HITTING THE STREETS
October 01, 2008 03:52 PM Filed in: Personal
Well, I'm still here. So the storm didn't blow me
away. It didn't even hit this island. In fact,
another storm came by just a few
days later, but also missed us. I guess it's that
season. I don't really have anything cool to report.
I just noticed it was over a week since I posted and
didn't want anyone to think I was dead. I am mostly
sitting at home trying to get my freelance on so I
can make some money to keep adventuring here in the
Philippines. There's always a little something that
seems to come just when I need it, but I want to get
back into the big time. I got a pretty good size gig,
and have two seemingly good possibilities lined up,
so I am not worried. Still, money is tight at the
moment, such that I even tried to avoid using a 60
peso taxi. And that meant hitting the
streets.
I said I would do it in a previous post. The only way to see the real Philippines was to get out and walk through it, or take the jeepney as the locals do. I still haven't taken the jeepney, but I did head out to do some walking. It's amazing what you find, even right by where you live, if you just walk around. Google Maps just doesn't work here. They have, like, three places listed for the whole of Cebu city. They have their own version using Google's satellite image data on Wikimapia.com, but being a wiki, you have people entering stuff like "good ribs here" instead of the name of the place, or "my teachers neighborhood" over a whole area instead of listing individual places. I still have found the cool Japanese karaoke place I went to on there. I guess I can never go back unless I find someone who knows it.
So walking around I found two cool little restaurants and a cell phone shop right around here. There's also a bank close enough to walk to (well the mall is close enough to walk to by some people's standards). This means I might be able to go there and use the machine instead of spending taxi money to go the bank I used to go to or the mall. The best thing about walking around, though, is the girls. You see the girls you probably would never see in the mall. The real local beauties. In a big city like this there are going to be different levels of westernization. In a fancy mall, you're probably only seeing the more westernized and well to do people on a regular basis. Walking the streets, though, you see everyone else, and they are polite, smile, wave and maybe even strike up a conversation. People in the mall might walk by you like you're not even there. It's a world of difference.
So that was my small excursion hitting the streets. Once I get a little more comfortable with my freelance and feel a bit more stable, I will start exploring regularly. I might even buy a super cheap digital camera to take along with me (cuz some places I ain't taking my iPhone). Who knows what treasures are to be found around some corner?
I said I would do it in a previous post. The only way to see the real Philippines was to get out and walk through it, or take the jeepney as the locals do. I still haven't taken the jeepney, but I did head out to do some walking. It's amazing what you find, even right by where you live, if you just walk around. Google Maps just doesn't work here. They have, like, three places listed for the whole of Cebu city. They have their own version using Google's satellite image data on Wikimapia.com, but being a wiki, you have people entering stuff like "good ribs here" instead of the name of the place, or "my teachers neighborhood" over a whole area instead of listing individual places. I still have found the cool Japanese karaoke place I went to on there. I guess I can never go back unless I find someone who knows it.
So walking around I found two cool little restaurants and a cell phone shop right around here. There's also a bank close enough to walk to (well the mall is close enough to walk to by some people's standards). This means I might be able to go there and use the machine instead of spending taxi money to go the bank I used to go to or the mall. The best thing about walking around, though, is the girls. You see the girls you probably would never see in the mall. The real local beauties. In a big city like this there are going to be different levels of westernization. In a fancy mall, you're probably only seeing the more westernized and well to do people on a regular basis. Walking the streets, though, you see everyone else, and they are polite, smile, wave and maybe even strike up a conversation. People in the mall might walk by you like you're not even there. It's a world of difference.
So that was my small excursion hitting the streets. Once I get a little more comfortable with my freelance and feel a bit more stable, I will start exploring regularly. I might even buy a super cheap digital camera to take along with me (cuz some places I ain't taking my iPhone). Who knows what treasures are to be found around some corner?
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