Looking For Love in the Philippines! 🇵🇭

Harry walks 27 kilometres across Manila in 35°C heat, starting in Valenzuela and finishing in BGC, and sets himself a different challenge in each district on the way. He gives away 5,000 pesos in Tondo after a tricycle driver invites him into his home, buys flowers in Divisoria to hand to strangers in the next district, hunts down the best restaurant in Binondo’s Chinatown, ends up driving a pedicab around Intramuros and picking up fares himself, and blows a closing 1,000 pesos on a burger and a massage. Along the way he threads in the country’s colonial history — Spanish, American and Japanese — and keeps returning to the inequality he’s walking through, from self-built alleys where there’s no personal space at all to the towers of Makati a few hours later.

Obs: the title frames this as a search for love; the video is the walk, and the flowers Harry buys and gives away are the running joke behind the framing. Captions are manual, but garble the tour guide’s explanation of the name “Intramuros”, so it isn’t reproduced here.

Key moments

• [00:00] The plan: 27 km on foot in 35°C across the second-largest city in Southeast Asia, through Tondo, Intramuros, Binondo’s Chinatown and the modern districts of Makati and BGC. A challenge in every district, with a prize for himself in Taguig if he completes them all.
• [01:05] Jeepneys — the public transport left behind by the Americans.
• [01:38] He offers to help construction workers building a car park, calling them the unsung heroes.
• [02:12] Spanish colonisation and the spread of Christianity, with a dry aside about the British doing the same.
• [02:45] Meeting men with prison tattoos behind a grille who turn out to be entirely friendly; one has nine children and works construction.
• [04:53] Arriving in Tondo, known as Manila’s dangerous district — but, Harry notes, in the 1970s and 80s, when an influx of migrants and poverty drove crime rates up after independence. His read is that it no longer is.
• [05:26] The Tondo challenge: reward someone.
• [09:21] Allen, a tricycle driver, invites Harry into his home — five rooms shared between his family and neighbours, with electricity and running water.
• [10:33] He’s shown month-old babies and asks them to name one Harry.
• [11:05] He gives Allen 5,000 pesos for the hospitality and for working hard.
• [11:41] The context: 5.4 million families live in poverty in Manila out of 25 million people, and the average wage is around $12 a day (from video – unverified).
• [14:47] A wedding party pulls him in for congratulations and repeated shots.
• [16:44] Badminton with locals, then a bike repair he “oversees”.
• [18:55] Moving from residential streets into markets and offices, he says walking the city has been far more interesting than he expected.
• [19:33] Helping unload pumpkins with the biggest man he’s seen in the Philippines.
• [21:11] Carrots at the market come from Baguio City.
• [21:46] Divisoria market, and its challenge: buy a gift for the next district. He buys mixed flowers for 150 pesos.
• [23:59] Binondo — described as the oldest Chinatown in the world — where the challenge is to find the best restaurant.
• [24:29] He lets the waitress order for him: premium pork and shrimp chow mein, dumplings and beef tendon.
• [26:09] The beef tendon is the standout — the softest beef he’s ever had — and the dumplings the best he’s had. The bill comes to 596.
• [27:16] Crossing the bridge, he gives the flowers away to women passing.
• [27:46] The Manila Post Office, gutted by fire a week or two before filming.
• [28:17] A gag attempt to enrol at the University of the Philippines, naming Jose Rizal as his teacher.
• [29:26] Children ask him for food, so he buys them street food at 5 pesos a piece — and notes they won’t accept money, so they deserve it.
• [30:26] Intramuros, the Spanish colonial quarter — cobbles, balconies, and the touristic heart of the city.
• [31:46] A church he’s told was built in 1571.
• [33:06] John, a local tour guide, offers an hour’s tour for 100 pesos. Harry admits he’s cheating by riding rather than walking this stretch.
• [34:48] The walled city, built by the Spanish in the 1500s.
• [35:53] Intramuros was the whole of Manila in Spanish times — now the city holds 25 million. The Spanish built seven churches in the area.
• [36:29] Harry takes over the pedicab, drives it, and starts touting lifts at 100 pesos himself.
• [37:37] Rizal Park, named for the nationalist Jose Rizal, and the American period after the Treaty of Paris — public education and infrastructure — until independence.
• [38:07] Street sellers offer him Viagra and counterfeit sunglasses.
• [39:48] A seller with a US flag won’t quote a price, telling him only the buyer knows what it’s worth. Harry calls him a clever man.
• [40:58] In the red-light area, a man whispers an offer of a woman for the night, which Harry declines and calls out plainly.
• [42:03] Meeting street cooks and workers, checking they’re careful with the knives.
• [44:07] Korea Town feels like a ghost town to him, with many homeless people, and he notes Manila is not a pedestrian-friendly city — much of the walk is along the roads.
• [44:41] Dakota in Malate — another dense settlement, extremely narrow streets, laundry overhead, and no personal space.
• [45:47] A game of pool billed as England versus the Philippines.
• [47:27] He notes residents keep the place clean and grow flowers.
• [48:37] Into the real city centre, where the low buildings give way to skyscrapers, past what he counts as ten Jollibees.
• [49:10] Makati, the financial district — rich Filipinos, foreigners, multinationals, clean and full of malls, and not his thing.
• [49:44] The Makati and BGC challenge: spend 1,000 pesos.
• [50:17] Blisters, sunset, 3 km to go.
• [50:56] Arrival at BGC, and a closing history note on the Japanese occupation and independence in 1946.
• [51:31] His first ever Shake Shack — the Smoke Shack at 650, which he rates ten times better than a McDonald’s or a Jollibee burger.
• [52:42] The last of the 1,000 pesos goes on a massage for his legs.

Extracted pages

• Places: Manila, Tondo, Intramuros
• Country: Philippines
• Tips: Reward honesty and hard work, Judge a place for yourself, Walk the city