My closest friend know how much I like shopping

A bumper sticker or t-shirt that says, "I survived shopping in Taytay."
Taytay (pronounced tie-tie) is a town that has many blocks wide series of shops that sell goods. I do not know if food is involved as we only went to the clothing and material shops. Lots and lots of buildings with alley after alley with hundreds of shops to wander through material and any notion item you would want.

Sister Henry fingering some material.  Fancy, plain, fuzzy, stiff, knit, suiting, lining, dress, shirt....every type of material available if you can find the right shop

Shops that sold every kind of clothing items or towels, pillowcases, aprons, etc. etc. I didn't even check to see if they had large clothing sizes as I've never found them yet. I did buy some sneakers in a men's size.

Sister Nido checking out how much can be added to her kilo

Stacks and stacks and bolt after bolt of material. Lots of the material is sold in kilos. The remnants of the same pattern are stacked up and sold in a deal. Some are three yards, two and a half, maybe smaller. About 10 yards equals a kilo - for about 750 pesos or just a little over 10 dollars. Some material can be cut off the bolt in yards or meters and 15 yards cost just under 20 dollars. Amazing! Though I must admit I didn't see any dress patterns. That doesn't mean they aren't there, it is just that we didn't go look for them. Zippers, elastic, thread, buttons, bangles, pom-poms, snaps.......it is all there.

Only the early morning hours does the traffic look this good

We left in the early morning and traffic was not bad. Construction with deep excavation signs lined one side of the street that we walked around.

Honks, toots, whistles and lots of patience, though at this intersection there was a man directing traffic

Later in the day the traffic jammed the street and we walked down the other side dodging sewer and oil in the gutters, loads of pedestrians, motor bikes and trikes.

Gutter and sidewalks can be treacherous

Coming around one alley was a lady cleaning and taking care of her fish.

Sister Nido talks with the lady with the fish

I noted on the other side she had the vegetables already cut up - for stew?

We refreshed ourselves with coconut juice and the meat of the coconut.

This young man used a machete to slice open the coconut, drained the juice into the bag in the plastic container and then scooped the meat out and added it to the sack

The coconut juice was not sweet, mildly refreshing - Ice cold would have been awesome.

After walking, looking, listening, buying and simply  tagging along, I think I was a little shell-shocked. I'm still processing the experience. The companionship, laughter, sharing of stories and encouragement made the day truly enjoyable!