In Manila

We (I travelled with my friend Juan) arrived in Manila last Friday about 24 hours after the typhoon hit. The electricity was out in most of the city, there were no traffic lights and uprooted trees were strewn everywhere. Also, I was suffering from my own gastrointestinal typhoon courtesy of food poisoning from some TOXIC chicken salad ordered from here.

You better believe I was in a TERRIFIC MOOD upon arrival.

Luckily, things got better fast. Juan has some friends who live in Manila and work at the Asian Development Bank, so they graciously picked us up, gave us a place to stay and drove us around. Manila is a typically ramshackle, sprawling, third-world metropolis. There are slums and chic malls and penniless women with kids begging and kitschy religious iconography and Starbucks.

On Saturday we went around town. First to Makati (the rich malls, banks ‘n expats district) then to Malate, which was described as Manila’s version of Greenwich Village. Later we had dinner at a trendy Thai place. Someone said that Imelda Marcos hangs out there, but unfortunately we didn’t see her. We did see a woman with so much plastic surgery I actually thought it was Michael Jackson. (Sadly no photo.)

I took the first photo from the apartment building we stayed in – witness the traffic chaos caused by the power outage. In the second photo is a “Jeepney,” Manila’s owner-operated public transport. The locals took the jeeps the Americans left after World War II and converted them into buses. The third photo is a street in Malate.

I tried to get a photo of some typhoon carnage but nothing turned out. Next time.