December 1, 2019, Sunday
I am home alone today, a weekend. My husband plays golf even on Sundays, and my daughter is also out with Derrick.
I want to go out but not. I’ve been feeling slow and low lately. My chest is palpitating, my knees are shaking, my feet are cold, my head is woozy. Maybe stress.
There is a Marian procession in Intramuros starting at 4 pm. The statue of Nuestra Senyora de Los Angeles from Pila-pila is joining in the procession and I’ve been asked to sponsor the flowers. The budget daw for the flowers is P20,000 parang ang laki naman. Dami namang bulaklak nun. I committed to contributing P5,000 only and not for the whole 20k.
I am really not in my best element. I just want to stay home but at the same time, I want to participate in the procession. I was told that the procession would start at 4 pm. Yun pala 6 pm pa. Hmmm, ang sabi 4 pm, I should’ve rested for a while.
So instead of going straight to Intramuros, I told my driver to go to Ongpin first. I don’t want to wait for two hours.
My new driver makes my life easier. He knows almost every street and place in Metro Manila. So far, everywhere I go, he knows the route without relying on Waze. So when I told him to go to Ongpin, I didn’t even have to tell him to go straight, to turn left, or right, He knew exactly where to bring me and where to park.
I am having a mini-tour of Maynila.
Bomba movie ba itong sikreto ni Lester?
I will never forget this movie house, ODEON. This was where my father and I watched the movie The Ten Commandments. I remember we were standing at the back and the movie was so long.
To take MRT pala I need to climb this high?
I’d been in this area before. Thirty-six years ago, I enrolled in haircutting class at Rever, on the second floor of the Mandarin Hotel in Makati. The owner / hairdresser/ instructor was named David Charlton, from England. His assistant suggested where to buy the perfect hair cutting scissors. Dito daw a Recto Avenue. So hinanap ko, nilakad ko itong area na ito. Nahanap ko naman. A Solingen scissor cost P180 which was considered the top of the line in those days. Ngayon P180 kape pa lang.
Welcome to Chinatown.
Estero to the left
Estero to the right
Since today is a Sunday, most of the stores in Chinatown are closed, except for restaurants, street vendors, and a few general merchandise stores.
One of the farm caretakers hanged a Chinese lantern similar to these ones inside our cottage house. He is probably thinking we will like it. No, I don’t decorate our house with Chinese lanterns except when it’s a Chinese New Year. I didn’t take it out, hinayaan ko na lang.
I walk into a store. I want to buy something but I don’t know what. I am looking for nothing in particular. They have lots of interesting home decor and gift items. This stool is nice but too heavy. It has birds and leaves and maybe this will look good in a farmhouse. I don’t know. Chinese-French farmhouse?
The owner is hidden behind the display cabinet. He is observing me while I look at their merchandise. Tanong lang ako ng tanong, magkano yun magkano ito?
We became instant friends. We started talking about his store, watches, travel, and life. He said the business was started by his great-great-great-grandfather more than a hundred years ago. I noticed his fluency in both English and Tagalog. He went to college in Toronto and lived there with his family for ten years. They liked it better here in Manila so they moved back. It could be boring in Canada according to him.
I asked where I could find the Peace Panciteria. Sarado na pala yan. He gave me a list of good restaurants. He advised me to come to Ongpin on weekdays because the gold stores are open. He also advised me to be careful when I am shopping in China baka daw kasi fake watch ang ibigay. I don’t shop for watches in China. He also told me that it’s better to buy watches here in Ongpin than in Italy and France because the stores daw abroad know we are tourists so they give slightly defective, old or scratched merchandise. If I need anything daw, like pipes, electrical supplies, Rolex, etc. he can refer me to reliable suppliers in the area. Hindi daw ako lolokohin and the prices are lower.
I will remember Tecson’s store.
While I am stepping out of Tecson’s store, I see a guy in the middle of the street, standing behind a woman, his arms wrapped tightly around her as if he’s trying to restrain her from moving away. The guy is yelling at another woman. Kala ko the three are together. Everyone is watching this scene. Some seem to know who this couple is.
I asked the woman the guy was angry with. Yun pala he was accusing this woman of taking his video while he was fighting with his presumably, wife. His wife caught him having an affair with another tindera by the Estero, so his wife went there to confront the mistress. He stopped his wife from fighting with his mistress by bodily moving her away from his new love.
The weather is very nice, very pleasant. I continued my walk looking for some interesting stuff.
I am having a good dose of Chinese-ness which makes me miss my father more.
This dried pork is memorable to me and my sister Aileen. Our parents used to stock some for our emergency ulam. But the ones we had looked drier and didn’t need refrigeration and could last for several months.
I wanted to do some adventurous dining so I dared follow some local tourists, going to the cluster of carinderia alongside the estero. Malinis naman.
I decided to go to the bigger restaurant, President.
I ordered hipon swahe. Too much for one person.
After my early dinner, I went back to the Estero area to buy fresh lemonade.
The Filipino gulay vendors were still around.
I bought several sticks of tubo (sugar cane). Paano ko kaya kakagatin ito baka maputol mga ipin ko.
Thirty minutes later, the fighting couple was back in the middle of the street, fighting over the same mistress and the guy was again hugging his wife from behind. I heard the woman saying “Paano na ang mga anak mo? Malalaki na sila”. She was probably trying to put some sense into her husband’s brain. I think when a guy is in love with another woman, no amount of reasoning would work. He doesn’t think about you or your children. All he could think about is the other woman. That is a novelty and more exciting. He may go home to you after spending time with his girlfriend, he might feel some guilt, but after two days he would begin to miss her again and go see and f her again. The cycle continues. This also happens to women and not just men.
My last stop was at the Salazar Bakery. I bought trays of gelatin, machang, hopia munggo and hopia ube which were too sweet for our liking, we gave them away to Antinola.
