Monday, February 2, 2009

Manila - Markets & Mausoleums

Despite being dirty and a little seedy, Manila had some interesting places to see. We spent two full days roaming the city and the highlight for me was the Divisoria Flea Market.

 

Most people are turned off by sprawling crowds of people that are pushing and yelling. Personally, the experience of shopping in South East Asia is defined by chaotic markets like this. When we first arrived there were hundreds of umbrella covered stands and stalls packing the narrow streets. Everything from knockoff glasses to textiles and fruit. Abueng and Zach couldn’t handle the masses, so they cut out early. 


Evania and I had found our shopping Mecca and offered to meet up later. With so many deals to be found and haggled, I could have easily spent the whole day roaming the streets. The downsides to people-packed markets are the pick pockets and purse snatchers. With that in mind, whipping out the new camera (that‘s right, I upgraded to a new Nikon Coolpix S550) to capture the moment didn’t seem like the best idea. I managed to snap a few quick ones, so this will have to do.

   

Three hours flew by and by the time we needed to leave, Evania and I were completely submerged in the masses and there was no end in sight. We decided to best plan of action was to pick a direction and stay the course. This ended up taking us through the “produce” department in the market. Pineapples, coconuts and lettuce heads were piled up from the floor. Eventually, we came to a clearing and hailed a cab to take up to our rendezvous with Zach and Abueng. Most importantly, I had acquired two new dresses, a shirt, swim shorts and a cute purse to carry my spoils, all for less than $20 USD.

 

Another Manila highlight was a visit to the Chinese Cemetery. Like any big city, there is a substantial Chinese community and in Manila there is enough to constituted and entire city for their dead.

We took the elevated train there; a fun experience and eye opening to see that women and children have their own designated car. Not sure why exactly, but I like to think they are just being chivalrous since it was the first car. From the train it was a short walk past strange food stalls, caged roosters (no doubt some promotions for the evening cock fights) and dozens of barefoot children playing with fireworks.

 

At the cemetery gate we paid a guy to give us a quick tour of some of the more notable mausoleums. I forget the guide’s name, but his dog’s name was Justin. Together, they were the caretakers for a handful of graves. Justin was a little spooky and reminded me of some animal out of a Steve King novel (actually, they whole place reminded me of The Langoliers, or one of those creepy books). The weirdest thing he did was growl and become aggressive towards anyone not on the tour.

    

Some memorable and things I learned from the guide is that the men were always buried to the right of their wives. If the husband had a mistress, he would be buried between them (obviously, because otherwise it would be weird). On the outside of the mausoleums there were usually two lions. The right lion’s pay was always resting on a ball, to represent the man. If the spouse were not deceased yet, there would be a red sign reserving their spot.

   

      

Most of the mausoleums were over the top with ornate decorations and some even had toilets and air conditioners. The caretaker said this is because the families visit weekly or monthly (usually) to spend time honoring their loved ones and ancestors. One of the air-conditioned graves even had a Mahjong table set up on the second floor for the family to play during their visits. Walking through all of the graves was eerie. An empty city for the dead just seems wasteful and frivolous to me, but you can’t take it with you, right? At least there were many beautiful statues and strangely picturesque images to capture. 

    



1 comment:

  1. The dog's name was JUSTIN?!?! hahaha Halfway around the world, and you stumble upon an animal named JUSTIN?!?! I almost cried I was laughing so hard. I don't think I have ever come across a pet with a more appropriate name!

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