my mind wanders... on a thought of a green sunset

Sunday, July 30, 2006

[102]Scavenger Hunt: Bleach

Three students walked around in Manila for almost 2 hours in search of bleach.

We were actually in search of bleach. Not the normal hypochlorite solutions for clothes; it’s an anime. We were looking for DVDs of the anime Bleach so that we could start our marathon. We were looking for Episodes 1 onwards. I had with me 3 DVDs of Bleach episodes 61-72. I had borrowed them from Blessie.

It started with a Thursday night. I asked Philippe and Carlos to go with me to Carriedo so that we could look for the DVDs. They agreed, since we knew that classes would be cut off early due to a seminar. That was the start of the plan that would ultimately doom our endurance.

Friday came. After the seminar, Philippe and Carlos had their sabayan practice. I called my section’s practice off, so I was waiting for them to finish. I had memorized 6 stanzas when they finished. We set off to UN station for a quick LRT ride.

We waited for some time in the station. We even had Rafael in company, Philippe’s and Carlos’ former classmate. As some small and packed cabins rushed in front of us, we waited for the long silver train. It was a bit packed as expected, but it had space for the four of us to cram in.

Then, the three adventurers said good-bye to Rafael and went down at Carriedo station. We got our cards inserted in the exits, and by almost 5 in the afternoon, the journey has begun.

~

Technically, I do not know the place. I had the guts to go there though, together with my friends. As I looked around, I really had to guess where our steps should lead to. I had to rely on intuition, a good sense of memory and a rush of luck to find what we were looking for.

~

Walking from the station, we treaded straightforward. As we covered about tenth of a kilometre, we didn’t find any DVD stalls to mention. All we saw were different products sold in bargain prices. We travelled further, going around in a ground floor mall and even walking up a small department store. Then, we saw a stash of hope.

A man was selling some discs, which could be MP3s or VCDs or most likely DVDs. We came about and took a peek on what he was vending.

And there was porn all over. We were taken aback a bit, since we just had a seminar. Oh, I forgot. The seminar was sexuality education. The speaker there left his purpose effectively. We had this mental note of what we just understood, and what we are seeing right now.

After taking a step back, we saw a long array of stalls around the corner, disappearing into the long crowded street.

Some were selling a few nice shows, some were selling music. However majority were selling porn, not just the usual man-woman stuff. There was some stuff for homosexuals to indulge in. I wouldn’t elaborate.

I had to ask a few vendors whether they have Bleach on their racks.

“Wala.”

There was a long street ahead, and lots of DVD sellers to cover.

“Meron po ba kayo nito?” I asked while I showed the DVD sample I was holding.

“Wala.”

Our disappointment continued all through the street. We had to turn right and move back to where we started, the plaza near Carriedo station.

Back to square one, Carlos already felt an urge to give up. My spirit was already falling for me too. Failure seemed around the corner. Philippe then raised his notion.

“Tuloy pa rin tayo, ‘di ba?”

We have decided. From our point of origin, we would take another path.

Our walk took a while, and we continued asking whether they have Bleach or not. My forehead was already sweating. Carlos was getting tired. We walked some distance after about twenty minutes when we reached another place. I remembered what Blessie, the one who introduced me to Bleach, said.

“Sa Carriedo, sa Recto o sa Divisoria, meron.”

Divisoria was out of the question. Our next hope was Recto. We were under an intersection of LRT1 and LRT2. We were out of Carriedo already.

Our current location at that moment was Dorotheo Jose.

That’s too far! We asked around once more, looking for a path to Recto. After being given directions that I was a bit unsure, I saw a sign.

[Recto This Way ------->]

We continued our tiring travel between busy streets. I even evaded a passing trike while crossing a street, landing in a gallop. That was a step in DDR. Philippe then thought of the advantages of being DDR player. We had to smile a little within our little crisis.

We walked under some dark alleys. We saw some isolated vendors juxtaposed in their selling. I asked the first one by showing the DVD copy I borrowed from Blessie.

“Wala e.” the vendor said. “Bold ba yan?”

Damn. I turned to the next vendor. I showed her the DVD. She examined it. After a few seconds she started browsing her racks. This is it! Our journey is nearing its end!

“Wala na, pero meron kami nito dati.”

“Ate, bakit nawala?”

“Marami kami niyan dati, kaso ni-raid ng police.”

And we walked back to Carriedo, haggard and hungry. We were desperate. We don’t want to fail this one road trip we had. After going back to square one (and seeing some sex toys being sold on our way back), we looked sideways.

We didn’t see this before. It was another long street, filled with lots of stalls. Most of them were DVDs.

We asked the first vendor. [How could we miss this! It was already there when we came down the LRT, and yet we walked all around only to return back!] After examining the DVD, one of them spoke.

“Wala. Pero lakarin n’yo lang ‘yan, derecho lang kayo. Dun sa may Hidalgo, marami dun. Sigurado akong makakahanap kayo doon.”

And we walked, with a little ray of hope shining upon us. A dash of rain fell as we were rejected one by one. No Bleach here and there. After a long unsatisfactory walk, our eyes were bound to candles, a large white towering structure and tolls of a Eucharist taking place.

We were at Quiapo church. [We walked that far!!!!] Dismayed at the mere fact we haven’t seen a hint of Bleach, we tried returning to Carriedo, trying the second side of the stalls since we covered only one side.

Nothing yet. After reaching our point of origin, we asked the vendors who told us of Hidalgo again. “Saan po bay un?”

“Derecho nga lang.”

“Sa Quiapo na nga po yun e,” we argued.

“Punta kayo dun sa underground, derecho lang. Nandun lang yun.”

We tried that. But we first had a break at KFC. We ate and rested for a while. After enjoying chicken and gravy for a quick dinner, we resumed walking towards Quiapo.

We reached the church once more. Looking around, I saw a flight of stairs leading down. This is it!

Philippe had gone down there one time. We looked around. It was filled with tiles and lighted by an eerie orange light. It was warm there. It had some shops. No vendors of DVDs though. Then we saw Hidalgo.

It was a street.

The sign was in large brass letters. We walked up and saw ourselves on the other side of Quiapo. The church was visible from there. We opened our umbrellas. We looked across the Hidalgo. It was filled with DVD shops.

We continued our search. Still, no Bleach. We asked one guy and said he didn’t have it. But he directed us to another street, right on the corner of Hidalgo.

We asked a few more. Then after reaching a stall where a mother and child were stationed, we tried once more. I showed them the DVD.

“Meron.”

At last! We then tried to find the DVD in their current set. But there was none. The kid then got the DVD from me.

“Tignan ko sa may bodega. Babalik ako, ha!”

As we stood in the rain, Philippe questioned the fact if he would return. Carlos quoted then:

“Trust in the goodness of man.”

Sure, I thought. I told them that he was with his mother. He would come back. The mother even assured us of that.

The kid in stripes, as Philippe remembered him, came with the copy I lent him and an unfamiliar man.

This is how it goes: Bleach was sold there, per set, about 8 to 9 discs. 50 pesos per disc. If we were interested, we could come to the place.

We agreed, and we walked to another street and to a shop full of DVDs and stuff. We waited for a while. Then, he came with 4 plastics. He said the sets were incomplete. He had 21-30, 31-40, 41-50, and 51-72 [composed of 2 discs in one plastic]. He tested one DVD. It was working fine. I requested if he could test 51-72, because it was composed of 2 discs. The first disc didn’t work.

I only had 170 pesos max. I could only buy 3 discs. I told the guy we were buying 21-30, 31-40, and 41-50. He then insisted on other working disc from 51-72. I declined. He kept insisting. Lugi daw siya. I refused.

I gave him 150 pesos and said good-bye. We were to return there at Monday to get 1-20.

After a long travel, we found the one place where Kurosaki Ichigo and others can be bought. We took a jeep to SM manila, had a break, and then took off.

The three of us were tired.

Sorry for the enormity of this post. But this is the actual length of what we experienced.

Ciao~

my mind fleeted at :1:39 pm ;