A Divi Day

Driving home from school late last night, my one open eye dilated at a familiar twinkle by the foot of the Buendia flyover-- PAROLS?! The lanterns are out already??!!! And that makes it undeniable... CHRISTMAS IS UPON US. The countdown is now at 63 days, making me, by industry standards, very late with holiday preparations. The first step to getting back on track? DIVISORIA.

With gift of parking securely tucked under my belt-bag, I confidently (maybe TOO confidently) drove head-long into the bowels of consumerism… only to hit an unusually thick wall of cars, pedestrians and construction. JASMS, a large high school compound, is no more. By the looks of it, in its place, along with 2 other blocks, will soon stand a huge-r mall than China Town has ever seen. In the meantime, the trucks and cement mixers were cramping my parking-swagger. Then right in front of a police station, I spot a man frantically enticing me into a slot between a squad car and a stalled vehicle. I WAS desperate, so I allowed him to guide me in with, “’Wag kayong mag-alala. Nahuli ‘yan, pwede nyong tutukan!”/ “Don’t worry, you can park flushed to that car. It won’t be going anywhere, the owner is in jail." Yeah. I was REALLY desperate.

Trusting my fate and my AUV to other beings, creature of habit that I am headed to old haunts: Morning Glory for haberdashery, Golden Era for paper products, Best Way for baking supplies, Top Ten Tinsmith for pans and Commoner’s for everything else.

A trip down to Binondo is too bloggable to resist, so Little Lumix was evidently along for the ride. Those who have been to Divi know to pardon the less than noise-free photos… my camera was flying under pick-pocket radar reach.

I’m really not sure what draws me to these streets… it’s certainly not the sights nor the smells. Maybe wandering anonymously along with the regular and at times irregular folk is my exercise in touching base with the basics of life.





My ritual always ends at 168 Mall’s well-maintained food court, where my Thai-Vietnamese cooking teacher, Chariya Thaikupt, has a self-named stall. Where else can you get decent Pad Thai at P90? Today’s discovery is her Chicken in Garlic&Pepper, also for just P90. A regular bonus is Aldrino’s Bibingka (P60) AND Puto Bumbong (P50).


But I was only able to begin digesting at the sight of my car safe and sound with my man Manolo (the parking dude) giddily waiting for his Christmas bonus. (Why he thinks he deserves one in October on top of the P100 pre-paid fee will remain his charm.) He then sends me off with a number to call for parking on my next visit, claiming an extension at – as in INSIDE-- Precinct 11, the detachment at the corner of Soler and Meisic Streets. Well, well, well… it looks like my Space Angel just got reinforcement.