My first "real-world" job was with the Yuchengco Group of Companies' Pacific Plans, Inc. Their old office--before transferring to the more prestigious RCBC Plaza in Makati--was in an old building in Binondo, several stories high and wedged in between other residential-slash-business buildings. Every working day for 4 months, I took the bus to Manila, a jeep to Escolta, and walked several blocks until I got to that spot in one of the many crowded crevices of Old Manila. I was young and angsty and oblivious to many other things around me.
Yesterday, on a one-day trip to Binondo, Manila, guided by Mr. Karl "Happy Place" Go, I got to see the "Dragon of Manila" with fresh eyes. I chose to focus my fresh, sleepy eyes on the versatility of the space spanned by the historical construct of Binondo. Like what Karl said, the value of space (real estate) in Binondo is probably the most expensive in Manila; basically because the physical space doesn't grow, but the business, the population, and the vibrant life it fosters, do.
Therefore, what caught my fancy yesterday was how people maximize space, and how space has acquired a versatility, a plurality of purpose, a fluid, transformable quality that fits in seamlessly with the pace of life of its inhabitants. People are used to it, no one is shocked, offended or jarred (except perhaps bumbling "tourists" like us, which the dragon has uncomplainingly accommodated, as well). The versatility comes naturally as the will to survive.
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| From Binondo Walk |
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