From a Davao Diary
There I was one pleasant morning on a long sweaty walk that starts at the Davao City Hall and leads to the unimposing South Ilustre Mall downtown: moving, maybe lost, but moving. Even though according to the locals I actually came close to the Chinatown of the largest city in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, it was a stretch that struck me as more Western than Oriental: diners and billboards; no teahouses and no lanterns.
No matter. Why exchange sixty minutes of sun and solitude for anything else? The weather was agreeable, and I was enjoying being a traveller, as opposed to being “just a domestic tourist”. Only briefly did I stop: upon a minor assault of hunger I breakfasted at a McDonald’s at one corner of an intersection. I forgot for one reason or another to take mental note of the streets’ names, a habit I had acquired in Manila. It was something else which I let guide me: the kites being flown above –looking like seven sperm cells in the clear blue sky– or something simpler perhaps, and vaguer, such as an impulsive fearlessness of the unknown. Whatever it is, if the guide disappointed, I still would’ve moved, just moved, in what R.L. Stevenson had once expressed as “the great affair.”
See, I wasn’t intent on arriving anywhere specific. I had the morning and early afternoon to myself, and was thus half-witted enough to prowl downtown Davao –a land of which I still knew very little, except for its being rashly heralded as “the most livable city in Asia”– in an unaware sort of way.
Don’t get me wrong: there were plenty of reminders that this was the Philippines still, where one was served Coke seconds after ordering Sprite. “But I ordered Sprite,” I mumbled to the teenage girl in a French fries hat. She didn’t hear me. I walked away with a drink I didn’t want and a McMuffin sandwich I didn’t particularly care for.
Looking out through the glass window I observed the absence of Ped Xing signs. The ones motorists in Manila ignored to the dismay of commuters? Where were those yellow signs? This was as unusual to me as the occurrence of here seeing a smooth sunburnt road, one whose noiselessness was broken only by the quick hello-goodbye of a friendly security guard. He greeted the customers. The customers, save for me, greeted him back.
Right across from McDonald’s there stood a drab and advertisement-plastered commercial plaza called Times Square, and I was reminded of New York City. Pigeons dove and foraged for what little biodegradable litter there was, and I fantasized about Venice. A bike with a multicoloured umbrella rolled past and I thought of a busy district in Thailand. You see, one needs only to use his imagination and he’d be all over the world.
I resumed my journey on foot and thought it strange that the people walked ever so slowly. (I almost cursed a nursing student for listening to her iPod instead of letting me pass.) Here, rarely did one pedestrian sidestep another. Have they no urgent jobs they must rush off to? No game to catch? Where are the moving cars, and if no one can answer that, what are these stoplights for? These were inappropriately Manila questions, mind, but I was not to be blamed for being presented this world of sterile, style-cramping newness.
This means, of course, that I thought of home oftener than I had expected, or wanted to. I heart-shatteringly pined for my second-hand Penguin Classics (there aren’t, so far as I can tell, many decent bookstores in Davao) and my guitar. I actually missed the people; and the dirt; the traffic; the contemptuous stares; Manila’s notorious unrest. I found that all these were dear to me; being far away, I thought I would become none the more colourful, or interesting, or – what? Street-wise? Hardened? Davao felt safe alright, as alleged, as though it kept everyone on an even keel.
Seeing Chinatown might have changed this. I wonder now if it looks like Manila’s infamous Binondo. I wonder if it’s a place just as fresh and just as rotten: alive with unkempt Chinese temples, marble dragons, DVD pirates, sidewalk stalls selling unlabeled bottles of herbal medicine, and wet streets permeated by the blatant smell of soy sauce and sewage. I missed it while I was there. But I’ll keep on moving, and in moving I might find what I’m looking for.
Greetings Migs,
There is a hint of nostalgia in this piece, which I share. Probably because it is such a luxury to be a tourist in one’s backyard… It seems like you just had such a lovely opportunity to be one; albeit not your immediate backyard (of the Manila suburbs) but still close enough to qualify.
“…the kites being flown above –looking like seven sperm cells in the clear blue sky– ”
Who else but you can turn kites into sperm cells? LOL. What a clever and colorful play on one’s imagination! Although I must say, if only the real “s” cells would travel heaven-ward, the Philippines would not be a teeming sweating mass of 83-million strong… (though that’s perhaps for another post).
And this:
“See, I wasn’t intent on arriving anywhere specific…”
This summarizes the essence of this piece. I love the way you said this. Reminds of T.S. Eliot’s lines:
“We shall never cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.”
Keep on writing, from the Filipino heart and mind.
Regards,
-a Filipina reader
Hi Migs - I enjoyed your article… just one question, though…. when did Mindanao become a “northern island of the Philippines?”
Hi Migs,
I always enjoy your writing. You’re refreshingly different, poetic and brave. Never mind a small flaw if any ever. Nobody is perfect but you’re next to perfect in my world.
Keep on ‘being different’ brother. You’re a gifted writer.
Migs
Like Ecstasy says, another lyrical and evocative piece of writing, i have done similar walks myself and i can see you there. You are right, bookstores here in davao are very poor, but also McD’s Migs now come on you could have done better for yourself there….keep it up, enjoy these words very much
Ah McDonald’s. The thrill is in discovering the extraordinary out of the ordinary.
I, myself, have not set foot in a McDonalds in a loonnngg time. I’ve forgotten what they have on the menu. Now, that’s very unusual considering that McDonald’s is just so much a part of the landscape, almost anywhere on the globe.
The other weekend, out of seeking an extraordinary experience (since I have not been to one in such a long time), a friend and I “treated” ourselves to a McDonald’s outing.
What a pleasant surprise to find that they now sell salads with a low-cal low-fat dressing! This must have been an offshoot of that less-than-flattering movie, “Super Size Me”
And then of course, after a healthy salad, bad me succumb to a chocolate shake!
Overall, it was a good experience, it brought me back to my younger years of “dining deprivation” when fine dining was royally out of the question for the most part. The good part about remembering those years is realizing that nothing can stand in the way of our dreams. Only our minds and our imagination will set us back.
Now, since fine dining has become the norm, McDonald’s is the extraordinary that I’ve just rediscovered. What a thrill!!
Again, so reminiscent of the lines… “to arrive at where we started and know it for the first time…”
Nostalgic me,
-a Filipina reader
And by the way, don’t lament the lack of good bookstores there.
If you’ve got a good connection, go online. You can read for free (or even download free ebooks) from this site:
http://www.bartleby.com/
It’s got the finest collection of classic and contemporary literature.
I’ve been using the site for years. Happy Reading.
Hi Ecstasy: First of all, thank you for sharing T.S. Eliot’s lines. I do believe in the full circle arrangement of things, and in exploring as much of one’s own backyard as possible. And thank you too for the link to Bartleby. I have had the page bookmarked; I am sure I’ll save a lot of money by downloading all these really nice free e-books. I’m drooling!
Hi Bob: Ha! I’ve changed it already; sorry about that. You’ll understand, of course, why I am often distracted here in Davao.
Hi Ted: I am touched by your kind words. Thank you very much. Readers like you keep me going, and inspire me to keep on with my craft, no matter how “blocked” I sometimes am.
Hi Rick: I am sorry about McD’s. Maybe next time I should stop by the nice little eatery at the corner of the street where you live? It was nice to meet you again last week. I promise to learn how to cook casserole.
No problem, Migs! I was just teasing you!
Hi Migs, I agree with Ted , you are a gifted writer, keep on your writing, I always enjoy your refreshing stories even though seldom place my comment. I am also looking for something or somwhere in the Philippines, but the stange thing is that the more I am travelling around the more confused I am.
Hi Migs
The comment on the walking speed really made me laugh, I have never seen anything like it. I have been watching and have now got the equation, I think. 4 steps to one average size floor tile. I am a manic speed shopper. I hate being in a supermarket. And can never get over how slowly people move. (OK and the fact that the trollies are designed to move diagonally and once stopped cant be started again). At first I thought perhaps it was the heat and humidity, but Manila is certainly faster.
And agree with all the comments above, enjoy the way you see things and write.
Markus, #9,
Keep on looking. You will know it in your heart when you have “arrived” — and then you will have found what you’re looking for. Trust your instincts.
Isn’t our life’s journey so wonderful even with the seeming confusion? For confusion could mean one’s cupboard is so full of choices. What a dream!
7107 islands and millions of welcoming smiles… It could be your Walden waiting to be discovered.
-Filipina reader
Hi Markus: That’s the same case with me! I don’t know what I’m looking for, I don’t know where my final destination will be, but I guess Ecstasy is right in that journeying is the most important thing.
Hi Carolynn: Davao is so slow! McDonald’s frustrates me because I am used to having my value meal served in less than a minute. Ha! Which is not to say I don’t like the laid-back pace of Philippine provincial cities.