Thursday, September 01, 2011

Trip to the Philippines - Manila

Now, it has been a looong time since I have updated this blog. But I was travelling quite substantially and enjoyed it too much to write something on my blog during my holidays and in China I couldn't access blogger anyway ... nor Facebook ... nor youtube ... you get the picture :)
But anyway, here I am and show you a couple of photos from our time abroad. First we spent a couple of days in Manila because we wanted to do some sightseeing in the Philippine capital. Here is the Bay of Manila as seen from our hotel. Yes, you can guess from the photo, it was the rainy season. But since it was hot I was quite pleased with the weather. I don't mind some rain on a hot day.


The hotel was quite nice and even served sweet and savoury canapés in the afternoon:


Of course we went to the José Rizal Park, where Rizal, the Philippine national hero was executed. Rizal was not only an M.D. but also a poet, painter and freedom fighter. But more importantly he studied in Heidelberg and lived for some time in Wilhelmsfeld. Here in Wilhelmsfeld we have a Rizal park, too, but it can of course not compete with the Manila one. In the museum of the park there is even a note mentioning his stay in Heidelberg.


A view on the river from Fort Santiago which is adjacent to the Rizal museum:


Another must-see is San Austín church, the oldest Roman-Catholic church in the Philippines. Although it doesn't look really baroque on it's outside, some features definitely have a baroque touch,  like this beautiful wood carved door:


Turtels in a fountain in the inner church yard. They were, however, quite unimpressed by our attempts to lure them closer to us :(


Although most people in the Philippines are Catholic, they also have a Bhuddist temple in Manila:



We could also get a first glimpse of the famous jeepneys, the main medium of public transport; a kind of much beloved private mini-bus. The owners proudly adorn them with lights, flags, and all kinds of ornaments on their bonnets.






2 comments:

  1. Your photographs are very insightful of a country I know very little about. There is a small Filipino community in Scotland, namely of women who have married Scottish men, so I still know very little about the culture as the women adjust moreso to scottish way of life.

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  2. I have seen a lot of European/American looking men with Philippine wives. I couldn't say who was exploiting whom. The men were mostly elderly with much younger wives, but they had to pay hotels and dinners for the whole Philippine family.

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