April 22, 2009
Thank you, Xie Xie and Terimah Kasih to Singapore Airlines’ inflight magazine Silver Kris for their lovely feature on Manila and your truly!
Very edgy photos and really hip lay out. Gives a really fun dimension to what we have to offer here.
Best of all, its written by a local citizen who’s passion for Manila is only matched by the humidity I’m currently sweating out in this capital I call my home.
Click below for link.
February 18, 2009
Ok, so after the long wait, it’s finally out.
Food writer and tv-show host Anthony Bourdain’s much long-awaited No Resevations Philippines premiered last Feburary 16 at the Travel Channel in the U.S. I have not yet seen any of the episode and can only deduce that it incited some very passionate debates gleaned from here to here.
Of course as with every Filipino meal, there will always be palates to please and quite understandably, my Manila segment got a mouthful. From well-wishing long-time-no-see friends to people who critiqued just about anything from my ‘horrible’ accent to being a host “so bland that I looked and sounded like a call center worker.”
I guess that’s a slice of show-biz life to me, the show is entertainment after all and if anything ,I now know how it feels like to be a Sharon Cuneta or Piolo Pascual in the eyes of the world. Hee Hee.
So I will just to wait for my clear DVD copy when the producer sends it to me but for the meantime, here’s the real insider score of the menu I prepared AB, just to put everything in proper context perhaps make the viewers understand why the Manila segment came out that way.
1. Producers Choice. First and foremost, its the producer’s who have the first and last say, while we resource persons are given opportunities to tweak and add our inputs to the show, at the end of the day its is the producer’s call. Hence for the Manila segment, the theme was ‘gritty but tasty with a Chinese-Spanish fusion input.” Hence the Binondo Chinatown bit. I’ve heard of complaints on why I had to do Binondo as opposed to the swankier joints in Greenhills or Makati. As any true-blue Manileno would know, Binondo is the one true culinary-cultural heartland of the city which certainly fit the theme set by the producers.
2. Time Constraint. When you have two days to shoot in a metropolis as big as the island republic of Singapore, you wont have everything in a mouthful no matter how hard you try. Oh, and did I tell you the whole of the Binondo segment took an hour, the dampa took three and the host had about 5 hour rest period in between. Probablly not much time as the host should have put I guess he doesnt take too much to the heat and long shooting hours.
Here is the complete Manila menu we cooked up for AB:
1. Lumpia (Sariwa at Shanghai)
2. Taho (taken at random)
3. Siopao
4. Chickenballs (not my first choice as this was taken at random because there was no fishballs available!)
5. Mamang Sorbetero cheese, ube or mango ice cream (couldnt find one when you need them!)
6. Pinakbet
7. Adobong Hipon
8. Ginataang Alimango na may Kalabasa
9. San Miguel Beer (two pitchers mostly finished by AB)
All told, my hats off and a BIG THANK YOU to all those who took time (Augusto the Catalyst, ClaudeTayag my half-Kabalen, Rich the local fixer, Marketman and his crew, Chef Gene Gonzales of Cafe Ysabel and Juday, one of my favorite actresses) to present our cuisine and our culture in a truly informative, passionate and true-to-its-roots way. Verbal slip-ups, nervousness and ‘horrible’ accents aside, I hope this concerted effort by everyone will have helped in changing perceptions, gaining appreciation and marketing the culinary heritage of our country. Every little step counts.
A parting shot of my last meal with Bourdain. Plate to the top left is AB’s, top right is mine. Just look how we both lapped up the crabs. Yum!
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Oh, and while we’re at it, check out my culinary find from a recent backpacking trip to Cebu , if Anthony Bourdain or any other food show hosts ever walks by again, I’m taking them here!
Imagine, 50 + dishes, GOOD quality, the freshest seafood, clams the size of my fist, liempo, local salads, oysters, gigantic fishes, sausages, meat dishes, noodles…the list goes.
All for P300.00 per person!
Too bad its not anyway near where I live but for this, I would seriously consider another 3 hour road trip from Cebu City and a one-hour ferry ride to Bantayan island.
Food heaven indeed.
November 24, 2008
Thank you Philippine Daily Inquirer for having me grace (again) the glossy pages of your Sunday Inquirer Magazine.
For a change, its really nice to have my fingers (instead of my feet and mouth) do the walking this time.
Sunday Inquirer Magazine
FIRST PERSON
Wok-king with Anthony Bourdain
MANILA, Philippines – It started with a text message from artist-chef and fellow half-kabalen (from my matrilineal Kapampangan side) Claude Tayag. The message was deceivingly simple: “A US-based TV host is doing a shoot in the Philippines. I would like you to show him around Manila.”
Now showing someone around my city is something that I take to as naturally as fish to water. For more than three years now, I have been the main face and feet behind Old Manila Walks, a tour outfit that has taken countless numbers of enthusiasts chomping down Chinatown’s hidden alleys, poking around the Presidential Palace’s halls and discovering architectural gems inside a cemetery. For me, Manila is one big cultural smorgasbord and needs to dug into to savor her delights.
“It’s Anthony Bourdain,” Claude spills a few days later. Ok, so I know he’s a chef, and I saw him on television—but what I didn’t realize was how big his cult following is in this part of the world, until I walked with him in Manila.
The instructions from producer Jared Andrukanis were clear-cut and simple: for the show “No Reservations Philippines,” the Manila segment was to be as local as possible. No frills. No fine dining. Just the real deal best summed up in his own words, “gritty but tasty.” “Great,” I thought, Manila is a gritty place so that takes one off the list. Now I just have to take care of the tasty part.
So what constitutes a very Manila dining experience? For me it has to have variety, a fusion, a mishmash of various ingredients from our indigenous Malay (in all its sub-categorical forms, Tagalog, Kapampangan, Ilokano Bikolano, Bisaya, etc.) to the ones brought in by our historical contacts, the Chinese and the Hispanic—all flavors thoroughly mixed up on one delicious plate that is quintessentially Filipino. Think of eats at a typical fiesta spread: Pansit side-by-side with lechon, callos swimming in tomato sauce with finely chopped sisig. An endless supply of soy sauce and soda-marinated barbequed pork skewered on a bamboo stick. All the beer you can drink. Karaoke music in full blast! And finally, all these food spiced up with our people’s infectious happy spirit. To me, this defines my city’s dining experience, and this is what I highlight in any media shoot.
I came up with a list of places and restaurants that fit the required theme; places that I thought would look visually appealing while showcasing the flavors of Manila and Filipino cuisine to curious viewers. Only three places on my list were approved: Binondo, dampa and a tapsilogan. Short though it was, I felt all three places were strongly representative of Manila’s dining culture, while fitting the prescribed “gritty yet tasty” category. Quiapo was canceled due to time constraints; the Salcedo weekend market was crossed out because of the complicated logistics of filming “too many stalls in one day.” Finally, a pares-mami joint was edited out because I think it had to be shot too early at dawn.
I met up with Tony on a hot and humid Saturday morning. At about 6’5”, he has an imposing physical presence. We began our walk around Binondo. If ever there is a place built for walking and sustenance at the same time, it has to be old Chinatown. Not only is it a culinary paradise, but visually, the streets burst with local color and nuances of everyday street life. This corner of Manila is eye candy made from the city’s rich melting pot of people and cultures. In a market alley, Tony becomes the quintessential Caucasian tourist. Many would call out, “Hey Joe, here, here!” (complete with Cory-sign-framing-the-face pose). But some did recognize him. One lady’s jaw literally dropped in shock when she saw Tony coming out of the restaurant. Even a security guard from a grocery store recognized him “as the guy from that food show.” I would find out later that as word spread that Tony was in Manila, many geared up for Anthony Bourdain sightings. I was told of some folks who even camped out at his hotel just to get a glimpse of this alpha chef. I also know of people who drove all the way to Pampanga—one of the many shoot locations —the day before, just to catch sight of (and possibly have their books signed) by him. No wonder local fixer Rich Alindogan called me hours before the shoot, asking if I was coming by myself. Bourdain was prized meat and everybody wanted a bite of him.
After Binondo, next stop on our list was a dampa. Whoever thought of these dining establishments that combine the wet market “paluto” (to cook) concept and karaoke joint certainly knows the way to a Filipino’s heart. Food, family and singing sensations, what could be more Pinoy than this? In the end, the dampa in Cubao won me over with its clean and brightly-lit market, great ambiance, bamboo counter theme, banderitas and, of course, the very good market selection. Even Tony noticed how fresh the day’s catch was.
I had prepared five dishes that are typical Pinoy fare (and that I love to eat) but had to trim it down to three, one vegetable and two kinds of seafood. I gave specific and very strict instructions to the chosen “paluto” joint: “Do not over-sauce the dishes and do not overcook the vegetables!” However, the ensuing buzz going around was, did Tony eat balut? No, he did not, at least not in my segment. As much as I like this delicacy, I think it has been negatively overused to represent Filipino food. Worse, what they keep showing in Western television is the balut which most of us (including me) do not eat—the over-mature one with feathers, beaks and all the scary half-fertilized membranes. And besides, Tony himself admitted that doing balut again was so “last week!”
In the end, I was all smiles when the veggies I ordered came out perfect—all at once crisp, salty, bitter and sweet—perfect with rice. The seafood was even better. Tony looked like he enjoyed it so much he made simut to the last morsel. Over lunch, I asked him what he knew about the Philippines. “History-wise, I know some of our military involvement here.” What about the food? “What do you think of Filipino food so far?” He chews on the thought: “I’m still digesting everything, the culture has the multiple influences, and I’m finding the flavors to be wonderfully confusing.” Yes, wonderfully confusing, perhaps because ours is probably one of the truly global fusion cuisines out there, a true marriage of South-East Asian and Hispanic flavors, defined by our landscape, our history and our people.
Before we leave, I ask him one final question. “In the years that you have lived this culinary traveler’s life, do you get jaded with the food that you’ve eaten?”
His answer: “In parts of Europe yes, but never, never in Asia. How can you be? You can eat one new dish in China every day of your life. I’m starting to feel the same way about the Philippines.”
Spoken like a true culinary traveler. But for me, it’s all just another day’s work as a cultural ambassador to this city—and cuisine—of my affections.
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And while we’re at it, a BIG thank you too to U.K.’s Motoring and Leisure magazine for the lovely write up on the Philippines, Manila and yours truly. Also for taking time to actually send me not just one, but two copies! Most of the time, writers and TV show producers/researchers knock at our doors for resource, reference and story features promising to send us a copy for our time but they almost never happen (this is also true with local publications and media). I’m glad M & L Magazine took the effort even if it meant mailing it all the way from London. Maraming Salamat!
Finally, muchos gracias too to Toni of Wifely Steps for sharing her thoughts on one our BIG Binondo Food WOK tour in her blog!
November 7, 2008
So after having a breakfast and lunch date with Anthony Bourdain, three days later I found myself WOK-ing with yet another culinary personality, this time Bobby Chinn of the show World Cafe Asia who was doing a show on Manila.
Two celebrity chefs in a span of three days with personalities that could not be any more similar.
Now if Bourdain struck me as a scholarly cook, someone whom you could spend hours and hours talking (and learning) about food culture, Bobby was more of performer, with a lot of antics and kookiness ….
midway throughout our shoot, I suddenly find him in a store making a head-banging, rocker scene (complete with protruding false-teeth get up) . Of course he rocked the place and had heads turning onto his antics…
Here in a Binondo alley market checking out some of the local specialties…I heard he also went to the Salcedo Market in Makati and to Quiapo where he had, among others, day-old-chicks.
Not really the type of food I would highlight to the international viewing public but well, its the producer’s who calls the shot.
Our little ‘padyak’ scene, I originally pushed for a Kalesa which, in my opinion is more of a Manila icon (not mention, more charming) than this utilitarian padyak but then again, the director wanted otherwise…Oh well.
Just another day of walk.
Thanks to Anson Yu, my official tour alternate for tagging along to take these photos.
October 29, 2008
Guess who WOK-ed by?
Yes, it can now be said, celebrity chef and no-holds-barred culinary traveler Anthony Bourdain was in Manila and I had opportunity of giving him a ‘taste’ of my city. Literally that is.
And the menu I prepared?
Well, that will have to wait till 2009 when No Reservations sees airtime.
In the meantime, here’s a sneak peak from passer-by Christian Anonuevo (never met before). Lucky fellow, he happened to be a the right place at the right time and took this little memento of me and Anthony doing tusok-tusok of one Manila’s most popular hawker fares.
In the spirit of hygienic sensitivity, I told AB no double dipping. He dutifully obliged.
Oh and I think he liked the palamig.
A smiling Christian.
Who would have known, Bourdain in Binondo? And I know of people who had driven all the way from Manila to Pampanga just have a glimpse of Tony!
For Christian, serendipity indeed.
Thank you Christian Anonuevo for sharing these photos and capturing this moment with your cell cam.
September 26, 2008
Just a little THANK YOU note to Travel and Leisure Magazine (September edition) for your little shout out to my name on your Intramuros article. Quite a poignant piece on the Walled City, too bad the writer got our email wrong.
Oh well…
And better late than never, a big THANK YOU too to Brunei Airline’s MUHIBAH Magazine for your lovely feature on Manila…
as well as Old Manila Walks blurb with my million-dollar killer smile to boot!
Shucks, did my photo really deserved to be that big? ;op
MARAMING MARAMING SALAMAT!
September 5, 2008
I’m a big fan of travel literature and a good chunk of my bedside reading material belong to this category. But in as much as I like reading them, I rarely buy local travel magazines because I don’t feel like they have anything new to offer apart from the tried and tested travel narrative in the usual getting from point A to B writing fashion. And while some of the writing is good, I sometimes feel that the views of the writers or the places featured tend to be predictably too common. Okay , so Paris is beautiful but do you think we need another article to glorify her treasures? Sure, the writer probably loves the place but so do a million other people, is there a way of presenting a usual place without falling to typical cliches?
Enter the latest travel magazine to hit the newsstands, the aptly named Roam.
Roam is totally not what I would have expected from a local travel publication. For one, it is paper-packed (150 pages) and, at first glance, has a bit of an artsy-meets-MTV feel to it. I would go to as far as saying that its has comic-book quality to it (down to the size!).
I certainly found the lay-out design to be very edgy with hints of the tome Pinoy Pop Culture published a few years back. For its premiere issue, Roam dedicated all its pages to this city of my personal affection: Manila. By this, I mean it in her plural-mutated-sprawling-overbearingly huge form (not just the city of Manila) but the whole metropolis, all 600 sq. kms of it. And I’m sure, given the size of my city, you’ll easily find something to fill up every page.
Certainly, the contents were well thought of, a mish-mash of the usual Manila travel subjects- Intramuros, Chinatown, Quiapo et al. There’s also food reviews and the occasional emotional ramblings about a place. But what I found fresh were the unconventional stories. The Luneta Photographer’s club (they existed?) feature presents a human-face to these faceless wanderers in our city’s biggest park. Quezon City, Parañaque and Kalookan (!), places in the Metro you (and certainly I) didn’t think of as worthy travel stories also found their way in and definitely gave the theme another kick. Ditto with features Marikina (boonies for me), balut-making and Korean immigrants. All the articles made for an interesting read.
Well almost.
Some stories fell to the usual ‘predictably too common’ angle trap. The Intramuros article was ho-hum.
All said, a great read. Kudos to Roam for coming up with a phenomenal travel magazine.
And THANK YOU too for your little blurb about Old Manila Walks and yours truly in the Vintage Manila article.
While we’re at it, same appreciative words to the Manila Times for featuring our BIG Binondo Food WOK here.
Ditto with Real Living Magazine for their blog write up here.
And finally, while surfing for ‘my’ online presence (yes i do that), I chanced upon an interesting article about Binondo and this blurb about Old Manila Walks by the Straits Times in Singapore. Thank you, thank you!
August 15, 2008
Well the guys behind this men’s magazine thought Krista Ranillo is worthy enough feature.
And so where we at Old Manila Walks. Check us out on page 98 of the current issue.
Thank you FHM for your little blurb!
And a belated THANK YOU to Masigasig magazine for having us in your three-page Batang Negosyante section of your June, 2008 issue!
Very nice read indeed and I totally support your advocacy on encouraging entrepreneurship.
Best of all, this magazine’s FREE! Grab your copies at any GLOBE service shops.
January 7, 2002
Wohoo! Another addition to my five seconds of fame..now I have ten! ;op Thank you Mr. Villalon!
Pride of Place
Culture for tourists, not for Filipinos
By Augusto Villalon
Inquirer News Service
Editor’s Note: Published on page C1 of the June 6, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
MANY Filipinos and the local tourism industry remain boxed into the old “packaged tourism destination mode,” an approach that herds tourists into buses, takes them from airport to beach resort, provides a few hours’ visit to selected “tourism destinations” that are quick pops to cultural sites or monuments, leading to a dinner-show of “native” songs and dances.
Everything is packaged, from transportation, accommodation and Philippine culture.
The tourism “destination” approach crafted sites packaged with that “WOW” tourist appeal. The destinations follow a pattern. Places are decked out in fiesta atmosphere where open-air stages present cultural shows regularly and where a network of souvenir and food stalls packed along both sides of pedestrian streets compete for attention and sales.
Commercial and artificial, the destinations fail to express what is true in Filipino culture. Nor do they offer a realistic view of both Filipino history and way of life.
Nevertheless, the “tourist destination” image persists. Many Philippine locations try to concoct either their own versions or launch tourism events. A few have succeeded.
One of the most popular festivals in the country, the “Sinulog” of Cebu, based on a local religious ritual once little-known outside the city, was launched in the early 1980’s to boost the city’s tourism industry. Twenty years later, the festival has become such a success that people think it is a centuries-old tradition.
The province of Bohol, on the other hand, took stock of its natural and cultural assets-pristine rivers and beaches, whale and dolphin reserves, colonial towns, old churches with their treasures and religious traditions still intact, the internationally acclaimed Loboc Children’s Choir, local craft and cuisine, and other resources.
The government-religious-private sector cooperation preserved the provincial heritage, promoting the uniqueness of Bohol as the basis for an extremely successful community-based tourism program.
To achieve the increased numbers of foreign arrivals has always been the government target, claiming to promote Philippines as a cultural tourism destination. Still lacking are more programs to document and preserve vanishing traditions and built heritage, for instance, to show that cultural revival and preservation is for the Filipino and not for tourism dollars.
Activities in the cultural area could learn from the Bohol cultural experience whose primary aim was to preserve the unique heritage of the province for the benefit of local residents. Tourism grew as a secondary benefit of the successful cultural preservation program.
The cultural sector has made up for the lack of cultural tourism activities with a number of creative, local-level programs aimed at establishing awareness that preserving cultural heritage should be primarily for improving the quality of life of Filipino communities and not just for tourist consumption.
Historically correct tours
Organizations such as the Committee on Monuments and Sites of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts and KaiVigan have commissioned historically correct tour guide scripts and walking tour maps for Intramuros and Vigan. They have also trained locals as guides.
The Bohol Arts and Cultural Heritage Council went a step beyond historical research. It actually mapped out a walking tour of Tagbilaran and environs.
The programs have paid off. Vigan and Bohol are popular destinations primarily visited by local tourists. Both have successful tourism programs based on the conservation of their heritage that are run by the local community.
An unexpected phenomenon in heritage-based cultural tourism grew out of a walking tour project established by the Heritage Conservation Society (HCS). As an activity for stimulating heritage awareness, the HCS organized weekly walks in Manila heritage districts. First conducted by professors or cultural experts, young guides eventually took over the activity.
The young guides enlivened historical fact with humor, communicated passion for urban built heritage and commitment to its preservation, made heritage alive with costumes, anecdotes, folk history and food that related to different historic quarters in the city.
Their lively walks gained instant popularity. Manilenos and expatriate residents stopped taking Manila for granted, rediscovered the wealth of texture in the city and became aware of the need for conservation.
The two leading Manila streetwalkers are Carlos Celdran and Ivan ManDy whose tours are booked solid. They have become cult heroes, darlings of local and international media.
The Time (Asia) Magazine featured Celdran recently: “If you take time to explore it, Manila pays rich dividends. One of the best ways to get to know the city is through the half-day walking tours given by the garrulous Carlos Celdran… [who] offers up rich narratives that are by turns gossipy (his account of Imelda Marcos’ rise and fall is hilarious) and compelling (the description of a bombed-out Manila, at the end of World War II, is unforgettable). They’re also filled with the kind of insight that only a native raconteur can provide.”
Tours led by Celdran and ManDy change perceptions and alter perspectives. “I can’t change the way Manila looks,” Celdran admits. “But I can change the way you look at Manila.”
Personalized tours are quickly becoming a new trend in Manila and other Philippine cities, giving the lesson that it is easier to change tourism perceptions from the ground up.
Local individuals, rather than the government, now provide increasingly viable models for community-based tourism programs, causing a shift in the cultural tourism paradigm.
In time, hopefully the new vision could evolve into a primary activity in the country’s tourism program, one that instills a missing pride of place in the Filipino and gives the tourist a personal contact with Filipino culture.
Heritage watch
Carlos Celdran will introduce you to his idiosyncratic, vibrant, and surprising Manila. E-mail celdrantours@hotmail.com or www.cendrantours.blogspot.com Ivan ManDy tours you around the Chinese Cemetery in La Loma and makes Tsinoy taste come alive with food tours through Binondo. Visit http://www.oldmanilawalks.blogspot.com/
E-mail afvillalon@hotmail.com
January 3, 2002
Eek! Me in my weekend element…
Pinoy Connection : Pound the Binondo pavement with the Chinatown kid
Posted 07:11am (Manila time) April 10, 2005
By Eric S. Caruncho, Inquirer News Service Editor’s
Note: Published on page Q6 of the April 10, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
FORGET it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.
That, at least, is what a lot of people seem to say when someone suggests going down to Ongpin St. for some Chinese food other than Chowking, to Calle Soler for a quick screw (at the hardware store, dummy), to the Chinese drug store for some liver and kidney pills or some brain tonic (God knows we could all use some), or just to get out of the mind-numbing routine of office-mall-house. But that would mean—gulp!—actually going to Manila. “You’d be surprised,” says Binondo-born and bred Ivan Dy. “We all live in one big city, but we really live in our little villages. People from Alabang or Makati have told me that they’ve always wanted to visit Binondo, but they were scared to go.”
What’s not to fear? In many ways, Manila is still the middle-class suburbanite’s nightmare. All the reasons they moved to the suburbs in the first place are still here: the teeming hordes of the great unwashed, the traffic, the noise, the pollution, the saliva…
But so are a lot of other things that you won’t find in your average gated subdivision: history, culture, the throbbing pulse of modern urban life. Not to mention great food, fantastic bargains and a temporary escape from the cut-and-dried, predictable rut of office-mall-house.
Fortunately, for the timorous, there’s one way to take that first step: take a guided walking tour.
On weekdays, the 26-year-old Dy is the operations manager of a Manila-based trading company. But on weekends, he dons his pigtailed silk cap and becomes-ta-da!-the Chinatown Kid. “I got the idea when I joined walking tours abroad, in Singapore, Shanghai, Montreal and Washington, D.C.,” he says. “When you go on one of these tours, you get a different feeling because your guide is a native of that city and he’s proud of his city.”
Natural appreciation
When he got back from his travels, Dy thought similar tours would be ideal for helping people overcome their initial Manilaphobia. He had worked as a guide at the Bahay Tsinoy, a museum of Filipino-Chinese history and culture at the Intramuros. But nothing brought history to life better than actually pounding the pavements where it all happened. Having grown up in a neighborhood where people could still point out, say, the street where Rizal’s mother lived, or the house where Antonio Luna was born, Dy had a natural appreciation for history on the hoof, as it were.
Last year, he put up a website: http://www.oldmanilawalks.blogspot.com/, where interested parties can sign up for one or more walking tours. Putting the actual walks together was the easy part, because it covers what is essentially Dy’s own backyard. He put together three walks, with appropriately descriptive tags: “From Boondocks to Boomtown: A Chinatown Walk,” “Power, Palace and A Shot of Beer: Poking Around Old Millionaire’s Row (San Miguel)” and “Mounds, Magnates and Mausoleums: A Chinese Cemetery Walk.”
“I was born and lived in Binondo until I was eight years old, then my family moved to Sta. Cruz,” he says. “I was the fourth of six kids, and we lived in a typical Chinese compound where three families lived, so I grew up with grandparents, aunts and uncles and lots of cousins.”
From an early age, Dy was already drawn to the old. “While other kids were playing with Transformers, I was reading history books,” he recalls. “My dad encouraged me to read history and cultural stuff. Growing up in Binondo, a place which reeked of historical mementoes, my interest particularly zeroed in on the history of the Tsinoy community. Of course, the growth and evolution of the community had everything to do with Manila’s, our country and our region’s history so it was a natural inclination.”
Dy attended high school at St. Jude’s, which brought him to another historic district of old Manila, San Miguel. “In San Miguel, it would the antebellum mansions of San Rafael, Arlegui and Solano streets,” he says. “I always get a kick when I show them the Abbey of the Montserrat (a.k.a. San Beda Church). It never fails to get ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhhs.’”
Morbid interest
As for the Chinese cemetery, apart from the fact that some of his ancestors are buried there and the obvious morbid interest, Dy also finds it endlessly fascinating.
“What I particularly like about it is that it’s one big architectural history book,” he says of the numerous mausoleums and the styles in which they were built. “You’ll find bahay na bato, over-the-top Southern Chinese temples, Art Deco, Neoclassical. There’s even a turtle-shaped plot, and an ancient Chinese burial mound, which is very rarely found nowadays, even in China. The Chinese cemetery is also where you’ll find the oldest Chinese temple in the Philippines-the Chong Hock Tong temple.”
Dy says the Chinese cemetery is also uniquely Tsinoy: You won’t find anything remotely similar on the mainland. The custom of building mausoleums, he says, is a cultural accommodation combining Chinese ancestor worship with the Spanish-Filipino tradition of honoring the dead on Todos los Santos.
“If you go to Paris, you visit Pere Lachaise; if you go to Washington, you visit Arlington; why not visit the Chinese cemetery?” he asks. But by far the most popular walk is the Binondo walk, because apart from seeing the sights, you also get to taste the tastes, because it is partly a culinary tour. “One my aims is to introduce people to the wide variety of ‘Chinese-inspired’ food in Binondo, and their significance to us as part of our culture,” he says. “The eats that are part of my Binondo walk isn’t your typical Chinese fare. Some of these joints are places which a lot of people in Chinatown grew up with, like mami at Ma Mon Luk. Some are restaurants with a cause, such as the Cafe Mezzanine-a restaurant run by a Binondo Volunteer Firemen’s group. Still others are restaurants serving non-traditional fare, places which serve tea-cooked eggs, Hokkien-style fried rice (called kiampeng), Amoy-style hand-rolled lumpia, comida china or even Northern style dumplings.”
The Binondo tour has its share of exotica and chinoiserie. One can enter a sidestreet and walk up to the Kuan Kong Temple, a Taoist place of worship dedicated to the God of War and Literature, where visitors can burn incense or paper “money” offerings, or have their fortunes told by shaking a bamboo cylinder of divination sticks. Or visit La Resurreccion, where workers still hand-roll chocolate tableas the old-fashioned way. The wet market, with its tubs of sea cucumber and picked mustard greens also holds its own fascination, as do the newsstands and video shops selling Hongkong movies and Cantopop CDs. “In all my tours, I make it a point to show people not just beautiful, architecturally-interesting places,” says Dy. “I show them everything—even the not-so-pleasent ones. They may not be your ideal tourist sites, but these patches, like the esteros of Chinatown or the slums beside the Chinese Cemetery, are part and parcel of our city’s evolutionary fabric, and they do have their own stories to tell too.”
Speaking of evolution, Binondo itself is in flux as a new wave of immigrants comes in, drawn by the economic opportunities they see in Manila. Many of them speak Mandarin, rather than Hokkien, and are viewed with mixed feelings by the more established second- or third-generation Tsinoys. The “newcomers” come from a China that’s very different from the one that the “oldtimers” knew. Standing on some of the most expensive real estate in the country, Binondo is an interesting vantage point from which to view Manila’s emerging multicultural society.
This is all the stuff you’d miss if you stayed in the mall.
Says Dy: “I hope that those who join my walks leave with a lot of laughter, a satisfied palate, a better understanding of the Tsinoy community and an enriched appreciation of Manila-warts and all.”
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For tour information, text 0917-3291622.
