Manila Photowalk 2012

Starting the new year with a little tour around my home and most favorite city in the world (support your own!) - Manila - with some of the coolest office friends and the Cheese, of course.

We started here.

Before meeting in a small park not far from this abandoned-lot-turned-into-skate-park.

Took a break in this alley reminiscent of Vigan's cobblestoned street...

Which is directly in front of this...

So we went inside and look who we found!

Resumed walking to what we supposed was Fort Santiago (but not really)...

What remains of the original facade...

Inside Fort Santiago is Rizal Shrine that houses relics, works and memorabilia from Rizal's time. I took a photo of this portrait because he looks so gwapo here! Aminin nyo.

Got amazed with his Valedictory Poem (Ang Tulang Walang Hanggan) written on the floor! 

Tired and super hungry we roamed to nearby Binondo looking for the perfect and most recommended restaurant to try. We found Sincerity Restaurant on Yuchengco Street, unfortunately they're about to close for the day, ergo no famous Sincerity chicken for us. Most of the highly recommended restaurants are closed (because it's Sunday?!) so never mind, we just picked any restaurant that can serve any food for 5 hungry people. 

And found ourselves in Golden Fortune restaurant (we were right on time for their promo meals!).

These are the happy (and excited) faces of hungry and tired people upon serving of food. Sulit na sulit, in all fairness!

I've done various little Manila tours but each one is always a different experience. I hope to do more of these in the coming days. It doesn't only open our eyes to our own little pockets of treasure, it also teaches us a little bit of our historical past, which come to think of it,many of us have already forgotten. Always a pleasure to reacquaint yourself to your own city with rich cultural history.

So, have you seen your own Manila lately?