Mabuhay Guide Charisse at Binondo Church
Most of us know the famous Street Walkers in Manila, like Ivan Mandy and Carlos Celdran. They have made a name for themselves simply by their informative yet entertaining walks around Manila. They are the perfect model ambassadors to show around foreign visitors here the Best of Manila. But of course they couldn’t accommodate everyone so DOT (Department of Tourism) created a Mabuhay Guides Program and trained a few select individuals to be accompanying guides.
One of the Oldest Shoe Shops in Manila
Joining the media launch of the upcoming 20th Philippine Travel Mart (PTM) to be held on September 4-6, 2009 at SM Mega Trade Halls, we got a glimpse of how good these selected batch of Mabuhay Guides are on the field. Coming from a Pasig River Ferry Ride, we started our tour of Manila in Escolta Station.
Trying out some plums
The guest were divided in color coded groups. We had Charisse as our main guide for the yellow group. With portable mikes and speakers in tow, she led us to the streets with insightful information one would not normally know. Also whisked us to some hidden eating places I didn’t know about then.
Discovering New Pho Heng Lumpia
Of course we can never replace the aforementioned Celdran and Mandy but these Mabuhay Guides as I observed are really good in their own unique. They are very articulate, knowledgeable and most importantly humorous and entertaining.
Watching them make their Dong Bei Lumpia
The Mabuhay Guides can be booked throught the DOT. The Mabuhay Guides Binondo Culinary Tour is one of the “Beyond the Usual” tours and Travel packages which are availabe at the Upcoming 20th Philippine Travel Mart which would be held at September 4-6, 2009 at Megatrade Halls in Megamall.
The 20th PTM’s event manager is Global Visions Events & Marketing Network, Inc. (telephones 637-1257, 633-4751 email: gve.mktgnet@gmail.com). For more information, please call Global Visions or PHILTOA at 812-4513 or log on to www.philtravelmart.com
Hey Ferdz, when you said street walker, I had a different picture in mind.
I often heard of Binondo from my Papa when growing up. Is the steep bridge still there? I think he almost fell off it one time during heavy rain…this would be on 1979.
one great news! congratulations to the efforts of DOT and to the mabuhay guides. hoping to experience their service soon.
Hey Ferdz, i love your background shot of the Binondo Chruch! So vibrant. This is truly a good news for us.
interesting… this can help boost tourism.
We did the Binondo , Pasig tour plus another day at the Taal crater lakes with two different Mabuhay guides…Dennis and Brian! Thinking about both tours now here in Madrid, at the start we were a bit uneasy of what could happen since the places we went to didn´t look very “presentable”. But having gone through the whole tour with everything as planned by our guides, there just cant be a better tour to enjoy in Manila than these ones! Our congratulations to the ones who began these ideas of walking through super authentic places of our country. We enjoyed it so much and recommend it to any new traveler, domestic or abroad! My sisters live in Manila and they enjoyed it as well!! Merry Christmas, oh no!! Maligayang Pasko!!