F&G: Manila Hotel 2

Friday, December 07, 2012

As Fritz mentioned earlier this week, we enjoyed a few days down in the Manila Hotel. A deluxe breakfast buffet was included with the room and we stuffed ourselves both mornings. Dim sum, imported cheeses, real bread, fish, fresh fruit, congee station, pastries, muesli bar, taho…

We walked over to the Luneta and Rizal park on Wednesday morning. José Rizal was executed here on December 30, 1896 (December 30 is Rizal Day, another Filipino national holiday). This area of Manila is rich with history and consequently caters greatly to tourists. We were offered rides by many calesas and joined by several school groups. We had booked an afternoon tour of Intramuros but, after meeting up with the other eight eager participants, were told it had been cancelled due to typhoon Pablo down in Mindanao. Since Pablo didn’t seem to be affecting the sunny skies in Manila too much, we led ourselves around inside Intramuros’impressive 400 year-old walls. We were both taken aback at the stark juxtaposition of the manicured beauty within the complex (not to mention the grandeur and excess of Manila Hotel) and the homeless families living just outside of the walls. Many Manileños have mentioned Manila’s disparity between the haves and have-nots and Intramuros was powerful proof of this relationship.

We returned to Manila hotel after our abridged tour and treated ourselves to a pizza with the saved money from our cancelled tour. We once again enjoyed the grand breakfast Thursday morning and set off for the LRT 2 to make our way back to Marikina City. We both still feel as though we’re recovering from Hong Kong and Singapore. Hopefully we’ll feel reenergized soon.