Stories of Places, People and Photography in the Philippines and Beyond
One of my favorite places in Manila is Binondo. Its Minor Basilica of San Lorenzo Ruiz, popularly known as the Binondo Church also shares a fare number of crowd during Simbang Gabi. It isn’t surprising since the Church is located beside the busy street of Quentin Paredes Road near the main Plaza of Binondo. It was a chilly morning and the lights of the plaza were well lit that night and we can’t help notice the huge crowd right at the church portal.
Just a short walk from Manila Cathedral is another church where people flock for the Misa de Gallo. Inside the walls of intramuros stands the oldest church in the Philippines – The San Agustin Church, one of the Baroque Churches classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This church built in 1607 now sports a new paletada and is aglow with simple drop line of lights on its facade. Honestly, this church need not to be extremely adorned for it sports one of the most beautiful church interiors I’ve seen.
Misa de Gallo or Simbang Gabi is one of the treasured Filipino Christmas Tradition. Even all over the world, Filipinos Communities stll practice this tradition. Misa de Gallo is a Spanish word call Midnight Mass or Rooster’s Mass and is typically practiced in Spanish Speaking countries as a Midnight Mass at the eve of Christmas. But for us Filipinos, Simbang Gabi starts 9 days before Christmas.
Christmas starts early in the Philippines. At the onset of the ‘ber’ months, I won’t be surprised to hear Christmas Carols playing at some establishments, even local radio stations. With Halloween ending, I noticed yesterday that the Halloween displays were quickly being put down to be replaced by the bright and sparkling Christmas decors. Yes the season has started already and the distinct Filipino Icon of Parols will be hanging again.
There are characters that just stand out in the crowd. As we cut through the narrow streets of Ongpin one fair Saturday afternoon, this colorful character caught our sights as we exit through the Ongpin arch towards the fountain. It’s just hard to resist seeing this middle aged lady enwrapped on her own private world, sipping coffee, eating snacks in the middle of the bustling street of Manila. I guess it’s her seeming carefree character that drew us to converse and get to know her better.
There had been a number of queries and searches here regarding the new airport. In particular the NAIA terminal 3. This posts is for the benefit of those who are quite new in air travel here in Manila and for those are looking for directions going to the airports. Believe me there are still a lot of Filipinos who have just started taking the benefit of cheap air travel lately. It would also be useful especially this coming holidays where we can expect lots of traffic in these terminals.
By this time, there may already be a number of impressions posted about the NAIA Terminal 3, the not-so-new spanking airport to open in Manila. Last week, I finally got to see the new terminal when my friends Oggie and Eric were headed to Bacolod for the long weekend. For many travelers, this is a welcome development since the old domestic airport and the NAIA Terminal 1 is already aging. So what do I think of the new airport?
