It's been one thing after another since we left California. Our flight left at noon to a layover in Japan, which was about 11 hours. Then we took a five hour flight to Manila from there. To get a good grasp of how long Mom and I were up, remember that we left California at 12:30pm. Continuing on Californian time, we arrived in Manila at around 9 or 10am, which is around 11pm Manila time. After saying hello to everyone at the house, we went to bed at 2am and got up early to explore Manila.
Manila is crowded, dusty and hot. Palm trees, bougainvillea, and spiky draceneas crowd what little dirt space is available. Three-lane streets become five lanes as people squeeze their cars into every inch of space as they aggressively punch their horns to warn pedestrians that they are careening through the streets. Manila traffic is colorful enough to write an entire blog post about, which I will write later this week with Mom's help.
In the morning after we landed, I visited Mom's old school and explored the streets around it, including the open market, which is quite the experience.
The open or "wet market" is street after street of vendors selling fresh vegetables, meat, food, fruit, and traditional Filipino things like a "walis," or coconut husks to polish wooden floors.
Most of my first morning in Manila was spent going around the open market and looking at everything. There are so many things to look at and smell that it's pretty overwhelming. And there are tons of fruit and veggies that I didn't even know existed that Mom insisted I try, such as Lanzones (small yellow fruit with milky sap that is split into segments like citrus fruits. The flesh is clear and sweet, until you bite into a seed that makes it bitter).
For lunch we went to an open sea market and picked out things to eat, and I got to taste this guy here:
Some of the things you see around the city and markets make you laugh, such as the fact that once the vendors are done, stray dogs will jump up onto the tables and sleep there. Cooking oils are measured and sold in plastic bags. Gigantic prawns at the seafood market look like something from an Alien movie, but are actually quite delicious. I ate a lot of food yesterday, and it was a lot of fun. Just seeing all these things makes me realize how much I don't know about Filipino culture and the food, and that I still have a lot of things to try before I leave.
Next blog post: the trip to the WWII memorials on Corregidor Island.
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