day 58 – manila, philippines, first day

pictures coming soon... very slow to upload today, for some reason... will post pics tonite or early tomorrow...

had to wake up to report by 5 am for temperature screening to get shore leave granted – if you have a fever, you have to stay on board – so much for two sleep-in days in a row!  there’s usually something to prevent it!  i did go back to sleep for a little bit, then got up and out of here for the day… manila is a pretty big-deal-day here, since many of our crew are from here and want to have family visit on board – naturally, there is a lot of paperwork, and lines for them… in addition to crew and fam comings and goings (some joining and some disembarking here as well), to greet us shoreside there was a high school band, a group of very pretty drag queens, a dj with a special decorated jeepney, (the long jeep-y, funky bus-like vehicles they use for public transportation around here), some information booths and arts and crafts vendors… a long walk down the pier to where the shuttle buses into town are, and i opted for the free shuttle to a large shopping mall where i knew i could find decent coffee, do some walking and window shopping, as well as get a few souvenirs and find a filipino restaurant for lunch to try the local fare…

we rode through interesting neighborhoods, some colorful, some full of trash, literally, and then into a hotel and shopping district.  we got off the bus at the robinson mall, and it was huge… like a small planet… there is every type of store imaginable as well as a major department store, movie theater, many many restaurants, tons of coffee places (hooray!) and more.  i think i got lost twice… the exchange rate here was good, and the dollar goes much further here than in australia, let me tell you!  dried mangoes are a bit pricey in the states, but over here they are cheap and plentiful… got a nice big bag of those!  also, some amazing fuji apples from japan that are so beautiful they don’t even look real… beats the ‘crapples’ on the ship!  got some seasoning mixes like you buy taco seasoning in the states, but for some of the tasty national filipino dishes, like adobo… a few postcards and some instant soup for on the ship… for lunch i ate in a Filipino restaurant called dencio’s, and had a dish called sigsig (meat, onions, fried together, brought to table on a red hot cast iron plate where they then crack a raw egg over it and stir it to cook at the table… i also had some asparagus with garlic and lime iced tea… nice!

the thing that freaked me out the most about the shops and stores, in the health and beauty products section, there are hundreds of products, almost every lotion, soap, bodywash or skincare product, all designed to lighten the skin.  i was like, what, what, what!?!?  even brand names that are popular in america, and here they are hucking everything for people to try and look white and not be ok with who they are… i found that really strange and sad… isn’t that a self-hating sort of cultural norm?  that to be white or fairer is to somehow be better here, and in a restaurant, it is not abnormal for the fairest skinned people to be waited on first, i was told… that, excuse my language, is just kind of f@$#ed up.  the filipino people are very exotic and beautiful just the way they are, i think, and what is it that all the white people want to get really tan and all these tan people want to be really white?  people are crazy everywhere, i guess, and every culture is full of victims of marketing and media telling you what you should be… that sucks…

on a happier note, seeing some of my friends on board with their loved ones was the highlight of the day… my bartender, don, brought his wife, paz, to the piano bar, and willie, the bar manager had his wife and son on board (giant smile on his face), and vanessa, a bar server (who also sings very well!), had her little toddler daughter on with her mother and siblings… i can’t imagine having to be away from your little girl for 10 months of the year like that, go home for two months and then go do it again… heart rending, but some of these folks don’t have many other opportunities to provide a good life for their kids with any hope of higher education, or, for some, health care for their elderly parents… another waiter brought his kids in and we did a few songs from disney movies…

being an overnight port, i didn’t think we’d go too late, and i wanted to close on time so my bar staff could make it off before midnight to go to their homes in town, because they would not let crew off after midnight… we had a much busier cocktail set than i thought we would, and a pretty good night in general.  we ended up actually being dead before my usual closing time, though, since many folks had a busy day and have early tours lined up for tomorrow, so i was able to let the fellas get out of here in plenty of time, and i know they were glad about that!  my theme tonight was ‘easy listening favorites’ which was just mellow stuff… everything from eric clapton to englebert humperdinck. 

one of the crew office guys told me not to go out at night because the dock areas are not safe after daylight… i hadn’t planned on it, but was glad that they are looking out for us enough to tell us!  a few guests, even tho well-warned in advance, had items stolen (purses cut open without them even feeling it, etc.) in town… in any large city, tourists are easy to spot, thus, easy prey for thieves… i remember in paris, the first question they ask when you go in the police station is “combien?” as in, “how much did they take?”  my general rule of thumb is to dress in a crappy t-shirt and sweats, not my nicest clothes, and i leave all my jewelry, even my wedding ring, behind locked on the ship… anything i can’t tuck into my bra or my shoe is held in my hands or a small bag under my shirt that can’t be cut or yanked off my shoulder… you just can’t be too careful when traveling, because no matter how travel savvy you might be, you will usually stand out in a crowd in a foreign country.

i am so excited that bob is on his way in the wee hours of the morning to the airport with my dad to get on a plane and hurtle himself around the world to come and save me!  i need his bodyguard skills; can you believe that even in the middle of a market in manila, someone from the ship came up behind me, clapped me on the shoulder and says “hey, look who’s here!”  i swear to god, i almost punched him… more soon!  cheers, di