Lots of firsts yesterday. Who would have thought that we would take our first public bus ride this late in our trip. I think we were spoiled in India where we had personal taxi service all over the country which was so freeing that we can't give it up anymore.
In any case yesterday morning we left Tagaytay on an almost sunny day taking one of the motorcycle trikes down to the bus stop area. I got to ride pillion, just like Geordie did the night before - side saddle on the bike itself. At the bus stop a bus pulled up as we arrived and after confirming that it went to Manila (well, to Baclaran, which we'd never heard of) we got on. The bus was airconditioned - we were glad we were still wearing our long-sleeved shirts.
Once we were settled we pulled out the guide book and found that Baclaran was indeed in the neighbourhood of Manila and actually closer to our hotel area than the area we thought we needed. The ride down to Manila through the province of Cavite was lovely - the road for a long way was full of garden centres selling plants which lined the road. Certainly if one lived here one could have a gorgeous garden. We had seen a bonsai in a garden centre in Tagaytay itself that would have set us back about 65,000 pesos (about $1500.00) - a goodly bit of money but so beautiful.
Baclaran turned out to be not quite as easy as we hoped but as usual we coped. We were let off in a sea of buses and had to walk about 10 minutes through buses, jeepneys, people, cars and a large open air market before we found a street where we could locate a taxi - a bit of a rattletrap that still got us where we wanted to go. Good thing we'd been there before because we did have to help the driver find it.
At the hotel things did not go well. We had reserved a room on the 2nd floor (so we thought), although we also knew that we would have to spend one night climbing to the 4th floor. But when we showed up we were informed by a couple of surly and sullen young women that they didn't book specific rooms, that the room we wanted was occupied and we would have to spend all four nights climbing to the 4th floor. We went to look and discovered the "executive room" was about a third the size of the one we'd had back in November, and on the side of the building where the huge condo is being constructed with lots of banging, slamming, and other construction noise to entertain us.
No go! We went to have a coffee at Starbucks (attached to the hotel) and Geordie went off to check out other hotels in the neighbourhood. He came back about 5 minutes later and sent me off to look at room 301 of the Rainbow Hotel across the street. I went off and 5 minutes later was booking the room for us. From the little tiny noisy room we were to pay $1700 pesos, we moved to a large room with a queen sized bed, and a sitting area with a "pleather" sofa and two chairs, breakfast included in the price, $1600 pesos. In a hotel with an elevator!
Ok, on to more fun stuff. While we were on the bus heading down to Manila, Geordie's phone rang and our friend John from Vancouver was at the other end, checking on our arrival in Manila. We arranged to call him as soon as we arrived which we did. He and his brother Joey then made plans to meet us in Manila after we arrived.
It was great. Joey arrived in his car with John, we had our excited reunion and then we headed off to the Mall of Asia for a little tour of Filipino food. Joey apparently has learned the lessons of his mother well, according to John, and insisted we eat as much food as he could think of. We had grilled chicken on a bamboo skewer at Mang Inasal - a big chain that has restaurants all over the country. Then we had to go have huge fresh lumpia (a filipino egg roll) at Mannan Hang, and from there around the corner to have halo-halo - shaved ice with sweetened black banana, a milk based topping and a garnish of slices of creme caramel.
Joey thought this was hardly enough - there was so much more to try, but we were bursting at the seams. It was great fun. We also did a little shopping - got to go to the Costco of the Philippines, and looked at tv tables at the Mall. Joey is still refurnishing his house after last October's typhoon damage and needs 7 tv stands!
Our final stop was for coffee - Joey thought we needed dessert there too, but we resisted. Honestly, even I can't eat that much food. I think I've gained back the 3 pounds I'd hoped I'd lost in the last couple of weeks of eating my high-fibre, no beer diet.
And finally - we said goodbye to our two wonderful hosts and sent them off. We stayed because we wanted to see Avatar, and although Geordie didn't find it so comfortable, I thought seeing the movie in 3D at the Imax theatre was incredible. If you haven't seen this movie, the special effects alone are worth the price. This is the most vividly realized alien planet that I've ever even imagined in all my science fiction reading. The plant life, the animal life, the sky - it is impossible to put into the words the glorious detail. Certainly there are gaps in the storyline - this is not a perfect movie. As I'm sure you've read in reviews, the notion of a sentient planetscape does take simplistic aim at organized religion, the references to recent conflicts here on Earth ("shock and awe"), and the in-your-face racism of the military, and the "big business is king" attitude are way over the top. And the Avatar concept itself needs a little more development. Finding out only half way through the movie that the avatar just collapses when the original mind comes out of stasis was a stretch too.
However, go see this movie. And if you can see it in 3D all the better. The effects are astounding, the scenery is impossibly phenomenal, and the animal life is wild.
Showing posts with label Manila. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Manila. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Manila - Cemeteries and Museums.
Hope you enjoyed our adventure with the laughing police. They kept saying that the 2 of them were Manila's finest of the finest. The cars are labeled "Manila's Finest" and it also appears on the crests they wear on their sleeves.
Yesterday we headed out on the LRT to see the Chinese Cemetery. Geordie misread the info in Lonely Planet and we got off at the wrong stop and walked forever in the heat through not the best area. In fact it was more like the worst area! Nigel did not complain too much. The cemetery is huge and amazing. The mausoleums are huge 2 story affairs for the rich Most have bathrooms, a kitchen and even bedrooms for the visitors.Geordie was there in 1959 and had to show Nigel. The biggest mausoleums are on streets and between those streets are 4 foot wide alleys and 100's of smaller places. While we were there we saw 2 funeral processions complete with lmarching bands. The mourners wore white and had white sashes. Some of the mourners marched behind the hearse holding long white sashes attached to the car.
After our visit to the cemetery we walked through a rather run down area and along a very busy road where we sometimes had to step into the road when the sidewalk disappeared. Good thing we are getting better at avoiding cars that want to run us down. It seems that drivers have no use for pedestrians - we might be walking across the street, but the car does not slow down - we are expected to be gone by the time the car arrives where we were. After the stress of walking then catching the LRT to Chinatown Nigel needed coffee so he chose MacDonalds - well he really wanted an ice cream, the coffee was just an excuse.
We were looking for the restaurant called MXT Tea House which came highly recommended by Lonely Planet. The food was very good and of course we ordered too much and ate it all - beef with broccoli, salt and pepper squid, delicious and savoury fried vegetable dumplings and of course, lots of tea. And for a surprise, we got a tiny ice cream cone as a freebie at the end of our meal.
We spent the afternoon at Robinson Place Mall. Huge. We are now Smart Buddies. After an hour in the Smart shop we got SIM cards for our phones. The cards cost $1 Cdn whereas our Rogers card cost $40. The Canadian phone companies sure have us by the throats.
Today, Tuesday Nigel insisted that after the LRT experiences of being a sardine that we would travel to Makati (another district) by taxi. So easy and quick and cost about $2 Cdn. Makati is a different world from where we are staying. It is clean, it has trees and shrubs and very expensive things. We went to see to the Ayala Museum. It was great. The history of the Philippines is done in 60 dioramas. There is a huge collection of SE Asia ceramics and there was also a special exhibit of a collection of gold body ornaments made in the Philippines in the pre Spanish era.
The pottery was all from the Chinese trading era of the 10th to 13th centuries. Some of it was very fine celadon ware which for me was very reminscent of the work of Bernard Leach who was a potter from England who went to Japan and with the potters there, became a brilliant potter who brought his skills back to England and developed fine ties with the Japanese. Somehow I have the feeling that the Japanese were inspired by the Chinese because I saw such similarites to their work. Oddly enough there was an article on Leach in the Japan Airlines In-flight magazine which I enjoyed reading since I had learned about Leach years ago and was glad to see that his legacy lives on.
Back in our area, after another taxi ride men on the street started to whisper in our ear. Years ago when we first traveled in SE Asia drugs were offered by whispering as one walked by. Since we arrived it has been happening again BUT they are saying "Viagra" or "Cialis". Just because we have white hair they should not suppose too much. It is most disconcerting!! I am sure you all will laugh though. Wait until it happens to you! They are only trying to earn a living.
Of course between the time we arrived back in our area, and were desposited in front of Robinson's department store and this message, we got our fill of money changers and happy, wonderful policemen. After the days adventure it seems a perfect time to look for a beer.
Yesterday we headed out on the LRT to see the Chinese Cemetery. Geordie misread the info in Lonely Planet and we got off at the wrong stop and walked forever in the heat through not the best area. In fact it was more like the worst area! Nigel did not complain too much. The cemetery is huge and amazing. The mausoleums are huge 2 story affairs for the rich Most have bathrooms, a kitchen and even bedrooms for the visitors.Geordie was there in 1959 and had to show Nigel. The biggest mausoleums are on streets and between those streets are 4 foot wide alleys and 100's of smaller places. While we were there we saw 2 funeral processions complete with lmarching bands. The mourners wore white and had white sashes. Some of the mourners marched behind the hearse holding long white sashes attached to the car.
After our visit to the cemetery we walked through a rather run down area and along a very busy road where we sometimes had to step into the road when the sidewalk disappeared. Good thing we are getting better at avoiding cars that want to run us down. It seems that drivers have no use for pedestrians - we might be walking across the street, but the car does not slow down - we are expected to be gone by the time the car arrives where we were. After the stress of walking then catching the LRT to Chinatown Nigel needed coffee so he chose MacDonalds - well he really wanted an ice cream, the coffee was just an excuse.
We were looking for the restaurant called MXT Tea House which came highly recommended by Lonely Planet. The food was very good and of course we ordered too much and ate it all - beef with broccoli, salt and pepper squid, delicious and savoury fried vegetable dumplings and of course, lots of tea. And for a surprise, we got a tiny ice cream cone as a freebie at the end of our meal.
We spent the afternoon at Robinson Place Mall. Huge. We are now Smart Buddies. After an hour in the Smart shop we got SIM cards for our phones. The cards cost $1 Cdn whereas our Rogers card cost $40. The Canadian phone companies sure have us by the throats.
Today, Tuesday Nigel insisted that after the LRT experiences of being a sardine that we would travel to Makati (another district) by taxi. So easy and quick and cost about $2 Cdn. Makati is a different world from where we are staying. It is clean, it has trees and shrubs and very expensive things. We went to see to the Ayala Museum. It was great. The history of the Philippines is done in 60 dioramas. There is a huge collection of SE Asia ceramics and there was also a special exhibit of a collection of gold body ornaments made in the Philippines in the pre Spanish era.
The pottery was all from the Chinese trading era of the 10th to 13th centuries. Some of it was very fine celadon ware which for me was very reminscent of the work of Bernard Leach who was a potter from England who went to Japan and with the potters there, became a brilliant potter who brought his skills back to England and developed fine ties with the Japanese. Somehow I have the feeling that the Japanese were inspired by the Chinese because I saw such similarites to their work. Oddly enough there was an article on Leach in the Japan Airlines In-flight magazine which I enjoyed reading since I had learned about Leach years ago and was glad to see that his legacy lives on.
Back in our area, after another taxi ride men on the street started to whisper in our ear. Years ago when we first traveled in SE Asia drugs were offered by whispering as one walked by. Since we arrived it has been happening again BUT they are saying "Viagra" or "Cialis". Just because we have white hair they should not suppose too much. It is most disconcerting!! I am sure you all will laugh though. Wait until it happens to you! They are only trying to earn a living.
Of course between the time we arrived back in our area, and were desposited in front of Robinson's department store and this message, we got our fill of money changers and happy, wonderful policemen. After the days adventure it seems a perfect time to look for a beer.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
