WITH no destination in mind really, Rach and I rode the triple stretch of the Metro Manila train systems the other day. In between transfers, we walked mostly lost and talked about random things. Upon boarding down Recto Station from LRT line 2, we found ourselves on what seemed like the Binondo area. Chinese shops abounded. We entered a bookstore that also sold fancy wigs but were not allowed to take pictures. Ongpin eluded us for the moment though. We passed by a Buddhist shrine and a small Catholic chapel that were no more than spitting distance apart. Back on the old LRT line, we reminisced reports we did in college that required train rides to complete: her exposure to indigent pregnancies in Fabella maternity hospital (kangaroo-held premature births) and my interview with old jeezers from the home for the aged gays. Synchronicity alert: the classmate she did her investigative story with was named Markova, which was also the alias of the point person i interviewed -- eventually becoming the title of his true-life movie (as a "comfort woman" during the country's Japanese occupation). Last stop was north avenue, capped by a palm sunday mass and a trinoma dinner of chinese stir-fried noodles, cuapao, and chicken feet -- perhaps a protracted toast to finding Binondo next time around. So in all, our joy ride clocked in a half-day and covered eight cities.