manila posted by imani , Saturday, December 13, 2008 at 7:36 AM, in Labels: imani's 'best list'

in the light of writing about the ten best things about baguio, i realized i shouldn't leave manila out. as a matter of fact there are a lot of great things to be said about manila. though i lived in quezon city and pasay city...i can say i sort of grew up in manila. hell, i spent all my student days there - from elementary to college.

so here's my list for the ten things to be adored about manila:

1. national museum of the filipino people. i know. saying that makes me feel like a freak. a freak, not a loser. i am that kind of person. i like going to museums. so deal with it. the orginal juan luna work, spoliarium, can be found in the national museum. i took nosh there last may 2008 and it was her first time to behold the great painting. i have been there several times but i always make it a point to see it...and up to this moment it still takes my breath away, i get the stendhal syndrome by just looking at it.

2. silahis. it's a huge filipiniana store located inside intramuros. you can find great mementos there - from rainmakers to furniture made of kamagong and what not.

3. university belt. where would we be (mumai, ara, chi, jos, louie and the rest of the femme fetales) if not for the cheap books sold there? i don't suppose going through college would be too easy.

4. my schools - when i was in grade school, i went to dr. a. albert elementary school - the place where i met my first 'terror' teacher, mrs. apilado and was in love with a guy named aaron thala (whereever you are - i hope you are well). in high school, i went to ramon magsaysay - where i met my best friend, monette and was the associate editor of the blue and white (the official campus english newspaper). at one point monette and i were stalked by a couple of kids who called us 'brainy.' fine. for college, i was lucky enough to receive full scholarship from la consolacion college manila, where i met mumai, josane, cherry, louie, ara, aye, bru, liza, aque...and well, the list goes on. it was also in college where i met the following teachers - sir vir de guzman, atty. pol juan, ma'am eunice parungao (i call her eunice and she hates it ehehe), ma'am claude duyala, dr. ruby senatin, dr. jimmy rico, - who taught me more than what was supposed to be shared inside the classroom, they taught me the importance of humility and the fact that we are all forever going to be students of the universe.

5. the history of the city. i am a history buff. i love manila because of its rich culture and because of the fact that intramuros is found in manila. when i was younger and i couldn't go around without my mom or my dad, i knew about manila's history through textbooks. when i started in high school, my classmates (yes, all of us from section edison) and i would go around the greater part of manila to discover the truth written in those textbooks we have read some years back. and i swear there was a moment we were inside intramuros when i'd have an epiphany every time we turn to a new street or avenue.

6. quezon bridge. it's the bridge from quiapo to ermita, and was designed by the man who created the eiffel tower...gustav eiffel.

7. the churches. during lent when we were in college, we'd have visita iglesia - we would go church hopping, as part of our commitment to our faith. it wasn't too hard to find catholic churches - sometimes you won't even have to ride the jeepney to go from one church to another. there's the manila cathedral, san agustin church (which is actually under the auspices of the order of st. augustine. i think i can get a discount if i'd ever decide to wed there), quiapo church (the site of the annual black nazarene procession), binondo church (where my dad used to take me), tondo church (my dad grew up in tondo, and it is in this church we can find the century-old ivory image of sto. niño), and san sebastian church (the only all-steel church in gothic style in asia).

8. liwasang andres bonifacio. i love this park because monette and i had a lot of memories there - one time we asked the manong to play the CD i just burned for monette and he obliged - how nice. it's where i wrote my poem, stillness in shifting, about 6 years ago. the park sits right in front of the philippine post office building.

9. arch of the centuries, in ust. i remember when i was part of the journalism group in high school, we were given lessons in photojournalism and i took a picture of the arch of the centuries...with its view from the entrance, you can actually see the clock at the main building. after taking the photograph, we had to write an article about it - and i did, aptly titled 'fragments of time.' ahhh...memories.

10. the manila hotel. i have never gone inside the hotel. the closest i have been to seeing the 570-room famed five-star hotel is viewing it from the walled city - where the femme fetales would gather every saturday afternoon to share stories and different wonderful reasons to laugh and cry together.

as the popular 80's song goes: manila, manila, i keep coming back to manila...simply no place like manila, manila i'm coming home.

there's no place like home :)