Manila Points of Interest
Next stop was Manila. I’ve been to a lot of places, but none have ever seemed to be as impoverished as this city. The amazing part is that the people seemed genuinely content. It’s a happy culture…extremely friendly and welcoming. We could all learn something from the Filipinos.
Planning A Trip to The Philippines
I spent my first day walking around the city as well as the harbor at Manila Bay. I had heard about it in the past, but I couldn’t believe how many basketball hoops there were. Despite the fact that they are a generally small population, it’s clearly the country’s favorite sport.
I stopped by a construction site where some young men were playing and watched for a while. They offered for me to join but I declined. I’d rather just watch and see how they play. Crazy part about it was that most of them didn’t even have shoes on! From there I walked over to the harbor to catch the sunset over the bay and called it a night.
Visit The He Cares Mission in Manila
As I mentioned I had some friends in Manila who were there to volunteer for an orphanage project called the He Cares Mission. It comes as no surprise they are both beautiful people who played an equally important role to me during my time in Belfast. They were my family away from home and looked after me like I was one of their own. It’s pretty impressive considering they already have four kids, but that’s just what they do…serve others.
Since moving on from Belfast I have gone back a bunch of times to see them. My favorite memories will always be the Sunday dinners we had. Breda would make the best meals, a nice balance from my cereal and sandwich diet at the apartment! A lot of good laughs shared over food and games after. I’ll always be grateful to them.
The project they’ve devoted so much time to serves a population of hundreds of children in need of so much. Guidance. Education. Love. Not to mention the basic necessities of food, clothing, and shelter. It’s perspective for us Americans when we selfishly forget all that we’ve been afforded, to an extent that it has become an expectation. Reality check…there are billions in a level of poverty unimaginable to most of us. So much respect for my friends’ involvement…is there a better way to serve those in need?
Fascinating Philippine History Timeline at Ayala Museum
We met up for a tour of the city starting at the Ayala Museum. I’m not a big museum guy, but I found some things to be very interesting. The content was pretty comprehensive ranging from archaeological artifacts, culture and arts, and a long history of foreign occupation which included the Spanish, British, Japanese, and the Americans, with the U.S. finally leaving in 1946.
The Philippines Food Culture
From the museum we had lunch at a street market. I have no shame in saying that the Philippines has been one of my least favorite countries for cuisine. Most of the food I had was high in fats, which I eat very little of. I tried everything of course, because it’s part of the experience. But it was less than desirable. There were a few things I do remember fondly…crispy pata, mango shakes, and halo-halo. Pata is translated to duck for you Spanish speakers. (Actually several words in the Tagalog language come from Spanish origins…makes sense considering the occupation.) We all know what a mango shake is but I would presume that most have never heard of the last treat. Halo-halo is strange when its ingredients are seen on paper, but in 90 degrees of humidity it is a Godsend.
Anyway, for lunch we had some Filipino sausage, which has a surprisingly sweet taste to it, with a side of rice. Not bad, but definitely wouldn’t have it again. After lunch we checked out the old walls of the city at Intramuros. The main attractions here are the old cathedrals. The Filipinos are a highly faithful Christian country, which makes it easy for me to understand why they’re such a content population. They don’t depend on possessions to give their lives fulfillment. I’m generalizing a bit, but sometimes that’s necessary.
Philippines Basketball: A Country After My Own Heart
The old walls were cool, but my favorite part was stumbling upon some kids shooting hoops. A bunch of kids with no worries, just lost in the game. Now that is something I can and always will relate to. I made friends with a couple of younger ones who were watching. They loved having their pictures taken…what a bunch of posers!
We finished with the tour and went back to the residence of the family they were staying with. Mango Shakes for days and a nice barbecue. The family seemed to be very wealthy and are supporters of several charities. My knowledge is that they also host foreign volunteers of those other charities. Great hospitality and great people.
Irish Friends Making An Impact
I spent some time at the hotel pool the next day as Manila isn’t known for its quality beaches. One needs to get to the smaller islands for that…Boracay. Palawan. Cebu…and all 7,500 others. (That’s not a typo.) Anyway, nice to get some sun as it was still relatively cold when I left my residence in Beijing.
My Irish friend Breda asked me to do a basketball session with the kids in the He Cares program so I hopped in a taxi for Quezon City. After an adventure of directional difficulty we made it to the outdoor court. There were about ten kids ranging in age from 12-20 years, and they were ready to ball.
We had like 3-4 balls and one hoop. Not ideal, but I’ve heard stories from friends who coached in India with 400 kids and NO BALLS. So I didn’t feel that bad for myself. Anyway, I noticed some rocks near the court and grabbed a bunch of those to use for some dribbling series. We obviously didn’t have tennis balls so it forced me to be a bit creative. Normally I like to use these to develop eye hand coordination, because many young students desperately need it. At first the kids looked at me crazy when I brought them over, but eventually they figured out what the purpose was.
We did some other skill work and then scrimmaged. The energy was great! Always fun when the kids love to ball. Later that night I checked out the night life with a friend of mine. It actually felt a lot like home and I had a blast.
Tagaytay Tourist Spots
My last day was a trip to Tagaytay. I’m a budget traveler, and sometimes that has its side effects. Usually these loom as transportation challenges that I can work out, but I had no idea what I was in for this time. I caught a round trip bus to a small village which should only take an hour to get to, but then you add Manila traffic to the equation and things get interesting. And when I say interesting, I mean live chickens, hustling vendors, and obnoxious music blaring through rattling speakers. Quite the experience! I made it to Tagaytay in about 1.5-2 hours, and had a nice walk through the hilly forests complemented by a beautiful view of the lake.
Followed that up with a great decision to take a tuk-tuk down the hills to reach the lake…pretty fun stuff. After only a few hours it was time to head back. Finding the bus was pretty easy and I was on the way back to catch my flight. It took almost four hours to get back!! I literally had to jump off the bus prior to reaching my stop and ran to the airport with my bag. It was 2 miles and I had to weave through the parade of Filipinos marching the streets for Holy Week. Barely made it in time to catch the flight! Never want to do that again.
It gets worse. I ate something that day that didn’t sit very well. Thus, it was a miserable flight back with several trips to the restroom. Lesson learned…don’t eat strange stuff in Asia.
