Wednesday...........

Today was a quiet one. I went to play badminton this afternoon with the journalist Norman and his friends. They are not very good but it is so hot that the exercise makes me perspire, this is what I need.

We played from 4-7pm, had a shower and a chat, at the end I told him that I fancied a walk home, this is in Mandaluyong and the walk is through that slum area that I love walking through. They all said "NO you can't do that it is too dangerous", " that is the ???? area", I can't remember what the actual name that they said. They were saying that it is dark and you will be taking a great risk, I must admit at that point I thought... " mmmm, maybe they are right so I said maybe I will get a taxi.

We parted at the exit and I walked to the main road, on the way there I thought no I am going to walk home, it's warm, the streets are crowded so how is anyone going to rob me or anything else, the only problem was that I was carrying my large badminton bag.
Anyway I start to walk and turned left into the main area of the deprived area, it's now about 8pm but VERY busy, I felt totally safe although realise that could be a mistake on my part. It wasn't, I walked all the way through with no problems at all, I was careful and I even found myself putting my money in my sock but it was unnecessary.

There were lots of guys in groups hanging about but they were too busy with their own drinking/chatting to be bothered by me. If anyone was going to rob me he would have to be an opportunist as I don't regularly walk through here, they stared and wondered what I was doing, many people asked me where I was going as they always do. I even stopped at a Sari Sari (store) to drink a coke.... only 8p and it's the old glass coke bottles that I rarely see these days, had a chat with the people there, I also stopped at another stall to look at DVDs, all copies of course, you get 12 movies on each DVD ( didn't know that you could do that) all just newly released for 70 pesos (85pence), I stayed there for a while as I got chatting to some young people.

I picked a DVD ( I shouldn't as it was pirated I know) and continued on my walk, a young girl and boy that was at the stall walked with me as they were walking in the same direction. They spoke great English and were asking me all sorts of questions, this was the only time that I wasn't focused on my surroundings and other people, it came to my attention so I tried to stay aware as possible, anyway they lived in this area so we parted half way through. They thanked me for the chat and asked for my phone number.... amazing but they always do that, they feel honoured to have a foreigners cell phone number, they will boast about it to their friends and maybe send me a text whilst in their company to prove it.

I continued my walk and ended up stopping for a pizza on the way home, it was an enjoyable evening all round. I think I may be so attracted to these areas because of ....as a psychologist may say..... it reminds me of my roots, it's possible as Possil was not unlike these areas... not as poor obviously but poor in the scheme of things at the time. In Possil we had 100's of kids playing in the streets, lots of men/woman hanging around talking especially round saracen cross, people hanging out their windows just watching what was going on... this is not dissimilar to the deprived areas of Manila.

My friends that were aghast at the thought of me walking through there on my own have this perception of these areas as most Filipinos do that live in relatively "nice" areas, they all believe the same thing that the people that live there are all thieves and robbers, no doubt there are some as in most poor places but overall I think it is an unfair and wrong opinion. If you are aware and walk through with confidence/boldness/friendliness, I believe you are relatively safe. I simply... for whatever reason.... love that area.

Sorry to all if this is not published by the server immediately, they have been very slow recently, taking between 8/12 hours to publish my posts but there is nothing that I can do about that.

Have a great Wednesday.....