An Evening in Manila Chinatown

The evening was cool and radiant, and a lovely November breeze seemed to welcome me to Manila Chinatown as I began my nocturnal walk on its narrow streets. This evening, I wanted to observe and photograph what it is like to be in Chinatown when it closes at the end of the busy day.

An evening walk, for me, is a relaxing deviation from my busy schedule of the daytime. It has become quite a habit for me. If you are a regular reader of my blog you would surely have read of my nocturnal photographic walks in Quiapo, Sta. Cruz, Cubao, Calbayog, Binondo, Marinduque and many other towns I have visited.

Chinatown at night is a very different place from the daytime Chinatown. At day, it is a mass huddle of automobiles, Kalesas, pedicabs, and pedestrians. You will hear a lot of Chinese classical music coming from several music shops selling albums. But at night, the traffic of man and machinery begins to dwindle, and so the noise, too, until only the lonely kalesas remain in the streets to transport those who are still awake, in and around Binondo.

Many stores in Chinatown are already closed by 8 in the evening and at 9, most shops have already been closed. The only establishments that remained open are the Chinese restaurants, which are open until the little hours of the morning.

I started my walk at eight in the evening in Ongpin street entrance in Plaza Sta.Cruz, in front of the Sta. Cruz Church. The entrance is marked by a welcome arch, on two sides of which are two huge stone lions, typical of Chinese gates. From there, I walked through the entire length of Ongpin street, once in a while visiting some of the side streets like Alonzo, Salazar, or Bustos streets, to name a few.

My walk in Chinatown is capped by dining in one of the restaurants in Ongpin. There are many fine restaurants in Ongpin, like Maxim’s, Chuankee’s, China Palace, President’s, Golden Palace, and Royal Garden. These restaurants serve some authentic Chinese dishes like Peking Duck, Gokong, Black Chicken Soup, Steamed Chicken Feet, and Kiampong. But I wanted the simple dimsum so I went to Wan Chai, with its delicious Siopao and hot green tea.

As I walked back to Sta. Cruz to head back to Cubao, I felt I have just enjoyed a tour in one of the exotic towns in the Far East, less the passport, and the expensive cost. Of course, this post will not be complete without the pictures. Again, I am not a professional photographer so please pardon the lack of quality in my photos. What I can show you are just some of the sights I fancied photographing while on this evening walk, hoping that by looking at them, you would have felt to have walked with me.

A temporary kalesa terminal in Ongpin.

A street scenery at 9 in the evening

An old snack shop in Ongpin. It sells hopia, tikoy, atbp. I always liked
the hopia and tikoy, but the atbp.-- well, I am not sure how it tastes....

At late in the evening, kalesas reclaim their old title of being the King of the Manila Streets.

Bee Tin Grocery. The Chinese grocer was wondering why I was photographing his store. He was already closing and doesn't have a customer so I entered and bought one pack of hopia. I happened to be his last customer for the day.

Keeping the inventory updated before closing

China Palace Seafoods. Exotic and expensive.

One of my favorite bakeshops in Chinatown, Salazar has been around for as long as I can remember. My own Lolo, the late Mayor Antonio Villegas, was a regular customer here during his term in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Salazar's chief rival, the very popular Eng Bee Tin.

So many foods are for sale even at late in the evening for those who
want to bring some goodies to their families. This one is selling
Machang (sticky thick rice), steamed siomai, and fried siopao.

Ben Mart grocery in the corner of Ongpin and Tomas Mapua

A chinese signage

Tong Ren Tang Chinese Medication. I always wonder on the effectivity of Chinese traditional medicine. There are numerous apothecaries around Chinatown, and are very popular with the Chinese and Filipinos alike.

Closing time..

Meantime, it's time for me to go back to Cubao and cook some sinaing..

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Postscript: You may have noticed that I am currently experimenting with htmls/xmls, skins, and templates of my blog. For the time-being, this look will be okay for now. All the sidebar links and archives are temporarily placed at the bottom of this page. I guess I am not a fan of sidebars...so for the moment, they will be at the bottom, until such time that I can definitely decide which part of the page they should be placed.