The Manila Walkathon: Manilan "Marathon" Tour

- February 4, 2014, Tuesday.

- My friend Ann from my Indian delegation trip informed me that some Indonesian friends of hers from another delegation she went to were here in Manila. She offered to host them for a day, and asked if I wanted to help her tour them around, since I'm familiar with Manila more. Since I thought it would be a good alternative to my usual things-to-do, I agreed. Our co-delegate Joseph also agreed to accompany us.

- I met the others at the Chinatown Friendship Arch just below Jones Bridge at around 1pm; it was there that I was introduced to Eric and Icu from Indonesia. We had a short tour of Binondo afterwards, and had a Chinese lunch at President Grand Palace.

I hope they'll remove the red paint things on the church soon.

Lunch.

- I told everyone to eat a lot so they would have a lot of energy for my "famous/infamous" Manila walking tours - at least famous/infamous to friends and those I've toured around. We walked from Chinatown to Intramuros, passing by the Pasig River. Then, we had a short stop at the Manila Cathedral, which by now is still being renovated.

With the guardia civil.

Icu and the guardia civil.

- We spent some time in Fort Santiago; the Rizal Shrine is almost finished with the renovations.

Some people we came across. Ehem. 

Switcharoo.

- After some photos, we walked back, went to the San Agustin Church, and had a house tour inside Casa Manila. Casa Manila is one of my favorite places in Intramuros because it shows how affluent people in the Spanish era lived. Despite being a replica house, it closely resembled the real old houses I've seen before in other provinces.

Oh Joseph.

On the way out of Casa Manila.

- We went to Rizal Park afterwards; Joseph had to leave since he was going to attend an important meeting. We took a photograph at the Rizal statue. I still wonder why it didn't have a guard today.

Hard to take a photo since we had to cover up other people taking photos behind me.

- The four of us were in a hurry to get a cab to SM Mall of Asia after our Rizal Park visit. Thank goodness the policeman at the sidewalk helped us find one. Sadly, the sky was a bit cloudy, so by the time the sunset was supposedly its best, the sun was nowhere to be found. The only thing we could see were the rays of the sun behind the clouds and its symphony of colors with the blue sky.

Hidden sun.

Dinner.

- We later met Ann's boyfriend Richard, and had dinner at Juan's Bistro. Soon after, we stopped by the Hypermarket for some things our Indonesian friends needed to buy, before hailing a cab home.

- All of us were really tired after all the walking and sunset chasing, but it was nice meeting new friends, especially those from abroad. As for me, I had a good practice of Bahasa Indonesia before my soon-to-be Bali trip. Heehee.