Browse Tag

divisoria

Philippines: Divisoria’s 168 Shopping Mall and Tutuban Night Market

By Mithun Divakaran
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Mar 27, 2023
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Philippines, Travel

After arriving in Manila on 19 December 2022, I spent much of my time indoors for a number of reasons. Christmas time meant much of Manila would have been crowded. The weather also wasn’t the best during my time in Manila.

Since I had already seen most of whatever Manila has to offer as far tourists sights go (this was my fourth visit to Philippines), whenever I would step out, I would mostly end up hanging out at Manila’s many, many shopping malls.

So just before Christmas, I stepped out to take a break from work and headed to SM Megamall, once the largest mall in the Philippines until SM corporation opened Mall of Asia in 2006. I took the MRT train and got down at Ortigas station.

SM Megamall curved building Mega Tower — The curved building next to the mall is called the Mega Tower

SM Megamall was huge and I easily spent close to two hours checking out several stores, including all the fast fashion brands (H&M, ZARA, and Uniqlo) and SM’s own gigantic department store. I didn’t take any photos from inside the mall… because all malls look the same to me nowadays.

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Philippines Bargain shopping in Manila; Paseo de Santa Rosa & Solenad

By Mithun Divakaran
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Nov 02, 2014
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Philippines, Travel

Date: May 10th 2014

Being really hot during the day, I decided to step out only at around 2pm.

Cheese flavour KFC rice meal — I began my outing by having a KFC lunch. The outlet I sat at had cheddar cheese coated KFC. It was bleh! It’s basically the same artificial coating you find on cheese balls crisps but now on KFC. The meal cost ₱99.

Ladies train MRT Manila — I then went to Ayala to withdraw some money from Citibank branch there

After withdrawing some money, I walked around the area (very posh, mind you). Lots of malls and office buildings.

Asian Institute of Management Manila — Asian Institute of Management — it’s one of the top-ranked B-schools in Asia

Comic Sale Central Greenbelt mall Manila — I entered Greenbelt 5 mall, which is just one of many malls under the Greenbelt name in the area

Greenbelt mall Makati Manila — This is Greenbelt 3, the posh mall with all the really high-end brands

Naruto t-shirts Robinsons Manila — I spent some time at the SM department store picking up some t-shirts for my younger brother. SM has official merchandise from popular anime like Naruto, One Piece and other cartoons. Pretty cheap too, t-shirts can be found ranging from ₱99 all the way up to ₱399.

After that, I went to Carriedo (LRT station) where SM has a clearance mall

SM Clearance mall Carriedo Manila — I had seen this building from taking the LRT, figured I would check it out

I found some great bargains inside. Besides a bunch of in-store brands by SM, they had a few name brands and foreign brands in short supply (maybe export rejects). None the less, I found H&M cargo shorts for ₱400. Definitely export-reject-worthy Rip Curl swimming shorts for ₱200. And then some bermuda shorts for like ₱100 each. Not everything was cheap, but then again, coming from India, I wasn’t planning on buying many clothes from Philippines anyway.

One thing I found funny was just how many sales persons are there to sell you socks. Like, super-aggressive when it comes to shoving socks in your face. Think perfume sales people offering a spray to get you talking to them — but a lot more of them selling packs of socks! High margin socks I presume? 😀

Carriedo street market Manila — Outside, Carriedo is home to a rather large street market

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Soldier statues Japanese tunnel Davao Philippines

Philippines: Japanese tunnel; leaving Davao for Manila

By Mithun Divakaran
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Oct 14, 2014
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Philippines, Travel

Date: May 7, 2014

Today was my last day in Davao. I checked out early from Green Windows Dormitel because instead of heading straight to the airport, I instead decided to carry all my bags, take a taxi and visit the Japanese World War II tunnel in Davao.

The tunnel is now situated inside a resort that goes by the name of D’Japanese Tunnel Family Resort. Like every attraction in Davao, it’s a bit of a drive away from the city.

Davao island highway Philippines — As the taxi kept on riding for around half an hour, I wondered if I would be late for my flight as the Japanese Tunnel is not in the same direction as the airport.

Once I reached D’Japanese Tunnel Family Resort, the entrance to the tunnel was pretty much visible from the gate. It’s basically a resort built around the tunnel. I went to the resort’s eception desk and bought the entry ticket for the Japanese tunnel. It costs ₱50 for adults, ₱20 for children.

D' Japanese tunnel entrance Davao — This is the entrance, the reception was to the right.

Entering Japanese war tunnel Davao — There is a guide that comes along with you

Japanese tunnel Davao Philippines — This tunnel was built in 1942, during World War II, when the Japanese had captured Davao and used the island in its fight to capture the remaining Pacific islands.

Japanese world war tunnel Davao — It’s 300 metres long

Jail cell Japanese tunnel Davao — The tunnel was used by Japanese soldiers during the war as an underground base. This is a mini-shrine, a prayer area of sorts

Prison cell Japanese tunnel Davao — A mini-prison cell. This is where they would sometimes keep prisoners of war. Yeah, it wasn’t meant to be comfortable.

Japanese World War 2 tunnel Davao Philippines — We proceeded further, and it got cooler

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