The Phillipines
They sure are friendly in Manila! And it didn’t take long for me to find out just how friendly……
We arrived in Manila quite late on Thursday, March 12th on a connecting flight from Luang Prabang through Bangkok. When we arrived at our hotel, Melanie went inside with our bags and I stood around outside for just a bit. Within minutes, a very nicely dressed young woman came over to me and struck up a conversation. “Where are you from?” she asked. Now I’m a friendly guy, so I don’t know exactly why, but a conversation I had with a friend of mine probably 30 years ago suddenly popped into my head.
At the time, I must have been in my early thirties, and I was excited, but a little nervous, as I was about to take my first trip to Las Vegas with a group of about a dozen guys. A friend of mine, who I worked with at the time, had just been there, so I figured I’d ask him what to expect. The conversation went something like this:
“Don’t worry” he said, “You’ll have a great time.”
“Anything to worry about?” I inquired.
“Just be careful of the “working girls” at the bars” he cautioned.
Since, compared to me, he was a seasoned Vegas traveller, and thinking there might be some subtle tips I should be ready to pick up on, I asked him “if I’m sitting at a bar in Vegas, how will I know if a girl is a “working girl”?
Without pausing for even a second he replied “That’s easy. If she’s talking to you, she’s definitely a working girl!”
My ego is still bruised! But I’m pretty sure the advice holds here in Manila as well, so I tucked tail and followed Melanie into the hotel.
Moving right along…..A couple of interesting Filipino tidbits for you: the Philippines is a country of over 115 million people, comprised of over 7,000 islands (about 2,000 of which are inhabited). The median age in the Philippines is just over 26 years old, as compared to over 39 years old in the U.S. (and 50 years old in Japan!). That must be why Filipinos hold the record for spending more time on social media daily than any other nationality - averaging nearly 10 hours a day online!
Manila is the world’s most densely populated city - over 70,000 people per square kilometer! That’s over 190,000 per square mile. By comparison it makes Manhattan seem sparsely populated, with a density of “only” 75,000 people per square mile! Crazy…. The neighborhoods of Manila that attract the most Western tourists are Makati, which is filled with endless high end shopping malls (my vision of hell) and a skyline reminiscent of New York City
and BGC, a relatively new master-planned neighborhood that is a magnet for expats due to, among other things, its vibrant nightlife. Here we are having what passes for a “cultural experience” with our friends who live in BGC and teach at the International School there
We only had a couple of days in Manila, but we did make a point of venturing out to visit Intramuros, or the “Walled City”, which is the oldest district of Manila founded in 1571 by the Spanish. The Spanish controlled the Philippines for 333 years, from 1565 to 1898, when it was sold to the U.S. for $20 million as part of the treaty which ended the Spanish-American War. Much of Intramuros, and the 4.5 km of defensive walls surrounding it, were destroyed in WWII, but have largely been restored (with the exception of the moat that once surrounded the walls - its now a golf course!)
We also had a nice stroll through Rizal Park, one of the largest urban parks in Asia, where the independence of the Philippines from the U.S. was proclaimed on July 4, 1946
Though the Philippines are no longer an American colony, we certainly left our mark behind with ubiquitous American cultural landmarks like McDonald’s, Denny’s, 7-11, Starbucks, KFC, Dunkin’, Wendy’s and Krispy Kreme, to name just a few!
From Manila it was on to Malapascua - a tiny island off the tip of Cebu in the Central Visayas region of the Philippines, the only place in the world where you can dive with thresher sharks. Thresher sharks are sometimes referred to as the most distinctive predators in the ocean, best known for a tail that can be as long as their entire body. They use their tails as a whip to stun or kill their prey. While they typically live at depths of 200+ meters, off of Malapascua they visit underwater plateaus - “cleaning stations” - that are only 20-30 meters deep where small fish called cleaner wrasses clear their skin of parasites. They are a very cool sight to see!
And while they have a reputation for being extremely shy, for whatever reason they seemed to have no problem getting quite close to us! This one swam within just a few meters of Melanie
And one of these two swam right behind me while I was busy watching his companion
We departed Malapascua yesterday and arrived in what you may have heard is a very wet Honolulu. We’ll be spending the next 10 days or so here on Oahu, the Big Island and Kauai before heading home on April 1st (guess that makes us Fools!).
By the time we get home from this trip we will have been on 18 airplanes and stayed in 38 different accommodations! Living out of suitcase has pretty much become second nature…..But its been another super fun, interesting and educational adventure - I might even say it’s been EPIC!
Thanks for coming along for the ride, if only vicariously!
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