Getting Down In China Town
It all started with “pickled greenstuff”...
Pickled greenstuff. I picked up the bottle of preserved vegetable and couldn’t help but chuckle. I was inside a Chinese store of odds and ends. They had preserved every known thing imaginable! From seafood to fruit, from vegetables to things you would rather not know. Hell, they even preserve things they’re not quite sure what is! Exhibit A: pickled greenstuff. I could see them now; two Chinese people in a cramped preserving factory fussing over what the hell they just put inside a bottle. “I know!” says Chinaman one, “let us label it unknown!” “Idiot!” goes Chinaman two. “Who would buy a bottle of unknown? I know! Let us call it greenstuff!” And both nod in agreement and move on with a bottle of preserved purplestuff.
Chinatown. Divisoria. SM’s from Manila, Makati, Mandaluyong, Quezon and everywhere in between. Mall of Asia. Baywalk. And all the other places I have gone to see in Manila...It has been barely a week since I moved to the heart of the Philippines and I am loving every minute of it. Everyday is such an adventure. You never know when you might get robbed, stabbed or held up. Every minute is such an adrenaline rush. Every gasp is such a whiff of suffocating smog you are amazed at the end of each day you are still alive. Yes. Welcome to Manila. Where the stuff is cheap, the food is overpriced and the sky turns into a depressing hue of brown when it rains. The highest of the highs and the lowest of the lows, as they say.
Living alone has its ups and its downs, along with everything in this world that comes in yins and yangs. Living alone, you need not worry about parents...who in turn worry about you (coming home in the wee hours of the morning drunk). Living alone, you are in charge of your own time and space. You can be as messy as a pig and nobody would care (lest the mess be a biological hazard to nearby neighbors). But alas, living alone also comes with the shittiest of all emotions. One major emotion that I constantly have to fight is missing the small things at home. Fighting over the best sunnyside on the breakfast table. Yelling at younger sisters for borrowing stuff without asking you first. Getting paw prints all over dress just before leaving for an important occasion. And of course, privileges that only Davao can offer: LIGHT traffic *sigh*, being able to text freely on the streets without fear of losing a hand and ALL YOU CAN EAT FOR P99 OR LESS! Here in Manila, for 99 or less you could probably fill a shopping bag full of clothes or stuff at rock bottom bargain prices...but when it comes to food? *snorts* 99 is a bag of peanuts.
But it’s good, you know, being independent. Here, if you don’t ACT, NOTHING will happen to you! If you don’t cook, you don’t eat. If you don’t wash your clothes, you won’t have anything to wear. If you don’t make your bed, nobody will! And it will forever be a confused abyss of linen and dirty laundry.
In my short stay here I have learned quite a few valuable, if not life-saving, lessons:
1) ALWAYS lock your doors in the taxi. ALWAYS.
2) Keep your bag in sight at all times. Make sure you have a vise-like grip on it, lest you wish to lose all your personal effects to the next snatcher that abound in Manila much in the same way roaches abound in Joe’s apartment.
3) Don’t act like your not from town. The moment you do, chances are, most people will rip you off more than usual, charge you more than they usually overcharge or generally make a fool out of you.
4) NEVER ever walk alone on suspicious streets, even in daylight. Hold-uppers in this city are diurnal.
5) You get the greatest deals from places like Greenhills & Divisoria. Dress down so as to get best bargains. Be prepared to get what you pay for. Sometimes, something that costs P20 will have the quality of something that costs P20. But then again, if you’re really good at it, P20 can go a looong long way.
6) Don’t drink from the tap unless you are ABSOLUTELY SURE it is safe.
7) Be prepared for traffic. Round the clock!
8) The malls are awesome! So much to see, so little time. So much to buy, so little cash. But be sure to wear comfortable footwear. Sometimes, exploring entire malls can take hours if not days!
9) Don’t look for your knight in shining armor or damsel in distress at bars or clubs, because the only opposite sex you meet at gigs like those are there for only three reasons: Sex...sex.....and more sex.
10) Don’t look too appalled at the children getting high on ‘Rugby’ on the streets and the cops looking on in oblivion. THIS IS NORMAL. (Moreover, don’t share your outrage with the cab driver. This will only give away that you are not from town. Remember, lesson #3)
11) If you throw away your P1 and P5 coins in Davao, hold on to them for dear life in Manila. MOST cabbies WILL NOT give back your due change, or FEIGN “I have no change” on you so as you’d be forced to make them “keep the change.” Spare change is essential to Manila public transport.
12) When out in town, wear fake jewelry. Wearing real bling on the streets of Manila is like smothering yourself in blood before taking a dip in shark infested waters.
13) FRIENDS are the best cure for boredom & homesickness. Right below that is MONEY. Lmfao!
14) When going out in Davao you have to look your very best. In manila, peope won't care if you're wearing Louis Vuitton or pajamas.
So far that’s what I’ve learned. NO TEXTING IN PUBLIC. Which really sucks. Because I am so used to texting everywhere and anytime back home. There are so many things that you think about so much in this city that you hardly take notice back home. A major one at that is FOOD. Then next comes money. One thing I’ve definitely learned in this place is that YOU CANNOT SURVIVE WITHOUT MONEY. And not just a little of it. YOU HAVE TO HAVE A LOT. If P5,000 can last you a week in Davao...try a day in Manila and you’d be barely just scraping by.
But I guess that’s what I love the most. It’s the eternal feeling of scarcity. In Davao, I am so used of having to be provided everything and spoonfed that living is such a bore! Here, it’s such a thrill! Well, of course, there are down times. Times especially when money does not abound. But I love it nonetheless. I am finally being taught responsibility by the greatest teacher of all: LIFE herself.
So I will continue to tread Manila’s streets in my comfortable shorts and cheap flip-flops that I got for a steal in Divisoria, because that’s what you do in Manila. You have fun. You explore the bzillion places there are to explore. You act like a street-savvy local tourist. But when all the fun to be had is done, all the shopping accomplished and all the sights and sounds indulged, I know, deep down in my heart, my little niche in the heart of good ol’ Davao City will always be there waiting for me; arms patiently spread eagle for her weary children ready to come home after a wild ride in the big city.
To this day I am unsure whether or not I will continue living my days in Davao, Manila, California or beyond. But I know one thing is for sure, there will only be one place I will always call home...
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