wishful thinking, dreaming dreams

In today’s warrior of the light online issue (Edition – nº 216), Paulo wrote about something he read in a magazine during his flight to Bulgaria. The article in the magazine describes what Sofia looks like and lists down practical things a tourist should do while roaming the streets.  Sofia, by the way, is a place somewhere in Bulgaria.  I’ve never been to Bulgaria nor have any imagination what the country looks like but Sofia could be any city in the Philippines especially about mad drivers! In fact, I thought I was reading about Manila or Cebu.  True, I have never stayed in Manila to long to experience it fully but what the media is feeding us gives me an idea about the place.  Cebu is different altogether.  I live in and with it.   It’s been four years since I left home to find a “greener pasture” (although I think, Bukidnon is a lot, lot more greener than Cebu, literally and figuratively!).  I think Cebu could be much, much better.  How? Start with doing something about sidewalks and traffic lights and jeepneys (including drivers) and garbage and blah blah blah.  I could go on and on but I’ll save the trouble.  Below is the excerpt of Paulo’s article.

A] Walking through the center of Sofia means having to confront cars parked on the sidewalk, people hooting their horns in your ears, dogs straying loose on the street, and holes that appear without any notice to warn pedestrians.

B] If you want to take a bus, remember that the doors are small, so there is a good chance that you will hurt yourself while boarding. Toss a one-lev coin (the local currency) in the driver’s lap, shout where you want to get off, and be aware that the buses do not always respect bus stops. Don’t let that put you in a bad mood.

C] If you’re driving, take all the following items into account: a driver’s license, passport, stainless-steel nerves, eyes that must not blink for an instant, traffic lights that look like hieroglyphics (Bulgaria uses the Cyrillic alphabet), and mad drivers.

E] When you stop at a traffic light, be prepared to see your car surrounded by a crowd of children ready to clean your windshields: be firm, don’t accept!

F] Traffic policemen are “prodigiously venal” and are watching out for you. Behave like a saint, do not stress out, not unless you want to pay an “on-the-spot fine”, which is simply a bribe.

G] Bulgaria has a high crime rate, but please relax! You will be as safe or unsafe here as in New York, London, Paris or any other big city.

H] The lighting is awful during the night.

I] Shopkeepers never have change. Ask at your hotel for low-value bills, otherwise you run the risk of waiting for twenty minutes while the salesperson goes to the neighbor or to the closest bank to get change.

J] To get back to the buses: some of them have a terrifying machine at the door, and you have to discover fast how to extract your ticket from there. Remember that public transportation is paid everywhere in the world. Of course, chances are great that during your journey you will see inspectors boarding the bus and asking the passengers for their tickets, but most of them won’t have tickets, so there will be an argument and they will all end up having to pay a fine. Since you have overcome all these problems by already buying a ticket, you can watch all these arguments without any fear.

I thought things like these exists ‘onli in da pilipins’ but we’re not alone after all.  How fascinating the human character is!