after the rain: Crowded, humid, noisy...Local has to be Manila

Our neighbourhood :)

Live prawns to buy in a super market near by.

Right then, 3 days this how long took me to learn how to move around. I now know roughly the fares for taxi, or motor rickshaw, I have learned how to use the metro and what’s the most important I’m no longer afraid to use it especially during peak hours! Air con in all carriages, you can’t go wrong with it, but if you think central line gets overcrowded in the mornings, well come over and check what’s going on here. Far too many people, plus apparently there is something like advance top up card, but no one knows where to get it, so you have to buy single or returns fares only. Means you have to queue each time you want to use it. Plus there is a search gate at each entrance so the process of getting on the train might be quite time consuming. But then, once you in, you only have to pray you will manage to get off at the station you want.

Sea food section, all you want!

I once nearly got stuck, but have to admit, it was my mistake, as you shouldn't get to far from door if you don’t know which stop is yours. Even though I still think the metro is probably the quickest way to commute in Manila. During rush hours, it gets very uncomfortable, you waste a lot of time queuing, but then when you compare it with taxis, fares are usually 10 times cheaper and at the end of the day you still gonna be quicker then driving. Trust me, when you look at the main roads, they are always jammed up! Which brings me another thing on mind, which is walking here, or being more specifying crossing the roads – trust me good fun. Fortunately, they employ this enormous number of traffic officers to stop cars on zebra crossings (obviously richer parts of Manila only). It’s kind of funny, as it recalls me of those lollypop ladies in UK with the difference that they are usually young males carrying weapon (just incase someone won’t srop;)). You know that’s the crazies thing about Manila, they employ hundreds of thousands of security officers, so they can be seen everywhere. There is always one in MC Donalds or Starbucks, another one in 7/11, then at least few carrying guns outside each bank branch. But they are amazing, very helpful, always friendly and willing to help, they will stop the cars so you can cross the road, call a cab for you and even make sure the driver knows where you want to go (usually speaks good English). I have got nothing against them, it’s just the idea of security in this country is wrong to me, they will search you bag each time you get to the hotel, each time you getting to the shopping mall or metro, plus those thousands of security officers, well you can see an American influence here.

Made in America

Right, let’s change the subject a little, couple of days ago, as a part of my preparation for the 10k run, I decided to walk to shopping mall recommended either by Emi as well as ‘Lonely Planet’. And you should see those looks I was getting from locals, don’t get me wrong they were very friendly, sorry I would rather say. Like in Malaysia, no one walks here, so then when they see a white big, cowered in sweat Pole, they find it strange. I have been even offered an jeepney ride by probably the coolest jeepney I have seen so far (pimp my ride, see the pic for that beast), but as I was only 2 minutes away from my destination I didn’t bother. Any way,the ride on the jeepney wouldn’t change anything as the loading section where all people seats it’s usually open and as it’s always packed up with people, so you still gonna get sweat. Any way enough of that, AS IT’S NORMAL HERE TO SWEAT A LOT DUE TO THE HUMIDITY, so I know it might sounds wrong, but try to come over to Asia and stay dry! That day, I actually manage to have a 10k jog in the morning, where I’ve drunk way to much water afterwards, probably that’s way I was sweating so much;).

Bible Store!

Green hills as a shopping mall wasn’t interesting at all, I couldn’t find there anything good what so ever,( I later learned that I’ve missed the right entrance and haven’t seen the best bit), so I decided to walk even further down the road. Well I roughly knew there should be a metro station not far from there. So it was probably 40 min later I have finally found it. The Metro located in San Juan, only 60 mins walk away from Pasig City (our posh neighborhood), was completely, different much more down to earth place. Not as many security officers, no one to stop the cars so I could safely cross the road;). But that was giving me the idea that more north I go bigger poverty I get to see. And as I said, 4 metro stops further I could see the proper Manila, not the one in Makati with those fancy malls, posh restaurants and streets designed exactly same like the ones in LA but the one with flats made of sheets of metal, with no running water, missing windows. It’s amazing how big the drop is between those places even though they only like few blocks away. I even manage to took few pic, but then I decided to put the camera back to bag as I’m still not sure how safe I am in those neighborhoods. Few minutes of wondering was enough for me, as I got this feeling that people there were not as friendly as they were elsewhere, I have still managed to see those local garages where they weld jeepneys or those tricycles had a ride around on a tiny tricycle for 20 pesos. I will definitively go back there once again, much brave with my camera in hand so might get some good pic out there.

Makati

...just 30 mins away from Makati.

Not too far away from this part of town, you can find a Chinese cemetery, really strange place, which I first thought is a cemetery and building estate, mixed in one place. Only few seconds later I realized that those big buildings, some of them with air-con, nicely finished inside as well as outside were mausoleums. Yes, it’s correct, on one side of the wall just behind the cemetery you have got this rough neighborhood with sheds made of ply wood and sheets of metal, mixed with those old buildings with in many occasions missing windows which accommodates whole families and just next door to that you can find this strange Chinese place with very fancy buildings for dead people, what a world we live in! It took me good 15 to walk from one side to another, plus there are some side roads which usually take extra 5- 10 min, so fairly big place.

One of the houses in the poorer part of Manila.

Personally I have a mixed opinion about it, I think the cemeteries (graves) in Poland are way to big, so when you see whole buildings designated to be mausoleums, you start to think. Any way, it’s not me to worry about it, it’s there and it’s quite unique, definitively worth seeing, especially combined with the walk inside Chinatown. But don’t expect too much, it will be as rough as you would expect (Chinese mixed with Pilipino, just think about it). Let me give you a brief lesson of Philippine history. Chinese have been part of Pilipino culture for more than 200 years, but they were always a minority, always pushed outside the community. I even heard this story, that couple of hundred years ago when Spain was still in charge of Manila, even though Chinese were bringing a lot of business from the east, they were still kept one cannon shot away from intramuros (old part of Manila, used to be the heart of Philippines). And even now so many years later, whoever you speak to, I mean Pilipino, I could still feel that they not the biggest fans of Chinese. Anyway, as we are in Philippines, enough of chines, there is still plenty of other stuff I want to write about.

A mausoleum, not a house!

Probably the most popular questions locals ask westerners is; ‘are you here on vacation’ or ‘what’s your country’. I mean I have got no problem with them, but it’s quite annoying when you have to answer it more then few times a day. Those situations happen every so often, where the most recent one happened when I was having my lunch in one of the Mc Donald’s in Makati. Don’t get me wrong here, I was only getting coffee there to be able to use the free Wi-Fi. Any way, while I’s drinking coffee I could hear that few girls sitting next to were trying to approach me. It wasn’t a direct contact yet, but I could here that they were giggling between each asking one each other to ask me ‘if I am on vacation’. Same question, which the Mc Donald’s staff has already asked me probably 3 times You know, like ‘what coffee you like sir, and by the way, are you here on you vacation?, very rhetoric question Madame, is 3pm on Wednesday afternoon, I’m wearing shorts, flip flops and carrying a big camera on my side, what else would I be doing (well I could be always working for National geographic or Lonely Planet)!. So let’s go back to those girls sitting next to me, who eventually approached me with more civilized way, by just asking If I wouldn’t mind if they interrupt my lunch and just have a chat. Well positively surprised, and what I letter found out, they were only making jokes, that the standard ‘vacation’ question is something like a icebreaker for locals, which they also find annoying. At the end of the day, they were ok helping me with the directions and what else I should see while out there, which I eventually forgotten, oh well. But the funniest thing was that at the end of the conversation one of them said “dziekuje”. What she then told me is that her parents took her for a central and eastern Europe trip couple of years ago, and she even enjoyed it, (strange, because as she latter told me that they have only visited southern Poland, mainly to see ‘Auschwitz’). So it was nice talking to them, but there was few more to places be visited and I had to keep going. One more thing about McDonald, you can’t get latte here in asia, but you can get an ice cream dipped in coca cola, which believe me or not is very popular in here.

One of the food stands...

Close up...

So each day I learn something more about this city, especially about public transport and taxis. Where Cab drivers are probably the biggest cheaters in Manila, obviously there are some good ones to, who don’t complaint much, always have the meter on. As previously mentioned, it’s actually better to ask one of the security guys to get you taxi, as they will always make sure the driver is ok and the meter is on!

So as metro, tricycles and cabs I’m used to by now, next step for me is learn how to get on the right jeepney ;) so still plenty more to learn, but I will write about it next time.