My friend Nald has had several interesting experiences while working in Manila. Gay and I were talking about them and I just wanted to recount them here.
Boxing Arena. He was in Quiapo to buy a wallet that a friend of ours asked him to buy when a fight (suspected to be a frat war) erupted. A guy, probably mistaking him as one of his opponents, bashed him on the brow. This guy’s ring cut into his eyebrow area, causing it to cut open and bleed profusely. Scared, the guy ran and left poor Nald bleeding. He called our classmates to come and get him and bring him to the hospital, where he was stitched up. When he went home for Christmas, he was still sporting a bandage.
Wow Mali Hold-Up. He was walking around in the PRC area when a big guy sidled up to him, hooked an arm over his shoulders and said, “Cellphone lang, p’re.” Then the guy’s companion came up to the other side and fished his phone out of his pocket. Upon seeing that it was a Nokia 6150, however, they gave it back to him, saying, “Ay, 5110 lang pala. Sayo na!”
Landlady Kuno. After coming back from an engagement in Baguio, he went home only to be told that he should get packing and find another place to stay because his supposed “landlady” was just a tenant, too, and when the real landlady found out about this, she kicked her out along with her “boarders.” Unfortunately for Nald, he had already paid a month’s advance to the fake one. He had no choice but to move out, though.
And that’s only a sampler.