Where on earth..?

Last day in philippines

It was fun as long as it lasted but it is time to say good bye to Philippines. My feelings of the Philippines must be as divided as the Philippines in general. I was a bit unsure what to expect when coming in here but my general opinnion was that this must me quite like Saigon with some touch of unfamiliar culture. What I didn't expect was that I was about to enter a whole new world - a lifestyle I had never seen before.

First of all the whole country is devided in two. There are the rich and there are the poor. This apply as much to the people as to the places. In one place you may see a beaty unlike anywhere in the world and right beside is the most smelling sewege or a the ugliest waste mountain you can think of. Same goes with the people. On the same street you may see one of the rich entering a huge 4x drive city jeep and then there's this poor bastard begging for a peso or two to buy the only meal of the day. There are skyscrapers and there are the homeless living on the streets. And they all live side by side on the same blocks.

One of the things worth mentioning is the attitude of the peoples. The whole country seems to be living their lives according to a simplest rule. Don't care! This is for the good and for the bad. In a way it is strange to see that the people in Philippines doesn't seem to know the word stress. Really! They don't bother to stress them selves about mere mortal things like a hole in the roof, getting a job done or even going from one place to another in a some predicted time. Life goes on and jumping up and down is not going to help you. On the bad side is that the whole in the roof won't be fixed, the job is not going to be done and most sertainly you wont get from one place to another in some predictable time. So, if you ever get to Philippines.. Remember to smile and laugh and remember to leave a day or two before your flight.

Generally the peoples in the Philippines are kind and can be trusted (unless money is an issue). Also it helps that almost all of the philipino speak english fluently. If not for the stupid hangaround males with nothing usefull to say I would almost open heartedly suggest you to visit the Philippines. Almost..

What else? Beer is cheap, sometimes cheaper that a bottle of water. The Filipino food can be described as not worth it. The normal Filipino food in its simplest is plain white rice. With more money you get a grilled stick of beef, liver or chicken. If you're lucky you may get the meat spiced with a satay type of sauce. For example in Romblon the market places had some vegetables for sale but where ever you looked for a meal the one thing missing was vegetables. We didn't figure out at what time or on what occasions they eat the vegetables. Only if you go into a bit more touristic place you might be able to make an side order of vegetables or even get a small portion of mixed vege on your plate.

Toilets. CR is for comfort room and means a place with a toilet seat. That's it. As usual in countries like this they don't use toilet paper. Sometimes they don't even have water in the toilet to wash your hands or ahem.. clean your private places after you're done. No kidding! This is for real! Keep in mind to check before you go if you need to bring your own paper and most of all to make sure you have a place to wash your hands afterwards as the hygiene is not an everyday option in here.

Money and prices are an unknown variable. check for http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haggling for more.

Manila, Manila.. a mixture of the rich and the poor. Clean shopping malls, high hotel buildings and then the dust and dirt on the streets. It's a chaotic place where people get shot, robbed or tortured daily. There are ten million people living in Manila and the money is not evenly divided. Drug lords, business man and politicians rule the elite world and the poor, sometimes homeless people are the slaves of the city. There are places you should avoid in Manila, perheps too many places to be mentioned in here. This doesn't mean you shouldn't go wondering the streets but using your own good sense is adviced. The killings are mostly between the police, the drug lords, business men and the politicians so the turists are mostly free to roam safely through the city. Manila is a place worth seeing but i cannot suggest it for a longer stay.

It is hard to describe Philippines. It's a strange mixture of things and two weeks is not even close enough to understand the people and their culture. I might need to return to this place someday but at the moment I am more than happy to leave the dirt and dust behind and head for new adventures.

posted by Raine @ 3:36 PM