Back to the Philippines

Almost as soon as we began to drive away from the airport after arriving in Manila, I was amazed to see how much the country had changed during the short time I was in India! When I first arrived in Manila from the US, traffic here was chaotic, with a confusing rush of strange vehicles such as jeepneys, motorbikes with sidecars for passengers or cargo, huge tourist buses and all kinds of cars and trucks, with pedestrians weaving in and out of traffic to cross streets at random points. Horns were honked to warn vehicles not to collide with others as they strayed across lanes, also in seemingly random fashion.

But this was before I witnessed the TRUE chaos of traffic in India, where honking horns is a form of personal expression that is exercised early and often, and sustained over one’s entire trip. Jeepneys are less common, but carts pulled by bullocks are much more likely to pull out from side streets onto highways, while the random cow meanders across the road to find another patch of grass in the median. Tuk-tuks, the motorized rickshaws, scoot quickly between larger vehicles, trucks sit apparently parked in traffic lanes for extended periods of time, and everything takes place in the “wrong” direction, on the “wrong” side of the road, so you never know where to expect the next car to come from.

I also noticed that Manila had become cleaner while I was away! The occasional pile of debris I now saw was obviously the result of construction underway, and I witnessed workers using dustpans with long handles to sweep debris into along the street curbs and sidewalks. When in India, I also saw people sweeping up the walks or streets in front of their shops or their homes along dusty roads, but the dust is somehow always there. India is a dry and dusty place, and the dust seems to have become an accepted and unremarkable aspect of the everyday environment.

So this time, Manila seemed calmer, brighter, cleaner and more orderly than I had noticed in the first part of my stay there. Everything is relative!

And now, my time in the Philippines has come to a close as well. I write this as I sit in the Manila airport waiting to board my flight home. I am only just beginning to collect my further impressions of the Philippines. I spent 10 days here after returning from India, and they went by in a whirlwind.

Having a nice lunch with Leilani's dad

Crissan took me to many of her favorite places, into the city of Manila and into some of the smaller villages in the area. I was introduced to many of the Zeigler’s friends and neighbors at IRRI, and I met the family of one of my co-workers who grew up here. I watched artisans creating decorative and functional items unique to their specific locale.             

I tried my hand briefly at weaving on a backstrap loom in the traditional manner of the Ifugao people. We went to bead stores, and looked at thousands of pearls of every imaginable shape, color and luster, some dyed and others of natural smoky colors, and beads of glass, stone, crystal and shell. I saw more orchids, tasted more tropical fruits, visited grocery stores and open air markets.

veggies

I visited a carabao breeding program at the agricultural university in Los Banos, and tasted “buffalo” yogurt made from their very rich milk.

I saw the lake in a volcano’s crater that makes Crater Lake in Oregon look like a pond. I tasted Filipino cuisine, much milder than the spicy foods of India but also very succulent and delicious. We went down to the banks of the river where the film “Apocalypse Now” was filmed (no, not in Viet Nam), now a popular spot for canoeing the rapids.

I took in the landscape of huge billboards and glitzy advertising along the highways approaching Manila and visited some of the fancier shopping centers and malls in the city. We passed by dozens and hundreds of “sari-sari” stores, little storefront mom-and-pop businesses run from small cubbies and doorways along residential streets, selling snacks and conveniences.  It seems everyone in the Philippines is an entrepreneur of one sort or another.

We went for an afternoon of pampering at the salon in the Peninsula Hotel, where massage comes gratis with a haircut or manicure. We visited an old church built by the Spanish colonizers, and saw vivid evidence of some of the meaner aspects of colonialism in the artwork on its walls, and in the same church, saw stained glass windows spelling the sacraments of the church in the Tagalog language. I saw shrines and religious symbols pervasively present, in stores as well as churches.

I learned about and witnessed the strange phenomenon of Asia’s “third gender,” a widespread acceptance of men who present themselves as women, not in flashy “drag” as we might see in the US but as ordinary women, wearing ordinary, understated clothing and jewelry, presenting simply as the female person they feel they are. In the bead markets run mainly by Muslims, many wore the headscarf common to Muslim women, and no make-up. It’s just a fact of life in Asia, so I’m told.

Is she, or isn't he?

So, I’ve run on for quite a while here, and now I think it’s time to let my photos do the talking. I’ve sorted through and tried to pull together the best few, enough to give you a feel for the places I saw and the people I met! Stay tuned, because I have lots of sorting to do. While I recover from jet lag over the next couple of days, I'll make the last additions to finish up my travel journal. I'm looking forward to being back at home, after a lovely, wonderful, exciting and magical adventure, that makes me sure of one thing - I want to see more of Asia!