Travelling The-Philippines: Exploring The Big City of Manila

Manila is split into a bunch of different areas: business & finance, malls & offices , Chinatown and the old town. We were staying in the old town, where all the budget accommodation, restaurants, go-go bars, gay clubs and prostitution takes place. Going out for the night requires doing some research to make sure you don’t end up in the wrong kind of bar! Getting around is easy as we soon found out, because of the amazing array of transportation. The more usual being the LRT, MRT, buses, taxis and cars. The unusual being jeepneys and tricycles.

a jeepney

 

tricycle drivers waiting for customers

Jeepneys are used everywhere here, it’s like a minibus but less comfortable. People use them to get from point a to b and to transport everything and anything; the original versions of these vehicles were made from vehicles left behind by the Americans at the end of WWII. They’ve changed quite a bit since then and are now mass produced machines. These contraptions are hilarious, they spit and spew dark clouds of smoke as they bounce down the streets. I don’t think any of them have a muffler so you can hear them coming a mile away and they are always decked out – crucifixes on the dashboard, lights, some have a small fan taped to the ceiling, some have chrome on them, pictures of celebrities and of course, they are all painted in different colours.

inside our first jeepney

Tricycles are either a bicycle or a motorbike with a little side-cart welded on! It’s possible to fit 2 people in the cart and 2 other people on the back of the motorbike. Again, no muffler whatsoever.

Manila wasn’t our favourite big city, to put it nicely. There was no real center of town, too many people, it was so hot and lots of pollution. We did, however, have a nice time wandering around the old town with all of the cobblestone streets and seeing the oldest church in the Philippines.

San Agustin, the oldest stone church in the Philippines

 

Beautiful Manila Cathedral

 

entering Fort Santiago

 

beautiful entrance in the old town

 

a game of checkers on the street

 

tricycle drivers taking a break

 

view of the Manila Skyline

We ended up having to stay in Manila for 5 days to get our visas extended. We had a night out at a funky streetside pub, had a bucket of 6 very cold San Miguels for 80 cents a piece! Beer is very affordable in this country.

a night out with buckets of San Miguel in Manila

 

ice cold San Miguels

 

a perfect place for a bottle opener

We figured out the crazy transportation system, walked in the old town, strolled through the markets and found some good places to eat. One day we took a two hour bus ride outside of the city to Tagaytay where we had a picnic and saw the beautiful Lake Taal and the Taal Volcano, which is an active volcano right in the middle of the lake! Even though it is one of the smaller volcanoes in the Philippines, it was still awesome to see.

our picnic view – Taal Lake and Volcano in the distance

 

a zoomed in photo of Taal Volcano

 

Enjoying the picnic spot

After 5 days, we were dying to get out of the big city. Once we got our visas back, we were on a bus to Vigan, one of the oldest towns in the Philippines with a very Spanish, colonial feel.

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Travelling The-Philippines: Exploring The Big City of Manila

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Written by

Dariece Swift

Dariece is a co-founder of Goats On The Road, and an expert in saving money, finance management, building an online business and of course... travel. She loves meeting new people, trying new cuisines, and learning about the unique cultures of our world. She has over 10 years of experience helping others to realize their travel dreams and has worked in numerous jobs all over the world to help pay for travel. Her advice about long-term travel, remote work, and location independence has been featured on the Lonely Planet, CNN Money, Business Insider and Forbes. Learn more about Dariece Swift on the Goats On The Road About Us Page.

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