{"id":511,"date":"2016-01-19T05:54:00","date_gmt":"2016-01-19T05:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rochellesroost.com\/index.php\/2016\/01\/19\/making-the-most-of-a-last-day-in-manila-intramurros-chinese-cemetery-ayala-museum\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T04:59:35","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T04:59:35","slug":"making-the-most-of-a-last-day-in-manila-intramurros-chinese-cemetery-ayala-museum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochellesroost.com\/index.php\/2016\/01\/19\/making-the-most-of-a-last-day-in-manila-intramurros-chinese-cemetery-ayala-museum\/","title":{"rendered":"Making the Most of a Last Day in Manila: Intramurros, Chinese Cemetery, Ayala Museum"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

\nJanuary 17, 2016<\/span><\/b><\/o:p><\/span><\/span>
\nMaking the Most of the Last Day in
\nManila<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n
\n     I have had
\na fairly fitful night with an unnecessary intrusion at 2.00 am when someone
\nbegan shouting outside my door loud enough to wake me up, then knocking it and
\nsaying something in a foreign language. I am shaken and alarmed and yell back,
\n“Hello, what is it?” The knocking stops, the person mutters something
\nand leaves. My heart is beating really fast when the phone in my room rings. I
\nwonder if I should pick up the receiver. When I do, it is the guy at Reception
\napologizing and telling me that I was awoken by mistake and that it was another
\nroom and other occupants the party was seeking. I get back to sleep but adrenalin
\nkeeps me on tenterhooks <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\nBrekkie and Off to Mass:<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
\n     I awake at
\n7. 30 am far too early for my own good, not having had adequate sleep. Still, I
\nmake it to the Lobby Dining Room for a substantial breakfast of an omlette,
\nfresh fruit and coffee and then ask for a taxi to take me to the Manila Hotel.
\nI am supposed to meet my colleague Jessica at 9. 30 am, but I am a tad too
\nearly and roam around the hotel instead, getting money changed from American
\ndollars to Filipino pesos and using the Business Center to charge my phone.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n     At 9. 30, I
\nam in the lobby, connecting with Jessica, and then walking towards
\nIntramurros, the old quarter, to get to the Church of San Augustin where we are
\nsupposed to attend the 10.00 am Mass. Only when we get there, we find that
\nthere is a wedding on. The couple is kneeling at the altar of the 9.00 am
\nMass and probably because there was a wedding at the 8.00 am Mass as well–I
\nhave never seen so many bridal couples in so short a time as in Manila– the
\n9.00 am Mass started late. We have arrived just before the Offertory begins and
\nwe take our places in the beautifully decorated church. Having reached in
\ntime for the most important part of the Mass and having had a chance to take
\nCommunion, we do not think it is necessary to start 10.00 am Mass all
\nover again–especially as we find that it is 10.20 and the 10.00 am Mass hasn’t
\nyet begun! After Mass, the photographer choreographs all wedding portraits
\nagainst the backdrop of the altar regardless of the fact that it is well past
\ntime for the 10.00 am Mass and the congregation is waiting outside to enter.
\nWere they in the States, the whole bridal party would have been shooed off right
\nafter Mass ended! I know that in India IST (Indian Standard Time) has come to
\nmean Indian Stretchable Time; but here in the Philippines, time is infinitely
\nmore flexible. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n Walking Around Intramurros
\nwith Jessica:<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n     There is
\nmuch bustling activity outside the church as wedding parties dominate the
\nplaza. We decide to use our presence in church to stroll around the quarter and
\ntake in some of its Spanish ambience. Horse-drawn carriages (called Kalesas)
\npass by us frequently and add to the atmospheric nature of the quarter. But
\nright past one of the bylanes, we are in a very poverty-stricken area with
\nslums just as in Bombay, street children running around and beggars asking for
\nalms. Manila, like Bombay, is a city of contrasts and through the rest of the
\nday I will discover just how obvious these binaries
\nare.     <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\nOff to the National Museum of the
\nFilipino People by Cycle Rickshaw:<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
\n     Yesterday, in
\nthe coach when we had passed by the National Museum of the Filipino People, I
\nhad thought that I would like to return. Jessica preferred to return to the
\nManila Hotel to prepare for an Awards Ceremony Luncheon at 12 noon. With about
\ntwo hours to play with, I find a cycle rickshaw pass by me and I ask the man if
\nhe will take me to the National Museum. I know that it ought to cost me no
\nmore than 25 to 30 pesos. But he asks me for 100 and since he is an old and
\nvery poor man, I agree although I feel guilty throughout the ride that
\nan elderly man is giving me a ride. Still. I try to quell my guilt by
\nfocusing on the fact that I have probably contributed to his ability to eat
\nthat day and we move on. It is about a 15 minute cycle ride to the museum
\nand he deposits me there as arranged. He pedals the bicycle–I sit in a little
\ncavity at the side–like a side car on a motorbike! It is an odd ride and a
\nvery unusual expereince. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n     My
\nguide book tells me that I ought to get to this museum to see the excavated
\nTreasures of the San Diego<\/i>, a 15th century Spanish galleon that went
\ndown in Manila Bay, thanks to the idiocy and lack of experience and
\nsea-faring knowledge of its Captain Morga. In war with a Dutch ship, Morga made
\nall the wrong decisions and led his crew to death and his ship to destruction.
\nIt lay at the bottom of the ocean until the 1960s when it was pulled
\nup. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n    While there
\naren’t many great treasures really in the museum what was interesting to me was
\na whole lot of information about the Spanish galleon trade from
\nChina and the Spice Islands (modern-day Indonesia) through the
\nPhilippine islands and on to the West. Through a series of wonderful paintings,
\nthis history is well-recorded and since I am designing a course that deals with
\nthis theme, I found it especially helpful. Of the treasures themselves,
\nthere was a fine collection of jars–gigantic urns really used as ballast when
\nfilled with oil and water. These were made in China, Thailand (then known as
\nSiam), and the Philippines. Beautifully assembled together, they make a
\nstunning display. There are also male gold jewelry (belt buckles, for
\ninstance) and artifacts and, most interestingly, a real coconut and a
\nlarge number of real hazelnuts that were removed intact from the wreck.
\nThere is also a whole gallery devoted to the blue and white China that was
\nproduced in China and that the ship was carrying as part of its cargo.
\nFrom ginger jars to plates, there were a variety of items and they occupy
\ntwo whole rooms. The ship’s anchor as well as the navigational instruments
\nused to steer the ship on the high seas were also recovered from the wreckage
\nand they are a part of the main exhibits. It is worth getting to this museum
\nonly to see this section, especially if one is interested in aspects of
\nRenaissance maritime trade in the Indies. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n     
\nI hailed a passing taxi on the street, after spending over an hour in the
\nmuseum and made my way to Manila Hotel to witness
\nthe award-distribution ceremony held during one of the magnificent buffet
\nlunches that have been a part of this conference. Awards were given to the most
\nactive chapters of the East-West Center Alumni Associations that are
\nspread all over the world. A few short speeches accompanied this formal part of
\nthe event. Lunch was delicious and plentiful, as usual, and while I am
\nsorely tempted by all these goodies, I am dreading the impact on my waistline
\nand cannot wait to get back to normal eating again. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\nGoing on More Sightseeing
\nAdventures:<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
\n     During
\nlunch, I happened to be seated with the Filipino contingent–a lovely group of
\nmen and women who graduated from the East-West Center in the 1960s and are now
\nprominent citizens of their country and very distinguished at that. They were
\nwarmly welcoming of me and were very inclusive during the ceremony. I was
\nable to glean a lot of tourist information from them. Mainly I told them that
\nfollowing the advice of my guide books (Lonely Planet<\/i> and others), I
\nwanted to get to the Chinese Cemetery and to the Ayala Museum and to get back
\nto my hotel for a shower and a change and then return to Manila Hotel by
\n6. 30 pm for our last Gala Aloha Dinner and Talent Evening. They
\nmarveled at my energy and told me that basically the only way to get there was
\nby taxi and that since it was a Sunday, there was a possibility that I might be
\nable to cover both venues through the afternoon. So off I went. But first
\nI needed to find a taxi.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\nA Word About Manila’s Public
\nTransport:<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
\n     So, at this
\nstage, a comment on Manila’s Public Transport would be in order. Basically, it
\nis non-existent and neither is it a walking or walkable city. It is vast,
\nsprawling and, like Bombay, runs in a north-south pattern with several
\nscores of miles linking the two portions. Our hotels were in the
\nmiddle of the city, the Chinese Cemetery was in the north and the Ayala Museum
\nwas in an area known as Makati, even further north. There are no buses and a
\nvery sporadic light-rail train system that might as well not be there, I’m
\ntold. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n     Local
\npeople pile into a vehicle called a Jeepney–a strange sort of Jeep
\n(which, apparently, is a relic of American occupation of the islands). About 12
\npeople fit into it, six on each side facing each other. I suppose you would
\nneed to tell the drive where you wish to go and he finds a route that
\ncaters to all his passengers. It would have been an interesting cultural
\nexperience to take it, had I a companion. Being alone, I simply did not feel
\ncomfortable getting into one. Left with the only choice, I needed to hail
\na cab. Cabs are very cheap by American standards, but there is this
\none problem. Once you get into a taxi, you will simply sit there for God Knows
\nhow long–for traffic is insane. Luckily, all cabs are air-conditioned. So if
\nyou are patient and not in a hurry to get somewhere, taxis kind of work.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n     So, a taxi
\nit was for me. Again, luckily, all the drivers speak fairly good English and
\nmost of them are honest. They do not try to spin your around just to keep the
\nmeter going. I managed to find a taxi through the concierge at the Manila
\nHotel. He turned out to be a Born Again Christian–so for the duration of a
\nvery long ride, I was subject to his attempts at converting me to his
\nfaith! Not exactly what I had bargained for! Still, he was taking me
\ntowards my destination–so I could endure his spiel. Also, he knew how to
\nget to these tourist venues and he took the shortest routes to get to them.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\nExploring the Chinese Cemetery:<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
\n     A cemetery,
\nyou say? Why? A Chinese one? Why? Why? <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n    Well, Lonely
\nPlanet<\/i> had extolled the virtues of this one and made it sound like one of
\nthe world’s most unique experiences. I was game to give it a shot. We reached
\nit in about half an hour and for the payment of 100 pesos, I was allowed
\ninside. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n     The Chinese
\nare a very wealthy community in The Philippines–mainly traders and
\nbusinessmen. They believe in sending their dead off to the next life in style
\nand in creating mausoleums for them that are worthy of their earthly status. So
\nwhat you see in this place is a little township–almost like a residential
\nsuburb inside a gated community with streets running in a neat grid
\npattern. The family of each deceased person buys a sort of vault–each like a
\nlittle cottage in a terraced housing project–complete with marble steps
\nleading to ornate wrought iron gates that are decorated with Chinese motifs,
\nlucky lions, curving rectilinear roof lines, urns, flower vases, etc. Some of
\nthese vaults are air-conditioned, have basins with hot and cold running water
\nand I am told even flush toilets (in case, the dead get caught short on their
\nway to the next world!) The vaults are interspersed with various houses of
\nworship–Buddhist, Taoist, Christian (there were several chapels). I
\nsimply could not believe what I was seeing. Needless to say, I took many
\npictures and did not linger too long as it was oppressively hot outside my air-conditioned
\nvehicle. The gates of one of the vaults were open and two Chinese women
\nwere tending to the raised altar-like graves inside. I asked permission to take
\npictures of it and they graciously granted it. Inside, I found black and white
\npictures (probably from the 1950s) of a man and woman on the wall above their
\naltar-mausoleums. The ladies were changing the flowers inside and putting fresh
\nones with fresh water into ornate vases. I am guessing they were the
\ndaughters of the deceased. I found the entire operation very moving indeed
\nand, were I not so uncomfortably hot, I’d have stayed longer to witness
\ntheir rituals. As it was, I returned to the car and told my driver (who
\nhad waited for me while I toured around and took pictures) to take me on to the
\nnext venue–the Ayala Museum.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n     I
\nwas really glad I made the effort to get to the Chinese Cemetery. I
\ndo not believe I will see anything like this anywhere else in the world. It was
\na wonderful lesson in cultural studies–a living museum, if you will, of Chinese
\ncustoms in the Philippines. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\nOff to See the Ayala Museum and
\nExploring Makati:<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
\n     Back in the
\ntaxi, my driver continued to fight traffic to get me to the next venue I
\nwished to explore–the Ayala Museum. The Ayalas are a noteworthy, billionaire Filipino
\nfamily–the equivalent of the Rockefellers in the US or the Ambanis in India.
\nThey made their money in mall-development and then went into real estate
\ndevelopment of commercial property. Manila’s newest neighborhoods that go by
\nthe names of Greenbelt 1 to Greenbelt 5 are entirely their doing. In the
\nprocess, they have become wealthy as Croesus and turned towards art collecting
\nand creating a museum to display their collection. The Ayala Museum is the
\nresult.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n     One of the
\nAyala family creations is the neighborhood of new Makati–an area that
\nleads you to believe you have left Manila behind and entered London’s Canary
\nWharf, Bombay’s Bandra-Kurla Complex or the Hiranandani Estate in Powai or
\nSan Francisco’s Financial District. This is the other face of the Philippines–one
\nthat is lurching towards the mid-21st century at breakneck speed, thanks to
\nGlobalization. Naturally, it has created two segments of the population–the
\nfiercely upwardly-mobile that live in high-rise air-conditioned apartment
\nbuildings (as do Bombay’s nouveau riche<\/i>) while the poorest have been
\nleft far behind, not even daring to step into these upscale neighborhoods.
\nI was really glad I took the time and trouble to come out to Makati–to see for
\nmyself the designer stores, the trendy coffee shops and wine bars, the discos
\nand clubs that cater to the young of this city that work by night as call
\ncenter attendants and spend their days drinking, smoking and blowing up the
\nmoney they earn working for American corporations as telephone support staff.
\nMeanwhile, in the skyscrapers themselves, multi-national corporations work in
\nglass paned, climate-controlled offices and I did pass by the
\nPeninsula Hotel Manila and the Shangri-La Hotel in this area. These
\nfive-star hotels cater directly to the international financial community.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\nExploring the Ayala Museum:<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
\n     Eventually,
\nI did get to the Ayala Museum and it amazed me that for a private
\nair-conditioned taxi ride that provided a driver that stayed the course with me
\nthrough my stops for over an hour and a half, I paid no more than US$6! Taxis
\nare an incredible bargain in this city and although we often sat in traffic
\nthat actually put me to sleep (I dozed off after my gigantic lunch), we did get
\nto our destination.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n     The
\ndriver drove away and I hurried to the Main Reception Desk, manned by a
\ncrew of very smart young men and women who looked like college undergrads. They
\nhonored my Metropolitan Museum ID card and gave me free entry into the
\nmuseum after telling me that staff of all museums, world-wide, are allowed
\ninside free of charge. I told them that I had about an hour and half to
\nspend in the museum and wondered if they could tell me which highlights I
\nshould not miss.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n     They
\ndirected me immediately to the fourth floor to see the Pre-Colonial Gold Treasures
\nof the Philippines which would have been a great exhibit but for the fact
\nthat most of the items were on loan to a museum in New York at the
\nmoment–perhaps I will see it when I get back home. The few items
\nthat were there were good. Seeing this exhibit was preceded by a ten minute
\nfilm that explains how these items were made–might have been worth my while if
\nthey had all been there.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n     The second
\narea they had directed me to was the second floor where the entire history of
\nthe Philippines has been depicted in a huge diorama consisting of about 75
\nwindows or vignettes that detail pre-historic times to the present. It was
\na wonderful introduction to the country and having taken Carlos’ tour
\nyesterday, it was like a refresher course, in visual terms, for me. You need a
\nlot more time to do this exhibit justice and I hurried through it and was
\nvery pleased to bump into an American couple who were also attending my
\nconference. They too intended to get back by taxi by 5.00 pm and I asked
\nif I could share their cab–to which they readily agreed. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n     Before
\nleaving the museum, the three of us stepped into the lovely gardens that hold
\nchanging sculptural exhibitions. It reminded me very much of the beautiful
\ngardens of the Norton Simon Museum in Los Angeles that I had explored last
\nsummer. Filled with koi (Chinese goldfish), the pond was a huge drew for
\nchildren. Meanwhile, the Ayala Museum sits bang in the center of designer
\nstores, coffee shops, etc. and get this, a church! In fact, Mass was going
\non as we passed by and since the church was very modern with gardens
\naround it, the faithful had spilled out onto the green lawns and were listening
\nto Mass in the midst of worshippers of Mammon. It was all very peculiar
\nindeed.          <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\nBack to my Hotel:<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
\n     We had a
\nlovely conversation en route to our hotel. The couple, Richard and Rae, had met
\nat the East-West Center in the 1960s as Grad students. They were both
\npracticing lawyers in Honolulu, Hawai’i, working in their own law firm. They
\nhad one son in Los Angeles and had arrived in Manila from Australia where they
\nhad attended the wedding of their son’s friend. They were very easy
\nconversationalists and we had a sparkling exchange that was a lot of fun.
\nAbout 40 minutes later, they dropped me off at my hotel before driving off
\nto theirs.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n     I raced
\nthrough a shower and a change and then requested the concierge to get me a
\ntaxi to the Manila Hotel. I was there in under ten minutes and
\nhastened off to the Maynila Ballrom for the Grand Finale Gala Dinner of our
\nconference where I had the chance to reunite with many of the new friends
\nI have made over the past three days. I sat with Jessica and Mary and a few
\nother people and had a really enjoyable evening. Needless to say, the buffet
\ndinner once again left me feeling stuffed just looking at it and the talent
\nprovided on stage offered a range of abilities–some performers were good
\nand some, well…let us say they earned full marks for lacking stage fright!<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n    At the end of the
\nevening, after all the Thank-Yous were said, and table prizes were won, there
\nwas a lovely ‘Aloha Oe’ Song sung with all participants holding hands and
\nforming two  huge leis as we sang the words. It was a touching goodbye and
\nthen the dancing began and we were all on the floor boogeying! <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n    It had been an
\nincredible experience and I was very glad that I had juggled
\nso effectively my attendance at some of the main sessions of the
\nconference with exploration of the city and an examination of its most
\nnote-worthy monuments and museums. Since I do not believe I will ever return to
\nManila (although never say never), I was very glad I made the most of every
\nmoment in this city. Perhaps one ought to see other parts of the
\nPhilippines–its beautiful rural and natural wonders, for instance–but I was
\nnot unhappy with what I had seen and the brave attempts I made, despite many
\ntransport inconveniences and the unmitigated heat–to see the place.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n            <\/span>On
\nthe chartered shuttle coach back to my hotel, I meet a very nice elderly
\ngentleman named Gerald Mullins from Wisconsin who was a career educationist,
\ndid his Ph.D. in Asian Studies from the EWC in the 1950 or 60s and has come to
\nthe conference with the idea of reuniting with his classmates. He was a very
\ninteresting conversationalist and I had a lovely ride back to our hotel
\ntogether with him. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n     Tomorrow, I
\nshall rise at leisure, have breakfast and get ready for my departure to
\nBombay via Bangkok. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n     Until
\ntomorrow…. <\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n <\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

January 17, 2016 Making the Most of the Last Day in Manila      I have had a fairly fitful night with an unnecessary intrusion at 2.00 am when someone began shouting outside my door loud enough to wake me up, then knocking it and saying something in a foreign language. I am shaken and alarmed… <\/p>\n

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