Manila, the capital city of the Philippines, is a bustling and lively destination that should definitely be on your travel bucket list. In this travel vlog, Alicia and Nate, known as The Passport Couple, take you on their first-time visit to Manila. They explore the city’s historical sites, try out the local cuisine, and experience the unique form of public transportation called the Jeepney. The couple also shares interesting insights about the Filipino people and the importance of family in their culture.
Apart from their adventures in Manila, the video also includes a special collaboration with MyHeritage, a platform that helps users discover their family history through genealogy and DNA testing. Alicia and Nate dive into their own family histories and share personal stories, including the discovery that Nate’s great grandfather lived in the Philippines.
The vlog is full of useful travel tips, such as using Google Maps to navigate the city or how to ride a Jeepney, making it an informative and entertaining guide for anyone planning to visit Manila. From exploring historical landmarks to trying out popular local fast food chains like Jollibee, the video provides a comprehensive look at the city and its unique cultural experiences.
So, if you’re looking for a travel vlog that captures the essence of exploring a new city for the first time, this vlog on Manila, Philippines by The Passport Couple is a must-watch. With its combination of travel adventures, cultural insights, and personal family history, it’s a well-rounded and engaging exploration of this vibrant Southeast Asian destination.
Watch the video by The Passport Couple
We are finally in the Philippines and we’re starting in the capital city. It’s crazy here. We were here a year ago, but were met with a huge tropical storm and decided to leave. But we’re back and warmly welcomed by the wonderful Filipino people. We rode the jeepneys with the locals.
I don’t know if it’s actually taking us in the right direction and walk through the city’s beautiful historical sites. And of course, we tried some food comparing the hugely popular Jollibee’s with the famous fried chicken of Max’s restaurant. Can you hear that? Yeah.
Do you know where we should go to get a jeepney? Ahh. You ride the Divisoria… and then… Kalaw. Thank you. We really appreciate it. We won’t get lost now. We’re trying to take the Jeepney. Basically, it just says where they’re going on the side of it.
And you have to know where area you’re trying to go into and then you just get in and you pay. There’s available seats. You can site there. Sit here? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. My friend, you sit down there. You sure? Yeah, no problem. After your safety. Thank you, guys.
We made it on our first Jeepney ride. For us, It’s a very unique form of transportation, but here it’s just a very common form of public transportation. Like, they’re everywhere. They have physical and actual stops, and it was 20 pesos per person
To get on this very affordable way to get around if you know how to use it. For us, it’ll probably be more expensive because we don’t know where we’re going. Real quick, we’ve been traveling the world for the past four years and we’ve noticed how important family is in so many cultures,
Especially here in the Philippines. We partnered with MyHeritage for this video so we can learn more about our families and their history. Before this, I honestly couldn’t even tell you the names of my great grandparents. But now I know – and this is really cool because we’re in the Philippines –
Not only was my great grandfather’s name, William, but he was born in 1906 and he even lived in the Philippines for a few years. Thanks to the over 19 billion historical records on my heritage, I was able to find some of his documents all the way back from 1953.
You can also even colorize old black and white photos of your family now. And this is a picture of my great grandmother, isn’t she So cute? Get started on building your family tree today with a 14 day free trial of MyHeritage.
And if you become obsessed with your family tree like we did, you can extend your subscription for 50% off using the link in our description below. Now, back to exploring this crazy city of Manila. Maybe I’ll find a half cousin or something.
Thank you so much. Someone got up., so Nate has a seat now. That was fun. A lot of fun. Yeah, They were so nice. So they’re very helpful. Good job. We just made it up the street, and now we have to go, like, across another street. Population of Metro Manila is insane.
It’s one of the most densely populated metro areas in the world. There’s 111,000 people per square mile. And according to a survey by Waze a few years ago, there’s the worst traffic in Southeast Asia right here. That was pretty cool. Which one? We’re just going straight on this street.
All right, let’s get on this one up here. Rizal Park, Intramuros. Okay, salamat (thank you). Okay, the person at the end, Right behind the driver is usually like the designated cashier, and they hand the money to the driver and give change back.
Which is why we’re not sitting there because we can’t communicate with the driver. Or figure out the money situation. We’re staying safe on this side. I honeestly have no idea if we’re on the right Jeepney or not. We’re just going in the right direction.
I’m just watching it on Google Maps the whole time. We still have a ways to go. All right. I think we made it. All on Jeepneys. I’m so proud. I’m so proud of you, that was impressive. Thank you. Think it’s a little chaotic here?
Oh, my God. It’s crazy, here. And it took over an hour and a half to get on the jeepneys from our hotel to Rizal Park. So we’re going to grab a soda, hopefully in AC. at the most popular chain restaurant in the Philippines. Jollibee’s
I definitely expected it to be busy, but I didn’t think it would be this busy at 10 a.m. There’s no breakfast menu that I can see. It’s just pretty much lunch and dinner. Hi, can we get the one piece with Jolly Spaghetti, with a Coke Zero,
And then a regular fry and cold water and then a mini sundae. Super ridiculous for me to order this right now, But I can’t go to fast food and not get ice cream. I have a problem. And it’s really good soft serve. I gotta try this spaghetti.
I don’t know why I’m so excited to Try spaghetti from a fast food restaurant. But I am. I guess it’s what I expected. It’s good spaghetti, but the sauce is really sweet. Which we were actually warned that it would be sweet. Much sweeter than we’re used to in the US. So sweet.
It’s like not even tomato. Big piece of chicken. The gravy is nice and salty. Oh, I like this. So this isn’t the best fried chicken We’re actually going to be trying some really good fried chicken later in the video, but this is pretty good.
It’s nice and crispy and super salty and pretty flavorful. I like it with the gravy. Thank you ma’am, sir. That’s one thing we noticed in Manila. There is literally nowhere that they don’t have security. Anywhere you go, they’re there. So this is one of the few, rare parks in Manila.
Since there’s so many people, so little space, there’s not a lot of room for greenery or nature. But Rizal Park is the biggest and the prettiest since the Philippines is over 7000 different islands. You don’t really see the architecture influence that you do like in South
America from colonialism, because they didn’t go to all the islands. They went to Manila, and that’s basically where they stayed. In the cultural aspect, it definitely bled out to all the islands. You see a lot of Filipinos with Spanish last names. There’s also a ton of similarities in Filipino language
And Spanish. The numbers are all the same, random words like “como esta?” A lot of it is similar, so we can kind of actually get by just a little bit, but probably not actually. It’s so hot. It’s 11:45 a.m. It’s 90 degrees, not a cloud in the sky today. U.V.
Index is super high. It’s like eight, which is ridiculous. And about 66% humidity. And you feel every percentage of that. This park is called Rizal Park and it’s named after the national hero of the Philippines, Jose Rizal, which is standing right here behind me in a bronze statue.
This monument was put up in 1913 and his remains were actually moved from where they were originally laid to here. He was executed, but he really led the movement for the freedom of the Philippines from their colonizers. So he is like not a national hero. He’s like the national hero.
And this whole park is named after him. And there’s like a little thing we’re going to walk through over there “I have to believe much in God because I have lost my faith in man.” – Jose Rizal Do you want to just add like ten destinations
So we can stay in this air conditioning? That was a very, very nice ride over. And now we’re back out in the heat. I think my brain doesn’t work in the humidity. Do you want to get something to cool that brain down?
Yeah. Let’s get a cold drink. So I’ve been really loving buying stuff for our home and I like getting like souvenirs from every place where we go, but not the chatchky stuff that’s like a wooden Jeepney because it’s just going to collect dust.
What are you going to do with that? So I’ve been getting useful stuff. So in Portugal, we got a, water container that I have by my bedside at night and then now I got a tray. It’s like a cutting board but it’s
Decorative and we’re going to use it for like cheese plates and stuff. But it’s made out of wood from the Philippines, in the Philippines by Filipinos. Okay. We’re now at the most historic part of Manila. This is Intramuros. It’s like kind of calm and quiet
And doesn’t really feel like you’re in Manila anymore. So the Intramuros is kind of a hub for colonialism in the Philippines. Originally built by the Spanish in the 1500s, it was used just like defense and military barracks. When the Americans took over, there was a “battle” held here in Intramuros.
One fun fact about the Americans taking over is that they didn’t really feel like they needed the defense as much as the Spanish, so they drained the moat and made a golf course. And the golf course still stands right here behind me today.
And then during the Second World War, the Japanese military occupied this fort for about two years before losing, at which point the Philippines got their independence. It’s pretty neat when you can just come into one of these places and almost get lost in them and forget about the city outside until,
Of course, like you get here and there’s the driving range and then there’s there’s these big skyscrapers. But other than that, I think it’s really neat. You get immersed in it. It’s really good. Well done. We actually made it inside the fort. Now, I kind of thought
The whole thing was the fort, but it’s just like this little corner part. There’s a museum here. It’s actually closed on Mondays, and today’s Monday.. Museums at a place like this usually mean air conditioning. So I’m kind of bummed, but that’s okay. This area was built as
A barracks and a school for petty officers, but is most famously known for holding the chapel cell where Jose Rizal spent his final evening before his execution. So 86% of the Filipino population is Roman Catholic, and this is the only Southeast Asian country that identifies as Catholic or Christian.
All indications of the Spanish colonialism. Behind me is a Cathedral of Manila. Oh, wow. Wow, it feels so good in here. We’re at Max’s, which is a chain restaurant all over the Philippines, and there’s a few even in California. Their slogan is…
“The house that fried chicken built” and that dates back to how it all started. Max was a Filipino man who was cooking fried chicken out of his house and feeding into American GIs during the Second World War. It was so freaking good.
They just started to offer and pay him money to eat there. And thus he opened a cafe. And then this house of Max was just built and exploded all over the Philippines. Let’s dig in. It’s like juicy, crispy fried chicken. You can hear the crunch. Wow. And now the most important part.
We just got the regular fried chicken platter. They have spicy ones, too, But you eat it with banana ketchup, which sounds really weird, but it’s not like the sweet bananas that were used. So it smells like banana ketchup. And then they’re famous worcestershire sauce put it right on top. Oh, man,
You rip off a little piece and then dip right in That’s so good. not nearly as salty as the fried chicken we had earlier today. But a nice, thin crispy layer on the outside. Not too much batter on the outside. It kind of lets of skin do it’s thing
When it’s deep fried and the chicken’s so juicy inside but it’s a nice little sweet addition to the chicken which kind of leads me to my next point. I think that Filipinos really like to eat, I don’t know if it’s sweet things in general,
But anything to do with like tomato paste or ketchup, they like it sweet. because we just got our tofu fries and it is served with a side of white sugar, which I’ve never seen and would have never expected. I think the banana ketchup is actually sweeter
With the worcestershire sauce,. It kind of tastes like sweet banana. But I like it We literally carry wet wipes with us because napkins are hard to come by and this is really in need of wet wipes. So we got lucky because
They actually accept credit card here, but that is not the norm in Manila. Almost everything is cash based. They have the peso here and it’s about 50 pesos for every U.S. dollar. And there it is again, a peso, another Spanish influence. 30 minutes still? Yeah. Jammin’ over here.
So the thing we keep talking about today is just how densely populated Manila is, and just the Philippines, at large. The Philippines are composed of 7000 islands. And all of that landmass is only 75% of California where we lived before we traveled. But the big difference is the population here
Is 113 million, and in California, it’s only 35 million. And there’s 13 million alone right here in Manila. It’s just mind boggling. So we didn’t know this until this morning. But they are trying to deal with that problem a little bit as much as you can by building
Land on the water right here. I think they’re trying to like dam it up first through the outside. So they’ve already done like a whole half circle. That’s crazy. This is not something you see often. Randy’s Donuts. That is big time California. And we have never seen that anywhere else in the world.
McDonald’s, KFC. Sure. It’s definitely not Randy’s Donuts, Is this, like, the real Randy’s Donuts? Yes, ma’am. Thank you. Thank you. It’s the real Randy’s Donut, actually. It’s good? Yeah, it’s a really good donut. It’s like straight from a donut shop in California. Can’t believe it. But Randy’s.
I guess I’ll start looking for those in all the countries we go to. I’m trying to cool down. And the laziest way possible with the least amount of movement. And I found a way. Wife? Husband. We’ve been outside like, I don’t know, less than 5 minutes now
And we’re already finding shade and a seat. how are we going to make it through this day, beautiful? I’m trying.
Video “Americans Visit Manila, Philippines for the FIRST TIME” was uploaded on 11/30/2023. Watch all the latest Videos by The Passport Couple on Gretopia