MRT Holdout No More

"Ayoko ng mainit, ayoko ng masikip, ayoko ng mabaho, ayoko ng putik! [I don't like the heat, the crush of people, the bad smells, the mud!]" goes an oft-quoted line by actress Maricel Soriano in one of her movies. Now I've had my share of each, but I've gotten to that point in my life where I don't have to take them on all at the same time. And so when the MRT was finally fully operational in 2000, my friends and family were all agog about taking the train everywhere. I was the lone holdout. I was perfectly willing to take a cab everywhere, considering it takes me from point A to point B in just one ride. If I could pay to avoid stress (what Maricel said, plus vertiginous visions of steep grey staircases), I would. But cashflow always has its limits.

One Friday night this May I called a boutique owner about the availability of crafting supplies in her Greenbelt 2 shop. Having just experienced scouring eBay for items, and anxiously awaiting news from a UK seller, I wanted to see which items I could save delivery costs on. Lo and behold, the very items I wanted were much more affordable here than if I had ordered them from Singapore! We're talking made-in-Germany Addi Turbo circular knitting needles, which sells retail in the US for $15 a pair (here in Manila it's half that price; in Singapore, it's US$10, and I'd still have to add cost of shipping). If I could pay a reasonable price for a global product distributed by a local business that pays taxes and employs Filipinos and gives me instant gratification, I would do so in a heartbeat.

So the very next morning, wanting to put my cab fare budget into my craft supplies budget, I left for the Shangri-la MRT station on Shaw Blvd. Within an hour, I was able to: ride to Ayala Ave., buy my craft supplies, pay my cellphone bill, and ride back to Shaw. So many things accomplished in an hour! Amazing. My wallet was lighter by four P5 coins and two P1 coins (P11 each way) -- plus more I didn't count, for the Philippine National Red Cross (with its teen volunteers at the train stations always polite and smiling, how can I not share?). Yes it was a clean and safe ride, a bit warm despite the airconditioning, but this was a Philippine summer.

I could not imagine why I had held out from riding the MRT for so long. I just wasn't ready before this, I guess.

I took the Ayala to Shaw route again after a breakfast meeting in Glorietta last June 5. I especially liked the view over Guadalupe bridge, and wanted to take a picture or a video with my cellphone but was afraid people would think I was violating their privacy. I was in the women-only train, which I was glad of, but I suppose if I planned the timing of my trips, any train on the MRT would work equally well. Some bloggers I met the next evening at Juned's birthday dinner wanted to discuss the discriminatory quality of having a women-only train, but they did remember that wheelchair-bound passengers, pregnant women, women with young children and senior citizens were welcome to that train too.

Having lived abroad I took the ease of travelling by train or tube or tram or bus for granted. Blind passengers with seeing eye dogs, even paraplegics driving motorized wheelchairs, had enviable mobility. In countries where public transport leaves and arrives according to schedule, where my safety was relatively guaranteed, I didn't need to think twice. Given the current rise in oil prices, I'm pleased Filipinos have public transport options like the MRT and LRT. Of course, I never intend to take the train on a rush hour. Never. I long ago promised myself not to arrive anywhere in a bad-hair, short-tempered state if I could help it.

I hear there's a continuation of the MRT route planned, from SM City North Edsa towards Fairview and ending in San Jose del Monte (Bulacan), announced in the news early this year. But first I want to try going to Divisoria from Shaw (Shaw northward to Araneta Center interchange, switching lines to the LRT ending at Doroteo Jose). Yes, my motivations are craft-related, and it'll be an adventure.

In the meantime, I leave you with this nifty site ParaSaTabi.com, which has been giving out online public transportation routes within Metro Manila since 2005. Many thanks to UrbanRail.net for the above image.

Globe P5/15 mins Review

I really, really appreciate this Globe service offering. As a postpaid subscriber, I was seriously considering having my Nokia 6120c openlined before the one-year warranty was up, just so I could use a Smart sim for the P10/30 minutes internet service. Now I don't have to. Now I can hold off getting a usb 3G HSDPA modem, because I can always use the money elsewhere.

I first tried it last May 17th, while inside a building within Ortigas Center. I connected the 6120c to my ASUS eee 701 4G unit "Luthien", using the original Nokia data cable that came with the handset. The latest Nokia PC Suite was installed. For best results I made sure that my internet phone setting was at TIME instead of KB. [Important: To find out what your current setting is, text STATUS to 1111, and if you are not yet on TIME setting, text TIME to 1111 and wait for the confirmation before you avail of the service]. Using a variety of online internet speedtests on a workday afternoon, I got an average download speed of 420kbps. Not bad! On our home wifi network (PLDT Dsl), I get an average of 790-820kbps max around noon and and about 380-440kbps at peak hours when I share the bandwidth. The Mozilla Google homepage loaded in 3 seconds. Now I have no idea what speeds other people get on their connections, but this is plenty fast enough for me to do the things I like doing, whether for work or for enjoyment.

When trying to connect from a coffee shop in Megamall, I decided to test my theory that it makes more economic sense to buy just the coffee you like and connect using Globe, instead of being forced to upsize or buy a P100 card for an hour's worth of surfing. First of all, I believe in not abusing coffeeshop real estate and utilities because other people need their coffee and seats too. I'm nice that way. But when you consider that one hour's worth of surfing with Globe costs only P20, and the short latte you really like is P80... would it be absolutely necessary for you to spend the minimum purchase of P150? Of course, you need the 3G phone to begin with, but if you can afford both the laptop and the price of fancy coffee, I'm sure you already have one. Speedtest results at the coffeeshop : 216kbps.

I was in Baguio a couple of weeks ago for a work trip, and was billeted at the Baguio Country Club. I know there is open wifi there, but for some reason, the signal was not very strong where my room was. So I took out the trusty Nokia 6120 and its cable, and got a not-too-bad speed of 140kbps. Again, enough just for emails and YM messaging and smaller file downloads.

I'll make it a point to save screenshots of my speedtests from now on.

World Cinema Marathon

Written elsewhere in another blog I own, shortly after Holy Week:

For the last three weeks my stack of unviewed dvds has been growing. My interest in Oscar blockbusters has not been engaged much, except for Ian McEwan's "Atonement", but since the theme is tragic and depressing I have held off watching it. I'm a bit lucky to have found a couple of friendly sources for my preferred movies, namely foreign language films. The latter are so hard to find. I just never got the time till now (it being Holy Week), to watch them.

I like watching world cinema in their original language with English subtitles. That way I get the full expression of the acting. Dubbing in English disappoints me, especially when the voice does not match the character, or when poor dubbing results in too many lip movements and not enough syllables heard. And, of course, good translation is critical.

The other night I watched an old favorite, Laura Esquivel's Como Agua Para Chocolate ("Like Water For Chocolate" - 1992). I had read the book before the movie was released, a prime example of Latin magical realism (read: suspend your disbelief at the appropriate plot devices). I hadn't watched it for years. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, although I still agree with my original opinion that the actor playing Pedro plainly wasn't compelling enough for Tita to knit miles of bedspread for. Lots of mouth-watering cooking scenes, as family recipes are a recurrent theme in the book. A favorite scene is where the revolutionary captain goes after the middle sister running naked from the burning bathroom, plucking her from the ground and heaving her onto his horse in one amazing fluid motion. It's the kind of scene that makes people clap in the middle of the movie house because of its supercharged erotic audacity.

Last night I watched Zhang Yimou's award-winning Da hong deng long gao gao gua ("Raise The Red Lantern" - 1991) for the very first time. I am such a Gong Li fan, you see. She plays Songlian, a former university student married off at 19 to a rich man as his fourth wife (read: concubine) in 1920s China. Songlian, imprisoned in her gilded cage, finds herself thrust in the middle of household intrigues more dire than any Desperate Housewife can handle. Five stars for this! It deserves all its accolades -- for plot, direction, cinematography and acting. It affected me. And yes, it bears watching again and again.

To end the evening on a lighter, albeit no less critically acclaimed note, I watched Juzo Itami's Tampopo ("Dandelion" - 1985). Fondly called "the first Japanese noodle Western!", this is food porn at its best. Think Clint Eastwood and... er, Shirley MacLaine... only in Japanese. This is a sensual feast of a comedy where a cowboy hat-wearing truck driver helps a widowed single mother open a successful ramen house... together with his cute young sidekick, an ancient noodle sensei, a rich man's chauffeur, and a thuggish building contractor! Favorite scene #1: Homeless gourmet tells Goro and Tampopo about the fine nuances of flavor between the dregs of three bottles of French wine he scavenged from the rubbish bin of a restaurant. I wish I knew the exact dialogue, but he talked like a professional wine taster! It was dead funny! Favorite scene #2: Well-dressed Humphrey Bogart-ish gangster (who is obsessed with food and cinema) and his girl have sex AND food. This theme certainly came out an entire year before 9 1/2 Weeks and for me was a better, more successful treatment. Check out the part where they kiss, passing a raw egg yolk from mouth to mouth, whereupon the girl is overcome with desire and goes limp. It's a very romantic side story where every side story is about food, its preparation and its appreciation. But don't forget it's a comedy! A very Japanese one. I actually got hungry watching everyone slurp ramen (which occurs with delicious frequency in this film).

In the meantime I am trying to find or download Ang Lee's Yin shi nan nu ("Eat Drink Man Woman" - 1994).

Yes, I must admit, a lot of the foreign language films I watch seem to feature love, sex, food and death. All good reasons for watching.