Here in Manila, we have all cultures in one city.
The sight that greeted me this morning from my balcony was one that was totally different from any other of the ports I have seen so far on this cruise.
Here is a modern city groaning with skyscrapers, ferris wheels and the sounds from numerous sirens both near and far, greeting me along with a rhythmic chant from Dragon boaters practising just beyond the ship. Paddling their ornate and colourful watercraft back and forth in front of our berth, they added a distinctly Asian atmosphere to the scene. This is Manila, 'The Pearl of the Orient'.
Busting at the seams with a population of just under 14 million, the city is a melting pot of cultures, language and architecture. I wondered if this had to do with the invaders who have ruled these islands over the centuries – the Spanish, the Portuguese, the Japanese, the French and, more recently, the Americans.
On the edge of the port, the city sits enticingly. Dotted with examples of classic architecture – Doric columned public buildings sit alongside mirrored glass sky-scrapers while strip malls sit beside traditional temples, parks and even a Spanish Fort.
As soon as the gangplank was lowered, I was off on 'shanks pony' for a day of discovery.
Across the Pasig River from the city, is Manila's Chinatown situated in an area called Binodo. The biggest and oldest Chinatown in the world, it was founded in 1594 by the Spanish, built to house the Chinese who were encouraged to convert to Catholicism and cleverly positioned just across the river where the paranoid colonial administration could keep a nervous eye on them.
Binodo is saturated and dominated by large and elaborate Catholic churches, their spires competing with street lamps decorated in Chinese dragons – a living museum of Filipino/Chinese culture preserved amongst a modern city which is a centre of modern trade and commerce. It is bustling, exciting, chaotic, busy and exactly how I imagined long-gone traditional Hong Kong further to the north must have once appeared.
Being one of the few caucasians pounding the streets, I caused quite a stir and there was much fist pumping and greetings from locals as I was allowed to snap them and the environs while I explored. Here, in traditional clothing complete with cone hats to protect them from the heat, old men and women pushed wooden carts loaded with vegetables and wares, competed on the narrow streets while big dark coloured SUVS, complete with blacked out windows, prowled slowly through the crowds – albeit often overtaken by flimsy looking bicycles piled high with all manner of fowl and fodder.
Above us, strung across the roads, sat a spaghetti collection of wires supplying the power to the innumerable colourful lighting displays decorating every surface moving and stationary. A cacophony of noise, colour and movement which assaulted the senses.
As is common on these short port days, the hours had just slipped by and it was soon time to walk back towards the ship where I chanced across another pearl in Manila’s crown.
The old Portuguese walled city of ‘Intramuros' was originally founded in 1571 by the Spanish Conquistadors. Sitting just outside the modern port’s confines and still untouched by modern life, residents here still live a cosmopolitan life amongst the cobbled streets, open markets, sunlit dappled squares and tempting cafes, just as it was when it was laid out and first established. Amongst the Spanish-styled haciendas and buildings, sits San Agustin Church or 'The Archdiocesan Shrine of Our Lady of Consolation and Cincture.
Serving as a concentration camp during the occupation by the Japanese during WW2, it saw many atrocities within its confines, but today it continues to be an influential building in the city. Medieval in atmosphere, both the church and associated monastery, symbolise the majesty and equilibrium of a Spanish Golden Era that persisted in Manila in the 16th and 17th Centuries. Decorated in high baroque including 16 huge french chandeliers and masses of trompe-l'oeil all through the transept, ante-rooms and ceilings, the church is touted as the most beautiful in the Philippines and was declared a Unesco Heritage World Site in 1993. With just cause.
Sitting in the middle of the Spanish quarter of Manila, you feel as though you have been transported to Spain, which is slightly incongruous considering the country's position in Asia.
But well worth the entrance fee.
We might say that in New Zealand we have all seasons in one day, but here in Manila, we have all cultures in one city. (ROSS THORBY)
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