funny thing(s) happened on the way to...

We Filipinos are a funny people. Really. We have to be the absolutely funniest people there is…well, as far as giving directions is concerned. If you haven’t tried asking for directions in Manila (or anywhere else in the Philippines for that matter), I strongly suggest you try getting lost (literally), just for the heck of it, and ask for directions to wherever. One or more, if not all, of these will happen:

- the Pinoy will look up/ahead, squint as if deep in thought, and after a few thoughtful moments, shrug or shake his head;

- the Pinoy will look up, north/south/east/wast, nod his head and pout his lips at that particular direction;

- the Pinoy will point a finger, with outstretched arms, in a certain direction and say, "dun" (there) without saying if it's 100 meters or 1 kilometers straight, left, right or two or so blocks "dun";

- the Pinoy will say "diretso lang" (straight ahead).

"Diretso lang" is my favorite so far. This funny thing happened on the way to Marriott Hotel in Pasay where Miles, Ricky, Isabel with Nana and I were to meet our "uncle" Jun whose family I stayed with while in Hawaii. We've never been to the Marriott Hotel and were not familiar with the area. So I asked around. The first people I asked all said the same thing - "dire-diretso lang".

I stared at them as if they were aliens and so they explained, this time much longer but nowhere clearer, "Edsa, diretso, u-turn, diretso uli, kaliwa, diretso uli, dun na!"

"Yeah."

So I asked another friend and he said the same thing, "Diretso lang"

"Huh?" I asked dumbfounded.

He repeated it, slowly this time as if this will make things clearer for me, "diiiireee-diiiirrretsooo laaaang."

"Oooo-kaaaay!"

So, armed with these useful information, my sister took the C5 Road (where C5 was, of course, nowhere in the directions given us) and we ended up right back in Edsa where she drove, like the directions said, straight ahead. She's so much more confident and better with directions so we finally get to the Marriott Hotel/Resorts World for some dinner and catching up with "uncle" Jun.

Dinner was great but it was finally time to go home. Ricky brought his own car so Miles and I (we forgot to ask Ricky for directions) were once again in wonder on how to get back where we came from. We asked the parking attendant how to get to Edsa. Before the attendant could even answer, I thought to myself , "Let me guess - diretso lang?"

And sure enough, he said, "Diretso lang, ma'am!"

Miles drove "diretso" for the first 200 meters, after which we came to a fork on the road. After careful studying and a few "enie-minie mo's", she took the road on the right and it was right! It was "diretso" going home from there.

Aren't we Filipinos just the funniest?