Ang Peregrino Recommends 19: Celdran Tours

Car­los Celdran’s Tours
URL: http://​cel​dran​tours​.blogspot​.com

Carlos Cel­dran is some­one who is try­ing to change the way peo­ple see Manila, one step at a time. And he does this via his tour-slash-history lesson-slash-play-slash-production num­ber. I joined his Intra­muros Tour two weeks ago with my office­mates and I had done his Binondo Tour awhile back. And I found both tours to be very good.

Just as the tour is not your typ­i­cal “on your right is the Church of San Agustin run by the Agus­tini­ans, etc. etc.”, Cel­dran is not your typ­i­cal tour guide. He sings, acts, jokes, plays music, and (lit­er­ally) changes hats. He takes some his­tor­i­cal lib­er­ties and exag­ger­ates a bit here and there, but I under­stand that that is needed to make a point. The tour is also more emo­tional than phys­i­cal. You walk from one place to another, but the real attrac­tion are the sto­ries and anec­dotes that accom­pany these places.

And I just love it when he said, “The tour will now take a five minute inter­mis­sion; you can go to the restrooms, take some com­pli­men­tary ice tea, and World War II will begin shortly.”

Cel­dran­Tours are for for­eign­ers who are vis­it­ing Manila, expats who have lived in Manila a long time and want to see another face of the city, for Fil­ipinos (like me) who need some nation­al­is­tic shot in the arm, and for kids who will surely ben­e­fit from the his­tory les­son pre­sented in a very cool and hip way.

There were sev­eral for­eign­ers who joined the tour and I think the tour helps them by open­ing their eyes to the Fil­ipino psy­che. They leave the tour more sym­pa­thetic and more under­stand­ing of the Fil­ipino and the coun­try. And with that, the tour has already done its mis­sion. As Car­los Cel­dran puts it, “I may not be able to change how Manila looks, but I can change the way peo­ple look at Manila.”

For rein­vent­ing the con­cept of what a tour is, and for mak­ing the whole expe­ri­ence a really cool, fun, edu­ca­tional and “nation­al­is­tic” expe­ri­ence, AngPere­grino Rec­om­mends Cel­dran­Tours this week.

Note: For those who are vis­it­ing from the provinces, you might want to check out Celdran’s Manila Itener­ary, which includes places to visit, restau­rants to eat at, and shops to buy from. It wouldn’t be your usual Ocean Park-and-mall-hopping fare, but it’s worth a try, if only for a dif­fer­ent and more “cul­tural” expe­ri­ence. You have to text him in order to reserve slots and to con­firm the sked.

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