Posted by: Jonathan
Sometimes when traveling in a place like the Philippines the total capacity of the beauty you are exposed to fails to sink in fully solely because the experience is abruptly interrupted by an alternate with an equal or greater "wow" factor. A day after returning from the turtle infested Apo Island, we shut ourselves in our room and stared in disbelief at the photos we have taken over the past seven weeks. Jenn took advantage of the down time and ordered room service...for every meal.
Sometimes when traveling in a place like the Philippines the total capacity of the beauty you are exposed to fails to sink in fully solely because the experience is abruptly interrupted by an alternate with an equal or greater "wow" factor. A day after returning from the turtle infested Apo Island, we shut ourselves in our room and stared in disbelief at the photos we have taken over the past seven weeks. Jenn took advantage of the down time and ordered room service...for every meal.
Our last evening in Dumaguete the hotel owner took myself and two others to a local seafood market to pick up supplies for a rooftop grill session. I picked up a 3/4 lb. yellow fin tuna fillet and another larger fillet of grouper out of sheer principal of the absurdly low price ($1.50 for ~ 2 lbs. of fish). Two of the hotel's housekeepers marinated and expertly grilled the fish while I questioned them about several of the mystery dishes I had frequented over the past two months. Turns out Sigsig (one of my favorite dishes) was stir fried pig face and vegetables...YUM!
We took an eventful string of transportation including trike, jeepney, boat, bus, and taxi to get from Dumaguete to Cebu City where we took a day off from traveling and did some shopping, went to the movies (twice in two days), and continued research for the next leg of our trip. From the Philippines we fly to Singapore where we meet my mom and travel over land with her into Malaysia for a couple of weeks.
In our almost two months here we visited 37 different islands of which roughly 50% of these were uninhabited and visited only for the day by private boat. Being that the Philippines are comprised of 7,107 islands, we only saw 0.5% of the country. Judging by what we did see, it is safe to say we will be back. The Philippines laid waste to our highest expectations and sits unattested at #1 on the charts...hopefully one of our next destinations steps up.
While traveling around we noticed some differences in the Western method and the Filipino method:
Nice movie theaters have assigned seats. You choose your seats using a screen that displays the layout of the theater, thus allowing large groups to sit together without having to show up early and squat over an expanse of seats.
There are a ton of service dogs here used to sniff people and luggage at airports, sea ports, malls, hotels, and casinos. I have found these dogs are not the same caliber as the police dogs back home. After having my bag sniffed outside of the Manila Marriott (no we were not staying just using the free shuttle) Rin Tin Tin decided he felt like humping my leg. The machine gun toting handler didn't seem to care or pull the slack up in the leash. I was forced to remove the pooch not once but twice.
Department stores in the malls have five to ten times the number of employees needed. When you walk in the door more than one associate will stay with you the whole time. This turns out to be quite annoying since they just grab things off the shelf at random and hand them to you and you have to politely decline each one and put it back on the shelf. I have come to the conclusion that their primary purpose is not to value sell but rather curb shoplifting. Just think if Home Depot or Lowe's gave you a personal employee once you entered the store, you would never aimlessly wander down their 1/4 mile aisles.
Before overnight ferries leave their ports the TVs and PA systems play the Hail Mary and other Catholic prayers for a safe passage. In addition to this, we were in a large mall shopping and all of a sudden everyone around us came to a halt and bowed their head. Again, the Hail Mary and Lord's Prayer had come on the PA and everyone (shoppers and workers alike) stopped to repeat it. Once it ended the mall came back to life like someone had just hit the play button.
Fast food places all had armed guards who opened the front door for you. They also cleaned up trays and wiped tables. There is something about leaving a mess on the table for a guy with a shotgun slung over his shoulder to clean up that just didn't feel right.
Fast food places also use real plates and silverware that they wash instead of all throwaway items.
Karaoke in the Philippines is a lot like drinking water, everyone does it, everyday. They typically sung American hits and unfortunately Justin Bieber's songs were considered "hits."
The only place in the world where a combo meal includes spaghetti, fried chicken, hamburger, and fries - all on the same plate.
The NBA is a bigger deal here than in the USA. They also have basketball courts in every town no matter how big or small.
The only sport that rivals basketball is cock fighting. Strapping razor blades to angry chickens and letting them demolish one another in a ring will draw thousands of gambling Filipinos together week after week.
In our almost two months here we visited 37 different islands of which roughly 50% of these were uninhabited and visited only for the day by private boat. Being that the Philippines are comprised of 7,107 islands, we only saw 0.5% of the country. Judging by what we did see, it is safe to say we will be back. The Philippines laid waste to our highest expectations and sits unattested at #1 on the charts...hopefully one of our next destinations steps up.
While traveling around we noticed some differences in the Western method and the Filipino method:
Nice movie theaters have assigned seats. You choose your seats using a screen that displays the layout of the theater, thus allowing large groups to sit together without having to show up early and squat over an expanse of seats.
There are a ton of service dogs here used to sniff people and luggage at airports, sea ports, malls, hotels, and casinos. I have found these dogs are not the same caliber as the police dogs back home. After having my bag sniffed outside of the Manila Marriott (no we were not staying just using the free shuttle) Rin Tin Tin decided he felt like humping my leg. The machine gun toting handler didn't seem to care or pull the slack up in the leash. I was forced to remove the pooch not once but twice.
Department stores in the malls have five to ten times the number of employees needed. When you walk in the door more than one associate will stay with you the whole time. This turns out to be quite annoying since they just grab things off the shelf at random and hand them to you and you have to politely decline each one and put it back on the shelf. I have come to the conclusion that their primary purpose is not to value sell but rather curb shoplifting. Just think if Home Depot or Lowe's gave you a personal employee once you entered the store, you would never aimlessly wander down their 1/4 mile aisles.
Before overnight ferries leave their ports the TVs and PA systems play the Hail Mary and other Catholic prayers for a safe passage. In addition to this, we were in a large mall shopping and all of a sudden everyone around us came to a halt and bowed their head. Again, the Hail Mary and Lord's Prayer had come on the PA and everyone (shoppers and workers alike) stopped to repeat it. Once it ended the mall came back to life like someone had just hit the play button.
Fast food places all had armed guards who opened the front door for you. They also cleaned up trays and wiped tables. There is something about leaving a mess on the table for a guy with a shotgun slung over his shoulder to clean up that just didn't feel right.
Fast food places also use real plates and silverware that they wash instead of all throwaway items.
Karaoke in the Philippines is a lot like drinking water, everyone does it, everyday. They typically sung American hits and unfortunately Justin Bieber's songs were considered "hits."
The only place in the world where a combo meal includes spaghetti, fried chicken, hamburger, and fries - all on the same plate.
The NBA is a bigger deal here than in the USA. They also have basketball courts in every town no matter how big or small.
The only sport that rivals basketball is cock fighting. Strapping razor blades to angry chickens and letting them demolish one another in a ring will draw thousands of gambling Filipinos together week after week.