Short tour of Philippines's history

Good morning! Now I am fresh & ready to tell you guys about my tour of the city. Since it was given for free by the organising committee so I won't complaint that it was short & I want some more. Hehheh..

We left the university ground slightly after 1pm when we all finish our lunch & get our certificate of participation. I sat with Dr.Orkana from Thailand. She is such a pretty & soft lady...just as what I expect from her being Thai.:)

 Our first stop is at the Manila Cathedral.

 But 1st before we came in, we were briefly told about the tour and what we will see, and of course a quick story of the history of Manila. We have a fabulous and funny and informative and creative tour guide. If I were to tour Philippines again, I would love to hired him. And you know what, few months after I left Manila, I saw him on History Channel!

We went inside the church. My partner left me behind because I was slow as I have to read few things about the church right in front the main entrance. Therefore, I end up with this bunch of guys. They are form Cambodia & Vietnam. But as they get noisier, I decided I better leave them & be on my own. It's a church for goodness sake, dont they know they need to be quiet to respect the people who are in there for personal moment with HIm. Gosh...

 Then our next stop is the famous Intramuros. This is the behind gate.

Now we're inside the wall. Intramuros is Spanish for 'within the wall'. Intramuros was the seat of government during the Spanish Colonial Period. It is the oldest district and the core district of Manila. It is a huge wall and there are entrance from West, South, North & East and each entrance are for different uses. The city outside the wall is called extramuros which literally mean 'outside the wall'. The wall is a remembrance of Manila past history. Some part of within the wall has been converted to a golf course though.Hehhehe..

 The wall look like from the outside.

You still found a lot of horse carriage such as thing around the wall that offer you an opportunity to tour the wall. Yup, that basically mean you need to be watchful of horse's shit. Unlike a place that I visited in Turkey, they dont collect their own horse's shit. Hehehhe...

 Our next stop is St.Augustine Church, the oldest church in the Philippines that still remain standing and in use until today. The church was within the wall of Intramuros. Our guide told us that this is the most famous place to be married and way advance booking is require because it seem, wedding is happening everyday here.:) WEll, who doesn't want to be married in the oldest church in the country since it's so pretty and grandeur looking.

 See...there are two wedding happening in the church that day. I can see that these couples come from a prominent Filipino's family. Check out the wedding car...

 So, due to the wedding, we can't enter the church. Now that was the downside of the tour.:(

I have no idea what brand is this car. All I know, it look cute.Hehhehe

 I cant remember what the guide told us about this.Hahhaha...

 This is the middle courtyard of the church. Since we can't go inside the church due to the wedding ceremony, so we went into the back of the church. The courtyard us very peaceful.

 View from above.

There we all go, following our tour guide. And where he brought us...

 Into a room where it is full or urn! I feel so creepy in that room so I decided to go out for 'fresh air'. I do not wish to be inside a room full of dead people's ashes!

Then after, we go to the top part of the church to have a glimpse of the interior part of St.Augustine. The wedding is so beautiful. It look so grand! It is no surprise everyone want to get married here. I would!Hahaha..

 The church's organ pipe.

Our last destination is Casa Manila. This is a 'pet' project of the former first lady of Philippines, Imelda Marcos. It is a reconstruction of Spanish colonial home in the 19th century.

 There is a restaurant where you can experience an authentic Spanish and Filipino cuisine.

We were all very tired and really glad that it was our last stop.

 Casa Manila from the outside. Unfortunately, we can't take photo of the interior part of the house. Don't ask me why.

 So, everyone just have to be satisfied with pictures outside the building.hehhehe

 We just finish the inside tour and...

 I just have to take my last picture in Manila at Casa Manila..

On our way back to the bus. Overall, I had a very good time and also fun time both in the conference and also during our short tour of the city. We had a great tour guide and I made lots of new friends from all over the world during my 3 days conference which I still keep in touch until today. I would love to go to the Philippines again if I have the chance but this time, it will be all fun & game! Mabuhay Philippines!

Trip to Manila

I was in Manila for 5 days in October last year. Yeah I know, this post came almost 1 year too late. Well, I have not got the time to update my blog for the longest time! Since for now, I am basically a bit free from my research paper so I plan to update you guys with all the travelling I made from last year up to today.:)


Anyway, I was in Manila for a Bioethics conference. Yup, I went there all by myself. Good for me, I was sponsored by UNESCO for this conference. I was so excited when I received the email from the conference committee. But the down side, I need to present my research at the conference. I was a bit nervous but I am ready to do it. This is my second international conference where I need to present my research in front of God's knows how many people. But for the sake of gaining experience, why not.


I stayed at ...err..I forgot the name of the hotel.Hahaha...I was greeted by the committee at the airport together with few participants who are also sponsored by UNESCO. There are four of us from Malaysia and I am the only girl! That is cool and I am so proud of myself. We were part of the ASEAN participants.

 Arrived at my room at 4pm. It was quite a ride from the airport to downtown Makati town. The hotel was at a very good location because there is a huge mall just across the street and there are lots of eating places just around the area. Since I am alone, having a mall nearby help and you can basically get everything there including some familiar shops.

Can view the mall from my room. I have to admit, the hotel has it downside, it's can be very loud because you can hear the busy street down below & it does not help that the night I arrived, there are a bunch of teenager staying there. I basically can't sleep the whole night. Not forgetting to mention that the air conditioning is from the stone age era so it was very loud. But I tried to get some sleep because I know tomorrow will be a very long day.

The next morning, we were picked up my the committee organiser who are consisting of the university post-graduate students. The conference was held at the University of Santo Tomas, Philippines oldest university or probably one of the oldest in the world. The guy in black is the representative of the university patron from the Vatican City itself. This is a fully Catholic university where all the deans from each faculty are a priest themselves. It is not something so new in a country where almost 90% of the population are Catholic.

 Before the launching of the conference, these choir groups presented us with a lovely song and an amazing voices! It gave me goose bump. Man..their voice is really damn good! All of them are student from the university conservatory.

 The conference was launch officially!

 I am in awe looking at the building in this place. It is well preserved and well kept. All these building are mostly, how they look like when they were first build. The university also has it own high school within the university compound.

All the participants taking group photo in front of the university main building.

 And I busied myself taking picture of me elsewhere. Hahahha...I am wearing the traditional Cheongsam because all ASEAN delegates were instructed to use our country traditional cloths for the first day of the conference. I choose cheongsam because it is easy to move around wearing it since I have to use it the whole day!

 I love the university ambiance because it is so relaxing. Look at this foundation..

 There is an outdoor cafe with some band playing some music to entertain you. Lovely atmosphere. Even the other M'sian delegates admit that.

 The conference is a part of the university 400th anniversary's celebration. Yes..you read that right, It is their 400th birthday!!

Look at this ceiling! Me & some participants were lost on our way to find the function room for our dinner that night.

 And we finally find it!

 I am seating with participants from the Land of Smile..Thailand.

 She really sang superbly.

And so is he. Both are students from the university's conservatory.

 The student entertain us with some folk song which is very common among the Filipino.

 Some of the dancers are lecturer at the university.

 We were asked whether we want to do any presentation on Malaysia but we all declined because we can't basically create a presentation within such a very short notice. Actually none of the ASEAN teams present anything except for this guy. He is one of the participant from Indonesia.

 A group picture with all ASEAN delegates and the speakers.

The Malaysia's delegate except for the guy in blue outfit. He is from Vietnam. The guy in Malays costume is from Unisel, the Indian guy is from UPM and the baju batik Chinese guy is from MMU. All of them are lecturers so that make me the only student among them.Hehhehe...

 Second day of the conference is my presentation day. Getting myself ready that morning with my new black dress. Armed with my USB, I am off to tell the crowd about my research. I was not expecting such a huge crowd and man am I nervous when I stood in front of the class and saw the whole room was packed with people. I was so nervous but I remain calm & do my thing. After 20min everything is over & I can feel that my palm are sweating.Hahhaha...

 On the last day of the conference we had a round table discussion regarding Bioethics among the ASEAN delegate and the discussion was lead by Dr. Macer from UNESCO in Bangkok.

 The Dean of the post-graduate unit of university of Santo Tomas giving the closing speech and prayer for the three day conference.

My last lunch with the participants. I was seating with some delegates from the Philippines, Singapore & Thailand. After the conference was over, we were given a tour of the city arranged by the committee, which was good because we were so busy during the whole conference. I am literally at the university hall from early morning to late in the evening. When we reach the hotel, it was already 6pm. I only manage to get some dinner & go back to my hotel room & getting for the next day. So, I am grateful that the organising committee did arrange for the city tour.


But that I will continue in the part 2 of my trip to Manila because now I need to get my beauty sleep. Nite..