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The Bene Notes commented about Traveler Pride in your Adopted Countries, On Saturday August 2nd, 2008 03:07:00 PM
Ermita,Manila, especially where your hotel is located, doesn't generally represent Manila, or the Philippines, as a whole. There are other business centers nearby, like Makati or Ortigas, where there are way better hotels and nicer places to eat. You happen to be in a part of the old Manila that is now again known for "boom-boom" bars, which, by the way, used to be the hub of the Filipino cosmopolitan night-life some years back.
Efforts to keep Ermita, and other areas in Manila, as old and rustic as it is now, were intentional. The past Manila government, that of Mayor Lito Atienza, tried to preserve the Old Manila, with its Spanish (in Fort Santiago and Intramuros), Japanese, American and Chinese (in Ongpin or Chinatown) air, or at least what's left of it, and only made very little modifications.
They sort of believed that Manila, being the capital of the country, should be as diverse but as preserved as it should be to boost local tourism. But obvioulsy, it's not as appealing to every foreigner, like a well-travelled one as yourself.
The so-called boom-boom bars have always been there, that's hard to deny. But Ermita used to be great, at least for us, who used to hop there from one crowded bar to another on weekends. Ermita and Malate were the best night spots, along with Bay Walk, which was known for it's picturesque sunset and a long strain of open-air restos.
Now, the average, and the upper class, Filipino night-life is scattered all over the busting and sleepless business centers like Makati, Ortigas, Taguig, and Eastwood City.
The present Manila government, with it's past and returning mayor, Alfredo Lim, made Bay Walk a ghost town, banning liquors on the street, and had some pub and bar owners left with no choice but to divert back to their old ways—cheap bars targetting rampant Korean and other immigrants.
Manila is precious to Filipinos despite being the way it is now. I guess, when someone says Manila, the cheap bars, the homeless kids, and even the cluttered streets are still overshadowed by the images of the events that every Filipino knows happened there. The Spanish colonization, the Japanese invasion, the American rescue, and the Chinese immigration, the memories of its history, really, more than anything else, makes going to Manila worthwhile.
It’s about finding out what existed to what now exists making one undestand why it exist.
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