Monday morning we awoke early and, after watching a bit of television, headed down to have breakfast at the hotel. This morning I went outside my comfort zone again and had a bowl of molo soup, which is like a Filipino wonton soup. It was quite tasty and I may have some tomorrow as well. I also had my garden salad and several fruit salad shooters.
After breakfast we made our plans for the day. Looking out at the sky it looked like rain so we decided to wait for a bit so we didn’t get soaked on our 2km walk to Quiapo. After a while, the skies cleared a bit and we decided to head out. It was muggy but not as hot as it had been the day before.
Due to the ASEAN Summit, the area around our hotel had an inordinate number of police, from the regular Maynila Pulis to Philippine National Police and military. Roxas Blvd was closed again which made it easy for crossing, however Rizal Park was also closed so we were unable to get any pictures.
We walked down towards City Hall and SM Manila (a mall), being careful not to be hit by passing Jeepneys and motorcycles (no sidewalk), greeting the police that were standing at almost every corner. The weather threatened rain still, and we felt a few drops, but were able to make it inside the mall without incident. We grabbed some juice for the rest of the walk and headed back out, into the muggy heat.
I definitely looked like a tourist, taking pictures of interesting road signs and the traffic, but I didn’t care. I have tried to explain to people back home what it is like here with traffic and the like, but have found it difficult to accurately portray exactly what it is like. Hopefully my pictures will help with that. My favourite sign, so far, said “Bawal tumawid nakamamatay” which translates loosely to “Illegal crossing deadly”. There is also a ₱ 410 fine for doing so, although I think the possibility of dying is a bit more of a deterrent.
We made it to Quiapo Church by using the pedestrian overpass…thankfully there was one as the road was quite busy. The Church was quite crowded for a Monday, but I was still able to walk around a bit without feeling like I was disturbing the worshippers. There was a security guard wandering around, letting people know that pictures were not allowed, however I was able to snap a quick picture without her noticing. Many thanks to F for keeping an eye out for the guard and letting me know when it was safe to sneak the pic.
We then walked out to the square in front of the church and F introduced me to a true street market. It was a sight to see. There were people selling everything from rosaries to ice cream to fresh fruit and vegetables. We wandered through the stalls, making sure to keep one eye on our belongings and the other on the passing people – these are the places that pickpockets run rampant and being a white female I make an easy target. I learned on my last trip that if you appear to know where you are going and you don’t dilly-dally, you are fairly safe. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that everyone here is trying to pickpocket unsuspecting tourists…quite the contrary. The majority of people here are friendly, helpful and hardworking. It is, however, a third-world country and unfortunately there are people that will try to take advantage of a tourist’s naivety.
The pictures below are of the copious amounts of vendors in the market.
We meandered through the stalls and eventually made our way over to Divisoria where we sat and watched the “goings-on” while we rested for a bit. We then headed to where the Jeepneys stop and I boarded my first Jeepney for the ride back to Luneta (where our hotel is). I went up to the driver, told him “dalawa para Luneta”, gave him the fare and got my change. I also learned how to let the driver know where to let us off by banging on the roof. All in all an awesome immersion experience.
Back at the hotel, F decided to have a shower and I headed down to the fitness room and walked about 4km on the treadmill. By this time the sun was just going down and we decided to head back to Robinson’s so I could grab some more of the tank tops that I found the day before. I know they were knock-off Nike, but for ₱ 100, I am not going to complain. We also walked around to try and find me some dress boots for work. That search turned out to be fruitless as I need closed-toe and at least a 2” heel. Hopefully I will be able to find something in MOA (Mall of Asia) or MegaMall.
We decided to go to Aristocrats for dinner. F had pork sticks and dinuguan and I had potato salad and chicken with Java rice. I also had my first taste of calamansi juice, which is basically a Filipino limeade.
After dinner, we made our way back to the hotel, tired and sore from our day’s adventure. It took us no time at all to fall asleep which was great as we had a big day ahead of us on Tuesday.
Thank you for reading and sharing my adventures with me. I will post my Tuesday shortly.
Talk to you soon.
L