Singapore in Manila

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Having recently left Singapore I thought it was cool to see Singaporean restaurants in Manila, specifically in Megamall.  I suppose it makes sense that there would be Singaporean restaurants here, in Manila.  A large amount of Singapore’s foreign labor force comes from the Philippines and while Filipinos may eventually go home, they might still crave some Singaporean dishes like I do.

So, here’s Singapore in Manila:

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We took a brief look at the menu for ‘Orchard Road’ and saw Hainanese Chicken Rice listed prominently.  It’s nice to know that I’ll still be able to satisfy that craving.  I hope they serve the red chili sauce with it though, or it just won’t be the same.  If you’re wondering, the chicken rice is priced at roughly 6 SGD there.

The second restaurant will hopefully help me satisfy my craving for kopi, though I didn’t think about it at the time and didn’t check the menu.

“You Will Die!” … Over 20 Philippine Pesos

Bradley Farless21 Comments

Something I’ve been having issues with since coming to the Philippines earlier this month (and really on every trip to the Philippines before this) is being overcharged.  You can get around that by going to stores where the prices are clearly marked on the items before buying them, but then you miss out on all the good deals keep your wallet thick.  This problem goes for the markets and for services, like public transportation.

If you’re not familiar with the Philippines there are tricycles, which are a motorcycle with a sidecar, that are used for short-range transportation.  The prices are set by organizations and the local government and those prices are posted inside the vehicles with a sticker.  Set routes to neighborhoods outside the town proper are set by the organizations.  Even so, I’m constantly arguing with people that are trying to overcharge me, like I have pesos falling out of my butt every evening and can afford to just give away extra on every transaction I make.

Tonight, we came out of the grocery store with a buggy full of items and got into a tricycle.  We needed transport over about 1 km (or less) of distance to pick up our laundry.  Our bags were too heavy to walk that far, especially given how crowded the streets are in the evenings in Antipolo.  So, the fare should have been 20 pesos.  That’s the standard.  When we pulled up in front of the laundry place, my wife handed the driver 20 pesos and the jackass started demanding 40.  The night before we took the same route and the jackass in that tricycle was demanding 30.  I like to call this the “white tax”.  While arguing with the guy I quickly pulled all of our stuff out of the sidecar in case he tried to take off with our things.  Then we ignored him and went inside.

When we got our laundry we packed it away into a bag we had bought.  We’d actually taken our laundry to the cleaner in black plastic trash bags because we hadn’t found a proper bag for it yet.  When I looked out the window, this prick was still sitting there watching us, as if he expected us to come out and say sorry and then pay him what he was demanding.

I told my wife to ignore him and not give him anything more than what he was owed.  I’m not in the Philippines to make everyone rich at the expense of our livelihood.  So, when we walked out and started up the street, he started his tricycle and shot past us screaming “You will die!”  Ya, good job dude.  We wrote down his plate number and we’re going to report him in the morning.  The fines for tricycle drivers who attempt to overcharge are pretty steep.  I hope he enjoys his 1000 peso fine for trying to be a prick.

When you live on the local economy you can’t afford to let people nickel and dime you to death, and even if I had a huge wad of cash, I wouldn’t be handing it out for free, or to someone who tried to rip me off.  I’m nobody’s chump.

Street Rats

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In the Disney movie Aladdin, the idea of being a “street rat” was glorified as an honorable way of making a living, with a code of ethics and a comfortable life.  In reality, things don’t work out quite that way.  I’ve seen poor people on the street here in the Philippines and they don’t look like they’re having quite as good a time as Aladdin was.  They’re dirty, they’re hungry and they live in a way that’s dangerous because at any moment of the night someone could take their lives.  It’s not that adventurous when you think about it.  It’s a torment that must be a horrible way to live.  Even at my worst, I’ve always had a roof over my head and a little something to eat every day.  So, I have pity for these people when I see them in the street.

In the Philippines, and perhaps everywhere, that pity has to be tempered by wariness about the real nature of the person holding the cup or the annoying children that flock around me like little vultures.  Here in the Philippines there are organized begging rackets where beggars are put out on corners like a pimp would set out prostitutes in other parts of the world.  The individuals doing the begging are made to look more forlorn than they may actually be, and some of them may have homes that they go home to in the evening.  Most people probably learned about this activity by watching the movie Slumdog Millionaire.  The same practices you see in that film are employed in the Philippines.  So, you can’t be too free with your money when you see these types of people coming up to you in the road, or holding a cup out to you in front of a store.

The ones that really annoy me are the groups of kids that try to surround you and start asking for money.  They even go so far as to start grabbing at your clothing.  My guess is that this is to distract you while their friends start fishing in your pockets for whatever they can grab and run with.  When I first visited the Philippines in 2008 I had a lot of patience for this sort of behavior, to the point that it annoyed my wife.  She always shooed them away as fast as possible.  I didn’t really care.  My attitude about it has changed now though.  I suppose that when you visit a place, those minor inconveniences seem quaint and entertaining, but when you actually move to that place and you know it’s something you’ll have to deal with on a repeating basis, the patience you had before wears thin quickly.  Now, when these kids surround me and start asking for money I give them a very gruff, ‘”No!” and keep walking.  If they persist, or start grabbing at my clothing, I push them away physically and tell them to “Fuck off”.  That message normally gets through to them and they break off their pursuit, often accompanied by a string of expletives in Tagalog, the local language.  I suppose that they think that just by being white, I must have tons of cash and I’m just holding out on them.

If you think that’s a little rough, given that these are kids, keep in mind that it’s typically organized.  They do it every day.  They beg as a job, rather than out of necessity, and I’d rather come across as a jackass than have my belongings stolen from my pockets while trying to play nice.  Life in the Philippines isn’t just hard because the money is worth less, it’s hard because you have to be hard to survive when you’re out of the house.  No one has bottomless pockets and every peso counts.

Adjusting to Limited Internet Access

Bradley Farless6 Comments

One of the things I knew I’d be dealing with after moving to the Philippines was limited internet access.  In the US and in Singapore I’d come to think of the Internet as a utility, just like water.  It’s just always there as long as you pay the bill, and it’s usually cheap.  That’s not the case here in the Philippines.  At least not for me right now.

You see, while there is DSL and I think cable Internet available in the Metro Manila area, I’m currently residing in a rural area outside of Antipolo, in Rizal Province, which is in turn north of Metro Manila by about 45 minutes.  It’s in the mountains and in the US this is what you would refer to as “the boonies”.  It’s out there.  It’s so out there that running water is also in short supply at the moment.  I think I mentioned that before, but the water only runs for about two hours in the morning so we collect water to be used throughout the day.  I’d expected things to be a little difficult, but the last time I was here the water was still running.  All of the inconveniences start to pile up to the point that I’m already looking forward to finding an apartment in Manila, sooner than originally planned.

Something that surprises my wife regularly is how I’m able to take this all in stride.  She had the impression that I would balk at the idea of living in a place that has no air conditioning, no running water, and limited Internet access.  I suppose the reason these things don’t bother me as much as they might the next person is that I spent a lot of time in the military, where doing without these things was a common occurrence while on training exercises or during deployments.

Anyhow, the main point here is that I’m having to find new ways to occupy my time.  The Internet access I’m using now is a prepaid USB stick through Globe.  The price isn’t too bad.  It’s 5 PHP per 15 minutes with discounted options for a whole day or for a 5 day chunk of unlimited access.  Still, that adds up.  I was doing the math and if both of us were to keep re-applying for the 5 day unlimited access we’d wind up paying about double per month what we do for cable Internet in Singapore.  That’s rough, especially considering that the quality is a fraction of what we became accustomed to.

So, I’m relearning the joy of reading.  I picked up a book on Filipino history that I’m digging through.  I think that’ll help me to understand the people here and help me relate, especially when I start working and/or going to school later this year.  I’m also finding ways to optimize my Internet experience.  One way for me to do that is to type up my blog posts in Windows Live Writer prior to connecting and then to simply publish them.  Then I can use my time to surf the net, rather than sit in a browser window typing, unnecessarily burning up my prepaid time.

Of course, I don’t have a lot of free time right now.  We did just get some painting materials yesterday.  I want to get started on that sometime soon.  I’m not sure when.  We’re starting to burn out and we need some relaxation time.  It’s amazing how even when we say we’re not going to do anything for a day, just picking up around the house to get ready to relax winds up taking the whole day.  By the time we sit down to just surf the net or watch a movie, it’s after 10 PM.

We have another day of doing nothing planned for tomorrow.  I’m hoping it’ll be successful.

Public Toilets in Malls in the Philippines

Bradley Farless2 Comments

Today while at Megamall in Manila, I had reason to visit one of the public toilets.  It took me a while, because the restroom was crowded, but I finally managed to secure a stall.  When I walked in, there was piss all over the floor, no toilet seat, and no toilet paper.  I wasn’t expecting that, but when I saw it I remembered that it’s always that way.  I first visited Manila in 2008 and noted that the public toilets never seem to have paper or even toilet seats available. 

It seems like such a basic commodity to have in public restrooms that I always take for granted that some will be available.  Back in 2008, I asked my wife why there aren’t any toilet seats or paper and she said it’s probably because if it were there, people would steal it.  That makes sense and she’s from the Philippines so her guess is better than mine.

So, if you’re going out, even to a seemingly high end shopping center, be sure to bring your own stock of toilet paper.  It wouldn’t hurt to bring antibacterial wet hand wipes either.  Or, if you’re really in need of comfort, there is one other solution, which, thankfully, fit perfectly into our plans for our evening out.

On the 5th (or 4th?) floor of Megamall there are quite a few massage / pedicure / manicure / etc. type parlors.  You can treat yourself, or your spouse, to one of these services and then partake of their pleasant smelling, well appointed restrooms, like the one pictured below.  I don’t remember the name of the place but it’s pretty nice and my wife says she got good service there, so we’ll be going back for massages soon.  More on that later!

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A Night Out In Manila!

Bradley Farless3 Comments

So, we’ve been here since the 6th and tonight was the first time we’d left the Antipolo area to go out and have some fun.  I guess you have to prioritize.  It wouldn’t do to go out and have a good time and then come home to crappy living conditions.  Not everything is done, and it probably won’t be for quite a while, but we felt we deserved some time out to relax and we took advantage of it.

So, off to Megamall we went!  We met up with my brother-in-law and his wife there and had a late lunch at Sushi-ya.  The food there is really good and the prices are reasonable.  After that my brother-in-law and I wandered around while our wives got pedicures and then we all met up again to watch Iron Man 2.  By the time that was done, it was 9:30 PM and it was time to make the long commute back to Antipolo.

The time seemed to go by so quick!  There were so many other places we wanted to see while there.  I think we may have to take some more relaxation days and hang out in the city, preferably in a nice air conditioned mall again.

As for the house, things seem to be progressing ok.  The door is in the wall now and it’s functional, but the cement still needs to be replaced.  The guy is working on the plumbing in the kitchen right now and then he’s going to do the cement all at one time.  That’s fine, as long as it gets done sometime in the next few days.

We’re planning on holding off on doing the painting because we want to get the electrical installed properly first early next month.  A fresh coat of paint would do wonders for this place but we have plenty of time, so I’m not all that worried about it right now.

I also found out today that not all Filipinos are ruthless criminals.  Yesterday I dropped my ring in front of a store in the neighborhood and when I went back to find it, it was gone.  I mentioned it to the girl that was working the counter, who lives in the neighborhood as well, and she asked around and actually found my ring.  She went to the person’s house to get it back from one of their kids.  So, a disaster was narrowly averted through her efforts.  It also showed me just how true the ‘everyone knows everyone’ and ‘there are no secrets in a Filipino neighborhood’ sayings are.

We have another long day ahead of us tomorrow, but even though the days are full of work, they’ve also been full of action and activity, which has kept things fresh and exciting.

Unusual Names in the Philippines

Bradley Farless2 Comments

Naming conventions differ the world over, but for the most part have remained rather traditional in the US.  That’s slowly changing, but for now you’ll still find plenty of people named John, David, Heather, and Lesley.

In the Philippines, names are a lot more creative.  I’ve seen a girl named Cherry Pie, another named Happy, and my brother-in-laws and my wife are all named after Catholic saints.  Seriously.  Most of my brother-in-laws have 3 ‘first’ names.  My wife has 2.

At first I was a little turned off by the idea, because I had a rather conservative upbringing and lived in a repressive American subculture called the US Army.  Now, though, I think it’s interesting how people here break traditional boundaries and express their creativity through naming.

Here’s one sample I saw at the Jollibee in Antipolo, Rizal Province, inside the Shopwise store.

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Finally Making Some Progress Fixing Up My In-Law’s Place

Bradley Farless6 Comments

So, in the last post I was talking about finally making some progress and that progress was seeing the first load of refuse being hauled away.  Both my mother-in-law and father-in-law have been collecting things, mostly junk for lack of a better word, for quite a few decades.  I’m talking rusty, broken knives, bits of wiring, broken figurines, worn out brooms, and other things that no longer work that they didn’t want to get rid of because some day they might figure out a use for it again.  The result is that the house was so packed with crap that there wasn’t even enough room to actually live in it.

My wife and I are making our best effort to solve that problem.  I wound up getting a lot of exercise, a lot irritated and I also got in a lot of yelling before the garbage went on its merry way.

Thank God.

Anyhow, with that stuff gone I can start putting things that are worth keeping in the attic, or clean them up and leave them on display, rearrange the furniture, get the electrical wiring installed correctly, fix the plumbing and the roof and then do some repainting.  The place is in a state of disrepair that’s ridiculous, and I can’t see letting them continue on living this way, even though we’ll only be living here temporarily.  In a few months we’ll be moving again to Manila proper for work and school and we’ll be renting an apartment.  I want to improve their standard of living before that happens and then maintain it by visiting weekly.

Besides the accumulated junk, the problems I see in this house really blow my mind because they’re things that I took for granted in the US (and to some extent in Singapore) without even realizing it.  Among other things, there’s a water shortage.  We have to get up at 5 AM to fill drums of water to use throughout the day because by 6 AM the taps run dry.  It’s an interesting experience, and I suppose it’s not very depressing for me because it’s just temporary, but I can’t imagine facing the realization that life would be that way every day, forever.

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As for our own sleeping arrangements, we walked into a bare bedroom.  It didn’t even have a bulb in the light fixture and for the first 7 days we couldn’t find one to fit it.  We were using a lamp but our cats knocked it over and broke the bulb so we spent the last few nights with an LED flashlight hanging from the fixture.  We finally found a hardware store with the bulb today while shopping for concrete and when we plugged it in, I was excited, because it was like crawling back out of the stone age into modernity again.

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We also had to get a dresser for all of our things.  We found one we liked and had it delivered.  I was afraid of the amount of time I’d have to put into assembling it but the delivery guy set it up himself.  He did it in about an hour… without a manual.  That’s impressive to me.  See the pictures below to get an idea of how many parts the thing has.

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The latest thing going on for us is having a real door set up to partition my wife’s bedroom, hallway, and bathroom off from the rest of the house.  There are various reasons for this, but mostly it boils down to privacy and security.  You can see in the photos of the dresser that we got one with locks on it.  The windows also have bars on them.  In these small villages crime is rare because everyone knows each other, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist and it’s more prevalent if you make your house inviting to potential robbers.

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Anyway, the guy is about halfway done with the door installation.  He was redoing the concrete around the door frame right before he quit for the night.  This should finally get done tomorrow and then we’ll stop renovations until June, when we want to redo the electrical and repaint.

Other than that we’ve been trying to get familiar with the layout of the town again.  We’ve been spending time finding cleaning supplies, buying some pots and pans and other necessary items for daily living.  We’ve also been meeting up with family and eating out in Antipolo to try to relax a bit.  Like enjoying this big halo-halo at Chow King for instance:

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I have a feeling that the next few weeks are going to be filled with quite a bit of work, but in the end I’m sure it’ll all be worth it when the house is clean, orderly, and comfortable for living in again.

They say not to drink the water but…

Bradley Farless6 Comments

… I must have messed up, because I had some serious problems over the last two days.

We’ve had a lot of work going on around the house, including work we’ve been doing ourselves.  I’ve been pretty exhausted and getting sick on top of it really wore me out.

All of these things combined to create a disaster that ruined a bag full of noodles.  If you’re eating, you should save this for later.

So, it was early morning and there I was, sitting on the toilet having a problem.  After I was done, I had another problem.  The pipes are kinda screwy here so the toilet clogged. There’s no running water right now because of a drought so dumping water into the bowl is the only option. I couldn’t get it right so I just left it that way and passed out again.  That evening, I was in there trying to wash up and mess with the toilet at the same time when I felt an urge.

A serious urge.

With no toilet available (due to the damn thing still being clogged) I made a mad dash through the house, naked and covered with soap mind you, and grabbed the first plastic shopping bag I saw, which I assumed was hanging on a doorknob for placing garbage in.

I then ran back to the toilet and handled business.  It’s not the weirdest thing I’ve done.  I’ve utilized empty boxes in the middle of the desert in Iraq before, so why not?  Better than the other alternative.

So anyway, the next day my wife came and asked me if I’d seen the noodles she bought at the grocery store.  I said I hadn’t so we looked around quite a bit.  I’m pretty sure no one stole the noodles, though she does have hungry brothers that roam the house occasionally.

Then it dawned on me.

After I finished laughing like a hyena I felt bad because I had really wanted to try some of those noodles.  Not to mention my wife was pissed.  But you know… shit happens.

Can I Have My Personal Space?

Bradley Farless8 Comments

I was just thinking about the serious lack of personal space available in Singapore.  It’s become even more apparent now that I’m outside the country, in the Philippines.

The Philippines can be very crowded in places but I noticed something on the third day of being here: no one had bumped into me, pushed me out of the way, tried to shove past me, or tried to walk straight at me, expecting me to move for them.

I used to think that Singaporeans walk like bumper cars because it’s just so crowded there, but I realized that the reason must be something else entirely.  Is it a lack of situational awareness?  Are people so pacified there that they don’t pay attention to where they’re going?  Are they selfish to the point that they think everyone else will always make way for them?

A few weeks ago I was in Takashimaya and a woman walked out of a side passage, staring at something in the distance in the opposite direction from where I was approaching.  She just kept walking, straight across the walkway, without a care in the world, until the side of her face was twisted around by my shoulder slamming into it.  I kept going, without bothering to offer any sort of condolences for what would surely be sore chin, because it’s not my fault that she was too stupid to look where she was going.

On the other hand, here in the Philippines, people seem to naturally swerve and veer around each other without much of any problem.  There are exceptions, but it really is the exception, where in Singapore it seems to be the rule.

On top of that, people in Singapore tend to want to jostle past you in stores, or step in front of you when you’re looking at something on the shelf or rack, or they try to ram you out of the way instead of letting you get off the train before they attempt to board.  It’s not everyone of course.  There are exceptions, but they are exceptions, rather than the rule.

So, Singapore, I implore you to sort your problem out.  Pay attention to where you’re walking at least, because not everyone is going to jump out of your way and not everything will repel you gently when you walk into it because you can’t be bothered to pay attention to where you’re walking.