We left prepared to leave home almost immediately after the kids went to school for their exams. Commuted by jeep to Katipunan and took the LRT from there to Recto. Judging by the number of people at Katipunan station and comparing that with the volume of passengers getting on and off the train up to Recto, I can say with all certainty that the majority of the passengers came from Marikina (or thereabouts) and went to Divisoria. It was not a very crowded train, but the crowding really started when we tried to get a ride at the Recto Station.
Maybe within the whole of the City of Manila, this strip of commercial district saw the most changes during the last year or two. Avenida (Rizal Avenue) from Recto to the Isetann, has been closed and made into a promenade. Which is an improvement of the area. Makes the area a whole lot cleaner. Jeep plying Avenida have been rerouted. The old Odeon theater has been demolished to give way to a new building (mall) also called Odeon. The LRT train station stands in the middle of Recto with walkways, currently still closed, affording pedestrian crossing. There is also a walkway from the Recto LRT station to the Doroteo Jose LRT I station. This on top of the finishing touches to the Recto LRT station. All in all a bustle of activity.
From the Recto LRT station, everything turned normal. The traffic was normal, the drivers were normal. The bustle was normal. In short, we got off just short of the Tutuban Mall. Unlike before, however, we did not head for Tutuban Mall, instead we went to one of the other buildings in the area where the clothes were sold. Cheap. We needed to buy several children's clothes. After a relatively early lunch at 11:00am, we went to Tutuban Mall in search of more goods. I consider ourselves lucky as we finished our shopping around 2:30 in the afternoon.
Parched, drenched and perspiring, we hastily beat a retreat with our mission accomplished.
- = 0 = -
A funny thing we saw while at the Tutuban Mall.
There were several Mulawin items for sale. This has been ongoing since the television show became a hit. Everything from T-shirts, calendars, posters and masks. Well, there was a guy standing in the middle of the walkway in Tutuban Mall selling Mulawin masks. And he was not just wearing a mask, he was also wearing Mulawin wings. Full-size wings. Considering everything, the masks are impressive because these are hand-made from native chicken feathers. The wings were also hand made, and the only reason they did not look impressive enough was because they did not enough texture or body. These were just a pair of cardboard with feathers. Large wings for sure. But just lacking in body.
Well, that just makes my day off fun. In a way.
--andoy
19 December 2004
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