Doing it My Way at Independence Day (Part 2)

After my wasted minutes at Quirino Grandstand, I walked along Roxas Boulevard just for experiences’ sake. I got by the Children’s Museum, the United States Embassy, and passed by a restaurant called Emerald Garden whose store display you’d mistake for a pet shop because of the animate creatures wringling by the window still. Somethimes I think displaying them to be ogled at by children patrons is very unthoughtful to the tilapias and hipons as they go swimming from the aquarium to being served with a mouthful of garnish in your plates, like publicly executed prisoners in Luneta. The universe can be so harsh.

I continued walking mindlessly along the boulevard until I passed by a street vendor who sells beef mami along Padre Faura. An interesting inclusion in their menu is a dish called Mami-rice. It’s basically mami, mixed/mashed with boiled rice. Ingenious, but wouldn’t seem to suit my palate. The tricycle driver beside me seemed to enjoy it. Who am I to break their trip? (Basagin ang trip)

Someone recently told me that the places who serve mami/lugaw are the ones who are flocked by the revering public. The shop being crowded as it was, I decided to help myself with a bowl of beef mami for 20 pesos. It didn’t disappoint at all with its smoky flavor and salty broth topped with a generous helping of beef innards and chunks of meat. The store vendor from the other store where I stood while feasting on the cheap delight even asked me “Masarap ba talaga?” as she saw beads of sweat forming on my forehead. She then offered me a bottle of Coke.

After I had my accidental breakfast, I walked en route to the bay view of Manila Bay. I can’t stand the fishy stench so I just took a quick view of the rising sun and the docking ships. I also saw men armed with their fishing rods, seemingly expecting for a catch although all I saw near the bayside were garbage.

At around 9am, I decided to go to Mall of Asia. I hailed an FX, as it stopped in front of me, I asked if it would pass MOA. One of the passengers, a guy wearing a pair of slacks and long sleeves told me that it would so I sat in the front beside him. Thus came his nonstop stories on his life as an insurance company employee, a biology student, and his daily trips to Pasay. He was a natural Scheherazade!

As we neared my destination he began asking personal questions like where do I study, what year I am currently in, what my course is. Being a polite fellow, I tried to answer with some occasional grins and nods until his talkativity level finally reached my threshold. By threshold I mean that I only have that limited energy for talking and once it drains up, my mouth shuts like a clam. You cannot elicit a decent response by then.