Seeing Manila

On Saturday Ting, her formal name is Cecilia Rodrigues, and her daughter, Bettina, took me around Manila. It originally was simply an offer to help me buy fresh water pearls but then it became you should see more of Manila. Ting is one of the counsellors. She lived in Newmarket with her husband for four years before returning because her husband was expected to take over the family business. He was an investment manager in Canada so they are very middle class but are considering returning to Canada, probably Vancouver, more for social and political reasons rather than economic. I have spoken to other Filipinos who will not be that much more better off financially in Canada but for the education, safety, and stability for their children they want to come to Canada. What they give up is everyone has maids, drivers etc. The underclass are cheap to employ and so everyone has them. They feel unsure of the political and social environment not as much now but what it will be like in the future. They are pessimistic. Anyways Ting took to the Green Hills shopping area which was like a flea market in a large building. In fact I think it was a flea market in a large building. There was probably 5000 stalls in the building selling handbags, t shirts, shoes you name it and we went to the area where all the jewelry was being sold. After bargaining with a few we got a very good deal from a family of Muslim Filipinos who are from the south of the country. The part which distinguished them were the women wearing scarves on their heads.

Of course we had a driver because Ting did not drive. I always find this out afterwards and of course I have to volunteer to pay and I end up paying for most of it. Now I know if anyone offers to take me somewhere it is going to cost but then if you saw the way they drive you would want a driver too. I am beginning to notice that there are few women drivers. It is far too aggressive for women drivers or most women drivers. We then went to the Antipolo which is a huge church on the outskirts of Manila. It is the church for travellers so it was appropriate. We ate lunch at an outdoor restaurant area not unlike Granville Island except no water. The water around Manila is very polluted so being by the water is not a great idea. I think you have to get pretty far away from Manila before anyone thinks about swimming in it. We then went and saw 3 different universities 2 were private Catholic and one public university. Ateneo is the more modern Catholic and had nice grounds. It is the one with trees and a picture of Ting and Bettina. The picture of me posing as the human version of the Freedom of Man is at the University of the Philippines which is seen as a sometimes radical university, all the intelligent poor kids go there. The other private school is University of Santo Tomas which is an old university which is the one with the huge door. It had bullet holes from when the Japanese stormed it in wwII. It also was home to about 10,000 U.S. soldiers being held prisoner after MacArtur left in 1942.

We next went through Chinatown. The Chinese as elsewhere have humble stores but the children are driving brand new expensive cars. They are part of the business and professional class as in other south east asia countries. Finally we went to the Mall of Asia owned by Shoemart which is owned by the Chinese meaning Taiwan Chinese. It was the biggest mall I have ever seen and it is supposedly the biggest in Asia although Dubai is building a bigger one supposedly. What I cannot capture on film is how noisy it is. It was like Disneyland but actually closer to Chucky Cheese in volume. Of course we came for the sunset but naturally it was cloudy so it was not too good. The sun was out a little but it is suppose to be a great sunset if it clear just like most cities which are very polluted are known for. Missing it reminded me of staying up all night on Haliakila volcano in Maui waiting for the sunrise which would come up over the other Hawaiian islands only to have cloud cover. Hard to plan great sunrises or sunsets, they seem to just happen.