Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
1940s for popularizing images of Philippine landscapes and beautiful rural Filipinas.
The museum's Rizaliana includes some ninety letters written by José Rizal to his
mother and sisters in the 1890s, along with the national hero's wallet and paintbrushes,
his flute and personal papers. Exhibits rotate every six months, as there's not enough
space to display everything at once, but the library section always contains some of the
best rare topics, artwork and letters. Note that the museum is expected to move into
new digs at
The Proscenium
, a development on Dr Jose P. Rizal Avenue in Makati,
sometime before 2016.
1
Marikina Shoe Museum
J.P. Rizal St, Marikina, 16km east of Rizal Park • Mon-Sat 9am-noon & 1-5pm • P50 •
T
02 646 2368 • LRT to Katipunan, then taxi
Nothing symbolizes the vanity of
Imelda Marcos
more than her collection of shoes,
which numbered in the thousands on the eve of the EDSA revolution in 1986 (it's not
known how many she owns today). This ghastly but admittedly stylish legacy is
preserved at the
Marikina Shoe Museum
way out in the eastern suburbs, where 749
pairs belonging to the former first lady are displayed under her giant portrait, along
with pairs owned by each president of the Philippines (the worn-out-looking shoes
owned by Ferdinand Marcos make quite a contrast) and several other local celebrities.
The history of shoemaking is explained upstairs. The reason the museum is in Marikina
is that the area was dubbed the “
shoe capital of the Philippines
” back in 1956, and
though there are still many factories in the neighbourhood, the industry's heyday was
the 1970s and 1980s.
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE
MANILA
information. Terminals 2 and 3 only have general airport
information desks that sometimes carry city maps.
Services
There are banks and ATMs at all terminals (BPI
is just outside the domestic terminal). There are no left
luggage facilities at any of the terminals. Free wi-fi is
available inside the terminals.
BY PLANE
NINOY AQUINO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
Almost everyone visiting the Philippines arrives at Ninoy
Aquino International Airport (
T
02 833 1180,
W
miaa.gov
.ph) or NAIA, on the southern fringes of Manila, named
after the anti-Marcos politician who was assassinated
here in 1983.
Terminals
The airport has four separate and unconnected
terminals, making it seem, confusingly, as if there are
several different airports (you may hear locals refer to
them this way). Most international flights arrive at Terminal
1; Terminal 2, relatively nearby, serves only Philippine
Airlines (international and domestic); the tiny Domestic
Passenger Airport Terminal (aka Terminal 4) is 3km away
on the other side of the airport and serves AirAsia Zest,
Fil-Asian Airways, SkyJet and Tigerair Philippines flights;
further around is Terminal 3, serving Cebu Pacific and PAL
Express (international and domestic). Note that there is a
long-standing plan to transfer all international flights to
Terminal 3 - this started happening in 2011 with ANA,
while Cathay Pacific, Delta and Emirates were scheduled
to move in 2014. A free shuttle bus connects all the
terminals, running frequently throughout the day, but
tra
c congestion means transfers can take over an hour
in some cases - leave plenty of time.
Tourist information
Terminal 1 has a small Department
of Tourism reception desk (
T
02 832 2964), open to meet
all flights, where you can pick up maps and current
AIRPORT TRANSPORTATION
The roads around the airport quickly become gridlocked
in heavy rain or at rush hour; it can take anything from
20min to 1hr to travel the 7km to the main tourist and
budget accommodation area of Manila Bay.
Airport taxis
To head into the centre, the best thing to do
is to take an o
cial yellow airport taxi; these charge higher
rates than normal white taxis (see p.84), but they are safer
and use the meter (insist that they use it). The meter starts
at P70 (for the first 500m) and adds P4.50 per 300m;
reckon on P180-250 to Malate or Makati and P250-300
for Ermita, depending on tra
c. Beware of scam artists -
if the meter looks like it's going to hit P1000 anywhere
inside the city you are being ripped off. Take the taxi
number and threaten to report the driver.
Fixed-rate taxis
The alternative is to take a fixed-rate or
“coupon” taxi (you get tickets for these at desks outside the
terminal), but these are very expensive unless you have a
large group (the “taxis” are big Toyota vans). The fixed-rate
fare is P450 to Malate, P540 to Ermita, P340-450 to Makati
and P670-1100 to Quezon City.
