The girls are painfully shy.......until you get to know them!
Contrary to what you may have heard, compared to a major city in the USA, Manila and the Philippines in general is a very safe place. Even at night! Rarely is ANYONE attacked or robbed. It does happen, but usually to someone who is drunk and being loud or obnoxious.
I have played pool now in dozens of little neighborhood poolrooms (they are virtually on every block) and have never had a problem. Granted I have played for relatively small stakes (anywhere from 50p to 1,000p a game), but have always had fun and made friends everywhere I went. In Pasay, they call me the "billiard guy", because I have been seen so frequently in the many poolrooms that dot that area. By the way, you can get action in nearly any pool hall. Usually with the best local players. So much like the USA of the 60's and 70's.
Most of the time I play Rotation, the native game here. What a great game it is too, so much creativity and shot making (bank shots!) required to play well. I have a game tonight for 500p a game. They will be betting 1000's on the side, with some of the locals betting on me. Last time with this guy I broke even. He's almost my age, another senior citizen. :wink:
It's true there is poverty all around you here, with people sleeping outdoors everywhere you look. I suspect there are at least 500,000 homeless in Manila with another million near homeless. Some of their "homes" are no more then cardboard boxes joined together. I see kids playing unsupervised every day, on sidewalks and in small parks. And I mean young kids, like 2, 3, 4 and 5 years old. Where are the parents I ask? The mother is gone all day I'm told and the father has disappeared. The kids play among themselves all day and beg for money. And NO ONE bothers them. Believe it or not they are totally safe. I found this hard to believe at first but it's true. Any adults that are in the area keep an eye on the kids if any of them get hurt. They pretty much leave them alone unless they are needed.
We all know that in the USA, no child is left unsupervised, particularly in a public area. That's because we have so many more perverts and people that would take advantage of such a situation. When I inquired about such people here, no one really understands. People like that just don't seem to exist here. That kind of thing is not a problem they are familiar with - child molesting and such.
What you must look out for is the taxi drivers without metered cabs, trike drivers who won't quote you a price. They prey on foreigners, who are unfamiliar with the territory. I rode in a trike a short ride the other day, normally a 30-40p fare. I made the mistake of not asking beforehand and the young kid asked me for 150p. I told him the fare was worth no more than 40p and that was all I would give him. He took a belligerent stance and demanded 150p again. I asked him if he thought it was okay to rob all foreigners. I told to please call the police ('pulis' here). He looked at me funny and then he apologized, saying 40p was now okay. He didn't want any trouble because he could lose his license.
On every corner you will be accosted by street peddlers selling everything from Viagra, to fake Rolexes to counterfeit sliver dollars. I just wave them off and keep walking. They may follow you for a bit, but then they will drop off your tail. Goes with the territory, no big deal. More later, gotta go see my little Jalo now.
