2008 Manila International Auto Show

The Manila International Auto Show at the World Trade Center at Pasay City (Philippines) is an annual thing.

This year, I got 7 complementary (as in free) tickets from Milette, which I in turn gave to my brother.  He gave 5 to a fellow doctor who went to the show with his wife and in-laws.  I told him to give the ticket to another friend, but the person he knows who also likes cars has a booth in the show and does not need a ticket.  That's why I was back in the Motor Show April 6, mostly taking pictures of him with the sexy girls the organizers placed beside the cars.  I brought my own camera this time, and since he borrowed my 2GB memory stick that I had to make do with the 256MB stick that originally came with my camera,  I insisted on using his camera rather than mine whenever he requests me to take a picture of him with a car or one of the sexy girls (he got the 2GB memory).

I could continue onto showing pictures of cars at this point ... but I'd rather start with what I call "Fun" photos:

Mag wheels of different colors:


Boys like big trucks with loud horns:


Wonder if he knows Wall-E, or maybe C-3PO:
 

This car on display was so dusty, one could write on the hood:
 

One booth placed two gun-toting mannequins in front of the custom-armored vehicle it was selling.  Making funny poses beside them was something my brother couldn't resist:
   

My brother's friend owns one of these shelves showcasing scale models of cars:
 

 

Barbie must be jealous of this collection:

 

BMW wants to start them young.  They make toy cars too:
 

And now, for the rest of the pictures, click any of the albums below to see more pictures:

The solar car put together by De La Salle students was in the exhibit:


Sinag Solar Car 2007 

There are more vintage cars this year.  The Lamborghini from last year was nowhere in sight.

Cars
 

Jeeps


Bikes & Scooters


Below is a video I patched together from the pictures I took ... it took me a long time to find a good version of Zoom Zoom from the internet, as well as find music used for the Ford Focus and BMW advertisements: 
 

Now, some things make you want to scratch your head ...

Selling water dispensers in a motor show is stretching it:
 

Maybe one could place a water dispenser in a vehicle and use it, but the booth below is selling products that I think one could only use inside a home trailer:
     

My brother probably has a picture of every "show" girl in the place, plus he took a video of a group of them dancing to Britney Spear's "Gimme More".  I wonder if he has posted them on the net?

Greenbelt 5

Connected to Greenbelt 3 via an overpass/walkway is Greenbelt 5. The building itself is finished but the partitions inside separating shops are not. Only a handful (even less) of restaurants are actually open - and I think it's just a soft opening for most of them.

Tested my new phone's camera inside:









This is the entrance from the garden that connects Greenbelt 3 and 5:







As you can see above, I was just familiarizing myself with the camera. I was wondering why the pictures weren't clear. Jon and I were laughing hard when I realized I hadn't peeled off the plastic cover on the camera!

Passing by the Greenbelt Chapel where a mass was ongoing, I realized that there are ducks living by the pond!:


Nice ... but a bit of a distraction to church-goers:


Greenbelt 3 is already decked for Christmas:

SM Mall of Asia and the 2nd World Pyrolympics

January 5, Friday

January 5 marked the first day of the 2nd World Pyrolympics. The event was originally scheduled for December 2006 as the first pyrolympics was December 2005. At least the event pushed through despite a month's delay.

A lot of restaurants facing the bay took advantage and closed off the balcony to non-paying people. It meant you have to eat at a restaurant to get to the balcony and see the show.

Seeing a long line of people, we asked around and found out that if one buys a minimum of PHP100, the guards will allow you to watch the fireworks on the bridge going to the manila bay grounds. Given the number of people lining up, I didn't think we'll get a good place to see the show.

Jon and I went to the ground floor near the parked cars where we had a good view of the fireworks nonetheless.

Australia is the first of two entries for the night. Below is a part of their display:


We ate at Bizu, the only decent restaurant open past 9PM.

Roamed around the mall taking pictures of the Christmas decors that will soon be taken down:


One of the several Tall plastic Christmas trees. At daytime, the skylight provides ample light.


The ceiling above the olympic sized ice skating rink.


The carousel is part of the mall all year long, but it looks more festive with the added Christmas decorations.

Had some coffee at Bo's Cafe and realized that once you buy coffee there, you get access to one of those closed off areas that give a view of the bay.

We didn't plan to watch for Poland's entry because it was getting late. However, as we were waiting for a bus, the show started. Everyone waiting for buses or jeepneys turned around to watch whatever is visible of the display.

The fireworks as seen from the entrance of SM Mall of Asia:


July 13, Saturday

As July 13 was the last day of the 2nd World Pyrolympics, Sam insisted that we stay to watch.

This time, it was not enough to eat in the restaurants located near the bay to be able to stay there. One must avail of their special pyromlympics packages ... where you pay a big amount to get seated at the balcony overlooking the bay. Once you've paid, you can stay there as long as you want (till closing time anyway) and some restaurants even have "eat all you can" packages. We found the prices really high ... and some of the restaurants, like Italianni's, are so far from the actual fireworks venue, that I wonder if I'm going to see much of the fireworks at all.

We went to the grounds and decided we'll just watch the fireworks from the parking lot. As we were too early, we decided to eat first. Many of the restaurants are full, and when I saw empty corner seats on the mezannine of Chaikofi Cafe, I went in. Loved that corner ... it's a good place to hang out.


We had to rush out when the entry for China started. After China came the exhibition of the host country, Philippines. Below is part of the Philippines' fireworks display.


As many people went to the mall just to catch the last day, hundreds thronged out towards EDSA after the competition. It was like being part of a parade. There was even a group of bikers with loud music to keep things lively. It was impossible to get a ride home unless you want to stand in the bus the whole trip. Since we expect we'd be standing on the street a long time just to get a decent ride, I suggested that we might as well hang around at the Lobby Lounge of Heritage Hotel till after midnight, when we're sure we can get seats on the bus ride home.

MV Doulos in Manila

I became aware of MV Doulos when our Treasury Marketing people went there for a client call.


I was told that they have a bookstore on board and some books are on sale.

I invited Sam and Jon to visit the ship with me yesterday morning.

MV Doulos was at the Manila Pier and the taxi could only go as far as the gates. We had to walk a good distance to get to the ship. There is a cheap entrance fee to be able to get onboard. Being a Saturday, lots of people have also decided to visit the ship ... so it was already crowded inside.

Going up the ship:


Only one floor of the ship is open to visitors, and it is the same floor where the bookstore is. Browsed around and there isn't much to select from. There are the reference books like dictionaries and travel guides, magazines, children's books, and spiritual books. On the books for sale bins, there are some novels, but nothing I fancied getting in line for to buy ... there were many people at the cashier.


If I was looking for a good book deal, going there was a disappointment.

We decided to just take pictures so as not to waste the entrance fee we paid.

The upper deck:


Doulos is owned and operated by GBA = Gute Bücher für Alle (Good Books for All). GBA is a charitable trust, registered in Germany:


The exit ramp:

Food in Chinatown

Sam and I was in Binondo this morning. We met at SM Manila, which is near Lawton. Had lunch in a Taiwanese restaurant that sounds like Yin Foo something. Her classmate Judith once brought her there and so she wanted to eat there again. She did most of the ordering, the only thing I had input in was the Yang Chow rice.

We had black chicken soup for starters and the chicken was really black - I learned that the skin of the local variety of chicken turns black when cooked. The soup's supposed to have medicinal properties much better than ordinary chicken soup (haven't heard of chicken soup's effect? why else would the spiritual books be called chicken soup for the soul?).

Then we had oyster omelette. I found it funny that the last time I ate out, I was also eating oysters. I don't know what you call the other dish, but it was basically "litid". It tasted good.

Sam being Sam, she ate slow because she likes to talk a lot while eating, I had to switch to chopsticks so that I won't finish ahead of her... I mean, you get more in your mouth using a spoon versus using chopsticks, right?

As we left the restaurant, we passed by some fruit vendors. We saw something that looked like a cross between an apple and a peach but is smaller than both. I asked the guy what fruit it was, I think he said macam. Funny thing is, when I asked what it tasted like, he told me he didn't know. I chided him for that and asked him how could he persuade others to buy that fruit?

Afterwards we went to Polland. I bought one Ma Chang and out of curiousity bought one pack Ube/langka hopia. Next stop was Bee Tin grocery. I bought some dried fruits (mandarin peels and champoy), and chorizo Macau, dried Tapa strips (sweet and chewy), and Haw flakes. I was curious at the liver chorizo but the salesperson (she must be hired help, I think if I asked the Chinese owners, I would have gotten an answer) didn't know what dish I could put that one in so I didn't buy. At Salazar street, we went into Salazar bakery and I bought some Mongo and Baboy hopia, plus the Lotus one which has salted egg inside. I had us detour to Eng Bee Tin Deli (there are many outlets of Bee Tin in China Town) to buy Ma Chang and different flavors of hopia which is supposed to be the best kind compared to Holland, Polland and Salazar.

It was around 2pm when we finished and we felt the hot sun.

Intramuros, Binondo, and CCP Complex

The revival of Intramuros and Roxas Blvd as a destination for people looking for a nightlife is part of Mayor Atienza's beautification process. Jon, being a med student, complains that his focus is entirely on that aspect that he has neglected health services. Encouraged by Atienza's fascination with raising pride in the history of glorious Manila, the Filipino-Chinese community would not be left behind... the Chinese community in Manila existed as far back or maybe even farther than the Spanish era.

This afternoon, the first Inter-school Lion Dance Competition was held at Ongpin Street Binondo. There were ten groups competing from around 6 or 8 Chinese schools. Some schools sent two teams. It turns out that there are two variations to the Lion Dance ... one is "Lion waking in a cave" and the other is "Lion crossing a bridge". The schools who sent in two teams showed both.

The competition was supposed to start 4pm, but it begun much later - probably because the organizers waited for the politicians to arrive. Jon and I watched the first five teams and the exhibition by the fire volunteers of Binondo. We met Victor who passed by Ongpin on the way to his in-laws' place. Victor is half Chinese and rents a room in Binondo.



It was past seven when we left Ongpin street. We passed by Eng Bee Tin to buy some hopia, machang, peanuts, sweet tapa, and ofcourse the food associated with Chinese New Year - Tikoy! We wanted to eat in a Chinese restaurant but didn't know which one was good or what food to order. While we were figuring out where to exit from Soler Street, I met an old college friend, Roanna Ong. Well, she was Ong when we were studying, I don't know her married name now. Roanna was walking with an older woman and seemed to be in a hurry so we just exchanged his... I never got far to asking how the hell do we get out of Chinatown.

We finally found our way out when we saw some jeepneys. Jon and I ate dinner at Max's Restaurant in Harrison Plaza.

Afterwards, we trekked over to the CCP to view the Amazing World of Lights and Lanterns ... which I've seen but Jon hasn't. We were lucky to catch part of the show featuring Chinese acrobats.




A couple of the lanterns:


One of the dioramas:


After seeing all ten lanterns, we crossed over to the next block to Star City.

I haven't been there since I was in college and since then, they've added new rides, a theater, and a second floor. Most of the rides that used to be in open air are now under a roof. The layout's crazy that it seems like you're walking through a glass maze that one would put a pet mouse in. Going through loads of people in a maze like layout means an eventual head ache.



Around 11pm, Jon and I left and passed by Starbucks before heading home. We were surprised to find out Papa did not eat dinner because he was waiting for us to arrive with his machang!