Intramuros, Fort Santiago, San Agustin Church, National Museum Complex
Hoping to slow down, relax, and regain my strength, I headed to Manila for the start of my Adventure in the Philippines. It was the beginning of the typhoon season, but there wasn’t anything I could really do about it. Whether it was or wasn’t a good time to travel in SouthEast Asia, I was about to find out and experience it for myself.
I decided to head over to Intramuros and explore the old area, starting at Fort Santiago. By the time I got there it was raining quite heavily, so I waited for a while near the coffee shops, under a roof that provided shelter. While waiting for the rain to calm down a bit, I grabbed a map from the visitor center, failed to find myself on the map, and quickly stored it in my bag.
Eventually the rain did calm down, and I started to walk around the place. Next to the shops there was an open space, which could have been nice to talk around on a clear day, but not in the time that I was there. There were a few signs around the place which provided some information and context, but I felt like it could have been better to do a guided tour.
I went up some stairs and found myself on top of the wall, where there was a small open building that I stayed in for a few moments, taking a break from the rain and looking at the view. From there I walked along the wall for a little bit before going back down, to the old American barracks and the open space. I was not far from a big gate, which later turned out to be the entrance to the main area of the fort. However, at the time I didn’t realize it, and didn’t bother getting close to the gate, thinking it was simply another entrance.
As I wrongly assumed that I’ve seen pretty much all there is to see in there, I made my way back, but once again I had to sick shelter as the rain got stronger. Along with a few other people I waited for quite a while, moving from one shelter to the next whenever I thought it was safe to do so.
Eventually I had enough of waiting around, so under my umbrella I walked around the streets toward Plaza de Roma. It might have been the gloomy weather, but I didn’t find the plaza to be particularly special. There was a statue there, and a couple of significant buildings in the area, but not much more than that.
As I sat down to rest and wait for the rain to slow down (again), I was approached by a local man with an offer to do a guided tour in what looked like a pedicab. The price seemed reasonable and I took the man up on his offer, thinking it would be nice to be driven around rather than walking on such a day, and I hoped a guided tour would indeed add more fun and interest.
The rain made it difficult to hear my guide, and even though he did speak up, I still had to lean forward to try and hear him out. As he drove around, the man pointed out various buildings, talking about their history and significance, but I wasn’t able to pay my full attention to him.
Eventually we stopped by San Agustin Church, where we had a look around. There seemed to be some sort of a museum on the upper level, which was interesting to look at, although at that point I started to get the sense that my guide doesn’t have the best English, and I could’ve gotten a lot of the information just by walking around by myself. On top of that, it was a bigger area than I expected, which took a while to get through before we got back to the vehicle. That made the tour longer, which meant I had to pay more at the end of it.
We left San Agustin and headed over to Casa Manila, which as far as I could understand from my guide was an old house where people of means used to live back in the days of Spanish rule. It was a nice stop, but there it wasn’t very big and we didn’t stick around for long.
From there, we stayed in the pedicab pretty much the rest of the way, with my guide pointing out at a few more buildings. The last stop we had was a fortified wall, the name of which I can’t remember, where about 14 cannons were present. Back in the days, those cannons protected Manila from pirate attacks. Now it seemed like a nice place to take some photos and enjoy the view of the city.
After that, my guide took me to Fort Santiago, where I paid him and said goodbye. I felt a bit bitter about the whole experience, especially as I wasn’t sure how much value I gained from having a guide, or at least this particular guide.
As it wasn’t too far from where I was, and I hoped it would be a better experience, I walked over to the National Museum Complex. There are a few museums in the area, and I headed toward the National Museum of Natural History. After depositing my bag in the designated area, I was free to explore.
I’m not sure what is the exact definition of “natural history”, but I thought I would be able to learn at least a little bit about the history of both the country and the people. That wasn’t what I learned there. The first floor seemed to have some space exhibits, showcasing parts of meteorites and wondering what secrets can be unlocked in space. While it was interesting, I wasn’t sure what it has to do with the history of the Philippines. The rest of the floors seemed to be about the various wildlife and ecosystems of the country. Again, interesting, but not very historical.
To be fair on the museum, I didn’t stop to read every sign, so it’s very possible quite a few things went over my head. I still enjoyed looking at the animal models and learning (a bit) about their habitats, and the different exhibition rooms certainly had a nice atmosphere to them, but it didn’t feel very historical to me.
After having a look around all the different floors, I went all the way back down, retrieved my bag, and headed over to the National Museum of Anthropology. I wasn’t sure what that last word actually meant, but a quick google search told me it has something to do in history. When I got there, it seemed like I may have found what I came for.
I started walking around the first floor of the museum, not really sure if there is a specific starting point, and quickly came across a sign talking about Magellen and his quest in Asia. Then there was another sign talking about someone called Enrique, and I was quite confused as to who he was or why he was important. I walked around a bit more, looking at the various sculptures and artifacts on display, and only when I got to the second floor did I find my answer- Apparently Enrique was Magellen’s slave, who helped him to get to Asia and to the Philippines.
The upper floors had different displays, which talked about the indigenous people of the Philippines, their lives, and the tools they had. I still found myself struggling to pay attention to everything, and a lot of it was forgotten very quickly after I left the museum grounds, but it was still a nice visit. It certainly wasn’t the best start for this adventure, but it did make me feel a bit more optimistic about it.