Beauty in Chaos

Last Saturday was the perfect weather to come out of the house. So from the Guadalupe station I hopped on the (relatively) new Pasig River ferry service. The boat was practically empty save for a few families who were doing some sightseeing as well. I almost regretted taking the boat the instant the stinking smell of the river crept in my nose. It was very nauseating and for a moment there I considered alighting on the next station.

For years now Metro Manila had been dumping its filthy sewage in the river, which obviously explains the stench that pervaded much of the ride. When we did a study of the Pasig River in college we were told that the government, together with a few foreign donor agencies, was trying to clean it up. While that program had successfully minimized most of the solid waste in the river and relocated a portion of the squatters from the banks, there's still much to be done to fully revive the river.

Certainly it's not the boat ride for tourists who want to see a better picture of Manila. If anything, one is treated to sights of a sordid metropolis. Squatters were perched on the river's banks. I even saw people living under bridges like rats. Nearly half of the time we were surrounded by oil depots and crumbling factories. This is alternated by more slums and overflowing housing projects. Garbage was also strewn all over although indeed it had been reduced considerably. It is said that before one can walk across the river over the garbage. In fact, the river ferry was only made possible when most of the solid waste had been minimized.

A short section of the ride gave us passengers a glimpse of the Malacanang Palace. However a Presidential Security Guard who was on the boat prevented us from taking pictures, which I could not see the point of.

The last station is the one on Escolta, which is part of the Binondo area already. I've seen some parts of the Chinese district during a guided tour by Carlos Celdran last January. I realized however that there are still a few interesting old, but decaying, buildings that were not discussed in the tour. I took that chance to gawk at them. However, I did not dare pull out my camera to take pictures considering how dangerous the area is.

Passing several narrow alleys and the fetid esteros of Binondo, I walked the several blocks to Quaipo. Quaipo was on its usual frenzied and anarchic self, which I tried absorbing. The place seems to have some deep "human-ness" to it especially with the holy and the immoral sitting side by side. I did not take pictures of course because we all know that Quiapo is pickpocket central. When I reached the "Muslim side" of Quiapo I was instantly drawn to the dizzying bazaar of pirated DVDs, where I bought a compilation of yoga instructional videos (among other DVDs).

At about lunch time I took an FX to the SM Mall of Asia where I treated my self to huge plate of Pad Thai noodles (hay ka mahal!). Later in the afternoon I met Ipe and Tintin, former officemates in Davao, who watched Spider-Man 3 at the Imax theater. We tried catching the sunset but it was hidden behind clouds. A few hours later we watched fireworks. We experienced bumper-to-bumper traffic on our ride home, which was explained by the fact that two days later would be election day already.

Yesterday, voting day, my sister and I decided to head off to Divisoria instead (we are both registered in Surigao so voting was not an option). The last time I was in Divisoria was six years ago. I figured it was time to visit again the rowdy marketplace of all things cheap (and pirated). My sister and I ended up buying similar sunglasses.