My father lived and stayed in Binondo during his college days since he is a working student. He works for a Chinese man who treated him like one of his sons. He helps in their distribution business of fresh fish to Manila market.
My vivid memory of Binondo as a young child was going up to the Binondo building high stairs to visit this Chinese family. The first chinese words I learned are the Chinese numbers below which I love to recite repetitively during gradeschool.
1 - it2 - nung
3 - sa
4 - si
5 - go
6 - lak
7 - tsit
8 - pwe
9 - kaw
10 - tsup
100 - pa
My parents could still recall that as a toddler, I stole an apple in one of the Binondo fruit stands but they pay for it eventually. They often repeat this story until now.😅