Day 3 in Manila: A lesson in driving.

If Dallas, Houston, Miami, or even LA traffic makes you nervous, you haven't seen anything yet. Imagine going to a place where there is no speed limit, lines drawn on the road really don't mean anything, and any space you leave between 2 vehicles will not be a space for very long. A motorcycle, car, or even a bus that doesn't fit there, will take up that space. You hear horns constantly. Accidents are actually pretty rare, but when one occurs, it's fatal. There is no such thing as "pedestrian crossing". If you choose to cross the road, you better run like the devil is chasing you! They will NOT stop for you unless you're disabled, pregnant, or old. (and sometimes not even then!) I was able to snap some good shots today of what traffic in Manila is really like!

Cars will go whichever way they can fit. 

Man running in traffic. 

Cars pile in beside each other.

You will see a lot of these. Some have carts on the side and give people rides for money. 

More traffic. 

These big buses maneuver in traffic just like small cars. You will actually find a lot of these!

Lots of motorcycles and scooters here. 

Cars will drive in the center of the lines. It doesn't matter as long as they can get ahead of the one car in front of them. 

Some people don't even care if cars are coming from the other direction. They go anyways. "Goodluck errrrybody!"

The space between the taxi and this car was basically non existent. 

Hello there, random guy on a scooter going in between 2 moving vehicles. 

I like this photo because you can see all the different types of vehicles here. I have noticed that the most popular makes are Honda and Toyota, but other brands, like Mazda, Nissan, Subaru, etc., are popular as well. I have even seen a few Fords and a Chevy! The motorcycle in the picture is kind of blurry, but it actually has 3 people on it. It is entering the freeway, and it is not uncommon to see that here. 

This is called a Jeepney. You will see these EVERYWHERE on the side streets of Manila. If you need to go somewhere that is further than walking distance, but not so far as to need a taxi, then you would use a Jeepney. It is really cheap (like 5-10 pesos), and only operates on the side streets. As you can see, it doesn't have air conditioning, and everyone just piles in beside one another. There are all different colors, and each color can represent a different route it takes. 

This jeepney is to our left... On a two lane road, in on coming traffic.

As you can see, driving here is completely different. You don't see cops out regularly handing out tickets or monitoring the streets. At dinner tonight, we were talking about the driving here. Kuya Dylan asked if it were much different. Eyen and I explained that in the U.S. you would leave a car space between you and the car in front of you. He responded with, "Oh, you can't do that here. You would be stupid." That pretty much summed it up for me. I would have to re-take driving class here just to learn how to navigate the streets. 

Eyen and I had a good time exploring some more malls today and eating, like always. He was the menu for today! :)

Today was my first time to try JOLLIBEE! For those of you who don't know, Jollibee is a Filipino fast food restaurant, but it is unique compared to what we have in the U.S.. If you go to McDonald's, you can get a hamburger, french fries, and even a fish sandwich or wrap. Same thing at Wendy's and Sonic. Now this isn't a bad thing. But at Jollibee, you can order Filipino style spaghetti, fried chicken, burgers, fries, desserts, etc. It is actually the biggest fast food corporation in the Philippines. 

I ordered the Filipino style spaghetti and a fried chicken breast. This is actually a combo at Jollibee! It comes with a drink and side of gravy as well. :)

I was so excited! haha. 

This is what Eyen had for lunch. Lasagna from Greenwich pizza. (Actually owned by Jollibee)

For all you sneakerheads out there. They still have the grapes and fire reds still on the shelves. They have them in mens, gs, and pre-school. 

This is a strawberry green tea. It wasn't very good, honestly. 

This is corn in a cup, Filipino style, from King Corn! It was sarap! (sa-rop, the filipino term for tastes good).

This is a lemon calamansi tea from Happy Lemon. It was goooooood! Calamansi is a Filipino lemon. 

You may not pass go, you may not collect $200 :)

Found some really good popcorn from Chef Tony. hehe. Country cheddar and creamy Parmesan. 

Eyen and I before merienda. 

Bon Chon chicken and rice, in honor of Tita! It's one of her favorites.

This is a mango sansrival yogurt from Bon Chon, and it was sooooo good! 

This was what we had for dinner tonight. This is Pancit ng tiga Lucban (pahnseet nahng tea-ga luke-bahn), but it's a different kind than what we had yesterday. There are all different kinds that you can have.  Every province (like a state) has a different version of Pancit. 

This is sinigang sa miso (sini-gahng saa me-so). It is sour soup with tuna and served with rice. 

This is embotido (em-bo-tea-toe). It is like a sausage link, but it is the Filipino version, deep fried!

This is Lola's drink, sago't gulaman (saa-goat gu-la-mahn). It's shaved ice with tapioca and gulaman, which is Filipino jello. 

 We are leaving for Baguio and Vigan tomorrow morning! Ill post all my pics whenever we return! Feel free to leave comments about what you guys would like to see more of!