Reaching There

It's tough to be a vegetarian deep inside the provinces of Philippines, far away from the cosmopolitan Metro Manila! I would have been forced to survive on cup noodles for almost thirty hours if not for the new friends I made on the trek. The plan that began with a seventy-five percent chance ended up with me on the top of Mount Cristobal in Philippines.  "You'll have to bring vegetarian food", cautioned Cbass, my host for the trek. I amassed as many cup noodles and snacks I could for the trek. I was hoping someone would bring a burner to boil water for my noodles (I was lucky that Josh had enough gas to "burn down the mountain "- his exact words). When I landed in Philippines I hadn't thought I would take a local bus ride to a province almost three hours away from the Makati City. A bus ride, my first jeepney ride, surviving loud snores, Emperador shots, meeting wonderful people and about four-five hours of trek later I was on the top o...

It's been over two weeks in Manila and I seem to have got used to the busy life of this bustling city. It is one of the fastest growing cities in the world (growing faster than India in BPO industry); you can read about this here . So you can just imagine the volume of traffic that flows through the roads of Metro Manila. To just give you a few numbers; distance from my hotel to office around 7 kilometers and commuting time of around 1 hour, where sometimes I'm crawling at 7-8 kilometers per hour. To tackle this MMDA (Metro Manila Development Authority) came up with Unified Vehicular Volume Reduction Program. To me it simply means that I cannot drive in Makati City (that's where my hotel is) from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM on Friday. Bummer! Unaware of this rule, I bravely drove to my work on a Friday. Around halfway to workplace I was stopped with a loud 'Ehhh'. I was not sure what rule I had broken but I stopped a few meters ahead (confused and dazed). ...

It's almost the time of the year when red roses, Cupid arrows, chocolate hearts and lots of other symbols of love come out for the young and old to express a feeling of love for others. I've seen people celebrate this occasion with lots of zeal and jitters. I've seen people express their feelings to each other through videos, on a giant screen in a stadium, words on letters or just the old fashioned talking. However, I hadn't seen the Filipino way. Around lunch time today, a guy walked up to a girl (with his buddy holding a guitar) and started singing I'm Yours by Jason Mraz . At first I wasn't sure what it was, maybe just a gimmick or probably the guy was serious (I don't know that yet). However I do know now that in Filipino culture  Filipino men would make  harana   (serenade) the women at night and sing songs of love and affection. And it's pretty common, something inherited from Spanish culture. Interestingly the Tagalog (local langu...

OH, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet, Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God’s great Judgment Seat; Rudyard Kipling I beg to differ slightly with Mr. Kipling. Manila is turning out to be a mixture of east and west. In an earlier post I wrote about Manila - as an Americanized Asia. Almost a week here and I seem to agree more and more with this observation. Today was the first day of my driving in Manila. Philippines drives the US-way, on the wrong side of the road for Indians. Most of the traffic seems to believe in lane driving, unlike India. The infrastructure is well maintained; it's easy for a foreigner to drive here (most of the foreigners would never dare to drive in India). Makati City has a lot of one ways that makes the driving slightly easier. However, don't be fooled by this! Like any other Asian country Manila has its share of craziness on road. The best I can say is if you mix about 75% craziness of Indian...

Makati I am currently on a business trip in Makati City, part of Metro Manila. It is one of the most populous places in Manila and is the financial hub of Philippines. A walk down the Ayala Avenue (called the "Wall Street" of Philippines) is an experience in itself.  A lot of malls, including the one nearest to me - Greenbelt Mall, are located in Makati. A walk around the place and you can see all the major brands trying to find space in this busy city. Starbucks, Citi Bank, McDonald, KFC and various other American companies are huddled up together. Ayala Ave The driving is done the American-way too, on the other side of the road, for those of us who are more comfortable driving on the left side the "wrong" side driving can create a mental havoc. And of course the traffic is crazy! (I drive in India - so doesn't bother me) For a second you might feel you're in some populous city in the US of A! But....there is the Asian side of Manila you can't ...

Makati City Sunrise I was walking down the Paseo de Roxas when I heard the word "Hindi". I instantly turned my head to find a couple of Filipinos busy talking among themselves. We shared an awkward glance and then I was on my way to the hotel. As soon as I was in the room I tried to search what could they be speaking about. A few people had warned me about safety in Philippines; so a part of my brain was concocting all sorts of undesirable theories. While the more saner part (not sure if it is the left or the right lobe) was trying to figure out this mystery. So again Google came to my help. A couple of days back I had learned from a colleague of mine that Tagalog is the local language spoken in Philippines. I would side track a bit here, but when I landed at Nino Aquino International Airport, the taxi driver asked me two questions; first- was I from India? and second - whether I spoke Tagalog? The answers are pretty obvious, but the creative part of my brai...