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Philippines

Dear Friends and family,

Because it was time to go traveling again I e-mailed my friends in KL about a long weekend to the Philippines. This resulted in a long story! When you are running low in time you can find the conclusion at the end. Enjoy reading :)

Introduction of the country
The Philippines consist of 7170 islands and is the world's 12th most populous country with a population of approaching 90 million people. 90% is Christian and around 10% of the population lives abroad. The country was formerly a Spanish then an American colony with a short Japanese occupation. The Philippines ultimately gained its independence from the United States on July 4, 1946. In 1992 it was the first time that no foreign country was based on their land since the 16th century. About the politics it’s hard to find real facts but most people say that it’s very corrupted, same as the police and everyone ells in power.

Friday the start
Friday morning we took of with 5 off us to the Clark airport in the Philippines, an old American air basis, the flight took 4 hours. A pickup was waiting for us, which brought us to Subic Bay, a place on the west coast. Not the best beach but the easiest one in our tight schedule. This place was a chock to us, mostly because of a typhoon in front of the coast. This resulted in bas weather with rain, wind and a rough see. Old European’s and young girls mostly occupied the resort we stayed. We had a lot of fun and kept our eyes and ears open for all the new things we experienced. The ATM was 30 min. away in a tricycle, this is a motorcycle with a small sidecar connected to it for a max. of 2 persons. Or at least that’s what I would say but the max. we saw was 7 persons!!

Saturday
After a short sleep I waked up the rest to take of to Malila, the capital. Because the weather was so bad wasn’t it necessary to stay longer in Subic Bay. Tim and Ted where waiting for us in Manila where we found a cheap hotel. Sanne the only girl of the group and I walked around in the city while the rest visit a Dutch bar and enjoyed a massage. This was an eye opening experience for us. The suburbs of Manila where bad but even in the center where a lot of people just living on the streets. Everywhere you walk kids approach you, begging for money, some are friendly others are hanging on your leg. Mostly with there parents on the background or in small kids gangs.
We checked out a few stalls where they sold branded shoes for 5 euro or maybe you want to buy some child porn for less then one euro?

The night was great, only don’t go to the Havana club (loud music, bad service and food and expensive) and we visit a nightclub to complete our experience. This was a weird and expensive moment, so after half an hour we took a taxi to a more normal place. Not everyone was able to feel good, it’s weird that you spent money on a dinner with drinks, take taxis, stay in a good hotel while next door kids are playing in the garbage. I was surprised how easy I took it, yes it’s sad to see, yes I would like to help them, yes the world is unfair but I can’t help them by giving some money. I believe in solving this problem in a more structural way. For example with a project like Microcredit.

Sunday
The night was short again but we manage to get up early and make our way to an old Spanish town in the city centre. This is one of the few tourist points to see. The town was surrounded with a city wall with beautiful old Spanish houses and the oldest church in the Philippines. The streets here where empty, no kids or people trying to earn a few Peso’s. This could have been a great tourist attraction but it just wasn’t. I think they don’t have the knowledge our just don’t want to put the effort in it to make it successful. We hoped in a Jeepney, this is a small van made out of the left over American jeeps of the Second World War. When you are not rich you need to be creative! The city is packed with Jeepneys, one more beautiful (pimped) than the other wan. All of them function like a bus with a set route. It’s an experience on it’s own and definitely something that makes the Philippines unique.
The Jeepney brought us to a local cockfight. This was a big happening in an arena with more then 500 people. Sitting on the first row gave us a clear view on the fight pit. A cockfight is nothing more than 2 cocks placed together in a glass pit. Both cocks have a small knife at their leg to speed things up. Place your bed and let the fight begin. The fight is over when one cock is dead, or at least almost dead. On my Facebook you will find a small movie of a fight. It was an impressive experience and you can mostly compare this with the bullfights in Spain, also the different opinions of this event are the same.

After loosing a few Peso’s did we took off to the hotel. From here it was the case to arrange a van to Angeles city (nickname Angel City). Because we had an airplane to catch Monday morning and the travel time can vary a lot time by time. We just didn’t want to take our chances by traveling in the morning.

Trip from Manila to Angeles City
It was hard to find a van for 7 people with luggage, especially one that fits in tall Europeans. After a while and a lot of help from “friends”, of course for a small fee, we got a Jeepney, the crappies one in town. Traveling in the second gear, because the third was broken, a flat tire, empty gas tank and driving only on the local roads slowed us down a lot. Instead of the 2,5 / 3 hour drive did it take us 6 hours!! But the trip was one I will often share with friends in the future. Sitting on 2 benches opposite of each other made us able to have a chat or to play a card game. While doing this we saw the city, suburbs and courtside passing by. Conclusion is that the Philippines are extremely poor and the unemployment rate must be extremely high. The government states it’s only 7% I think it’s closer to 70% if you call a bagger unemployed as well.

Angeles City
This city has to offer 2 things, first a night market that we missed because of the last arrival and second gogo bars. Go go bars are full with girls and a few foreigners. This is a left over of the American basis (Clark) that was situated next to the town. We did some bar hopping to experience the atmosphere on our own. Some of us felt great in these bars, some not. It’s crazy to be in a city where the local economy is driven on sex. I guess that there where more than 1000 girls in the town mostly working to support their family in the countryside. After a few drinks was I grumpy and went to bed to get some sleep. Monday morning we took our plane back home to KL.

Conclusion
The Philippino’s are great people, they are happy on there own way. They speak very well English and are always in for a chat. I don’t blame them but at the same time they try to get as much money out of you where possible. 95% (or more) of the tourist are only there for sex. The cities are ugly and dirty while the nature must be beautiful only haven’t I seen much of it. If I ever get the change to go back here I would forget about the cities and go for the nature. At the end I would like to say this. It’s unbelievable how lucky you can be to be born in Europe or a other rich parts of the world. Here we complain sometimes about the silliest things, while people (and not just a few) on the other site of the world, are struggling to get some food on the table. The trip was great, we had a lot of fun but at the same time I have a feeling that I can’t place yet…..

Groeten Bas

Ps. The price winner of a post card is my aunt Joke from Barchem. Congratulations!!