When I went to Manila with my family, we stayed in the North Philippine Union Mission of 7th day Adventist compound. The thing is, one cannot stay here if you do not know of somebody from the place. They do not accept just anyone since their Church members live in the compound. This place is conveniently located as it is just a jeepney ride away (P7 fare only) from the Mall of Asia and walking distance to the nearest LRT station. Being located in Pasay City, it is also not that far from the airport.
Another place that I have stayed in was in Marikina. I travelled with my friend and her family when we stayed there. Not really an ideal place to stay in terms of travel time. Not bad though as we were given a free place to stay by a very kind couple – Tito Nestor and Tita Mameng.
Last August, I had the opportunity to travel alone (I mean from Davao to Manila) but someone was waiting for me at Ysabelle Garden Hotel. I had to ride the yellow taxi from the airport going to the hotel. A piece of warning though, these taxis are affiliated with the airport but they charge higher than regular taxis. Flag down rate is P70 and if I am not mistaken P4 for every drop of their meter. It is less risky though, especially for travellers like me who are not familiar with Manila and travelling alone. They say the hotel is 15 minutes away from the airport but unfortunately it took me more than 30 minutes to reach the hotel because of the traffic and I paid P250 to the taxi. Good news though as the hotel now offers free airport pick up. Cheapest room rate is at P1250.
However, my companion and I did not stay at Ysabelle Garden Hotel (but we checked in again to their hotel overnight when we returned from Laoag and had a flight back to Davao the following day). I just went there to pick him up and we rode a taxi again going to Hotel H2O. The hotel is located inside the Manila Ocean Park. As you get inside the Manila Ocean Park, there is a door in the left that leads you to an elevator. You get inside the elevator and proceed to the 3rd floor where their front desk is located. Their rooms are either overlooking the Manila Bay or with a big Aquarium in the wall. We chose the Aqua Room. Very magnificent view of the fishes swimming in a huge aquarium. For your privacy or if you do not want to be disturb in the morning the moment they turn on the lights of the aquarium, you can lower the remote control powered curtain.
Since the rooms are secured by a card key, we often noticed it takes time for the room to cool up every time we go back to our hotel room. To solve this problem, we asked for a spare card. That way the card that powers the electricity inside the room stays in the card key slot and the air conditioner is not turned off as we get out of our room. The hallway of the hotel is carpeted with very colourful round bubbles and I can see there are CCTV cameras conveniently located along the hallway plus the room has a mini safe where you can place your valuables. They provide you with a bath robe, towel, shampoo, conditioner, bath gel, lotion, toothbrush, toothpaste, and a comb too! The mini ref also has water and softdrinks in can, along with 1 pack of peanut and a pack of chips. It’s complimentary and you have to take it out every day. They will not replenish supplies if they see the food and drinks remains untouched. Wifi is also good, but you have to ask for a password every 24 hrs. Each password works only for one PC, so we had to ask for 2 passwords as we both have our own laptops.
We got a complimentary pass to the Manila Ocean park for staying at the hotel. There has been a lot of changes since my first visit in March 2009. They also have the jellyfish section, but you will have to pay separately for that (P150). We also got into the fish spa, where we got our feet nibbled upon by a so called doctor fish. Careful if you are very ticklish. I really tickles a lot!!! Especially on the sole of your foot. What I did was let my sole touch the tiles rather than give a chance for the fishes to nibble on them and giggle endlessly.
Another thing we did in Manila was to avail of the tours of Mr. Carlos Celdran. We joined the Intramuros and Livin La Vida Imelda tour. Interesting to learn a little about the history of Manila and about the Marcoses too since my companion and I were heading to Ilocos the following day. It was interesting to know that Imelda was not the first wife of Ferdinand Marcos. Aha! A fact I learned only thru the tour with Carlos Celdran. It was my first time to enter the Cultural Center of the Philippines. Such a unique building.. lots of things that I would have wanted to take pictures of, unfortunately cameras are not allowed inside and had to be deposited as you come inside (silly though as they allow cellphones inside and most cellphones now have cameras).
Since the Intramuros tour ends at around 12nn, we decided to take a walk to Fort Santiago first before having our lunch. After paying the entrance fee, I was surprised to see a guy pop up in front of me and say “hi! I will be your tour guide today.. I am certified by the department of tourism (showing his ID).. and I will take you to a tour inside Fort Santiago.. blah blah blah..” Then I asked.. “is this for free” to which he replied “No mam, you will have to pay a fee (if Im not mistaken it was P1k)” to which I immediately responded “oh ok.. no thanks we will go around by ourselves”. In Fort Santiago you will be able to see the places used by the soldiers during the war. The places where they took shelter, the dungeons where they were imprisoned, the cell where Dr. Jose Rizal was jailed, some Rizal memorabilia’s, a view of the Pasig River, among others.
When the Living La Vida Imelda tour ended at the PICC, heavy rain was pouring and we had no idea we were going for dinner so we asked for a recommendation from Carlos Celdran. He highly recommended Cafe Adriatico and even gave us a free ride to the restaurant. He instructed his driver to drop him off his place first and to take us to Cafe Adriatico. He was also the one who recommended to us a place to stay in Laoag and gave us a free Map of Manila.
Manila is such a big place... lots of things to do.. places to see.. the only thing I wish was there was no traffic... It does take a lot of toll on your body to be travelling for several minutes or even hours before reaching your destination. The moment you reach your destination you will be too tired to do the things you wanted to do in the first place. I’m just glad Davao is still not so urbanized like Manila.
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