Manila layover tour: first glance of the Philippines 1. Binondo 馬尼拉轉機一日遊 1. 中國城
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My one-day layover started in Manila’s Chinatown Binondo, the oldest Chinatown in the entire world. It could be dated back to at least late 16th century, when the Spanish colonizers forcefully moved the Chinese from Intramuros across the Pasig river to here, where a Chinese commerce hub had already existed.
Most visiting Manila only go to Intramuros, Makati, and maybe several shopping malls, as foreign tourists could rarely been seen elsewhere. Binondo is also overlooked: colorful and hectic, with most of the streets walkable. First I visited the famous Binondo Church, an interesting looking building featuring black and red granite. Like most old buildings in Manila, the church was rebuilt after the WWII when most of the city was destroyed.
I haven’t seen elsewhere such a crazy, intertwined network of electric wires, not in any of the Southeast Asian cities I’ve visited so far. (but I haven’t visited many of the cities in this part of the world. From other people’s videos I could see similar crazy wire networks in Myanmar etc)
我的馬尼拉一日遊從中國城（Binondo）開始，這是世界上最古老的中國城，其歷史可追溯至十五世紀末，西班牙殖民者將河對岸王城區的中國人強制驅趕至此，不過更早之前這裡即已是華人的商貿中心，這麼說來它的歷史大概更久了。
大多數來到馬尼拉的遊客大概僅參觀王城區、馬卡蒂金融區、若干購物商場等，很少見到踏足其他區的，中國城中便幾乎沒有外國遊客，這裡看起來紛亂而充滿活力，大致都可步行。首先我參觀由黑色與紅色花崗岩築成的中國城教堂，因馬尼拉在二戰時曾被摧毀，這座教堂與馬尼拉多數古建築一樣是戰後重建的。
在我旅行過的東南亞城市中，還未曾見過有電線如此環繞糾纏的，在馬尼拉街頭則隨處可見。（不過我在東南亞的旅遊經驗尚少，看過別人影片中緬甸街頭也是如此）
This Chinatown church had masses held in Chinese and Hokkien. When I visited a Taglog mass was taking place. I could heard the word “Santa Maria” repeated over and over again. A Chinese couplet was shown in the front, signaling a mixture of Christian and Chinese elements, similar to what I saw earlier in a cathedral in Saigon, Vietnam. However, the couplet was a bit awkward-sounding in my opinion.
中國城教堂有以國語與閩南語舉辦的彌撒，我抵達時正舉行他加祿語的彌撒，只聽見「Santa Maria」一詞不斷重複著。正殿上有一中文對聯，和我剛去過的越南西貢的聖方濟各聖堂一樣展現了中西合璧的元素，不過這副對聯：「天恩虎嘯疫，主寵兔鳴眉」唸起來實在太拗口了。
In front of the church stands a statue of Lorenzo Ruiz, the Philippine’s first saint who was martyred in Tokugawa Japan. Lorenzo, a Chinese Filipino, was trained in this church before he embarked on his mission to Japan.
教堂前方便是菲律賓首位封聖的聖徒 — 李家倫的雕像，他是菲律賓華裔教徒，曾在這座教堂受訓，受前往日本傳道時死於江戶幕府對天主教的迫害行動。
路旁招牌可看出，當地華人翻譯這個國家的中文為「菲律濱」。
Next to the statue were a monument for Filipino Chinese’s effort against the Japanese invasion, and a small Chinese temple. Most restaurants and shops here had traditional Chinese (surprisingly) signs as well.
李家倫雕像旁還有若干與華人相關的紀念物，有一華僑抗日烈士紀念碑，紀念當地華僑在二戰時的抵抗行動（市內還有華僑義山墓園，也見證了許多二戰血淚史，這次沒空前往了），另外有一小型媽祖廟。大多數招牌均有標示繁體中文。
Walking all the way north to the heart of Binondo, I really enjoyed observing people in local markets: what they were selling, how things were displayed, how people went on their day-to-day lives…. These are often the highlights of my travel after all, instead of particular famous landmarks.
3 obvious signs that you could tell the Philippines apart from other Southeast Asian countries: the crazily intertwined electric wires, jeepneys, and tuktuks. I haven’t seen any of these elsewhere, and these really reminded me of typical Central and South American street views.
In fact, Manila was a part of “Nueva Espana” (Mexico) in the Spanish empire. Manila galleon between Manila and Acapulo, Mexico used to dominate the Pacific Ocean for centuries. The Philippines and Latin America has a lot more in common than what people think.
在中國城街上行走，我相當喜歡在傳統市集中觀察來往人群，看人們怎麼過每天的生活，這也是我這幾年旅行的重點，對我來說更勝看到特定地標或觀光景點。
目前感到菲律賓有別於其他東南亞國家的三大特色，便是交纏環繞的電線、吉普尼車（二戰後吉普車改建而成的野雞巴士）與嘟嘟車了，在其他東南亞國家都沒見到如此景象，倒是中南美洲比較常有類似街景。中南美洲與菲律賓的聯繫比我們想的還大，菲律賓便曾是由新西班牙總督區（墨西哥）管理的，馬尼拉與墨西哥西岸Acapulo間的輪船曾縱橫太平洋數百年，兩邊的官員、商賈與傳教士也多有往來。
Rain started pouring as I walked myself through the narrow alleys in the local markets, only to stop 10 minutes later. I continued to walk northwards. Manila has been notorious for strikingly visible social inequality; While I did see poverty on the streets, it was not as bad as I expected. The river was said to be extremely polluted, so I was surprised to see only several pieces of garbage floating on it (perhaps it was recently cleaned).
Many people were asking money on the street, some even yelled “boss” in Mandarin or Hokkien. One old lady grabbed my arm, but not to the point I would feel uncomfortable.
逛到一半大雨傾盆而下，索性十分鐘後就轉成小雨，我繼續往北走探索。有關馬尼拉的遊記經常提到「肉眼可見的貧富差距」，不過目前所見比想像中的好，雖有貧窮，但還沒有有別於其他國家太過激烈的畫面。這裡的河流在網上查到是污染嚴重、遍佈垃圾，不過現場只有發現幾個垃圾漂流河上，看來是近期剛清理過。
大街上不免有許多人向我要錢，許多直接喊著國語的「老闆」或閩南語的「頭家」，一名老太太抓了我的手臂向我要錢，不過整體而言沒到令人不適的程度。
“999 shopping mall” is a famous shopping mall in Binondo, a place where locals went to shop, in contrast to the fancy shopping centers catering to foreign tourists.
A sign saying “Hawaii”. Another place that used to be a US oversea territory. What if the Philippines is still part of the US?
999購物中心是中國城著名的百貨，這裡是面向當地人的購物中心，跟那些金碧輝煌、面向外國遊客的不同。
路對面「夏威夷」的招牌令我想起夏威夷曾跟菲律賓一樣地位，屬於美國的海外屬地。如果菲律賓仍屬美國，現在會是何種模樣呢？
“Chowking” is a famous Filipino fast food branch that sells fried chicken, hamburgers and wonton noodles all together. Chowking had a special place in my travels. Back in 2016, when I arrived in San Diego after a 10-day Greyhound bus trip from Boston, it was Chowking in National City (a surburb town of San Diego full of Filipino Americans) where I went to dinner. I’ve frequented the place several times, but it was sadly permanently closed when I went pass by again the following year.
Finally, after 7 years, at the other end of the world where Chowking originated, I had a chance to taste it again. Frankly I remembered nothing about its taste. It doesn’t taste that good.
「超群」是菲律賓著名的速食連鎖店，除了炸雞漢堡等西餐，還有賣餛飩麵等中餐。超群在我的旅行經歷中地位重要，2016年我從波士頓搭乘灰狗巴士橫貫北美，花了十天抵達西岸的聖地牙哥，當晚便在納雄耐爾城（聖地牙哥郊區菲律賓裔很多的城鎮）的超群吃飯，隨後又去了幾次，可惜隔年再次造訪時它已經倒了。
沒想到七年後，我在世界的另外一端，超群的起源之處，再次吃到了它的餛飩麵。說實在這麵沒什麼特別的，吃個情懷而已。
A store selling small pins featuring famous American brands, with American pop songs playing in the background, really reminded me the connection between the Philippines and the US. It’s a place where American tourists may feel more at home (in some ways) than Japanese, Korean, Chinese and Taiwanese tourists.
販賣美國貨的商店、背景播放的美國流行歌都讓我想起菲律賓和美國千絲萬縷的關係。可能某種程度上，相較於東亞遊客，美國遊客會覺得這裡更像是自己的國家。
Continuing working northwards in drizzles, I walked pass many Chinese “Kongsis”, and arrived at Seng Guan Temple. One of the most prominent Buddhist temples in Manila.
在細雨中繼續向北行，經過許多華人的同鄉會館，其中以福建晉江尤多。「信願寺」是馬尼拉著名佛寺，有趣的是這個「入解脫門」的匾額是放在們的內側，從廟中離開時才會看到，這不太合理啊。
Unlike typical temples in Taiwan where both Bhuddist and Taoist elements could be found, Seng Guan Temple is a purely Bhuddist one. This is where local Chinese people came to pray, as traditional Chinese signs could be seen all around, indicating a sizable Chinese population still preserving its culture. In the front, I saw a lady kneeling and sobbing, sharing her sorrow with Buddha in Hokkien.
On the 2nd floor there was another huge Buddha statue, and a number of young people playing with a cat.
Religious places, in addition to local markets, are another important highlights I like to visit in my travels.
不像台灣多數廟宇為佛道混合，信願寺看起來是單純佛教的寺廟，廟裏告示大多為繁體中文，顯為中國城居民的信仰中心，看來馬尼拉仍有一定使用中文、仍保有相當中華文化的華裔。前方一名老太太在佛前啜泣著，用閩南語與佛陀分享自己的委屈。
Continuing working northward, I unknowingly entered the Tondo District of Manila, known for its huge slums (as a side note, Tondo was an important historical kingdom in the history of the Philippines). But I didn’t know at the time. When I traveled, I enjoyed getting lost, wondering around in random directions, and only checking the map once in a while. Often times I was rewarded with views few tourists would see. Ultimately, getting lost is my talent.
But I then see that roads turning to dirt, heard random people asking where I was going, and before I realized, I was walking at the wrong direction between huge trucks and flows of motorcycles….I finally decided to call a grab to leave, before getting hit by a car. However my phone data plan (Google-Fi) also decided it’s a good time to stop working. While there was phone signal, there was absolutely no internet available, making it impossible to use grab.
繼續北行，我無意間步行超出中國城的範圍，來到北邊的Tondo區，此區較為貧窮，以有大型的貧民窟著名（另外Tondo其實曾有菲律賓史上一個重要的王國），但我當時並不知情。我旅行中很享受讓自己迷路，往隨意的方向行走，久久才查看一次地圖，通常能因此見到許多一般觀光客難以見到的風景。正所謂，迷路是路痴的才華。
不過此時，我看到柏油路逐漸轉為土路，甚至開始有路人問我要往哪裡走，一時間交通混亂，我竟在大卡車與摩托車的車陣中開始逆向行走了，眼見周圍看來沒有其他有趣之處，也實在難以步行，我決定在被車撞之前趕快叫grab離開，不料此時我的網路竟然抽風，雖有基地台訊號卻無網路，因而無法叫車。
So I had to turn to a tuktuk for help, hopping on one heading to my next destination: Quiapo. As the seemingly experienced tuktuk driver finding his way through the busy roads (often times also fearlessly driving in the wrong direction), I continued my street observation. We passed through a river where many wooden houses were built on; unfortunately I was too slow to pull my phone out for photos.
Taglog sign in the tuktuk “Radyo trabaho” — this apparently came from Spanish “trabajo”: Working radio.
我只好在路邊攔了一輛嘟嘟車，前往馬尼拉的另一區：Quiapo。嘟嘟車師傅熟門熟路地在車陣中穿梭，多次在路上逆向而行也毫不畏懼。我則繼續觀賞馬尼拉的街道，人們的生活都不容易，都在為生存而辛苦著。剛剛攔車時雖然稍微殺了價，但見到這車程感覺如此辛苦，我開始感到後悔，這些錢對我來說只是零頭，對他卻可能是一餐，身處全球化的既得利益者的我又為何要去計較這一點錢呢？
Even the car plate looks very similar to the American ones.
Arriving in Quiapo. Even more vibrant markets awaited.
抵達Quiapo後，我還是照原價付錢給了師傅。繼續參觀馬尼拉更多五彩繽紛的市場。
