Manila - Day 2 (Part 1)

Saturday, 11 February 2017

First destination for the day was to the Marikina Shoe Museum in the district of Marikina, which is outside of Metro Manila and quite far away. I bought coffee from the hotel and went downstairs to watch the streets of Manila while sipping coffee when I saw a Philippino girl in the vicinity and I accosted her with my usual chirpiness early in the morning (this is generally true only when I’m on holiday).

I asked her about local dishes and she named some which I took note of to try later in the day. She introduced me to 2 of her friends, JJ and Kent and they joined in the conversation about food. JJ made a very interesting comment, which was to the effect of “in a sense we are all Malays, so our cuisine is very similar.” And I remember thinking, this may be true because the Malays in Malaysia and Philippinos are all considered Polynesians and can be considered to be of the same race. And yet, due to the difference in religion (Muslims and Catholics), what a vast difference in culture, character, outlook in life etc!

I asked my new found Philippino friend (her name is Sugar, how cute!) to call me a Grab and she did. I told you Philippinos were very helpful. Then I was on my way to Marikina. In the car, I asked the Grab driver (Tristan) whether he was a Catholic and he promptly replied, “No Mam, I am not Catholic. I am Roman Catholic.” I didn’t ask him what the difference was.

I was quite disappointed with the museum, it was smaller than expected but its location was very pretty, amongst greenery and quite quaint looking. Here I saw all the shoes once belonging to the former First Lady of the Philippines, Imelda Marcos. All shoes are in size-8 ½. Apparently she had more than 3,000 pairs of shoes, of which only about 800 pairs were on display at the museum. There were also shoes worn by former Presidents, Mayors, celebrities etc of the Philippines, and types of different shoes from around the world.

Then I took a taxi to Greenbelt Chapel, which was in Makati. Makati is like the Bukit Bintang of Manila. Tall buildings, clean streets, no jeepneys, no tricycles. Where the rich and famous no doubt live. Luckily I did not stay in this area though it was mentioned to me by various people. Greenbelt Chapel is a chapel situated in the middle of buildings which are luxury shopping complexes. It was something very different. Imagine going to church followed by shameless shopping sprees. Or shameless shopping sprees followed by confession in church. Sounds dodgy.

After walking around I went to one of the restaurants to try the local dishes recommended by Sugar. And to drink San Miguel beer, of course. I tried chicken and pork adobo – this is pieces of chicken and pork cooked with vinegar, soy sauce, and I’m sure some spices which I couldn’t quite identify. It was quite good, the pork and chicken were tender. I also ordered tofu sisig which is essentially sizzling tofu. Also quite nice but I think I now understand what Silvia meant by all their food tastes the same – the 2 savoury dishes that I tried both tasted sweetish. Although I have sweet teeth (all 31 of them), I like my savoury dishes to be savoury. Sweet is for milo, hot chocolate, cake etc.