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Manila

The Philippines’ capital and premier international gateway is blessed with views and the constant breeze of Manila Bay from where one can explore the larger metropolis named after it, Metro Manila, and the rest of the country’s over 7,000 islands.

HOLA, MANILA!
• Visitors are best advised to start getting to know the city by being oriented with Intramuros, the walled city established in the late 16th century by Spanish conquerors, where the over 400-year old San Agustin Church, a World Heritage site, is located, alongside other structures, both old and new, including Casa Manila, a museum depicting life under 300 years of Spanish colonial rule.

NATIONAL TREASURES
• Within a 15-minute walk from Intramuros lie the three buildings of the revitalized National Museum. From being housed in a single structure that for a time hosted the upper house of the Philippine legislature, the building is now the National Museum of Fine Arts, with Juan Luna’s gold medal winner in the 1884 Expocision Nacional de Bellas Artes, “The Spoliarium”, a 4.22 meter by 7.675 meter masterpiece that serves as the museum’s main attraction. The two other buildings showcase the country’s anthropology and natural history.

WORLD’S OLDEST CHINATOWN
• Not to be missed within a 10-minute ride from the National Museum complex is Binondo, said to be the oldest Chinatown in the world, established shortly after Spain took control in the late 16th century. The area, with winding streets and narrow alleys framed by buildings, reminiscent of Hong Kong, is popular with locals for southern Chinese and fusion Filipino-Chinese cuisine, with dimsum, dumplings, and noodles being staples in restaurants that brim with people all day long and come in relatively competitive prices, which add to the glee of diners who walk away with full stomachs and wallets far from being empty.

KILOMETER ZERO IS GROUND ZERO
• One’s day can either start or end in the Rizal monument, located in Rizal Park, near Intramuros, to pay homage to the country’s national hero who fought colonial rule through his writings but unfortunately got executed two years before the first declaration of independence in 1898. Incidentally, the monument stands close to the kilometer zero marker, where distances in the country are measured.

China Airlines flies to Manila twice daily with convenient connections to onward destinations in the USA, Canada, Europe, Australia/New Zealand, Japan, and more.