Anyway, found out that the Clark airport is actually around 2 hours car journey from the actual Metro Manila. Note to self: Do more research when taking budget airlines. Eventually we entered Manila, though.. and hey! I felt like I was back in Indonesia! Almost everything from the weather, the building types, the traffic, the cars, the scenery.... Oh wow.. The only different thing is that signs are in English and Tagalog. Found the hostel, located in quite an interesting area where all the street names are space objects (Jupiter st, Polaris st, Juno st, Orbit st etc). It's actually a studio apartment converted into a hostel, and very cosy! Great first impression of Manila....
... but things kinda went downhill from there.. Took the train to see sunset at Manila Bay (Interestingly, the sunset here is great because the air is opaque due to pollution..). Manila has 3 train lines with the trains looking like KTM (Kereta Api Tanah Melayu from Malaysia). Well, no problem with those, clean and good. Then we reached the Central Manila station.
Hmm... the station itself does not look like a Central Station because it was very dilapidated, and -gasp! - banally modernist.. Walked to Manila Bay, and uhm... reached Manila Bay... and saw a bit of sunset.. and that was it... The thing is, the whole walk consist of a rather barren pavement beside one long, wide concrete road and the so-called landmark buildings are mostly neo-classical cast-concrete entities smothered with pastel-colored paints. (Nothing personal against pastel colored paints.. It's just that I've seen enough of salmon pink and pale yellow Corinthian pillars in Jakarta.) The absence of street food is noticeable, though for the adventurous 'balut' - duck egg with embryo - is very easy to find. Then, there was the smoke, the cars (My apologies for contrasting Manila with the more charming bycicle-laden Vietnam), the smell.. Actually, the smell makes it kinda fun..As one walks, one is really assaulted with various kinds of smells, leaving one's imagination guessing as to what is the source... Hahaha...
As it grew darker, there's not much of street lamps, which, combined with the large scale of roads,pavements and buildings, and the barrenness of it all, creates a rather eerie atmosphere...
Oh, and the last thing... Manila is not a vegetarian friendly city.. not even pescatorian friendly! It was difficult to find vegetable dishes around *tho there's always Subway*. On the other hand, if you love chicken, then this is the place. As we walked along Jupiter st, there was no shortage of billboards with various smiling chicken characters (One of the greatest contradictions in life.. Chickens advertising for places that aren't exactly chicken-friendly..).
The most interesting thing in Manila is probably the jeepney, a special public transport modified from ex- US army jeeps. It's pretty long, and passengers sit in two long lines at the back facing each other while the driver is in front facing the road. Then, when it's time to pay passengers just pass coins from those at the back to those closest to the driver, and each time the driver receives and puts money in a box without really looking.. I wonder if the driver trusts the passengers so much to give the correct amount of money, or he's just got a sixth sense to know if it's correct!
Another good thing would be, everyone here speaks English pretty well, and signs are mostly bilingual, so if you're a traveler that doesn't like to learn a bit of local language (though then I would question your definition of 'traveler'), this is a pretty good place to start.
Well well, for now, that is my impression of Manila.. I know I'm painting a bleak picture of it, and I do hope it will change.. It's Day 1 out of 11, for goodness sake!
For now, though, magandang gabi! *Good night in Tagalog*
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