pasig river cruise: ferry stations

i have been bugging B about trying this pasig river "cruise" for months. we even searched for the exact location of the HULO ferry station since this is the nearest station to us ... and has been mentioned on several blogs that i have read as a good starting point for this trip ... unfortunately, B was not available for this trip :(


straight from work, my colleague and i boarded a taxi and asked the driver to bring us to the ferry station.

note: be careful. i would say that there are two types of stations. one is associated with the pasig ferries and the other one is for those small wooden boats meant to carry passengers crossing from one side of the river to the other. don't worry here are some pictures of the stations so you have an idea how they would look like.


most of the stations have the same facade ... if i'm not mistaken except for quiapo (see picture below) and bambang station (floating station) ... i'm not sure about kalawaan and intramuros ... we were suppose to go to kalawaan but we ended at bambang so we could catch the next ferry.



there are comfort rooms inside the stations. picture taking is not allowed inside though.

some stations issue tickets that are bar coded while others issue a stub-like. however, both would display the amount and station where you're bounded to.

we took the following trips:

• hulo-bambang (24-jan-09),
  
• bambang-escolta (24-jan-09)
• escolta-bambang (25-jan-09).

for ferry schedules and fare matrix, click here.

binondo food trip

when: (2009) January 24 and Janaury 25
where: binondo, manila

we went to binondo last weekend to have a glimpse of how the filipino-chinese community celebrate chinese new year ... and we ended up indulging with chinese cuisines.

here are some of what we ordered/ate/bought during our 2-day binondo walkathon.

SAVORY RESTAURANT
address: Escolta corner Plaza de Moriaga Sts., +63 2 3091053 to 55
half fried chicken: PhP 160

pansit canton guisado: PhP180
personal comment: fried chicken tastes like it was turbo-broiled + roasted + fried and i love the pickled radish that comes as its siding.

SINCERITY RESTAURANT
address: 497 Yuchengco St., +63 2 241990/2419972
fried chicken: PhP300 (whole), PhP150 (half)
pansit : PhP250 (small), PhP360 (medium), PhP500 (large), PhP650 (xl)
personal comment: fried chicken is more of the fastfood type ... because of the breading/coating. the pansit was quite soggy ... but nonetheless, both tasted good. we even got a big bowl of almond jelly dessert for FREE!


SHANGHAI FRIED SIOPAO
address: Ongpin St. Look for the yellow sign on the picture
bola-bola siopao: Php15
personal comment: it's not really that "fried" ... only the bottom part ... and it's quick fried. if you would compare it with fried dumplings, it's not the crunchy type.



HOPIA at ENG BEE TIN
address: 628 Ongpin cor E.T. Yuchengco St. (beside Binondo Church), +63 2 2429765 to 66
website: www.engbeetin.com
flavors: ube (yam) is one of the best sellers. there's also monggo, choco-peanut, mochaccino, ube-queso, ube-langka, ube-pastillas
prices range from PhP38-above, depends on the flavor
personal comment: i love the ube and monggo flavored hopia.

TIKOY
flavors: original white, ube, pandan, butterscotch
prices range from PhP40-above, depends on the size and flavor


FROGS
address: LSA Fastfood (one of the eateries near the creek ... look for the signage)
fried frogs: PhP110 for 4 pieces
personal comment: my first serving of frogs and they do taste like chicken

pasig river cruise: schedule and fare matrix

for those who are interested, here are the trip schedules and fare matrix.
(as of 25-January-2009)

a. pasig ferry's schedules for each station:

• weekdays

• saturdays
  

• sundays
  

b. pasig ferry's fare matrix:

c. for inquiries: