seeing people teeing off below you.  Not a sight I had expected to see!

Manila Cathedral

From Fort Santiago we wandered down General Luna street.  Along this street lies the Manila Cathedral - an impressive looking building, but currently closed for renovation.  Parts of the street are cobbled and there are various restaurants and souvenir shops.  It has a really old feel to it, and you could be in parts of Europe here.  From there we headed down a few side streets, with our final destination of the Bay Leaf hotel in mind.  As you head down the side streets, the feel of Intramuros changes completely.  The streets become full of tricycles (of the push-bike rather than the motorbike variety), local street stalls and, as it was a Sunday, lots of locals enjoying some time with their family and friends.

Today was the day that Manny Pacquiao was fighting Brandon Rios in Macau so as you walked down some of the quieter streets you could hear TV / radio broadcasts of the fight.  Manny is a pretty big deal in the Philippines.  And he won the fight.

Bay Leaf roof deck (ignore the finger)

We reached our destination of the Bay Leaf Hotel only to find that the roof deck didn't open until 5pm.  We asked if we could go up for a look anyway.  When we got up there we realised that the bar there WAS closed, but that you could order food and/or drinks from 9 Spoons restaurant and get them delivered to the roof deck.  So that's just what we did.  It's a great spot with views all over Manila, including the bay.  It would be a great spot for some sundowners.  We'll just have to head back.

So I probably would recommend Intramuros for a visit.  I'd start at Fort Santiago and work your way from there - it gives you a base, and you're not just dropped somewhere in what may feel like a bit of a ghetto to some.

Haggis, kilts, ceilidh dancing & free flowing whisky... and we're still in Manila!

I think I'm from the 'Gordon' clan.

An annual event in Manila is the St Andrews ball, organised by the Manila St Andrews Society.  Ostensibly it's to celebrate St Andrews Day (30 November), but really I think it's just an excuse for a good knees up.  And a good knees up it was.

The ball was held at the Manila Polo Club.  I've been past the Club on a number of occasions, and I've always wanted to go inside.  It has a grand entrance and you can just peek at a nice driveway and manicured lawns through the entrance.  That was definitely one of the deciding factors when I saw the event advertised.  It is also more reasonable than some of the other balls (tickets were 3500 pesos each) and the word 'haggis' was included on the poster.  I couldn't pass up another opportunity to munch on some haggis (we'd missed the Burn's supper in January this year).

Being a Friday night, traffic was, well, to put it the Filipino way 'very traffic'.  In other words 'very heavy traffic'.  It took us about 20 minutes to find a cab, and then about half an hour to travel maybe 3km.  I don't think we were the only ones who suffered as the room wasn't quite full when we arrived at 7:50pm (we were meant to be seated for dinner by 8).  People kept filtering in and eventually there must have been about 250 people there.  I never thought I would see so many kilts in one place in Manila.

Clan paraphernalia decorating the ballroom

There was a lot of ceremony, lots of food, free flowing booze and ceilidh dancing.  A great night.  We had a bit of a delayed start - we weren't eating until about 10pm.  This was after a demonstration of Scottish dancing by some local children (they were fantastic), the chieftan's address (sadly he couldn't be there, so it was read by Roy Espiritu who gave up his piping duties for the night) and the piping in of the haggis.

Starter was tomato and basil soup (tasty) followed by haggis and neeps (they forgot the tatties.  They did rectify their mistake by bringing us cold scoops of potato), and then onto fillet steak, chocolate pud for dessert and a cheese selection.  Very indulgent.  There was wine and whisky on the tables and you could order beers and other drinks from the waiters.  They even made me freshly pressed apple juice!

  

Plenty of ceilidh dancing followed, in amongst a performance from a band called The Spirits (a Celtic fusion dance band apparently).  Plenty of fun.  We lasted until about 1am, but the party was still in full swing when we left.  I'm sure there were plenty of sore heads in Manila on Saturday morning.

Buzzing Boracay

Puka Beach, Boracay

We were lucky enough to have some visitors for the first 2 weeks in September - my parents, Jill & Peter, and my sister, Sarah.  It wouldn't be a fair representation of the Philippines if all we'd shown them was Manila.  We debated, at length, where else we should go in the Philippines.  The main spanner in the works of choosing where to go was the weather.  We hadn't lived through a rainy season in the Philippines yet, so had no idea what effect these much fabled storms would have on travel plans.

In the end, we settled on Boracay.  It is one of the highlights of the Philippines, there are very frequent flights there and on paper it's a short easy journey.  On the weather maps, which show the 4 main weather regions of the Philippines, it also seemed to be one of the places that escaped some of the worst weather.

There are 2 airports which feed Boracay: Kalibo and Caticlan.  Caticlan is much closer (a short tricycle ride, followed by a short ferry ride, followed by a van/tricycle ride to your hotel.  Kalibo has an additional 2 hours bus ride to get to the port for the ferry across to Boracay.  2 benefits of Kalibo though: bigger planes fly there, and it's considerably cheaper to fly there.  So we flew into Kalibo (with delays, a 7 hour journey!) and out of Caticlan (no delays, 4 hour journey).

View from our apartment at Argonauta

We had booked to stay in an apartment, part of Argonauta resort, about 10 minutes away by tricycle from the main White Beach.  We were greeted with a refreshing fruit juice on the terrace overlooking Banyugan beach.  Stunning.

The accommodation at Argonauta was great.  A 2 bedroom apartment, with a lovely verandah was perfect for us to be able to enjoy the time together as a family.  The breakfasts served were hearty and delicious.  You could choose from various options including healthy (muesli, yogurt and fresh tropical fruit), light (fresh fruit, pancakes and 2 boiled eggs), Filipino (fruit, rice, longanissa sausage) and one which included eggs and bacon or ham.  They would easily keep us going all day, with perhaps a light snack in the afternoon.  The service was warm, friendly and efficient.  A definite perk was the free shuttle which provided us with transport to anywhere on the island, with the very friendly driver Alan.

Puka beach

We had a good mix of weather.  Our first full day was spent sunning ourselves on Puka Beach.  No complaints at all about the weather that day.  The second day was a bit mixed.  In the morning we managed some beach time at Ilig Iligan beach before the rains arrived.  On the third day it was a bit grim, but we decided to make the most of the fact it wasn't raining and headed out on a round-the-island boat trip.  This included only one snorkelling stop, at Crocodile Island.  I was a bit disappointed as on visits to other islands in the Philippines there had been numerous snorkelling stops.  Still, it was a fun way to see the whole island from the sea!  We had a bit more rain the next day, but decided to go up Mount Luho for views of the island from an alternative perspective.  Even with the rain, it was great being able to see the island and the sea.

Along with the sightseeing, we had a few good meals.  Our first meal was at Kasbah, which also has a branch in Manila.  We sat with our feet in the sand and enjoyed a delicious North African supper.  Next was at Cyma, a greek restaurant which also has a branch in Manila.  Very good Greek food including their famous flaming cheese, which is delivered to your table with the entire staff shouting 'Oooompa!'.  We also enjoyed a beach barbeque, again with our feet in the sand, wood-fired pizza at Aria and a home-cooked meal at Argonauta.  Not bad choices for such a tiny island.

Because Boracay is one of the highlights of the Philippines, it is busier than a lot of the other places we've visited.  But it is a deserved highlight.  The beaches are long, white and beautiful (especially white beach), the sea clear blue and warm, and the food options great.  Would I go back?  I wouldn't rush back, but if we have more visitors, it might be a place I recommend to them.

More photos from our Boracay trip.