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Rizal Park
~random scribbles of sulaiman zafir~
Hello cheery chums! It was full day for us exploring every nook and cranny of this amazing city called Manila. Our taxi driver, Leo, a middle-aged Pinoy full of humility and wisdom, was with us all the way. By late evening, we made a stop at the “must see” place ~ Rizal Park. Simply to me, Rizal Park is to Manila what Hyde Park is to London and KLCC Park is to KL. It is situated at the northern end of Roxas Boulevard (the longest stretch of main road in the entire city famed with endless hotels and fine dining ~ and of course, great sunset scene). I noticed a really tall flagpole with a Philippines flag on the left and Abah quickly diverted my attention to the adjacent monument, the Rizal monument. We took a few snapshots with it in the background and other tourists can be seen doing the same from all angles. Ninda who once visited the place like some 20 odd years ago also had a photo taken there and today again, with us. After that,we all crossed the 6-lane road (or could it be 8? ~ i can’t recall) back to our chauffeur of the day, Leo. (more)
that day for Abah quickly got the tix for all of us to ride the most spacious carriage there…I, for one, tried on all the seats available on the kalesa ~ the horizontal seat with Ninda, the vertical seat with Abah & Ummy, then the best seat of all was behind the rein. It was an adrenaline pumping ride for me overall and I will always remember this experience as “the ride with a purple key-ed Pinoy”.
. Pogee showed me how to animate the fluffy colorful creature ~ chicken feeding and chicken potty-ing acts. I really thought it was funny. I can’t stop laughing. Abah got me a pair, one big and another small. Pogee told us that he has just finished creating the marionettes Abah chose to purchase the night before . He usually worked till the wee hours to create his marionette masterpieces. I thought Pogee has an interesting job and of course, one that requires an extraordinary skill and creativity to match. We got home right after and I continued to play at the hotel room till late that night. By then, Pogee was probably in his own room, somewhere within the densely 12 million populated Metro Manila, creating more marionettes to excite kids like me.