wow philippines: simply no place like MANILA

Carlos Celdran describes himself as “a man who is trying to change the way you look at Manila one step at a time.” I got intrigued ‘cause I never liked Manila. I know the capital of my country to be dirty, polluted, and magulo. When foreigners ask me where to go in the Philippines, I recommend Cebu, Boracay, Palawan, but never Manila. Then I thought, “How can I REALLY love the Philippines if I can’t learn to love its capital?” One April day, Ma, Danni, and I headed to Fort Santiago to take the famous Walk This Way Tour of Carlos Celdran.

“ladies and gentlemen, please, walk this way.”

Carlos Celdran is AMAZING. Seriously. He is a compleat performer who redefined my concept of what a tour guide is. He sings, dances, acts, yanks out the most unexpected props and costume pieces from his bag (kinda like how Mary Poppins kept pulling stuff out of her bag), and carries a cassette player as he takes his audience through hundreds of years of Philippine history. He is a storyteller/comedian who makes history come alive. when Carlos Celdran looks at me in the eyes while stressing a point I feel like he can read my soul. I learned more from him over the three hours this morning than my thirteen years in La Salle Zobel. It’s a must for every Filipino. The tour is GENIUS.

A month later, Mof (otherwise known to everyone else as Kakki) and I took the LIVING LA VIDA IMELDA! Architectural tour of the Cultural Center of the Philippines Complex as seen through the life and aspirations of Imelda Romualdez Marcos walking tour of Mr. Carlos Celdran (the description was obviously lifted from his website). Regardless of individual preference, you must admit that Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos (Femelda? Imeldinand?) are AT THE VERY LEAST fascinating. He topped the BAR from prison, she went to the Buckingham Palace wearing a tiara (but was later asked to take it off ‘cause she’s not real royalty). He’s dead but preserved in Ilocos while she is probably immortal.

After the tour, Mof and I wanted to take a picture with Mr. Celdran but we were SO SHY. That has never happened before. She was like, “Okay Mof this is it I’ll ask na,” then I’ll shriek “NO WAIT PLEASE NAHIHIYA AKO!” then burst into a fit of giggles then she’ll start giggling then she’ll say, “THIS IS IT I’ll ask na!” Then I’ll pry her away (take note: we are behind Mr. Celdran as we are doing this) and scream “NO PLEASE WAG NA.” This cycle went on about 4x until he finally turned around and in a little voice Mof goes, “Hi can we take a picture with you? Sorry we’re such dorks.” He said, “No, I’m the biggest dork of all!” His friend volunteered to take our picture.


Success!
After immersing myself in Manila, I learned that it is a beautiful, historical place. To quote Mr. Celdran, “I believe that Manila can be a reflection of your state of mind. Being a city of extreme contrasts, it can easily become an intense personal experience. Manila can be chaotic and spiritual, dirty and divine, gritty and gorgeous all at once. If you don’t find beauty and poetry here, you will never find it anywhere.”
Anna Oposa’s second WWF-Philippines article can be found here. She will take a break from the Wow Philippines series next week to write about the upcoming stand-up comedy show in Music Museum, The Late Night Show with Comedy Cartel which her (without bias!) awesome, talented, and hilarious brother will be part of. See the site for more details.

About this entry

You’re currently reading “wow philippines: simply no place like MANILA,” an entry on Definitely Filipino

Published:
November 11, 2009 / 5:55 pm
Category:
Uncategorized
Tags: