Philippines update

Now that I’ve been home for almost a week, it’s time I gave you an update on my trip to the Philippines. In short, I had a very enjoyable time. I LOVE exploring new areas. In terms of work it wasn’t a very productive trip, but personally it was very enriching.

My first impression of Manila was about the driving. Traffic is a madhouse and gridlock is the norm. Road signs and traffic signals are just contributions to a canvas of creative driving art that is limited only by the imagination of the driver. But since everyone drives very defensively there seem to be fewer accidents than I saw in Bamako or Dar es Salaam on average.

The second impression was about their advertising. I have never seen such profligate use of giant billboards. They are enormous—many looming more than 5 storeys above the street. One might find some Freudian reasoning to argue that the size of the billboard is indirectly proportional to the size of the people.

General impressions are numerous. For example, the public transportation in Manila is conducted through the use of what is now my favorite mode in the developing world. Every developing country I’ve visited has its own form of local interpretation of moving people around. One of the universal traits is that they are driven by young, brash hooligans who own the road and tear about with abandon. In the Philippines, these buses are called Jeepneys, the name and design of which are inspired by the American military vehicles of WWII. But that is where the similarities end. Jeepneys are school-bus long, made of shiny metal and gaudily decorated.



I would love to create an encyclopedia of the different designs. You’ll find religious themes, Hollywood themes, and political themes. The most incongruous characteristic found on all Jeepneys is the following sign:



This sign never failed to evoke a chuckle from me.

I found Filipinos to be a very polite, warm, beautiful people. Their children are adorable. They dress modestly and cook some wonderful foods. The best food I found was bibingka. It is a Christmas treat that tastes like an egg custard with coconut on top. Ferino’s is the purported best brand of bibingka.



The fried baby crabs aren’t bad. They are eaten whole, shell and all, and taste crunchy bland. Hot sweet bean curd soup was undoubtedly very healthy, but not the greatest.
The peanut sauce soup with tripe was tasty. And I loved the various sticky rice pastries.

Filipinos love malls and Christmas. Malls are numerous, enormous and packed every day. It was pointed out that the few parks in the Manila metro area are found in Manila itself. None of the other cities have any. Therefore the only place that families and couples have to spend time together outside of the home are the malls or villages in the provinces. And since the villages aren’t air conditioned, malls are the most popular place to hang out. Even in early November the Christmas decorations and cheesy music were already in force. Christmas lasts through the –ber months (any month that ends in ‘ber’) and ends in the –ary months. I, too, spent a lot of my evenings there exploring, people watching and shopping. It was a lot more enjoyable than sitting in my hotel room wishing Carolyn and Célia Marie were with me.

At the mall I found a couple of food providers that seemed made to attract my pesos.



and



Finally, I came across the most hearteningly optimistic fellow one hot afternoon.