It's almost too much for my senses to take in, let alone absorb...
In the parking area of my hotel I saw a "traffic control" guy wearing a gun. Just outside the hotel's entrance there was a military guy with a "sniffing" dog checking luggage for drugs and/or explosive materials. Entering the hotel I had to pass through a metal detector and have my shoulder bag scanned for anything dangerous. Later, while walking around, I saw a guard with a machine gun standing outside a different hotel. Entering a shopping center I had to pass through another security checkpoint...
Manila seems like some kind of radical capitalist's wet dream. There are "money changers" everywhere. In just a couple of hours walking in the area around my hotel I was approached at least 20 times by different people offering to sell me a wide variety of stuff--cigarettes, flowers, "gold" coins, food items, watches ("Rolex", "Omega", etc.). One guy had "Cialis" and "Viagara" on offer. I'm fairly certain that most the "name" items were fake, but I didn't really look too closely...
I had a great lunch at an outdoor shop--"chicken diablo" (very spicy and tasty) and a couple of San Miguel beers. It cost about three dollars, including the beer. In my hotel it costs about eight bucks for a beer...
This evening while having a beer outside a bar, an old lady approached me shaking a tin cup and making hand-to-mouth gestures. She wanted some coins. A few minutes later a five-year-old girl did the same. A few more minutes later a young woman (I think a teenager) holding a baby...
Earlier I had noticed that there seemed to be a lot of naked little kids wandering around. I saw one of them take a shit on a piece of newspaper that his mother had placed on the sidewalk. I saw another little kid, naked and apparently alone, sleeping on the sidewalk...
Everyone here calls me "sir". It's a bit unsettling...
Manila seems very alive. In fact, it seems like the essence of life itself...
Are you sure you're not in Africa?
ReplyDeleteThe security situation sounds much the same as it is here. The folks begging, don't sound that much different either. Hotels and beer, a bad mix, the world over. Homeless kids, yep, all over the place around here. Breaks your heart. It's a strange juxtaposition, this essence of vibrant life and the poverty and hardships. Colour and drama.
I'm also reminded of my ex husband's visit, years ago, to Bogotá - now that's a place that I think would give you plenty to blog about - never mind a beer in your hotel, you could get a nurse, a needle and ... Oh, and best not go out after dark - machine guns, and more, everywhere.
From what I've heard, it's often the big cities where the worlds collide, or at least scrape the paint off of each other.
ReplyDeleteAV,
ReplyDeleteStrangely though, I never once felt threatened or in danger (although I'm not a particularly panicky type of guy...), except when it came time to pay the hotel bill! Bloody hell, even the 5 star hotels are running scams in Manila (they quote the price in US$, then charge you in pesos (after inflating the rate about to about 10% more than the grubby money-changers out on the street are giving).
Pierre,
That may be so. I'd go back to Manila anytime.