Be warned...this is a whinge post...
I'm going to do it again...and I apologise...but I am in a grouch...I'm going to compare HKG and Manila...
I need cat litter...I'm going on leave on Tuesday and leaving the four legged furry things in another's tender loving care....so I need to stock up on cat litter...however...Rustans and SM have been out of any form of cat litter for the last two weeks...so whatever supply I had has now dwindled down to 'emergency' reserves...
In HKG...I would go to the pet shop website and order for next day delivery...or even better...call up the pet shop on Caine Road...tell them what I needed...they would drop it round to my house and I would pay the next time I went through...
In Manila...I call every pet shop I can find on the 'Click the City' Site and ask if they have Cat Litter/Sand...whatever and the answer is no...However, there is one shop that I know has cat litter...but my principles have stopped me shopping there thus far....I do not like to support pet shops that sell live pets...it goes against the grain...because I know that a) the animals in the shop are not necessarily well looked after and b) the breeding conditions of these animals is sometimes awful.....However, needs must...
So I traipse over to MegaMall to Bio Research and pick up two 10Kg bags of Cat Litter...I ask if by any chance they do delivery (if so I'll buy whatever they have in stock)...the answer is no...so I just take the two bags..(they could have made some good money there..). I then have to slog all the way back the length of MegaMall with my 20Kgs of sand and finally make it back into the office where I collapse in a sweaty, heaving mess....
I guess it could be worse...they could have had no litter....or even worse...I could be the poor Swedish guy I found wandering around outside MegaMall searching for an address in Makati - someone had told him Makati was a 5 minute walk from MegaMall....he needed to replace his credit card that had gone through the wash in Puerta Gallera and was now useless...the odds were definitely agin him as he didn't seem the brightest firework in the box....
On a good note...a quick stock up of water, cat food and other 'heavy' necessities at my local branch of Rustans...one of the 'packers' approaches me as I am going through the check out..."Ma'am, would you like delivery?"..."Yes, that's exactly what I would like"...at which point he reels off my address (quite spooky really, but then he explains he always handles my deliveries - do I have a stalker??!!) and says..."No problem, it will be there in an hour"....And that's why I keep shopping there.....now if they could only sort out their supply of bloody cat litter...I'd be laughing.
OK - whinge over...or maybe not. Should I start on the indecision of people queuing at cinema snack counters (rhetorical question)...and this is not only in the Philippines...the world over; people stand in line for 10 minutes in front of the bloody great pictures showing what is available. Invariably when they get to the front of the queue they stand there umming and aahing about what they want..."Should we get the salty popcorn or the sweet..the sweet ok?, large or small..? now what shall we get to drink?, should we get some chocolate...?". Then they stand and faff around with the change. I am surprised no one has yet gone loopy with a shot gun at a cinema snack counter.
Well, I feel a bit better for all that!
I need cat litter...I'm going on leave on Tuesday and leaving the four legged furry things in another's tender loving care....so I need to stock up on cat litter...however...Rustans and SM have been out of any form of cat litter for the last two weeks...so whatever supply I had has now dwindled down to 'emergency' reserves...
In HKG...I would go to the pet shop website and order for next day delivery...or even better...call up the pet shop on Caine Road...tell them what I needed...they would drop it round to my house and I would pay the next time I went through...
In Manila...I call every pet shop I can find on the 'Click the City' Site and ask if they have Cat Litter/Sand...whatever and the answer is no...However, there is one shop that I know has cat litter...but my principles have stopped me shopping there thus far....I do not like to support pet shops that sell live pets...it goes against the grain...because I know that a) the animals in the shop are not necessarily well looked after and b) the breeding conditions of these animals is sometimes awful.....However, needs must...
So I traipse over to MegaMall to Bio Research and pick up two 10Kg bags of Cat Litter...I ask if by any chance they do delivery (if so I'll buy whatever they have in stock)...the answer is no...so I just take the two bags..(they could have made some good money there..). I then have to slog all the way back the length of MegaMall with my 20Kgs of sand and finally make it back into the office where I collapse in a sweaty, heaving mess....
I guess it could be worse...they could have had no litter....or even worse...I could be the poor Swedish guy I found wandering around outside MegaMall searching for an address in Makati - someone had told him Makati was a 5 minute walk from MegaMall....he needed to replace his credit card that had gone through the wash in Puerta Gallera and was now useless...the odds were definitely agin him as he didn't seem the brightest firework in the box....
On a good note...a quick stock up of water, cat food and other 'heavy' necessities at my local branch of Rustans...one of the 'packers' approaches me as I am going through the check out..."Ma'am, would you like delivery?"..."Yes, that's exactly what I would like"...at which point he reels off my address (quite spooky really, but then he explains he always handles my deliveries - do I have a stalker??!!) and says..."No problem, it will be there in an hour"....And that's why I keep shopping there.....now if they could only sort out their supply of bloody cat litter...I'd be laughing.
OK - whinge over...or maybe not. Should I start on the indecision of people queuing at cinema snack counters (rhetorical question)...and this is not only in the Philippines...the world over; people stand in line for 10 minutes in front of the bloody great pictures showing what is available. Invariably when they get to the front of the queue they stand there umming and aahing about what they want..."Should we get the salty popcorn or the sweet..the sweet ok?, large or small..? now what shall we get to drink?, should we get some chocolate...?". Then they stand and faff around with the change. I am surprised no one has yet gone loopy with a shot gun at a cinema snack counter.
Well, I feel a bit better for all that!
posted by Madame Chiang at 6:36 am
5 Comments:
Cat litter may not seem like a luxury item, but in a country where almost 40% of the population subsists on less than $2 a day, it is far beyond the reach of all but a tiny minority. Hong Kong on the other hand has more millionaires per head of the population than any other city in the world. How realistic is it to continually compare the two?
Given the relatively small size of the expatriate population in Manila, I think “Western” goods are actually very widely available here. The well-entrenched and cosmopolitan elite makes sure of that. You can shop in Marks and Spencer, buy a Mercedes, read the latest bestseller, and sip French wine here with ease, much more so than in cities of a comparable size in India for example.
I do agree about the behaviour in queues though. A variant on this is the passenger on an escalator who reaches the top and stands stock still with a bemused expression while other people crash into his/her back. Still, this is just something we as foreigners have to get used to, Brits have plenty of downsides too, as the “Pinay in Barnsley” (http://pinayinbarnsley.blogspot.com/) would no doubt explain!
I love Manila because you can always expect something unusual. I just hate well organized cities. Where is the spice? The salt?
Life should be a great adventure and not a boring clean and organized thing.
I just have the time of my life here. Please don't ever copy HK !
Enjoyed your story about the cat litter! I like your sense of humor.
Torn,
I did warn it was a whinge post! My comparisons between the two cities of Manila and HKG are really just the 'experience' comparisons...I am fully aware that the state of many, many countries in the world (the Philippines included) is such that many items that westerners take as 'necessities' are, in these countries, considered 'luxuries'...cat litter no doubt included in the latter list...horrifiying as it seems to put it into print my cats probably have more spent on them in an average year than probably a street child in Manila...I am fully aware of that...and it does make me think.
However, although having said that, although at the time there was no cat litter there was (and the supply is constant)plenty of 'luxury' dog food (by which I mean more expensive and 'choice' than Pedigree Chum) at SM available for people to choose which ever flavour/type they require and that is in constant supply.....
My comparisons between the two cities are my point of reference...in my letters to friends whilst living in Jordan it was the same thing...mainly because many people do not get to experience the slightly challenging life of living in a third world country.
Manila and HKG have so many differences and both have many plus points and minus points...for example your average shop assistant...I think most HKG people can vouch for the fact that the average shop assitant is grouchy and un-helpful...in Manila they may not be particularly helpful (often through no fault of their own) but at least they are pleasant about it and smile...
And a final thought...if the supermarkets can keep such a constant supply of South Beach Diet products...why not cat litter!!??
Sidney,
I agree...no city should ever be a mirror image of another...but just a little planning and organisation wouldn't go amiss!
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