002 - Manila Tour (Binondo/Chinatown and Intramuros)

*all photos were taken using a point&shoot camera only and processed in adobe lightroom. 

My office mates and I decided to go on Manila Tour in June 1-2. We booked tours from Ivan Dy for the Binondo tour and Carlos Celdran for the Intramuros Tour. It's not my first time in these historic places but it was my first time to go on a guided tour. 

First stop (meeting place): Binondo Church lobby

Like some of the churches in the Philippines, it allows people to light up candles and offer their petitions and prayers. The candles are color coded (green for prosperity, pink for thanksgiving, etc.) for PhP 5.00 each.

Next stop: Breakfast 

For the first meal of the trip, we had kiam peng (salty rice) and this photo on the right which I forgot the name. It is basically tofu with hot sauce and pickled radish (atsara). I'm not really a fan of spicy food but those who tasted it said that it's not that spicy. The meal also came with a soup, winter melon (kundol) tea, and/or coffee.

 

Meryenda (snack):
 A few minutes after we had breakfast, we ate our meryenda/snack. We had dumplings (which were boiled not steamed),the second photo is like "torta" here in the Philippines which tasted like the dumplings but only that they were fried, and a chicken dish (curry-like dish with the influence of indian/middle eastern cuisine).


During our walk, we saw this street sign of Ongpin and we were so curious that we even asked the tour guide if it means something. Only to find out that it does not mean anything at all and might just have been a mix up of the letters. Nevertheless, this have been a famous street sign in Chinatown.

 After a few minutes and a stomach already more than half full, we stopped by Holland bakeshop and tried their Hopia collection. It has many different flavors from monggo, buko pandan, black monggo, pork, etc. Beside Holland bakeshop is a store selling all these preserved goodies. They almost preserve everything such as ginger, plums, corn, mangoes, and pork.

 

Our last stop is in the Lumpia house where we tasted a different kind of lumpia. It's like lumpiang ubod but with less sauce, with seaweeds and little bit of hot sauce. 

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On our way to our Intramuros tour, we passed by the Manila Cathedral which is currently under renovation. 

See the evolution of the kalesa, the mode of transportation centuries ago. From the traditional look made from wood and capiz, it has now incorporated the Department of Tourism campaign "It's more fun in the Philippines" below. 

 

Our tour guide, Carlos Celdran, made our tour very interesting/theatrical. He was able to give us a different perspective on the history of the Philippines especially of Manila from the pre-colonial period up to the Japanese period. You have to go to the tour to know more *wink*. 

This is the entrance of Fort Bonifacio, where Jose Rizal was held captive before executed. 

After the tour inside Fort Bonifacio, we rode the kalesa to San Agustin Church which is also under renovation. Celdran's trivias about how this Church  shows what being Filipino is like was also interesting.