Manila: The Pearl of the Orient
Jeepneys are everywhere.. cheap local transport
Welcome to ‘the most densely populated city proper in the world’ [Wiki], with 1.8 million inhabitants, located on Luzon, one of the Philippines’ 7,641 islands. Fortunately, it was Sunday, so no commuters. Also fortunate, it was the day before a huge Chinese cruise ship arrived, since it would disgorge between 50 and 100 busloads of tourists. Our excellent guide Jen said she thought that ship was 20 decks high — is that even possible? On days like that, she fervently hopes she will be assigned a bus tour that goes out of the city... way out... because traffic is always a nightmare. Manila, along with Bangkok, is known as one of the most traffic-jammed cities in the world. We had a motorcycle police escort the entire 3+ hours we were riding around in the city, just to cut a path for us.
The Philippines, with a population today of around 105 million, were originally inhabited by indigenous peoples including the Negritos. Then 15,000 years ago, peoples from present-day China and Viet Nam moved in. No wonder there are 170 languages! Yet Filipinos consider themselves Pacific Islanders — not Asian. They are taught English from a very young age, though education is not mandatory. While the Chinese had explored in the 9th century, Manila (not called that then) was a Muslim settlement until the late 16th century. In 1571, Spanish conquistadors took over and built their capital city, Intramuros — ‘within the walls.’ They built a fortress, Fort Santiago, on the Pasig River to guard the city. On the left is the entry gate and a small part of the ‘muro,’ the wall.
The Casa Manila museum (below), a pet project of Imelda Marcos, is an Intramuros reconstruction of the family home of someone of the elite, educated class, called ilustrados. The pretty pink date, 1521, is the year Magellan ‘discovered’ the Philippines, where he died at the hands of unwelcoming natives. So, contrary to popular belief, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, under the Spanish flag, was not the first to circumnavigate the globe. The voyage was completed under the command of Juan Sebastián Elcano.
A sumptuous house, though the kitchen could use a re-do...
Back to history…
We’ll skip over the Chinese pirate invasion in 1574, which didn’t take, and the two-year hiccup of British rule (1762-64) when they won the Battle of Manila during the Seven Years’ War. In the peace settlement, they soon gave the city back to Spain. Spain stayed in power until 1898, when the U.S. won the Spanish-American war. After three centuries, the country was finally independent of Spain. The Treaty of Paris (the 1898 one, not the 1783 version that ended the American Revolution) ceded the Philippines, Puerto Rico and Guam to the U.S., who paid $20 million for the Philippines, thus giving the States a foothold in Asia. Almost 50 years later, the U.S. granted the Philippines their independence, in 1946. Like so many Spanish cities, this one must have been beautiful in its day. ‘Must have been’ because much of the city was destroyed by bombing in 1945. Wiki: ‘It was the second most destroyed city in the world after Warsaw, Poland during World War II.’ According to our guide, a 20-something Filipina, it is still debated who did more damage — the Japanese or the Americans. One googled source stated the Japanese did little damage, but the U.S. leveled the city when they recaptured it in 1945. Regardless, Jen must have mentioned General Douglas MacArthur (always his full name) a dozen times, always positively. Manila began to rebuild in the 1950s. Where possible, they recreated the style of the colonial buildings — you can see where original dark brown stonework has been patched or filled with new, lighter-colored cement or stone.
Missionaries... Augustinian clergy arrived with the early Spanish conquistadors in 1571 (maybe before — I’ve seen conflicting dates). The missionaries very successfully converted the native peoples to Catholicism — today 92% of all Filipinos are Catholic. San Agustin, founded in 1607, is the only one of Manila’s 7 major churches to survive natural disasters and WWII. It is now a UNESCO site.
Since its original construction in 1581, the Manila Cathedral has been rebuilt 8 times — after a typhoon, numerous earthquakes, and bombing in 1945. According to our guide, there are, on average, 20 typhoons a year in the Philippines.
Shopping opportunity, of course. These ladies are embroidering on, I believe, bamboo fabric. Very lovely bamboo shirts were for sale but it was so hot, no one wanted to touch them, let alone try them on.
Graffiti, or street art, if you prefer...
Our last stop on the tour was Rizal Park, where José Rizal, the national hero of the Philippines, was executed by the Spanish in 1896 for his writings and advocation of independence. Two years later, the Treaty of Paris ended Spanish rule. En route back to the ship, we passed under the Filipino-Chinese Friendship Arch. The area called Binondo is the oldest Chinatown in the world, dating from 1594.
Please note the overhead wires. And this is a neat bunch. Does this meet code?
P.S. WAKE UP ! ! ! !
That morning, I had decided to sleep in since my tour didn’t leave until 10. HAH! At 6:45, just after we had docked at the pier (by now, I’m such an old salt, I can sleep through docking), my ‘alarm’ went off — the local welcoming committee steel drum band. With not terribly ept dancers, but at least the dancers didn’t make any noise.
I much preferred the dueling bamboo marimba and their very large bamboo-trunk woodwind instruments. Their tone was much more dulcet. As Vikings applauded and waved to them from 8 decks of balconies, they serenaded us with, of all things, ‘Yellow Submarine.’ #
