City lights

This is the skyline of the City of Manila as seen from the 9th floor patio of The Bayleaf Intramuros. The two neoclassical buildings just beyond the trees are the National Museum of the Philippines. The National Art Gallery is the building on the left, which used to be the Legislative Building. The Museum of the Filipino People is the building on the right, which used to be the Finance Building. Both were built in the early 1900s during the American colonial era, suffered extensive damage during WWII, and reconstructed soon after.

Evening lights

9 Spoons, the 9th floor restaurant of The Bayleaf Intramuros, overlooks the Club Intramuros Golf Course and has commanding views of the historic, neoclassical government buildings along Padre Burgos Avenue. Our table had a lovely view of the Manila City Hall and its distinctive clock tower. Aside from the lights and bayleaf-patterned screens of the restaurant, also reflected in the window is the keyboardist who provided the evening's pleasant dinner music.
 

牛肉

"charred beef, Asian greens, vegetables, roasted sesame dressing" – That was the simple description of the Kanji Beef salad in the menu of 9 Spoons, the 9th floor restaurant of The Bayleaf Intramuros. My husband was expecting small slivers of beef when he ordered it; imagine his surprised delight when he saw these three generous slices. And for only 390 pesos (less than US$9). We've had all-vegetable salads that were more expensive. I had to have a little bite, of course—the beef was tender and tasty, and the roasted sesame dressing was delicious!

Modern elegance

The lobby of The Bayleaf Intramuros isn't quite as stark as my photo the other day makes it seem. That is simply the sight that greets you as soon as you enter the doors. Off to one side of the lobby is this warm and cozy corner with tables and chairs, and a baby grand piano, though no one was playing during the weekend we were there. The lovely curved stairway leads up to the function rooms on the second floor.

#FF8C00

The rooms of The Bayleaf Intramuros are as modern as their lobby (see yesterday's post). Except for the suites, they are all decorated in black and white, and one of three unique colors.
  Ours was very, very orange.

The two other colors are lime green and aubergine. Which would you prefer?

Stark

The Bayleaf is a boutique hotel which opened two years ago in Intramuros, the oldest district in the City of Manila. Stepping inside its modern and minimalist lobby after seeing 17th-century walls and buildings can either be jarring or soothing depending on your frame of mind.

Riggy-back

A tiny outrigger canoe attached to the outrigger of a larger canoe that serves as a ferry between islands. We call all outrigger canoes bangka in Tagalog, whether they're motorized or not, or whether they're big enough to carry 60 passengers or just two.

Koi pond

I seem to see them everywhere these days.

Running blue

The new track oval of the Ateneo de Manila University is blue, the school's color. It goes around the Moro Lorenzo Football Field (football as in soccer, not American football) and can be used only by varsity team athletes. It's the first time I've ever seen a blue track oval—very striking.

Tug-of-war

Bonifacio High Street has many fantastic restaurants and is, therefore, very popular as an evening destination. Because of this, even the shops stay open late—until midnight, at least.

All these years of blogging, whenever I posted something about Bonifacio Global City (BGC), I identified it as part of Taguig City. Just this August 5, however, the Court of Appeals declared that BGC is part of Makati City. Of course, Taguig can still raise the case to the Supreme Court, and they probably will, with six billion pesos (US$ 137.7 M) in annual revenue at stake. My problem is, will I now tag this post as Makati or Taguig?

Gentleman farmer

Ernest Escaler is the president of Gourmet Farms Inc., the producer of the delicious lettuce and pesto chips in yesterday's post. He began the farm in 1987 with coffee beans, then added herbs and vegetables in the 90s during the slump in the coffee market. Even back then, all of the farm's produce were organically grown—when "organic" wasn't being boasted about in product packaging (at least, not here in the Philippines). Gourmet Farms' retail products now include bottled salad dressings, pasta sauces, spreads, and dips, all made from their organic produce and all free from preservatives, too.

Salad chips

I just discovered yummy new products from Gourmet Farms: lettuce and pesto chips—tasty, crunchy, all natural, no preservatives. Unfortunately, unlike their coffees, herbal teas, salad dressings and pasta sauces, these chips are not available in Metro Manila's markets; one has to go to the Country Store in their farm in Silang, Cavite to buy them. The only reason I got to try them out was because Gourmet Farms sponsored an event where they were given a kiosk to sell their products. I should have bought more.

School history

As I promised, here is the Heritage Room of the Ateneo de Manila Grade School where yesterday's mural is located. The room displays mementos from the school's 150-year history, and statues of the Immaculate Conception, the school's patroness, and St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit order which runs the school. Another room off to the right, which I wasn't able to take a photo of, features portraits of all past headmasters of the Ateneo Grade School, who have all been Jesuit so far. If I'm not mistaken, the Heritage Room was built soon after the school celebrated its sesquicentennial in 2009.

History in blue

The mural inside the Heritage Room of the Ateneo de Manila Grade School shows images from the 150-year history of the school. Based on this, the school has had four seals since it was first established as the Escuela Municipal de Manila in 1859. It also has had two special, double seals. One was to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the school, and the other its 150th—its sesquicentennial, which filled this blog back in 2009.

I didn't go up to the mural to check what it was made of, but I doubt very much if it was handpainted. Tomorrow, I'll show you the room where I saw the mural.

See murals from around the world in Monday Mural.