Philippines transit, Manila one-day tour guide and airport lounge, visit the Spanish Royal City

We flew from Bali to Sydney, and transited in Manila for 12 hours, which was just enough for a day Trip. The plane landed at T1 at 5am, so we didn’t want to leave so soon because we wanted to rest. After getting off the plane, we went to the transit area, went through security, and went up to the second floor (don’t go through customs or you can’t go in). We arrived at the gate9 area, and we went to Marhaba Lounge, which has a wide variety of dishes and you can take a shower. You can ask them for bath towels! It only costs 45 per person to buy on Xianyu. After resting, we went back the same way and walked down one floor. The staff asked us to go through customs. We went directly to an ATM to withdraw money after going through customs. UnionPay was fine. We bought overseas data directly on Alipay (because their cheapest phone card was not available after asking several 711 stores).

12pm-2:30pm: Arrive at the Spanish Royal City. Transportation: Take Grab, first go to the Spanish Royal City, locate Manila Catheral Main Entrance, take a one-hour bus ride, start from Fort Santiago (underground, a prison where the Japanese held prisoners), Manila Cathedral (the architecture inside is very gorgeous), Fort Santiago: you can see the ruins of the fort, fortifications and watchtowers (Figure 5). The attractions are very concentrated, and the whole Journey takes about 2-3 hours.

3pm-6pm: BGC, downtown Manila. Take Grab directly to High Street. It takes an hour from the Spanish Royal City. The BCG Central Business District, known as Little Manhattan/Asian New York, is completely different from the Spanish Royal City just now. Go down along the high street, there are two rows of shopping malls. You can go shopping in the malls. For dinner, Friends & Family PH is a Filipino restaurant (Figures 9-10). The roasted pork, jackfruit corn drink and smoked salted egg yolk fried rice are super delicious! I feel that this Filipino restaurant is the best among Southeast Asian dishes. You must try it when you come to BGC!

6.30pm-7:30pm: It was very difficult to get a Grab taxi from BGC to the airport. I tried for a long time but couldn't get one, so I stopped a white taxi on the side of the road and bargained for 600 yuan. The road to the airport was really congested and it took more than an hour to drive. You must reserve time. The gap between the rich and the poor in the Philippines is really big. The Royal City is like a slum, and it doesn't feel like other Southeast Asian countries, but when I arrived in BGC, it felt like I was in a developed country in Europe and America. It was a wonderful feeling.