The elliptical park at the center of Quezon City has been a weekend playground for me during my younger years. We’d visit mom’s office at Fairview and head to the park afterwards to ride around its shady tree-lined avenues on bicycles.

I’ve revisited the Quezon Memorial Circle on and off throughout the years but I was pleasantly surprised by its current reincarnation on my latest visit.
While waiting for a magazine interview in one of its many restaurants, I hurriedly took off and snapped a few photos with my brand-spanking new Sony NEX5n camera courtesy of Sony Philippines (thank you Sony!). This is actually the first time I’ve brought this small camera to cover a place and I was interested to know if it can do the job as well as my Nikon D80 + Tokina 11-16mm constant companion.

The park looked exactly the same as before; kids running around, sorbetero’s under the shades of trees, students practicing school performances and lovers talking quietly on benches. It was a beautiful Sunday morning, and the towering pylons of President Manuel L. Quezon’s Memorial stands proudly against a cobalt blue sky dotted by slow moving white clouds.
I wandered off and found myself along stalls of street food; hmm, I’ve never seen these guys before. I guess Circle (as most Manila people calls the Quezon Memorial Circle) has finally caught up with the weekend market gimmick. There were the usual barbeques and street fares plus some budget apparels and toys. I bought a piece of Chinese spring roll and munched on to the playgrounds.
Gone was the old playground that I was familiar with! What replaced it was a more colorful and organized yard full of running kids. I was astounded with its transformation. The old concrete playground sets were now replaced with new colorful plastic and metal ones and it looked like the kids were having a blast with them.
The old bike lanes were now also replaced by a new track complete with innovative and interesting looking bicycles. Kids can now choose through numerous bike designs; cool! I also found a Koi pond overflowing with colorful fishes, a boating lagoon, a new zip line and a mini theme park that have rides similar to those found in Enchanted Kingdom and Star City.
Everything was nice and cool even under the morning sun since the canopy of the old trees that dot the park covers most of the grounds quite well.

I’m glad that the Quezon Memorial administration was able to transform the park into what it is now. The last time I documented this place, the playground was almost ready to crumble from age. It’s good to know that families looking for a decent weekend place for their kids can have such a place to go to without spending so much. Kudos to the local government of Quezon City!

    Quezon Memorial Circle
    Elliptical Road, Quezon City
    Open 24 hours everyday
    Click to view location on Google Maps