EDMARATION #TownExplorer: [Metro Manila]

Showing posts with label [Metro Manila]. Show all posts

🇵🇭 METRO MANILA • Cubao to Recto via LRT: Symbolic Ride for the Nurse in Me

Some netizens liked, commented, and shared this. Share your comment. Mag-reply ako once mabasa ko.

Edmar del Castillo Guquib at Sunday, February 03, 2019 0

Stories of town explorations.

This story is episode 03 of a blog series.

You cannot be your old self all the time. You need to transform for the better and powerful new you.

► I've worked all my life in the province and God knows how I enjoyed the previous set-up of my hospital career.

► I blog because I want to save feelings and emotions in words. I want my blog to serve as my memory vault.

[National Capital Region, Luzon Island, Philippines]

| 1 | [MANILA] ► EVERYTHING ARRIVES AT THE RIGHT PLACE AND AT THE RIGHT TIME. IF YOU THINK YOUR LIFE IS MESSING UP, CHEER! GREATER THINGS ARE YET TO COME.

It was around 02:00 PM in Cubao LRT Station when the train arrived. This train ride was mixed emotions for me. Aside from the fact that it's my first time to ride an LRT train, this train ride would also initiate some baby steps of my nursing career.

I've worked all my life in the province and God knows how I enjoyed the previous set-up of my hospital career. I wasn't receiving a huge salary (your friend nurses working at a provincial hospital would know that) but I received much favor from them (my hospital bosses). I had a flexible schedule allowing me to go to work as early as 7 AM or come in as late as 10 AM as long as I complete the 8-hour duty. I mean, not everyone working at the hospital in the Philippines could have that privilege. I could even arrange my schedule and days-off as well and apply week-long (even month-long) vacation leaves one week before that actual leave.

Below photo is one of the old photos taken when I was still very new in my profession and I was assisting a high-caliber surgeon for breast mass excision during a medical mission in collaboration with the ISMMGH, the hospital where I worked in .

| 2 | [VIGAN] ► YOU CANNOT BE YOUR OLD SELF ALL THE TIME. YOU NEED TO TRANSFORM FOR THE BETTER AND POWERFUL NEW YOU.

The foregoing are just some of the reasons why I miss ISCMMGH (Ilocos Sur Cooperative Medical Mission Group and Hospital), my former workplace. But for some reasons, I realized I should not stick with these perks and privileges because in adulting, I also need to accept greater responsibilities, new roles and challenges for me to grow.

► This Train Ride is Symbolic for my Nursehood

With me were two fellow nurses. One was Alex (she's a mom with one kid) and mommy Lourdes (widowed in her 50s with 3 kids). These two fellow nurses are Metro Manila dwellers for a very long time now and they were the friends who introduced to me the use of LRT in Metro Manila. Alex and Lourdes were two of the people who encouraged me to pursue my nursing career to a whole new level. I would say that this train ride is symbolic for my journey as a professional nurse that's elusive of a fat professional salary. During seasons when advertising is so lucrative for digital influencers, I could even earn money more than what I receive from the hospital by just doing my passion of writing, blogging and photojournalism. I mean, I know my capabilities. I know my potentials. But I think I couldn't be a young millionaire alone by being just a professional nurse at the hospital. You have to mix your nursing career with business for you to achieve your financial goals.

Anyway, as I said, this LRT journey is symbolic—symbolic for the journey I'm taking now for my nursing career. I mentioned above about being a millionaire but money is not really my motivation. I just used the word millionaire to emphasize the difference of achieving financial richness for a hospital-working nurse versus a nurse-businessman who is not practicing his profession at the hospital anymore.

Alex and Lourdes pushed me to add different flavor to my nursehood. I'm a US-registered nurse and I'm currently working here in the Philippines for an American client involved in medical necessity review. I have resigned from my hospital job for adulting reasons. Alex and Lourdes wanted to facepalm me the reality that my license is powerful and that could lead me not just to lucrative opportunities but also the American passport that could bring me to many countries around the world. Because of the helpful hints they gave me (God knows I just want to live and die in the Philippines all my life), I had to think twice and compromise. I gave it a try. To start this career journey, we took the LRT from Cubao to an agency that would assist me for my migration to the United States with an assured nursing career waiting for me—in the Land of Milk and Honey (if I will not change my mind, because 2 years is a long time and many can still happen).

► LRT Ride and Baby Steps

We entered the train, interestingly not crowded for 02:00 PM. The interior was spacious packed with LED screens and heavy advertising. The air-conditioning was working well too. I wasn't able to secure a seat so I just stood up in front of Alex and Lourdes. Nevertheless, the space inside was still healthy.

We left Cubao station and went through several stops in with station names that aren't familiar to me. I could only remember one station and that is the Pureza Station. Anyway, our destination was the real (not Metro Manila).

Along the elevated trail, I saw the beautiful Metro Manila skyline. Yeah, I appreciate its beauty although it has imperfections and homeless people scattered elsewhere. I realized I was already in Manila when I saw the Manila City Hall that was so beautiful. I never thought I could see it on this LRT ride. I wanted to stop to take a photo but I realized I wasn't on a motorbike that would allow me to stop anytime. It gave me chills. There's something spiritual about Manila that it causes me to be high in spirit and diving into deep introspection everytime I enter its jurisdictions. I think I'm seeing a beauty in a different dimension that even though Manila is so infamous for many reasons, I love her because she's non-pretentious.

| 3 | [MANILA] ► TWO HEADS ARE BETTER THAN ONE. MOMMY LOURDES AND ALEX ARE MY CURRENT COLLEAGUES IN A US-RN JOB IN THE PHILIPPINES AND THEY TOO ARE MY SUPPORT SYSTEM IN THIS BIG DECISION I AM MAKING NOW.

Alex and Lourdes know how I love to blog. On this journey, my priority has shifted from reaching the agency to documenting this moment. I blog because I want to save feelings and emotions in words. I want my blog to serve as my memory vault. This isn't really meant to impress but I'm sharing it anyway just in case I could touch somebody's heart who has the same story as mine.

We reached Recto LRT Station in Manila. I've heard about this place many times and I think it's a popular area/district in Manila. What's the next step? Why this ride for me is so symbolic? What are my thoughts and discoveries in Recto? Why Alex and Mommy Lourdes are with me in this journey and what is their role in this big decision I am making now? | to be continued... |

▼ BLOGSERYE 006

► BLOGSERYE 006: MY FIRST LRT RIDE | You're on the Episode 03 of this series.

▼ Episode 01

[METRO MANILA] ► My First LRT Ride: Thoughts And Reflections | Imagine that good feeling when I experienced the Metro Manila LRT for the first time and it exceeded my expectations!

▼ Episode 02

[QUEZON CITY] ► Cubao LRT Station: My First LRT Station in PH | I was with fellow nurses. We were going somewhere, a place where we could do the first step of maximizing the potential of our nursing career and this LRT station was part of that journey.

▼ Episode 03

[METRO MANILA] ► Cubao to Recto via LRT: Symbolic Ride for the Nurse in Me | You're currently on the episode 03 of this page.

▼ Episode 04

[MANILA] ► Recto LRT Station: Why I Felt So Rich? | The pathway we took revealed to me a reality that's facing Manila's urbanity now. Manila is the capital city of my beloved country but she is facing challenges right now.

▼ Episode 05

[MANILA] ► Doroteo Jose LRT Station: Grabbing an Opportunity | ...listening to the words of the experts are fascinating but hearing the stories of normal individuals are more heartfelt and genuine because they share stories based on what they feel and what they have experienced.

▼ Episode 06

[MANILA] ► Why My Principles Changed from Y.O.L.O to REALITY? | While it isn't bad to travel non-stop, the question is could you sustain it without compromising your future?

Maps Showing the Location of METRO MANILA

► FOOTNOTES, DISCLAIMERS, ACKNOWLEDGMENT, ETC

✈ This post was filed under the category "En Route." See more posts related to this below.

✈ The maps I used on this post are from maps.google.com.ph.

✈ All photos are mine.

✈ The insights, condition and name of places or properties I mentioned here are based on the facts and situation on the day of my visit. Take note that you may have a different experience when you try the activities or see the properties/places mentioned here. Names of places and properties may also change by time.

UPDATE HISTORY FOR THIS BLOG POST
► 07-March-2019: Cover photo changed. Lay-out modified.
► 14-February-2019: Link to Episode 09 added in the series tracker.
► 04-February-2019: The tab title "BLOG SERIES" was changed to "BLOGSERYE 006 for the series tracker." The link to Episode 04 was added in the series tracker after the end of the story. Tooltip added for #VIGAN. Twitter metadata was added.
► 03-February-2019: This post was published.

LATEST STORIES COVERING METRO MANILA | SEE ALL IN A SEPARATE WINDOW

MORE STORIES COVERING LUZON ISLAND | SEE OLDER STORIES

LATEST STORIES COVERING THESE CATEGORIES | SEE OLDER STORIES

MORE TOWNS YOU MIGHT LIKE TO EXPLORE:

QCVSDBPBP P KLSV

NAGUSTUAM DIAY NABASAM/NAKITAM? MABALIN MO MET I-LIKE.

[Metro Manila] All Asia FIRST TIME STORIES Luzon Luzon Island Metro Manila Philippines South East Asia Train Stations and Railways Travel Diaries

🇵🇭 METRO MANILA • My First LRT Ride: Thoughts and Reflections

Some netizens liked, commented, and shared this. Share your comment. Mag-reply ako once mabasa ko.

Edmar del Castillo Guquib at Wednesday, January 23, 2019 0

Stories of town explorations.

This story is episode 01 of a blog series.

Imagine that good feeling when I experienced the Metro Manila LRT for the first time and it exceeded my expectations!

► ...many Filipinos still complain about our train systems but having traveled to several countries in Southeast Asia, the Filipinos are still lucky for having this kind of infrastructure.

► In terms of transportation, some of our neighbors in Asia have gone far.
[National Capital Region, Luzon Island, Philippines]

| 1 | [QUEZON CITY] ► LIFE IS A VAULT CONTAINING REPLENISHING FIRST-TIME ITEMS. WHEN YOU TAKE SOMETHING, IT WILL BE REPLACED BY ANOTHER.

Life is a never ending first time. I thought before that getting older would mean that your exposure to first-time experiences becomes lesser. It was the other way around. As I age, I've found out that the world has infinite undisclosed data ripe for harvest. Becoming older for me means having a wider perspective of the world and a deeper understanding of our existence, hence, we tend to decode more answers for our ever growing curiosities of our ever growing consciousness of the complexities of the universe. Are you willing to unlock them?

I've always been a sucker of first-time experiences. God knows how I treasure my first plane ticket, my first message from my newly opened email account and even the first cotton ball used from my very first blood extraction. If you are a friend or a follower of my personal Facebook account, you probably have noticed that I love posting first-time experiences of my life, ridiculous or not. I even have a special FIRST-TIME-STORIES label on this blog that I highlighted in my homepage. Below are screenshots of my recent first-time posts.

I don't know, but these first-time experiences happening in my life mean a lot to me; and now, here I am again, writing about my first LRT ride in the Philippines.

► Pre-Ride Thoughts and Impressions

I've commuted in Metro Manila countless times using MRT though, but not LRT. I failed to 'properly' document my first MRT ride so I wanted to make it sure that my first LRT ride would be well-documented.

| 2 | [QUEZON CITY] ► THE CUBAO LRT STATION IS THE FIRST LRT STATION IN THE PHILIPPINES THAT I ENTERED.

My pre-ride impressions about the LRT of Metro Manila were not really good. My first train ride in the was an MRT ride. I remember how I almost cried to experience such drastic set-up inside the MRT when I commuted for the first time. It was very hot inside and I was wearing a jacket. I couldn't remove my jacket because inside was too crowded that I couldn't move. I was also carrying a heavy luggage that time. Before I entered the train, I was thinking it would be very comfortable inside to my dismay. I was drenched in sweat (and tears) with regrets of riding the train. My first MRT ride was somehow a traumatic experience. It was the longest 15 minutes of my commuter life.

Having experienced the train systems of Singapore, , and , the Philippines' MRT was my worst experience. I couldn't help myself but to shake my head everytime I think about it so I concluded that the LRT would be the same.

My standard of a train ride experience in the Philippines was based on my MRT experiences so I was surprised when I entered the platform of Cubao LRT Station for the first time! I personally think that the LRT station in PH is better than Kuala Lumpur's elevated monorail system. Per Cubao LRT experience, ours have more spacious platforms. The ceiling was also high and the train was well-air-conditioned. I really thought before that the LRT in Metro Manila is the same with MRT so my expectation was exceeded.

One thing I love about my previous train rides outside the Philippines is the 'voice-over'. While inside the train, a recorded voice would play to guide commuters of the next station. In the Philippines' MRT, I never experienced this. Most of the time, there is a live voice-over informing the commuters of the current station and God knows how I despise the live voice-over because foremost, the speaker (whoever he is) doesn't speak clearly. He also doesn't pronounce the words clearly. It's like he is chewing something while speaking. Is it hard to speak slow and clear? Huh! P.S. This also happens inside the plane of AirAsia PH and Cebu Pacific. When they speak inside the cabin, it appears like they are rushing, or they have limited time to speak that they speak so fast and so unclear that the announcer/speaker becomes so annoying to my nerves!

Anyway, because of my bad experiences at the MRT of Metro Manila and having experienced the beautiful train systems of , Singapore, and Thailand, I concluded that all trains in the Philippines would be like the MRT.

► Exceeding My Expectations and Personal Reflections

Imagine that good feeling when I experienced the Metro Manila LRT for the first time and it exceeded my expectations! Yay! There were LED screens inside to inform the commuters of safety measures which is similar to Singapore. There was also a recorded voice-over of a woman that was so lovely and sweet informing commuters of the next station. Wow! I underestimated our LRT system a lot.

| 3 | [MANILA] ► RECTO STATION WAS THE FIRST LRT STATION I ENTERED IN MANILA.

Inside the train (LRT) was a delight. Surprisingly, it was not crowded, in Tagalog, we would say, "Sakto lang!" The train is more spacious compared to the EDSA-based MRT and it reminds me of Singapore. However, one thing that caught my attention was the massive advertising of a Netflix series called Sex Education. I watched the trailer for the purpose of this blog post and if you were to ask me, my instinct was true that this film is NOT for everybody. I've seen so many minors inside the train seeing the word sex everywhere. I'm not KJ, but try to put yourself in other's shoe. If you are a parent, would you like your minor kids to be exposed to this kind of advertising that promotes a film not suitable for them? Please don't put your political correctness to an idiotic level by telling that it's the duty of the parents to take care of their kids. Shut up! Our kids should live in a healthy society. It's everyone's duty to be a good example to all kids everywhere!

Anyway, heavy advertising is not new in Southeast Asia's train systems so this encounter wasn't surprising for me.

Yeah, I know, many Filipinos still complain about our train systems but having traveled to several countries in Southeast Asia, the Filipinos are still lucky for having this kind of infrastructure. Sometimes we delve too much of the 'colonial mentality' concept that we fail to appreciate what we have as a nation (we often think other countries are better) and also fail to find the silver lining of the not so pleasant situations that we may experience. Yes, I also like to demand for the best infrastructure in the world, even better than Japan if possible, but I try not to complain at all times because we also need to entertain the concept of 'being grateful' in our hearts once in a while.

It's our right to rant and throw grievances against our government but you can never go wrong of having a grateful and cheerful heart. If you cannot be grateful all the time, try to experience it at least once in your life. The feeling of being grateful is so precious and abundant like diamonds but becomes very rare because only a handful of people are willing to wear its prestige. When you think you don't need to wear the prestige of gratefulness, it's ok. Life is a matter of choice. If you choose to live a life full of hatred, dissatisfaction, disappointment, and/or burden in your heart, so be it.

It's your right to choose a miserable life. It's freewill. But if you ask me, I choose to live a life full of gratefulness, contentment, joy, and peace. It's been my choice to live this way. I may had a bad experience during my first MRT ride but I've learned to adapt, adjust and appreciate how our MRT system is helping many commuters daily in spite of the imperfections. You see? This first-time LRT experience of mine is giving me a lot of insights. I told you, I'm a sucker of first-time stuff because they give me wisdom.

Anyway, I was also surprised to see the ticket-vending machines located at every station which was, and is, convenient. To be honest, I never thought these ticket machines existed in our LRT at least.

| 4 | [MANILA] ► LIFE IS A SINGLE JOURNEY TOWARDS AGEING, NO TURNING BACK. SO DO YOUR BEST WHILE YOU ARE YOUNG.

When I was in Singapore, my heart was full of joy to experience their sophisticated subway system. What I liked about Singapore's MRT was the easy-to-follow map. There were several lines illustrated on the map, color-coded, that were easy to understand. God knows how I prayed for the Philippines to have this kind of system. Back to Metro Manila, I learned that we also have different lines, color-coded too. I found out later that the Cubao Station belongs to the LRT Line 2 or the purple line. I love the fact that we also have the same color-coding scheme like Singapore. Although we are far from the level of Singapore yet, it felt good to learn that we also follow the same system because it's simple and easy to understand.

► Ending Notes

In terms of transportation, some of our neighbors in Asia have gone far. It's sad, knowing that the Philippines' LRTA system is the first metro system in Southeast Asia, earlier than the Singapore MRT by three years. We've been stuck. SMH...

The reason why I experienced the train systems of other countries first before the Philippines is because I've always ditched to explore Metro Manila. Coming from , my usual route was to alight at Cubao then ride a taxicab to the airport. I've never stayed in Metro Manila for more than a month (not until in the last quarter of 2017) so I wasn't familiar of the routes and directions in . The most convenient way for me has always been a point-to-point transport. I was able to experience the train systems outside the Philippines because friends of mine who are/were based in these cities introduced me to these transportation systems. My friends became my tour guide, hence, my exposure to these train systems. My train experience in Kuala Lumpur was different though which I .

So where this first LRT ride of mine brought me? What's the reason why I finally decided to try the LRT? These questions will be addressed soon in succeeding parts of this series. | to be continued... |

▼ BLOGSERYE 006

► BLOGSERYE 006: MY FIRST LRT RIDE | You're on the Episode 01 of this series.

▼ Episode 01

[METRO MANILA] ► My First LRT Ride: Thoughts And Reflections | You're currently on the Episode 01 page.

▼ Episode 02

▼ Episode 03

[METRO MANILA] ► Cubao To Recto Via LRT: Symbolic Ride For The Nurse In Me | You cannot be your old self all the time. You need to transform for the better and powerful new you.

▼ Episode 04

▼ Episode 05

▼ Episode 06

[MANILA] ► Why My Principles Changed from Y.O.L.O to REALITY? | While it isn't bad to travel non-stop, the question is could you sustain it without compromising your future?

Maps Showing the Location of METRO MANILA

► FOOTNOTES, DISCLAIMERS, ACKNOWLEDGMENT, ETC

✈ This post was filed under the category "Train Stations and Railways." See more posts related to this below.

✈ The maps I used on this post are from maps.google.com.ph.

✈ The insights, condition and name of places or properties I mentioned here are based on the facts and situation on the day of my visit. Take note that you may have a different experience when you try the activities or see the properties/places mentioned here. Names of places and properties may also change by time.

UPDATE HISTORY FOR THIS BLOG POST
► 11-March-2019: Series tracker lay-out was modified. Link to Episode 06 added.
► 07-March-2019: Cover photo changed. Lay-out for photo caption and subheadings modified.
► 14-February-2019: Link to Episode 05 added in the series tracker.
► 04-February-2019: The tab title "▼ BLOG SERIES" was changed to "▼ BLOGSERYE 006" in the series tracker at the end of the story. Link to Episode 04 added in the series tracker.
► 03-February-2019: The sentence "This story is episode 01 of a blog series" was added in the beginning of this post. Link for Episode 03 was added in the series tracker.
► 29-January-2019: Added twitter metadata. Added black right pointing triangle and the words "blog series" before the phrase subheading 'MY FIRST LRT RIDE SERIES".
► 28-January-2019: Lay-out was modified to add the tracking of the episodes of this blog series at the end of the post.