Manila, New York......Tomato, Tomahto

Before I write about my topic of choice for the evening, I need to speak again about the food situation. I know I'm probably beating a dead horse but I'm just besides myself. So today we went to a place called Golldilocks. It's just a hodge podge place of food and I had pork meatballs with a side of rice and a coke. It was a ton of food and way good.....99 pesos. Are you kidding me, 99 pesos? 47 pesos to the $1 so like a full lunch for about $2.10. That's just stupid...no matter where you live. Anyway....

So anybody who has had the privledge to drive the strees of New York will know what I'm about to say but the driving here in Manila is muy loco. Cars come within millimeters of hitting each other and they do whatever they want. They cut people off, the stop and do nothing, holding up traffic.....it's vehicular anarchy. If you did half the crap in the states that goes on here, you'd be shot at everyday. We were waiting at a light this morning and it was a 3 lane road and there were 4 full rows of cars. It's actually pretty awesome if you ask me.

But my main point of interest tonight is the phenomenon of the Jeepney. The Jeepney is a Jeep on steroids and their existence is pretty cool. After WWII there were a surplus of Jeeps and they basically started giving them away to the Filipinos. What they did was extend them and put roofs on them and they turned into mass transit vehicles. For Jeepney drivers this is their sole source of income so they will pick up anyone they can see. They will stop anywhere if somebody wants a ride. They do have specific routes that they travel but they will deviate if they can pick somebody up. Sometimes when you see a full Jeepney driving by it will have people hanging off the back and on the sides. Since this is their sole source of income there is a lot of competition among the Jeepney drivers. I'm not sure of the exact price but it is very cheap for a ride and when you jump on the back, you just pass your money from person to person until it gets to the driver.

The coolest part of the Jeepney is their individuality. Each one is blinged out by the driver and unique. They have big grilles with crazy hood ornaments and are painted sometimes in wild ways. My favorites are the ones that have the oversized Mercedes hood ornament on the front. It looks really cool.

Hopefully I will revist this topic again because I want to take one of my weekend days and just spend the entire day hoping Jeepney to Jeepney. I will probably end up getting so lost that I will have to find a cab to get me back to the hotel but it should be a hell of a time at any rate.