First Time in Manila,Philippines

Truth to be told – I did not have any good impressions of Manila prior to 2025. All the news about Manila were ‘quite bad’, especially the famed shooting incident it had more than a decade ago still quite linger in my mind. Much to the same line as Singapore’s own fame Michael Fay incident. Even when I was working in Cebu, the locals there weren’t too nice when talking about Manila. And the last time I stepped into Manila was in 2010(?), just because it was a transit flight (I remembered I was just hovering in the transit aimlessly for 4hrs)

BUT HEY! It is relatively safe, the people are nice. Very welcoming and it felt like any other cities I had been to. Not as chaotic as Vietnam when it came to the streets. God bless Grab to be there (I am quite anti Grab back home). Transportation is a breeze and very affordable. I did not feel alienated while walking and totally blended right in… till I opened my mouth. And then the accent gave it all away.

That was in April 2025. Basically one month after I went to Cebu, to relive and re-visit those places I once called work/home. Anyways, it was in Cebu that I got linked to ShibariPH and decided to pop by Manila to have a ‘look see’. So had some coffee and my fav pandecoco at a cafe / hotel (?) before making my way to the loving studio.

It was my first overseas class and my first big group class with people who had some basic / intermediate level of tying. Very humbled by the experience and it was a sold out event! I was like .. wow..