Sep
9
2009
Bamboo in Manila
Author: Sam“Did you know Manila is home to the world’s only bamboo pipe organ? It’s in St. Joseph’s church,” said our driver, who shared around to share this tidbit of info while roaring down the road after picking Julie and me up from the Manila airport. We had arrived in Manila for Julie to administer a nursing exam at the area hospitals, a rather tedious but necessary activity, and I was along for the ride. It was a last minute affair for me to go, and I had been wondering how best to fill my days in this exciting city, and I had my first clue. “You don’t say?” I said to the driver in a phony British accent. I almost asked him to take us there right off, but we were tired and need a nap and a shower and he took us to the Hotel Manila Phillippines as we had asked. He said he knew the rector and if we wanted to see the organ close up to call him and he handed us a business card. Great I said the next day while Julie went off, she gave me her blessing to go see the thing on my own, as I had offered to save the trip for when she had time off from her duties but she said no no go ahead. I realized she was not as keen to see a bamboo organ in a church the way I was, but was more interested in the markets of Manila like the one at Quiapo , an old part of the city known for prices and hand made articles and things like electronics. When I told Kenny, that driver who I did indeed call for a trip to the church about our plans for Quiapo, he just shook his head and whistled and said, “Good thing I found you, the shop keepers are very hard to deal with, very hard. I will go with you to protect you,” he said smiling. It was hard to say no to him, he was so sincere, and I wondered if he noticed I had lost my fake British accent.
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Tags: bamboo organ, Hotel Manila, Phillippines, Quiapo