National Museum and a Muslim Family in Manila

After exiting Intramuros, I entered the National Museum. Mostly to escape the heat outside. Haha. But this museum was actually very cool!

National Museum - Pambansang Museo

This museum houses many hand paintings and I could easily visualize how the world was without photography and how people resorted to paintings to depict their lives on canvas. I saw paintings where country girls posed provocatively for the painter and also paintings of landscapes both during sunsets and sunrises.

I assumed in those days many people became painters, artists, drawers and sculptors just to become visual captors like we are now with our cameras and smart hand phones. :)

Oh yeahh.. draw me now! Today she'd say, take a photo of me now. Hehe.

If they had cameras like we do now, wonder what the sunset below would look like?

Paintings were their only way to visualize what they saw. 

Some paintings were also on the nude (which I'm not gonna post it here. haha) and many on family portraits. I guess I spent almost an hour here because the paintings seemed so alive. I tried taking photos of the portraits but failed to capture the "aliveness" of it so decided to not post it here. Huhu. Seriously, the paintings seemed so alive! (This is my second time saying this. Hehe)

A mom dog trying to save her pup. T__T

I actually cried when I looked at this clayed sculpture. The artist must have been grieving when he/she sculpted this. T__T

I exited the museum, hopped on a Jeepney and headed to a shopping mall (which I forgot the name. huhu) to post some postcards I bought from Intramuros.

While walking down a street I accidentally chanced upon a signage which displayed in big letters the words "Lani's Halal Eatery" and I immediately froze in my tracks.

Lani's Halal Eatery

I was like, "OH EM GI!" Hahaha. And immediately praised god and went inside.

I was hungry like hell when I found this part of heaven. :)

They poured a bowl of rice on a plate and I chose two types of dishes with it. I felt like home instantly! As i seated myself down, suddenly the owner's family came out and gathered around me. It felt awkward at first because I had to eat in front of them all. But their warm hospitality easily wiped that feeling away. 

My first Halal meal in Manila. 

The most surprising part was that some of them actually knew how to speak SABAHAN! I got excited and learnt that the aunt there just came back from Sabah after the Lahad Datu case. She lived there for almost TEN years but got scared with the current situation. She dreams of coming back but has to wait for the situation to cool down first. Others shared their stories with me and my lunch time was spent cheerfully. :))

They even advised me to marry a Filipino man. As if I will! LOL.

A Muslim Family in Manila

After exchanging contact numbers and Facebook emails (but I've still yet to add them. haha), we parted ways. They even gave me some tips and pointers on do's and don'ts in Manila. It was overwhelming for them to worry me just because I was cute and traveling alone. (Eh?) But I assured them, I'd be fine. 

I said goodbyes and headed to the post office nearby before heading to my next destination. Later on my next post. Tata!

.

A Weekend to Manila, Phillippines - Intramuros

After reaching Manila from Clark, I asked around on how to get to my pre-booked hostel located at Makati. This was my first time in town and I didn't quite get the hang of using the Jeepneys around. But after a long while walking and asking men in uniforms (there seem to be a lot of them in Manila), I finally hopped on a non-English speaking jeepney and went off where-ever he told me too.

And no, it did reach my destination.

I got lost. Hahahaha.

I did some reading on where to stay in Manila and opted for the one recommended by blogger Solitary Wanderer at her post here.  The MNL Boutique Hostel. I already paid 10% via online for a female hostel room. Thankfully I had the address so I just kept spirit and kept on asking men in uniform for directions.

An hour later... I finally reached the colorful building with a guard at the door. 

Manila seems to have this system where all the entrances of the buildings are locked and heavily guarded (or simply has a guy keeping watch). I had to show my copy of room reservation to the guy before he unlocked the door for me.

I found it a bit odd. But horeyyyy!! Finally reached a hostel with FREE WI-FI! (nothing else mattered at that point. hehe)

So I recharged myself and replanned my itinerary and this is what I did that day. :)

1. Visited Intramuros, the wall city of Manila

Intramuros was the Spaniards' center of political and religious power back when the Philippines was still a Spanish colony. Even today I've noticed that many of the Philippines have unique Spanish names. Within this walled city is Fort Santiago, the prison where Philippine's National Hero, Jose Rizal spent his last days. And there are also twelve churches for which the most famous are the Manila Cathedral and San Agustin Church.

Being such an important colony back then, there are also hospitals, lodging houses, commercial spaces, universities and even military barracks.

I hired a taxi to get here since the Jeepney transport system became too complicated for me (but a map of the city would've helped which I had none.) And since the city has about seven entrance gates, I had to make sure I came in and out the same gate to avoid getting more lost. Haha.

  

Fort Santiago - one of the oldest fortifications in Manila. Built in 1571.

I spent almost three hours here. Wandering myself senseless in the hot sun by walking. Spent the most time in Fort Santiago (P 75 per person) and enjoyed the view from the moat which was added later in 1603. I also tried soaking up the history of Jose Rizal last days by visiting his prison cell. Ahh.. scary.  

Within Fort Santiago. See the moat! Beautiful!

Jose's cell room was so spacious! Bigger than the master room at my own rented KL home. Hiks. Eventually, I went out of the fort and set my sights to other buildings within Intramuros.

Manila Cathedral

This is how it looked like before.

And below is how it looks like today. It was destroyed by fire and earth quakes so many times. I'm amazed that the structure still stands today. :)

Manila Cathedral

And somehow I ended inside a Church Museum. It kinda got awkward for me because I was the only person who wore hijab! Haha. But the porcelain dolls depicting Virgin Mary (and so I thought) were beautifully painted, with live hair and elaborate dresses. I was truly awed by the masterpieces shown here but I didn't stay long.

Beautiful religious porcelain dolls. 

After that I wandered some more and there were a lot of Spanish-like buildings around with Spanish names. I didn't enter any of them so I ended up buying some postcards from a shop there and headed out.

So Spanish!

The woman from the shop told me of a National Museum not that far away. It was a walking distance away and I headed there next. So this ends my visit to Intramuros..  to be continued... :)