Another Half Term another holiday, this time to Manila in the Philippines.
I wasn't as excited as normal about this trip due to many people telling me negatives things about Manila however the optimist in me likes to think I can always find the best in anywhere I visit.
The flight was good and we arrived 35 minutes early.
We walked back up to departures in NAIA airport and grabbed a local taxi as this was the cheapest option as you can catch the taxis that have just dropped people off.
We haggled him down to 250 Pesos, he wanted 500 to start with!
We arrived at our hostel the Hilik in Makati, first impressions were good the staff were friendly and the place was clean. However the all night disco opposite and paper thin glass meant for a rather horrid nights sleep.
Now I had ear plugs and my eye mask so I slept like a log however Neil only got 1 hour!
Anyway back to Manila we dumped our stuff and headed out for the afternoon.
We were all pretty hungry so we all agreed on this noodle place called Next Door Noodles.
It was terrible, un-cooked cold noodles with pork wantons when I asked for mushroom, my friends was terrible also.
We walked down to Ayara Gardens in the Bel Air area, this is the business district so its very built up with lots of skyscrapers.
As it was Chinese New Year it was all closed so nice a quite but the cafes and restaurants were open.
We stopped at Wildflower a really pretty place which had the best selection of cakes and pastries.
Wonderful Pastries
We headed back to the Hilik to meet up with friends.
We had a look at the Night Market opposite which had many stalls selling the weird delicates the Philippines has to offer.
Chicken Intestine
Chicken blood
Pigs Ears
Kwek Kwek (deep fried quails egg)
Chicken blood
Pigs Ears
Kwek Kwek (deep fried quails egg)
I just couldn't bring myself to try anything, saying that none of us could.
We watched the local singer perform her best renditions of classic 80's tunes and then headed to a strip of bars just up the road from our hostel.
All the bars turned out to be strip clubs, massage places with a happy ending! or brothels, this place really depressed me, kids running around bare foot whilst young girls parade around in short skirts luring old men into bars.
We didn't stick around for long and headed back to the Hilik.
The music was pumping from the place opposite...Sleep was going to be a challenge!
Today we decided to visit the Manila American Memorial Cemetery in Forbes park.
We followed our map and walked all the way it took about 1 hour 30 minutes, it was really easy and took us through a more affluent part of Manila.
A nice church along the way.
We saw quite a few of these officers during our time in Manila.
We spent about an hour wondering around the beautiful peaceful crematory.
Next up lunch!
Neil had looked up a place that sold draft ales and burgers called Burgers & Brewskies.
The food was delicious.
I had the 'Call the Nurse' see all that cheese on top that's actually Mac & Cheese!
We never needed to call the nurse but we did crab a taxi after to Pasay City and got dropped off by the Taft Ave metro.
The traffic is crazy in Manila and it took us about 40 mins to get there but taxis are so cheap.
That trip cost us just over 100 pesos around 10 Ringgit or 1.60 Sterling.
There was a walk highlighted on my map which started were the taxi dropped us and finished down along the Esplanade.
My advise just get dropped to the Esplanade because we all felt very uncomfortable walking through San Rafael. It felt very unsafe and the place is very dirty with rubbish everywhere and lots of children begging.
Before you hit the Esplanade you are greeted with the huge Mall of Asia.
The Esplanade
We were relived to find this place and felt much safer. We grabbed some Ice Cream and took a slow stroll along the Esplanade.
Watching the sunset.
Concious it was now dark we hopped in a taxi to Malate we had heard it was full of bars and restaurants so thought it was a good choice for dinner.
This area was again very run down with kids running around filthy trying to sell us tacky Valentines gifts or just holding their hands out for money, It broke my heart.
We had something to eat at a restaurant called 'Vest Ramen in town' it sprawled out onto the busy road and was very popular.
The food was really nice. We had a couple local Red Horse beers and people watched for a couple hours.
We got told after that Malate isn't a save place for tourist at night, so we survived Malate!
Another terrible nights sleep for everyone so we all decided to get a refund and find another place. With out going into all the detail the Hilik made it very difficult to get the refund and took no responsibility for the noise (do not stay in rooms 1-5!) however with non of us backing down we finally got it and checked into the Berjaya Hotel further down the road. This last minute booking was a dream, we booked 2 double rooms but ended up being bumped up to the Executive suites on the top floor!
Finally sorted me and Neil rewarded ourselves with a few beers at a random bar next door. We got chatting to the owner who was telling us all about the poverty and sex trade in Manila it was really sad and whilst hes telling us all this children and mums and constantly approaching us asking for money and girls are flirting with older men as they pass by.
There was another guy sat next to us who had listened to our conversation and introduced himself, turns out he was from Holsworthy in Devon. We chatted for a while and found out that he directs and stars in Porn movies! Sums up this place really.
We had a very lazy 3rd day with Myself and Neil not feeling great, I manged lunch at a cool place called Hole in the Wall in the Century City Mall. Its a very nice but expensive food court selling really good food.
I had the Pulled pork bun from Mr Delicious.
Dinner that evening was at Project Pie an American Pizza Franchise in Bel Air.
Its a really cool quirky joint where you build your own pizzas (think Subway.)
I went for the Feta and Walnut salad although the Pizzas looked great.
Today we headed to Manila City to Intramurus old town.
Its quite some distance from Makati so we walked to the SM Mall and caught the MRT. We changed at Taft Avenue and caught the LRT straight to United Nations station to start our walk.
.
The metro stops are not for the faint hearted, very dirty, extremely overcrowded and lots of poverty.
There was a small boy no older then 3 asleep on the stairs leading down from the metro. He was filthy and people were just walking past and over him, totally broke my heart.
We followed a walk which took us through some parks and past a few places of interest. All of the parks were filled with homeless beggars who were trying to catch a few winks whilst clutching all their worldly possessions.
The walk was about 1 hr before we hit the Old town of Intramuros.
Lots of beautiful old buildings but surrounded by the poor trying to survive each day.
We stopped for lunch at Restaurente Delle Mitre. There are only 2 nice restaurants that we could find, the other one is Barbara's and they are both nestled around the beautiful San Agustin church.
I ordered Scrambled eggs with Chorizo.
Pretty gift shops.
We wondered around and headed to Fort Santiago.
It was just around the corner from here that I found a beautiful Alsation dog locked in a cage with blood pouring from his nose. I was extremely upset and when I found a guy and asked him to help him he just replied `Sick'. Being completely helpless in this situation left me feeling pretty low. These people don't have the money to care for these animals and once they get ill they just leave them to suffer. I've been to quite a few places in Asia and Manila is by far the worst in terms of animal welfare that I've seen.
I emailed a animal shelter and hope that they were able to help.
We wondered around the Fort which was very pretty but all I kept thinking about was that poor dog.
It was close to 5 now and gets dark at 6 so we decided to head back.
We first hopped on a Jeepney these are everywhere and used by locals to get around the local neighbourhoods.
They were left by the Americans after the war and then modified by the Filipinos into small buses they have all been customised, some of them look quite spectacular.
The destinations they drop at are painted on each of them.
We got off at Chinatown and headed to the metro. It was here were again we saw naked children sat playing under the metro, very skinny ill dogs curled up and lots of rubbish.
We got the LRT at Edsa station, from here we then needed to get the MRT however the queue was terrible and the thought of waiting there freaked me out so we ventured onto the streets and caught a bus to Ayara.
This was an experience!!!
Our last full day was spent at the Taal Volcano in Tagaytay about an hour out of the city. Its one of the main tourist attractions to visit and we needed to get out of the city.
We found a driver charging 1500 Pecos each which was the cheapest we found, a lot include a guide and lunch however the guide isn't needed and you can bring your own food or get something there.
The Banca Boats that take you across the lake.
It took us about 20 minutes to cross and it was quite choppy and you get wet!
When you arrive you have to pay 100 Pecos each entrance fee about 1 pound.
The walk up takes about 30 minutes and its quite steep. You can ride a Pony or Horse however I think its extremely cruel and they looked shattered carting people up and down all day in the heat.
The hike up was worth it, the views were amazing.
Once at the top there are some look out points and people selling water and Coconuts.
We paid an extra 50 Pecos each to go to the Red Lava view point where you can get great 360 degree views.
We spent about an hour here and then slowly made our way back down.
Full of dust and exhausted from the heat we enjoyed the air-conditioned car journey home.
That evening Neil found a great Mexican street food place just around the corner from the hotel
called El Chupacabra on 5782 Felipe street.
Goats Stew Taco.
This place was very busy and around here we saw a few cool places to eat.
A nice end to a great day.
Last day and just enough time for lunch, after walking the wrong way to find a Japanese Bakery we instead came across a nice Vegetarian restaurant called Corner Tree Cafe.
Really nice place and the food was delicious.
I had Homemade lemonade with Goats cheese Croquettes.
We headed back to the hotel and flagged down a taxi, they were all asking 400 Pesos to the airport which is way over the going rate but between the 4 of us we didn't mind and we were all desperate to just get the hell out of the city and make our way home.
Over all my experience of Manila wasn't good, its very clear that the government has no control over the city and with the extreme poverty and unsafe streets it just left a very bad taste with me, so unfortunately Manila I wont be returning.
