Month: May 2017

In this episode we visited Dampa Sa Libis that has a Wet Market (“palengke”) where you can buy fresh seafoods and a restaurant where you can decide how it will be cooked.

Living green in Manila seems difficult in the beginning. All the meat, cars, traffic jams, plastic, people, air pollution

After a bit of confusion, we understood that the same old recipe works here – minimise energy use and spending and you are on a good way.

Housing – housing in Manila is so much more ecological than living in Finland! It’s amazing, no heating is needed! The sun is heating us here! Live in a small house or apartment and get used to the hot weather and keep the AC on minimum. This saves electricity and by getting used to the warm weather you will also enjoy being outside more.

Transport – Manila is jammed and tons of people sit in cars, buses, taxis and jeepneys that are not moving but the engines are humming and roaring. Klaxons screaming! What a waste! Try to live close to your work and travel with public transport as much as possible. Carry your food home and no gym is needed. Especially if you carry home the water. Avoid flying – it’s terrible.

Food – meat is popular in Philippines. Beef, chicken and pork are in high demand and prepared everywhere. Small shacks where chicken heads are fried to restaurants churning out adobo to hungry office workers. Try to reduce the amount of meat and get acquainted with the everyday vegetables that are eaten here. The fruits will make the transition easier.

Lifestyle – the warm weather requires frequent showering. Keep the water cold and the showers short. Avoid consumption and always bring back your waste from the nature. Wake up at six and no lights are needed.

Philippine people may seem uninformed about the environment, ignoring the waste that is piling up at beautiful tourist spots. But the criminal is not the local fisherman or IT-worker. It’s us, living in AC cooled homes and flying to various places around Philippines only for a weekend.

Coral reefs are losing their colours at this very moment and fishermen can’t catch any fish. They eat canned fish and see their sons moving to the cities, crying.

As almost always, save money and you’ll save the environment. That’s one of the most beautiful things in life.

The biggest issue is not the pollution that we are emitting. It is the lack of courage and ignorance that keep prevailing.

Ps. Recycle.

This morning a thin arm hit me with surprising force. The other hand’s fist opened and some silver coins sparkled. The boy said something I couldn’t understand and he wanted money. I turned away and continued walking into the morning heat, checking my phone and wallet were still in my pockets.

Philippines used to be poor. Philippines is still poor, but the amount of poor has been decreasing. Skyscrapers pop up around Metro Manila, housing companies that take care of support services for oversees companies. HR and IT-support 24/7. A young man checking in at work at 7 p.m. in Manila to serve customers on the East Coast in US, where morning is breaking at 7 a.m. Providing IT-support all night and to the other side of the globe, through satellites, with a perfect American accent (sorry Martina).

After the shift he goes out with his friends and party. The foreign companies pay twice the pay that domestic companies do. A team performing well will be rewarded. The best teams get two free days in a row. The best of the best are free on the week-ends.

Listening to stories of people in our age in Philippines remind us of grandfathers and passed times. The cold winters, the lack of food, the scarcity. Here a diet of only rice and no toilets. Only after the father getting a better job, dried fish would be served for dinner. The lack of medicine and no access to doctors ever present, with infections leading to complications for life.

And people are pouring into Manila packing up in the streets and constipating the traffic. Manila is living at the verge of bursting.

I look back. The boy is gone, mixed with the commuters under the overpass.

 

Episode 2.

So you have moved to Manila and you sit in your room, AC on max and the Jeepney’s racing outside, and think: Gosh this is overwhelming – I am stranded on the islands of Philippines. Where shall I start?

7000 islands make the archipelago of Philippines. And so is Manila, an archipelago! Hire a captain and sail safely with a grab car or uber to the island you want to explore, avoiding treacherous waters and vile pirates. For the newbie in Philippines head out the following towns to get in touch with the vibe in Metro Manila and to harden your skin for the more adventurous islands (that’s where we are at).

Makati – is the mango for the thirsty newly arrived. Juicy and easy to open with tastes that are not too unfamiliar for you but still much better than what you are accustomed to. Makati feels safe and you can walk around and explore the town, unless the heat cuts you down. Hopping in and out from AC’d malls help. Makati contains shopping and restaurants as well as other easily approachable activities that require no skill or imagination. Soon, however, you will thirst for more excitement, if you are of our kind.

Intra Muros – is the old part of Manila and where the Spaniards used to hang out back in the days. Today, it feels a bit abandoned and dried out. Walk around and enjoy views that you can only enjoy in Intra Muros. Street vendors will try and sell you things no one on earth needs and tricyclists will tell you Intra Muros is huge, so hop on. The Fort Santiago is worth a visit. From the fort you will see Pasig River. As plastics and other waste flows by towards the sea your mind will be sadden. The National Museum will give you a nice introduction to Philippines, which name comes from a Spanish king called Philip.

Bonifacio Global Village – This place feels the least like Manila in general. Less cars and less traffic. People walk along pedestrian friendly streets with lower buildings. The American Cemetery is worth a visit – if not only for the peace and quiet among all the fallen young American men whose lives were cut short. Market! Market! is for shopping and restaurants for all tastes. Books can be found in Overbooked, a very pleasant bookstore.

Ortigas – where we live. Mega Mall and Shangri La Mall are here. May not sound like much, but walking through Mega Mall will be over 5 km of walking. Shopping, iceskating, bowling, haircuts, massage, medical equipment, art – something for the whole family.

Eastwood – A small oasis of shopping and restaurants watched over by smiling guards armed with assault rifles and shotguns.

When you have been to these places, don’t stop – continue exploring new islands. After all, Philippines with 300 000 km2 of land and smaller than Finland with 338 000 km2 of land.

 

There are a couple of metro and light train lines in Manila. The MRT goes north – south, along the EDSA, the main road in Manila.

The metro feels like a safe place. There are people everywhere and security guards are frisking all passengers before entering the platform area. Tickets can be bought at the stations.

The trouble with the MRT is that it is over-crowded, meaning that you have to queue to even get into the station during the rush hour. Built for 350 000 daily passengers, but used by 550 000 passengers daily (Wikipedia). Well inside the train you are packed like a Greek pillar in storage with many more sweating Greek pillars. Squeezing out at your station, your body will touch many other bodies.

Pickpockets are said to use the MRT as well, but we have not spotted any.

Travelling outside the rush ours, the MRT has served us very well.

Tickets are cheap, a trip from Shaw Boulevard to Ayala (4 stations) is 16 PHP, 0,30 euros.  

Tomorrow we are leaving Manila for the first time.

Episode 1 of scenes in Manila.