Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Don't be so blase

Our hell week's almost done. Hurray! Hurray!
Which means I get a day off to go food-tripping with a balikbayan aunt/godmother in Quiapo, Manila tomorrow (which will prove to be mighty interesting as I have not been back there this year). It's relief for me because she's been getting antsy about not going around and I've been feeling guilty that in between work and the gym, I hardly have time for other important affairs including her (which kinda gives you an idea of how my sad sorry life goes). Anyway, here's whats on the happy-happy-but-not-joy-joy-cuz-of-the-heat agenda:

1. Take the LRT train to Recto from Gateway in Cubao. (a short 15 minute train ride which only gets slightly more interesting when your unwilling body gets mashed up against more lumpy alien bodies during rush hour.)
2. Walk the murky walkway from Isetann to the Quiapo church (while at the same time trying to look unaffected by the smoldering heat, godawful pollution and skeazy (but appraising) glances from the locals. I guess if you look just as tough and angry as the rest of them, they'll leave you alone. Otherwise, watch your back). The hodgepodge of wares being sold everywhere in Quiapo is an experience in itself and I can't wait to show her the studded carabao rings and other interesting paraphernalia we'll encounter along the way.
3. A compulsory visit to the Quiapo church (which I've passed by countless of times, but have have only gone in only once.) Surprisingly, it's not as scary as the movies portray it to be (swarming with pickpockets and other shady characters)
4. A short walk around Plaza Miranda (once bombed, never the same since)
5. Going down the underpass to get to the other side. Now the underpass is another point area. There's like a mini-mall with food stalls, shops and even a travel agency. How people can work and stay all day underneath one of the busiest, most probably also the dirtiest road in the city is beyond me. Or maybe they're just too busy to care. Just make sure we don't accidentally step on one of the numerous sleeping bodies we encounter on the stairs.
6. Welcome to the Black Market! If the Quiapo Church can be considered the Heart of Quiapo, then the black market (as me and my friends like to call it) refer to this as the Underbelly of Quiapo, full of chinese and muslim merchants

to be continued...

1 comment:

wanderlust junkie said...

naku, i miss quiapo tuloy!

miss ya girl! bat wala ka nung sucafest :-(