Sunset at Manila Bay and the Naughty Taxi Driver

After the museum, halal lunch and buying stamps for my postcards, I decided to head to the coast for some sunset viewing. I opted for a taxi because it was faster and avoided jeepneys for the rest of the trip. Haha. Damn, I should have brought a map of the city.

Sorry Jeepneys, will use you the next time around. :)

When you think of Philippines you'll think of Jeepney, the most popular public transportation there. A word that combines "jeep" with "jitney", a small bus that carries around passengers on a regular route (this I must master before using jeepneys) and works without a schedule but there is always plenty of them around. It is also the cheapest mode of transport around the city besides the LRT of course. Jeepneys were originally made from US military jeeps that were left around from World War 2. How cool is that?

OK, avoiding jeepneys since I didn't know the routes, I took the first taxi, hopefully thinking he'd bring me to Manila bay. I was wrong.

He brought me to the wrong destination. He brought me to Ocean Park Manila Bay instead. I thought of entering but the tickets were a tad too expensive for my limited budget. So I took another taxi to my preferred destination. Pfft! ( I wonder what info I've given wrongly to the previous driver? Language barrier was one of the problems, I guess. Le sigh)

At least the second driver brought me to the correct destination. Welcome to the not-so-happening Manila Bay! And so I thought.

The quiet, peaceful bay of Manila. I actually expected hordes of people on a weekend like this day.

I was a bit surprised to see that not many people were out during that beautiful day. Where did all the good people of Manila went?

Maybe it's because it was the middle of the month and everyone preferred to stay at home? Good for me, then. :)

The almost empty roads of Manila Bay. 

Maybe they went to another bay? I'm getting confused here. Hahahaha. I went to find a place to sit and buried myself behind a book. Some locals who sat beside me tried to start a conversation with me but it was in Tagalog. I didn't understand a word! Haha. Later they told me I look like a local and didn't expect that I was a foreigner. Awww.

Rays of sun starting to glow orangey red in the sky and onto the buildings around us.

And the sun finally went down. I saw ships in the distance.

I headed back through a shopping mall called SM Shopping Mall and chanced upon a marching drummers' band on the way.

It was captivating to watch them dance and beat up some music. 

It was getting dark and I hailed a taxi after watching the marching boys' performance end. When I got into the taxi, I was greeted with a smiling guy who talked a lot. Guys who always plays with their hair kinda annoyed me and this is what this guy kept doing. Haha.

Besides that he asked a lot of personal questions which I'd love to avoid. I even made up a story that I was going to wed soon. He asked with whom, and I answered with my Indonesian boyfriend. (It suddenly came up! His question caught me off guard!) The most funny part of the conversation was him saying that Indonesians won't make good husbands. It's far better to find a Filipino guy. And he gave me reasons why.

You say WHAT? HAHAHA.

I didn't dare to ask him who he was referring to. Tried to change the topic a couple of times but it always went back to my "pretend" boyfriend. Aduhh! To make things worst, he knew I was flying back to Malaysia tomorrow and insisted (and I mean it, he INSISTED) to take me to Clark. I told him I had no money and can only afford to go the nearest bus station which was a jeepney away. He insisted to send me there no matter how short the distance. 

Ok fine. I kinda lost my will power to argue further. So the next day, right after I checked out my hostel room, he was already waiting for me outside (15 minutes earlier than the time I initially set). There was no way to escape him. LOL. He got mad when I didn't remember his name (oppss!) since he remembered mine but was kind  enough to send me to some place so that I can shop for souvenirs before boarding the bus. Hehe. For no extra charge.

As I get off from the taxi his parting words were, "Remember my name? Don't you ever forget me". I just nodded.  

wtf. 

Until today I still had difficulties remembering his name. Maybe it was Castro? =P

~end of Manila trip ~