Day 413: Manila

May 20 - Today is our only full day to see Manila. I placed us in the Intramuros district because from here there are many historical structures within walking distance. But there are a thousand tuk-tuks outside the hotel and we attempt to accomplish the task that way.

Odette sitting in a tuk-tuk that theoretically seats three people (plus driver for four people).

Intramuros is a polygon surrounded by reconstructed city walls from Spanish colonial times. Outside of this is a buffer zone of gold courses, giving the district a quiet feel, shielded from busy highways. We cross part of this golf course to stop at the front of the Museum of Fine Arts.

The Gomburza Monument, across from the Museum of Fine Arts. The yellow tower of City Hall can be seen in the background.

Puerta Real Gardens.

A gate leading into the Intramuros district. The sign above commemorates the Spanish king Charles III, dated 1780.

Part of the wall structure of Intramuros, next to Puerta Real Gardens.

Another view of the gardens.

At this point Janet makes more inquiries to our tuk-tuk driver and discovers that the 700 Pesos for two hours is actually only for 30 minutes (he pulls out a new price table to ‘prove’ this, one that he did not show Janet at the start). He has a lot of trouble answering the simple question ‘what do you owe you right now?’ and instead wants to forge ahead. I calculate that the original two hours will cost us 2,800 Pesos, a ridiculous sum for something we could easily walk on foot. I hand over the 700 Pesos and we leave.

Walking back into Intramuros proper, we next visit the Balurarte de San Diego, the remains of a 16th-century fortress.

The skeleton of a corner tower on the wall.

A Japanese gun remaining on the Intramuros wall.

A large breadfruit in the San Diego gardens.

The streets of Intramuros are easy and fairly relaxing to walk. Traffic is reduced by city order to keep congestion down.

The altar in the 16th-century Baroque San Augustin Church,

Some of the funerary floor tiles in San Augustin Church.

Memorare Park. Along with this monument, there is much written up here about the Japanese occupation from 1942-45. This was by far the worst point in Manila’s history as a city. When it was clear that the US was not able to keep Manila from the hands of the Japanese army, the city capitulated with the understanding that Japan would not be violent occupiers. This proved wholly incorrect, and over the next three years, Japan conducted a terror campaign here and elsewhere in the occupied Philippines. They pressed thousands of Filipinos into work gangs and sent many local women to brothels. About 500,000 Filipinos died during these three years as a result of the occupation.

A jeepney. This form of public transport, often decorated with logos, sayings, and artwork, is unique to the Philippines.

A statue of the Spanish king Charles IV in Roma Plaza. It was placed here in honor of that king, who was responsible for bringing the smallpox vaccine to the Philippines. The imagining of Charles IV striding along with his sword out is rather generous for a king who history has since derided as weak and uninterested in his job.

Continuing north, we enter into the grounds of Plaza Moriones.

The bridge at the north end of Plaza Moriones leads to Fort Santiago.

The gate of Fort Santiago, with a hapless wedding couple trying to get a romantic photo, despite the droves of people going in and out.

Fort Santiago is one of the most important historical structures in Intramuros. It was built by Spanish navigator and governor Miguel López de Legazpi when Manila was established in 1571. It took 150 years to complete.

One of the more infamous sites in Fort Santiago are the underground bunkers where prisoners were held during the Japanese occupation in WWII. When US forces liberated Manila, they found 600 dead prisoners squashed into a few rooms. Many are known to have died before that when the occupiers were in control of the city. The bunkers were hot, stale, and humid, allowing infection and disease to run rampant.

Beyond the bunkers is a museum dedicated to Jose P. Rizal, famous for his role inspiring Philippine independence from the Spanish. He was a highly educated individual, who had many interests, including writing subversive pamphlets about freedom from Spanish colonizers. For this he was imprisoned by the Spanish and executed by a kangaroo military court in 1896. Ironically, Spain would lose the Philippines to a war with the US just two years later.

From here there are good views along the Pasig River. There is a bit of garbage floating in it.

From Intramuros, we walk south to Rizal Park.

There are many people around the park today, as it is Saturday. This monument to Rizal is important enough that it has its own military guardsmen.

East of Rizal Park, bordering Manila Bay, is the Manila Ocean Park. Odette joyfully races through the aquarium. Among other notable things, they have a few tanks with a wide assortment of pufferfish. We watch the stingrays being fed.

The tank with rabbitfish. They are considered lucky in China, and this being Year of the Rabbit that luck is compounded. Hence the lucky number “8” in the tank. Fortunately, everything is sealed, otherwise, people surely would have thrown in a lot of coins.

Not many interesting manholes lately, so was glad to see this one.

The east side of Rizal Park. I took this photo to note the yellowish lights in the trees. These are glass globes I’ve noticed strung through many, many trees in the city.

After lunch here, we go back through Rizal Park, visit the Chinese Garden, then watch the Musical Dancing Fountain. It is already getting dark by this time so return to the hotel.

Philippines