The Bonifacio Arts Foundation, Inc (BAFI) is the core program that promotes the arts across…read moreBonifacio Global City. Throughout the years, we've seen art evolve along the streets of BGC. Some sculptures are already iconic in itself. It wouldn't be BGC without these sculptures or installations. About a few years ago, they started teaming up with artists both local and international to paint the town red. Okay, well not red. But make it colourful and make the city beam with life! It first started with colourful paintings on garbage bins. Then on empty lots, there were a couple of art installations by Japanese artists. In the past year, there were murals abound the walls already! It was so widespread that you'll realise that there's so much this city has to showcase. One of their remarkable projects is the establishment of The Mind Musem - the first word-class science museum in the country! It's not just visual art that we see in the city. It is also felt and heard especially in common areas such as High Street Central. If you ever happen to chance upon guys and girls in guitars or pianos singing their hearts out, it's one of their programs as well. Another great thing they did is they made the city photo-friendly. Nowadays, you'll see photography hobbyists and aspiring models come to the city and shoot to their heart's delight no matter what time of the day. It's really nice that people are starting to become open to different types of art.

Chocolate Hills is a must see when visiting Bohol, Philippines. This natural attraction consists of…read moreseries of more than 1,200 hills shaped like chocolate kisses - hence the name Chocolate Hills. During dry season, the hills turn from green to brown, making them look even more like chocolate. These hills stretch as far as the eye can see and almost doesn't feel real. They're a breathtaking sight and perfect for those picture perfect moments while in the Philippines. There are several different viewing points for Chocolate Hills. They have one in Carmen, Sagbayan and Batuan. Carmen has the main observation deck. One can reach the deck by hiking up 214 steps. It can be quite the hike but the top leads to some amazing panoramic views. Visiting Chocolate Hills was definitely one of the highlights of my visit to Bohol. This natural attraction is beautiful and amazing. I would definitely recommend visiting when in Bohol.

You gotta visit the Chocolate Hills in Bohol! It's truly an uncommon geographical landmark found…read morein few places in the world. We hired a driver to take us to the Chocolate Hills in Bohol, as it's located in the town of Carmen. Like most places in the rural parts of the Philippines, this isn't a destination that you can walk to. In fact, parking is limited, as it looked like most of it was reserved for tour buses. Our driver dropped us off and gave us a ticket where he instructed us to tell the staff at the info/sales booth when we were done, so he could be called to pick us up. Once there you walk up a flight of steep stairs, where there is an observation deck to see the Chocolate Hills. The flights of stairs doesn't take long to climb, but I would recommend wearing comfortable shoes. There's also a ramp up that you can take for part of the way up or down. Since it is a tourist destination, expect crowds. On a weekday for us though, it wasn't overly crowded, so we were able to find space to take pictures and view. The Chocolate Hills are nicknamed after Hershey Kisses, as during the dry season, the grass turns brown. There are over 1000 hills, and is maintained and protected by the government. For closer viewing of the Hills, you can rent an ATV to drive around the area. There's also a public restroom and some food/drink stands near the information/sales desk. If in Bohol, don't skip out on the Chocolate Hills, especially if you're visiting during the dry season.

When I want to buy local souvenirs, I usually go to Kultura Filipino or to Filipiniana. Both are…read morelocated in Makati, close to my place. And both offer all the traditional symbols of the Philippines - barong tagalogs, pinneaple fiber clothes and table runners, t-shirts, Mother Pearl picture frames, pearl and coral jewelry and so on. I particularly prefer Kultura Filipino, because I have the feeling it's better served. Actually I think the store is bigger. Anyway, I prefer it. But when I don't want to cross Glorietta to get to the SM building, I go to Filipiniana, inside The Landmark. I highly recommend it for those times you have to buy a gift for a foreigner friend or buy some souvenirs to your family when you go back home on vacations.

If you're a foreigner or balikbayan looking for authentic and inexpensive Filipino souvenirs and…read moregoods, you have to stop by the Filipiniana section of Landmark. The large section is dedication just for Filipino crafts, products and food and I love how you have so many options to choose from. I'm not a foreigner or a balikbayan and I'm not looking for souvenirs but I do love going around this section and buying things. I love being a Filipino and I'm certainly proud of our skills, talents, culture and food. In this part of the department store, you'll find any kind of souvenir you want. It's basically a one-stop-shop. You can find gorgeous handmade and local artisan crafted furniture, home accessories, jewelry, clothes, traditional costumes and even yummy Filipino food snacks like peanut brittle and the famous dried mangoes! I always bring my foreign friends and family members from the States to this store and they always buy so many things and come out of the store happy and satisfied.

Must visit if you're in the area on a Saturday morning. This market is held every Saturday morning…read moreat Jaime Velasquez Park in Makati. The market offers a wide variety ranging from Fresh produce, fruits , local Filipino snacks, seafood & a ton of food vendors. I loved the pumelo & went back to buy more. It gets busy so get there early. There's so much to choose from and wanted to try a little if everything. It's a great spot for a snack or lunch. Many vendors offer free samples. There are tables to sit but you can find a seat in the park to enjoy your food. I had a great time here. They also sell beautiful fresh flowers.

Just being here with all the plethora of food choices. In a setting right out of a movie, what more…read morecan you ask for. Considering you're in Makati a bougie neighborhood pricing is actually reasonable. They have everything, so I'm just going to tell you what we have. Puto bong bong made infront of you and Illocos empanadas fried fresh are the standouts. Just come here and take in life.

As if I needed another reason to love BGC, the brilliant guys behind One Festival has given the…read moreblank walls of The Fort a new life with really awesome murals and public art. These murals that are varying in scale and size are larger-than-life version of provocative and inspired art from many artists and muralists from the Philippines and all over the world. The titles/artists of the murals, and their locations are the following: 1. Kristin Farr - Bonifacio Technology Center 2. Corleone - C1 Building (Near Banana Republic and Muji) 3. Faile - One Global Place 4. Cyrcle- Icon Plaza 5. Nate Frizzell - Fully Booked, Bonifacio High Street 6. Drew Merritt - The Globe Tower 7. Egg Fiasco - Bonifacio High Street 8. Anjo Bolarda - Bonifacio High Street I went there with a friend who is one of the organizers and the festival coordinators, and he showed me around the works in progress. The artworks are going to be unveiled on May 30-31, during the culmination activity of the festival, but these works of art are going to stay where they are for a very long time - or until the next festival when they will be replaced with new, more awesome art. I saw some really awesome and colossal murals, and some tiny ones that are hidden from plain sight. I just love what they did to the city, and it's brilliant to see really nice public art being recognized as a legit art form here in the Philippines. These murals and artworks will make you pause awhile to ponder, and you don't even need to be in an art gallery or a highbrow museum to appreciate works like these - the muralists and the artists have made this artwork more accessible to the people.

"We're changing the face of the city." That's what One Festival founder Kayo Cosio said and I have…read moreto agree. They've accomplished such a feat! In May 2015, One Festival and Bonifacio Art Foundation Inc. (BAFI) brought 8 international artists together for a weeklong mural festival around Bonifacio Global City. It was absolutely awesome to watch them at work on these gigantic walls, riding lifts, spray-painting for hours at a time! I was happy to see that Egg Fiasco, a Filipino artist whose works I remember from Art Fair Philippines, had his own wall at Bonifacio High Street. I was able to find him working on his mural on the Thursday before the festival finished. I always thought that his stuff looked like a nightmare in the world of Lisa Frank, but not in a bad way. Egg Fiasco's stuff are colorful and bold, but also very aggressive. The BHS wall he did features the rare Philippine deer that he says is going extinct in his home island of Panay. You can find it on the back road to Seda Hotel. Nate Frizzell, or @natepaints on Instagram, did a number of "small" walls throughout the city. His works usually have kids in them, usually at street level, so kids can actually interact with these pieces. I saw a few of his works by Timezone and R.O.X. on BHS. I also walked past Faile. I heard Faile might have a problem because they painted a soda bottle that looks too similar to Coca-Cola; the Net Lima building right across the street is the Coca-Cola building so there's no way they could have missed that. It's one of the larger murals around. Cyrcle's "astronaut"/"Moon man" was a crowd favorite. I personally saw Rabi of Cyrcle (they're a duo, but his partner didn't make the trip down to the PH) spray painting that humongous wall. SPRAY PAINTING, okay? Can you imagine the real physical pain of spray painting the side of a building for an entire week? I think that's some crazy passion at work right there. I heard that this is Cyrcle's largest mural work to date from among their projects around the world, too. Good job, Art One BGC!

I wanted to visit the oldest Chinatown in the world so we made a stop here on our trip. I figured…read moresince we were on vacation we needed to visit something historical. We took a rideshare from our hotel. We crossed the Jones Bridge then drove under the Binondo Chinatown Arch. We got dropped off on Ongpin Street and walked to the Binondo Church then stopped by Eng Bee Tin for Hopia. It was crowded but a fun experience. I'm glad we got to check out the neighborhood.

The World's oldest Chinatown! (MANILA Philippines)…read more We booked a van to drop us off at Lucky Chinatown Mall and came here on New Year's Day. From there we rode a tuk-tuk cart (a 3-wheeled gas passenger novelty taxi tricycle). That thing fit 8 of us inside plus the driver and his toddler so ten total). It dropped us off at Ongpin Street. I would've thought that the place would be empty because of the holiday but surprisingly many businesses and vendors were open. We came back a couple of days after and the streets had a more vibrant and bustling atmosphere. Ongpin Street in Manila is lined with restaurants and many shops including jewelry stores. There were many shops to pop into. You can find the Ongpin Northbridge Arch, and the Chinatown Welcome Arch and the Arch of Good Will at the end of Ongpin Street (cross-street Ronquillo Street). It ends on Juan Luna Street. Review #3287

We arrived to Legazpi Sunday Market around 10am and it was already bustling with people, especially…read morearound all the food stalls. It was nice to see a variety of things to eat or drink and even purchase like handmade clothing, bags, and trinkets. Since the market is right by the park, you have access to the restrooms and places to sit and eat. So we ended up staying in this area for a good few hours. We had a pleasant time, so we highly recommend checking it out!

Outstanding Sunday market if you want to stroll a bit and have a bite. The vendors were all…read moreextremely friendly, especially the chicharron tita who adopted me on the spot. While it initially appears very small, it's like Harry Potter waved his wand with the spell to make the inside of the tents bigger. It was a veritable maze of delicious goodies. Great spot to walk off a long flight and take in the local eats.

The Plaza San Luis Complex is a charming commercial subsection of Intramuros right next to San…read moreAgustin Church. Made up of five reconstructed Spanish colonial era buildings, it reminds me of the shopping area around Mexico City's Zocalo, although on a much smaller scale. We walked around Plaza San Luis a couple of times during my trip to Manila, both to absorb the ambiance and to get lunch at Barbara's and shop for souvenirs. I didn't love the restaurant, but the plaza was lovely. There was a stone courtyard with an old fountain that was particularly attractive. If you're visiting Intramuros, make sure you drop by the Plaza San Luis Complex. I don't know about all the individual businesses, but the area is quite pretty.

I am embarrassed to admit that it took me almost 26 years as a Filipino to actually set food in…read morethis beautiful, historic place. I was lucky that someone was nice enough to take me here, as I am pretty sure I wouldn't have come across this place on my own. Plaza San Luis is a great representation of Spanish colonial architecture that luckily has survived and has been revived into a well-maintained establishment that houses smaller stores, a restaurant, and a museum. Those establishments do deserve reviews on their own, so I would really, really love to talk about how beautiful this courtyard is. It's amazing how this place has retained so much of its old-world feel, with all the plants, the fountain, the stone walls and floors--it's all in the details. It's no wonder that this place is now being offered as an events place that can be rented for special occasions. You can actually do a bit of exploring. You must go up the staircase and see the majestic view of the whole courtyard from the top. It's really beautiful. I really do hope that this place remains well-maintained and taken cared of. It's a gem of a destination that our history and culture cannot afford to lose.

The St Joseph Parish Church, more colloquially known as the Las Piñas Bamboo Organ Church, would be…read morejust another heritage church in a country teeming with heritage churches, if it wasn't for one key feature: The Bamboo Organ. The Bamboo Organ, as the name suggests, is an organ with most of the pipes made of bamboo. Built during the late 1800s, and repaired, restored, and maintained through the years, the organ is really something else to behold and to listen to. While the church and the museum is open daily, the best time to check out the Bamboo Organ would be around February, during the annual Bamboo Organ Festival, where renowned musicians from all over the country and the world fly in to take part in a truly special event. The Las Piñas Bamboo Organ Church anchors Las Piñas historical corridor, a small stretch of road filled with turn-of-the-century houses, buildings, and a plaza. It's nice to check it out after seeing the Bamboo Organ.

I have lived in Las Piñas all my life and have several reasons why I'm proud to say that I'm from…read moreLas Piñas. One of them is St. Joseph Church, more commonly known as Bamboo Organ Church. I remember having it discussed in school because of it's history and I'd always be proud to say that I've seen it and have heard the bamboo organ play. It's a relatively old church, with the façade looking like other churches built in the era when the Spanish colonized the Philippines. The floor is of clay tiles, has brown wooden pews, and is relatively dark inside. That is until the lights on the chandeliers and the lights at the altar are turned on. It's just such a beautiful altar! Pair that with the surreal, ethereal music coming from the bamboo organ and you are taken to a dreamlike, heavenly state.