Chocolate, Strawberry or Manila

There's lots to do, I'm so far behind. This traveling and working shit is really getting in the way of my spewing nonsense into cyberspace. My day in pictures is coming, already did my picture per 37 minute day. There will be an entire post about annoyances at work and I'd like to start adding restaurant reviews.

Oh, and I'll write about Bali - we just got done with that too!

But this, this is my Manila blog. I spent a long time noodling over this piece. I usually log in with a rough sketch of the blog in my head, but this one was particularly difficult.

I left the Philippines (eventually) with some very strong opinions - both positive and negative - but I was only there for (not in the airport or a cheap hotel) 36 hours. I landed, slept twice, and left for the airport in 36 hours. How can you make a fair assessment of a country, a culture, even a city in that amount of time. Would we all not be outraged if someone came out of a trip to the US and said the place sucked, only having seen Newark for 36 hours? So I have to be fair, separate the people from the economics, the culture from the crime rate, and the Philippines from the Philippine Airlines.

Read in - it was not smooth sailing home.

The number one thing I took away from The Philippines - Filipinos are an extremely warm, friendly, welcoming people. In a country so overwhelmed with poverty, crime, gross overpopulation, when you talk to a random person out and about, they are just plain nice. This is NOT something you get in Singapore. I also appreciated the Filipino's ability to walk within a large group or confined space or both. Again - they got S'pore beat by a kilometer. They also speak English better than any other population we've encountered - course they were ours for 46 years. This may explain the recent surge in US companies outsourcing so much to the Philippines. That and the economics - see below.

Here's an example of their warmth. It's a beautiful Saturday afternoon, you are standing outside your country's cathedral having just been married and you're taking your wedding pictures. Between you and your photographer stops a van. Out of said van, spills MY ass sightseeing. Shorts and flops, camera, Patriots hat, I mean, I really assholed it up. You brides out there - think of the names and objects you would have heaved in my direction. What happened? Groom looks at me, and yells "You're late! It's about time - I hope you brought a nice present!" We're in one of their pictures. I can't make this up, the next wedding in the church had already started and Kellie and I *LITERALLY* walked into the church after the maid of honor and before the bride. She seriously let us sneak in, whole room looking at us. Hand to God. That. Happened. Welcome to our country, welcome to our church.

The Philippines is overcrowded, there's really no other way to frame what's happening there. 70% of the population is poor. Flash forward: I'm trying to get home and I'm stuck in the airport and no one takes credit cards, there's no banks, and I only have 42 pesos, I can't even buy a coke because it's 50 pesos (US$1.16). Minimum wage in the Philippines is 426 pesos (US$9.30) a day. 8 Cokes. Of the other 30% - 5% are insanely wealthy. Of that 25% that's considered middle class, 19% is LOWER middle-class.
Wanna know why?
San Francisco, CA (City and County) is 231 square miles and has a population of roughly 825K people
Singapore - 253 sq miles - population is 2 Boeing 747 loads short of 5M people
Metro Manila - 246 sq miles - population, we're told, is around 15M. 15,000,000. One metro area. Jobs? Come on.

The Philippines has another ~9,000,000 nationals living and working in other countries. Wanna know why? V, our housekeeper, is from The Philippines. We pay her S$50 (US$40.20) for 4 hours of work every week. That's over 17,000 Pesos, or 4.25 DAYS at minimum wage in the Philippines. In 4 days in 4 hours. THAT is why she sees her kids twice a year. That is why she thanks me when she comes.

Public transportation in Philippines is by Jeepney. Could talk all day, but pictures say it all. Google Image search Jeepney or check this out: http://www.stuartxchange.org/Jeepney.html

Some things you should be prepared for if you go to Manila:
- Dogs: They are at the front of every hotel, some office buildings and malls. They are working. However, if you give them some attention, they are absolute cupcakes
- Guns: They are in front of every hotel, office building, malls and stores. The man who opened the door for us at Starbucks held a shotgun. Dogs and guns are both a security measure, but also a status symbol for establishments. It deters some crime, but also reduces unemployment.
- Traffic - TONS of traffic. They drive on the right hand side of the road. They also drive big vehicles, saw some good ole Ford trucks. Rule of the road is "fill in the blank" - meaning - they can turn 3 lanes into 7.
- Go when Manny Pacquiao has a fight, it's quieter, no crime, no traffic. He was fighting while I was leaving (at first) and he won (thank God). He's a national hero, everyone in the country is so proud of him. If you have a chance, read up on him, pretty remarkable dude, er, congressman.

We did take a tour, and we did get to see some really great places. There's a United States War Cemetery in Manila. It's the second largest United States Military Cemetery in the World after Arlington. 17,000 victims of WWII are buried there, Filipino and American, side by side, a white marble cross for each one. Names listed in the monument, pretty powerful stuff. We also saw some of the older parts of Manila. The challenge, again, is that it's a poor city and it's overcrowded - so tours sit in traffic, finding places you want to show people, isn't that easy. I can honestly say, I had a hard time with it - but Anthony, our Guide, was PROUD of his city, proud of their heroes, I saw HIS Manila, and it was rich with history.

But their airline is a FREAKING disaster. Would I go back to the Philippines? Hmm - if I could get out of the city, see the "country?" Maybe. But my ass is going SINGAPORE AIRLINES.

Kellie and I also got to see my Uncle who happened to be in Manila, AT the same hotel for dinner while we were there. Our first real taste of home, it was great. Thank you Uncle Donald! Come back soon!

How did Boston Rob win Survivor? Holy crap