tinapa

Tinapa or smoked fish, a filipino native delicacy and a favorite breakfast too.

This tinapa haven is just in front of the Quiapo church at Plaza Miranda, different kinds of tinapa to choose from and for only 20 pesos per tumpok.

A man buying some tinapa, notice the hand folding what seems to be a page of an old book? Usually tinapa fish are wrapped in a piece of paper (some uses old newspaper) before sealing it in a plastic bag.

So have you ever tried tinapa before? And would you know why there is such a filipino expression "Anak ng tinapa!"?

pacquiao at plaza miranda

The huge screen at Plaza Miranda showing Manny Pacquiao's fight against David Diaz for the WBC lightweight belt. As of this writing, Manny Pacquiao is now hailed as the first Asian boxer to win four major titles in four divisions, after he knocked out David Diaz on the 9th round of their match at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.

Early morning at Plaza Miranda where a small crowd is already waiting for the fight to start. The man in the photo below can't get enough of Pacquaio and decided to go up for a bigger and better view =)

And as usual, the roads are practically deserted and we have a zero crime rate whenever there is a Pacquiao fight :)

Congratulations to Manny Pacquiao!!! You truly are the best pound for pound fighter in this planet.

plaza miranda

Plaza Miranda is in the heart of Quiapo, named after Jose Sandino y Miranda who served as a secretary of treasury of the Philippines (1833 - 1854). A public plaza in front of the famed Quaipo church and the miraculous black nazarene, which is also a popular site of political rallies. On August 21, 1971, while the Liberal Party held their Miting de Avance in the plaza, a bomb exploded, killing 9 and injuring almost 100 civilians that hastened the declaration of martial law during the tenure of then President Ferdinand Marcos.

In recent years, the local government of Manila, spearheaded by then Mayor Lito Atienza, launched the Buhayin ang Maynila (Revive Manila) project which greatly rehabilitated Quiapo and its vicinities, most specially the Plaza Miranda.

There still a lot of vendors within the Plaza Miranda which makes the place more interesting for me, a curnocopia of things ou'll either love or hate, but makes it more unique.

old manila

I know i haven't able to update this blog for quite sometime now, and i'm sorry its just that am busy right now and i haven't had the time to go out and take photos of my beloved manila. oh how i miss walking around town and taking photos, hopefully i'll get to post regularly on july.

For the meantime enjoy this gem of YouTube video presentation entitled "Manila. Queen City of the Pacific" created in 1938 by André de la Varre and relive the beauty of Old Manila and join me as i feel nostalgic. Feel free to check out my archive and see how different Manila was then to today and yet still the same... no matter what -- i still heart Manila :)



PS thanks señor enrique for this sharing the video