It’s another hot summer day in Manila. I am escaping the heat–and an aggressive street hustler who spotted me outside my guesthouse an hour ago after we chatted a couple nights ago–in the aircon comfort of the Internet cafe.
Luis is back, our house is safe & sound thanks to the kindly efforts of our house-sitter, but Boston’s cold and here I am smugly ensconced in summer 3 months ahead of time. Sorry, Luis! I’ll be suffering again before you know it!
Speaking of aggressive hustlers, I’ve been getting mysterious text messages and even a few voice-call attempts on my mobile from a gal who goes by the name of Josephine. Were I inclined that way, I could have a new kaibigan (friend) / text-mate. There aren’t any phonebooks in the prepaid cellular world so I guess she just goes down a list of random phone numbers. My grandmother always said make lemonade if life hands you a lemon, so to challenge myself I switched to Tagalog in a response to Josephine. Now she texts me in Tagalog so I have opportunity to learn a bit more language.
When I’m on my own, for meals I gravitate toward counter-service eateries rather than sit-down restaurants. But tiring of Chowking and Jollibee, I sat down at David’s Tea House along Remedios not far from the Baywalk. Had a dish of sotanghon beef hot-pot, served literally boiling in a clay bowl. Very sarap (tasty) for not much more than a tired old Jollibee hamburger value-meal.
Just noticed now an older guy who gave up on the PC next to me a while ago, saying it was slow, who is now grumpily arguing with the attendant about the bill for his Internet usage on the 2nd PC. (28 pesos, a 45-minute minimum equating to 60 cents, clearly displayed on-screen.) I roll my eyes – along with the friendly Asians here – at the ill behavior of many of my own race…in part because I used to run a small Internet business myself. The main problem with owning your own business is you have to have…customers!
Yesterday I saw two different acquaintances whom I’ve met here: lunch with one in Makati, and dinner with the other at Aristocrat. In between I went to the United Airlines office where the absolute most friendly ticket agent in the world works. Her name is Grace and if you ever come to Philippines, it’s worth the extra $115 change fee just so you can get to meet her. (Well, it’s also worth it to get some extra time for your trip…!)
Ferdinand (more about him further down) said the museums aren’t very good here, and I have determined for myself that the locals don’t seem to appreciate parks. Yesterday I took a closer look at my guidebook (published June 2006) and have concluded that developers have almost completely sabotaged a wonderful park space in Makati: what remains of Greenbelt Park is a courtyard surrounding the church, about 80% of the park is consumed by the building under construction across from our first hotel (BSA Tower). In fact it’s quite noticeable how much more of the building exists now than 3 weeks ago when I first saw it! The last thing Greenbelt needed was yet another shopping mall. Another park appears on the Lonely Planet map: Ayala Triangle.
Venturing to the other side of Ayala Avenue, what I found in the triangle was rather curious: a big piece of land, probably more than 50 acres, with a big garden area occupying maybe 10% of the space up against an office tower, with the rest relatively wild. A security guard looked at me somewhat quizzically when I wandered in, and I noted that despite proximity to the foot traffic of one of the world’s biggest urban centers, the space was deserted! Conscious of the many pesos in my pocket, just returning from the ATM, along with my return airline ticket, I went in anyway. Among the weeds and trees I saw a hut with 3 guys playing cards; bushwhacking my way through to the other side–not really much in the way of trails!–I encountered some occupied shanties, then a construction area that looked like it’s supposed to become gardens but probably shut down soon after work started years ago. Then along the way out I saw a sign that said the area’s private property. Hmm. Mysterious. This is all in the shadow of tremendous skyscrapers. Being a lover of skyscrapers, I must say that skyscrapers without parks, or boardwalks without places to rest away from touts and vendors, are simply less valuable.
Well let’s see, not a whole lot else to report in this entry, I’m taking a bit of a breather from the frenetic activity of our Visayas itinerary. Had breakfast with Ferdinand (San Sebastian alum) this morning, in his charming and gracious way he mentioned a couple of potential itineraries outside Manila. There is a place to the south to go swim with the whale-sharks; he followed up later to report that his friend who lives down there said the boaters there have yet to spot any this season. And he also suggested a place to the far north, the Batanes islands, which my Lonely Planet guide concurs with Ferdinand as a great place to see people who live and look different from those inhabiting the rest of the Philippines, and which can be explored on bicycle. But I have to find out the weather conditions, since I do not have clothes with me to handle cold.
I paid for two more nights in Malate but after that I might go exploring beyond Manila.