Day 23, Summer in Asia, Manila, Philippines
At 5 the streets were already noisy with tuks and motos. At 5:30 the local school is booming music, a neighborhood wake up call to get your kids to school. I went downstairs and grabbed a cold Starbucks frappuccino that I stocked the fridge with last night from the American food display.
Two hours later Paul was up and we had a long travel convo with the well-traveled Belgian.
Another two hours later we woke the girls and had breakfast. This was interesting because they brought different plates of food and you had to decide if you wanted to wait and see if something you liked more may show up or eat something already on the table. The coffee and iced tea were both good. There were also banana pancakes, a couple of omelets, scrambled eggs, and a couple of toasted rolls.
One of the downsides of travel, is that everyone misses our pup-pup. The B&B Golden Retriever Sam will get lots of attention while we are here.
The girls were laughing at the main feature of their shower, it has clear glass to the outside with no way of covering it whilst you shower. So whether it’s day or night, people outside can see in. They opted for mine.
The Grab car took us to Intramuros, meaning inside the walls of the old city. Our Grab driver was young and had no fear. His favorite trick was to drive outside of the congested road and use the oncoming traffic’s congested side.
We got to see the most common form of public transportation here, the Jeepneys or Jeeps, as most people call them. They were first created from leftover U.S. military jeeps after World War II. There are often over 20 people crammed into the back. To access this mode of public transportation you need to able to crouch walk in tight spaces–medium to good flexibility is required.
We got dropped off at the fort and were immediately were approached by Andy who seemed to be very eager to make some money. He showed us his “Lamborghini” the most pathetic bunch of pipes and rubber you ever did see. It’s the sad irony that gets your attention. He said he could tour guide us around the old city. We went into the fort and looked around. 
When we came out of the fort, Andy and his Lambough were still waiting. Paul likes to encourage any guy who has some entrepreneurial kahunas. To put all of this into context, there were many fancier options, horses with spiffy little carriages, fancy done up moto-tuks, other decked out little golf cart options, and the sad Andy option. The carriage drivers were actually laughing at us for considering him. Thanks for sealing the deal, you mockers, we will definitely be going with the kid and his hunk of junk Lambo. We took photos in our vehicle of choice while the other dudes laughed, and off we went. It wasn’t the impressive burning rubber exit, more of a laborious grinding. I was just hoping we could get around the corner and out of site before the jalopy of pipes collapsed. My butt cheek was rubbing on the tire and we couldn’t see anything except green plastic. At our first stop, Andy upgraded his rig for a different one, and all of a sudden, we could see!
A comparison recap. These were some of our options. Lots of pretty horsie carriages or a moto tuk.
Here we are with Andy and his very big smile. Worth every peso.
Here are some of the sites Andy showed us.
My impression of Andy was that he was a good tale-spinner. He looked no more than 15 but said he was 25, that life was hard, he had a wife already. Paul asked if he had kids, he thought about it and said yes. Most people know if they have kids. Somewhere in the middle of our tour we stopped by his neighborhood, my favorite part of the tour.
I’m not sure it really was his neighborhood, no one seemed to greet him. I could be wrong, but I think he’s learned what to say to increase his sympathy-tip. Not that I judge him for that, I know I’d do whatever I had to to survive, we all would.
After tipping Andy well, we went over to the market to look for watches. Didn’t find any, but did find some dumplings at the food court from ChowKing. I sat at a table and Paul couldn’t find me. I was doing that Asian camouflaging thing, which I can only pull off in certain parts of the world–just blending. I asked what had taken so long and he replied a bit sheepishly that he couldn’t pick me out of the crowd. We had a laugh. He, on the other hand, was like a beacon of different since we were the only foreigners in the building.
After that we walked through the outdoor market that went for blocks, seemed never ending. Everything you can possibly imagine was being sold. Some markets focus on presentation, others keep it basic and gritty. This was the latter. We drove through some poor areas that perhaps were the worst I’ve seen, even worse than the ones in Haiti, India, Guatemala. Many places weren’t even structures, just small scraps of cardboard, and maybe some cloth. Lots of kids and adults sitting in groups conserving energy. It didn’t feel right to take any photos, it was just too sad. 
We’ve been learning all the tricks about using Grab. Our ride took about an hour to get home for $1.50. So affordable for us. Our driver home was telling us there are 28 million people in the greater Manila area. When you realize that, the traffic seems reasonable.
In the evening we walked over to the Power Plant to get food. There are so many nationalities represented in the restaurants, we did a Mediterranean one and it was exceptional, from the hummus to the lentil burger Cali had, to the baklava. Great food, extremely attentive waiters.
Then we picked up some snacks and food for Madi, who is working on a major paper, and walked back. For some reason there were many monster roaches scurrying about as we walked. It was freaking the girls out a little because they were wearing sandals and didn’t want them crawling on their toes. Non-slum dweller problems.