Manila - Day 1 (Part 4)

Friday, 10 February 2017

And then I was done with Intramuros. It was about 6.30 p.m. and already dark. By 6.00 p.m. it was already getting dark and generally when I travel alone I don’t like going out when it’s dark. However, my next destination was the Quiapo (pronounced Kiyapo) Church, which was quite nearby. Since it’s a church, I figured I’d be safe. God would (should) protect me. A jeepney for that and I was there. It was an area bustling with people. Generally in Manila, I find that there are people everywhere. But even more so in Quiapo.

I went in to the church and just took in the atmosphere for a while. They are devout Catholics here in Manila. There was a service going on but unfortunately in Tagalog so after a while I left, only to join a long queue going into a minor basilica just beside the main church. The minor basilica is home to the Black Nazarene, an extremely famous icon among Manila’s Catholics. We were allowed to touch one of his feet. I’m not sure what exactly that is for but I just followed what everyone else was doing.

And then it was time to head back to my hotel so I stopped and asked someone which jeepney I should take. Stupidly I did not carry the address of my hotel with me so I had some difficulty explaining where exactly my hotel was, and then I remembered it was in a building next to Robinsons. So then they told me which jeepney to take, tell the driver to stop at Robinsons, and from there I need to walk for a bit to get to my building.

The jeepney driver stopped me at Robinsons, I asked for directions to Robinsons and after a short walk I arrived. But it was the wrong Robinsons. There are a few in Manila and my Robinsons was not the Robinsons that I was presently in. I was already tired from walking so when I saw a Grab stand (Grab is officially welcomed in the Philippines unlike in Malaysia where it’s an open secret – roll eyes) and asked for a Grab back to my hotel.

Finally I arrived. Before going up, I went to the supermarket right beside my hotel to buy water, some food (the same supermarket stuff that you can get in Malaysia, no local stuff) and local beer which is called San Miguel (I think Malaysia and Brunei are the only 2 countries in South East Asia which do not have their own beer. It sucks.) and comes in various flavours – Pale Pilsner, Light, Super Dry, Apple flavour and Red Horse (the highest alcohol content at 6.9%).

I bought the Pale Pilsner and Light, but ended up only having the Pale Pilsner. I was too tired and sleepy for anything more, and tomorrow is going to be another long day. So, sleep.