‘Parang Europe’: New Jones Bridge esplanade, with side-trip to ‘Mini Thailand,’ Tondo’s Lakbayaw Festival
MANILA, Philippines — Newly revamped with longer and paved walkways, the Jones Bridge esplanade has been attracting more and more tourists for giving a peek at the so-called “Golden Age” of Manila in the ‘50s – when nearby Binondo used to be the “Wall Street of Asia.”
Faithful to its original French Neoclassical design by Filipino architect Juan Arellano, the same designer of the nearby Metropolitan Theater, the new Jones Bridge esplanade boasts of Neoclassical carvings, seating areas, lampposts and fountains with changing light-emitting diode (LED) lights.
What’s best is that the esplanade runs alongside a now clean and rehabilitated side of the Pasig River – giving one a glimpse of its former beauty as immortalized by national hero Dr. Jose Rizal in his novel “El Filibusterismo.”
Impressed by the upgrades, some locals exclaimed that the esplanade now gives “Europe feels” – with a bit of resemblance to Italy’s Venice and Switzerland’s Lucerne.
The Jones Bridge esplanade was among the stops of some of those who recently celebrated the Lakbayaw Festival in nearby Tondo.
Filipino Catholics celebrated lately the Feast of the Sto. Niño – from Cebu’s grand Sinulog Festival last week, to Pasay’s grand Sto. Niño parade yesterday.
Last January 19, Tondo feted its Sto. Nino de Tondo with a grand Lakbayaw Festival, complete with a parade of the child Jesus statues and lively street dancing.
Sto. Niño de Tondo is the second-oldest Sto. Niño in the country that arrived in the country in 1572 through the expedition of Spanish conquistador Miguel Lopez de Legazpi. The Sto. Nino de Cebu is the oldest as it arrived in the country in 1521 as a gift by Ferdinand Magellan to Queen Juana.
Like the Sto. Nino de Cebu, Sto. Niño de Tondo has been believed to be miraculous. When the Japanese occupied the Tondo Church during World War II, it was said that a child’s cry drove the Japanese away. Locals believed that the cry was from the Sto. Niño.
WATCH: Glimpse at Sto. Niño de Tondo 2025
Near the Tondo Church, which houses the Sto. Niño, is the recently opened Ugbo street food and market, also fondly called “Mini Thailand” by locals for initially offering Thai food.
Although the nightly food market still offers some Thai street food, it is mostly visited by local and foreign food adventurers alike for its heritage hole-in-the-wall diners, seafood “paluto” and eccentric food such as Grilled Balut (fertilized duck embryo) and Tapang Kabayo (horse meat).
TV host and comedian Vice Ganda is among the celebrities who have graced Tondo’s Lakbayaw Festival and have tried some street food in “Mini Thailand.”
WATCH: Tondo's 'Mini Thailand' street food
— Videos by Deni Bernardo; video editing by Martin Ramos, EC Toledo
