Manila Traffic Sights

Posted by in Filipino Culture | 3 comments


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junkIt’s common knowledge that driving around in Manila is stressful. Usually I play my CD of religious songs to keep me sane. I discovered that if I paid close attention to the traffic sights in Manila, it distracts me and even keeps me amused. Taking pictures added to the fun. So yesterday I took some pics using my [tag]Nokia 6680[/tag] (excuse me for the ugly resolution) while driving for my brother in law and my daughter. I was stuck at the Manila Domestic Airport Road after picking up my brother in law from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. This junk truck was right in front of me and I quickly took a shot.


He’s surprised “Why are you taking a picture?”

“Collecting pictures for my photoblog” It sounded ridiculous to non-bloggers but oh well.

My mind drifted to how these chairs got broken. What is the story of each chair?
junk

Later that morning, I drove my daughter over to her work at the Makati Business District. At the corner of EDSA and Ayala Avenue, this hat vendor waves a binocular and holds a bunch of cowboy hats. Hm, are these vendors cashing in on the popularity of “Brokeback Mountain”? haha.
hat vendor

On the way to the gym, this resourceful vendor jumps right in front of the car and shows off the sampaguita leis and the feather dusters. He quickly hid his face after I took the photo.
vendor

I rolled down the car window “Why did you hide?”

“Baka mapunta pa yung mukha ko sa Amerika” (Maybe my face will be shown in America)

Ah , so maybe he’s used to photos being taken of him by foreigners. My daughter shoved some money for me to buy a sampaguita lei. Yes, my soft-hearted daughter pities these vendors so much. So I bought one sampaguita lei from him and hung it by the car mirror. Beside the sampaguita lei is Luijoe’s rosary which he hung a few weeks before he died. He had told me that the rosary will protect me.
sampaguita lei

The lei is an offering for my son’s memorial table.


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  • http://crayolaskies.org cris

    haha i find myself doing this too! :) well i used to when i would get stuck in traffic on the way to and from quezon city. i was actually just looking through the pictures on my cellphone and i had forgotten about many of the pictures; i spent a good amount of time laughing, remembering when i took the pictures!

    my nephew does the same thing, but here in the states. we were walking in marina grocery (asian grocery in san mateo) and he kept snapping pics of all these crazy things like a bottle with the label “sweat” (some drink i guess) or other weird stuff. the beauty of camera phones :)

  • http://aboutmyrecovery.com noemi

    I guess my brother in law doesn’t own a camera phone . That’s why he was surprised when I took pics. I have quite a collection too. It’s just now that I’ve blogged about it. In fact I started a gallery “Manila Traffic Sights”

  • http://www.canadatravelcheap.be/sitemap Anna Abigayle

    Hi, is there a way to receive your blog feed in my daily email?