Last Days in Manila

We're now hanging out in Northern California, but I thought I could share some pictures of Manila. Things we love and things we hate. I'll start with the good stuff.

Halo halo, if you ask me this is a bad thing, but Uche loves it. So, the day before we left we went over to the fast food restaurant Chow King for some halo halo.

This dessert is popular in the Philippines. The bottom is shaved ice mixed with a sweet milk. On top is where things get crazy. There is ube (a purple yam), beans, buko (young coconut), rice crisps, corn, gelatin, and ice cream (vanilla and ube)

Uche was excited to eat it, but I just can't handle all the different things in it. A dessert shouldn't have beans.

This is Uche getting the last drop out.

Finshed! Uche was a happy man!

Now you get to see the thing I think that I may hate the most in Manila.

The following pictures require a bit of explanation. A few years ago the mayor of Quezon City (part of metro Manila) put up fences to block people from crossing Edsa, a major road in QC. He also added walk ways that cross over the road at regular intervals. Then more recently he put up fences along the sidewalk to stop the busses from pulling over and picking people up at any old place since it makes traffic even worse than it is already. Of course, if there's any kind of space people gather and public vehicles stop to pick them up.

At this particular cross over there's very little space between the fence and the stairs, so only one person can pass through at a time. This would be fine except for thousands upon thousands pass through here everyday. Here I am about to pass through the space on my way up the stairs. By the way, the mayor of QC loves the colors pink and blue, so everything is painted those colors. All over the city you'll see these colors.

Here's a wider view of this area. Unfortunately, there's something else on the sidewalk at this point that makes walking here even less fun. When it's hot, as it always is, and there's a line to get through the space, as there usually is, I hate going this way. Unfortunately I have to pass it to get to the mall where we do all our grocery shopping, eating out and movie watching. Can you see what's under the stairs with the green leaves painted on it??

Yes, that is a urinal. The mayor put these up around the city to stop men from peeing along the walls on the roads all over the place. Unfortunately, these urinals just drain on the ground, so there are now these areas that are no fun to be anywhere near. It's a real bummer to stand in line to wait to get through the space.