Okay I posted earlier in this thread about the ordeal I had the last time I was in Manila, which started within minutes of walking out of the airport, with a pedicab that really "took me for a ride". Well guess what? I'm back in Manila again now, for the first time since then. I was actually starting to like it, but then just tonight I had another bad experience, that was very similar. This time it wasn't a pedicab (I already learned to never take a pedicab in Manila after my last experience), this time it was a horse and carriage.
Actually yesterday me and my kids took a horse and carriage and the guy (an old man) tried to trick us by lying to us and telling us that the destination was there across the street, but it wasn't anywhere near. I demanded that he take us to where he promised, then at the end he changed the price from "400 pesos" to "400 pesos EACH". And then he said we need to also PAY THE HORSE.
So you would think that I learned a lesson from that: don't ever take the horse and carriage. But guess what? Tonight Satan sent a horse and carriage to me, literally chasing me down the street, out of all the crowds of people, as I was walking out of a mall two blocks from my room, carrying bags of groceries. The guy was so persuasive. I tried to run away, but he kept insisting "20 pesos" and started to take my bags up onto the carriage or pull me up or whatever, so I thought well it's only two blocks, a straight shot down this street, and I'll just pay in advance.
Well I really got tricked. My room was only two blocks away, but he took me far away, picked up another guy who he said was his "boss", who got right up beside me, and they kept taking me further away from my hotel, and they finally stopped at a dark place, and demanded more money. I got out and noticed that my grocery bags were gone! They claimed there were no grocery bags. It was a dark place and I didn't know what else to do so I started SCREAMING as loud as I could "HELP!!!!" and "I WANT THE POLICE!!!!!" over and over and eventually a small crowd of people gathered around to help me. The people in the crowd found my grocery bags hidden under the carriage right behind the horse's legs. The people were very nice and they wanted me to know that not all Filipino people are like that. One of them paid the horse rider and another paid for a ride for me (in a pedicab) to get back to my room. My only disappointment is that they didn't get the police, but I appreciate that those people really tried to help me.
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