Lucky Chinatown and the Beauty of its Cluttered Streets

Wearing my rugged shoes and denim jacket, two pairs of clothing I always grab first when going on an adventure, I rode a jeepney en route to Divisoria, a direction that will pass through on a place called Lucky Chinatown.

One arch of Lucky Chinatown

It was a boiling afternoon, and I felt so sticky and sweaty. 

The driver dropped me on a corner of a bridge with a view of these buildings that seem to stand like mountains shadowing the crowded streets of Chinatown. 

Photos I took from a small bridge with a view of these buildings that almost seem to protect everyone from the blazing rays of the afternoon sun

Strolling to its dirty and cluttered streets, I was mesmerized by how the place evokes the feeling of intimacy, probably because the sidewalks are full of people and vendors, while the tiny streets are currently piled up with heavy traffic. I missed this level of closeness to other human beings. More than a year of CoVid-19 has given too much space between me and another person. 

But in this place, you have no other options but to be shoulder to shoulder with one another. 

Photos I took that captured the tightness of the district 

I was more observant, there were so many details everywhere, it’s tiring to look at because it overwhelms me, but it’s also beautiful. 

The endless buildings with their slowly fading paints, different social classes of people walking together side by side on those smooth pavements with the walls and stores on the side splattered with an unusual amount of bright red colors, are all breathtaking in my eyes. 

I’ve passed through to another bridge where I instantly fell in love. I also believe that my most favorite shots are taken there.

I love that spot.

Standing there feeling lonely while I’m ironically surrounded by so many people, so many old infrastructures, it almost feels like I was in a dystopian city, in a novel where I am the main character; in a plot that only came from my perspective.

Photos I took while standing in the middle of Hong Bon bridge

.After an hour of strolling through the place, I looked for its church. 

I found it just after a few minutes of walking and when I entered it, I instantly remembered why I always enter the churches of the places I explore. 

This exact church called Binondo Church has its own character: an interior so different from other churches I’ve been to; distinct patterns of colors that made me gasped. 

It was just so beautiful. 

It was uniform to the over-the-top, colorful, and too many details characteristic of Lucky Chinatown

Photos I took inside Binondo Church

Finally, I set my foot to a spot overlooking the best view of Chinatown: this vast arch believed to be the biggest Chinatown arch in the world, on the foot of another classic icon of the City of Manila: Jones Bridge. 

Lucky Chinatown's over-the-top arch splattered with intricate details and distinct color scheme

Unlike most spots of the district with crowded streets almost everywhere, this exact spot has a lot of spaces, a breath of fresh air to the already suffocated, tired, and overwhelmed visitor (like me) who aren't used to it. 

Standing on the edge of Jones Bridge, a magnificent product of architecture, I slowly and joyfully observed the Pasig River with the view of the Metropolitan Theatre on the opposite side. 

Photos of Jones Bridge, Pasig River, and the Metropolitan Theatre that I took while enjoying the cold breeze of urban wind

The sun was already setting; it is time to go.

I looked for a café to chill out. 

I don’t need a coffee but a shake, and so I ordered a Mango Shake, and while I sip this sweet, chilling cold, yellow-colored drink that surely freshening me up, I realized how blessed I am to have this mind and eyes that are so appreciative, so observant that I genuinely admired and absorbed the smallest and simplest details of Lucky Chinatown: a memory that would surely sink to my heart and mind. 

I feel more fortunate that I could immortalize it and present it to other people through my pictures and a blog written only for it. 

A view from my table on a random café where I was seated, sipping a cold drink while reminiscing my overwhelming, fun-filled adventure inside Chinatown

So far, this was my most favorite destination. 

Sitting now in Dasmariñas, my birthplace, I’m remembering that place and missing it, with its cluttered streets: beautiful characteristics of a district with combined cultures brought to life by those people of different traditions, nationalities, and social classes.