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The Tale of Rose: A history-wrapped mystery tour set in 1950s Escolta
Having “cracked” Rosa’s case, attempting to be as detailed and as informative about Manila Who’s story-driven tour without divulging too much will be a bit of a challenge. The interactive urban experience is a much a walk into Escolta’s history as it is a chance to fulfill your inner Gil Grissom or your Amazing Race mania.
Upon confirmation of participation in “The Tale of Rose”, I received a letter/attachment via email instructing me to bring an extra shirt and umbrella, and to go to the lobby of the First United Building (FUB) along Escolta St., Binondo, Manila 15 minutes before the official 11 a.m. start. Rates start at P800/person for the Basic Escolta Experience to P1,700/person for the Complete Escolta Experience.
After signing a waiver, viewing a brief video introduction of (fictional) victim Rosa Abad’s case, and receiving a few essential detective items—a ticker, a pen, and a Good Morning towel—my fellow detective GMA host Valerie Tan and I started our guide-less tour/investigation inside FUB’s Room 516, where we needed to find a number of clues inside; each successful find was met with a ringing bell and got us one step closer to cracking the case.
From there we went up and down along Escolta doing tasks that not only challenged our mental skills but also tested our other senses. Following the footsteps and daily schedule of budding 1950s actress “Rosa”, the flagship Tale of Rose tour requires a minimum of two and a maximum of five participants per group.
The six locations in and around Escolta that are highlighted in the game not only serve as venues to find and solve clues but are also significant structures and establishments during the heyday of the street named after the Spanish word escoltar or “to escort.”
Additional trivia and tidbits of information are also supplied by Manila Who all throughout the tour; the sources of which, as the staff revealed after the game, came from the usual books and reading materials to unconventional sources like taxi drivers and older people in the area.
Some buildings like the FUB have been kept in good condition and still serve as offices for different companies on the upper floors. FUB even hosts a hip design lab called The HUB at the ground floor. However, others like the Capitol Theater, which could seat 800 patrons back in the day, are currently in a dilapidated state.
Being a person that studied and practically grew up in Binondo and passed by Escolta almost every day, the tour gave me nostalgia from my childhood years where my grandma would take me downtown to buy a new pair of black shoes for school. It would have been a blast to personally experience the golden age of Escolta and not just settle for old pictures and hear stories from our parents and/or grandparents.
Don’t worry if you get stuck not knowing what to do or can’t find the next clue as there will be staff from Manila Who who will accompany you throughout the story driven walk. As we were standing atop Jones Bridge, Manila Who co-founder Nikko would utter the words “warm” or “cold” depending on how close or far we were to the next and final clue.
By this time, we were instructed to go back to FUB to piece all of the clues, information, and evidence together to try and solve Rosa’s mystery. Valerie was quicker to reveal her “solution” to the case, while I overanalyzed things and was slower to give my conclusion. Fortunately, as mentioned above, I did crack Rosa’s case, albeit at a more calculating pace.
For the two to three hours (depending on your problem-solving skills) to finish, the Escolta tour actually took close to half a year for the team behind Manila Who to conceptualize, produce, and beta-test before opening to the public last October 2016. No two Tale of Rosa tours/walks are exactly the same as weather, availability of venues, and other seen and unforeseen factors matter in how the game unfolds.
Appreciation for the several aspects of The Tale of Rose game also varies across ages, as millennial and younger participants might get excited by the problem-solving and detective work, while the “young-once” will also get reconnected with the glory days and grand establishments of the Queen of the Streets, Escolta.
A more confined, one-hour story/game, The Tale of the Cursed Painting (P450/person) was introduced by Manila Who during the Escolta Block event, while grander, and more elaborate games with historical origins and importance are in the works. — BM, GMA News
For more information and contact details, visit Manila Who’s Facebook page and Instagram account.
