A lot of interesting things made me hungry…the third day of my travel Vol.1

This is the first half of the third day in my travel in March.

I had no plan to do in the morning this day, so I decided to get out from the hotel and take some pictures.

“Mr, what would you do? Going out alone? I think I should be with you.” said the staff of the hotel. “Don’t worry. I think I can handle it. I’m just going to take a walk along the main street.” answered I to him. It’s quite dangerous for the Japanese to walk on a backstreet alone. That’s why he worried about me.

“Yes, I’m American. No speaking Japanese.” saying it to myself, I walked around the hotel. lol

This is the hotel I stayed at, which is located in Pasay city.

This is the Gil Puyat avenue. The five-lane roadway. Although people can commute or move with a cheep toll thanks to Jeepneys(A customized Jeep in order for as many passengers as possible to ride. I just forgot to take the picture!), it is said that their frequent stops can cause traffic jams.

A river crosses this avenue. Take a look at this picture. People live in along the river! I guess this area is set for many rains or a flood. It’s so dangerous! What if it rains too much? What will happen? Besides, the houses look like they have no foundations. Ummm…I don’t know how I could describe them.

Since I arrived at the Philippines, I had been thinking about some differences about atmospheres between the towns in the Philippines and the ones in Japan. I found the luminance was different. For example, there are also covenience stores in the Philippines, such as SEVEN-ELEVEN or MINISTOP. This is MINISTOP in the Philippines.

And this is MINISTOP in Japan. You can see the difference on the luminance from the picture? One of my friends gave me his guess. It said that they cut a cost.

There is a lady selling some things in front of a gate of the station nearby the hotel. Take a look at the picture. You can see several newspapers on the left side and colorful things on the right side. The things on the right side are lollies(candies?). I don’t know why, but pedestrians bought them while I was watching. One more thing, can you see several cigarette boxes right in front of her? Surprisingly, customers buy one cigarette, not a box. For customers’ convenience, she put a lighter on the table. Customers pay their money for one cigarette, borrow the lighter, and smoke it. There is no such system in Japan.

Instead of a permission to take this picture, I bought a newspaper. “Which is the most famous newspaper in Manila?” asked I. “MANILA BULLETIN, I guess.” said she. During the tour in Instramurus, I heard the name. “O.K. I’ll take it. How much is it?” said I. I got surprised with the paper. Look at this picture.

Look at the volume! “Day’s paper? Not week’s?” said I. “Yeah.” said she. I just read it after I was back to the hotel. The paper had many advertisements with the same type of the paper.

Incidentally, this is a newspaper in Japan. Advertisements are beside the paper. Colorful, aren’t they?

Not so thick.

I had had another concern since I came to the Philippines. It was to cross wide streets without any signals. Ofcourse there are also signals in the Philippines, especially in emerging ereas. However, the avenue I introduced above has its width, but there’s no signal! I had to jaywalk the street.

First, I tried to follow residents. They threaded the street between cars and sometimes stopped in the middle of the street like a bascketball player. I didn’t know when the right cue was for a while, but I got used to it.

One more surprising thing. Take a look at this. I saw a lot of sagged parts or holes on streets. I don’t know why the officials leave them. I guess they have no budgets? The people seemed they didn’t care. What if children stumble on them?

A lot of interesting things and curiosities made me hungry. I finally missed Japanese rice. As a matter of fact, I choose the hotel because a Japanese restaurant was nearby. I thought I could rush the restaurant just in case…lol katsudon, pork cutlet on rice, is the best cuisine I love. Ofcourse a bowl of katsudon was what I choose there.

After eating katsudon, I got back to the hotel and prepared for the next adventure. I had a few mistakes at the next one.

To be continued…