Daily Diary Day 12

Written by Esther Ho and Emily Choong
Photographs by Cultural Center of the Philippines Website, Openbuildings.com, Melissa Chia and Emily Choong

Sun, Sea, Sand and Scenes 

   Today, after enjoying a good night’s rest, we travelers woke up to a splendid surprise - complimentary breakfast at Rosa’s Garden Hotel’s restaurant! On offer were the classic big American breakfast (Toast, bacon, eggs, coffee and juice); Filipino Favorite (Longanisa, corned beef, egg, rice) and Mercedes breakfast (pancakes, butter, maple syrup, fresh fruit). Feeling indulgent, most of us opted for the big American breakfast and some of us learnt that while the restaurant prided themselves in being able to do eggs any style, poached eggs was just out of their reach. 

     Alas, breakfasts on study trips are never a fine dining experience. We were hurried out of the hotel in straggling groups on foot towards the Cultural Center of the Philippines via Manila Bay. Those who were too late would take a taxi.

     Now, capital city or no, center of modernity or not, there is something about Manila that cannot be unseen. I recall Monsignor Oso’s sharp words describing the Philippines: It is a country of contradictions. How true, I mused, as our guts grew uneasy at the sheer amount of street people living, well, in the streets.

     In the flowerbeds of fancy hotels, hiding behind boxes of sundry goods, curled within a cardboard box, sprawled across the grass along the sidewalk, dozing against the wall beneath a luxurious waterfront serviced apartment... Manila is both rich and poor. A maze of shining, towering buildings shadowed by the urban poor. A morning cuppa of Starbucks whilst penniless children press their faces to the cool glass windows, anyone? 

     Still, Dr. Yeoh marches on, and we hurry to keep up. Manila bay is filled with street people having a morning shower in the sea, against the backdrop of blue waters and the sun glistening off the pristine private yachts docked at the pier. The street is a mélange of sea stench, human and animal waste. Horse-drawn carriages for tourists clop by leaving yellow pats of eew, just as street children view the sidewalk as a comfort room. 

     But onwards; Dr. Yeoh’s distant silhouette urges us to abandon our thoughts and hurry on, until a police officer orders our little band of students to stop. Mr. Officer calls over our videographers Jia Wei and Vince, informs us that we have been sighted filming the American Embassy in Manila, and that we must delete all related footage. 

     After some confusion, explanation, and meticulous note-taking of our exact location in Manila (hotel room number- very important.), the officer confirms that we have deleted said offensive footage, and we march on, all the way to the Cultural Centre, where we promptly realize that two of our friends were missing. Whoops! Two groups had to travel by taxi to catch up, but two more travellers (Lestari and Kushmin, we’re so sorry) were accidentally left behind at the hotel. A few calls to and fro ensured they arrived safely by taxi within 5 minutes. 

(Photo taken from Cultural Center of the Philippines Website)

     We were standing in what might be the Philippines’ icon of extravagance- the massive, ‘floating’ block that is the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), the Sydney Opera House equivalent of South East Asia. Inside we meet Mr. Edward Cabagnot, the head of the film department and frequent guest judge at international independent film festivals, who kindly takes us on a tour of the building.

Mr. Edward Cabagnot telling us the history of the CCP
(Photo by Melissa Chia)

     The CCP is a magnificent building made to look like it is ‘floating’, in reflection of the uplifting nature of cultural arts. It is a marvel of Italian marble and stonewashed concrete, built in the smooth organic curves of Adobe architecture -in modernized memory of their Spanish colonial heritage- and decorated with contrasting textural elements like seashell chandeliers, traditional shell window panes, sculptural wood elements, smooth plaster walls, silk-wrapped cushions, rich red carpets. The CCP was founded by Imelda Marcos, the wife of Ferdinand Marcos, and this national heritage building has hosted many large operas, orchestras and theatrical productions. Today, parts of the building are dedicated to art exhibitions, a library and several small museums.

An Art Exhibition at the CCP
(Photo by Melissa Chia)

One of the museums at the CCP
(Photo by Melissa Chia)

Fun fact: The Malaysian embassy is currently the largest donor of film related literature to the CCP. Dr. Yeoh added to that collection with our very  own Benjamin McKay’s book, Fringe Benefits: Essays and Reflections on Malaysian Arts and Cinema.

     After the tour around the CCP, Mr. Cabagnot ushers us into the small theater for a quick talk on Filipino independent cinema and to screen some Filipino short films. After the films, Mr. Cabagnot answered the questions our teeth managed to chatter out before we left the freezing theater for lunch. 

SHOPPING Is an Eight Letter Word

     After a reasonably heavy yet delightful lunch with Mr Edward Cabagnot, we bid goodbye to him as we headed to our next destination of the day. No trip is complete without shopping and therefore a few of us decided to head to the Mall of Asia, Southeast Asia’s largest mall. 

Photo taken from Openbuildings.com

   A huge globe stands at the main entrance, similar to the one at Universal Studios, giving the impression that the shopping mall is of quite a high value to not only locals but tourists. The minute we entered the mall, we had too much on our minds:

“Where do we start?” 

 “Oooh, look! Penshoppe!”

“Maybe we should go upstairs to get a better view.”

“Shall we go left?” 

 “Shall we go right?”

“How about the information counter or the directory?”

“Oh, look, it is Jollibee again.”

“Hey, let’s compare the prices of the Starbucks drinks to the ones in back home.”

     Eventually, we decided to go with our gut feelings and went along in groups of two or three to explore the massive mall. Of course, they had their usual security procedures at the entrance checking our bags for firearms before entering.

     I cannot compare the entire Mall of Asia to any of the malls in Malaysia simply because the structure is interestingly unique. Despite having only two storeys unlike the malls in Malaysia which can go up to more than five levels, the 4,382,000 square feet mall is so big of an area that it has over seven hundred shops and three hundred restaurants and cafes. The mall is air-conditioned and really spacious. I also noticed the variety of shops consisting mostly of international brands such as Guess, Penshoppe, Cotton On, Starbucks and many more.

     Just like Sunway Pyramid, this mall has an ice skating rink. There are seats around the sides for people to view the rink as if they were watching an ice hockey game. There is a viewing bridge across the rink and that’s where the food court is situated. Besides that, there is also an IMAX theatre. We did not check out the price of an IMAX movie ticket because we were more interested in walking around the mall and exploring as much of it as possible. 

Sheril and Vince posing next to a cute version of Disney Villain Maleficent outside one of the toy shops

(Photo taken by Emily Choong)

     Travellers Vince, Sheril and I spent an hour in the local souvenir shop looking through all the merchandise and carefully going through them one by one as we made our “to-buy-or-not-to-buy” decisions. You can find anything there from woven handbags to key chains, t-shirts with hilarious statements, I ❤ Manila bags, coconut oil, body soap, lotion, candles, wooden carvings, shot glasses ... anything with the Philippines written all over it! I dare not say how much we spent on souvenirs, but that was where we forked out the most money throughout the trip.

     It was already getting dark at 6.00 p.m. so we decided to head back to our hotel. There were no jeepneys stopping right in front of us like they did in Iloilo, and so we took a taxi back. A little tip for tourists: ALWAYS take taxis which run on meters. Do not go on flat rates. A few friends and I hailed our first cab which intended to charge us PHP 250 to our hotel, but we knew it was too much so we declined. We hailed a second cab, which was running on meter, and it only cost us PHP 150 instead. 

     From here, our team split into two groups- one headed out to party with one of the traveler's family while the other group had a rest back in the hotel before going out bar-hopping. Both teams met up eventually at The Hobbit House bar, and after a few more drinks and songs, we all headed back to pack up and sleep. Tomorrow, we bid Manila adieu!



Blogger Profiles
Esther is a newly-grad who uses her life as a social experiment: Just how far can a romantic life view take a person? Will the sight of 'Gender Studies' on her resume scare off employers? How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? It's all terribly perplexing...

Emily is currently pursuing her second year at Monash University majoring in Psychology and Communication. She believes that food is the best way to a girl's heart. 'In Search of Iloilo' marks the first time she sets foot in the Philippines.