The Brotherhood of Travelling Bananas: Samosas, Tasbeehs, and Dimsum

- May 7, 2012, Monday.

- Finally, my two-month long preparation has come to this day. My friend Singson told me two months ago that he was interested in "joining" one of my multicultural walking tours around Manila. I opted to do it some time this month, coincidentally his birth month, since I'd have more time this May.

- Since his birthday is coming up, I had been canvassing for something special to give him, without anyone's knowledge. I was able to find the perfect gift, but I just bought it several days ago to make sure that the thing was still in good condition when I bought it. (If something goes wrong had I bought the thing earlier, I wouldn't be able to have it repaired.)

- Singson only knew that my "gift" to him was this specific adventure: my Little India - Quiapo - Chinatown combo. I gave him a formal itinerary of where we'd be going, so it'd be easier for him to ask permission from his parents. His parents allowed him to go, to our joy, and fate seemed to have been in sync with my plans - and greater surprise plans - for the day.

- I met Singson this morning outside my house at 9:30, and immediately went to the LRT to go to Little India. The rain had started to fall, but I had a feeling that it would stop pretty soon.

- We arrived at the UN LRT Station 15 minutes later, and had a rather difficult walk to Mahatma Gandhi Street, where the Hindu Mandir (Hindu Temple) was located; many parts of the street were flooded. Despite this, the rain had stopped, and the sky started to clear up.

- We arrived at the temple, partly soaked, and removed our shoes, and left our umbrellas at the shoe rack. We went upstairs, and was greeted once again by Ashok Maharaj, one of the high priests of the Hindu Temple.

- I proceeded with explaining and narrating the stories of the gods to him, as well as an introduction of the Indian/Indo-Pak community in the country. I also gave him a Sikhism 101 lesson, since there was a Sikh shrine inside the mandir.

- I asked him a question, which served as a mini-mission for this leg of the adventure. I asked him to look for Shiva's trident, but with someone else the one holding the trident. He was able to correctly identify the trident as the one being held by Durga Devi, when the male gods lent their weapons to Durga. (I had to drop a few hints - not obvious ones though, because I wanted him to answer the question correctly, and I had a small souvenir-prize to give him.)

- We later encountered Ashok Maharaj again, and was later greeted by another maharaj, who I later found out was a "freelance" Maharaj, and a former high priest of the mandir. Well, I got to practice my Hindi with him and Ashok Maharaj, so it was a nice opportunity to tickle the Indianness out of me again. We were also given some prasad (food offerings) but this kind lady, who was seated right in front of the main prayer hall.

- Singson and I ate the prasad, which also served as a change to introduce the Indian sweets to Singson. He seemed to have liked the sweets, although the sweets were too sweet for his taste. (Indian sweets are known for being too sweet.) Oh, the prasad set given to us included a banana each. Singson left his banana with me until I came home, and realized he had forgotten his banana. (Oh well, thought I'd place it in the title.)

- We walked to "mainland" Little India, and visited the facade of the Khalsa Dewan Sikh Temple, and did some little shopping at Assad Minimart, and visited Talwars' and Simron's Indian groceries.

- We had lunch as Assad Cafe, and first ate the samosas we bought at the Minimart. I let him have a bottle of rosemilk, which he also liked. We had chicken masala, fish pakora, mutton biryani, and chapattis, and two mango lassis (I really miss Indian food. Gah.)

- We were too full after the big meal, and so I let him take home the two coconut gulab jamuns that were meant to be our dessert. We walked to the LRT station again, and this time, the streets were floodless, and the sun grinning immensely on us.

- We arrived at Quiapo almost instantly, and was greeted by the common swarm of people hopping through enticing stalls hiding under big colorful beach umbrellas. We took the "road less traveled" to avoid the crowd, passed through the underpass, and went out at the Hidalgo exit.

- We walked through the Spanish-house lined Hidalgo, until we reached the San Sebastian Church (after a stopover/cool-off session at 7-Eleven.) Although both of us have gone there before in separate occasions, looking closely at the church's art still made going there a new experience. It impressed Singson after I told him that Gustav Eiffel, the brainchild of the Eiffel Tower, was also responsible for this all-steel church.

- We proceeded to see the ever-hidden Ocampo Pagoda along the Bilid Viejo Street. It still wonders me how this kind of structure was not properly restored; it's something that Manila can be proud of, and is an architectural and historical wonder. Singson. like all the other people I've brought to see the pagoda, said that it would be better if something was done to it, like turn it into a museum maybe, instead of making it into a seamen's dormitory.

- We later went to see the heritage houses, the Boix and Nakpil Houses, and went to see the Muslim Town. I oriented him on the traditional Muslim wear, the "assalamu alaikum" greeting, and some information on the Maranao culture.

- We went in the mosque, told some history, and had some shots at the mosaic wall. Upon going out, my question/mission for Singson was to identify the word "Allah," as it is the only representation of Allah found in mosques. Allah is formless, so no idols or representations of him could be found in mosques.

- Singson pointed to the gate, which had Allah inscriptions on them. He was right, and I also showed him another answer - the fence also had many "Allah"s written on it. Because he was able to answer correctly, I gave him a tasbeeh (the Muslim rosary,) which used to be part of my small tasbeeh collection. (I realized I had too many tasbeehs, and I thought I'd share one to Singson.)

- We headed back to the main (Catholic) Quiapo proper, passed through the Quiapo Church, held the Black Nazarene, almost drowned in the many many amulet-and-religious-paraphernalia stalls outside the church, and asked him another question. I asked him how people in Quiapo "wished." I knew it was a lame question because the answer was quite obvious, but that's just because I couldn't think of any question that would suit the St. Benedict amulet (anting-anting) I had for him.

- We later headed to the neighboring Escolta, and visited the Escolta Museum in Calvo Building. It was Singson's lucky day, since the museum has an irregular opening schedule, and would really depend on the availability of the caretaker. Today, the caretaker was there, so we were able to go through the exhibit of old colorful bottles, multilingual advertisements, receipts, and surprising pictures of old and rich Manila.

- Our next stop was Po Chuan Am Temple, a Buddhist temple located near Escolta, and was a mix of Mahayana and a bit of Vajrayana Buddhism. We took a few photos, especially of the awesome ceiling, before heading to our last stop.

- We walked closer and closer to our ever-beloved Chinatown, passed by the Korean grocery to buy something, and went to my favorite dimsum place (only when discounted,) Golden Fortune.

- Singson and I had dimsum, and while waiting to be served, I gave him the biggest birthday gift that had been sitting in my bag the whole day -- and the present I had been eyeing for these two months.

- I prepared my camera to document his reactions, and although signs of what he really would "do" (like flipping the whole dining table,) he told me that he decided not to open the gift all the way through. He saw what was in the box after peeking, and said that he might burst when he completely opens the gift and behold the "thing" on his hands.

- After settling down, we had dimsum, and talked about many things. Singson was kind enough to pay for the bill, although he really didn't have to. We both walked home, and I suppose we were both happy. Personally, I was happy because I had no more birthday secrets to hide, and I was able to visit my favorite places in Manila one more.