Manila, Philippines

June 8, 2023

Yesterday we had a cooking demonstration with our newest guest chef who I had seen on a previous world cruise, Christian Delouvrier. And our own executive chef, Farid, returned to the ship in Bangkok, so both of them led the demonstration and took many questions.

Today is the first of a 14 day stretch of port stops with no sea days in between! We arrived in Manila at 7 AM to the smell of smoke and this landscape. Probably not as bad as the the northeastern US right now.

Our tour was Old Manila by jeepney. We have been in Manila 3 times before and did see a lot of old Manila in 2015, but the jeepney experience was new for us. Our guide was Alvin and he was very good. Nice that he had a headset and microphone so we could hear him as we did our touring.

The jeepney is a vehicle that was repurposed from the jeeps that the American soldiers used during WWII. It is now kind of a small bus with the front built on a jeep chassis. To our surprise, ours was air conditioned, which wasn’t the case originally and some still are open air. Each is decorated according to the interests of the family that owns it. Alvin showed us the different ways that people let the driver know where to stop. One is tapping a coin on the metal bars.

Manila is a huge and overcrowded city with parts that are shabby and run down but other parts that are very much like other booming Asian cities. The population is about 14 million in a country of 113 million on 7641 islands! The Manila traffic is crazy, not unlike other cities we have visited.

Our tour today started at Rizal Park. Dr. Rizal is the national hero in the Philippines. He was multifaceted intellectual and a political activist, best known for his political writings that inspired the Philippine revolution and ultimately led to his execution by the Spanish. Rizal park is a tribute to him and his life. It is also the site of his death by firing squad. We noticed many police as we toured the park and later found out that it would close at 10 due to a visit of the ambassador from Singapore. So we were lucky to get there early.

There were some flyovers and this dog which had blinders on and was presumably being trained to smell bombs.

After the park, we visited Fort Santiago which is now a memorial to the victims of WWII and the sacrifices of the Filipino people in pursuit of freedom. In 1950, Fort Santiago was declared a Shrine of Freedom and restoration began the following year. It forms one corner of the walled city of Intramuros. The site is well preserved and quite somber to visit as many people were imprisoned by the Spanish in the dungeons and more than 600 are buried inside the fort. It was the seat of the Spanish government in the 14th century and the country was under Spanish rule for more than 300 years.

Does that look like dignity and respect to you?

We saw this lovely woman being photographed as we left the fort area.

We went on to visit the St. Agustin Church and museum. The Agustinians set up missions and then the Jesuits arrived here in 1581 and set up more missions which contributed to the cultural, political and religious transformation of Philippine society. 81% of the population is Roman Catholic.

St. Augustine in the center of the altar not Christ on the cross as is typical in most churches

The San Agustin Church was the only building left intact after the destruction of Intramuros in WWII. Built between 1587 and 1606, it is the oldest church in the Philippines.

The museum is very well done and interesting. It contains many artifacts, vestments and statues from the history of the church. The statue’s faces are made of ivory and are truly beautiful.

Only the very rich and well connected could be buried here.

These shutters are made of wood and capiz shells

We visited a handicraft shop which had beautiful items. If we didn’t have to take a flight back in San Francisco, I would have bought a basket or two.

Our last stop was the historic Manila Hotel where we had a chance to walk around and see the impressive lobby. Norm took some pictures of these sculptures in a hallway art gallery.