Living in Manila

So you have moved to Manila and you sit in your room, AC on max and the Jeepney’s racing outside, and think: Gosh this is overwhelming – I am stranded on the islands of Philippines. Where shall I start?

7000 islands make the archipelago of Philippines. And so is Manila, an archipelago! Hire a captain and sail safely with a grab car or uber to the island you want to explore, avoiding treacherous waters and vile pirates. For the newbie in Philippines head out the following towns to get in touch with the vibe in Metro Manila and to harden your skin for the more adventurous islands (that’s where we are at).

Makati – is the mango for the thirsty newly arrived. Juicy and easy to open with tastes that are not too unfamiliar for you but still much better than what you are accustomed to. Makati feels safe and you can walk around and explore the town, unless the heat cuts you down. Hopping in and out from AC’d malls help. Makati contains shopping and restaurants as well as other easily approachable activities that require no skill or imagination. Soon, however, you will thirst for more excitement, if you are of our kind.

Intra Muros – is the old part of Manila and where the Spaniards used to hang out back in the days. Today, it feels a bit abandoned and dried out. Walk around and enjoy views that you can only enjoy in Intra Muros. Street vendors will try and sell you things no one on earth needs and tricyclists will tell you Intra Muros is huge, so hop on. The Fort Santiago is worth a visit. From the fort you will see Pasig River. As plastics and other waste flows by towards the sea your mind will be sadden. The National Museum will give you a nice introduction to Philippines, which name comes from a Spanish king called Philip.

Bonifacio Global Village – This place feels the least like Manila in general. Less cars and less traffic. People walk along pedestrian friendly streets with lower buildings. The American Cemetery is worth a visit – if not only for the peace and quiet among all the fallen young American men whose lives were cut short. Market! Market! is for shopping and restaurants for all tastes. Books can be found in Overbooked, a very pleasant bookstore.

Ortigas – where we live. Mega Mall and Shangri La Mall are here. May not sound like much, but walking through Mega Mall will be over 5 km of walking. Shopping, iceskating, bowling, haircuts, massage, medical equipment, art – something for the whole family.

Eastwood – A small oasis of shopping and restaurants watched over by smiling guards armed with assault rifles and shotguns.

When you have been to these places, don’t stop – continue exploring new islands. After all, Philippines with 300 000 km2 of land and smaller than Finland with 338 000 km2 of land.

 

There are a couple of metro and light train lines in Manila. The MRT goes north – south, along the EDSA, the main road in Manila.

The metro feels like a safe place. There are people everywhere and security guards are frisking all passengers before entering the platform area. Tickets can be bought at the stations.

The trouble with the MRT is that it is over-crowded, meaning that you have to queue to even get into the station during the rush hour. Built for 350 000 daily passengers, but used by 550 000 passengers daily (Wikipedia). Well inside the train you are packed like a Greek pillar in storage with many more sweating Greek pillars. Squeezing out at your station, your body will touch many other bodies.

Pickpockets are said to use the MRT as well, but we have not spotted any.

Travelling outside the rush ours, the MRT has served us very well.

Tickets are cheap, a trip from Shaw Boulevard to Ayala (4 stations) is 16 PHP, 0,30 euros.  

Tomorrow we are leaving Manila for the first time.

Episode 1 of scenes in Manila.

You may ask why we are trying to educate you about Manila. Clearly, we are no experts on Manila and we are no seasoned travellers.

Well, our modest contribution is that we want to tell the world how it was for us to move to Manila and how we experience Manila during the 180 days we were here. It is also about how our understanding of Manila developed and what skills we acquired to manage and, hopefully, thrive here.

Common advice to explore a new city is “just walk around and get to know the place”. That is not possible. It’s too warm in April.

We couldn’t find any blogs on how to build your everyday in Manila, so that is the reason this text is shimmering on your screen, reflecting your beautiful eyes.

Will we be safe? That was one of the questions we had in mind before departure. We had heard so many stories about the dangers of Manila. Equally, we had heard stories that Manila is as safe or dangerous as any other major city in the world. But to answer this question we could not rely on a handful of anecdotes. So here we present some of our digested…anecdotes.

Leaving Finland we were scared. Arriving in Manila and sitting in the back of the car on the way from the airport to the hotel each person walking along the streets with slightly torn and dirty clothes induces fear in us. To arrive at the hotel was a relief, at least it felt safe.

The next day we ventured outside the hotel premises. We were scared. Each corner was of concern. Making it to the mall we could relax. Returning after dark we were back to scary square one.

Slowly, as we walked down new streets our courage grew. The only way not to be scared was to expose yourself to Manila, without getting burned.

So far we have understood that the question if Manila is safe, is too broad. First, Manila is not a city. Manila is a bunch of cities that have grown together. More specifically: Caloocan, Las Pinas, Makati, Malabon, Mandaluyong, Marikina, Muntinlupa, Navotas, Paranaqua, Pasay, Pasig, Quezon City, San Juan, Taguig, Valenzuela and Pateros (Wikipedia). Second, feeling safe is subjective. Where you may feel safe, someone else may feel scared.

Two locals we have spoken to said that the President’s policies have resulted in them feeling safer in Manila. We have no comment. This topic needs further exploring. Certainly, some research and facts would be useful. Until next time.

A short night’s sleep takes its toll. We were groggy waking up on Saturday.   Breakfast in the hotel and trying out new tastes from around the world. This time E had rice, chicken and beef, probably in a Filipino way. M staying more continental, whatever that means.

After breakfast tiredness was holding on and delaying our adventures by a couple of hours. I am sure this happened to Magellan, Attila and other explorers as well from time to time.

Stepping on the MRT (metro) station of Shaw Boulevard E was slightly nervous when M wanted to take photos. The station was fairly quiet around noon and buying tickets was easy and inexpensive, 18 PHP (0,4 euro) for one person one way from Shaw Boulevard station to Ayala station. There are gates to be passed and bags to be inspected on the way. The view from the metro was exciting when passing Pasig river high above the water.

View from Ayala station towards North East

Arriving in Makati we walked around, excited to be in a new neighbourhood/town. M or E had read somewhere that it compares to Singapore, but neither had been there so the comparison was of no help. Makati was slightly more orderly and developed than Ortigas, where ME are staying.

As orderly as anywhere

It is hot in Manila in April, over 30 C. Walking in and out of shopping malls cools you down. A visit to Greenbelt mall and the surrounding area served proof that  western brands and shops contribute in no way to the excitement of Manila. The main service provided by the malls so far was cooling down a sweaty Finn.

Conventional mall 1, interior

Conventional mall 2, exterior

After lunching in a fastfood joint ME were done. On the way back E got a pair of short to make life easier for his baked thighs and M got a hand fan.

The metro back worked smoothly. Passengers wait in straight lines to board the train. Several officers watch over the exercise. Having run out of water last night, a 6 liter bottle of water was bought. At the hotel a light dinner, a swim in the pool and the day was done.

The first lights of Manila were actually ships anchored outside the coast. The stars above Manila were also present in the patchwork of clouds.

Above the clouds of Hong Kong I realised my glasses were scratched (E).

Day 2 started with a hotel breakfast. People in Asia have different tastes and preferences for breakfast. The hotel tries to cater far all tastes resulting in a enormous buffet. M adapting to the circumstances eating a noodle soup. E eating bread with butter (made in France) and yoghurt (made in Switzerland).

Standard fruits are mango (Manga, called here) and various melons. The coffee was tasty.

We hurried to the the neighbouring building to look at condos. Condo stands for condominium, which is a type of real estate divided into several units that are each separately owned, surrounded by common areas jointly owned (Wikipedia (not sure if this definition is 100% correct in Philippines)). We are renting one.  We met with two brokers, one representing us and another representing the owner(s). We looked at several condos located on floors 17-60. We selected two as our main preferences, and are now waiting to see which one we will get.

Back in Helsinki we lived in 59 sqm with one bedroom and open kitchen-living room. In the building in Manila that we looked at there were one bedroom condos from 60-90 sqm, but the smallest two bedroom condos are 120 sqm. Very large it seems. Maid rooms are small and the surfaces are cheaper than in the rest of the apartment. One maid room had a bunk bed and no windows. Otherwise the condos looked familiar to a Western approach except for the slightly altered design of the toilet seat.

It was warm and E felt like he was wearing long underwear under his blue jeans.

Feeling tired after two hours we returned to the hotel. It may or may be not jetlag but we were unusually tired. Sleeping and watching TV is helpful in such circumstances. The hotel served high tea, which we had, which was first time for E.

High tea

We started our exploration of our home quarters. We visited three shopping malls. Before entering a mall your bags are checked, not sure for what. Bombs and arms perhaps. We had dinner: dim sum and noodles for 700 PHP (14 euros).

In the evening E had a swim in the pool. Swimming in Finland always ends in getting cold. In Philippines you can go on and on.

Due to jetlag, or something, we were only caught by tiredness 3 a.m.

That was day 2 folks.

We flew to Manila from Helsinki, Finland via Hong Kong.

Landing in Hong Kong

The flight from Hong Kong to Manila was about 2 to 2,5 hours. We arrived an hour late. Passing through controls and picking up the luggage at the airport was easy. We had the luxury of having a car and driver assigned to us from work.

First picture of Manila

The humid air hit us and a faint smell of coal was in the air. It was already dark.

There is a lot of talk and writing about the traffic in Manila. The driver was skilled and the car was moving almost constantly, but at a low speed. The traffic was not as bad as we had understood from all the writing on the internet. But certainly it was overall very slow, comparing to a complete traffic jam in Helsinki. It was like squeezing toothpaste. Churning out the paste of cars with an occasional active crystal motorcycle or moped that sparked ahead. Hooting frequently, but not very aggressively, everyone was just squeezing and squeezing.

We arrived at the hotel and checking in and the rest was smooth.

Our first day in Manila had passed.