I was in Manila for 4 days in January 2009 with Vince, who was also planning to buy his first SLR. During the first day, we headed straight to Quiapo for our primary agenda. And then we set out to tour the walled city of Manila, our tour guides were Eric, Bernie, and Igan, who are friends I met over at Skyscrapercity.

The 400 year old San Agustin Church in Intramuros

My first time stepping in Intramurous was in high school during our educational trip (Manila-Baguio-Subic-Tagaytay) but we were able to only go around the Fort Santiago Area. This time, I was able to visit other areas such as San Agustin Church (UNESCO World Heritage Site), Manila Cathedral (It’s now one of my favorite churches together with Molo Church in Iloilo) and Governor’s Palace, The Clam Shell (where the WOW Philippines exhibit are held). We also walked on the walls of Intramuros, which bordered the Golf course … uber cool!

Intricate interiors of San Agustin Church

Fu Dogs at the San Agustin Church – Chinese Culture integrated in a Roman Catholic Church

Inside the San Agustin Church

The Manila Cathedral at Night

Palace of the Governor General of the Philippines� during the Spanish era

The next days, we visited Binondo (The China town of Manila) and walked around extensively. The best part of our trip was trying delicious siomai at a store (I forgot the name), egg tart in a coffee shop (I forgot the name), and beef jerky in a local supermarket (I also forgot its name, lol).

Chinatown portal

A Church in Binondo

Egg tart in Binondo

It was a great being able to see the heritage structures of Manila, I felt strangely at ease because of the sense of familiarity. It felt like visiting a more congested version of downtown Iloilo, which has a similar set-up (dirty, narrow roads, and full of history). Next time I hope to visit newer areas of Manila like Makati, Libis, and Fort Boni. The only new parts of Manila we visited was Trinoma, Mall of Asia, and Timog in Quezon City

Mall of Asia facade

SMX Convention Center

Across Trinoma is SM north Edsa, which currently has overtaken the Mall of Asia as the largest mall in the Philippines and third largest in the World.