After discussing the real estate deal and doing our best to recover from the ensuing depression, we traveled back to Manila, normally a seven-hour ride by bus, but we just happened to be traveling on the single heaviest traveling day of the year for the Philippines - Sunday night at the end of the Catholics' 'Holy Week'...which meant that we were sitting in a cramped seat for nine hours. There was no toilet on board, and only at the six-hour point did we get to stop to use the CR, short for 'comfort room', the local term for restrooms. Thankfully we had not drunk much liquids by then and we didn't do so on the bus...and in retrospect I don't remember seeing anyone selling water on the bus, and now I realize that this was by design so the bus wouldn't have to make several stops for the passengers to use the CR. Maybe that doesn't sound quite kosher, but there is a certain pragmatism to be considered. But in any case, if one travels by bus in the Philippines, make doggone sure to get a reservation on a 'deluxe' bus - they've got bathrooms and water!
But as with most other experiences in life, one tends to forget the hardships and remember the good times, and when it comes to our adventure this time in the Philippines, we'll always think back to a magical night on the beach at La Union.
....
So there we were at Fort Bonifacio Global City, signing the papers for the condo. It's a pre-construction deal that costs about 160K USD and won't be ready for occupancy until 2012 at the earliest. It's going to be tough to pay for it since this will be in addition to all our bills stateside - we'll probably have to let the foreclosure on our house stateside to go through - but one has to decide what is best for the family in the long run. My youngest son put it best - it's cleaner and quieter in the states, but there's no close family there. Here, there's close family.
The office we signed is located in the commercial development section of Global City. A nice and safe walk will take me by Krispy Kreme, Starbucks, Seattle's Best, and a host of restaurants including Mediterranean, Vietnamese, French, Thai, Brazilian(!), Creole(!!), Mexican, and several others. What really shocked us was the lack of any Filipino restaurants! Irony, thy name is progress....
A couple blocks away is one of the local malls — a small one by local standards. It wasn't an upscale mall...and I could almost sniff what I'd been looking for, yes I did! The first floor was a maze of eateries and clothing stores and kiosks selling jewelry of questionable authenticity, as were the second and third floors...and the more cheap places I saw, the more I was certain I'd find it! And on the fourth floor , the entire fourth floor it was, in spades - bootleg software! Oodles and kaboodles of it, every kind of software I could want (with one exception). There was the latest MS Office (of course), every database and productivity program I'd ever heard of (and lots I'd never heard of), tons of PC/Xbox/Wii games (which are an obsession I unsuccessfully try to hide from my family), moviesmoviesmovies and even tons of anime (another too-juvenile personal favorite)...everything made of bits and bytes (all ranging from $1 to $10) that I could have hoped for...
Article comments
1 - Clarence Yu
Great article. Though I beg to disagree on the system of collecting income and sales tax --- oh, the Bureau of Internal Revenue can be quite creative.
2 - Ruvy
Bang up article Glenn! Your writing reminds me of a less bitter version of Moshe Saperstein. An Israeli humor writer who once wrote for the Jerusalem Post, who wrote essays on life in Nevé Dekalim in Gush Qatif, where he and Rachel had retired to live - and who wrote bitterly of being expelled from his home there by a criminal Israeli regime led by Ariel Sharon.
He too, lives in a slum. Not by choice, or to be near relatives, but because his home was stolen from him.
3 - Glenn Contrarian
Thank you both for the encouragement - it really does help. Maybe this is the better way to become published, by writing about experiences and ironies most Americans don't see - instead of writing long, fictional epics on a grand scale and then watch the torrid pace of technology outdate everything one has written in a matter of months.
Again, thanks!
4 - Jordan Richardson
Nice article, Glenn. I've passed this over to my wife's family (she's Filipino). Very unique, fresh perspective with great lively tone and sharp punches of humour. Well done!
5 - Joanne Huspek
I'm going to have to bookmark this to read again, it was that enjoyable. Nicely done!