ALAN C ROBLES
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Take a hike and see for yourself, okay?
MANILA
Who doesn’t have memories of that childhood
elementary school tradition, the field trip? On the one
hand, it provided an escape from classrooms. On the
other, it often involved going to less than enthralling
places.
Sure, a trip to the zoo was interesting, though it might
have sometimes seemed like occupants of one animal
house were being visited by members of another. But
excursions to historical sites?
We could all think of other places we’d rather be than
inside a dark, musty building staring vacantly at dusty
display cases, waiting desperately for something
interesting to happen ... the teachers morphing into
ninja, outer space aliens explosively invading, anything.
I don’t know about you, but my field trips to numerous
national monuments, shrines and museums left a
profound impression on me, one best summed up by
the words “old” and “dump.” Boring class field trips
may have spoiled history as a subject for generations
of Filipinos.
Fortunately, people like Ivan ManDy are working hard to
undo the damage.
Ivan, a 28-year old Filipino-Chinese, has a nominal job
helping run the family’s trading company. But his heart
is really in his Other Job – streetwalking.
That’s what he calls leading people around Manila’s
historic neighborhoods. They walk hours on end,
navigating narrow, often filthy streets, enduring the
clammy heat and polluted air, dodging the occasional
crazed jeep and calesa. Sounds like fun, but you’ll
pass, right?
Actually, this is one field trip where people pay to join
and groups – equal parts foreigners and locals – are
often packed (although the limit is 15 people, recently
30 suddenly showed up). His tours have been
mentioned in The Lonely Planet. President Arroyo’s
daughter quietly joined one group, bringing only one
guard and making herself so inconspicuous Ivan didn’t
even realize who she was until later.
Ivan turns Philippine history – something we thought
we left safely buried and forgotten in our schoolbooks –
into places with stories. Who knew about the graceful
plaza in Binondo?
The notorious red light district further down? Ivan’s
tours reconquer Manila’s streets, giving them back their
lost identities. In one tour, you eat your way through
Chinatown, striving to keep up as Ivan stuffs your head
with stories and your stomach with noodles, fried
siopao and dumplings,
He also leads groups around Intramuros, Mendiola, the
Chinese cemetery, and the art deco architecture of the
University Belt. Sometimes there are hecklers, but there
are admirers, too.
One old Chinese man watching Ivan work his group
said: “He’s a really sharp kid.”
Started as a hobby, Ivan’s tours have become a
growing business with its own website,
oldmanilawalks.com.
Our boring history books tell us Magellan “discovered”
the Philippines in 1521. Five centuries later, there’s still
time for you to discover your own country.
MANILA
Who doesn’t have memories of that childhood
elementary school tradition, the field trip? On the one
hand, it provided an escape from classrooms. On the
other, it often involved going to less than enthralling
places.
Sure, a trip to the zoo was interesting, though it might
have sometimes seemed like occupants of one animal
house were being visited by members of another. But
excursions to historical sites?
We could all think of other places we’d rather be than
inside a dark, musty building staring vacantly at dusty
display cases, waiting desperately for something
interesting to happen ... the teachers morphing into
ninja, outer space aliens explosively invading, anything.
I don’t know about you, but my field trips to numerous
national monuments, shrines and museums left a
profound impression on me, one best summed up by
the words “old” and “dump.” Boring class field trips
may have spoiled history as a subject for generations
of Filipinos.
Fortunately, people like Ivan ManDy are working hard to
undo the damage.
Ivan, a 28-year old Filipino-Chinese, has a nominal job
helping run the family’s trading company. But his heart
is really in his Other Job – streetwalking.
That’s what he calls leading people around Manila’s
historic neighborhoods. They walk hours on end,
navigating narrow, often filthy streets, enduring the
clammy heat and polluted air, dodging the occasional
crazed jeep and calesa. Sounds like fun, but you’ll
pass, right?
Actually, this is one field trip where people pay to join
and groups – equal parts foreigners and locals – are
often packed (although the limit is 15 people, recently
30 suddenly showed up). His tours have been
mentioned in The Lonely Planet. President Arroyo’s
daughter quietly joined one group, bringing only one
guard and making herself so inconspicuous Ivan didn’t
even realize who she was until later.
Ivan turns Philippine history – something we thought
we left safely buried and forgotten in our schoolbooks –
into places with stories. Who knew about the graceful
plaza in Binondo?
The notorious red light district further down? Ivan’s
tours reconquer Manila’s streets, giving them back their
lost identities. In one tour, you eat your way through
Chinatown, striving to keep up as Ivan stuffs your head
with stories and your stomach with noodles, fried
siopao and dumplings,
He also leads groups around Intramuros, Mendiola, the
Chinese cemetery, and the art deco architecture of the
University Belt. Sometimes there are hecklers, but there
are admirers, too.
One old Chinese man watching Ivan work his group
said: “He’s a really sharp kid.”
Started as a hobby, Ivan’s tours have become a
growing business with its own website,
oldmanilawalks.com.
Our boring history books tell us Magellan “discovered”
the Philippines in 1521. Five centuries later, there’s still
time for you to discover your own country.
Our boring
history books
tell us
Magellan
“discovered”
the
Philippines in
1521. Five
centuries
later, there’s
still time for
you to
discover your
own country
history books
tell us
Magellan
“discovered”
the
Philippines in
1521. Five
centuries
later, there’s
still time for
you to
discover your
own country
You, too, could discover our country
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