Travel destinations: The Philippines

LostinManila — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 06:55:11 +0000

Back to The Philippines

Last year I went to the Manila in the Philippines, and the people I met and the way they have to live made me wish I could help them in some way. It tears the heart out to see such good people having to suffer so.

I love the place, and the people! As poor as most of them are, they are kind-hearted and giving, and in some cases, probably more honest than some of my neighbors here in the US.

I have a cousin, from Indiana, that lives in Manila. He stays all year, but has to leave one day out of the year, due to visa requirements. He seems happier there than he ever did in Indiana.

In Manila, the traffic is bad..I mean impossible! Still, somehow, the Taxi and Jeepney drivers are amazing. They all roar into the same intersection at breakneck speeds and at the last minute..stop! I saw very few vehicles with dents in them. Absolutely amazing, I have to say.

One day Cousin and his wife took a taxi and went to the Robinson’s Mall not far away, for groceries. For 50 dollars American you can buy more groceries than you can carry, for that you need the taxi.

Cousin and wife got the groceries and it took about 5 “sack Boys” to carry all the food out to the taxi.

After loading the groceries, Cousin offered to tip the sack boys, but they refused. Must be a new policy, because most would take it, since most are dirt poor to begin with.

On arriving back at the hotel where they live Cousin realizes he has lost his wallet..Oh Boy!

Immediately, he cancels all his credit cards, but the approximately 200 dollars in cash he had been carrying, was no doubt gone.

Two days later, much to his surprise, Cousin received a phone call from one of the sack boys at the grocery store. Apparently, after the taxi pulled away, the man found cousin’s wallet where he had dropped it.

In the Philippines, 200 dollars is a small fortune for some, and as it turned out, that was the man’s first day on the job, without a pay check coming for 2 weeks. The man and his family hadn’t had work or money for a long time…they were desperate! The man admitted to cousin that he was tempted to keep the money, but his good Catholic conscience wouldn’t let him do it. Cousin was so grateful for the money and the man’s honesty that he gave him 2500 Peso(about 50 dollars), which was half a months wages there.

When I heard the story it made me want to fly over there and shake the man’s hand.

Kind and polite is the way I would explain the people. I’m sure there are exceptions but even the police were polite. I had heard that they didn’t like Americans anymore but I found out, for the most part, it is American politics they don’t like.

I plan on going back this winter, not just because it is nice there in winter, but because I feel more relaxed there. As far as danger..it is probably more dangerous in Los Angeles, California.

Travel experiences: Philippines

LostinManila — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 21:33:00 +0000

No matter how many times I’ve come to land in Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport, at least 20 by now I would think, there is still always that sense of excitement, always that sense of impatience to re-experience and be thrilled by the beconing city of Manila!

Don, my partner of 20 years will of course be picking me up at the airport to bring the two of us to what will be our home for the next month, the budget-priced Robelle Mansions, situated in the financial district of Makati. Except for the fact that it has roaches every now and then, and the showers quickly run out of hot water, the hotel is comfortable. Besides, who’s complaining at $30- a day! Whatever physical deficiencies the hotel might have is more than compensated by its warm and friendly staff.

Don and I don’t really do anything we didn’t do during my previous visits, the usual shopping at all the malls (there seems to be new ones that sprout out after each visit), the visit to the Ayala Museum (probably the best in the country), and without doubt the most important part of the trip, the trying out of new and old restaurants to do some serious eating, eating, and more eating.

A visit to Manila would not be complete without the obligatory “out of town trip.” The choices for this are limitless. There are the mountains of Baguio of course, the beaches of Batangas, the volcano of Tagaytay, and never to be outdone, the former American naval base of Subic in Zambales, the last being where I choose to head. How can one describe Subic? As boring as this might sound, I suppose one could say it looks like any small American City located oin the West Coast. All spic and span, everything works, in fact even people’s driving habits are “americanized”. (One should ask himself however why he should go out of town to visit an “Americanizewd” city having just come from New York to begin with.) But this is another issue and yet another story.

What really comes to mind though in the course of one’s Manila visit is the simplicity of it all, how the ordinary becomes so wonderful and the routine so unusual. What was that famous saying again? The best pleasures are the simple ones?(actually I just made that up.) But how apt that saying becomes in Manila! I suppose that for the most part, the joy gotten from one’s visit has to do with being with relatives glad to see you, old friends who never really change, even the unavoidable debates and bickering that sometimes crop up.

But when a month has rushed by and its time to leave, Manila, as full of all its faults and shortcomings, is the hardest city to leave. I guess it mysteriously, mischievously grows to be part of you. Good bye Manila! Untill the next visit.

Lost in Manila» Travel Philippines

Travel destinations: The Philippines

Travel experiences: Philippines