Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Saturday 16th June 2007 - Our last day and Ludy smuggles diamonds
Typical Jeepney, individually decorated. Sunset over the Makati, Manila skyline
Saturday 16th June 2007
Patrick, Ate Matilda’s eldest son came to collect us at 8 and after some teary farewells with Ate Bever, Kuya Guy and Tita Del we were on our way to Saint Jose Street, Mandaluyong to see Marivic and family. This is where Ludy used to live with her mother before they moved to Binanongan and where she became an elected council woman representing the residents of the Barangay of Sta Jose. We arrived around 9.30 and we and our cases unloaded and were shown to Ate Matilda’s house. We were made very welcome by Nanay (Grandma) who is Ate Matilda’s mum, Marivic, Ate M’s daughter and 2 of her 3 children Xandra and Belle, her youngest, Alex being somewhere else at the time. Later we met Freddie whose birthday it was today and his family, Fe his wife and Angel their daughter. Still later Patrick’s wife Melanie and their children arrived. Patrick took us out to visit the local market and for me to take my first ride on a Jeepney. We walked to the end of the road and basically stuck a hand out and stopped the first one going in the direction we needed. Don’t ask me how they know if they’re going to your destination because I haven’t a clue. You jump on at the rear and pass the fare down via the other passengers to the driver and by the same route for your change. When you want to get off you shout and the Jeepney stops! It would be satisfying to say that Jeepneys cause traffic chaos with their constant stopping and starting but it doesn’t appear to be the case. The traffic is so bad and slow their progress is barely discernable! If it wasn’t so hot and humid it would be quicker to walk! Disembarking from the peculiarly Manilan mode of transport we wander through the market which unbelievably seems even hotter than outside! We cross the street passing a number of “senior” citizens sitting at tables with cups of drink maybe tea, maybe coffee, maybe something else and passing the time of day and eyeing me curiously. As I pass them I smile and say “madangang umaga” and they all chuckle and return to their drinks and conversation. (good morning in Tagalog) We decide to buy Freddie a birthday cake for his birthday and hop on another Jeepney. This one is obviously owned by the young driver as it has been stylised to his own tastes which includes flashing l.e.d. lights built into wood panelling and a sound system you would be proud to have in your house! Speakers all round and a huge bass box under the front passenger seat, reverberating intense bass notes through the Jeepney and our bodies. Patrick shouts above the music that in the evenings many of the younger people only jump on the Jeepneys with the music and many have no destination for their journey but stay on just for the music! We jump off near a Jeepney rank (like a taxi rank but for Jeepneys) and head for the bakery, part of a well known chain in Philippines, called Goldilocks. Lu orders a rather large and chocolaty beast of a cake and has some appropriate wording iced on to it for Freddie and we then make our way back to “Hotel Marivic”. By Jeepney of course.
Lunch is ready when we arrive and we have many dishes all of them really tasty and beautifully cooked. More people arrive including Freddie’s wife Fe who is about to go and live and work in Singapore as a Staff Nurse in a hospital not far from Changi airport. She can earn more money in Singapore as a staff nurse than in Manila which will help support her family. This is an option that many Filipinas take to enable their family and extended family to live a little more comfortably than they otherwise would by doing the same or similar job in their own country. There is a truism that no matter where you go in the world you will meet a Filipino there working hard for his/her family back home. I think they are slowly but surely infiltrating all countries in a clandestine bid for world domination. One day we will all wake up and find we have been taken over by smiling Filipinos all apologising profusely for the delay but assuring us that “Merienda will be served shortly”. In Filipino time of course!
Lu has seen an advert that offers a “2 for 1” Diamond facial scrub and face massage and tells me that would be good for both of us?! So we decide to got to the Mega Mall in Mandaluyong and Marivic and her 2 daughters, Belle and Xandra accompany us. We take a Jeepney and then a taxi and we literally crawl our way through the traffic to the centre. It is a huge centre, nicely cooled and contains not only the usual mix of designer retailers and food courts, but cinemas, 48 lane bowling centre and an ice rink. We find the beauty treatment centre which offers the “2 for 1” amid many other boutiques offering dental treatment, various augmentation and reduction packages and health and hospital plans to name but a few. I book the facial treatments and tell Marivic it is for her and Lu and I am pleased to report the surprise on her face is beautiful. I sat down to wait for them and an hour and a half later they appear with huge smiles on their shiny and deeply refreshed faces. So that seems to have gone down well ! I wonder to myself if they now have diamond particles embedded in their faces and idly wonder if you could get arrested for the illegal export of diamonds! We continue walking round the Mall but it is too big to see it all so we take a look at the bowling centre and the ice rink and then wait for a taxi in the stifling heat, to take us back. Dinner is served not long after we return and is again a delicious mix of dishes and every one tucks in. I go to the top of the house, the fourth floor which is open and used as a roof top clothes drying area but which has some interesting and impressive views across the city in the direction of Makati, the main business district and one of the more wealthy suburbs. I took a few photos showing the houses in the street Sta Jose and across the city and fortunately the sun was beginning to set. I managed to take a few beautiful sunset shots which have a slightly different background of the city as opposed to, say, the “normal” beach or palm tree shot you might associate with it. Any how make your own mind up, I have included some at the start of this entry.
Our sleeping accommodation is at Freddie’s house just down the road and we take an emotional farewell from Marivic’s and walk a few hundred yards to our bedroom! We pass a house where they are all out on the street under an awning playing cards and talking and drinking. But as I look more closely all the doors and windows of the house are open and inside is a coffin with the head and shoulders end of the lid open and lying inside is the dearly recently departed. Lu says that the Filipino tradition is that the body is always returned to the family before the burial and they are never left alone. So it becomes a bit of a party, and drinking, singing, card playing and inevitably, eating are all part and parcel of keeping the deceased company during the night. He wasn’t very lucky at the card games but at least he kept a poker face.
As if that wasn’t enough tomorrow is Father’s Day (not just in England) and again there is a tradition that the eve of Fathers Day is as big a celebration as the day itself. And how do they celebrate? I hear you ask. Why, in at least 3 ways that the Filipinos are now famous for. Karaoke or Videoke, drinking and eating! And guess what, there was a Videoke stage directly outside our bedroom window. Oh joy! Our bedroom was lovely, cool and comfortable and with its own entertainment centre for free. We retired at around 10pm as we had to be up for 3am to be sure of getting to the airport in time for check-in and the flight at 08.00. Videoke stopped at 2am so I managed a good nights sleep to prepare me for the 16 hours travelling we had ahead of us. Lu? Hah. 10pm. Head touches pillow…. Zzzzzzzzzz. It’s just not fair.
Patrick, Ate Matilda’s eldest son came to collect us at 8 and after some teary farewells with Ate Bever, Kuya Guy and Tita Del we were on our way to Saint Jose Street, Mandaluyong to see Marivic and family. This is where Ludy used to live with her mother before they moved to Binanongan and where she became an elected council woman representing the residents of the Barangay of Sta Jose. We arrived around 9.30 and we and our cases unloaded and were shown to Ate Matilda’s house. We were made very welcome by Nanay (Grandma) who is Ate Matilda’s mum, Marivic, Ate M’s daughter and 2 of her 3 children Xandra and Belle, her youngest, Alex being somewhere else at the time. Later we met Freddie whose birthday it was today and his family, Fe his wife and Angel their daughter. Still later Patrick’s wife Melanie and their children arrived. Patrick took us out to visit the local market and for me to take my first ride on a Jeepney. We walked to the end of the road and basically stuck a hand out and stopped the first one going in the direction we needed. Don’t ask me how they know if they’re going to your destination because I haven’t a clue. You jump on at the rear and pass the fare down via the other passengers to the driver and by the same route for your change. When you want to get off you shout and the Jeepney stops! It would be satisfying to say that Jeepneys cause traffic chaos with their constant stopping and starting but it doesn’t appear to be the case. The traffic is so bad and slow their progress is barely discernable! If it wasn’t so hot and humid it would be quicker to walk! Disembarking from the peculiarly Manilan mode of transport we wander through the market which unbelievably seems even hotter than outside! We cross the street passing a number of “senior” citizens sitting at tables with cups of drink maybe tea, maybe coffee, maybe something else and passing the time of day and eyeing me curiously. As I pass them I smile and say “madangang umaga” and they all chuckle and return to their drinks and conversation. (good morning in Tagalog) We decide to buy Freddie a birthday cake for his birthday and hop on another Jeepney. This one is obviously owned by the young driver as it has been stylised to his own tastes which includes flashing l.e.d. lights built into wood panelling and a sound system you would be proud to have in your house! Speakers all round and a huge bass box under the front passenger seat, reverberating intense bass notes through the Jeepney and our bodies. Patrick shouts above the music that in the evenings many of the younger people only jump on the Jeepneys with the music and many have no destination for their journey but stay on just for the music! We jump off near a Jeepney rank (like a taxi rank but for Jeepneys) and head for the bakery, part of a well known chain in Philippines, called Goldilocks. Lu orders a rather large and chocolaty beast of a cake and has some appropriate wording iced on to it for Freddie and we then make our way back to “Hotel Marivic”. By Jeepney of course.
Lunch is ready when we arrive and we have many dishes all of them really tasty and beautifully cooked. More people arrive including Freddie’s wife Fe who is about to go and live and work in Singapore as a Staff Nurse in a hospital not far from Changi airport. She can earn more money in Singapore as a staff nurse than in Manila which will help support her family. This is an option that many Filipinas take to enable their family and extended family to live a little more comfortably than they otherwise would by doing the same or similar job in their own country. There is a truism that no matter where you go in the world you will meet a Filipino there working hard for his/her family back home. I think they are slowly but surely infiltrating all countries in a clandestine bid for world domination. One day we will all wake up and find we have been taken over by smiling Filipinos all apologising profusely for the delay but assuring us that “Merienda will be served shortly”. In Filipino time of course!
Lu has seen an advert that offers a “2 for 1” Diamond facial scrub and face massage and tells me that would be good for both of us?! So we decide to got to the Mega Mall in Mandaluyong and Marivic and her 2 daughters, Belle and Xandra accompany us. We take a Jeepney and then a taxi and we literally crawl our way through the traffic to the centre. It is a huge centre, nicely cooled and contains not only the usual mix of designer retailers and food courts, but cinemas, 48 lane bowling centre and an ice rink. We find the beauty treatment centre which offers the “2 for 1” amid many other boutiques offering dental treatment, various augmentation and reduction packages and health and hospital plans to name but a few. I book the facial treatments and tell Marivic it is for her and Lu and I am pleased to report the surprise on her face is beautiful. I sat down to wait for them and an hour and a half later they appear with huge smiles on their shiny and deeply refreshed faces. So that seems to have gone down well ! I wonder to myself if they now have diamond particles embedded in their faces and idly wonder if you could get arrested for the illegal export of diamonds! We continue walking round the Mall but it is too big to see it all so we take a look at the bowling centre and the ice rink and then wait for a taxi in the stifling heat, to take us back. Dinner is served not long after we return and is again a delicious mix of dishes and every one tucks in. I go to the top of the house, the fourth floor which is open and used as a roof top clothes drying area but which has some interesting and impressive views across the city in the direction of Makati, the main business district and one of the more wealthy suburbs. I took a few photos showing the houses in the street Sta Jose and across the city and fortunately the sun was beginning to set. I managed to take a few beautiful sunset shots which have a slightly different background of the city as opposed to, say, the “normal” beach or palm tree shot you might associate with it. Any how make your own mind up, I have included some at the start of this entry.
Our sleeping accommodation is at Freddie’s house just down the road and we take an emotional farewell from Marivic’s and walk a few hundred yards to our bedroom! We pass a house where they are all out on the street under an awning playing cards and talking and drinking. But as I look more closely all the doors and windows of the house are open and inside is a coffin with the head and shoulders end of the lid open and lying inside is the dearly recently departed. Lu says that the Filipino tradition is that the body is always returned to the family before the burial and they are never left alone. So it becomes a bit of a party, and drinking, singing, card playing and inevitably, eating are all part and parcel of keeping the deceased company during the night. He wasn’t very lucky at the card games but at least he kept a poker face.
As if that wasn’t enough tomorrow is Father’s Day (not just in England) and again there is a tradition that the eve of Fathers Day is as big a celebration as the day itself. And how do they celebrate? I hear you ask. Why, in at least 3 ways that the Filipinos are now famous for. Karaoke or Videoke, drinking and eating! And guess what, there was a Videoke stage directly outside our bedroom window. Oh joy! Our bedroom was lovely, cool and comfortable and with its own entertainment centre for free. We retired at around 10pm as we had to be up for 3am to be sure of getting to the airport in time for check-in and the flight at 08.00. Videoke stopped at 2am so I managed a good nights sleep to prepare me for the 16 hours travelling we had ahead of us. Lu? Hah. 10pm. Head touches pillow…. Zzzzzzzzzz. It’s just not fair.
Labels: Jeepney, Makati, Mandaluyong
