Knock...Knock...My way to CARTIMAR

 (This is not a new blog it dates back to Tuesday, March 07, 2006,,, exporting and importing problem so I am reposting again ^^, thank you cache,,, I will visit Cartimar again to buy me an Aquarium)

Ima watashi wa isogashii ja nai...he he he...got time to write here in my blogs space...so what is it inside this great gray matter inside my head? Knock...knock... I had to squeeze more to let my neurons work...:) ... Okay what to post? Don't know? Just type in whatever are those that crossed my mind. Here I'll give it a try.

Last Saturday I went to Cartimar a place in Pasay City where I found out was a haven for pet lovers...So how did I get there, got no idea of the place because I am a native Kapampangan don't know the streets and places of the south...Last Friday an idea popped out my head I'm determined to go to the talked about Cartimar to buy a dachshund...So I got myself a City Atlas and a map which I bought at NBS Ortigas...Cost me almost 400 pesos...

So what is it I found out... To get to Cartimar I should ride a jeepney from my place at Ortigas Ave , Pasig a jeepney with a route of Tanay-Crossing...The jeepney will drop you to Edsa Central the location of MRT Shaw station... Proceed to Chowking eat wanton noodles with ice tea and a side dish of asado siopao...yum yum yum...The idea at going inside Chowking was to have a private table to view my map and ask the service girl for directions....Which was futile because all you can get is that you are at the Jeepney Parking which was the name of the place...As if I can't read!....So looking my map I am at Edsa Ave....With a full stomach walked across EDSA and proceed to Guadalupe station...At my map it was the 3rd station from SHAW so walk and walk until you found yourself soaked in a salty perspiration...Loved the exercise...

But if you don't wish to lessened the fat in your precious body ride a bus which will drop you at Guadalupe station...From your right go to the left side of EDSA please use the Foot Bridge that is if you love your life... Walk around and asked for a direction from a lady cigarette vendor who shall shrugged her shoulder and say "not from around here?." Walk a little more and you'll find a jeepney Terminal and disturbed the first a Jeepney driver insight for direction, who will point you to walk downwards where the Guadalupe-Cartimar terminal is... Excited as I am I signal for the first jeep I saw which turned me down because he's not on his way to Cartimar...

You should ride at the jeepney terminal so as not to be refused by a driver...So that was what I did...Pretending to know where to go...I sat beside the driver 's seat...He he he...Bringing my travel bag which I planned to placed the puppy that I will going to buy I placed my City Atlas and map in it...Travel fare was 12 pesos and say to the driver " To Cartimar please", which he'll going to answer he's not going to drop you there on that spot because he is going straight to Roxas Blvd (got no idea..But still pretend to know, I wonder WHY?) and you still have to walk form a LRT station which he'll going to passed and unload you there...You have to answer with conviction that he must try to drop you there atleast near the point of your destination...So as not to blow your cover of not knowing the place( Dunno why? Pretend? :) ).

The jeepney entered Pasay or Makati I don't know... Unzipping my bag and trying to glance where the heck I am ....Seeing a LRT station asked the driver again where is Cartimar...He he he... By luck I am already at the drop point but if I asked a little late I have to walked back a little more thus sweating a lot again... So I unloaded my self from the jeepney and walk toward the street where the driver had pointed...You got to see a sign board of a lady silencing you using her pointing finger...A Victoria Court add...You'll going to see a large acacia which will fool you that it has lots of birds chirping well there are but they are not on top the three...Walk a little more and I found Cartimar...

An advised to those going to commute to this placed don't come there early because your shoes will get wet...Early in the morning most shops are still closed and those that are open are cleaning the dogs and puppies yesterday's dinner...How I wish those people cleaning use first a dust pan to pick up the messed instead of directly spraying it water from the hose...

I walked from here and there going to each shop to spot my puppy some are cute well other's are not. Looking for a puppy that will suit my budget of 3000 pesos, as my researched had brought me was the average cost of a dachshund dog...He he he I found out that they don't come out cheap...Puppies at Cartimar cost ranges from 7000 to 4000 pesos so I thought...
The first shop where my feet had delivered me I saw a handsome brown male dschshund which was priced 4000 pesos, well I didn't asked for the last price thinking that it was so takai (not cheap). I went around bargaining until I realized that it was the cheapest price I found out...So I went to the first shop thinking that I can get it for 3500 pesos...So I asked again how much was it...To my surprised it inflated from 4000 to 4800 pesos...A big WHAT HAD HAPPENED? ... He he he I didn't buy the puppy but to make my trip fruitful I bought different kinds underwater plants which cost 5 pesos per bundle which I will transport back to Pampanga for my little pond and aquarium...Wow this was long...

Philippine Taxi Drivers = Thieves?

After landing in the the Philippine Airports, the second thing passengers from the airplane might end up fetching a taxi. Unlike some other countries like Singapore, Hongkong, Macau, and Japan and maybe some other counties were you can ride  buses and trains going in  and out of the airport terminals, in the Philippines sad to say, your mode of transportation  is limited to riding taxis.

You can also ride a bus that is if you know the way or a Jeepney in some other Philippine Airports, this time I am referring to NAIA's 3 Terminals. Going out from the Arrival gates the first thing you will see are the Yellow Taxis. Some people tried to avoid the Yellow Taxis because their flag down rates are very big,  about 70 pesos. So what other people do, just like me I go at the Departure Gate Entrance area to look for ordinary Taxi. Simple reason  people ride a taxi going to the airport, so you will another option aside from the airport taxis. Ordinary taxis are more cheaper, flag down is 30 pesos now 40 pesos. So you are looking for a cheap way to go to your destinations.

You were able to call a taxi that you can ride on, then suddenly the taxi driver might do the following.

1. Ask for additional tip,, usually 50 pesos + the taxi's meter rate.

2. Tries to bargain with you, especially foreigners and pinoys who comes out of the international airports. No meter but you have to pay some certain fixed amount.

3. Refuse you because of, 

A. Your place is famous for traffic like Rosario, Pasig
B. Your place is famous for danger like Tondo.
C. It is simply out of the way and they suppose to be going home already.

What a shock it may be, being ripped off by Philippine Local Taxi drivers.
But it can't be helped you need to go to your destination.
So the Taxi Drivers in the Philippines got the very bad image, people do not do service the way it should be instead they are always in for the Money. This impression is also passed to the rest of the Philippines.

Maybe some of you who reads this journal of mine agrees with me, that Philippine Taxi Driver's are indeed like thieves.

Not all Taxi Drivers are like that though, there are some who simply let you in, and then ask you where to go and they start their meter and move on to bring you safe to your house or hotel. Sad to say these good guys are being overshadowed by the greedy types.

In every thing there is always a two sides of the coin. I got curios, I ended up talking to some taxi drivers. I got all the same answer, why there are bad  greedy taxi drivers.

There are two types of taxi Drivers in the Philippines, one that drives a taxi for an alternating 24 hours and one who drives a taxi every day for 12 hours. They have things in common, the taxi is not theirs and they have to pay for the boundary, like a rental fee for using the taxi.

I heard that they have to remit to the taxi owners 800 ~ 1200 peso every time they go out drive the taxi plus they have to return to the park the taxi in the compound of the owner full tank if they got it full tank.  Just compute for 24 hours driving if the taxi driver will remit 1200 peso, how many passengers he have to let in?

How to make an equation?

For flag down of  just 30 peso , it will take 40 people to ride the taxi, in order to make 1200 peso within 24 hours.  That 1200 peso is the amount to remit the taxi operator.

There are times when there are lots of passengers to ride on a taxi, but there are also times the taxi driver will wait or drive around and round in search of a passenger. There are times when the taxi driver get unlucky and find a passenger who turns out to be a hold upper.
As you see no matter the reason,  with or without any passenger, in the end the poor taxi driver will have to remit the 1200 peso to the taxi operator, or else some operator takes the poor taxi drivers' license.

I asked one taxi driver how much he can earn in a day, in average,,, he said 400 peso. It can get higher or lower, the lowest is zero if he got held up, but there are times for 24 hour driving minus the gasoline and the remittance for the operator the poor taxi driver can only take home a meager 150 peso.

To those who had experience a taxi driver who turned you down because

1. The route of it is out of the way & he needs to park it or bring it back to the operator's compound, do not be angry because if they bring the taxi late the poor taxi drivers are also fine with a fee.

2. Your place is known for hold uppers. The reason you already know, they  are just being cautious.  If you happen to be on those places, please lock all your doors.

So next time you ride a taxi in Philippines, please try to talk to them. Now the flag rate is 40 peso, I wonder who made that rule? I think it is better that there be a law, like the one I saw in a Singaporean Movie about a taxi driver. The rule is simple, if your locations is on the business district, automatically there will be an additional amount to the meter if you ask to be drop there. This is ideal but then again, some operators tends to be greedy, they might take advantage of this and just increase their boundaries ( rental fee).

FYI the taxi driver's do not have SSS, 13th month and some other benefits :(.

Don't you think that the taxi driver's in the Philippines are being oppressed too?

Which Side of the Knife, Amidst the Trials.

A knife can cut you depends on how you handle it.
If you handle the blade it might cut you, if you hold the handle that is a different story.

Last 2009, there was a flood in Metro Manila.
Little by Little the water rosed up to the roofs of houses.
I was one of the victims of that sudden flooding.

I am renting an apartment in Pasig City. During Fridays after the office I usually go back to my parents house in Pampanga.
On that particular Friday nights I got an invitations by former office mates (Now living in Singapore) to spend some time with them in the coffee  shops. I was schedule to go back to my parents' house but we spend chatting till 12 midnight. I decided to go back to my apartment and rest.

I woke up around 10 am, my housemate told me, the streets are already flooded. I got irritated. The city government started to dig for canals during that time, so I am blaming them for it. Why build a canal in the middle of the rainy season, it makes the street flooded I told myself. My roommate went out and I lie again in my airbed.

My room mate hurriedly   went back and told me that the water is rushing in. I got again furious, why dig in the middle of the rainy season. So I got up, check outside really the water was rising. Wow, I can't believe it. My room is on the first floor and all my stuffs are on the floor.As the water rises, I was busy picking up my stuffs.

I was able to put all my stuffs on higher level. We have a kitchen sink, that is where I put my things, since it was raining and the ceiling of the apartment was leaking. The kitchen sink is always wet during rains. I decided to put all my stuffs in the second floor of our house.

So that was it, we closed the door, during that time the water was only heel deep. We did not bother to put the other things to the second floor. It got us tired moving the things up. We slept, my room mate woke up and went down, then he hurriedly called back. Our first floor is now submerged waist deep.  There were two computer tables downstairs, we did not carry the monitors to the second floors. To our surprised they became instant aquariums.

We went outside to see the situation. Being Pinoy, which other people from the globe find amusing we posed in-front of the camera still with a  smiling face (Exception the ones that posed in-front of the killer tourist bus at Quirino Grandstand, this too was too weird for me). Smiling in the outside but deep inside we are worried. I called my parents thinking of the worse things to be. I am sure any moment our cellphones will lose signals. Connections from outside will be cut.  I was able to contact my mom and told her, We are find no need to worry.



After settling our stuffs to the second floor. We decided to go out. We help our landlady carry their things to their second floor. I saw they even made an effort  to tie their sofa to the ceiling. While we are carrying the things of our landlady. One room mate who is very afraid of cockroaches experience something he never wanted to. The cockroaches are not like fish that can breathe underwater, so while we are carrying the gas range and the refrigerator to the second floor, the roaches too were trying to climb, well not to the second floor but to our bodies. Writing this stuffs still gives me goosebumps, but I found it entertaining because my roommate cannot do anything. He endured carrying the appliances to the second floor while roaches are sticking to his torso. He seems to dance while doing it :). After this he overcome his phobia of roaches, maybe ^^.


Too bad we can not carry the car:(. Our landlady has two cars, one was still new still with plastic covering the chairs. They bought it two weeks before this happened.

So the water continued to rise, we can not leave the apartment anymore. I can not swim, and where to go?. So we decided to spend that day in our room at the second floor. In the apartment we are 5 boys. Two of them came from Pampanga and they left for home on Friday night. So Three of us stayed in the house to carry the stuffs to the second floor. We are lucky one of our house mate went to buy a grocery before. We had emergency food because of him.




We monitored the water level, until it finally submerged the ceiling of our first floor. Now we are scared. The rain is still pouring and  water is still rising, only one stair and it will reached our second floor.


During the night we heard someone calling for help. Their house were not higher than ours and they are worried, until how much the water will continue to rise. Our house has stairs and we can accessed till the fourth floor of the next house. Without second  thinking we asked them to go to our tiny room. If ever the water rise much more  we can all climb until the third floor or higher. We were surprise to find out that our neighbor just gave birth some days ago, so that is why they were really worried. We let the woman cross the fenced with still fresh stitches and her baby got her first adventure in life.

They thanked us for letting them stay in our house, but we are also grateful they let us saved them, without them we would not eat meals for 2 days and 2 nights. They are more intelligent. They brought their food and cooking stove in the second floor of their house while we are carrying computers. We are save from starvation :)

This  flood made us connect to our neighbors which we never talked to in normal living. We even met a cute girl in the next apartment. The following pictures are the pictures after the first day.

Our Submerged Barangay

Breast Stroke in the flood

I remember this bed, this was the bed we discarded because it got holes.

After the water settled down. Relief goods where distributed. Our company too gave us some food and also to other office mates who got affected by the flood.

 

Bump Trucks

So our company gave relief goods to those who got affected.

While giving the relief goods people are still smiling in-front of the camera amidst the things that happened.  I have a Japanese friend who works for an NGO she told me, they too gave relief goods to the evacuation centers and took pictures for documentation. They can not submit  most of the pictures because people tends to smile in-front of the camera.



For Other Pictures of the 2009 Ondoy Flooding here is a link below:

Ondoy Pictures at Pasig City

Maybe out of the flood topic  but to return to the page title. 20 Years ago A sleeping volcano  woke up and buried almost all of Pampanga. It was a disaster. Houses and farmlands were buried under by sands from the volcano. As one video I saw, the people in Pampanga saw it an opportunity to have a living, now those sands are used for constructions. Also during the the attacks of locust the people from Pampanga made something positive from that plague, we got instant food from heavens :)

here is a link, but I think you need to Log In to FB to see.

Pinatubo Video by Arvin Paul Lingat

Onin45...Kimi no Machi...Your Town...Ang Bayan Ninyo

So what is the motive in creating this account? I will try to venture to promote more about my beloved country the Philippines. My name is Onin and I love meeting people and taking pictures.

My name is Nino Bayan. I call my page 'Ang Bayan Ninyo'. In Filipino language it means 'Your Town'.
The impression of people especially the ones who had never been to the Philippines is that my country the Philippines is a very dangerous country. Well I do not say they are wrong and I would not say they are right. News sometimes exaggerates the facts.

Philippines is composed of 7,107 islands. If some terrorist bombed one place, it doesn't make the whole country dangerous. Don't you think so. The Philippines is an island nation. Every islands has its own culture, and own languages. In Philippines we have roughly more than 170 languages. I for one my native tongue is called Kapampangan. One of the Major languages in the Philippines.

We say 'Mayap a Abac' for 'Good Morning' and in Tagalog it is 'Magandang Umaga'

The Kapampangan people are located in the Central Plains of Luzon. Our Province is called Pampanga.
They say Pampanga is the Culinary Capital of the Philippines, this is where the best foods in the Philippines are located they say. We have a share of bizzare foods too, maybe part of the culture, My people being in the central plains of Luzon, naturally farmlands can be found. We have foods selections raging from insects to mammals that are found in rice fields such as crickets, grasshoppers, beetles, frogs, mice? never eaten though, the beast of burden of the Philippines the Carabao ( Water Buffalo). More of those stuffs in another post.

The Carabao (Kalabaw)

Pampanga is also famous for beautiful churches, I have been to some of them and will definitely post some of them here. We have also the elaborate celebration of the Christmas Season and the Holy Week.
In Pampanga every December we have The Ligligan Parol ( Giant Lantern Festival) and every Good Friday we have some people nailed on the Cross at Cutud, San Fernando, re-enacting the passion of Christ.
 

The Giant Lantern Festival

The Crucifixion at Cutud, San Fernando

Something unheard of by many, the first anniversary of  the Philippines Independence was held in Pampanga at Angeles City, in this building.

If you happen to pass by Angeles City you will see the Kapampangan Museum located inside my alma matter The Holy Angel University, This museum houses the facts about my beloved province. Fronting it is the Angeles Museum ( Museo ning Angeles) where you can find naturally the facts regarding the city of Angeles.

This is my first attempt to write in this blogger account of mine, thanks for today's rainy weather courtesy of FALCON the one who brings us lots of rain and made people think about Ondoy, I did not go out from my house ^^, So welcome to the Philippines sorry for introducing Pampanga first ^^,