is that spelt with one/two ‘l’???
But I was wholly unprepared for the sheer size of their shopping malls (and the numbers as well) which put every mall in Malaysia to shame. Absolutely huge with open air parking spaces so no such thing as half the building is actually taken up as parking spaces. Much more astonishing is the fact that they have enough people to fill it up, sometimes to the brim. You don’t stroll past the stores/stalls much less try to squeeze your way through looking down to make sure you don’t accidentally step on someone else’s foot before realising that you have passed several stalls without even glancing at their wares -_-”. Any thought of doubling back is out of the question. Regardless of whether it is a weekday or a weekend, the people seem to be always there. =P
Plenty of MPH-size bookstores there much to my delight selling books (mainly english) at a much cheaper price than Malaysia. However, I am still not able to find ‘The Pinhoe Egg’ (drowning in misery:disappointed). Christmas present can?? anyone?? please??? yes/no??? I do not think I can suffer yet another year without it.
I bought the Empire of Ivory, by Naomi Novik. The fourth book in her Temeraire series *happiness*. I know, what kind of person visits bookstores when on vacation. My kind, obviously. =P
I think the best attraction is probably the collection of stalls that sell imitation/reject products at unimaginably cheap prices. One wonders if they even earn enough profit from these. And haggling is allowed as well, which sometimes make me dubiously wonder how much these things costs originally. Plus it seems very mean to haggle with them when in truth you are just saving a few more ringgits to their 100 pesos. =X
Basically, my few days there has seen me mall hopping and I tried their public transport on one day instead of the taxis (which is also pretty cheap and none of the usual haggling of prices needed with Malaysian taxi drivers). Again, there was an absolute sea of people, which of course results in cramped sardine-like condition in the MRT. Basically when the door opens, you take a deep breath and plunge into the throng of people already standing inside. I am not exaggerating that much when I say so.
Practically the only picture that I took while in Manila. =P I think my camera has only seen the light of day once / twice in our 5 days there. lol. That’s a jeepney, another form of publict transport available apart from the usual busses. You cram in with as many people as you think is humanely possible, and the driver drives off on his route. There are no stops but you just jump of the back whenever he is within vicinity of wherever your destination is (of course this is usually done when the vehicle is stuck in the middle of a traffic jam, I have as yet not seen anyone try to do it in moving traffic, unless the person is suicidal). I couldn’t help laughing when I saw this because my sister did remark to me about not seeing any bus stops at all after two hours of driving in the city. =P
