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Winter Vacation Part 2 – Manila

Hello Everyone!  Chad has been doing an amazing job arranging all of our pictures.  I thought I could contribute and regale you with the tales of our 36 hours in Manila!

January 9, 2010 12:56 PM

As Chad mentioned in his last post, Molly, Chad and I all left Incheon the same day.  One slight snafue in our planning – Molly took off at 9:30 AM, we took off at 9:30 PM.  Little did Chad and I know that we would fall in love with the Incheon airport.

Once we had our MacDonald’s breakfast we headed upstairs to find a cozy place to catch up on reading/sleep/picture taking.  Incheon has huge bean bags all over upstairs.  We saw one open up and pretty much sprinted to claim it.

Chad took lots of pictures.

I read lots of D.H. Lawerence’s Women in Love.

January 9, 2010 01:01 PM

I love this picture.  Notice there is only one man who is standing still.  Can you find him?  Ill give you one hint – he’s Korean!

January 9, 2010 01:35 PM

Sleepy heads!

January 9, 2010 01:13 PM

Hangin’ with D.H.

So, we landed in Manila at 12:30 AM.  It was beautiful and balmy and the airport made the Indianapolis airport look like the biggest airport in the world!  We got into a cab and had an experience.  The cab driver was appalled at the location of our hostel and spent the entirety of our drive telling us we shouldn’t go there.  This was between wrong turns and police checkpoints!  Wow.

When we finally arrived at the hostel it was very nice and the owner was incredibly welcoming.  It was very clean and we had great roommates.  The location was slightly dodgy but we’re here to tell the tale!

The next morning we walked around Rizal Park.

January 10, 2010 02:30 PM

These kids got super excited when Chad was taking pictures.  They all lined up and jumped around for him!  They are much more active picture takers than our students!  I wish I had my camera out to take picture of Chad taking their pictures – it was pretty cute.

January 10, 2010 02:33 PM

This is me, Ana (German), and Blanca (Columbian living in China).  They were our roommates in Manila and we spent the day with them.  They were quite lovely ladies!

January 10, 2010 02:42 PM

January 10, 2010 02:45 PM

There were ice cream trucks everywhere and they all constantly played the same ding-dong tune!  After about 3 minutes of wandering around the park we all had it stuck in our heads.

January 10, 2010 05:09 PM

January 10, 2010 05:12 PM

A view of Chad at work.

January 10, 2010 05:15 PM

A view of Chad’s work.

After the park and some lunch we headed to a fort commemorating Jose Rizal (every main street in Manila is Rizal Avenue).  Rizal was a huge nationalist/martyr in the Philippines in the late 1800′s.

January 10, 2010 05:18 PM

Below is a view from the top of the fort wall.

January 10, 2010 05:29 PM

The Manila metropolis.  Vastly different from what we left in Seoul.  I had no idea how different it was going to be.

January 10, 2010 05:31 PM

Gazing at . . . . ?

January 10, 2010 05:33 PM

January 10, 2010 05:39 PM

By the end of the day we were very tired.  Instead of fighting to get onto the subway system we decided to hop into a jeepney.  They are bus-jeeps that people jump into for a quick, cheap ride.  Hold on tight!

January 10, 2010 06:17 PM

The next day, right before we headed to the airport, Chad and I decided to check out the Chinese cemetery that was right outside of our hostel.  It vaguely reminded me of the tombs I visited in Cortona 4 years ago.  In the Philippines people really go all out for their deceased loved ones.  Some of the tombs have air conditioning, running water, full fridges, etc.  I think we should have just stayed in one of those!

January 11, 2010 01:23 PM

We wanted to take this little guy home but he was too big for our backpacks.

January 11, 2010 01:24 PM

Manila was a very interesting and educational experience.  We saw a ton of poverty and many people with a much different standard of living then we are used to seeing as the norm.  Chad mentioned some of it in a post he made while we were traveling.  I  felt like a naive voyeur the entire time we were in Manila.  It was very sobering and prompted a lot of discussion for the trip.  Who are we to decide what is comfortable and not comfortable?  Who are we to live in a three bedroom apartment with plumbing?  Do they want that?  How do we help?  Do they want help?  Maybe they are perfectly and happy and just because it wouldn’t make us happy doesn’t mean they aren’t even happier than we are.  There is a fine line and  seeing it is a huge challenge.  I hope that Chad and I remember how that felt and that we manage to do the right thing and not ignore it.  We both want to get back into volunteering when we get home and maybe even while we are traveling.

One a lighter note, we are in the midst of arranging our trip for the spring.  Right now we plan to be in China for about a month then we’ll head through Vietnam to Cambodia.  After that we plan to fly from Bangkok to Paris.  We plan to be home in mid to late April.  We’ll let you know as things firm up!  We are incredibly excited and each time we sit down to plan we just talk about how crazy it is that we get to see all these amazing places!

Well, we only have one computer now and I need to get a few things accomplished before I hand it over to Chad.

I hope everyone is doing well and staying warm!  Anyone buried in the snow?

5 comments

1 Bill and Willa { 02.08.10 at 7:59 am }

Great pictures. And we only have 2 inches of snow but it is snowing again. Off to watch the super bowl in the living room. Love, Grandma

2 Kate { 02.08.10 at 9:06 am }

You are by far the best commenter on Spicy Fishy! Thank you! Enjoy the snow! We had about 8 inches while Molly was visiting and really enjoyed it! Chad is trying to avoid the Super Bowl until we get home so that he can enjoy it American style instead of in a Korean classroom – we’ll see how that goes!

I’m glad all is well! XO

3 gi { 04.09.10 at 10:55 pm }

Hi there. I just read your Manila eXperience. I couldn’t help but comment.

Well, Manila is not all just poverty (hahaha.. not trying to defend the city). We are poor, yes, but I hope you were able to stay a little longer and see the good side of my country. 36 hours is too short for you to eXplore the beauty of Manila. =)

By the way, your photos inspired me to go to those places and do my own amateur photography. You also made me crave for ice cream!! lol Thanks for visiting Manila.

4 Chad { 04.12.10 at 12:59 pm }

@gi – Hi Gi,
Thanks for your comment. And yes we realize we didn’t really give Manila enough time to find the better sides of it. It’s just like every big city, there are areas that are not very affluent, and others that are the opposite. I think where we stayed was in a middle range area but we had to drive through some of the poorest areas to get to the tourist sites. I think our reaction was mainly based on our surprise at how much poverty there was in the city. Neither of us realized that was the case before we went so we were more surprised than anything. Coming from cities like Seoul and Tokyo it was a change and I think we expected more of a Bangkok feel. Maybe someday we’ll be able to spend some more time in Manila and have a different experience. I do have to say though, we enjoyed our time elsewhere in your beautiful country much more :)

Thanks again for the comment and let us know if you take any great photos!

Thanks for sharing your beautiful country!
-Chad

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