Thank God.
Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed seeing new things and meeting new people. But man, I want to be back in the US.
I'm sitting in a lounge at the airport waiting for my first of four flights to start my 27 hour commute home. I'm not looking forward to the seats and lack of sleep, but I'm completely pumped about going home.
Maybe it's the fact I worked over 300 hours here.
Maybe it's the fact I sat in traffic for 4 hours today.
Maybe it's the traffic in general.
Maybe it's just that I'm made for America.
Or maybe you just come to genuinely appreciate what you miss.
Whatever the reason, Philippines 5, America 2,000,000,000,000.
I'm coming home.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Manila - Wealth
You know what, I was writing this post and my stream-of-consciousness observations on wealth didn't feel right. And I don't mean "correct." I mean it didn't feel right to convey my opinion because I really didn't have enough reliable information to base my opinion on. So, if you want those, get me drunk. What you get here is just a collection of interesting things I've noticed.
- My entire stay, I have basically moved around in a capitalism bubble. I stay at a 4 star hotel where you can flush your toilet paper. This lifestyle does not exist for the majority of the population.
- In general, things are cheaper here. There are a few exceptions to the rule, but this is typically true. I personally think this only happens because of import costs (ala Jim Beam).
- Commercial establishments seem way too over-staffed. Or rather, relative to the US, there are way more employees in retail locations and restaurants. Just walking through the mens section of the SM department store I think I counted around 30-40 people standing around saying "good day sir."
- It's rather annoying when things appear to be over-staffed. It ruins the browsing experience.
- They love the lottery here. I can't explain it, but the lines you see certainly are evidence. I actually read somewhere that this is seen as a drain on the poor because the chance at millions is too much to give up. Keep in mind that 1,000,000 pesos is only 20,000 bucks.
- It's always interesting to see your account balance in another currency.
- Almost everyone has a cell phone.
- Americans are all viewed as rich.
- A little goes a long way.
I don't know what it is. I can't put my finger on it. But there is something...I don't know...environmental (and I'm not referencing nature) about going someplace different that automatically triggers an emotion/assumption/judgment in my head about the overall standard of living of a certain area. It happens when I travel to different cities in the States, but it's truly poignant when I travel to different countries. I don't know whether it's because it's easy to generalize when you're not familiar with something or whether my observations truly reflect the genuine circumstance.
I just think stuff like this is interesting.
- My entire stay, I have basically moved around in a capitalism bubble. I stay at a 4 star hotel where you can flush your toilet paper. This lifestyle does not exist for the majority of the population.
- In general, things are cheaper here. There are a few exceptions to the rule, but this is typically true. I personally think this only happens because of import costs (ala Jim Beam).
- Commercial establishments seem way too over-staffed. Or rather, relative to the US, there are way more employees in retail locations and restaurants. Just walking through the mens section of the SM department store I think I counted around 30-40 people standing around saying "good day sir."
- It's rather annoying when things appear to be over-staffed. It ruins the browsing experience.
- They love the lottery here. I can't explain it, but the lines you see certainly are evidence. I actually read somewhere that this is seen as a drain on the poor because the chance at millions is too much to give up. Keep in mind that 1,000,000 pesos is only 20,000 bucks.
- It's always interesting to see your account balance in another currency.
- Almost everyone has a cell phone.
- Americans are all viewed as rich.
- A little goes a long way.
I don't know what it is. I can't put my finger on it. But there is something...I don't know...environmental (and I'm not referencing nature) about going someplace different that automatically triggers an emotion/assumption/judgment in my head about the overall standard of living of a certain area. It happens when I travel to different cities in the States, but it's truly poignant when I travel to different countries. I don't know whether it's because it's easy to generalize when you're not familiar with something or whether my observations truly reflect the genuine circumstance.
I just think stuff like this is interesting.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Manila - Philippines 5, America 7
To recap some things from my previous observations:
Music Television
Philippines 2, America 1 *upset
Movies
Philippines 2, America 2
Bagels
Philippines 2, America 3
Beer
Philippines 2, America 4
Dried fruit
Philippines 3, America 4
The Sandwich
Philippines 3, America 5
Instant Noodles
Philippines 3, America 6 *upset
And some new ones:
Pillows. Pillows here suck. I can't wait for my beds in ATL and Minnie.
Philippines 3, America 7
Taxi cost. About 2 bucks gets you a 15-20 minute taxi ride. Amazing.
Philippines 4, America 7
Public Restroom Toilet Paper Quality. It's pretty darn good here.
Philippines 5, America 7 *big upset
Music Television
Philippines 2, America 1 *upset
Movies
Philippines 2, America 2
Bagels
Philippines 2, America 3
Beer
Philippines 2, America 4
Dried fruit
Philippines 3, America 4
The Sandwich
Philippines 3, America 5
Instant Noodles
Philippines 3, America 6 *upset
And some new ones:
Pillows. Pillows here suck. I can't wait for my beds in ATL and Minnie.
Philippines 3, America 7
Taxi cost. About 2 bucks gets you a 15-20 minute taxi ride. Amazing.
Philippines 4, America 7
Public Restroom Toilet Paper Quality. It's pretty darn good here.
Philippines 5, America 7 *big upset
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Manila - Health
Well, I've been busy and haven't got a post out there since Monday. So much I want to write about, so little time.
Health is always dependent on culture. The culture you're raised in and the experiences you have in your development within that culture define what is "good" health and what is "bad" health (this is, of course, true for many things not related to health).
What I'm trying to point out is that I write this little article having been raised in an incredibly healthy way. From the cleanliness of the homes I've lived in to opportunities with sports and exercise to the general quality of food over my life. I was raised in a healthy way and I've developed personally in a healthy environment. I'd even venture to say it's quite above the norm for the US and obviously above the norm for Manila.
I'd imagine most of you reading this share the same perspective as me in this way so it should be a good read.
Drink
First of all, you don't drink tap water. Even in fancy hotels. The utility infrastructure here is quite not-to-be-trusted by our relatively sensitive immune systems. Yes you get the shots, and no you don't test their effectiveness.
Except, of course, on accident.
This also means you don't trust ice. You don't trust lettuce. Hell, I've even questioned the bottled water that says "drinking water" with its origins in the Philippines. But questioning doesn't quench your thirst so you buy a 5 gallon jug of water and drink some water that is "purified and processed through the latest state-of-the-art, that includes carbon filtration, water softening, reverse osmosis, microfiltration, and ozonation" methods.
One question to you: how do you brush your teeth? More on that later.
So what about iced tea from a restaurant? What about water in the work water cooler? What about that ice in your Beam and diet coke? These are some of the questions you ask yourself as you continue to drink your Beamer. It's these little things you take for granted in a country that has a pretty darn good utility infrastructure. Even with the little bit or iron in the water. No Britta here. I wouldn't say having to think about this stuff is welcome, but it's definitely interesting.
However, Filipinos really do drink a good amount of water. In the US, drinking enough water is like a health-fad. Here, it's just what you drink. I've even gotten comments from a coworker saying I drink too much diet coke. She said "your kidney will die" (rough translation). I said "it's better than Typhoid." I didn't really, but it would have been funny.
They also drink a lot of coffee. But who doesn't. Well, I don't, but they certainly do.
There's no cultural drink that I really noticed like tea or something. Although they do have Mango juice here that's pretty killer.
Food
To my surprise, the food here is really unhealthy. I honestly thought I was going to lose weight here. Not the case. It's been a struggle to actually gain only what I have. I could blame that on my ridiculous work hours and lack of typical physical exertion, but the food has definitely had an impact.
Now, I did rave about the free breakfast I get at the hotel. Don't get me wrong, that has contributed, but it's partly because they don't have any healthy cereal. Even the skim milk has fat in it (I checked the label). You see? This is clear evidence of my American perspective saying how nothing is fat free? Remember that fad from the late 90's? I'm actually getting ahead of myself. This comment will make sense.
So, a non-breakfast example. Up in Minnie, I buy these Lipton Asian Sides noodle and rice packets for about $1.27 a pop. They are awesome and I love them. It's quite a nice portion and has about 4-5 grams of fat and around 100 grams of carbs. Perfect for my kind of dinner. It's literally what I eat every single night up in Minnie. Maybe with some pre-cooked chicken.
Needless to say, that being my dinner, I was pumped for the instant noodle dishes here. I mean, this is Asia!
Well, they do indeed have an entire aisle dedicated to instant noodles. I was pumped - note the "was". If you look at the choices, the portions are about 1/3rd my Lypton Sides and they have twice to three times the fat! I mean, they're just noodles. I was just surprised. I found some I could live with, but it was an interesting 30 minutes in that aisle trying to figure things out.
Oh, this is a good time to jump in about the different flavors here. First of all, chicken flavor is really hard to find. Pork is all the rage. A popular item/flavor is Pancit Canton. It's actually a traditional noodle dish with some chicken in it and, sadly, shrimp. I was pumped about the chicken, but I'm allergic to shell-fish. It's pronounced "Pan" (like the a in father) "sheet." I called it panshit.
They also really like garlic here. They do use it well in garlic fried rice, but it's just too prevalent in other foods for my taste. Some of the flavors I did really enjoy here have been teriyaki (they got this down), soy, and spaghetti.
Yes, I said spaghetti. I think I might have had some of the best spaghetti last night for dinner I've ever had. It's crazy, I know. But it tasted so darn good. And this was from a place in a mall. I mean, seriously. Italian?
This brings me to my next point. Yes, lots of stuff are noodle based and rice based. But seemingly none of the dishes I've really eaten have been culturally local (with the exception of panshit). They are all borrowed. There was even this huge dish the team at work got for a birthday. When I dug into the noodles with veggies, I thought for sure this was local. Nope, Chinese. I was floored. I mean, it wasn't any Chinese I had ever had. It wasn't particularly or good, but it wasn't Chinese as I know it. But the dish was a popular favorite for birthdays. So was spaghetti.
It's interesting. And a bit ridiculous I think.
Other things they like to do here with their food here:
1) Deep fry it
2) Wrap it in a sweet bread roll
3) Stir fry it
4) Put cheese on it
5) Artificially create it
All of the above (minus the sweet bread part) I try to stay away from. But man that stuff is everywhere. They even had this bread roll covered in a butter and cheese all over it. It's called an Ensaymada. Surprisingly, I have yet to try one.
They do enjoy their leven bread here though. A traditional breakfast is actually some pandesal with liver spread. I won't comment on the liver spread, but the pandesal bread is frickin awesome. We get it free at work on Fridays. Come to think of it...I didn't get any yesterday. Dammit.
One thing I just noticed, I haven't eaten a sandwich here. They don't exist. Wow, I seriously just noticed that. Maybe that's why I've really not taken to the daily food here. No sandwiches. I live on sandwiches and salads for lunch. Man. I'm kinda surprised I didn't notice that until now. Huh.
So, I'll repeat that my impression was that the food here is really unhealthy. Now, let me flip this observation on its head.
Me thinking things were unhealthy is rooted in my perspective that I eat a couple bowls of cereal for breakfast, have either a pretty big salad or sandwich for lunch, and a heaping plate of noodles with meat for dinner. Mixed in there is a bagel for good measure. Now, those portions are American portions...which are quite large.
Here, portions aren't that big. When buying a chicken dish, you might get one fried chicken leg with rice.
One.
The spaghetti I had was also about a third to half of what I would have gotten from a comprable place in the States. Even the pizza pie sizes are smaller here.
So maybe, just maybe, it's not the food that is more unhealthy. It's the fact that my American eating just don't align with the type of food here. Maybe the food is only relatively unhealthy when you eat a bunch of it. Maybe if you eat the portions typical here, it's actual a well-rounded meal. Maybe my ideal meal portion is what is unhealthy. Hmm.
I haven't made a decision, but it has made me think.
Physical
I don't think exercise here is very popular. I honestly can't comment that much because I've seriously been in a capitalism bubble since I've been here, but I don't think they do. I mean, basketball is popular and they have many local leagues here. However not many people work out at all. You really don't see the level of physical fitness that you do in America.
Okay - yes America is, on average, considered obese or something. But in my daily professional and personal life, there is a pretty large faction of people I know that exercise regularly.
This brings me to my next observation: there are a huge amount of overweight people here. Now, please know that this "huge" is completely relative to my expectations coming here. Relative to the States, people are probably more aligned with a "normal" weight. But man, I totally thought the average person would be thinner than I see. I don't know whether this is evidence for my observations on food or exercise, but it is what it is.
Most likely, my opinion wouldn't be the same if I got out of my little bubble here, but it's all I've witnessed.
Hygiene
Brushing your teeth is quite popular here. It's even commented on in traveler guides for the Philippines. I've noticed it. The average teeth color here is pretty darn white. What does this mean? Some pretty awesome smiles. Especially when I make jokes.
Now, remember my question about brushing teeth way up there? Everybody uses tap water. If you recall my comments on tap water, I didn't really want to. Plus I know my Mom would get worried if I did. So how does one brush? I chose to keep a bottle of water (filled from my very own water dispenser mind you) next to the sink and just poor water on the toothbrush.
You'd be surprised how much water you use brushing your teeth.
And how much toothpaste gets built up on the brush from no high-powered stream of water.
And how hard it is to break the habit of sticking the brush under the faucet.
It happened once.
Yes Mom and Dad - I'm okay. It happened the first week I was here.
*Warning*
*Read ahead at your own risk. Nothing else is that important after this and I'm talking about bathroom stuff*
*Warning*
Bathrooms here are also interesting. I think I mentioned most guys don't wash their hands after pissing. But I also don't think I've actually seen paper towel once here. I mean, at work there is an air dryer, but everywhere else there is nothing but air at normal speed and your pants. I don't know whether it's an environment thing or a cost-savings thing. Either way, it's different.
Oh yeah, you also don't flush your toilet paper (outside of really nice hotels). I didn't know this until today. There is even a sign that says it. There is a big waste basket next to the commode. Just sitting there. I thought this was weird when I first saw it. Habits are hard to break.
I bring this up to highlight the lacking utility infrastructure here. Most likely piping, pressure, and processing can't keep up with that amount of waste.
Oh and it also makes the bathrooms smell like, well, you know.
Okay, I'm going to digress a bit here because I know all of you didn't heed my warning and are still reading - and here is your reward.
There's this movie called "Demolition Man." It stars Sylvester Stallone, Wesley Snipes, and Sandra Bullock. It has many cameos like Rob Schneider and Benjamin Bratt. Needless to say, acting is not the movies forte. Neither is the plot. But the idea this movie plays with is quite fun and quite useful to me right now.
In the movie, Sylvester Stallone plays John Spartan, a cop from the 90's put into suspended animation for crimes like blowing up a bunch of hostages. Wesley Snipes plays Simon Phoenix, Spartans arch nemesis who actually blew up the hostages. Phoenix is also put in suspended animation.
Fast forward to 2032 when Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego have merged into San Angeles. Crime is virtually wiped out. Cops don't carry guns. Everyone is "happy." The popular tunes on the radio are actually musical ditty's from 20th century commercials. Think "My bologna has a first name, it's O-S-C-A-R." It's hilarious.
Part of my enjoyment of science fiction is the realm of "what if" that can be explored.
However, all this nicety and perfectness is obviously just a layer of perceived reality built on a foundation of wickedness. But that really doesn't matter to my story.
Simon Phoenix escapes his prison and as the police don't understand how to stop actual violence, they wake up John Spartan to get the job done. John Spartan doesn't really mesh well with all these changes. He's hardcore. He likes hamburgers, beer, cussing, sex. He also hates songs from commercials. It's a classic fish-out-of-water story.
Now here is where my little digression snaps into applicability.
The first time John Spartan has to visit the bathroom, he has to come back out - much to the hilarity of the other police officers. The following is courtesy of IMDB.com:
John Spartan: Look, I don't know if you guys know it, but uh... you're out of toilet paper.
Alfredo Garcia: [confused] Did... did you say toilet *paper*?
Lenina Huxley: Um... they used handfuls of wadded paper back in the 20th...
[Lenina, Alfredo, and Erwin all laugh]
John Spartan: I'm happy that you're happy, but the place where you're supposed to have the toilet paper, you've got this little shelf with three seashells on it.
Erwin: He doesn't know how to use the three seashells!
[Erwin continues to laugh, then calms down]
Erwin: I can see how that could be confusing.
(Just so you know, Erwin is played by Rob Schneider. It's funny.)
John Spartans confusion about seeing three seashells echoes my feelings about the baday. I mean, I don't get it. Logically, sure. But in practice, it's alien to me. I mean, I'm supposed to shoot water up my butt? Like, up my butt? Around it? Seriously, do I have to?
Well, let me tell you that this ain't France and it ain't Japan (where the baday is built into these crazy advanced toilets and a button with a funny picture on it). Here, the Filippino version of a baday is a frickin metal hose lying on the ground of the stall. I seriously didn't get it when I first saw it. I walked into the stall my first time and there was all this water on the ground. I thought something overflowed but the water looked kinda clean. I just dismissed it.
But not when I visited again and heard a dude using the hose. I was floored. There was a guy in the stall next to me hosing off his butt.
Badays confuse me.
Conclusion
Overall, things were very different from what I expected here in terms of overall health. As I re-read the post, I also notice that my tone is almost always negative in some way. Please don't take this as I look down on what I've seen. It's just that things weren't as I expected. I was surprised. Maybe I shouldn't have been, but I was.
Health is always dependent on culture. The culture you're raised in and the experiences you have in your development within that culture define what is "good" health and what is "bad" health (this is, of course, true for many things not related to health).
What I'm trying to point out is that I write this little article having been raised in an incredibly healthy way. From the cleanliness of the homes I've lived in to opportunities with sports and exercise to the general quality of food over my life. I was raised in a healthy way and I've developed personally in a healthy environment. I'd even venture to say it's quite above the norm for the US and obviously above the norm for Manila.
I'd imagine most of you reading this share the same perspective as me in this way so it should be a good read.
Drink
First of all, you don't drink tap water. Even in fancy hotels. The utility infrastructure here is quite not-to-be-trusted by our relatively sensitive immune systems. Yes you get the shots, and no you don't test their effectiveness.
Except, of course, on accident.
This also means you don't trust ice. You don't trust lettuce. Hell, I've even questioned the bottled water that says "drinking water" with its origins in the Philippines. But questioning doesn't quench your thirst so you buy a 5 gallon jug of water and drink some water that is "purified and processed through the latest state-of-the-art, that includes carbon filtration, water softening, reverse osmosis, microfiltration, and ozonation" methods.
One question to you: how do you brush your teeth? More on that later.
So what about iced tea from a restaurant? What about water in the work water cooler? What about that ice in your Beam and diet coke? These are some of the questions you ask yourself as you continue to drink your Beamer. It's these little things you take for granted in a country that has a pretty darn good utility infrastructure. Even with the little bit or iron in the water. No Britta here. I wouldn't say having to think about this stuff is welcome, but it's definitely interesting.
However, Filipinos really do drink a good amount of water. In the US, drinking enough water is like a health-fad. Here, it's just what you drink. I've even gotten comments from a coworker saying I drink too much diet coke. She said "your kidney will die" (rough translation). I said "it's better than Typhoid." I didn't really, but it would have been funny.
They also drink a lot of coffee. But who doesn't. Well, I don't, but they certainly do.
There's no cultural drink that I really noticed like tea or something. Although they do have Mango juice here that's pretty killer.
Food
To my surprise, the food here is really unhealthy. I honestly thought I was going to lose weight here. Not the case. It's been a struggle to actually gain only what I have. I could blame that on my ridiculous work hours and lack of typical physical exertion, but the food has definitely had an impact.
Now, I did rave about the free breakfast I get at the hotel. Don't get me wrong, that has contributed, but it's partly because they don't have any healthy cereal. Even the skim milk has fat in it (I checked the label). You see? This is clear evidence of my American perspective saying how nothing is fat free? Remember that fad from the late 90's? I'm actually getting ahead of myself. This comment will make sense.
So, a non-breakfast example. Up in Minnie, I buy these Lipton Asian Sides noodle and rice packets for about $1.27 a pop. They are awesome and I love them. It's quite a nice portion and has about 4-5 grams of fat and around 100 grams of carbs. Perfect for my kind of dinner. It's literally what I eat every single night up in Minnie. Maybe with some pre-cooked chicken.
Needless to say, that being my dinner, I was pumped for the instant noodle dishes here. I mean, this is Asia!
Well, they do indeed have an entire aisle dedicated to instant noodles. I was pumped - note the "was". If you look at the choices, the portions are about 1/3rd my Lypton Sides and they have twice to three times the fat! I mean, they're just noodles. I was just surprised. I found some I could live with, but it was an interesting 30 minutes in that aisle trying to figure things out.
Oh, this is a good time to jump in about the different flavors here. First of all, chicken flavor is really hard to find. Pork is all the rage. A popular item/flavor is Pancit Canton. It's actually a traditional noodle dish with some chicken in it and, sadly, shrimp. I was pumped about the chicken, but I'm allergic to shell-fish. It's pronounced "Pan" (like the a in father) "sheet." I called it panshit.
They also really like garlic here. They do use it well in garlic fried rice, but it's just too prevalent in other foods for my taste. Some of the flavors I did really enjoy here have been teriyaki (they got this down), soy, and spaghetti.
Yes, I said spaghetti. I think I might have had some of the best spaghetti last night for dinner I've ever had. It's crazy, I know. But it tasted so darn good. And this was from a place in a mall. I mean, seriously. Italian?
This brings me to my next point. Yes, lots of stuff are noodle based and rice based. But seemingly none of the dishes I've really eaten have been culturally local (with the exception of panshit). They are all borrowed. There was even this huge dish the team at work got for a birthday. When I dug into the noodles with veggies, I thought for sure this was local. Nope, Chinese. I was floored. I mean, it wasn't any Chinese I had ever had. It wasn't particularly or good, but it wasn't Chinese as I know it. But the dish was a popular favorite for birthdays. So was spaghetti.
It's interesting. And a bit ridiculous I think.
Other things they like to do here with their food here:
1) Deep fry it
2) Wrap it in a sweet bread roll
3) Stir fry it
4) Put cheese on it
5) Artificially create it
All of the above (minus the sweet bread part) I try to stay away from. But man that stuff is everywhere. They even had this bread roll covered in a butter and cheese all over it. It's called an Ensaymada. Surprisingly, I have yet to try one.
They do enjoy their leven bread here though. A traditional breakfast is actually some pandesal with liver spread. I won't comment on the liver spread, but the pandesal bread is frickin awesome. We get it free at work on Fridays. Come to think of it...I didn't get any yesterday. Dammit.
One thing I just noticed, I haven't eaten a sandwich here. They don't exist. Wow, I seriously just noticed that. Maybe that's why I've really not taken to the daily food here. No sandwiches. I live on sandwiches and salads for lunch. Man. I'm kinda surprised I didn't notice that until now. Huh.
So, I'll repeat that my impression was that the food here is really unhealthy. Now, let me flip this observation on its head.
Me thinking things were unhealthy is rooted in my perspective that I eat a couple bowls of cereal for breakfast, have either a pretty big salad or sandwich for lunch, and a heaping plate of noodles with meat for dinner. Mixed in there is a bagel for good measure. Now, those portions are American portions...which are quite large.
Here, portions aren't that big. When buying a chicken dish, you might get one fried chicken leg with rice.
One.
The spaghetti I had was also about a third to half of what I would have gotten from a comprable place in the States. Even the pizza pie sizes are smaller here.
So maybe, just maybe, it's not the food that is more unhealthy. It's the fact that my American eating just don't align with the type of food here. Maybe the food is only relatively unhealthy when you eat a bunch of it. Maybe if you eat the portions typical here, it's actual a well-rounded meal. Maybe my ideal meal portion is what is unhealthy. Hmm.
I haven't made a decision, but it has made me think.
Physical
I don't think exercise here is very popular. I honestly can't comment that much because I've seriously been in a capitalism bubble since I've been here, but I don't think they do. I mean, basketball is popular and they have many local leagues here. However not many people work out at all. You really don't see the level of physical fitness that you do in America.
Okay - yes America is, on average, considered obese or something. But in my daily professional and personal life, there is a pretty large faction of people I know that exercise regularly.
This brings me to my next observation: there are a huge amount of overweight people here. Now, please know that this "huge" is completely relative to my expectations coming here. Relative to the States, people are probably more aligned with a "normal" weight. But man, I totally thought the average person would be thinner than I see. I don't know whether this is evidence for my observations on food or exercise, but it is what it is.
Most likely, my opinion wouldn't be the same if I got out of my little bubble here, but it's all I've witnessed.
Hygiene
Brushing your teeth is quite popular here. It's even commented on in traveler guides for the Philippines. I've noticed it. The average teeth color here is pretty darn white. What does this mean? Some pretty awesome smiles. Especially when I make jokes.
Now, remember my question about brushing teeth way up there? Everybody uses tap water. If you recall my comments on tap water, I didn't really want to. Plus I know my Mom would get worried if I did. So how does one brush? I chose to keep a bottle of water (filled from my very own water dispenser mind you) next to the sink and just poor water on the toothbrush.
You'd be surprised how much water you use brushing your teeth.
And how much toothpaste gets built up on the brush from no high-powered stream of water.
And how hard it is to break the habit of sticking the brush under the faucet.
It happened once.
Yes Mom and Dad - I'm okay. It happened the first week I was here.
*Warning*
*Read ahead at your own risk. Nothing else is that important after this and I'm talking about bathroom stuff*
*Warning*
Bathrooms here are also interesting. I think I mentioned most guys don't wash their hands after pissing. But I also don't think I've actually seen paper towel once here. I mean, at work there is an air dryer, but everywhere else there is nothing but air at normal speed and your pants. I don't know whether it's an environment thing or a cost-savings thing. Either way, it's different.
Oh yeah, you also don't flush your toilet paper (outside of really nice hotels). I didn't know this until today. There is even a sign that says it. There is a big waste basket next to the commode. Just sitting there. I thought this was weird when I first saw it. Habits are hard to break.
I bring this up to highlight the lacking utility infrastructure here. Most likely piping, pressure, and processing can't keep up with that amount of waste.
Oh and it also makes the bathrooms smell like, well, you know.
Okay, I'm going to digress a bit here because I know all of you didn't heed my warning and are still reading - and here is your reward.
There's this movie called "Demolition Man." It stars Sylvester Stallone, Wesley Snipes, and Sandra Bullock. It has many cameos like Rob Schneider and Benjamin Bratt. Needless to say, acting is not the movies forte. Neither is the plot. But the idea this movie plays with is quite fun and quite useful to me right now.
In the movie, Sylvester Stallone plays John Spartan, a cop from the 90's put into suspended animation for crimes like blowing up a bunch of hostages. Wesley Snipes plays Simon Phoenix, Spartans arch nemesis who actually blew up the hostages. Phoenix is also put in suspended animation.
Fast forward to 2032 when Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego have merged into San Angeles. Crime is virtually wiped out. Cops don't carry guns. Everyone is "happy." The popular tunes on the radio are actually musical ditty's from 20th century commercials. Think "My bologna has a first name, it's O-S-C-A-R." It's hilarious.
Part of my enjoyment of science fiction is the realm of "what if" that can be explored.
However, all this nicety and perfectness is obviously just a layer of perceived reality built on a foundation of wickedness. But that really doesn't matter to my story.
Simon Phoenix escapes his prison and as the police don't understand how to stop actual violence, they wake up John Spartan to get the job done. John Spartan doesn't really mesh well with all these changes. He's hardcore. He likes hamburgers, beer, cussing, sex. He also hates songs from commercials. It's a classic fish-out-of-water story.
Now here is where my little digression snaps into applicability.
The first time John Spartan has to visit the bathroom, he has to come back out - much to the hilarity of the other police officers. The following is courtesy of IMDB.com:
John Spartan: Look, I don't know if you guys know it, but uh... you're out of toilet paper.
Alfredo Garcia: [confused] Did... did you say toilet *paper*?
Lenina Huxley: Um... they used handfuls of wadded paper back in the 20th...
[Lenina, Alfredo, and Erwin all laugh]
John Spartan: I'm happy that you're happy, but the place where you're supposed to have the toilet paper, you've got this little shelf with three seashells on it.
Erwin: He doesn't know how to use the three seashells!
[Erwin continues to laugh, then calms down]
Erwin: I can see how that could be confusing.
(Just so you know, Erwin is played by Rob Schneider. It's funny.)
John Spartans confusion about seeing three seashells echoes my feelings about the baday. I mean, I don't get it. Logically, sure. But in practice, it's alien to me. I mean, I'm supposed to shoot water up my butt? Like, up my butt? Around it? Seriously, do I have to?
Well, let me tell you that this ain't France and it ain't Japan (where the baday is built into these crazy advanced toilets and a button with a funny picture on it). Here, the Filippino version of a baday is a frickin metal hose lying on the ground of the stall. I seriously didn't get it when I first saw it. I walked into the stall my first time and there was all this water on the ground. I thought something overflowed but the water looked kinda clean. I just dismissed it.
But not when I visited again and heard a dude using the hose. I was floored. There was a guy in the stall next to me hosing off his butt.
Badays confuse me.
Conclusion
Overall, things were very different from what I expected here in terms of overall health. As I re-read the post, I also notice that my tone is almost always negative in some way. Please don't take this as I look down on what I've seen. It's just that things weren't as I expected. I was surprised. Maybe I shouldn't have been, but I was.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Manila - Monday, February 16th - 12 more things I've noticed
1) I have yet to see a firetruck.
2) As opposed to installing them lower to accommodate for average height, ATM's have booster platforms in front of them. It's pretty funny if you think about it. And then picture it. And then feel bad for feeling like you made fun of short people.
3) Chicken just isn't the same here as in the States. They know pork and beef, just not chicken. Tis sad. America 1, Philippines 1. I'm keeping tally.
4) Even though I knew I would be working a bunch, I seriously over-estimated the amount of free time I would have here. Last night was probably the first time I felt like I had a life since I've been here.
5) Related to #4 - Jim Beam is more expensive.
6) Related to #5 - hangovers feel the same here. No logical reason why they wouldn't, yet I had still hoped.
7) Related to #6 - you get pain relievers like Ibuprofen from the prescription counter at a Pharmacy, not in the aisle. Kinda like trying to get Claritin D in the States.
8) Despite the poverty, there seems to be an extremely strong cultural need to build massive shopping malls and walk around them a lot.
9) Guys don't wash their hands after taking a piss here. Granted, not everyone in the States does, but at least some people at home do.
10) Movies channels here suck pretty hard.
11) As a counter-point to #10, their music television here is quite awesome. They actually play music videos. Tis novel.
12) I really hate extraneous hand movements in Salsa. Maybe that's just how they do it here, but it's stupid, pointless, and frickin' annoying nonetheless.
2) As opposed to installing them lower to accommodate for average height, ATM's have booster platforms in front of them. It's pretty funny if you think about it. And then picture it. And then feel bad for feeling like you made fun of short people.
3) Chicken just isn't the same here as in the States. They know pork and beef, just not chicken. Tis sad. America 1, Philippines 1. I'm keeping tally.
4) Even though I knew I would be working a bunch, I seriously over-estimated the amount of free time I would have here. Last night was probably the first time I felt like I had a life since I've been here.
5) Related to #4 - Jim Beam is more expensive.
6) Related to #5 - hangovers feel the same here. No logical reason why they wouldn't, yet I had still hoped.
7) Related to #6 - you get pain relievers like Ibuprofen from the prescription counter at a Pharmacy, not in the aisle. Kinda like trying to get Claritin D in the States.
8) Despite the poverty, there seems to be an extremely strong cultural need to build massive shopping malls and walk around them a lot.
9) Guys don't wash their hands after taking a piss here. Granted, not everyone in the States does, but at least some people at home do.
10) Movies channels here suck pretty hard.
11) As a counter-point to #10, their music television here is quite awesome. They actually play music videos. Tis novel.
12) I really hate extraneous hand movements in Salsa. Maybe that's just how they do it here, but it's stupid, pointless, and frickin' annoying nonetheless.
Manila - Ads I've seen
You might have noticed I dropped the whole "Day x" thing.
1) You'd be bored reading my daily escapades considering I'm working or sleeping about 95% of the time
2) At this rate, it would take me 112 days to write a post for every day I've been here.
So what you'll be getting is more a collection of observations or stories or maybe a complete day described if it's really sweet.
I mentioned earlier that on my ride to work I see many ad signs posted on lots of things. These ads are quite large. Think the Chik-fil-a ad on the side of the hotel you see when driving I-85 South right before the connector. The thing is about 30 stories high. The ads here are quite that big, but they're on that scale rather than the typical billboard.
So I've found that they're advertisements (at least the ones in English) are quite humorous to a fluent English speaker.
- Vitwater. Slogan: "It's water + benefits"
- Human. I later learned was a clothing brand. I don't really know what I though this was originally.
- Congratulations Mayor Benhur Abalos. Big 'ol headshot.
- Kenny Rogers Roasters "You are what you eat" bunch o fit people
- Shapes
- Drink Coke
- Folded and Hung
- Share the Love - Krispy Kreme doughnuts (it's Vday)
- Beign hair-free is incredibly sexy. laserlight. young girl on sign. the model can't be older than 18.
- Love the Pulp - Minute Maid Pulpy Oracnge. Tis my kind of OJ.
- lots of clothing ones
- "Men need Belo too", Belo Medical group - dude with low cut shirt.
- Gingersnaps. not the foor, something else. sweet simple japanimation on it. it does say manila, bangkok and ?
1) You'd be bored reading my daily escapades considering I'm working or sleeping about 95% of the time
2) At this rate, it would take me 112 days to write a post for every day I've been here.
So what you'll be getting is more a collection of observations or stories or maybe a complete day described if it's really sweet.
I mentioned earlier that on my ride to work I see many ad signs posted on lots of things. These ads are quite large. Think the Chik-fil-a ad on the side of the hotel you see when driving I-85 South right before the connector. The thing is about 30 stories high. The ads here are quite that big, but they're on that scale rather than the typical billboard.
So I've found that they're advertisements (at least the ones in English) are quite humorous to a fluent English speaker.
- Vitwater. Slogan: "It's water + benefits"
- Human. I later learned was a clothing brand. I don't really know what I though this was originally.
- Congratulations Mayor Benhur Abalos. Big 'ol headshot.
- Kenny Rogers Roasters "You are what you eat" bunch o fit people
- Shapes
- Drink Coke
- Folded and Hung
- Share the Love - Krispy Kreme doughnuts (it's Vday)
- Beign hair-free is incredibly sexy. laserlight. young girl on sign. the model can't be older than 18.
- Love the Pulp - Minute Maid Pulpy Oracnge. Tis my kind of OJ.
- lots of clothing ones
- "Men need Belo too", Belo Medical group - dude with low cut shirt.
- Gingersnaps. not the foor, something else. sweet simple japanimation on it. it does say manila, bangkok and ?
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Manila - Saturday, February 14th - Happy Valentines Day
I've never had a "true" and/or "classic" Valentines day experience. This is not to say I don't enjoy the day or what it stands for, it's just that my relationships haven't aligned nicely in the calendar year.
So, each Valentines Day, I find myself thinking about why this day exists and it honestly makes me happy. I mean, at its root, this day is about caring. It's not about yourself, it's about your feelings towards others - be it shared or secret, vocal or silent.
Now, here in Manila, they definitely take the shared and vocal approach. They get together and make-out. It's called Lovapalooza. They literally break the world record for the most people kissing at once.
How's that for Valentines Day?
I didn't participate but you gotta love a country that 1) likes to brush their teeth and 2) wants to own the world record for people making out.
So, as my Valentines Day ends and yours just begins, I'd like to say that, if you're reading this, I probably did think of you because you'd only be reading this if I cared about you.
Happy Valentines Day.
So, each Valentines Day, I find myself thinking about why this day exists and it honestly makes me happy. I mean, at its root, this day is about caring. It's not about yourself, it's about your feelings towards others - be it shared or secret, vocal or silent.
Now, here in Manila, they definitely take the shared and vocal approach. They get together and make-out. It's called Lovapalooza. They literally break the world record for the most people kissing at once.
How's that for Valentines Day?
I didn't participate but you gotta love a country that 1) likes to brush their teeth and 2) wants to own the world record for people making out.
So, as my Valentines Day ends and yours just begins, I'd like to say that, if you're reading this, I probably did think of you because you'd only be reading this if I cared about you.
Happy Valentines Day.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Philippines 1, America 0
I just bought a vanilla soft-serve waffle cone for 10 pesos...
That's twenty cents.
waffle cone...
20 cents.
soft serve in my belly...
2 dimes.
less than a quarter...
4 nickles.
In my belly...
Philippines 1, America 0.
That's twenty cents.
waffle cone...
20 cents.
soft serve in my belly...
2 dimes.
less than a quarter...
4 nickles.
In my belly...
Philippines 1, America 0.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Manila - The clothing I brought
Clothing I brought:
- 8 white undershirts
- 10 pair socks
- 10 boxers
- 1 pajama bottom
- 3 shorts (2 workout, 1 swim)
- 3 pair jeans
- 3 pair pants (for work)
- 5 pair shoes (3 for work, 1 workout, 1 dance)
- 2 light jackets
- 5 t-shirts (2 sleeveless)
- 6 polo's (5 for work)
I'm gonna pat myself on the back for a second here - I'm a pretty darn good packer. I typically even over-pack for dance events because that's how I roll. But for work stuff I'm typically on point. And, for the most part, I was pretty good about this stuff. My under-scibby's are well covered and the pants situation is great. Heck, even the shoe choices were clutch and appropriate. Also I haven't really even been outside too much (and the weather is consistent) so the jackets were just-in-cases.
Now, let me call attention to the other items.
Of the 5 t-shirts, 2 are sleeveless workout shirts. One a quicksilver black shirt I stole from a fraternity brother, the other a blue cut-up Delt (my fraternity) shirt with a Southern Cross (constellation) and quote "Southern by nature, Delt by the grace of god" on the back. I know what you're thinking and no you can't have it. Of the 3 other "normal" t-shirts I brought for every other situation besides working out, one is a grey Delt shirt with the Busch Light mountains on the back and a stupid quote (I love this shirt, I own 4 of them), one is a Carlson Brewery shirt I got in Australia that has paint on it, and the last is bright orange that says "Florida" on it.
I can't tell you how ridiculous and inappropriate these choices seem in hindsight.
I mean, workout ones, fine. However this weekend when I actually got the opportunity to walk around with a t-shirt on, I did a triple take my choices and laughed. Needless to say, I wore the Delt Busch Light one cause it was the most normal. Carlson got worn the next day. Mr. Florida is still folded nicely in the drawer. We'll wait to break him out at the beach I think.
Aside: did you know droor is not a proper word? I didn't.
Now, the last item I honestly thought I was good on. I mean, I pretty much only wear short-sleeved polo's to work at Best Buy (yes, even in winter in Minnieapolis) because 1) they are business casual enough for me, 2) I'm cheap and don't wanna dry-clean clothes and 3) I'm lazy so I don't wanna iron clothes. Polo's are perfect. I thought this choice of work wear was flawless. So, what prey tell, did I get told today at work?
No short sleeves at work.
Dammit.
- 8 white undershirts
- 10 pair socks
- 10 boxers
- 1 pajama bottom
- 3 shorts (2 workout, 1 swim)
- 3 pair jeans
- 3 pair pants (for work)
- 5 pair shoes (3 for work, 1 workout, 1 dance)
- 2 light jackets
- 5 t-shirts (2 sleeveless)
- 6 polo's (5 for work)
I'm gonna pat myself on the back for a second here - I'm a pretty darn good packer. I typically even over-pack for dance events because that's how I roll. But for work stuff I'm typically on point. And, for the most part, I was pretty good about this stuff. My under-scibby's are well covered and the pants situation is great. Heck, even the shoe choices were clutch and appropriate. Also I haven't really even been outside too much (and the weather is consistent) so the jackets were just-in-cases.
Now, let me call attention to the other items.
Of the 5 t-shirts, 2 are sleeveless workout shirts. One a quicksilver black shirt I stole from a fraternity brother, the other a blue cut-up Delt (my fraternity) shirt with a Southern Cross (constellation) and quote "Southern by nature, Delt by the grace of god" on the back. I know what you're thinking and no you can't have it. Of the 3 other "normal" t-shirts I brought for every other situation besides working out, one is a grey Delt shirt with the Busch Light mountains on the back and a stupid quote (I love this shirt, I own 4 of them), one is a Carlson Brewery shirt I got in Australia that has paint on it, and the last is bright orange that says "Florida" on it.
I can't tell you how ridiculous and inappropriate these choices seem in hindsight.
I mean, workout ones, fine. However this weekend when I actually got the opportunity to walk around with a t-shirt on, I did a triple take my choices and laughed. Needless to say, I wore the Delt Busch Light one cause it was the most normal. Carlson got worn the next day. Mr. Florida is still folded nicely in the drawer. We'll wait to break him out at the beach I think.
Aside: did you know droor is not a proper word? I didn't.
Now, the last item I honestly thought I was good on. I mean, I pretty much only wear short-sleeved polo's to work at Best Buy (yes, even in winter in Minnieapolis) because 1) they are business casual enough for me, 2) I'm cheap and don't wanna dry-clean clothes and 3) I'm lazy so I don't wanna iron clothes. Polo's are perfect. I thought this choice of work wear was flawless. So, what prey tell, did I get told today at work?
No short sleeves at work.
Dammit.
Manila - Wednesday, February 11th - 8 things I noticed today
1) I was beginning to think that Manila was permanently covered in clouds - not today.
2) Smog gets worse on cloudless days.
3) The "warehousing area" I wrote about encountered on my drive to work is actually the back-end of this big mall called Robinsons. Should have picked up on this earlier because I walked through the mall my first day of work (yes, to get Chinese food though it wasn't my choice).
4) All the people riding motorbikes here wear helmets
5) The "highway" I mention in my previous posts is called the EDSA. I should have picked up on this too - it's the major thoroughfare through Manila.
6) Besides the type of buses, jeepneys, and size of the trucks, the car situation here is pretty American-normal.
7) My diet while here has been about 75% cereal.
8) I didn't pack appropriately (see next post).
2) Smog gets worse on cloudless days.
3) The "warehousing area" I wrote about encountered on my drive to work is actually the back-end of this big mall called Robinsons. Should have picked up on this earlier because I walked through the mall my first day of work (yes, to get Chinese food though it wasn't my choice).
4) All the people riding motorbikes here wear helmets
5) The "highway" I mention in my previous posts is called the EDSA. I should have picked up on this too - it's the major thoroughfare through Manila.
6) Besides the type of buses, jeepneys, and size of the trucks, the car situation here is pretty American-normal.
7) My diet while here has been about 75% cereal.
8) I didn't pack appropriately (see next post).
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Manila - Day 2 - The smoggy city (part 2)
I don't have the words yet to properly convey going for car ride on the roads here. I'm probably gonna dedicate a whole darn post to it sooner or later, but, for now, you'll just have to be satisfied with my earlier analogy of a roller coaster. However, pretend that you are vaguely afraid of heights and the roller coaster you are on has been known to derail. Just think about it.
So, the rest of my first impressions of Manila.
Lots and lots of large advertisement signs. These things are posted on everything from skyscrapers to overpasses to cargo containers stacked up high. I can't really read what most of them say, but the titles are readable enough. I'll post some of the more interesting ones one of these days.
Lots of tree tops. Remember that whole paragraph on the on-ramp? After the smog I noticed tree tops. Noticed them again this morning. I haven't seen the roots of many of these trees, but they gotta exist. A bunch of them are palm trees too, but it definitely does not make you feel tropical. I mean, the weather is warm and you're looking at palm trees, but it doesn't feel like "hey, I'm in Florida" or "hey, I'm at the beach." It's more like "hey, how the hell do those survive?"
Oh yeah, while writing the next paragraph you are about to read, I realized I didn't quite describe the highway here well enough. Do not think American highways. Yes there are some on-ramps, yes there are some off-ramps, yes there are overpasses, yes it is a divided highway. However, there are also roads that intersect. It's a T-intersection with the highway being the top-guy...meaning the roads dead-end (or start) from the highway as you can't get across it without an overpass. There are no lights at these intersections either...you just slow down and turn off the highway. Don't get me wrong, there are parts that feel like genuine highway, but it turns into more of a road at points. So just keep that in mind.
The directions to get my place of work are fairly straightforward. Drive up 3 flights of basement parking. Take left out of main hotel thoroughfare. Take right on main Ayala Center road. Take immediate left on-ramp to the main highway (I still don't know what it's called). Take this highway for about 3 miles (make sure to change lanes at least 52 times). Take right into what seems like a back-entrance to warehousing area, but the warehouses are really tall buildings. Veer left at construction site of huge dirty apartment refurbishment. Take left halfway up hill permanently covered in water. Welcome to my office building.
On that 3 mile stretch, you pass over a river that, quite frankly, looks like a dirty version of the Willy Wonka chocolate river. I mean, don't picture edible grass on the sides, but the dark brown water is pretty spot-on. Kinda disgusting but America has some pretty nasty rivers going through cities too.
I also remember reading a sign on this building to the right that said "female only housing available." The wording is probably off but that was the gist. Don't really know what to think of that. In addition, that sign as well as all the signs you see near the road are so caked in dirt and grit that the original coloring is probably impossible to see or forever altered. Just adds to the feeling.
Anyways, I'll stop typing random stuff. Just wanted you to get a feeling of the one-part confusion, one-part curiosity, one-part different, and one-part overload it was that first morning.
I won't bore you with work stuff as I probably shouldn't write about it and it also wouldn't make much sense regardless. The one thing I will say is that my coworkers are very interesting and nice people. I do hope to become friends with them over the next couple of weeks.
One thing I will tell you that I learned on my first day at work was that security is a big thing in Manila. I hadn't really digested that fact until a day or two later, but there are security guards everywhere. I'll write about it one of these days, but you should know that it definitely stuck out in my mind that first day though I didn't realize it.
I also ate Chinese for lunch. Go figure.
Oh yeah, I also got a sim card for a phone a coworker leant me. It's one of those old Nikia's. It's pretty sweet. Anyways, I didn't ativate it until the end of the day to contact my taxi driver. This detail is pretty crucial in the story to follow.
So, here's the deal with my taxi service here. The hotel provides car service in the mornings for me during the weekdays. You schedule this with the front desk daily. Work uses Hertz to provide a taxi service to get me home each day. This is the same people that picked me up from the hotel...as in the same guy. His name is Elviro.
So when Elviro dropped me off the night before from the airport I told him to pick me up at 6pm from work. I thought this was pretty descriptive. This is my first introduction to the language barrier between non-corporate Phillipino's and the Phillipino culture of just smiling and nodding.
So, like I said, after work I activated my phone to contact my taxi guy - Elviro. Well, I failed to mention that I activated my phone only after standing downstairs in the pickup area for about 30 minutes. So I called him and he's like "I'm on the 6th floor. Ascott. I'm waiting." He sounded like he was flustered and in a rush. Well, it makes sense. He didn't know what room I was in and he didn't have my phone number. Yup, that's right, he's at the Ascott.
Guess I should have been just a bit more specific about where to pick me up.
So we cleared up that minor oversight. Sadly, even though the hotel is 3 miles away, traffic being what it is meant waiting for 30 minutes. Ah well, what're you gonna do? Internet that's what.
I did end up getting back to the hotel fine, it was just kinda funny.
I was pretty exhausted after my first day. Remember I had only gotten about 3 hours of sleep in a bed in the past 40 hours. However, I made myself go to the grocery store and work out. I will be dedicating a whole post to the grocery store because there's nothing like a different culture's grocery store. But I will list out what I purchased:
- 2 packets of instant-noodles
- 1 1.5L bottle of Coke Light.
- 1 box of Oatmeal squares cereal
- 1 box the flakey, clustery, dried-fruity kind of cereal
- 1 1L box of Vanila Soy milk (local of course, I'm in Asia you know)
- 1 packet of dried Mango
- 4 things of yogurt
- 2 1L bottles of water
- 1 case of San Miguel Light beer
Not really that glorious, but it did remind me of what I typically buy at any given Lindy Hop dance event (minus the dried mango of course, though I totally would if we had it). Hard to break habits I guess.
All of this was purchased at this place called SM. SM is a massive department store. It's 4 floors (5 if you count the food court) with a Super Market on the bottom floor. Yup, that's right, SM is actually short for Super Market. Interesting.
As I walked out the door of the department store (note, also on the bottom floor was a clothing section of the department store, so you had to walk through it), I realized I looked pretty funny. They put everything in these bright yellow plastic bags, not that this made me look unique or funny as many others had them, it's just that I'm the only one with 4 fairly heavy bags of them in my left hand and a case of beer in my right. Remember I'm also white, with a beard, and taller than the majority of the people. This appearance immediately called over a child who begged for money. Even though I commented on how sad this was, I've still never been one to give money to someone on the street. The kid was insistent, but I'm pretty stubborn.
I tell you this because it was a first for me but a fact of life for the people here. Countries like Manila have pretty huge social gaps and I can easily see why Americans are considered rich and targets for theft. If you're American and you're over here, you can afford losing some money, especially relative to the amount of money that can make a difference to some of the "street urchins."
Anyways, the walk from SM to my hotel is about 1 block (though my arm did tire a bit from holding the beer). I went and worked out then had a bowl of cereal for dinner. I actually worked a bit more but man I was tired.
Time - 11pm. I went to bed.
So, the rest of my first impressions of Manila.
Lots and lots of large advertisement signs. These things are posted on everything from skyscrapers to overpasses to cargo containers stacked up high. I can't really read what most of them say, but the titles are readable enough. I'll post some of the more interesting ones one of these days.
Lots of tree tops. Remember that whole paragraph on the on-ramp? After the smog I noticed tree tops. Noticed them again this morning. I haven't seen the roots of many of these trees, but they gotta exist. A bunch of them are palm trees too, but it definitely does not make you feel tropical. I mean, the weather is warm and you're looking at palm trees, but it doesn't feel like "hey, I'm in Florida" or "hey, I'm at the beach." It's more like "hey, how the hell do those survive?"
Oh yeah, while writing the next paragraph you are about to read, I realized I didn't quite describe the highway here well enough. Do not think American highways. Yes there are some on-ramps, yes there are some off-ramps, yes there are overpasses, yes it is a divided highway. However, there are also roads that intersect. It's a T-intersection with the highway being the top-guy...meaning the roads dead-end (or start) from the highway as you can't get across it without an overpass. There are no lights at these intersections either...you just slow down and turn off the highway. Don't get me wrong, there are parts that feel like genuine highway, but it turns into more of a road at points. So just keep that in mind.
The directions to get my place of work are fairly straightforward. Drive up 3 flights of basement parking. Take left out of main hotel thoroughfare. Take right on main Ayala Center road. Take immediate left on-ramp to the main highway (I still don't know what it's called). Take this highway for about 3 miles (make sure to change lanes at least 52 times). Take right into what seems like a back-entrance to warehousing area, but the warehouses are really tall buildings. Veer left at construction site of huge dirty apartment refurbishment. Take left halfway up hill permanently covered in water. Welcome to my office building.
On that 3 mile stretch, you pass over a river that, quite frankly, looks like a dirty version of the Willy Wonka chocolate river. I mean, don't picture edible grass on the sides, but the dark brown water is pretty spot-on. Kinda disgusting but America has some pretty nasty rivers going through cities too.
I also remember reading a sign on this building to the right that said "female only housing available." The wording is probably off but that was the gist. Don't really know what to think of that. In addition, that sign as well as all the signs you see near the road are so caked in dirt and grit that the original coloring is probably impossible to see or forever altered. Just adds to the feeling.
Anyways, I'll stop typing random stuff. Just wanted you to get a feeling of the one-part confusion, one-part curiosity, one-part different, and one-part overload it was that first morning.
I won't bore you with work stuff as I probably shouldn't write about it and it also wouldn't make much sense regardless. The one thing I will say is that my coworkers are very interesting and nice people. I do hope to become friends with them over the next couple of weeks.
One thing I will tell you that I learned on my first day at work was that security is a big thing in Manila. I hadn't really digested that fact until a day or two later, but there are security guards everywhere. I'll write about it one of these days, but you should know that it definitely stuck out in my mind that first day though I didn't realize it.
I also ate Chinese for lunch. Go figure.
Oh yeah, I also got a sim card for a phone a coworker leant me. It's one of those old Nikia's. It's pretty sweet. Anyways, I didn't ativate it until the end of the day to contact my taxi driver. This detail is pretty crucial in the story to follow.
So, here's the deal with my taxi service here. The hotel provides car service in the mornings for me during the weekdays. You schedule this with the front desk daily. Work uses Hertz to provide a taxi service to get me home each day. This is the same people that picked me up from the hotel...as in the same guy. His name is Elviro.
So when Elviro dropped me off the night before from the airport I told him to pick me up at 6pm from work. I thought this was pretty descriptive. This is my first introduction to the language barrier between non-corporate Phillipino's and the Phillipino culture of just smiling and nodding.
So, like I said, after work I activated my phone to contact my taxi guy - Elviro. Well, I failed to mention that I activated my phone only after standing downstairs in the pickup area for about 30 minutes. So I called him and he's like "I'm on the 6th floor. Ascott. I'm waiting." He sounded like he was flustered and in a rush. Well, it makes sense. He didn't know what room I was in and he didn't have my phone number. Yup, that's right, he's at the Ascott.
Guess I should have been just a bit more specific about where to pick me up.
So we cleared up that minor oversight. Sadly, even though the hotel is 3 miles away, traffic being what it is meant waiting for 30 minutes. Ah well, what're you gonna do? Internet that's what.
I did end up getting back to the hotel fine, it was just kinda funny.
I was pretty exhausted after my first day. Remember I had only gotten about 3 hours of sleep in a bed in the past 40 hours. However, I made myself go to the grocery store and work out. I will be dedicating a whole post to the grocery store because there's nothing like a different culture's grocery store. But I will list out what I purchased:
- 2 packets of instant-noodles
- 1 1.5L bottle of Coke Light.
- 1 box of Oatmeal squares cereal
- 1 box the flakey, clustery, dried-fruity kind of cereal
- 1 1L box of Vanila Soy milk (local of course, I'm in Asia you know)
- 1 packet of dried Mango
- 4 things of yogurt
- 2 1L bottles of water
- 1 case of San Miguel Light beer
Not really that glorious, but it did remind me of what I typically buy at any given Lindy Hop dance event (minus the dried mango of course, though I totally would if we had it). Hard to break habits I guess.
All of this was purchased at this place called SM. SM is a massive department store. It's 4 floors (5 if you count the food court) with a Super Market on the bottom floor. Yup, that's right, SM is actually short for Super Market. Interesting.
As I walked out the door of the department store (note, also on the bottom floor was a clothing section of the department store, so you had to walk through it), I realized I looked pretty funny. They put everything in these bright yellow plastic bags, not that this made me look unique or funny as many others had them, it's just that I'm the only one with 4 fairly heavy bags of them in my left hand and a case of beer in my right. Remember I'm also white, with a beard, and taller than the majority of the people. This appearance immediately called over a child who begged for money. Even though I commented on how sad this was, I've still never been one to give money to someone on the street. The kid was insistent, but I'm pretty stubborn.
I tell you this because it was a first for me but a fact of life for the people here. Countries like Manila have pretty huge social gaps and I can easily see why Americans are considered rich and targets for theft. If you're American and you're over here, you can afford losing some money, especially relative to the amount of money that can make a difference to some of the "street urchins."
Anyways, the walk from SM to my hotel is about 1 block (though my arm did tire a bit from holding the beer). I went and worked out then had a bowl of cereal for dinner. I actually worked a bit more but man I was tired.
Time - 11pm. I went to bed.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Manila - Day 2 - The smoggy city (part 1)
So, I think I left Day 1 off with the word "smog." I'll get to that in a minute.
My first morning in Manila was experienced from the wrong side. As in I arrived a bit past midnight and did my normal unpacking thing. Took a bit but I have some sweet closet space an extremely tiny chesser drawer, but the room was awesome. Man I was thirsty so I walked over to the sink and drank from the faucet.
Kidding.
There's a reason I got a Typhoid shot, and it wasn't so that I could drink the water. It was in case I was an idiot and exposed myself to unfiltered liquid over hear. Well, I look on the handy-dandy room service list and boom - water. Yay. A 1 liter water bottle was only 30 Pesos. Sweet. Oh wait, what's this, a 5 gallon jug of water for 140 P?!?! I'm there.
Now, you as an intelligent reader say to yourself, "Jeez, 5 gallons? Isn't that the size of a water cooler?" I respond to your internal logic saying "Of course it is. It's one of those huge water jugs that sit on this dispenser machine found in most work break areas. Who wouldn't know that?" Well, me apparently.
So the dude shows up with jug and I kinda laugh. How the hell am I supposed to drink out of it? So many funny scenarios went through my head about how to make this work, but sadly/luckily the guy said something along the lines of "oh, you don't have a dispenser?" loosely translated as "wow, you're a stupid American." So I proceed to rent a water dispenser at 500P per month - that's only about 10 bucks. Deal.
So now I have my very own water cooler. It's there right now as type. It's there as you read this. Think about it. Do you have your own water dispenser? I didn't think so.
Well, after this funny incident I get on the internet, email the fam that I'm alive, check work stuff, read my book. Next thing I know it's 4am. Crap, I gotta get up for work in 3 hours. I hate jet lag.
So, I wake up to lucid dreams of a phone ringing. Not dreams apparently, actual phone ringing. Guess I set up a wake-up call. Time - 7:00am. Ugh. I trim the beard, take a shower, iron my wrinkly polo, frock myself, and head on down to Mr. Breakfast Buffet. Mmmmm.
Did I mention The Ascott is awesome? Well, their breakfast is killer. I'll work from left to right here: 8 kinds of cereal, 4 kinds of nuts, 8 kinds of dried fruit, crunchy peanut butter, choco-hazel-nut spread, milk, fresh fruit, yogurt, all kinds of spreads and spices, honey, syrup, sandwich meat, sandwich fish, cheeses, lasagna, bacon, eggs, oatmeal, congee, rice, french toast/pancakes, potatoes, orange/mango/apple/cranberry/?other? juice, bagels, soft pretzel, english muffins on steroids, 10 kinds of breads, 5 kinds of rolls, 4 kinds of pastries, muffins, and an omlette station.
Yes, they had lasagna.
If you've witnessed me walk into my parents kitchen after it's been a while, you know that I make "the rounds." Open the fridge, check out the food droors, the pantry - you know, scope the place out. I've so far done this exact routine every morning at Mr. Buffet. It's fun, rewarding, and filling.
Time - 8am. Brush teeth (using water from my water cooler of course), check email, sit for a sec. It's time for my first foray into the city. Let's do this.
The hotel provides a car service every morning for me so I went down to B3 and hopped into the car. The driver is dressed up in a white and black security-like uniform. No gun, just the uniform. Reminded me of The Transporter except not British, no tie, and no BMW. However, the car was indeed nice as was the driver.
We wheel out and the fun begins.
So there is this highway interchange in Atlanta called Spaghetti Junction. It's where I-85 and I-285 cross paths. The "spaghetti" is due to the crazy number of elevated pieces of concrete required to give us humans all the choices we'd ever want. I mean, mathematically, you should only need 8 different ramps right? Well, that's only if you plan things out and if you've been to Atlanta you know city planning isn't the best. I mean, Sherman burned the place down and we couldn't get it right the second time. Ah well.
The most prominent ramp of Spaghetti Junction is the one from I-285 East to I-85 North that soars over all the rest. Call it the uber-ramp. (I'd recommend trying it sometime if it didn't mean sitting in traffic for about 5 days.) Needless to say, the view from the top of this ramp is pretty sweet as long as you like looking at traffic the vast amount of absent green space. Well, imagine driving up a similar ramp, except not as high but it doesn't matter because it's relatively flat around you. The road curves to left and you're looking at city-sprawl that goes off in all directions. As your car reaches the apex of the ramp, your eyes batter your brain with images that can only be described as imagined reality but the first thing your mind registers isn't large amount of busses, not the vast traffic jam waiting to greet you, not the large posters pasted on dirty skyscrapers, not even the fact that there isn't any blue in the sky.
All you notice is the smog.
I'm not saying it's the worst in the world, it's just the worst I've personally seen. Icky. Well, we're driving straight towards it. Where was I? Oh yeah, we wheel out and the fun begins.
So I talked briefly about my drive from the airport and some of the quirks of driving in Manila. Well, here are some more:
5) There are a lot of buses. They don't mind getting in your business. People hang out of the doors too.
6) Either left-turn signals don't work or nobody has left arms.
7) There are no speed limit signs. This may lead one to believe you can drive as fast as you want, but this would be an incorrect assumption. I mean, I typically want to drive faster than 30mph, however even when there isn't a traffic jam, people only go about 20-30mph. Don't ask me why, I don't know.
8) The exit ramps don't have side-walks, but the highways certainly do.
Well, I think I'll leave off here for now. More to come on day 2, but I'm done typing.
My first morning in Manila was experienced from the wrong side. As in I arrived a bit past midnight and did my normal unpacking thing. Took a bit but I have some sweet closet space an extremely tiny chesser drawer, but the room was awesome. Man I was thirsty so I walked over to the sink and drank from the faucet.
Kidding.
There's a reason I got a Typhoid shot, and it wasn't so that I could drink the water. It was in case I was an idiot and exposed myself to unfiltered liquid over hear. Well, I look on the handy-dandy room service list and boom - water. Yay. A 1 liter water bottle was only 30 Pesos. Sweet. Oh wait, what's this, a 5 gallon jug of water for 140 P?!?! I'm there.
Now, you as an intelligent reader say to yourself, "Jeez, 5 gallons? Isn't that the size of a water cooler?" I respond to your internal logic saying "Of course it is. It's one of those huge water jugs that sit on this dispenser machine found in most work break areas. Who wouldn't know that?" Well, me apparently.
So the dude shows up with jug and I kinda laugh. How the hell am I supposed to drink out of it? So many funny scenarios went through my head about how to make this work, but sadly/luckily the guy said something along the lines of "oh, you don't have a dispenser?" loosely translated as "wow, you're a stupid American." So I proceed to rent a water dispenser at 500P per month - that's only about 10 bucks. Deal.
So now I have my very own water cooler. It's there right now as type. It's there as you read this. Think about it. Do you have your own water dispenser? I didn't think so.
Well, after this funny incident I get on the internet, email the fam that I'm alive, check work stuff, read my book. Next thing I know it's 4am. Crap, I gotta get up for work in 3 hours. I hate jet lag.
So, I wake up to lucid dreams of a phone ringing. Not dreams apparently, actual phone ringing. Guess I set up a wake-up call. Time - 7:00am. Ugh. I trim the beard, take a shower, iron my wrinkly polo, frock myself, and head on down to Mr. Breakfast Buffet. Mmmmm.
Did I mention The Ascott is awesome? Well, their breakfast is killer. I'll work from left to right here: 8 kinds of cereal, 4 kinds of nuts, 8 kinds of dried fruit, crunchy peanut butter, choco-hazel-nut spread, milk, fresh fruit, yogurt, all kinds of spreads and spices, honey, syrup, sandwich meat, sandwich fish, cheeses, lasagna, bacon, eggs, oatmeal, congee, rice, french toast/pancakes, potatoes, orange/mango/apple/cranberry/?other? juice, bagels, soft pretzel, english muffins on steroids, 10 kinds of breads, 5 kinds of rolls, 4 kinds of pastries, muffins, and an omlette station.
Yes, they had lasagna.
If you've witnessed me walk into my parents kitchen after it's been a while, you know that I make "the rounds." Open the fridge, check out the food droors, the pantry - you know, scope the place out. I've so far done this exact routine every morning at Mr. Buffet. It's fun, rewarding, and filling.
Time - 8am. Brush teeth (using water from my water cooler of course), check email, sit for a sec. It's time for my first foray into the city. Let's do this.
The hotel provides a car service every morning for me so I went down to B3 and hopped into the car. The driver is dressed up in a white and black security-like uniform. No gun, just the uniform. Reminded me of The Transporter except not British, no tie, and no BMW. However, the car was indeed nice as was the driver.
We wheel out and the fun begins.
So there is this highway interchange in Atlanta called Spaghetti Junction. It's where I-85 and I-285 cross paths. The "spaghetti" is due to the crazy number of elevated pieces of concrete required to give us humans all the choices we'd ever want. I mean, mathematically, you should only need 8 different ramps right? Well, that's only if you plan things out and if you've been to Atlanta you know city planning isn't the best. I mean, Sherman burned the place down and we couldn't get it right the second time. Ah well.
The most prominent ramp of Spaghetti Junction is the one from I-285 East to I-85 North that soars over all the rest. Call it the uber-ramp. (I'd recommend trying it sometime if it didn't mean sitting in traffic for about 5 days.) Needless to say, the view from the top of this ramp is pretty sweet as long as you like looking at traffic the vast amount of absent green space. Well, imagine driving up a similar ramp, except not as high but it doesn't matter because it's relatively flat around you. The road curves to left and you're looking at city-sprawl that goes off in all directions. As your car reaches the apex of the ramp, your eyes batter your brain with images that can only be described as imagined reality but the first thing your mind registers isn't large amount of busses, not the vast traffic jam waiting to greet you, not the large posters pasted on dirty skyscrapers, not even the fact that there isn't any blue in the sky.
All you notice is the smog.
I'm not saying it's the worst in the world, it's just the worst I've personally seen. Icky. Well, we're driving straight towards it. Where was I? Oh yeah, we wheel out and the fun begins.
So I talked briefly about my drive from the airport and some of the quirks of driving in Manila. Well, here are some more:
5) There are a lot of buses. They don't mind getting in your business. People hang out of the doors too.
6) Either left-turn signals don't work or nobody has left arms.
7) There are no speed limit signs. This may lead one to believe you can drive as fast as you want, but this would be an incorrect assumption. I mean, I typically want to drive faster than 30mph, however even when there isn't a traffic jam, people only go about 20-30mph. Don't ask me why, I don't know.
8) The exit ramps don't have side-walks, but the highways certainly do.
Well, I think I'll leave off here for now. More to come on day 2, but I'm done typing.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Manila - Day 0 - A day of bipolar movement
I'm staying at The Ascott in Makati. This place is awesome. It's basically a corporate apartment with all the fixin's of a 5-star hotel. Kitchen - check, room cleaning - check, breakfast - check, workout facility - check, pool - check, HBO - check. I mean this place is magically. Granted, it costs twice as much as the corporate apartment I stay at in Minneapolis, but it's totally worth it because it actually costs me the same - zero.
Did I mention my job tends to have some perks? Well, it does. Though it is unfortunate I had to travel almost exactly half-way around the world over 24 hours to get here. About that...
So I realized my first post told nothing of how I got to the Philippines. There was nothing spectacular or particularly crazy that happened (which is why I probably just skipped it in my head), but maybe writing about it will be interesting. Let's see.
So I flew Northwest over here. 1) It was the cheapest ticket out there, 2) I greedy and wanted 20,000 SkyMiles in one month :) The only negative about that is that Northwest does not have a hub in Atlanta and Northwest does not fly directly to Manila from the States...equals three legs of the trip. Atlanta to Detroit to Nagoya (Japan) to Manila. Suweet.
I got upgraded on the bad boy to Detroit so that's always a nice way to start the trip mentally. Mom and Dad (love you guys) dropped me off nice and early for my noon flight so I had time to do the normal old airport routine. Sit in lounge, use internet, debate on whether or not to get a drink. Well, you all know me, that debate was a quick one.
My flight was in Concourse D and I can never remember what lounges are there so I just went to the Crowne Room in A. As my flight time approached, I mosied on over to D and noticed that the plane wasn't even there. This was not awesome because I always show up right when they should be boarding the special people (aka - me), I've gotten pretty good at timing these things. Well, luckily, there was a President's Club right next to the gate so I hopped in there to sit in a comfy seat. I looked at my ticket and realized that my transfer in Detroit was only an hour...and they board international flights an hour early. Hmmm...flight delayed equals not fun transfer. Ah well, first class will sooth my worries.
Needless to say, a couple of Beamers later we landed in Detroit a bit late but it didn't matter, the flight to Nagoya was packed and they hadn't started boarding so nothing to worry about. Only crappy thing was that I couldn't get there early to bug them about being upgraded. Coach it is. Dammit. 13 hours. Dammit.
I called my best friend Tom from the gate and chatted a bit about my trip. He had emailed me about seing this japanimation movie coming out in theatres in the States (Sword of the Stranger) on Feb 5th not knowing I was flying to where they made the thing. It was good to chat as our lives are typically hectic and, for me, the first thing to be sacraficed is all vocal communication to the outside world. Found out a mutual friend was over on this side o the world too...which reminds me I should email him.
An aside - ever noticed how distances seem shorter when you're not in your home country? For example, when you're in Europe, say Barcelona, Spain, and you have a friend visiting Amsterdam. You're like "holy crap, I'm so there too." That's nearly 1,000 miles (about 1,500 kilometers). If I have a friend from England and he's gonna be in New York City (only about 900 miles), I'm typically like "Dude, I'd totally show up but I got this thing called 'not going there' I need to catch up on." Same thing here - I'm in Manila and a friend might be in another Asian country. It's probably thousands of miles away, but hey, I'm over here right? Just a bit ridiculous.
So I board the plane in normal-person mode and await my fate. Don't you hate it when you get a big person in the seat in front of you that is physically capable of making the seat actually recline? I'm talking past the normal 2cm's here. It sucks. I like sleeping on my little table. No dice here. Ugh. At least it's an international flight, coach gets free alcohol too right?
Nope. Dammit. Shouldn't have had those Beamers. Lightish hangover after you stop drinking = me going to bed. So, against a friend's warning to not sleep the first part of the 13 hour flight, I whip out my handy dandy neck-pillow, recline my 2cm's, and try to ignore everything.
I do a decent job, though I do have vague images of Richard Gere and Diane Lane getting it on and some movie with Ice Cube and a football. I wake up for the food and wish I had brought some bagels.
Aside - bagels here are not bagels. They are airy forms of dough that are almost impossible to cut in half. It's sad.
I think the highlight of my flight was getting up to stretch and exchanging a couple words with a random Asian dude next to the bathroom. I'm really not a talker on plane flights, I like to just do my own thing and read or watch Lindy Hop clips. But it was quite nice talking "coach-shop" with a random dude. "Ow my feet hurt." "Me too." Ya know, cool stuff like that.
We land in Japan, I thank who it is I thank in my head, and I get off that damn plane.
I was wearing a red Polo on the plane and the blanket they gave us was blue. Hence I have blue crap all over my shirt. Annoying but it gave me something to do as I waited in a ridiculous security line to get to my next gate. However, I found a Star Alliance lounge there that let me in.
Yay special lounges. If you have ever been in a lounge in America - Crowne Room, President's Club, World Club, USO club, etc. - they pale in comparison to Asian lounges. I mean, they had complimentary massages, like 10 different types of snacks, a beer dispenser that auto-tilted your glass to reduce foam. Needless to say, I partook in the goodies. The only negative part was that all the plugs were Japanese and I didn't bring a converter.
Yes Mom, I admit it, I should have brought the converter.
So, as my batteries were all dead from coding on the plan and watching Lindy clips, no nerdiness in the airport. I went to my gate and boom - upgrade.
Yay.
The flight from Nagoya, Japan, to Manila is about 3-4 hours. World Business Class was awesome. The seat felt like it was from the future and I got to watch a movie (Traitor) and sit bit and read about how much I will never understand Tagalog (Philipino dialect). The only bad part was that the food was better in Coach. Ironic, huh?
Anywho, it was a nice flight. Oh yeah! I was in the first row. On a huge 747, this means you are literally in the nose of the plane because the pilot flies up on the second floor. Awesome! Made me think of that movie Flight Plan with Jodie Foster. The nose of the plane had just a bit to do with the plot.
My main memory from seeing Manila from the air was "Wow, lots of lights. Didn't see that coming. Plus they are blueish-orange for some reason."
First thing I noticed when I got off the plane was...
Did I mention my job tends to have some perks? Well, it does. Though it is unfortunate I had to travel almost exactly half-way around the world over 24 hours to get here. About that...
So I realized my first post told nothing of how I got to the Philippines. There was nothing spectacular or particularly crazy that happened (which is why I probably just skipped it in my head), but maybe writing about it will be interesting. Let's see.
So I flew Northwest over here. 1) It was the cheapest ticket out there, 2) I greedy and wanted 20,000 SkyMiles in one month :) The only negative about that is that Northwest does not have a hub in Atlanta and Northwest does not fly directly to Manila from the States...equals three legs of the trip. Atlanta to Detroit to Nagoya (Japan) to Manila. Suweet.
I got upgraded on the bad boy to Detroit so that's always a nice way to start the trip mentally. Mom and Dad (love you guys) dropped me off nice and early for my noon flight so I had time to do the normal old airport routine. Sit in lounge, use internet, debate on whether or not to get a drink. Well, you all know me, that debate was a quick one.
My flight was in Concourse D and I can never remember what lounges are there so I just went to the Crowne Room in A. As my flight time approached, I mosied on over to D and noticed that the plane wasn't even there. This was not awesome because I always show up right when they should be boarding the special people (aka - me), I've gotten pretty good at timing these things. Well, luckily, there was a President's Club right next to the gate so I hopped in there to sit in a comfy seat. I looked at my ticket and realized that my transfer in Detroit was only an hour...and they board international flights an hour early. Hmmm...flight delayed equals not fun transfer. Ah well, first class will sooth my worries.
Needless to say, a couple of Beamers later we landed in Detroit a bit late but it didn't matter, the flight to Nagoya was packed and they hadn't started boarding so nothing to worry about. Only crappy thing was that I couldn't get there early to bug them about being upgraded. Coach it is. Dammit. 13 hours. Dammit.
I called my best friend Tom from the gate and chatted a bit about my trip. He had emailed me about seing this japanimation movie coming out in theatres in the States (Sword of the Stranger) on Feb 5th not knowing I was flying to where they made the thing. It was good to chat as our lives are typically hectic and, for me, the first thing to be sacraficed is all vocal communication to the outside world. Found out a mutual friend was over on this side o the world too...which reminds me I should email him.
An aside - ever noticed how distances seem shorter when you're not in your home country? For example, when you're in Europe, say Barcelona, Spain, and you have a friend visiting Amsterdam. You're like "holy crap, I'm so there too." That's nearly 1,000 miles (about 1,500 kilometers). If I have a friend from England and he's gonna be in New York City (only about 900 miles), I'm typically like "Dude, I'd totally show up but I got this thing called 'not going there' I need to catch up on." Same thing here - I'm in Manila and a friend might be in another Asian country. It's probably thousands of miles away, but hey, I'm over here right? Just a bit ridiculous.
So I board the plane in normal-person mode and await my fate. Don't you hate it when you get a big person in the seat in front of you that is physically capable of making the seat actually recline? I'm talking past the normal 2cm's here. It sucks. I like sleeping on my little table. No dice here. Ugh. At least it's an international flight, coach gets free alcohol too right?
Nope. Dammit. Shouldn't have had those Beamers. Lightish hangover after you stop drinking = me going to bed. So, against a friend's warning to not sleep the first part of the 13 hour flight, I whip out my handy dandy neck-pillow, recline my 2cm's, and try to ignore everything.
I do a decent job, though I do have vague images of Richard Gere and Diane Lane getting it on and some movie with Ice Cube and a football. I wake up for the food and wish I had brought some bagels.
Aside - bagels here are not bagels. They are airy forms of dough that are almost impossible to cut in half. It's sad.
I think the highlight of my flight was getting up to stretch and exchanging a couple words with a random Asian dude next to the bathroom. I'm really not a talker on plane flights, I like to just do my own thing and read or watch Lindy Hop clips. But it was quite nice talking "coach-shop" with a random dude. "Ow my feet hurt." "Me too." Ya know, cool stuff like that.
We land in Japan, I thank who it is I thank in my head, and I get off that damn plane.
I was wearing a red Polo on the plane and the blanket they gave us was blue. Hence I have blue crap all over my shirt. Annoying but it gave me something to do as I waited in a ridiculous security line to get to my next gate. However, I found a Star Alliance lounge there that let me in.
Yay special lounges. If you have ever been in a lounge in America - Crowne Room, President's Club, World Club, USO club, etc. - they pale in comparison to Asian lounges. I mean, they had complimentary massages, like 10 different types of snacks, a beer dispenser that auto-tilted your glass to reduce foam. Needless to say, I partook in the goodies. The only negative part was that all the plugs were Japanese and I didn't bring a converter.
Yes Mom, I admit it, I should have brought the converter.
So, as my batteries were all dead from coding on the plan and watching Lindy clips, no nerdiness in the airport. I went to my gate and boom - upgrade.
Yay.
The flight from Nagoya, Japan, to Manila is about 3-4 hours. World Business Class was awesome. The seat felt like it was from the future and I got to watch a movie (Traitor) and sit bit and read about how much I will never understand Tagalog (Philipino dialect). The only bad part was that the food was better in Coach. Ironic, huh?
Anywho, it was a nice flight. Oh yeah! I was in the first row. On a huge 747, this means you are literally in the nose of the plane because the pilot flies up on the second floor. Awesome! Made me think of that movie Flight Plan with Jodie Foster. The nose of the plane had just a bit to do with the plot.
My main memory from seeing Manila from the air was "Wow, lots of lights. Didn't see that coming. Plus they are blueish-orange for some reason."
First thing I noticed when I got off the plane was...
Manila - Day 1 - I'm here
Wow. Asia. The Philippines. I'm here.
First thing I noticed when I got off the plane was that the airport gate seats looked really uncomfortable. Lame or observant? Surprisingly, things weren't ridiculously Asian as many people (including my brain) said it would be. I mean, my layover in Nagoya, Japan, seemed a bit more foreign. I guess I just really wanted culture-shock right off-the-bat. Well, I guess I wasn't too dissapointed...
Ah, immigration. Here's what I'm talking about. Wait behind the yellow line (a suggestion), hand over documents, say absolutely nothing, you're in. Okay, I did say "February 27th" and the guy said "I can only give you 21 days." Done, I'll take it.
Prior to this moment, I truly disliked baggage claims in America. I mean, technically, they work. But trusting human beings to not be dickheads? Not so much. Why do you have to stand at the lip of baggage belt blocking everyone? Can't you just hang back make a little "active pick-up zone"? Grrrr...I get riled up in Minneapolis every time. Well, I think this is the end my anger in American baggage claims because it just doesn't compare the one in Manila. Holy crap. Jungle Gym. Bags everywhere. People everywhere. Chairs everywhere. Seriously, effing chairs to sit in while you block the people who can actually see their bags. Ridiculous.
I got my bag but needless to say, it was annoying.
Customs was a joke...except it wasn't funny. Hand lady card, walk on by. No questions. Made me feel extremely secure. I'm actually looking forward to standing in some long lines back at ATL before they let me in the country. All I'm asking for is a little "you smuggling in bananas?" or even "did you fill this card out properly?" Nope, just keep on walking.
Oh yeah, just realized, I have yet to actually walk through a door.
So I bee-line it to the hotel shuttle area and boom, (yes, the first door) and "Mr. Thigpen?" I had't said a word. I guess being the only white dude with a beard in this country makes me stand out just a tad. I hop in my pre-arranged Hertz taxi and off we go. I'm pretty excited because I've heard and read so much about the crazy driving in Manila. Hands in the air, I'm ready for the rollercoaster.
To let you in on the whole "crazy driving in Manila" thing, I'll break it down a bit based purely on the observations of this first drive. (Don't worry, the best is yet to come as I'm writing this days after this experience...true Manila traffic is insane)
1) Lines are more of a suggestion. Well, that's not quite true...they're more like another form of dirt on the road. Step 1 is to ignore them and trust that everyone else is doing the same.
2) Off-roading is totally legit. Especially in order to get on a highway - I'm serious.
3) Stop lights exist, but they are basically there for illumination. Do not trust a green, do not trust a red. Just keep driving.
4) Cars have the right-of-way, or more specifically buses cause they can crush - pedestrians beware.
The only low-point of my first hour in the Philippines was seeing my first "street-urchins". They were on the off-ramp to Ayala (the exit and area where my hotel is). There were all these children sitting in this elevated median in the middle of a big highway off-ramp with cars everywhere. I mean, these kids were anywhere from 5 to 15. Note that it is midnight and they are out-and-about. Twas sad.
Anywho, I was only able to notice the children because we this was the first stop light the driver stopped at. Well, considering it is now technically "day 2" of my trip, I will leave you with this parting word: smog.
First thing I noticed when I got off the plane was that the airport gate seats looked really uncomfortable. Lame or observant? Surprisingly, things weren't ridiculously Asian as many people (including my brain) said it would be. I mean, my layover in Nagoya, Japan, seemed a bit more foreign. I guess I just really wanted culture-shock right off-the-bat. Well, I guess I wasn't too dissapointed...
Ah, immigration. Here's what I'm talking about. Wait behind the yellow line (a suggestion), hand over documents, say absolutely nothing, you're in. Okay, I did say "February 27th" and the guy said "I can only give you 21 days." Done, I'll take it.
Prior to this moment, I truly disliked baggage claims in America. I mean, technically, they work. But trusting human beings to not be dickheads? Not so much. Why do you have to stand at the lip of baggage belt blocking everyone? Can't you just hang back make a little "active pick-up zone"? Grrrr...I get riled up in Minneapolis every time. Well, I think this is the end my anger in American baggage claims because it just doesn't compare the one in Manila. Holy crap. Jungle Gym. Bags everywhere. People everywhere. Chairs everywhere. Seriously, effing chairs to sit in while you block the people who can actually see their bags. Ridiculous.
I got my bag but needless to say, it was annoying.
Customs was a joke...except it wasn't funny. Hand lady card, walk on by. No questions. Made me feel extremely secure. I'm actually looking forward to standing in some long lines back at ATL before they let me in the country. All I'm asking for is a little "you smuggling in bananas?" or even "did you fill this card out properly?" Nope, just keep on walking.
Oh yeah, just realized, I have yet to actually walk through a door.
So I bee-line it to the hotel shuttle area and boom, (yes, the first door) and "Mr. Thigpen?" I had't said a word. I guess being the only white dude with a beard in this country makes me stand out just a tad. I hop in my pre-arranged Hertz taxi and off we go. I'm pretty excited because I've heard and read so much about the crazy driving in Manila. Hands in the air, I'm ready for the rollercoaster.
To let you in on the whole "crazy driving in Manila" thing, I'll break it down a bit based purely on the observations of this first drive. (Don't worry, the best is yet to come as I'm writing this days after this experience...true Manila traffic is insane)
1) Lines are more of a suggestion. Well, that's not quite true...they're more like another form of dirt on the road. Step 1 is to ignore them and trust that everyone else is doing the same.
2) Off-roading is totally legit. Especially in order to get on a highway - I'm serious.
3) Stop lights exist, but they are basically there for illumination. Do not trust a green, do not trust a red. Just keep driving.
4) Cars have the right-of-way, or more specifically buses cause they can crush - pedestrians beware.
The only low-point of my first hour in the Philippines was seeing my first "street-urchins". They were on the off-ramp to Ayala (the exit and area where my hotel is). There were all these children sitting in this elevated median in the middle of a big highway off-ramp with cars everywhere. I mean, these kids were anywhere from 5 to 15. Note that it is midnight and they are out-and-about. Twas sad.
Anywho, I was only able to notice the children because we this was the first stop light the driver stopped at. Well, considering it is now technically "day 2" of my trip, I will leave you with this parting word: smog.
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