Next destination on our journey are the Philippines. Considering that we are not so much on-the-beach-drinking-cocktails kind of travelers, we wanted to start our trip here with the Northern province of Luzon, where multiple hiking trails are available. The plan was to hike to the volcano crater of Mt. Pinatubo, then hike in Cordilleras starting with Sagada and then do the two-days hike around the Banaue rice terraces. In order to do all that we had to come to Manila. I read many comments saying that if you have the opportunity to avoid Manila, you should definitely do that and as it turned out - they were absolutely right.
Anyway, here is how we saw Manila for the first time.
Our flight from Macau had almost an hour delay because it had to circle around Manila airport due to heavy flight traffic. That was our first encounter with The Traffic. An hour after landing and getting through passport control we were finally outside hoping to quickly get a taxi, drop our backpacks at the hotel in Makati and get another taxi to the old city center in Manila to see it before dark. That was the plan until we saw The Traffic at the taxi stand.
By the look of it, the waiting time was 2-3 hours... While Dima was holding our place in this line I thought that perhaps asking the info desk for some alternative solution might do some good. At first, they just suggested to wait as everyone else (yes, ma'am, it's very busy), but then the info lady gave up and suggested that we take a shuttle bus to another terminal where supposedly should be no waiting line.
Both Dima and I agreed that staying here felt hopeless and we decided to take our chances and go to the other terminal, luckily the shuttle bus was just about to depart. The bus started to drive quite fast out of the terminal area and we both felt that we did the right thing taking it. Well, at least for the first 5 minutes we did, and then there it was - The Traffic again. With construction going on everywhere, cars, jeepneys, buses, people, bikes, tricycles, it took us almost 40 minutes to get to the other terminal which was really just 3 km away. I think we could have walked faster... Happily, the suggestion of the info desk lady was true and there was no waiting line here what so ever, lot's of taxis to use.
Once in the taxi, i checked the map to see that was exactly 12 km from where we were to our hotel in Makati. The app showed the travel time as well - about 20 minutes.
In reality it took us 1,5 hours... The only part of the way that was actually free of traffic was the toll way that connects different parts of Metro Manila.
Makati is part of Metro Manila and is considered to be the business district. Somehow, still most of the tourists stay here.
By the time we arrived to the hotel it was already dark. We were both super hungry, and the taxi driver advised us to go to the Venue to get some local food and explained how to get there.
A Venue turned out to be the street food market with lot's of local specialties, mostly grilled.
Most of them looked and smelled very tasty so we decided to stay here.
It still wasn't late and we felt like doing something. First thought was to go to the old center of Manila after all and to see it at least at night. The Traffic to us seemed to be getting less.
We stopped another taxi but once he heard that where we want to go he asked for ridiculously high price and said that it would take at least an hour to get there because of The Traffic. Some Filipino guy waiting near by said that we will be crazy to go to the old part of Manila now because it's not safe and not very nice to see when it's dark. We decided to listen and to stay in Makati. The next day we understood why.
In the meantime we still had to do something. Since we needed to pin some money we decided to walk along the Makati avenue. Not the most interesting place, but still...
The very colorful jeepneys are the local public transport. They are extended jeeps custom build to serve as a small bus.
What we found odd was that in every place in Manila there are security guards at the entrance, not only logical places like banks and offices, but even at the smallest supermarkets, cafe, in other words - everywhere. They even regulate the traffic and watch the streets.
When we were smoking outside and some homeless guy started to walk towards us, the security guy saw it and came to stand near us guarding until we went inside the shopping mall.
Altogether, we got the filling that Manila wasn't a safe city to be in.
Since there was really nothing to do we decided to go back to the hotel and get some sleep to start the next day early. We still wanted to use the time in the morning to go to the old city center before getting on the bus to the Northern part of Luzon.
On the way back we found out that our hotel was near the red light district and saw some girls offering "massage" services.
At this point we were glad to be back at the hotel.
The next day we started with going to the old center. The Traffic was even worth than the day before but we still managed to cover 11 km in just under an hour, a record by Manila standards.
The taxi dropped us of at the entrance to Fort Santiago where another guard directed us to the ticket office.
The fort was old but badly destroyed in 1945, so what there is to see now are mostly reconstructed parts. We liked the gardens - very well maintained but no people, except a couple of tourists.
Dima said that it reminded him of the fort in Hue, Vietnam.
There was also a museum of some local hero, but we decided to skip it.
From the fort you can see the main cathedral.
The cathedral wasn't impressive either and inside mostly new with little to see.
The rest of the old center was a couple of gardens, some older buildings in bad shape and an old wall.
Here, there is also a memorial to more than 100,000 Filipino civilians who died during the battle of Manila. Very sad monument.
Anyway, we didn't like the center and were glad that the guy told us not to go the evening before, the place isn't nice by day, let alone by night.
The way back to the hotel took another hour, but we still had some time to eat before going to the bus station. Another 10 km in an hour and we finally could relax, no more The Traffic))
The bus to Capas was already ready for boarding when we got there and even the bus had its own guard with a shotgun!!
The buses here are essential for transportation and are very good, at least the ones departing from Manila. Ours was new and even had free WiFi (very slow, but still working).
We departed when the bus got full. Of course there was The Traffic on our way out of Manila, but we didn't care anymore, because we were finally leaving the place.
So back to the question, is Manila the traffic capital of the world? Absolutely!! At least it is to us now.. I thought Moscow was bad, but this...)))
On the way, we were sitting on the wrong side of the bus, so I only managed to snap a couple of pics.
The life in the provinces is just as chaotic as in Manila.
Our drive to Capas/Tarlac took 3,5 hours and by the time we got to the destination it was already very dark.
The reason we were coming here was that Capas is considered to be a departure point for hiking to Mt.Pinatubo - a volcano that erupted in 1991, but now is a popular place for treks.
Next: Hiking to the crater of volcano
Anyway, here is how we saw Manila for the first time.
Our flight from Macau had almost an hour delay because it had to circle around Manila airport due to heavy flight traffic. That was our first encounter with The Traffic. An hour after landing and getting through passport control we were finally outside hoping to quickly get a taxi, drop our backpacks at the hotel in Makati and get another taxi to the old city center in Manila to see it before dark. That was the plan until we saw The Traffic at the taxi stand.
Both Dima and I agreed that staying here felt hopeless and we decided to take our chances and go to the other terminal, luckily the shuttle bus was just about to depart. The bus started to drive quite fast out of the terminal area and we both felt that we did the right thing taking it. Well, at least for the first 5 minutes we did, and then there it was - The Traffic again. With construction going on everywhere, cars, jeepneys, buses, people, bikes, tricycles, it took us almost 40 minutes to get to the other terminal which was really just 3 km away. I think we could have walked faster... Happily, the suggestion of the info desk lady was true and there was no waiting line here what so ever, lot's of taxis to use.
Once in the taxi, i checked the map to see that was exactly 12 km from where we were to our hotel in Makati. The app showed the travel time as well - about 20 minutes.
In reality it took us 1,5 hours... The only part of the way that was actually free of traffic was the toll way that connects different parts of Metro Manila.
In the meantime we still had to do something. Since we needed to pin some money we decided to walk along the Makati avenue. Not the most interesting place, but still...
Altogether, we got the filling that Manila wasn't a safe city to be in.
Since there was really nothing to do we decided to go back to the hotel and get some sleep to start the next day early. We still wanted to use the time in the morning to go to the old city center before getting on the bus to the Northern part of Luzon.
The next day we started with going to the old center. The Traffic was even worth than the day before but we still managed to cover 11 km in just under an hour, a record by Manila standards.
The taxi dropped us of at the entrance to Fort Santiago where another guard directed us to the ticket office.
The way back to the hotel took another hour, but we still had some time to eat before going to the bus station. Another 10 km in an hour and we finally could relax, no more The Traffic))
The bus to Capas was already ready for boarding when we got there and even the bus had its own guard with a shotgun!!
So back to the question, is Manila the traffic capital of the world? Absolutely!! At least it is to us now.. I thought Moscow was bad, but this...)))
On the way, we were sitting on the wrong side of the bus, so I only managed to snap a couple of pics.
Our drive to Capas/Tarlac took 3,5 hours and by the time we got to the destination it was already very dark.
The reason we were coming here was that Capas is considered to be a departure point for hiking to Mt.Pinatubo - a volcano that erupted in 1991, but now is a popular place for treks.
Next: Hiking to the crater of volcano
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