Vanilla in Manila

Someone I know went to Manila on a brief business trip recently and asked me to put their story on here. (Apologies for the first person perspective!)

First impressions in the cab from the airport…lots of traffic. This would also prove to be my lingering memory of the city (listening to hideously cheesey pop music- seemingly the only thing on local radio); it’s the worst I’ve seen in any city in Asia/the world. The weather was pretty good- it was nice to wander about in shorts, sandals and flip-flops. It made me realize that this year will give me my first cold Christmas since 2003!

Having arrived on a Sunday, there was nothing to do but go present hunting- woe betide the traveler who heads home without gifts. (I wouldn’t have been in trouble but taking gifts home is one of the joys of going places.) I headed for a shopping centre nearish the hotel. It’s massive- five huge malls, all joined together. And it was heaving- the pre-Chrimbo hysteria was building (Catholic country). The armed guards and metal detectors at all entrances were a little scary- but these are ubiquitous here, as I soon realised. AND then there was a bomb at this mall a few weeks ago, too, so there is some justification! Inside, it was rather disappointingly a smorgasbord of international brands. However, I was directed to a “Filipino Kultur” shop which had all sorts of suitable goodies.

My hotel was fine- decent room, wide selection of TV channels and all that malarkey. It was in Makati, the business district of the city. The street it’s on however, is populated with…bars. It seems that it’s a little nest on the sex tourism map- watering holes have names like Tickles, Bottoms and Sizzlers (Monday is bikini night). So of course there were quite a few late-middle-aged, rancid, lardy Westerners with young local girls. Truly vomitworthy.

Anyway, this was work rather than play, so I had to get the suit on, hoik the business cards out and go and see people. Meetings around the city necessitated getting taxis everywhere. The first one took me to the wrong place, and then I was running late- none of the passing taxis seemed to want my business so I had to nip into stopped traffic and hijack one. They all try and take you for a fixed rate- using the meter is invariably cheaper. Quite a few taxis turn you down, too, unless you’re willing to pay their quoted rate. After my last Monday appointment, I waited for over 20 minutes, dejectedly and fruitlessly trying to flag a taxi down. I ended up going through the side entrance of a hotel and pretending to be a guest so the doorman would call me one. It took another fifteen minutes but saved me a little shame.

On the last day I had an afternoon free so decided to try for a little sightseeing. A lot of the historic sights in the city have been destroyed by fire, earthquake and war, but there are still bits and bobs to check out. I headed for Intramuros (another hour in a taxi), the former Spanish centre when the Philippines were one of their colonial trophies. There are still quite a few buildings in the Spanish style, and the area is enclosed by the mostly intact city wall. The wall has troughs for old cannon, and deep crenellations for young lovebirds to hang out and canoodle (I love that word!) in. The grounds outside the southern part of the wall are pleasingly green- they’ve been converted into a golf course. Intramuros also lacks the traffic issues of the rest of the city- it was beautifully peaceful and the villas and churches added to the atmosphere. I finished off with a stroll down Manila Bay’s waterfront, timing it nicely with sunset. Then it was another taxi home, shortly after someone tried to pressure me into a titty bar/brothel. I’ll pass, thanks.

Overall, Manila is clearly very poor- I didn’t feel like pictorially recording the poverty, but there are extensive shanty towns all over the city. I went through some when my taxis took short cuts. However, I’m under the impression that things are slowly improving, now that the country’s money is not being spent on somebody’s wife’s shoe collection. Three cheers for People Power.

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