Whew. Traffic in Manila is still unresolved. The driver I had was tailgating, changing lanes abruptly, and blowing the horn incessantly. At one point, I had to admonish him because a car in front of us was signalling to change lane in a very slow moving traffic, and he wouldn't let the car. At another area, he kept on honking and I had to tell him off because the truck in front of us had been stopped by traffic cops, so obviously the driver couldn't move.
But as I looked around, I noticed that the other vehicles were doing the same. No courtesy driving, lots of horns beeping, and changing lanes like changing chairs in the parlor game Trip to Jerusalem.
Hey, this is Manila, I reminded myself. This is one of the things that make us unique.
Well, I was still able to make it to a mid morning appointment to meet an old associate, and then took a late snack at Greenbelt 3 in a place called Cafe Bola where I saw a framed cover of a Liwayway Magazine. I left the Cafe before it closed for its 3 - 6 pm "siesta." Nothing extraordinary happened there.I told my sister and brother in law later that I don't believe the Philippines is experiencing any economic downturn because all the Greenbelts (1,2,3,4,and 5) were packed with people enjoying their lunches or snacks in the dizzying array of restaurants there. But looking closer, there were few shoppers.
I got to walk through 5, 1 and 3 because we parked at Greenbelt 5. Of course, I had to ask several guards for direction inside the mall.
Driving through Ayala, Buendia and Paseo, I saw my old office and didn't recognize it. The elegant Mandarin now looks old and stained and washed out.
It was four years ago that I was here last, and over that period the number of cars and other vehicles quadrupled also.
Damn. I'm getting frustrated. No spectacular sighting or anything.
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