Posts Tagged “Manila”
Spot the hidden Witty: This is CJ, the child wonder, covering his face (and most of his body) with a Carlos Celdran Walk This Way poster inside the La Monja Loca shop at Unit 3A Plaza San Luis, Calle Real, Intramuros, Manila where I bought my copieS of the “Akala mo lang wala nang slumbook, pero meron, meron, meron!” Notebook/Slumbook Tanso Edition for PHP 350.00 each.
Oo, akala mo lang 300 pero 350, 350, 350!
Warning! Long sentences ahead.
Quiapo Church, also known as the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene, is a Roman Catholic church located at Plaza Miranda along Quezon Boulevard in Manila. It is home to the 17th century life-sized image of the Black Nazarene.
Every Friday and especially on the Feast of the Black Nazarene celebrated every 9th of January, devotees would flock to Quiapo to ask for healing and miracles to the Black Nazarene.
But Quiapo is not only known for the devotion to the Black Nazarene. It is also a place where you could find cheap bargains, thrift finds and almost everything one could be looking for – cameras, fish and vegestables, herbal medicines and other trivial things such as these Spongebob and Dora the Explorer balloons 
My friends and I are planning to venture on the currently popular photobooth rentals and we’re scouting for cheap photobooth-capable DSLRs so we went to Hidalgo Street in Quiapo last March. We went there on a Sunday and thoush some of the more famous stores were closed, we still managed to find everything we’re looking for – DSLR, lights, printers and photobooth software.
If you’re in Manila and is looking for cheap cameras, be it a point and shoot or a DSLR, used or brand new, the first place that you should check out is Hidalgo Street in Quiapo. Hidalgo St. is famous among photographers and photo enthusiasts in the Philippines because it’s a haven of cheap cameras in the country. Here you can find an assortment of stores selling cameras priced thousands of pesos lower as compared to the stores found in department stores and specialty shops. Also, some of the camera stores Hidalgo St., offers second hand cameras and even spare parts for vintage and obsolete cameras.
One of the reasons why prices of cameras being sold at stores in Hidalgo St. are way way cheaper is because the cost of commercial space rental in that area is cheaper compared to other places in Manila. Also, most of the shops sell cameras and other items with local or store warranty so you could only have your cameras repaired or replaced on the very same store where you bought them.
To get to Hidalgo, you can take the LRT and hop off at the Carriedo Station. From there, proceed to the old SM clearance outlet and take the east exit. The street right in front of that exit is Hidalgo Street. See the tall abandoned building on the photo above? That’s SM Clearance Outlet and that very street is Hidalgo.
Also, if you’re in front of the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene (Quiapo Church), the south-western street is Hildago.
Here’s a link to Hidalgo St., Quiapo from Google Maps.
