Makati City, Philippines - Page 35

slang · 09-26-2007, 12:46 PM

There are two complaints with the garden:

1. There is stagnet water throughout in ponds that are a haven for mosquitos.

2. There are people sleeping on the railings of the pavilions, setting up cardboard shantys and appearing as this is their mailing address.

On the upside, those that were there seemed in good enough spirits to smile when we walked around and there were some people reading books and magazines.

If one had a five gallon pail of chlorine and were to give each of the 5 or 6 ponds a little dash of it here and there, it might improve the overal enjoyment of coming to visit.

There are also some interesting looking ( Chinese ) pavilions and the walkways are brick or cobblestone instead of just some poured concrete path.

slang · 09-26-2007, 01:00 PM

Many of my daily pictures are of traffic and different looking things that I see.

Sometimes those different looking things are cars that are not seen in the US and sometimes they are cars normally seen in the US but not often here.

This is a very bad shot of a vette that zipped by before I could adjust the camera for an action shot.

There may be a lot of Vettes here but I've not seen them with my own eyes very often.

slang · 09-26-2007, 01:05 PM

Someone explained to me today that the nicer looking Jeepneys often have sealed windows instead of being open to the outside or having plastic over them.

The nicer looking ones like this have AC, so they cost a bit more, are a bit fancier, etc, etc.

When we get into one, you can be sure that there will be photos here of it from the inside.

slang · 09-26-2007, 01:34 PM

Here are some night shots from the lineup for the taxi at the Glorietta Mall.

This mall is not nearly as big as many here. The only reason that we ended up here was to go to a specialty shop that is not at other malls.

There are booths you may call them, simple displays with goods on them. Most of them are women's items or cell phone accessories.

As you pass ( if you are a white man ) the girls say hello and then politely say what they have there, as if you could not recognize the items by simply looking at them.

It's ok at first but it gets old after a while.

Example:

Hello Sir, Maam...gold watches?
Hello Sir, Maam...Handbags?
Hello Sir, Maam...shoes?
Hello Sir, Maam...gold rings?
Hello Sir, Maam...high capacity Glock mags?

Ok, so I made that last one up. It's absolutely true about the other items though.

It's only when I go with my wife that they seem so friendly too.

-----

There are normally "security" officers outside that write the name and the number of the taxi on a form for you as they guide you into a cab.

This gives the passenger some reassurance that the driver will not be a complete ass during the trip.

Tonight the security people were not only writing the cab info on the form to give to the passengers as they entered the taxi, they were also taking pictures of them getting in.

I had seriously hoped to get a picture of the security gaurd taking our picture but they stopped just before we stepped up the the head of the line

slang · 09-26-2007, 01:43 PM

Billboards from the EDSA highway

slang · 09-26-2007, 01:55 PM

Ok, this is out of the car window but what the hell. Here it is.

This is a spanking new Chevy Suburban. What's the big deal? They sell for $75k here. In a country where the median yearly salary is $1400.

Take a look at some other prices on American cars here.

The prices listed may not be competetive but that's all I have to go on.

The stupidass stuffed animals on the dash are not mine Zippy.

slang · 09-26-2007, 02:33 PM

Here's something a bit different.

There's a joke for drivers. When it's lunch or dinner time they warn each other to stickly follow all the rules.

This is what one of the passengers in a car might say to the driver.

"Hey Slow down you jackass! It's lunchtime...don't you know!?"

The complete meaning of this "joke" has completely bypassed me until a few days ago.

There were 5 of us in a Kia Adventure on EDSA, I was in the front, a pinoy was driving.

We were in traffic that slowed down and the driver merged into the right hand lane to avoid the traffic jam. He very purposely merged out of the traffic and into a split in the highway to take a different route.

A police officer ran out into the highway to halt the car. It was 12:20 pm.

The driver yelled, "Oh Fuck!! It's lunchtime!"

Whatever.

He pulls the car over. The officer comes to the window.

Liscence, registration.

I was thinking to myself, what is the problem here but activated my STFU button for the duration of the "traffic stop".

The officer takes the L and R....comes back....speaks Tagalog for about 5 minutes with the other passengers.

His citation pad is out....he's writing something and speaking in a more serious tone in Tagalog.

I see the driver hand over a P500 note which the officer quickly crumples into his hand.

Then the officer says....OK, I've giving you a warning this time. I have to go eat lunch now.

Not really. Not about saying that he has to go to lunch. That is the only part that didnt happen.

He didnt need to say "I have to go eat lunch with your money for a warning, for an offense that you didnt commit"

I just laughed out loud.

I told the driver in all my miles on the road in the US not one single time has anything like that ever happened to me. That in all the backwoods billy-bob states and counties, in the north, south, east and west not one time has that happened to me and that I was truly a bit skeptical that it does happen here.

He laughed with me for a second or two.

"How do you know how much to give?" I asked.

He said normally he gives P100 but no one had any smaller bills today.

So now whenever we drive around, I make sure to have a few hundred peso notes.

With a "rich" white guy in the front seat, this will surely happen again.

At about 4 o'clock, just by coincidence I'm sure, we saw 2 other motorists buying the police dinner.

Sundae · 09-26-2007, 02:40 PM

Just been catching up on this thread - keep them coming Slang, fantastic details.

slang · 09-27-2007, 01:51 PM

Thank you SG. These are just the sort of mildly interesting things that I'd like to read from someone's trip.

There were no special trips planned today, no one visiting and no one to go visit. Sort of a boring day.

I woke and got up at around 11 am today. That's when I effing felt like getting around after reading late into the night.

All meals are prepared by my MIL at their house which is just a few doors down. We all like to eat together and it's my MIL's purpose in life to provide good foods and clean clothes for all of us.

That's not sarcasm, that's just the way it is here. Her role here is respectable caring for all of us.

We left the apt to go for breakfast as we often do at this time.

The neighbor across the street is working her way slowly from her front gate into the back of a very pinoy looking Jeepny. She's a very old woman and a slow mover.

Her son is holding her arm to steady her. She's teary and her voice breaks up as she tells me...

Theese my son home from Amerika.

The son, John, an electrical engineer working in the San Fransisco area.

My eyes adjust to the bright sun after crawling out of our cave and I shake his hand.

"Do you drink beer" I asked.

He shook his head no. "How about Pepsi?" He smiled as to say yes and we agreed to get together to chat in the coming weeks.

He'll be around for 3 weeks.

Before moving on to the house for breakfast, I looked in the Jeepny. There was a small boy in the back looking very uneasy.

It was John's son, 3 years old. This was his first visit to "the old country" and I could just read his mind.

"I don't like this vehicle, it's very hot here, this is not home, I don't know all these people, it smells bad here"

We both commented on the boy's expressions and then went on to breakfast.

slang · 09-27-2007, 02:20 PM

After breakfast and an unusually hard rain, complete with lightning we take a trip.

It's just about 4 pm and I'm looking for a cheap distraction for the next few hours.

We are very close to some nice places here but we always go there and I'd like to explore a bit today.

The MRT is cheap and runs through some territory that we don't normally visit, why not take a little trip for a few hours?

Off we go. Tricycle to a Jeepny, Jeepny to the MRT station.

The goal in my mind is to ride the MRT to the outter reaches of the line or lines.

Today that means MRT down to Taft Ave then to catch the LRT and all the way up to Monumento.

Here is a quick link for the MRT

I'm a big fan of all of the public rail system here. It's cheap, air conditioned and the tracks are above the street level much of the time so I can look out the windows in amazement at those strange things that are out there.

Today we enter at Guadalupe.

The train rolls to a stop and the doors open. A uniformed man works his way out of the railcar with an M16 with a tac-sling. It's a very dark green but not black uniform.

Right hand over the reciever, left hand over the muzzle he wiggles through a gang of people boarding the railcar, trying not to push the weapon into anyone.

He breaks free from the crowd and disappears in seconds.

"I wonder how effective someone with an M16 could possibly be in such a crowded situation" I say to my wife.

Then after thinking a moment agree in my mind that it's probably a deterrant by showing force.

It's surely a strange thing for me to see. I'm not fearful of these soldiers and SWAT people, it just seems very unusual.

slang · 09-27-2007, 02:37 PM

Nowdays the whole city is more familiar to me and it's getting very comfortable to go to all sorts of places in Manila.

We switch to the LRT for a ride up the coast. The tickets cost about $.40 each one way to the last stop on the line.

The LRT is older than the MRT. It's the original public rail system here and the roughness of the ride is a big difference from the MRT.

As you look forward into the next car, you see ( and feel ) the cars moving back and forth. It's as if the tracks are bent but that seems improbable.

Looking out the window the older parts of the city are passing by. The old Spanish style buildings are much more common here and the churches are bigger.

This trip I see what turns out to be the old Chinese cemetery. It's so old and run down that it's only after seeing the sign and the gates that I recognize it.

Eventually we arrive at Monumento. To me it appears as run down and dark as many other parts of the city. Lots of lights, cars, jeepnys and people moving in something less than a smooth orderly way.

To my wife it's not a pleasant place to visit, so we head back soon after arriving.

It's surely been worth the forty cents to look out the window at the older portion of the city. My wife doesnt share my opinion on that though.

Once back at Guadalupe everythings fine again.

slang · 09-27-2007, 02:43 PM

This is just a little something that I noticed while reviewing a series of photos taken recently.

It's a good idea here to read the signs. The systems of warnings and notices are not nearly what they are many other places in the world.

Take a look at how the hose is just sorta flopped on the truck too.

Maybe it's not acid, maybe it is. It's strange in my mind.

slang · 09-27-2007, 02:54 PM

We pass this little shop when riding the MRT.

Do they know what pot is in the US?

I would like to make a little reefer to put in the lips of the big smiley.

glatt · 09-27-2007, 02:57 PM

I didn't know squids have white balls.

slang · 09-27-2007, 03:02 PM

You didnt know that they smell like sweaty ass either did you?

Yeah, a bit strange. I'll have to ask about that.

09-26-2007, 12:46 PM	#511
slang St Petersburg, Florida Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 3,423	There are two complaints with the garden: 1. There is stagnet water throughout in ponds that are a haven for mosquitos. 2. There are people sleeping on the railings of the pavilions, setting up cardboard shantys and appearing as this is their mailing address. On the upside, those that were there seemed in good enough spirits to smile when we walked around and there were some people reading books and magazines. If one had a five gallon pail of chlorine and were to give each of the 5 or 6 ponds a little dash of it here and there, it might improve the overal enjoyment of coming to visit. There are also some interesting looking ( Chinese ) pavilions and the walkways are brick or cobblestone instead of just some poured concrete path. Attached Images

09-26-2007, 01:00 PM	#512
slang St Petersburg, Florida Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 3,423	Many of my daily pictures are of traffic and different looking things that I see. Sometimes those different looking things are cars that are not seen in the US and sometimes they are cars normally seen in the US but not often here. This is a very bad shot of a vette that zipped by before I could adjust the camera for an action shot. There may be a lot of Vettes here but I've not seen them with my own eyes very often. Attached Images

09-26-2007, 01:05 PM	#513
slang St Petersburg, Florida Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 3,423	Someone explained to me today that the nicer looking Jeepneys often have sealed windows instead of being open to the outside or having plastic over them. The nicer looking ones like this have AC, so they cost a bit more, are a bit fancier, etc, etc. When we get into one, you can be sure that there will be photos here of it from the inside. Attached Images

09-26-2007, 01:34 PM	#514
slang St Petersburg, Florida Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 3,423	Here are some night shots from the lineup for the taxi at the Glorietta Mall. This mall is not nearly as big as many here. The only reason that we ended up here was to go to a specialty shop that is not at other malls. There are booths you may call them, simple displays with goods on them. Most of them are women's items or cell phone accessories. As you pass ( if you are a white man ) the girls say hello and then politely say what they have there, as if you could not recognize the items by simply looking at them. It's ok at first but it gets old after a while. Example: Hello Sir, Maam...gold watches? Hello Sir, Maam...Handbags? Hello Sir, Maam...shoes? Hello Sir, Maam...gold rings? Hello Sir, Maam...high capacity Glock mags? Ok, so I made that last one up. It's absolutely true about the other items though. It's only when I go with my wife that they seem so friendly too. ----- There are normally "security" officers outside that write the name and the number of the taxi on a form for you as they guide you into a cab. This gives the passenger some reassurance that the driver will not be a complete ass during the trip. Tonight the security people were not only writing the cab info on the form to give to the passengers as they entered the taxi, they were also taking pictures of them getting in. I had seriously hoped to get a picture of the security gaurd taking our picture but they stopped just before we stepped up the the head of the line Attached Images Last edited by slang; 09-26-2007 at 11:04 PM.

09-26-2007, 01:43 PM	#515
slang St Petersburg, Florida Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 3,423	Billboards from the EDSA highway Attached Images

09-26-2007, 01:55 PM	#516
slang St Petersburg, Florida Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 3,423	Ok, this is out of the car window but what the hell. Here it is. This is a spanking new Chevy Suburban. What's the big deal? They sell for $75k here. In a country where the median yearly salary is $1400. Take a look at some other prices on American cars here. The prices listed may not be competetive but that's all I have to go on. The stupidass stuffed animals on the dash are not mine Zippy. Attached Images

09-26-2007, 02:33 PM	#517
slang St Petersburg, Florida Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 3,423	Here's something a bit different. There's a joke for drivers. When it's lunch or dinner time they warn each other to stickly follow all the rules. This is what one of the passengers in a car might say to the driver. "Hey Slow down you jackass! It's lunchtime...don't you know!?" The complete meaning of this "joke" has completely bypassed me until a few days ago. There were 5 of us in a Kia Adventure on EDSA, I was in the front, a pinoy was driving. We were in traffic that slowed down and the driver merged into the right hand lane to avoid the traffic jam. He very purposely merged out of the traffic and into a split in the highway to take a different route. A police officer ran out into the highway to halt the car. It was 12:20 pm. The driver yelled, "Oh Fuck!! It's lunchtime!" Whatever. He pulls the car over. The officer comes to the window. Liscence, registration. I was thinking to myself, what is the problem here but activated my STFU button for the duration of the "traffic stop". The officer takes the L and R....comes back....speaks Tagalog for about 5 minutes with the other passengers. His citation pad is out....he's writing something and speaking in a more serious tone in Tagalog. I see the driver hand over a P500 note which the officer quickly crumples into his hand. Then the officer says....OK, I've giving you a warning this time. I have to go eat lunch now. Not really. Not about saying that he has to go to lunch. That is the only part that didnt happen. He didnt need to say "I have to go eat lunch with your money for a warning, for an offense that you didnt commit" I just laughed out loud. I told the driver in all my miles on the road in the US not one single time has anything like that ever happened to me. That in all the backwoods billy-bob states and counties, in the north, south, east and west not one time has that happened to me and that I was truly a bit skeptical that it does happen here. He laughed with me for a second or two. "How do you know how much to give?" I asked. He said normally he gives P100 but no one had any smaller bills today. So now whenever we drive around, I make sure to have a few hundred peso notes. With a "rich" white guy in the front seat, this will surely happen again. At about 4 o'clock, just by coincidence I'm sure, we saw 2 other motorists buying the police dinner.

09-26-2007, 02:40 PM	#518
Sundae polaroid of perfection Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: West Yorkshire Posts: 24,185	Just been catching up on this thread - keep them coming Slang, fantastic details. __________________ Life's hard you know, so strike a pose on a Cadillac

09-27-2007, 01:51 PM	#519
slang St Petersburg, Florida Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 3,423	Thank you SG. These are just the sort of mildly interesting things that I'd like to read from someone's trip. There were no special trips planned today, no one visiting and no one to go visit. Sort of a boring day. I woke and got up at around 11 am today. That's when I effing felt like getting around after reading late into the night. All meals are prepared by my MIL at their house which is just a few doors down. We all like to eat together and it's my MIL's purpose in life to provide good foods and clean clothes for all of us. That's not sarcasm, that's just the way it is here. Her role here is respectable caring for all of us. We left the apt to go for breakfast as we often do at this time. The neighbor across the street is working her way slowly from her front gate into the back of a very pinoy looking Jeepny. She's a very old woman and a slow mover. Her son is holding her arm to steady her. She's teary and her voice breaks up as she tells me... Theese my son home from Amerika. The son, John, an electrical engineer working in the San Fransisco area. My eyes adjust to the bright sun after crawling out of our cave and I shake his hand. "Do you drink beer" I asked. He shook his head no. "How about Pepsi?" He smiled as to say yes and we agreed to get together to chat in the coming weeks. He'll be around for 3 weeks. Before moving on to the house for breakfast, I looked in the Jeepny. There was a small boy in the back looking very uneasy. It was John's son, 3 years old. This was his first visit to "the old country" and I could just read his mind. "I don't like this vehicle, it's very hot here, this is not home, I don't know all these people, it smells bad here" We both commented on the boy's expressions and then went on to breakfast.

09-27-2007, 02:20 PM	#520
slang St Petersburg, Florida Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 3,423	After breakfast and an unusually hard rain, complete with lightning we take a trip. It's just about 4 pm and I'm looking for a cheap distraction for the next few hours. We are very close to some nice places here but we always go there and I'd like to explore a bit today. The MRT is cheap and runs through some territory that we don't normally visit, why not take a little trip for a few hours? Off we go. Tricycle to a Jeepny, Jeepny to the MRT station. The goal in my mind is to ride the MRT to the outter reaches of the line or lines. Today that means MRT down to Taft Ave then to catch the LRT and all the way up to Monumento. Here is a quick link for the MRT I'm a big fan of all of the public rail system here. It's cheap, air conditioned and the tracks are above the street level much of the time so I can look out the windows in amazement at those strange things that are out there. Today we enter at Guadalupe. The train rolls to a stop and the doors open. A uniformed man works his way out of the railcar with an M16 with a tac-sling. It's a very dark green but not black uniform. Right hand over the reciever, left hand over the muzzle he wiggles through a gang of people boarding the railcar, trying not to push the weapon into anyone. He breaks free from the crowd and disappears in seconds. "I wonder how effective someone with an M16 could possibly be in such a crowded situation" I say to my wife. Then after thinking a moment agree in my mind that it's probably a deterrant by showing force. It's surely a strange thing for me to see. I'm not fearful of these soldiers and SWAT people, it just seems very unusual.

09-27-2007, 02:37 PM	#521
slang St Petersburg, Florida Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 3,423	Nowdays the whole city is more familiar to me and it's getting very comfortable to go to all sorts of places in Manila. We switch to the LRT for a ride up the coast. The tickets cost about $.40 each one way to the last stop on the line. The LRT is older than the MRT. It's the original public rail system here and the roughness of the ride is a big difference from the MRT. As you look forward into the next car, you see ( and feel ) the cars moving back and forth. It's as if the tracks are bent but that seems improbable. Looking out the window the older parts of the city are passing by. The old Spanish style buildings are much more common here and the churches are bigger. This trip I see what turns out to be the old Chinese cemetery. It's so old and run down that it's only after seeing the sign and the gates that I recognize it. Eventually we arrive at Monumento. To me it appears as run down and dark as many other parts of the city. Lots of lights, cars, jeepnys and people moving in something less than a smooth orderly way. To my wife it's not a pleasant place to visit, so we head back soon after arriving. It's surely been worth the forty cents to look out the window at the older portion of the city. My wife doesnt share my opinion on that though. Once back at Guadalupe everythings fine again. Attached Images

09-27-2007, 02:43 PM	#522
slang St Petersburg, Florida Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 3,423	This is just a little something that I noticed while reviewing a series of photos taken recently. It's a good idea here to read the signs. The systems of warnings and notices are not nearly what they are many other places in the world. Take a look at how the hose is just sorta flopped on the truck too. Maybe it's not acid, maybe it is. It's strange in my mind. Attached Images

09-27-2007, 02:54 PM	#523
slang St Petersburg, Florida Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 3,423	We pass this little shop when riding the MRT. Do they know what pot is in the US? I would like to make a little reefer to put in the lips of the big smiley. Attached Images

09-27-2007, 02:57 PM	#524
glatt ™ Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Arlington, VA Posts: 27,717	I didn't know squids have white balls.

09-27-2007, 03:02 PM	#525
slang St Petersburg, Florida Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 3,423	You didnt know that they smell like sweaty ass either did you? Yeah, a bit strange. I'll have to ask about that.

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