Shopping Malls in Metro Manila I’d learned a fair bit about Spanish colonialism in Intramuros, but hadn’t realised that the Philippines had been a US colony for so long. In spite of it being independent of the US since 1946, I found the American influence is still very obvious today. English is widely spoken, most signage is in English and US brand names and chains proliferate. And like Americans, Filipinos sure love their malls. I soon came to see the…
A week in Boracay, Philippines Now this was a dream come true! We were on a beautiful island in the South China Sea, the 4 km long white beach (aptly named White Beach) stretching before me, traditional double-outrigger wooden boats dotted across the turquoise waters, the Oldies, quiet for once, sitting at a beach bar under the shade of the palm trees, sipping their beers and nibbling freshly baked Bavarian pretzels. Wait a minute. What? Only in the Philippines! Apparently…
Visit to Intramuros and Rizal Park, Manila The Dynamic Duo finally managed to shake off their body guards and slip into Manila city centre. Their first port of call was Intramuros, the old walled city from the Spanish colonial era … only it was basically a reconstruction. The entire city was destroyed by shelling by the US forces as they fought the Japanese in World War II. I found this monument to the 100,000 innocent victims of the Battle of…
Stay in Lucena beach resort My favourite thing about the Philippines is that it is basically a whole load of islands – over 7,600 in fact. Wow! That could only mean that a visit to the seaside couldn’t be far off. Sure enough, it wasn’t long before we headed for a beach resort south of Manila, not far from the city of Lucena. We travelled in typical Filipino fashion – 13 humans and one seagull squished into a nine-seater minibus…
Pasig City, Metro Manila Our next stop was Manila. Well, if I’d expected it to be anything at all like Kuala Lumpur, I couldn’t have been more wrong. It’s different world! For a start, with a population of something in the region of 10 times that of Kuala Lumpur, there are surprisingly few high rise buildings. The skyscrapers I saw appeared to be concentrated in the downtown area. We were staying in Pasig City, one of the 16 cities that…