Chinatown
The Chinese and their Chinese-Filipino descendents (known as Chinoys) have found a niche in Philippine society and nowhere is this more apparent than in Chinatown , also known as Binondo. It's interesting to wander through the mercantile hubbub of Ongpin Street, past the gold shops and the apothecaries. Urban legend speaks of a special soup you can buy here, enigmatically called Soup Number Five. It is said to cure everything from colds to impotence, but its contents are a mystery. For something Chinese but rather more conventional, try the mongo hopia (sweet bean cake) from Eng Bee Tin bakery and deli at 628 Ongpin St. Binondo Church , at the west end of Ongpin, is where the first Filipino saint, Lorenzo Ruiz, served as a sacristan. Built in 1614 by Dominicans, it quickly became the hub of the Catholic Chinese community. At the far end of Chinatown, across Rizal Street, you reach the Quiapo area and Quiapo Church, where devotees worship the Black Nazarene. Quiapo is a good area for bargain hunters. Several stores that sell handicrafts at local prices are squeezed under Quiapo Bridge, a place known to all Manila's bargain-hunters as Sa Ilalim ng Tulay (under the bridge). Outside, the church vendors sell anting-antings (amulets). Two kilometres north of Chinatown, a short walk from the JA Santos LRT station, is the impressive Chinese Cemetery , established by merchants because the Spanish would not allow foreigners to be buried in Spanish cemeteries. Many of the tombs resemble houses, with fountains, balconies and, in at least one case, a small swimming pool. It has become a sobering joke in the Philippines that this "accommodation" is among the best in the city.
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