Manila

it has been some of the most thoughtful, impressing and lasting memories of my life. manila. a city, 650 sqkm in size. officially, 11 million people - but that is probably not even close to the real numbers. it’s a moloch of a city. a dirty, noisy, overcrowded place that seems uncontrollable, tumultuous and stunning (not in beauty though). a loose cannon.

no, manila definitely will never win a beauty contest. i do not even have a single clue about where they should start with polishing, ordering and constructing. too huge seems the chaos, too large appear the problems, too corrupt is the government. manila rather has good chances to win a prize for one of the most polluted cities in the world. it’s traffic situation is a big mess, rules exist but – does someone care?

manila therefore receives my personal trophy for the most contrary place i’ve been to. however, there is another picture you get of this city. it’s the philippinos, mainly. a phenomenon, people always talk about when they were traveling to considerable poorer countries: no matter how hard the life seems to us westerners, the people who live in these places still seem to be happy. they laugh. they sing. they smile.

i don’t wanna start the discussion whether they are the happier people or not. whether we can learn from them by giving our own problems a new relation. at the end, we live in a different world with its own problems, its own ups and downs. but it might help sometimes to reevaluate the things that trouble us. it might help to appreciate much more what we have, the environment we grew up, the possibilities we have. at the end, this gain of experience, this way of thinking is what made this trip so valuable for me.

i skipped the modern part of manila - on purpose. from the bus i could see that they build up a lot of skyscrapers, housing offices and modern apartments, mainly for expats and those philippinos that benefit from the economic development. mataki, as this area is called, probably represents the modernization of manila, turning into an air conditioned, commercialized, high gloss world. i heard enough about it, and decided that i rather wanna see the manila that is still behind development process. but is it?

being there only for 2 ½ days makes it hard to judge, so the answer to that question is not a clear YES. that would definitely not do justice to the people that handle their everyday life with commitment and willingness. and simultaneously, it would mean that everything we do is the desirable aim in life.

experiencing manila was certainly a culture shock for me. and fun, at the same time, then shocking again. it was a constant rush of pictures, smells, sounds, and impressions that tumbled down on me. and, as you probably recognized: i try to explain this experience quite for a while now without finding a real, ultimate point, hehe.

manila’s streets are simply full of cars. basically, that’s no difference to many other large cities in the world. but the dark, stinky diesel exhaust fumes of thousands and thousands of old minibuses (that seem to be filled with another thousand of people) make walking along these arterial roads a quite smoky something. road marking exists, but five lanes (each direction!!) can suddenly become eight on large main roads – it’s magic. huge trucks drive next to small horse-drawn carriages, facing rickshaws in opposing traffic (of course contrary to the traffic, and on the wrong side). however, this is not that big deal, since main streets are usually congested, anyways – average speed easily drops to 20 km/h and below.

beside three elevated train lines that are operated within central manila, and that make the sometimes grey, dusty roads even more unpleasant, there is no public transport system in this huge city – at least, not as we know it from our world. instead, millions of old u.s. army jeeps, converted into mini busses with two benches and space for 25 people, are cruising around. each comes with a personalized design. from paintings of virgin mary to liverpool fc, decorated with flags, figures and other items. people jump on and off – even on big crossroads if the bus needs to stop due to congestion. main route destinations are painted on the car body – and for a ‘special’ price, you could probably have a whole bus for yourself.

chinatown was definitely an attraction. a spooky, polluted, stressful, wicked place that is simply exhausting. even on a sunny day, the narrow alleys appear as one dark room that is rather brightened up by the colors of a thousand shops. everything you can imagine is sold: copied cds next to vegetables, next to spare car parts, next to loudspeaker systems, next to porn movie dvds , next to …. the list could be continued endlessly. one large noise level that can simply become too much only after a few minutes. not to forget the mud, the humidity, the heat. a smelly air – some delicate flavors, some rather not so delicate ones. and if the rain came, you could exponentiate all these factors once more. impressive - and uncomfortable at the same time.

poverty is a big problem, still. even there is a growing (lower) middle class, one cannot ignore the situations in the slums, or the problems of homeless people on the streets. i again and again got a little shock when being faced with these aspects. we all hear about these issues, and we all know a little bit of what’s going on. and so did i before i went to manila, preparing myself for sad, thought-provoking moments.

i arranged a taxi (with my new friend danny), and was going around the slums for more than an hour. it looks surreal if you just look at outside the window – but it is there and you can’t ignore it … you cannot escape from all these thoughts that come up to your mind. and it makes a difference if you just think about all these problems beforehand - or if you almost run into a woman that is breastfeeding her baby on the sidewalk of a congested main road – although she would need some food and help for herself, first.

i cannot forget this! and honestly, i sometimes don’t know how to handle these situations, how to act when i’m faced with them. what to do, or better not do. what would help, and what would make matters worse. what is appropriate, and what might be even dangerous for me. there are no real answers upon that …. it’s very sad. and it is very frustrating!

however, and as mentioned before, the philippinos are one my favourite people so far. why? because, beside their friendliness and openness, they really appreciate the wonderful art of photography, hehe. it was the same everywhere i’ve been to: as soon as people saw me with my camera, they came and asked for a picture. or at least, i could see that they wanted a photo. whether it was a street musician, a bank’s security guard, the chess player – or even the police general with his whole company. they went crazy for a shot and were proud and happy to be captured. telling them that they would be appearing on the internet, where my german and international friends would see them, made them even prouder.

the best were, above all, the kids. even though the begging for food brought me in very uncomfortable situations (having ten children hanging on your body, hands everywhere, can be quite awkward), most situations were simply stunning (this time in a positive manner), lovely, beautiful, and funny. taking pictures of them was a big enjoyment. and, of course, they wanted to see the outcome. showing them the result always ended in big laughter – and in another picture … “agaaaaiiiin”! remarkable moments. and THANK YOU to the person who invented the digital camera, hehe! once, when showing them the picture while sitting on the ground, i suddenly founf myself with eight kiddies lying on me. fun! i played these very basic ‘clapping hands’games for almost an hour, talked to them a little, did stupid grimaces. an unforgettable memory! should i rather change my career and become a kindergarden teacher? who knows ….

summing up, visiting manila was a very wise decision - a gain in experience that will last forever!

however, since that trip, i appreciate singapore a lot more. walking around at night without safety concerns, in a city that is clean, structured, and offers all these possibilities to do a whole bunch of things is truly something, i should not simply take for granted!

the weekend will bring me to bintan, an island in indonesia, only an one hour ferry ride away. beach, sun (hopefully), relaxing times …. no complaints anymore!

take care!

p.s. one last story: philippinos are very religious (almost everybody is catholic). so, i decided to attend a church service close to my hostel on sunday evening. and guess what: the priest’s words from his speech, the prayer, and all song lyrics, were presented by power point slides, via a beamer, on a big screen. interesting ….hehe!

p.p.s. pictures will follow. however, it will take a while to go through them and do my little extra work! sorry for that …. be patient, please!