Saturday, December 10, 2005
On A Highway To Hell

Today was something of a bizarre adventure.

So Hayan and I meet up at 12 to go to Gateway. Neither of us knew how to get there via car, although she vaguely remembered the route she took last time she went there. We got by all right, managing to find our way there without incident with the help of the signs. When we got there, we wandered around for a while before finally picking a place to eat. We ended up picking Cibo, which incidentally has the best iced tea ever. Seriously. Well one of the best iced teas ever. You could really tell it was tea (with ice, of course, and cream, I think). Yum. Anyway, so after that we puttered around some more, then finally went off to watch Chicken Little. Next we went off to meet Santa at Hayan’s insistence. It was amusing really, she was so child-like about it in an endearing sort of way. And Santa was adorkable too. You could easily tell he was Caucasian, he was so… well, jolly. And his face was red. Hayan and I were debating whether to have our mugs taken with him, and in the end, our nerviness won out. Um, yeah, we SO count as children. Yar. Sad, innit? But it was muchly amusing. Now I can tell anyone who’ll listen that Santa was our pimp. Yeah.
… That sounds wrong. I take it back. :P

By the by, I also found out that we have to pay to use Gateway’s bathrooms now. Ten bucks. So here I was expecting a bathroom of luxurious proportions. Guess again. It was a normal bathroom, not disgusting, not lavish. I believe the ten was for the mouthwash, lotion, alcohol and powder that were available for public use. Like I’d want to share toiletries with random bathroom goers. Jeezas, that’s how diseases are contracted… bloody. I was thinking of abusing the products in question, you know, to get my ten pesos worth, but some things just aren’t worth it. Now, in my opinion, unless a bathroom doesn’t have gold plated toilet seats, diamond encrusted faucets and a sofa, it’s absolutely criminal to charge admission. Dammit. It’s just ridiculous.

Mrrr.

Okay. Fast forward to the way home. I could’ve gone home via Mrt then, but since Hayan didn’t know her way back, I opted to go with her to Katipunan and get a ride from there instead. This is where we ran into a “spot” of trouble. Now Hayan had actually bought a map before we left, and I had texted my dad asking for directions. A few wrong turns in Araneta Center later, we asked for directions and allowed handy dandy map to guide us on our way. We eventually stopped for gas and asked for more directions. It was actually very nice, what happened next. A lot of the Petron crew was kind enough to help us out (though I suspect that there were a lot of them trying to help each other out because Hayan was asking, and Korean that she was, couldn’t speak tagalog). But they were kind, even wishing us ‘God bless’ as we left. That must’ve looked especially funny - lost Korean girl with me on the other side attempting to make sense of a hefty map of Manila. Hraah. We finally get on the right track and on Aurora Blvd. After a while we spotted the familiar sight of the Katipunan LRT station. You’d think our happy little road trip would’ve ended there, but alas, fate wasn’t exactly smiling on us. So there we were congratulating ourselves for finding our way back, we were turning left to head for Ateneo but we suddenly realize that any way to get there is totally blocked off by the abhorrent MMDA fences. Either we missed our turn because of the atrociously heavy traffic, or there was no turn. We ended up in Marcos Highway. At first we were all, ‘Oh hell, we’ll just look for the next U-turn slot.’ And we keep driving. And driving. And driving. And driving. After a while we were starting to get apprehensive, it was hellafucking long way. There was even a river at some point. Me thinking aloud, “Hayan. You do realize we may very well be on our way to Bulacan or Baguio for all we know…”
At that point we were both starting to panic - it was a long drive, the traffic was bad, the rain wasn’t relenting and it was starting to get dark. And we were lost. Not even good old Map was helping. It was funny and horrifying at the same time. A frickin road trip adventure. Although we unanimously agreed that getting lost was only enjoyable if there was daylight. Eventually, we are given a break and find a U-turn slot. We drive drive drive some more and see road signs. Ateneo was just a right turn away. We take a right turn. Celebrate and hoot like lunatics. As we go on we suddenly start to realize that it looks nothing at all like Katipunan. More badgering of ze passers-by. A U-turn, a bit more driving later, we finally find ourselves in the REAL Katipunan. More hooting in delight, only this time we’re in familiar territory.

Hayan drops me off at the place where I get my ride. Traffic still bad. Line of fxes to the last ride home uber long. In desperation I decide to take a cab. Competition was fierce, the taxis scarce. I gave up and shuffled back to the line. After a mind numbing wait with kind line people I finally get on a ride home. Two hours from Katipunan. And to think we’d left Gateway at around 4.30. I reached my lair at 8.

Sheesh. But strangely enough, I’m still feeling dapper. Mwahahaha. All in all, twas an eventful day.
It would have been a lot simpler had we commuted. But what would be the freaky fun in that?
Thus spake Irish || 10:49 PM || 2 comments