The not quite deserted streets of Metro Manila
The best time to be in Manila is from Maundy Thursday to Black Saturday. Nearly everyone’s out of town, traffic is very light, the air noticeably cleaner. It’s even cooler—I’ve realized that one major cause of heat is all the exhaust from all the airconditioners working to beat the heat.
The malls are closed but a few restaurants are open for stragglers. We had lunch at our old reliable Old Swiss Inn, and dinner at Italiannis (bigger crowd, smaller portions). For dessert I suggested we drive around Bonifacio Global City to see what was open. Voila, many of the restaurants in High Street were open and packed; New Orleans even had a jazz singer on. There were so many people we couldn’t get a table, so we went back to Makati.
“We could go to the Pen,” Noel suggested.
“I’m wearing slippers,” Joey said.
“They really enforce the No Slippers in the Lobby rule?”
“Yes, there’s a note in the rooms telling the guests to wear shoes.”
“You mean I can only sit in the lobby of City Garden Hotel?”
“They don’t have a lobby,” Joey said.
We ended up in the Makati Avenue-Burgos-Koreatown area, where all the bars seemed to be doing good business. “If I wanted to do penance I’d go inside Pussycats,” Noel said. We skipped penance and went to Ferino’s Bibingka across the street, a tiny take-out station with two tables on the sidewalk. One order of the P95 Super Bibingka was enough for three of us, with hot chocolate.
“We could’ve gone to Cafe Adriatico in Malate,” Joey said.
“Naah, this is fine,” I said. We don’t often get to hang out on the sidewalks of Makati Avenue (Wouldn’t want to be mistaken for a transvestite, not that some of them aren’t fabulous). And we had a view of Pussycats, Andok’s, Hotel Inwangsan and Joey’s new car.
“What a beautiful car,” Joey sighed. Joey has reason to sigh—getting that car involved months of waiting and an epic correspondence with the dealers. We have renamed Joey “CX”.
April 5th, 2010 at 01:06
Pls. tell CX to watch out for cops who apprehend motorists who drive brand new vehicles. See, the “no license plate–no travel” policy is strictly being enforced,even on the cheapest new motorcycles. And no,the conduction sticker,invoice receipt and the OR-CR won’t do you any good. Pray you don’t get flagged down by the dreaded LTO “flying squad”, or you risk having your shiny new car impounded until your dealership can produce license plates. Well,this is Manila and you have been warned.
April 5th, 2010 at 18:22
Ay, tutoo ka, Franzi.Three years ago, tuwang tuwang nilabas ng mga anak ko ang bagong biling kotse namin. Di pa nakakalayo, pinatabi na sila ng pulis. Kahit may resibo ng kasa at conduction sticker, di pa rin pinalampas ng mga hinayupak. Kaya ingat ka CX!