rall i feel, kinda mixed up country. Mixed of rags and riches. As you travel along the streets of the phils, you'll see some old school buildings and then right beside you'll see a totally new building like a famous fast food restaurant or a branded retail store. Very mixed up ideas. Apparently there's a lot of Spanish influence here. The language and the names. Very Spanish-like. On the 1st day, we went to this 'Taka' kind of place, it's called 'Greenbelt'. Had 4 diff towers and branded outlets all around. Apparently it's newly-built. Most people in the phils are Catholic, so on arrival of the shopping center, we were greeted by this outdoor Sunday mass where there were a lot of people gathered to listen to this priest and offered prayers. What a sight. We then started mixing around with some locals and found out that they were such nice people. And then i also found out tt they take English as a 2nd language here so language wasn't really a problem. Our dinner was at this place called, 'Teriyaki boyz' as we didn't know what local cuisine to try yet so we juz settled with Jap food. Cheap and nice i guess.
When we reached our hotel, i was amazed by the amount of good service that they showed us, very energetic, very cheerful. And we saw that the security over here is really tight. The shopping malls had guards at every exit even the 7-11 had one on duty there. Dunno what's up with this country also man. By far this was the hotel that was the most spacious compared to the rest of the countries. Luxurious. And because 'twas a sunday that we arrived there, because of the fact that our place was in the business district, it was like a desert town. Th families were all at home and nobody would be travelling at the business district on a sunday. When i asked reception whether it'
d be the same the next morning, she said, 'Oh no'. Her point was proven the next morning.
We were greeted by this heavy flow of traffic on the road that was right in front of our place. At the school we were greeted by a very hyperactive group of students and teachers. In the phils, there's a saying that everyone there knows how to sing very well. So we were greeted by a doxology, a song of prayers and also dance items. Really interesting to see a touch of their culture. And you can really tell they tt they put
in effort in preparing all these nice performances for us. In the 2nd school we were actually brought to this model house. Apparently this house was made for their Home Economics lessons where the students are required to know the diff parts of the house and also know how to upkeep the house. It had the full package, toilet, living rm. Dining rm, kitchen and there was where we were served their local food. One of it looked like mee goreng and there was salad. And then this soft round thingy that was coated with coconut flakes. All tasted not bad, partly cause we were quite hungry actually, haha.
I was talking to this t'cher who was asking me whether so far anyone mistook me for Filipino, then i said yes. And i asked her another question, 'do i look like filipino cause of my skin color or do i haf the features too?'. Then she said i had all the features too. Haiz... when will it ever stop?
In thailand there is the tuk-tuk, in the phils there is the jeepney. Apparently modified from this very old military jeeps which were left in the phils a long time ago. Now they are very nicely decorated and they serve as a main source of public transport there, as mini buses, very widely utilized. We were then brought by Claire (translator from S'pore Embassy) and Mr Lum Bert (Arts and Dance representative of Philippines) to these few very old buildings. Old cathedrals and old spanish buildings which might crumble at any pt of time. It was really like a walk down history as we were walking in those places. They were really great tour g
uides and kept on saying that it was such a waste that we were there only for a short time if not they would have been able to show us more. Claire was sharing with me about the different types of dances that the different parts of the phils was practising. The north (stingy), central (rich and generous) and the south (stand-off). Their characters all showed in the way they dance with their hands. I'd definitely wanna come back and witness their traditional folk dances.
Philippines i felt was a country full of its culture and the arts. Even though their library was very old, their walls were liked with artworks and paintings that it didnt look very old at all. It looked beautiful. We were then treated to more local food that evening and then we were given a taste of their so-called delicacy, 'Balut Saputi'. It's actually a hard-boiled egg which had a one-day old embryo growing in it. 
I was forced to eat it with Claire but i was totally disgusted by the idea. The taste was ok but looking at it and knowing that this chick could have been born into a chicken if i hadnt eaten it, made me turned off.
Made our way to Baseco after that, a small built-up village for a big group of Filipinos who were made homeless due to a recent disaster. Their homes were actually funded by overseas Filipino workers who gave donations for them to have a home to live in. To just see the joy that we were able to bring to them in that evening makes one feel very warm inside. To know that even though they were living in such a harsh condition, there were grateful enough to welcome everythin that anyone was willing to share with them and they still lived a happy life with their families, neighbours and friends. Wished i could have done more to help them.
I'm definitely coming back to The Philippines.
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