Old Manila

Nostalgic for what could have been. The fuzzy video "Old Manila" has that hot summer afternoons of my childhood feel about it. Some of the scenes are familiar: an Intramuros gate in silent sentry from the old Spanish rulers, Roxas Boulevard has a continuous stand of trees that was gone by the time I was a child there, bridges going over Pasig river. And there is a scene of trams (trambia) ferrying people through the streets that I only heard about. A city on its way to gaining it's full identity in the world, given the promise from our custodians, the Americans, that we were being groomed for independence someday. All this before the war. Google video here.

I really love the video. I keep playing over and over. I just wish my dad was still around to watch it as he would love it just as much as I did. I remember my dad telling me how beautiful Manila was at that time and this video showed what my dad said was true.

--Comment on the video by Boly SM. Linsangan

The country today, as ever, is faced with many challenges too complex and enormous to even take in. Time and history has not been kind, but we muddle through. I was very happy to see many things have improved as well as see more things stay the same. Still, there is much to be hopeful for.

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Trolling the net I found this flickr album by brownpau. I hope he doesn't mind that I link to them. The photos are amazing. You can find them here.

Another small gallery of old Manila here.
Austrian-Philippine website has a gallery of even older images here.
Wikipedia on Manila.