A walk inside Intramuros, Philippines

Before my next trip to Philippines, I thought I should share some of the pictures I took of the street of Intramuros/Manila during my May 2014 visit. Random pictures taking is a habit of mine, to remind me how everything looks like at that point of time.

Heading back to my hostel.

3 Weddings, 2 guys and a girl. Manila, Philippines

Bertemu kasih di Manila, Philippines.
We set wondering, the three of us, looking for love.
The story of our life.
                                                                                                                  

San Sebastian Church, I as in awe of its grand architecture, not because of the intricate detailing but the material it was built from; steel. Excitedly we walked in and the wedding took place. Most of the wedding here took place on a Saturday as Sunday was reserve for Sunday Service and Mass and I respected that.

It was indeed a beautiful wedding, everyone wore their most beautiful dress in respect of the holy ceremony.

My favourite was the flower girl, she was the perfect choice for the bride and groom. Cute and sweet.

Completed in 1891, Basilica Minore de San Sebastian, better known as San Sebastian Church, is a Roman Catholic minor basilica in Manila, Philippines. It is famous for its architectural features and colour (baby blue is just too sweet), it is made of and the only all-steel church or basilica in Asia. This magnificent church is now in the Tentative List for possible designation as a World Heritage Site (#UNESCO).

More info in Wikipedia.

San Agustin Church is the humblest church I saw that day, despite its architecture, history and age, and it being gazetted a UNESCO site. Great crowd attending the weeding with all the fancy cars, a high profile people.

I guess the locals here love pastel colours as the interior for this is light green, the interior for this was is more magnificent than the earlier church we saw.

The beautiful couple. No, it is no us. Did I get you curious? *cheeky smile*.

We happen to 'gate-crashed' 3 weddings when we were in Intramuros, it was rather funny as we kept bumping to weddings with the 2-3 hours walk, can this be a sign? Ahaks. We sneaked at every wedding so that we can take few pictures of its interior before quietly leaving the place, but this particular church was slightly different, why...? Because Kirk wants a picture with....

Do you know who is the famous person in blue tie? 

Located inside the historic walled city of Intramuros in Manila and more than 400 century old, San Agustin Church stood strong and proud. The original church and structure was made of bamboo and nipa, and was completed in 1571, later destroyed by fire in December, 1574. After a few disasters took place, a stronger material was used, hewn adobe stones quarried from Meycauayan, Binangonan and San Mateo, Rizal. Work started in 1586 and complete on January 19, 1607.

San Agustin Church was one of four Philippine churches constructed during the Spanish colonial period to be designated as a World Heritage Site by #UNESCO, under the collective title Baroque Churches of the Philippines. It was named a National Historical Landmark by the Philippine government in 1976.

More info in Wikipedia.

The final and most majestic wedding cathedral we saw for the day - the Manila Metropolitan Cathedral-Basilica, the cathedral underwent repairs from 2012-2014 from earthquake aftermath, I was lucky to be able to visit it just 2 months after the renovation completed.

The sun was about to set and we have to rush to the fort, else I would have taken a picture of the sunset. Next time perhaps?

I find the interior rather simple but the security was rather tight. No shooting of pictures allowed as we were dressed way to casual and obviously not part of the wedding invitation list. But we were too smart - we managed to get one good shot each *proud*.

The Manila Metropolitan Cathedral-Basilica, informally known as Manila Cathedral, located at Plaza de Roma in the Intramuros, Manila. The cathedral was damaged and destroyed several times since the original structure was built in 1581, the present cathedral was constructed from 1954 to 1958.

More info in Wikipedia.

So yeah, it was not me getting married  *bluek*.

Lonely trail to Ruined Spanish-Era Cemetery & Santa Maria Church (#UNESCO)

UNESCO site : checked.

Another crazy journey hunting for our 3rd UNESCO site and 2nd cluster of baroque churches.

From Wikipedia

Baroque Churches of the Philippines

These four churches, the first of which was built by the Spanish in the late 16th century, are located in Manila, Santa Maria, Paoay and Miagao, Iloilo. Their unique architectural style is a reinterpretation of European Baroque by Philippine craftsmen.

Other entries on UNESCO sites in the Philippines
Vigan at night | Philippines (#UNESCO)
San Agustin Church / Paoay Church, Philippines (#UNESCO)

I only have one tip for everyone, if you want to appreciate the Philippines (aside from their beautiful islands), I sincerely encourage you to explore outskirt of Manila. It offers better activities, sites, culture, history, even the landscape and vegetation will leave you gawking (in awe). Somehow, they are more friendly and honest, and helpful when you travel beyond Manila.

I never know nor understand (until this trip) when my Philippines travel blogger friend say "you have not seen Philippines, we are not just Manila and Boracay, nor Sulu". "We have more to offer" says one of them, with 5000 islands (yes. Five thousands, kid you not!) under their governance; #ItsMoreFunInThePhilippines tourism tagline captures it all. Trust me.

Our 4 hours journey was greeted by this small and lonely church, I would have not guessed that it is UNESCO gazetted it weren't for Edgar. Briefed clearly by him, 2 sites to look forward to, the Santa Maria Church itself and a ruined Spanish-era cemetery; if we can find it. Errr.... ok. 

Being adventurous is one thing, going into a ruined cemetery, hemmmm....

The steps give a grandeur feel. Brought back sweet memories; Rome's Spanish Steps. 

I noticed (but the rest did not), the wind flow is directly towards this steps and the church hence lazing here is a bliss. With mobile phone one one hand, and a lime juice on another, I can lepak at the steps for few hours.

From Wikipedia

The Church of Our Lady of the Assumption (Nuestra Señora de la Asuncion), commonly known as the Santa Maria Church is the parish church of Santa Maria in Ilocos Sur province, Philippines. The church was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site on December 11, 1993 as part of the Baroque Churches of the Philippines, a collection of four Baroque Spanish-era churches.

Unlike other town churches in the Philippines, which conform to the Spanish tradition of sitting them on the central plaza, the Church and Convent of Our Lady of the Assumption in Santa Maria are situated on a hill surrounded by a defensive wall on all sides like a fortress. The church is reached by climbing an 85-step stairway of granite rock. The grand three-flight stairway leads to a courtyard in front of the church doorway where a sweeping view of the lower plains and the town of Santa Maria is beheld. A narrow roadway coming from the back of the church also leads up to the courtyard but only used on special occasions.

We managed to peep and take a few pics.

Hills surrounding Santa Maria Church.

A votive candle.

The eastern and western side of the outer walls are reinforced by thirteen huge rectangular buttresses each typical of Earthquake Baroque architecture (Wikipedia).

After covering the church, Edgar said, let's look for the ruined Spanish-era cemetery. We did the best thing a girl should do, we send Edgar to cover the ground and search for the cemetery. Ahaks.

Edgar - the Braveheart (kerja giler tak?).

Tadaaaa.... yup. We found it, despite that I reluctantly followed them, by no means I would want to miss this little adventure of ours. Being my usual curious cat lah.

I only took pictures of the outside, no tombstone pics nor graveyard pics from me. No way. Isk.

UNESCO | San Agustin Church / Paoay Church, Philippines

UNESCO hunters at work.

Nothing beats the fun of traveling with people who share the same passion as you, and in this case, I am lucky to experience it with 2 travel bloggers from Philippines - Gael and Edgar. Both a passionate travelers as well as bloggers. And this trip, they hosted me so well that I am forever indebted to them, taking me as far as Pagudpud (Northern most of Luzon Island) and proudly introducing me to their UNESCO sites. And I am very fortunate to have 2 extremely experience "tour guide" with me that knows the history very well plus a good photographer. I feel blessed.

Being an avid UNESCO hunter (or so I claimed myself to be, hahhahahahhaa...), they took me to San Agustin Church or Paoay Church as our first UNESCO stop (means there are more than 1, tunggu....). 

The Paoay Church interior.

Located in Ilocos Norte, Paoay Church was completed in 1710 is a Roman Catholic parish church and was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993; one of the best examples of the Baroque Churches in the Philippines. There are 4 baroque churches in the Philippines, namely San Agustin Church in Manila, Santa Maria Church in Santa Maria, Ilocos Sur, San Agustin Church in Paoay, Ilocos Norte and Sto. Tomas de Villanueva Church in Miag-ao, Iloilo.

I managed to cover 3 sites during this trip, next round will be Ilo-Ilo, yipee.....!

Edgar lighting the votive candles.

You can get souvenirs and fridge magnets at the nearby shop, mostly will be of Paoay Church, Bangui Windmill and Ilocos Norte. There are few things I noticed too, they kept thinking that I am a local (we Asians look alike somehow - padahal satu apa pun I tak paham), the further you are out from the cosmopolitan the friendlier the locals are and that there are so many interesting places to see especially out of Manila. The trick is, get to know a local, be their friend and travel with them; the Philippines will awe you. Be prepared to be overwhelmed.

Its distinctly highlight the Earthquake Baroque architecture, due to the Philippines seismic condition. In other words, Paoay Church is the result of earthquakes frequency that the local experience which destroyed earlier churches throughout the country. I will share another interesting church in Manila that was made out of metal which share the same purpose or reason as Paoay Church.

I also learn that there are 2 major influencers to this church, from Chinese architecture which was reflected by the large gables and the other was from Javanese architecture, focusing on the pillar niches and buttresses. A bell tower standing next to the church was also used as observation post of the Katipuneros during the revolution and by the Guerillas during the Japanese occupation in World World II.

I will be sharing my overland journey in Luzon, Philippines and how it overwhelmed me.

Challenge accepted. Philippines local transportation.

I have a problem.
I am a sucker.
A sucker for local transportation.
Must have inherited this from my ayah (dad).
He have loadsa books on ships, trains, cars etc.

And I absolutely LOVE trucks!
Ayah bought me a few too when I was a kid, no... I don't play with dolls. Giler gurlie ok! Hahahhahahaa...

I insisted that Edgar, Gael, Llyod and Kirk to take Anna and I on all mode of transportation we bump ourselves into, from Manila to the most northern tip of Luzon; Pagudpud. All must try trip.

Yeah! I am crazy like that (cliche dak ayat nih).

Philippines entry :
Vigan Heritage City, Philippines
Vigan at night | Philippines (#UNESCO)Vigan Heritage City, Philippines
#TravelTips | Vigan Walking Tour (map) & Metro Vigan Inn, Philippines
Ferdinand Marcos Museum and Mausoleum & Imelda Marcos 
Bangui Wind Farm of Ilocos Norte, Philippines

Most of our rides are in this vehicle that they call tricycle but I call it tuk-tuk (peduli apa depa panggil apa kan.... hahahhahahaa...). Sempit tapi I masih celuih, dah kurus ler tuh (mode perasan berbau riak).

And guess what?

YES! We managed to squeeze ourselves into this tuk-tuk (ok ok ok.... TRICYCLE). Fine.

Untuk perhatian umum, tuh kaki Anna (sebab kaki saya gomok, kaki tuh kurus). Kejam.

The next one was abit drama, I rode on kereta unta, kereta kebal, eh! kalesa ride or horse carriage or kereta kuda.

I cheated. 

My carriage was in black which is very much the colour of all carriages in Vigan but since this one looks more princessy, I decided to take a picture with it. By the way, I was wearing my comfortable new #AdidasNeo shirt, proud.

Our bus got into an engine problem hence Edgar got the local to help us, this uncle fetch us to Bangui Wind Farm and later to the town nearby. I call this vehicle - motorcycle with sidecar but some still calls it tricycle (eyes rolling).

I tried a few local buses as well, this one is from Pagudpud to Vigan.

Giler retarded. Hehehhehheh.....

Their bus drivers are really cool, regardless of the age, most of them will play the 80s and 90s songs. So very the discomania. 

We tried their van as well to get to UNESCO site; Santa Maria Church, please take note muka baru bangun tidur.

I also tried their MRT, sila bersyukur LRT kita lawa. Sekian.

The interior looks exactly like any other MRT we have taken.

Philippines Jeepney! Yes, I finally get to try this. Excited ok.

I love the #AdidasNeo Sochi Olympics shirt, the material is very soft and cooling plus the peach colour stands out as well. Gonna bring it for my next trip. Thank you #AdidasNEO!

Tight squeeze.

This one fascinate me alot. Tricycle but with bicycle instead, similar to Malaysia beca but this one is fully covered.

So, which one have you tried and do you try other countries' mode of transportation. How do you like it?