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Published: January 23rd 2008
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I went to Manila as a friend I used to work with in Sydney was going over for a wedding. His girlfriend's sister, who I only meant briefly once before was getting married. I also had never meant the groom. Nevertheless Man-E invited me to the wedding so I thought it would be good to go over and catch up with him. I didn't really know what to expect. I had heard stories of armed guards in McDonalds and people getting blown away on the street. Being there only 3 days, I can't say I got a feel for the place. However it seemed like a safe enough city, although I didn't venture far from the tourist area.
When I travel, I'm not the type that likes to plan daily internaries of where to go at what time etc. I also hate package tours and prefer to just turn up and see what happens. However sometimes it pays to do some homework beforehand. I flew to Manila via a budget airline. I really didn't take much notice where it flew into in Manila, assuming it would be the usual taxi ride to my hotel. As I discovered, the budget airlines
fly into the old US airfield in Clarke and not the main airport just outside of Manila. When I arrived, the airport was just slightly bigger than the one in Parkes (country town in rural NSW, see previous blog). Wasn't much activity going on, couldn't see any buses outside or taxis, and it seemed we were in the middle of nowhere. Managed to get hold of one guy and explain I needed a taxi. He quoted me 3000 pesos which is like SNG$100...which I'd say is a small fortune to some in the Phillippines. I was a bit sceptical that it should cost that much but nevertheless agreed. Well 2 hours later and I was at my hotel so fair enough I guess. The extra money saved using a budget airline is definitely not worth landing in Clarke, assuming you intend to stay in Manila. You can probably get a taxi to Angeles and get a bus to Manila though, but who really can be arsed doing that?
By the way, Manila is really one city that makes up the greater Metro Manila area. I think I passed though most of them on my journey from Clarke to Manila.
One good thing about the trip though, was that I got to see a bit of Manila that I would not of been exposed to staying in the tourist area of Malati. We drove through a lot of the poorer areas of Manila, to which there are many. A lot of squatter settlements where abandoned buildings have been turned into houses by the poor.
I stayed in Malati at the Bayview Hotel. It was a bit old looking but after seeing the squatter settlements it was a bit hard to criticise the room too much. However it's in a pretty good location and as it happened was within walking distance from where Man-E was staying at the Manila Hotel. Pretty fortunate as I had no idea where he was staying prior to me arriving. Anyway I ended up spending a bit of time at the Manila Hotel. Just sitting in the lobby you'd see like a group of old Japanese or Korean men sitting around. All of a sudden a group of young Phillippino girls would arrive and they would all disappear upstairs. It was obvious that these were organised sex tours, and you'd just see it everywhere.
Basically that night I arrived I ended up meeting up with Man-E and his friends and going to the groom, Jamie's, bucks night. Went to a club called Embassy and got really drunk. The next day I was supposed to attend the wedding but missed the ceremony completely due to a vicious hangover. I did get to the reception though and it was quite impressive. After the reception we ended up at the hotel bar where everyone let there hair down. It was good to hangout with some typical Australians for a change. I felt a bit self conscience as I kind of gate crashed the wedding but everyone was friendly and acted like they had known me for years.
The next day the wedding party were off to Borocay so I had the day to myself before I flew out that evening. I decided to go to the cockfights to have a look. Took a train and to get into the station, you need to have your bag screened. There are also seperate waiting areas for men and women on the platform, although most people seemed to disregard this. It was 15 pesos (about 50 cents Sing) for
a few stations ride. I then caught a jeepney which is a converted army jeep used for public transport. I've never seen anything like them anywhere before except the Phillippines. Most of them travel a certain round trip and you just jump on and off them. I was pretty pleased with myself that I managed to get on one, and arrive at my destination. Just 7 pesos too...dirt cheap.
The cockfight was a surreal experience. They hold two roosters together and make them peck each other repeatedly to get them fired up. They attached a blade to one leg of each cock and then let them go for it. Before they are released to fight, there is a frenzy of activity as the betting takes place. Betting is done via a middleman which will take bets and match betters up with each other. You can bet on Meron which is the favourite or on Wala, the outsider. If you bet on the favourite you stand to win about 10% - 15% while betting on Wala can mean a lot more. You would think the odds would be pretty even as one lucky strike with the blade and it could
be all over. However apparently there are certain roosters which are better fighters. Eggs are flown in from other countries especially to be used for cockfighting. Anyway just before the roosters start fighting, the bookies will shout out the odds and match people up. People indicate how much they want to bet by a show of fingers. After the fight money is thrown all around the place. Not sure how they remember who bet on what, but the system seems to work.
After the cockfight I just had a look around Rizal Park. Got a taxi back to the airport which was another 2 hours. The taxi driver I had was quite old and I don't think his eyesight was all that good. When it got dark he proceeded to drive very slowly and was veering off the road. I was a bit nervous that we would not reach our destination. We did though but I wonder if he managed to get back to Manila in one piece.
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