TRAVEL: MABUHAY WELCOME TO THE PHILIPPINES

HOW WOULD YOU KNOW YOU HAVE ARRIVED IN THE PHILIPPINES?

Well here are the things you should see, upon your arrival here, that will give you an indication you are already in the Philippines. This blog post is intended for those people who haven't been to the Philippines ever. Not ever. Because if you've been to the Philippines already or you live here in our country then this blog post is not for you. I wrote this for those foreigners who wants to come to the Philippines as sort of a guide of what to expect when they arrive here. Not only for foreigners but for Filipinos born in foreign countries like the USA who may want to come to the Philippines. This post is for you. I hope you enjoy reading it.

IN THE AIRPORT

So you are a foreigner you rode your plane left your country and flew to the Philippines for the first time. The plane landed on the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) and as you go out the airport you will see a throng of people in the waiting area outside. And you will think are all these people riding the planes? The answer is no. three-fourths of the people there are greeters of passengers. They are all relatives who greets their love ones who just arrived from abroad. Or they are relatives who went with the passenger who is leaving the country. Usually a passenger brings along a van or jeep full of relatives to send them to the airport. For those leaving the country this is the last chance that they will see this relative who have been with them since birth and now he is leaving alone to another country. This is an emotional thing for the Filipinos. Seeing their love ones leaving them. Its like they are dying and they would not see them again. That is how painful for Filipinos to see a relative leave. So you will probably see crying and hear shouts of "Ba-bye, ingat ka lagi doon ha? Kumain ka lagi." these are reminders of love. The last words that a passenger will cherish while he/she is abroad. And that's the first sign you are already in Philippines.

IN THE STREETS 

Now you have seen all the drama in the airport. You are about to go out and into the streets. You are greeted by the Manila Traffic. As you go out you will feel the heat in the air. The smell of carbon from vehicles. And the sound of loud horns from cars and jeepneys. You might ask what the hell is a jeepney? Well a jeepney is a public transport here in the Philippines. Not unlike in other countries you only have taxis right? Here we have a lot. We have Jeepneys. Some foreigners calls them a small bus. Just because they look like small busses that can carry at least 30 people in one ride. yes 30 people! You wont miss them in the streets.  They are the king of Manila roads. They are multicolored. They are loud, the machine and their

horns, inside and out. They usually have loud stereos amplifiers and speakers installed inside for entertainment for the passengers while travelling. Warning: The ceiling of these jeepneys are very low so be careful in mounting. Be sure to walk in with your head down low so as not to bump your head on anything inside the jeep. The jeepneys. They are the cheapest form of transportation in the Philippines. Fare rates from 8 pesos up. depends on the distance of your destination. Word of caution though when riding these jeepneys, you must really know your destination or else there is a possibility that the driver will forget the place you told them to go to. These Jeepneys are fast! Next thing you know you are already far away lost in a place you do not know. And the driver does not care sometimes. Thats the next sign you are in the Philippines. The Traffic and the Jeepneys. But if you think you are lost in Manila Streets, dont panic just approach a traffic aide in the middle of the streets or a police they will be willing to help you. Do not go around asking to unknown people in the streets thy might be snatchers. So ask for help to uniformed police or traffic aides.

"But poor as we may be, we are coping up with our poverty. We are doing something to ease the pains of poverty. And we are not giving up. We never stop striving to have a better life. Maybe not today. But someday."

 

IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD

Well you are on your way to your friends house in this certain neighborhood. This could be a village, a subdivision, or a street. You asked for directions of your friend's house and they told you to ride a tricycle ( pronounced as "traysikel") and they will tell you where to get one. The Philippine tricycle is not your 3 wheeled bike you rode when you were a kid like this one in the photo. Thats your trainer bike you rode when you were still a kid still learning to ride the bike. No that is not the tricycle I am referring to. You might ask how would a tricycle like this one would take me to my friends house? I will

pedal my way there? Preposterous! You are right it is preposterous! The Tricycle I am referring to is a Motorcycle with an attached sidecar with one wheel. That makes it a tricycle. The two wheels of the motorbike and the one wheel of the sidecar where the passenger usually rides. The picture on the left is a perfect example of the Philippine Tricycle. Look. For a foreigner who are big this could look small for you. But believe me you will fit inside easily if you know what part of the body you will put inside first. The best way to mount a tricycle is butt first. Yes stick your butt first inside then followed by your legs then your body. And you slam your butt on the seat and you are ready to go! But if you are kinda small go in with your head first then followed by your legs then your body. Thats the tricycle for you there. Another sign that tells you, you are already in the Philippines.

AS YOU TRAVEL THE NEIGHBORHOOD 

 

Well you are already traveling  to your friend's house cramped 
inside this little contraption called the tricycle with all your baggage and you, stucked inside the little space of the sidecar. You can barely move but you can see outside the details of a Philippine neighborhood. The first thing you will notice are the many children playing on the streets. Yes, as in many! They play in the streets as if they own the street themselves. It is the vehicles, sometimes, that has to stop infront of a playing child  who are not afraid to be hit by them. They will only realize the presence of the vehicles if its already beside them. Thats just the time they will move away. They are that tough. Then you went pass the kids on the

street. You will notice a group of men or young boys running in the middle of the street. No it's not a rumble or something like that. They are just playing basketball. You may ask. What? Basketball in the middle of the street? I will answer. Yes! Basketball playing in the middle of the street. Just like the kids, these men or young boys play basketball on the street as if they own the street. They sometimes ignore the vehicles passing by. How do they play on the streets? You might ask. Well they will make a court, get a long wood post, nail the court there and dig on the ground and put up the court. And there is your basketball court on the streets. Usually every street has a basketball court. That's is how Filipinos love playing basketball. Thats a sign you are in the Philippines.

INSIDE THE HOUSE

 

And you finally reached your friend's house. He greeted you welcome and lets you in their house. Do not be surprised to see a big fork and spoon wall decor in the kitchen. That is a staple decor in most Filipino houses here in the Philippines. It symbolizes food. Why? because we filipinos love to entertain with food. A sample of that wall decor to the right. Yeah they are that big. So you and  your friend exchanged pleasantries and he offered you something to eat or drink as refreshments from your traveling. You said yes and your friend called his little brother to buy "softdrinks" and bread in the "sari-sari" store. What is softdrink? You might ask. Well softdrink is Soda for you in the states, in the likes of coca-cola or pepsi. But here we have cheaper brand of soda. We have pop-cola or RC cola. They are much cheaper than the international brands. And what is a Sari-sari store? a Sari-Sari

store is like your convenience store in the states. It is located almost everywhere in the Philippines. In every street you will find at least 2 to 3 sari-sari stores in the Philippines. Yes a lot. They are very convenient because they have almost everything you need in the house. Like canned goods, condiments, rice, "chichiria" or junkfood., breads, candies, school supplies, hardware, cellphone load etcetera. For example you forgot to buy a certain item when you were downtown. You could find it in the sari-sari store. Sari-sari is the tagalog term for variety. Because you could find a variety of things in these stores. But in case one store doesn't have the item that you want you can always go to the next store. That is how convenient they are. 

AND WHEN THE NIGHT FALLS

 

So time passed by, night came. It is almost quiet outside. But the silence was cut short by a sudden shout from outside. It is a voice of a man shouting a long cry of "baloooooooot". What

the hell was that you might ask? Do not panic again. It is just a "Balut" vendor. he is a

walking vendor yelling balut. But what is a balut? A balut is the egg of a duck who is almost hatching. Meaning an almost well grown duckling inside the egg is cooked or boiled. This produces a soupy like syrup inside the egg when slurped, makes a loud sound and has a tasty treat at that. How about the duckling inside? You have to put salt and eat the duckling. It taste good actually. That is what a balut vendor sells. He usually roams around the streets of the village around 9pm till the wee hours of the morning. he never stops shouting along the way. so do not panic when you hear the shouting of a friendly balut vendor in the streets during late at night. You want to see what a balut looks like? look at the picture below. That is what a balut looks like. Yummy isn't it? Yes  it might look gross to you but in fairness to the balut it really

taste delicious! A little weird looking but its like chicken soup. As of this writing I am craving for balut right now. How come I dont hear a balut vendor when you need one. Any way thats is enough for the balut.

AS YOU WALK DOWN THE VILLAGE

Now the first night passed by, the next morning around 10 am you decided to walk down the village to explore some more about the Philippines. As you walk down the street you will find kids and adult alike gathering in one corner of the street. You wonder what is happening down there. So you decided to approach the small crowd and you will notice a "fishball" vendor vending small pieces of barbecue sticks to customers and these customers are like punching holes down a small heated wok with lots of cooking oil and swimming filled with fishballs. They are actually flour mixed with fish meat rolled into balls. The vendor also have "kikiam" the brown thing made

also of fish meat. And also bite size hotdogs. A piece of fisball cost 1 peso each the kikiam also 1 peso and the hotdogs around 2 pesos. Kids love this treat. They always wait for the arrival of this fishball vendor and they scamper fast when they see one. And also adults love fishballs. The fishball vendor does not walk like the balut vendor. he rides a bicycle with an attached sidecar. This sidecar a multipurpose sidecar. It serves as the cooking area and selling area of the vendor. Here he got a mini stove built in with a  small LPG tank underneath. Way up front are the dipping sauce of your choice. There is the vinegar dip with onions. Theres the sauce dip made of soysauce and starch. and theres the soysauce and vinegar dip with lots and lots of onions! most of the dips are very spicy so be careful in choosing the dip. Thats the fishball vendor for you. Try the fishballs and kikiam they are yummy.

AS YOU GO DEEPER INTO THE NEIGHBORHOOD

 

So after the fishball incident you walk down deeper the neighborhood and you see two things. First: the junkshops. Junk shops are literally everywhere here in the Philippines. They buy scrap items like empty bottles, plastic bottles, scrap metals, paper, cardboard, wood. Name it these junkshop buys it. They are the source of income of most of the poor people here in the Philippines. The money they get from selling these scrap items is where they get to buy the food for the family. These junkshop owners also get good money when they sell these scrap items to companies that buys recycable materials. Thats why these junk shops are a vital part of the daily life of poor families here in the Philippines. So do not be surprised if you see many junk shops here in the Philippines. I said two things what is the other thing you see in the neighborhood? The second thing is The "Ukay-Ukay" stalls. The Ukay -Ukay word stands for rummage. So an Ukay-Ukay store is a rummage store. As you approach these stalls they all you can see are clothes, mostly

T-shirts hanged in hangers all over the place. You might think they are laundry being dried outside. No they are clothes, old clothes, second hand clothes, sold for a small price. Where do these clothes come from. Well most of them comes from surplus items abroad. From salvation armies, and from Divisoria. The bargain mecca here in the Philippines. That's in Manila. These ukay-ukay are lucrative business here because it need s little or no amount of capital.  Because they only get their stocks so cheap because they are second hands. And they sell the shirt with price ranges from 10 pesos to 150 pesos. Thats your ukay-ukay store. Try rummaging their t-shirts you will be surprised you will find signature items like channel, Tommy Hilfiger, Polo Ralph Lauren, addidas and some other well know brands. yes original brands, selling so cheap. They also have shoes, bags, belts, everything that you need. It is the shopping center for the poor.

THAT IS MY LITTLE TOUR OF THE PHILIPPINES

Hope you have learned from these stories of what can you expect when you come visiting our country, The Philippines. What have we learned from this short tour? That the Philippines is generally a poor country. We cannot deny that. But poor as we may be, we are coping up with our poverty. We are doing something to ease the pains of poverty. And we are not giving up. We never stop striving to have a better life. Maybe not today. But someday. Along the way we remain resilient and happy even in our poor environment. That's the Philippines I grew up on. And that's the Philippines I am very proud of. 

Be sure to take note of the things you need to look for in the Philippines. If you saw these things, you can proudly say to yourself...I HAVE ARRIVED IN THE PHILIPPINES! 

Happy trip to the Philippines my friend! 

Mabuhay!