preMEDitated » manila

Stuff I Like in Manila #2: Bookstores

Engr. Dr. — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 14:58:37 +0000

Stacked inside Manila, often found in shopping malls, are sanctuaries to Knowledge.
Their sizes range from tiny chapels to grand cathedrals. They have different ways of recruiting the devotion of buyers. Some sell overpriced coffee and food as a message that they offer books of high quality. Some merely stack the books into their respective genres, silently telling buyers that the stores also belong to them. Yet there is one offer that is particularly tempting: reading chairs.

These chairs are like relaxing pews that give a pilgrim respite from his physical wanderings and a boost for his mental wanderings. On them he is able to settle comfortably as his mind is transported to the worlds inscribed in books. The books, btw, can be had around him without charge. He merely has to grab any unsealed item, and he is free to do whatever he wants short of damaging it.
When I traveled inside a mall in Manila, I was like a pilgrim seeking an oasis to ease my mind in my wanderings. I rested for a while in Powerbooks, Mall of Asia. The place was like a temple dedicated not just to knowledge, but also to those who sought whatever kind knowledge. I looked around for the knowledge that I could barely find in Iligan. I found books under the Science Fiction and Fantasy genre.

Then I realized that my mind was no longer a pilgrim. It had found its home…

Stuff I Like in Manila #1: Malls

Engr. Dr. — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 14:52:46 +0000

For someone who lives in a city that officially has one shopping mall, but in actuality has only less than a quarter of a mall, Manila shopping malls are must-see places.
Yet if someone were to strip away those malls’ fancy building designs, air conditioning, security guards, and cleaning staff; what would be left would be hot, dirty, and smelly stalls manned by loud vendors. Those stalls would fit in the marketplace environment, because the truth is that shopping malls are nothing but glorified marketplaces.
Not to disparage malls, I think they are way better than marketplaces. Buying necessities and luxuries with convenience and at comparable prices to market prices is a great improvement. In malls, the customer is no longer confronted with offensive smells, dirty streets, and untrustworthy goods’ prices.
Btw, here are a few pics I took in the Mall of Asia while I was waiting for my brother to pick me up.

Yet, to be always confronted with a good thing is to lose appreciation with that thing. For me, one mall is as good as another. It’s just like in the saying that if you’ve been to one, then you’ve been to all. I was not struck with the architecture of Trinoma because I had already been to the Mall of Asia. These were malls I didn’t have opportunity to visit when I still studied in Manila. Yet when I stepped into them, I realized that they were no longer “big deals” to me. I didn’t even visit Glorietta and Greenbelt again.
They were just malls. They were just places where people buy and sell. They were just marketplaces, but just a little bit glorified.

Stuff I Hate in Manila #4: Poverty

Engr. Dr. — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 14:40:59 +0000

The poor are flooding Manila.
They flock to the city hoping for a better life than what they had in the provinces. Too often they are greeted by a harsher life in Manila. They cramp themselves in squatter settlements, risking life and health under squalor conditions. Very few of their children grow up to escape the cycle of poverty. They and many of their children fall prey to crime, or succumb to a life of crime. Thus the city is filled with drug traffickers, petty thieves, hold uppers, rapists, kidnappers, and two-headed-vampires.

Squatter Settlement near the Recto LRT2 Station.

Same Squatter Settlement, Different Angle.

The Very Same Squatter Settlement, which also doubles as an arsonist fantasy.

Stuff I Hate in Manila #3: Price

Engr. Dr. — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 15:31:51 +0000

Everything is expensive in Manila.
What I can buy cheap in Iligan can cost twice as much in Manila. Food I can eat for less than P40 in Iligan can be bought for twice as much in Manila, and to think I’m still referring to ordinary fare. Borderline fancy fare in Manila can cost more than twice the average wage in Iligan. Genuinely fancy fare in Manila may very well cost someone his life in Iligan.
Even basic commodities are very pricey in Manila. Coffee-shop-served coffee is beyond the reach of ordinary folk of Iligan or Manila. Personally, I do not crave pricey coffee and rarely buy it even when I was still studying in Manila. Nevertheless, who am I to decline if somebody offered to treat me with it.

Shown above is coffee courtesy of D*, a generous Kalayaan batch-mate of mine.

Coffee, btw, is not the only expensive ordinary product in Manila. The list includes ice cream, burgers, steaks, soaps, perfumes, and perhaps every other item known to modern man. Whatever product that can be sold for pits in Iligan can be sold for diamond dust in Manila. Whatever also that product may feel like when it’s first used, it will eventually become bland and tasteless in the future.
Yet strangely, people do buy the expensive stuff as opposed to the cheaper ones. I can understand them if their main priority in buying expensive goods is product quality. Yet I fail to see the point on why they would buy those stuff for altogether different reasons. Do they even know what the word S-A-V-E* means?
I must admit that I was tempted to enjoy the pricey luxuries of Manila. I could afford many of the usual Yuppie luxury fare. Yet I know that to succumb to that lifestyle is to live and work in Manila, and to abandon my pursuit of medicine. I could easily pay that coin, but I dare not. The price is too expensive for such a fleeting luxury.

*Strangely, despite the credit crunch; people still flock ind droves to malls in Manila.

Locked Out

Engr. Dr. — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:39:29 +0000

Since my responsible, dear little sister slept on her watch; I am forced to while away the night in the part of Pasay City bordering Makati City.
So my taxi fare was basically gone to waste*. I also had to look for a place to while away the night. Thus I began my search for a nearby motel, hotel, or inn. The hotel I found was out of the question. Besides being full, its cheapest room cost about P2800. There were certainly other more hospitable places.
I’m not picky. I could tolerate any room as long as it has a bed exclusively for my use as well as being free from roaches. I don’t even care if the people in neighboring rooms are doing something privately. As long as the sounds of the night are muffled, I would be able to sleep peacefuly.
Then I went to a night traffic enforcer. I asked him if he knew a place where I can check in. He told me abou a place called Victoria nearby. I asked him if he knew how much it cost. To this question, he did not just shrug. It wasn’t that obvious, but I sensed he was hiding what seemed to be a grimace. He clearly just didn’t know about the price. He also didn’t want anyone to think he knew what the price is.
Then I remembered that in my country “checking in” is taken to mean enjoying sensual delights inside a motel or hotel. Heck. It’s even thought that anybody who checks in at cheap motels in the middle of the night has decided to do just that.
Not being able to find Victoria, I decided to instead ask a servant boy if he knew a nearby hotel, motel, or inn; being careful that I did not mention “check in”. He suggested Anito. I asked him if he knew about the price. He said “no” and then gave me a look that clearly meant that there was no way for him to know about the price. Apparently, anyone who decides to check in in the middle of the night is suspected to be looking for some pleasures.
Nearby, a guard began to wake. He was still groggy when I asked him if he knew a nearby motel, hotel, or inn. To that question he instantly woke up. He still had bloodshot eyes, but they were fully alert. I told him I was locked out and that I needed a place to stay. He gave me a sheepish smile and told me there were “short time” establishments nearby. I could “check in” for an hour or so. Then he gave me that sheepish smile again.
I reminded him I just wanted a place to sleep. Then I hurriedly went to the Internet cafe he was guarding. I decided to wait the night out in the cafe. That guard was beginning to freak me out.

PS There are still 3 more hours till sunrise.

*To think the driver of that taxi was one of those vampire types (see previous post)!