The things we see around make life interesting! Here are more "sights" and "signs" I saw lately!
I was having dinner with some colleagues at Café Lucia last night, when I glanced at this again...
That is the Tacloban Astrodome, as if floating on the placid waters of Cancabato Bay. Mesmerizing!
Then today, while passing along the maze of roads in V&G Tacloban, I said "wrong spelling wrong"!
After laughing, my driver said it might just be how people in V&G spell that name. Wheh?! I insist it is a "wrong spelling wrong", as the streets around it are named San Francisco, Russia, Israel, Japan, Texas, Saudi Arabia, Nazareth, Minnesota, etc. They surely meant Riyadh. Nakalimutan lang yung "H" hahaha!
Then I saw the entrance road to Bethel International School - one school for the 'alta sociedad' kids!
I said "Church or
Chapel International School"? My driver didn't answer, but I knew he could be saying "pati ba naman yan pakiki-alaman"? Eh what can I do, that's what I know as the meaning of Bethel. Da!
Eto pa... as if to make the day even more interestingly hilarious... we passed by this service shop!
They do "car waxing" and "car washing". So, to make it shorter, they do "carwaxshing"! Na unxsha ni oi!
Still today, kanina, on my way to the airport, I saw these kids by the DZR Airport runway fence...
I was all in awe. What were they doing there at high noon? Plane spotting lang? As in photo-op lang?
Grabe na yan ah. Buwis-buhay tiis-ganda na yata, masilayan lang ang airplane with bright natural light! I won't judge them, as I may have done the same thing, when I was their age. Walang basagan ng trip!
Then we reached the airport, with an entrance driveway na hindi na entrance (red arrow)...
The authorities made that portion beside the exhaust fans, some kind of a permanent extension yata, as sitting area for passengers not entering the check-in area yet, and/or their well-wishers. Paalaman!
Passengers in vehicles now enter via the green arrow (which was part of the parking area). What sign of our modern times is that? That this little old but busy airport is getting more and more congested? Kelan pa ba kasi tatapusin yan? Giniba na ni Yolanda nag-misa na si Santo Papa sa future tarmac nya!
Anyway.., so my flight went, I landed uneventfully in Mactan, and I took the MyBus going to the city.
Not yet many locals know about this bus, or others know but haven't yet tried. All I can say is that, it is comfy, safe and secure than taking cabs. Look at my fellow passengers, some of them are foreigners!
Look, at 3PM, many seats were vacant. But I hope soon many people will ride this conveyance.
I just learned, you can even connect at SM City to another such bus going to Talisay. That's cheaper!
Then the bus climbed the Marcelo Fernan Bridge (aka Mactan-Mandaue Bridge 2) amid heavy traffic.
Nice and wonderful view, since all vehicles were moving slow due to traffic congestion. See? If I were on a taxi (whether white or yellow), papatak nang papatak si metro. Sa bagal ng usad, mapapamahal!
Hey, for those unfamiliar about the coastline, that upper area near the horizon is Cebu Yacht Club. The sosyalin boats of the sosyalin folks of Cebu are parked there - most of them. While those red roofs on foreground (near the bridge) are mostly informal settlers of Brgy. Pusok, Lapu-lapu City. Sign of a city?
Oh, something I saw made me smile. Here's the same photo as above but I highlighted something...
I'm not sure if it's "binuang ra" or a real hangout. Yet, it made me smile just the same! Now, if it's a real chillax place or something, unsa lagi na? Cafe? Motel? Bar? Resto? Intriguingly funnily makabuang yo!
Okay, still on the bridge (vehicle traffic was a crawl), this thing was running beside MyBus...
I wanted to know what he was carrying and what for. But the bus was/is airtight closed, and there are no bus conductors on MyBus. So there was no one to educate me! That scene made feel like I was in India! But I was just crossing from Mactan to Mandaue! Sign of progress? Are we gonna be like India?
Gosh 'no? Are these signs of our recent times?
Then we finally crossed the bridge and was in Mandaue proper when I saw this insightful signage.
I was amused and smiled at the word "manikin" which I thought was just their style of writing the word as we Pinoys do. But when I checked online, 'manikin' is a real English word, the same as 'mannequin'!
Imagine that? Naka-graduate na ako ng college, nagtrabaho for decades, now even writing stories, yet it was only on this very day that I learned, "mannequin" may also be spelled "manikin", even "mannikin".
As in! Ah well, travel is education!
The MyBus passes by what has been the Cebu International Convention Center of a few years ago.
Now that whole compound - buildings and grounds - is a well gated and secured squatters area. Yeah, me ganun! You of course know the history on that one, right? Ayaw ni Tomas kasi gawa ni Gwen, they were embroiled in so many kaso dito kaso doon, tapos hinakot ni Tomas ang mga iskwater at pinatira dyan, nag-cooperate syempre si Junjun, their only objective was to shame Gwen, a political opponent!
So sino kahiya-hiya? Silang lahat
!
In fact, if we will be technical about it, they claimed that the edifice was poorly constructed, that it was dangerous to humans and so on, eh ba't pinatirhan ng tao? Humans din ang iskwater diba? Tarung oi
!
Then we passed by Park Mall, some passengers got off, and then we passed by this...
And this...
With Cebu Doctor's University & Hospital already rooted long ago a block behind these two it indicates this reclamation area of yesteryears will soon be (if not yet already) the "Hospital Belt" of Metro Cebu!
Two turns more (kanan at kaliwa lang naman, di ba?) and we reached the penultimate stop of MyBus!
They have trips to SM Seaside, Talisay City and Minglanilla also from this place. Signs of progress!
Oh well, the many things I saw in just two days. Good and bad signs of our times!
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