Where's Ron?
Philippines, 28 December 2017 - 28 February 2018
Ron in Philippines, January 2018
Manila
15 December 2017
Afton, Virginia, USADear family and friends,
Many of you have asked me, "Am I still on the list? I haven't had any reports from Ron." I've answered, "Yes, you are still on the list, but I haven't had any report so I haven't been able to send one!" Here, finally, 2 weeks into the trip, we have a report.
Love to all,
Ellen
14 December 2017
ManilaHello, my dear,
Wikipedia says: "With 71,263 people per square kilometer, Manila is also the most densely populated city proper in the world."
The best info I can find says Manila has less then 2 million, but 13M in the Metropolitan and 24M in the urban area. But the Manila area is made of up several cities that blend together.
On a list of cities, there appear to be more than 125 cities with a greater population, but that is just considering the 1.8M in the city proper, with a density of 107,562 per square mile. Mumbai is third at 73,837/sq mile. Paris was 21st at 55,673/sq mile. But Guttenberg, New Jersey is 19th at 58,577 with a population of only 11,481.
In writing this I have learned that the size of cities is more complex than I knew. There is the city proper which i was discussing above. but there is also a metropolitan and urban area population. Manila has a metropolitan population of 13M and an urban population of 24M. Looking at any of the cities with the highest metropolitan or urban area population, then Manila must be in the top dozen of the world, just edging out New York.
Most of my time has been in Malate and Ermita, with an occasional trip to Makati. My hotel is on Taft Street, close to De La Salle University. Going to the south is the Mall of Asia and the dock for the cruise boat to Corregidor. To the north is the immigration office, the National Museum, Rizal Park, Paco Park, and Robinsons Mall and much more. To the west is Manila Bay and to the SE is Makati. In the middle of Taft Street is an elevated train, part of the area's metro system. And the road itself is full of various sorts of transportation. I think I have used all of them.
Jeepneys are the most common and cheapest form of transportation. Going north from my hotel all of them generally went straight up Taft to where I wanted to go. Coming back they usually did the same, except a couple of times they turned towards Manila Bay, and I had to get out and catch another. My rides cost about 16 cents. They are like covered decks with a bench going up each side. Mostly the color of sheet metal, but some are painted, with all kinds of destinations written all over the front and sides You have to bend over to get into the them and find a seat on either side. My difficulty was I could not see well to know where I wanted to get out, and when I could see the sights often they looked alike. But Google maps on my phone was my solution. These were most often quite packed with perhaps 20 or more people.
The next most popular were the FX vans, with a front seat, second seat (for 4) and two seats parallel to the sides behind for three or four each. These were more comfortable and have better vision for about double the cost. There were buses but harder to catch (I did once.) The elevated train was more for longer distances and had a couple of stations going both north and south that I used a few times. Actually I am quite proud of my ability to get around, but often make mistakes and have to back track. I have even used a tricycle with and without a motor.
My friend Walter served in the Peace Corp in the Philippines and gave me a letter to deliver to his friend the writer Mr. F. Sionil Jose at his Solidadidd bookshop. When I first tried to deliver it I was told he was not in and there was no indication that he would be coming in. But when I presented the sealed letter his assistant Caesar (I think that was his name) immediately recognized the writing as Walter's and was quite excited. Then he told me to come back at 5 pm. Since the bookshop was close to the Robinson Mall, I went in and found the Vietnamese restaurant with beef soup next to the Thai restaurant with pad thai and could not decide which to order, so I sat in the Thai restaurant close to the Vietnamese and the waiter delivered me a bowl of Pho Nam Gan soup with flank and tendon and a dish of Pad Thai with shrimp and a glass of fresh mango juice. I was very happy and full. Then I went back to the book store.
I was taken up to the second level where I met the writer's wife, who took me up to the third level to meet her husband. She is 88 and he is 93. We talked a while and then he asked me to join him for a dinner party he was having for his assistant (Caesar) and asked me to return at 6:30. I had been wanting to visit Paco Park which was close and as I did so I discovered a wedding taking place at the beautiful small chapel. I sat and watched for a while as the procession was getting organized to enter the chapel. The bride was the last to enter. Then I returned to the bookstore and was taken with the staff to dinner in a Chinese restaurant around the corner and was treated to an excellent Chinese meal with all the wonderful food on the lazy susan in the middle of the table: pork roast, shrimp, soup, rice, dumplings, vegetables, tea, and other things I can not remember now.
Wikipedia says: "Francisco Sionil José (born 3 December 1924) is one of the most widely read Filipino writers in the English language. His novels and short stories depict the social underpinnings of class struggles and colonialism in Filipino society. José's works — written in English — have been translated into 22 languages, including Korean, Indonesian, Czech, Russian, Latvian, Ukrainian and Dutch."
Another outing was a trip to Corregidor island. The night before I made a trip to the Mall of Asia to check out the arrangements for taking the guided cruise. There appears to be no way to do it on my own. There was an option to do so on bikes but I would have to have my own bike. I discovered a Viking Buffet Restaurant near the office for the cruise and signed up for their long waiting list. It was one of my favorite buffets ever, bringing to mind the seafood buffet in Virginia Beach and the one at the end of the beach in Rio. There was a section serving a lot of Japanese food (shrimp, mussels, sashimi, sushi, miso soup, tempura, and others that Simon would have loved. And seniors over 70 got a 50% discount.
The boat cruise to Corregidor Island was educational for me. How the island was built, how it defended the city of Manila and how it was destroyed and captured. We were taken inside part of the main tunnel which was like a rabbit warren of steel enforced concrete underground tunnels. The bus drove us through places where all that remained are parts of the skeleton of concrete barracks.
The tours are handled by a foundation with the tasks of preserving the island. There is only one boat a day and it was not very full, so it must be an overwhelming task with little revenues. The guide was funny but you could tell he had been telling the same jokes for 40 years. But his information was helpful to understand the purpose of the defenses and how it was defeated by the Japanese and later retaken by the Americans. It was key point in the defense of Manila before airplanes.
After the cruise returned to port, I enjoyed the Vikings Buffet again.
I was also invited for a visit to a home north of Manila. I took a train for quite a ways, then took an FX van, then took a tricycle with motor to her home. She had been a university administrator at a high level and she had a retired university registrar as a chaperone so there would be no gossip by the neighbors. I had no idea what I was going to, but she had prepared a special Filipino meal for me. First there was fresh lupia (fresh young coconut with peanut sauce and lettuce, boiled peanuts, fried tilapia, potato salad made with potatoes, raisins, pickled carrots, pineapple chunks, white cheese squares, condensed milk, chicharrons (pork skins) with vinegar to dip them in. There was also mango juice.
I had planned to go early and return while it was still light. But there was not a proper time to leave. When finally i said I must be going it was after dark and they would not let me go, saying it was too dangerous. So they insisted that i sleep in her bed and they slept on a mattress on the floor. In the morning I was fed fried egg sandwiches and then offered a hard boiled egg still in the shell which is called a balut and contained a chicken. I must admit I didn't eat much of this egg. I love eggs and chicken - but not in the shell.
Rizil Park is large and interesting park and contains the prison and execution place of Jose Protasio Rizal, the hero of the Philippine people when Spain was ruling the islands.
Wikipedia says: "José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda, widely known as José Rizal (June 19, 1861 – December 30, 1896), was a Filipino nationalist and polymath during the tail end of the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines. An ophthalmologist by profession, Rizal became a writer and a key member of the Filipino Propaganda Movement which advocated political reforms for the colony under Spain. He was executed by the Spanish colonial government for the crime of rebellion after an anti-colonial revolution, inspired in part by his writings, broke out. Though he was not actively involved in its planning or conduct, he ultimately approved of its goals which eventually led to Philippine independence."
I learned a lot in the small museum located where he was held prisoner while being tried, sentenced and executed by the Spanish. It seemed he was well respected and honored by both the Spanish and the Filipinos, but by order of the Spanish hierarchy he was sentenced to death by firing squad. In the National Culture Museum there was a large display of painting that depicted the book written about him by a famous writer (or himself). So I could read the words under the painting and follow the book of the life of Rizel who is important to the Filipinos today.
The park is very large and impressive and I would need to visit more times to really see it.
My plan was to go southeast to see the Mayon Volcano but a friend began sending me text messages warning me of a storm arising from east of the southern Philippines. Path of the storm was going up the coast of the eastern islands and would complicate my use of the ferries from Matnog to Saar and from Ormoc to Cebu. Other people were not concerned and said it was just passing storm. Which could be correct for Manila. The storm turned and is now indicated as moving in a westerly direction. It is now called a Tropical Depression named #UrdujaPH. I downloaded a couple of apps and am getting the National Warning messages with better info then I can get from anyone in Manila. Bus companies, ferry companies, hotels, even the bookstore people could not help me make sense of the different points of view and I could see the big red area on my weather maps just off the coast of where I was heading. So I extend my stay in Manila three times for an extra night and am now planning on taking the 6 am bus Saturday morning to Tabaco, a small town just north of the Mayon Volcano.
So now that I have finished this report I will transfer it to my web mail, try to correct the spelling and edit it, and send it so I can go for dinner and have a free day tomorrow. I miss my comforts of home, my family, my friends, and the causes I have been working on, as well as my time in nature on my Kubota working on our land. I calculate we would have 14,419 people living on our 50 acres if we reached the density of Manila. I can not imagine the ACP being built through such an area but perhaps an elevated train could be built over Highway 151. For two weeks I have been living in and experiencing a very different reality from our home in Afton: country boy in the big city. Saturday I will try a small town.
Love and miss you,
Ron
Forward to Ron's travel from Manila to Cebu
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Questions? Send email to Ellen, ebouton 
Last updated: 24 February 2018
