Randoman's Philippines Trip Impressions

[Randoman]

With my recent trip to the Philippines and me wanting to share as much as I can with various friends of mine on SF, I figured I should just make one official thread for it, rather than copy and paste the same PM for each member. So in this thread, I'll tell you about a lot of the things I learned/saw in the Philippines. Feel free to ask questions, comment (though keep them respectful and tactful), or have me clarify things. Keep in mind, I've lived a majority of my life in North America, so go easy on me if I sound ignorant in the things I talk about. Also, please refrain from political talk and discussion/comments like "so-and-so country is better than the Philippines and people should go there instead."

@Thor Odinson @Zak Something @Motendra @Crizix @Jedi @Rezzy @Anacybele @Just call me AL @Zera @Sigismund of Luxemburg @Marcus Aurelius @Infinite Dreams @( 'ω') ZM ('ω' ) @Freohr Datia

Before I start, I'll mention the areas in the Philippines I was able to visit: Manila, Quezon City, Palawan, Palasan, and Tarlac. I'll also mention that language was hardly an issue, since 80%-90% of the Filipinos there were fluent in English and around 70% of the signs were in Engish and 30% of them were Tagalog (the language of the Philippines).

I have to say, I really enjoyed it and I learned a lot and saw a lot of new things. The plant life in particular was really neat and impressive, especially with plant life being much more abundant in non-city areas, compared to North America. I think that was my first time seeing palm trees in real life (well, aside from 1995 and before that when I was living/vacationing in the Philippines at a young age). There were so many of them and I think over half of them had coconuts growing on them. During my first week or so, I was really tempted to just climb every tree with coconuts on them and pick them for myself and my family (even though most of the coconut trees were 2-4 storeys tall), but after the 2nd week seeing so many coconut trees, I eventually realized that even if the coconuts were easy enough to climb (and if picking coconut trees without permission wasn't illegal) there were just way too many for me to get. The other plants were really unique and neat as well. There was even this one small plant whose leaves would immediately close up if you touched it. My family and I even took a video of it. I never actually realized how much different plants intrigued me (along with rice fields, banana farms, etc.) until I saw so many new and unique plants that aren't in North America.

The overall climate wasn't too bad, despite the Philippines being located near the equator. Then again, December and January aren't exactly hot months in the Philippines. Supposedly, March to June is when the temperature really heats up in the Philippines. From what I experienced during December to January, the weather was kind of on-par with what I'd usually experience here in North America, in terms of part sunny/part cloudy days where the wind counteracts the heat enough, sunny days where the sun's heat is relatively mild, and sunny days where it's really hot (though even that was rather on-par with hot days in North America). Rain was also very infrequent, from the 20 or so days my family and I were in the Philippines. There was maybe 1 or 2 times where it rained, and even then, the puddles dried up from the sun pretty quickly. My trip probably isn't the best indicator of the general/typical weather and temperature trends in the Philippines, but that's what my family and I personally experienced. On a somewhat similar note, the overall temperature and humidity messed with my appetite a good amount (hot temperatures and the right humidity levels can really mess with a person's appetite levels). There were around 3-4 days where I skipped out on dinner since I wasn't feeling hungry at all, due to the combination of temperature and humidity on those days. It didn't seem to have too bad an effect overall, except for feeling really hungry before breakfast the next day.

The people and atmosphere was really a big change from my home city in North America as well. Traffic was really crazy, and so was the air pollution, sadly (I think the air pollution from the traffic got me a runny nose and sore throat. I don't know for sure if it did, but I do know that I did suffer from both of those during the last third of the trip and that I was inhaling a lot of traffic exhaust on the way home the day before I got sick, even with me trying to avoid breathing it). Around 8% of the people I saw outside wore breathing masks (ones that look like doctor masks, not full fledged breathing masks with goggles and tubing and all that), scarves around their necks, and such, and only later did I realize they were doing that to avoid breathing in vehicle exhaust. At first, I thought it was quite weird that they were wearing things like that, but eventually I almost felt like joining them and wearing a mask myself to avoid the air pollution. Traffic pollution aside, the traffic in general was really ridiculous (though keep in mind, my home city in North America isn't that major/crowded a place). I mean, people there try to get to work/school around 3/4 AM in the morning, yet there's still a lot of vehicles on the road. There were even traffic jams at certain intersections that early in the morning. Traffic around 6-8 AM and 5-7 PM was the worst, since you'd generally only go 3-5 vehicles length forward when there's a green light and if you're not close enough to the intersection. My parents and younger Filipino cousins told me going to/from college and university would take 1 1/2-2 hours, and with that kind of traffic, I can definitely understand why. I'm actually surprised it doesn't take them longer than that. Most motorcycle drivers during rush hour drive right between vehicles on the dotted road lines, despite it being a very tight squeeze in most cases. I was really surprised at how many motorcycle drivers were doing it, yet none of them ever hitting or scratching vehicles beside them.

The buildings and neighbourhood kind of varied from area to area. Downtown was standard North America fare, with lots of skyscrapers, big buildings, traffic, and such. Though the amount of peddlers and merchants are far greater in the Philippines than in North America (around 5-10 times more than a city like New York, and this is coming from someone who stayed in New York for 1-2 weeks). Residential areas were quite strange compared to North America, since a significant amount of Filipino people transformed their houses into various businesses like restaurants, fruit stores, convenience stores, and salons/barber shops. I mean, places that should have been residential areas looked more like strip malls. Barring condos/apartments and rural areas/"out in the country" areas, I'd say around 2/3rds to 3/4ths of people in the Philippines turned their houses into businesses. Very rural areas that were far away from downtown (like Palawan) or professional businesses had very small houses, some of them being one room houses. From what I saw in the nighttime, I think they all still had electricity seeing how they all had lighting for their front door or inside. Hanging laundry outside to dry was insanely common, with some Filipinos even hanging their laundry on the same area they were selling fruits at. It made it seem like their laundry was on sale, heh.

Pets in particular were rather different than what I'm accustomed to in North America. The most major difference was the abundance of roosters as pets. There was probably as many pet roosters as there were pet dogs, and even more pet roosters than there were cats. I have to say, those roosters got quite frustrating since they'd crow out as early as 3 AM, getting my family and I to wake up unnecessarily most of the time. Then again, with a lot of people getting up or being on their way to school/work around 3 AM, I guess those people need those roosters to crow out really early and wake them up. Supposedly, roosters are commonly kept as pets due to cock fighting being really popular back in the day. Even with cock fighting becoming illegal, people still insist on keeping them as pets out of history and habit. As for pets besides roosters, I mostly saw dogs and cats. The dogs in general seemed much friendlier compared to the ones in North America. I mean, around 15% of dogs in the Philippines barked at me while in North America, around 65%-70% of dogs would bark at me. Filipino dogs just tend to lounge around, sleep, and mind their own business. Also, from what I saw, most people in the Philippines just feed their dogs human food like rice, rather than feed their dogs food specifically meant for dogs. Cats, I can't really comment on, since I couldn't really see any difference between cats in North America and cats in the Philippines. I will say that none of the cats in the Philippines I encountered acted hostile at all, while I've encountered a few hostile cats in North America. Also, I should mention that people rarely ever put leashes on their pets, so don't assume a dog or cat is a stray just because it's without a leash. I should mention I'm very unfamiliar with pets and the only experience I have with them is my family's two pet birds when I was around 3-4 and my younger brother's pet beta (fish), so I'm probably not the best person to talk to about pets and animals.

The city/downtown activity is much more different than what I'm used to in North America, specifically with all the vendors and sellers they have there. There were so many of them to the point that most of them were jampacked on the street sides and a lot of them "literally lived next door" to each other. The businesses ranged from things like food vendors (things like fruits, deep-fried foods, ), clothes stores, and jewelry stores. There was some areas that had fruit/convenience stores literally less than a block away from each other. At first, I was really curious as to how so many fruit/convenience stores could exist in such a crowded spot without them putting each other out of business. Though after I learned that the businesses are family run and don't hire employees outside of their family (saving a lot of money in the process), it made more sense. There was also a lot of peddlers selling bracelets, rosaries, necklaces, and other things. In particular, I paid this one guy 500 Filipino pesos for 3 bracelets (I didn't even have a use for them, and only bought them from him out of pity), only to go to another store that same day and learn that those exact same 3 bracelets were only worth 170 Filipino pesos. I did feel angry about it at first, but eventually calmed down when I realized that guy needed the money far more than I did. Even then, I did avoid buying non-food things after that as much as possible. There was also a couple of instances where a guy with chips/drinks (they were mounted on his back, arms, and on a bucket/container he was carrying with him) would walk in-between traffic during rush hour and offer to sell the aforementioned chips/drinks. With how slow traffic moves during rush hour in the Philippines, it was thankfully safe enough for that guy to walk between traffic like that.

The public transportation was a lot different than in North America, without the traffic. Aside from regular buses, there's also jeepneys and tricycles. Jeepneys are kind of like buses (ones without seatbelts), except much shorter and scaled down vertically.  They also lack windows at the side (though they do have bars and such to stop people from falling out of windows) and the back is completely open, so that people can enter and exit the vehicle as needed (on that note, passengers generally don't enter and exit from the side, but rather, enter and exit from the back and pay their fare by handing it to the people at the front). When they get crowded enough, some people actually just hang out the back of the vehicle, despite it being dangerous (there's grip bars, but no straps, harnesses, or any safety equipment) and the jeepneys going around 50-60 mph (60-80 kph). Instead of jeepneys generally looking the same and uniform (like all school buses being yellow), they have custom paint jobs and designs (some even featuring iconic characters, like Superman, Iron Man, and Pikachu. I doubt they got permission from the character owners to use them, though), and I wasn't able to see any two jeepneys with the same paint jobs or drawings. Here's a good picture of one (https://asiatravelbugdotnet.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/jeepney.jpg). Route-wise, they operate like buses rather than taxis, with them following specified routes instead of driving to whatever location the rider specifies. As for tricycles, they're not the typical kiddy tricycles that most of us are familar with. Instead, they're more like motorcyles with passenger compartments added to them (here's a picture of one). I guess they just like calling them tricycles instead of mopeds. Anyways, they follow a taxi-like route instead of a bus route setup (so riders request where they want to go after paying the driver, and the driver goes there). The tricycles can fit up to 5-6 passengers (4 in the passenger compartment, and 1 or 2 people on the back of the motorcycle).

Security in the Philippines is a lot tighter in general, compared to most places I've been to in North America. The malls in particular were very security heavy, in terms of having guards at every entrance who would check your bags and pocket area before or during entering the mall. I even saw a mall guard with a long rifle on him. My brother and I secretly tried to take a picture of him (by getting my brother to take a picture of me with the rifle guard in the background), but the guard told us both picture taking wasn't allowed in that area. The schools were also a lot more secure than most schools I've seen in North America. The schools were completely fenced up except for one entrance, where there'd be a security guard or two there for the whole time. Students there are also required to wear ID tags on them the whole time while they're at school, and also need them to even enter the school. Whether it was elementary or college/university, private or public schools, all the schools followed both the "fully fenced", entrance, and ID restrictions. Compared to the practically non-existant security I've seen in most North American schools, the security in schools in the Philippines really surprised me.

Aside from school security in the Philippines being much different, the schools themselves also were much different than most North American schools (at least, the Filipino schools I saw). Instead of typical school hallways, the school building is set up more like a motel with multiple storeys, so in order to reach each classroom, you have to enter it from the outside. Instead of windows being glass and enclosing the rooms, the windows are open to the outside atmosphere, with bars preventing people from falling out of the windows. Thankfully, there's either long eaves which prevent rain from getting through the open windows, or the above floors protecting the windows from rain. Here's a picture of what school buildings in the Philippines look like.

Those are the main things I can think of, in terms of covering the atmosphere of the Philippines. So what do you think? Any questions or comments?

Edited January 22, 2018 by Randoman

[MacLovin]

You should really visit Cebu. There's a bunch of good dives there that are dripping with the local art scene.

Spoiler

If you're in Cebu, go check out The Santo Nino Basilica, UNiversity of San Carlos's Campus Museums, Kukuks Nest (It's my favorite dive. The beer's really cheap there too.), and try going to Cebu during the third weekend of January because that's when Sinulog happens. It's a massive city wide festival where people get shitface drunk on the streets, dance, sing, and special foods pop up.

 

source: I've livied and attended school in there for 6 years. Just don't go to brgy. Colon at night and you'll be fine.

 

[Rezzy]

Sounds fun; it's been quite a while since I did any traveling, but maybe once my kids are a bit older, and I can take some time off from work, I could go again.  It's a bummer about the heav traffic.  When I was living in Chicago, the thing I hated most was the crazy traffic, and how it took over an hour to get anywhere.  I've always been more of a rural/small town person, but sadly most tourist destinations are a bit more crowded.

[Dismissed]

I live in the Philippines, so I can confirm these facts. Although Davao is the best city in my opinion. Less pollution than Manila, a much lower crime rate, and has pretty much all of the good food options found in Manila except Wendy's.

March to June has really hot temperatures. The past two months (Decemeber and January) have been unusually relatively cold. Dogs are more popular than cats here, and stray dogs are known as "asong kalye" ("aso" means dog). Cockfighting is still around too. (Pokémon, anyone?)

Yes, some street vendors peddle around on the roads, but they're smart enough to only do it during the red light. As for public transportation, jeepneys are your best bet if you're travelling light. Traffic is terrible in Manila, which is also starting to appear in Davao by a lesser extent. Tricycles (sometimes we call them "trisikads", the term is interchangeable) are good if you're on a small street.

The school system here basically goes like this: Students are arranged in sections (one per room, and around thirty per section) and the teachers are the ones that move around the classrooms. Preschool takes three years, elementary takes six, high school needs four, and recently, the government added two extra years known as "senior high school" to the system which is somewhat of an intermission between high school and college. The rooms are ventilated by electric fans, although more prestigious schools have air-conditioning.

I have a feeling that my country is one of the few countries in Asia that use American English instead of British English. It's because the United States took over from Spain after the Spanish-American War, thus influencing a lot of our defining traits.

The reason we have tight security is because the nation is rife with communist factions, freedom fighters, terrorists, et cetera, although you're generally safe in the big cities like Manila, Davao, and Cebu.

About the coconuts: CONSIDER THE COCONUTS! I'm not sure either if picking the fruits is legal, but I think the rightful owners are the farmers/whoever owns the land the tree is on. The two most common plants I see while travelling by road seem to be coconuts and bananas.

Fun fact: All foreign fast food chains in the Philippines (like KFC or McDonald's) have rice as part of their main meals. We Filipinos eat rice during every meal, unless we're eating burgers. McDonald's here has fried chicken and spaghetti too. And, to be honest, I prefer the chicken nuggets here to the ones in the US. Same with the barbecue sauce. (I really hated the American Barbecue Sauce)

Also, McDonald's isn't the top fast food chain here, that title belongs to Jollibee. In my opinion, everything in Jollibee (except their ice cream and that one time they tried to make nuggets) is better than the McDonald's equivalent. Heck, Jollibee even has a meal which consists of a burger patty covered in gravy served with rice. Pretty innovative, if you ask me.

The food here is great too. Let me list my favorite Filipino dishes: Bulalo (A soup with a cow's bone marrow, which you can eat. Not the bone, of course.), Lechon (An entire roasted pig), Halo-Halo (Ube (purple yam) flavored ice cream on top of shaved ice and assorted fruits and beans.), Filipino Barbecue (roasted pork or chicken, on a stick), Taho (a liquid mixture eaten from a cup), Banana-cue (fried banana coated in sugar (probably) on a stick), and some more I forgot.

The most common food here are Filipino, American, and Chinese (some Japanese too). The Philippines has a lot of Chinese-Filipinos, including myself. Filipinos really like Japanese stuff like manga and anime, although the dreaded K-Pop is infiltrating the country too. Japan did a lot of bad things to the Philippines back in World War II, but the general population has accepted that Japan has changed their ways. In fact, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan stayed at the house of current Philippine President Duterte once, and they're on quite friendly terms.

Sorry for the wall of text, I just wanted to talk about my country. Thanks for making this thread @Randoman.

[Randoman]

@Czarpy Cebu, huh? I'll be sure to keep Cebu island in mind the next time I visit the Philippines.

@Rezzy I definitely agree with you about bringing your kids on trips when they're older, rather than younger. Most kids 5 and under won't remember much from trips and traveling, and with how expensive it is to travel/go on vacation, you really want to make the most of the trips you take with your family, especially when it comes to the memories they make.

@Purple Mage Your welcome, and I really appreciate your in-depth write-up on life in the Philippines and how you covered many elements I was unaware of or forgot to mention. I really should've mentioned Jollibee, especially with both the restaurant and the Jollibee mascot being so prevalent on the streets and in advertisements. I ate there only once in the Philippines, sadly, but the strawberry fries were actually really good despite it sounding like a weird food idea (for those unfamiliar, it's regular potato fries with strawberry flavoured powder sprinkled on them).

I'm glad to know there's 2 other Filipinos here on SF as well. Are there any others that you guys know of? The only ones I knew of before I made this thread were Crizix and I.

Edited January 23, 2018 by Randoman

[MacLovin]

Just now, Randoman said:

@Czarpy Cebu, huh? I'll be sure to keep Cebu island in mind the next time I visit the Philippines.

@Rezzy I definitely agree with you about bringing your kids on trips when they're older, rather than younger. Most kids 5 and under won't remember much from trips and traveling, and with how expensive it is to travel/go on vacation, you really want to make the most of the trips you take with your family, especially when it comes to the memories they make.

@Purple Mage Your welcome, and I really appreciate your in-depth write-up on life in the Philippines and how you covered many elements I was unaware of or forgot to mention. I really should've mentioned Jollibee, especially with both the restaurant and the Jollibee mascot being so prevalent on the streets and in advertisements. I ate there only once in the Philippines, sadly, but the strawberry fries were actually really good despite it sounding like a weird food idea (for those unfamiliar, it's regular potato fries with strawberry flavoured powder sprinkled on them).

the only other tip i can give is to never buy souveniers in malls.

Like they jack up the prices to ridiculous ends. You can find the same souvenier shirts, hats, and sculptures if you drive around and look for little dives and whatnot. Hell, the University of San Carlos offers souveniers from time to time. The vendors outside the major churches and tourist sites offer souveniers that are often handmade and locally produced.

-Don't eat seafood from vendors though. I was with some friends eating in an eatery outside a university and a backpacker took some oysters that had gone bad. Later that evening, his picture was on the newspaper as a death by shoddy food service practices.

-Do try the siomai/siopao vendors. They're cheap as hell and you get local chili sauces and puso (steamed riceballs wrapped in coconut wrappings/banana leaves.) You can get about 6 of those dumplings and six puso for the equivalent of $1.

--This is going to sound incredibly douchey, but really be careful when giving spare change to begging children. They often wind up giving the cash to some "kuya" who uses it to buy shabu(meth). I got this tip from a policeman who visited the University of San Carlos class I was taking a year ago.

[Dismissed]

9 hours ago, Czarpy said:

This is going to sound incredibly douchey, but really be careful when giving spare change to begging children. They often wind up giving the cash to some "kuya" who uses it to buy shabu(meth). I got this tip from a policeman who visited the University of San Carlos class I was taking a year ago.

I second this. Personally, I give them food instead. Like Skyflakes or whatever's available.

Also, the only souvenirs you should buy are foodstuffs. Food is great.

[Frosty]

On 1/24/2018 at 7:27 AM, Randoman said:

I'm glad to know there's 2 other Filipinos here on SF as well. Are there any others that you guys know of? The only ones I knew of before I made this thread were Crizix and I.

*raises hand*

Make that three...

The coldest month tends to be February. If I recall correctly; there has been instances of permafrost forming in the higher altitude areas.

You might want to try to consider the province of Laguna since I happen to live there.

Aside from the many resorts and pools there; hence earning the moniker "Resort Capital of the Philippines", the province of Laguna is home to lots of historical places. The City of Calamba has the Rizal Shrine, the old churches found in the third and fourth districts of the province with some of them already around 200-300+ years old and still standing up to now, the municipality of Pila has a heritage town and a museum and the Underground Cemetery in the municipality of Nagcarlan.

On the side of nature trekking, there's Mount Makiling and Mount Banahaw. Also, there's Pagsanjan Falls which is actually found in the municipality of Cavinti; although the popular route is shooting the rapids from the municipality of Pagsanjan. In Lumban, there's a man-made lake there; Lake Caliraya which was dug-out way back in 1939.

Laguna is also home to the Enchanted Kingdom, an amusement park which can be found in the City of Sta. Rosa. Also said city has a lot of commercial center for you to do some shopping.

Edited January 26, 2018 by Frosty

[Randoman]

@Czarpy @Purple Mage @Frosty Thanks for the tips guys.

I feel really bad about the guy who was the victim of the oyster story. I've heard about oysters being dangerous when they're not cooked properly or go bad, but I was unaware of them being that fatal. I guess there's a reason why my family has never eaten or served oyster before for meals.

My mom (who was born in and spent around 20 years in the Philippines before moving to North America) also warned me of beggars asking for money, who afterwards buy drugs with the money. She also told me about giving those people food rather than money, since at least if they're sincerely trying to get food for money, you're still helping them.

I'll be sure to try to visit Cebu and Laguna the next time I go to the Philippines. From what you've described, it sounds like Laguna alone has more historical sites than the amount of historical sites I was able to visit within those 20 days of vacation. Then again, I'm not sure if my family was trying to visit as many historical sites as possible. I'm personally down for historical site-seeing, though, since old historical buildings look much more unique and different than modern buildings, and it's nice to see what kind of buildings people lived and worked in back in the day.

I should mention that I was actually born in the Philippines, rather than in North America (I moved to the latter when I was 2 years old). I do remember some things from the Philippines from both those 2 years and the 1995 vacation, though most of them were bad. I mean, falling down the stairs due to following a dog (the dog was going down the stairs head first on all fours, young me thought doing the same thing was a good idea, but young me quickly learned it wasn't), getting electrocuted by a doorbell, almost drowning in a pool, following a rooster only to fall into a mud pit, and the toilet + bathtub/shower fusions (even at a young age, those things grossed me out) are the kind of bad things you don't forget easily. The main positive thing I can remember was the sago/taho vendors.

I kind of have to ask: how common are the toilet + bathtub/shower fusions these days in the Philippines? I only saw 1 during my time there, but I hope they're rare and being phased out.

[MacLovin]

1 hour ago, Randoman said:

@Czarpy @Purple Mage @Frosty Thanks for the tips guys.

I feel really bad about the guy who was the victim of the oyster story. I've heard about oysters being dangerous when they're not cooked properly or go bad, but I was unaware of them being that fatal. I guess there's a reason why my family has never eaten or served oyster before for meals.

My mom (who was born in and spent around 20 years in the Philippines before moving to North America) also warned me of beggars asking for money, who afterwards buy drugs with the money. She also told me about giving those people food rather than money, since at least if they're sincerely trying to get food for money, you're still helping them.

I'll be sure to try to visit Cebu and Laguna the next time I go to the Philippines. From what you've described, it sounds like Laguna alone has more historical sites than the amount of historical sites I was able to visit within those 20 days of vacation. Then again, I'm not sure if my family was trying to visit as many historical sites as possible. I'm personally down for historical site-seeing, though, since old historical buildings look much more unique and different than modern buildings, and it's nice to see what kind of buildings people lived and worked in back in the day.

I should mention that I was actually born in the Philippines, rather than in North America (I moved to the latter when I was 2 years old). I do remember some things from the Philippines from both those 2 years and the 1995 vacation, though most of them were bad. I mean, falling down the stairs due to following a dog (the dog was going down the stairs head first on all fours, young me thought doing the same thing was a good idea, but young me quickly learned it wasn't), getting electrocuted by a doorbell, almost drowning in a pool, following a rooster only to fall into a mud pit, and the toilet + bathtub/shower fusions (even at a young age, those things grossed me out) are the kind of bad things you don't forget easily. The main positive thing I can remember was the sago/taho vendors.

I kind of have to ask: how common are the toilet + bathtub/shower fusions these days in the Philippines? I only saw 1 during my time there, but I hope they're rare and being phased out.

Oh they're common. You've got them in every condo and apartment there.

The historical buildings in the central visayas are almost all gone. They got torn down after ww2. There's a few here and there in cebu though. 

Off the top of my head, there's a bunch near Plaza Independencia in Colon. There's a few in Guadelupe, Lahug, and Lapu-Lapu City. But many of them are on private property or kind of out of the way to see.

Check out the Universitys though. Cebu Normal University's basement was a torture chamber during ww2 where they tortured an american priest to death because they thought he was a spy.

University of San Carlos has a seperate campus in Talamban that's got all the good gifts and books. They've got this shop where you can buy a ton of coffee table books that were researched and written about Cebu's history. I've met the students who worked on them and they did thorough research for guys on a student budget. There's one book I'd recommend picking up on Cebu during WW2 by the University of San Carlos press. It's got interviews with surviving Filipino soldiers and war heroes.

Check out the individual cities in Cebu. There's Mandaue City, known for it's docks and seaside access. (There's a little chain of restaurants there called Burrows. You can get unlimited fried chicken for P200 AND it's right next to a local movie house. Plus there's 6 different kinds of fried chicken you can order in rotation)

Idk much about Talisay City, but I've heard it's nice. Same with Naga City.

Lapu-Lapu City is kinda wierd. You can't really find taxis or jeepneys there, but there's a shitload of tricycles.

Oh and buy the chicharon if it's from Carcar City. That's the really good stuff. 

Spoiler

Also it's really easy to get to know Filipinos if you drink. Like a bucket of Red Horse beer only costs 300 pesos. Try it sometime with an acquaintance.

 

Edited January 26, 2018 by Czarpy

[Randoman]

Toilet + bathtub/shower fusions are still common? Eww... I'm glad I didn't see too many during my trip.

I'm probably going to have to E-Mail myself a link to this thread, so I can use it for future reference the next time my friends, family, and/or I go to the Phillippines. I definitely won't be able to remember all of this, otherwise.

[Will O'Donnell]

9 hours ago, Randoman said:

Toilet + bathtub/shower fusions are still common? Eww... I'm glad I didn't see too many during my trip.

I'm probably going to have to E-Mail myself a link to this thread, so I can use it for future reference the next time my friends, family, and/or I go to the Phillippines. I definitely won't be able to remember all of this, otherwise.

Yeah, apparently these are common in ALL of the houses here in the Philippines (I'm a Filipino too; Mabuhay!), but I do wonder why you are weirded out in this format. 

[Will O'Donnell]

On 1/27/2018 at 7:39 AM, Czarpy said:

Oh they're common. You've got them in every condo and apartment there.

The historical buildings in the central visayas are almost all gone. They got torn down after ww2. There's a few here and there in cebu though. 

Off the top of my head, there's a bunch near Plaza Independencia in Colon. There's a few in Guadelupe, Lahug, and Lapu-Lapu City. But many of them are on private property or kind of out of the way to see.

Check out the Universitys though. Cebu Normal University's basement was a torture chamber during ww2 where they tortured an american priest to death because they thought he was a spy.

University of San Carlos has a seperate campus in Talamban that's got all the good gifts and books. They've got this shop where you can buy a ton of coffee table books that were researched and written about Cebu's history. I've met the students who worked on them and they did thorough research for guys on a student budget. There's one book I'd recommend picking up on Cebu during WW2 by the University of San Carlos press. It's got interviews with surviving Filipino soldiers and war heroes.

Check out the individual cities in Cebu. There's Mandaue City, known for it's docks and seaside access. (There's a little chain of restaurants there called Burrows. You can get unlimited fried chicken for P200 AND it's right next to a local movie house. Plus there's 6 different kinds of fried chicken you can order in rotation)

Idk much about Talisay City, but I've heard it's nice. Same with Naga City.

Lapu-Lapu City is kinda wierd. You can't really find taxis or jeepneys there, but there's a shitload of tricycles.

Oh and buy the chicharon if it's from Carcar City. That's the really good stuff. 

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Also it's really easy to get to know Filipinos if you drink. Like a bucket of Red Horse beer only costs 300 pesos. Try it sometime with an acquaintance.

 

This just proves Visayas is a real tourist destination. Oh yeah, and beware of Mount Mayon; it's erupting up to this date.

[Dismissed]

8 hours ago, Will O'Donnell said:

This just proves Visayas is a real tourist destination. Oh yeah, and beware of Mount Mayon; it's erupting up to this date.

Wait, it's still erupting? I thought it was finished.

[Will O'Donnell]

22 hours ago, Purple Mage said:

Wait, it's still erupting? I thought it was finished.

Well, not yet, but I'm definitely sure it was because I watch morning news going to school.

[Dismissed]

Just did a quick Google search. I guess it is still erupting. For some reason, it caused a tourism boom.

[Will O'Donnell]

52 minutes ago, Purple Mage said:

Just did a quick Google search. I guess it is still erupting. For some reason, it caused a tourism boom.

And bane, if you know my pun. Locals' still suffer, though, and being persistent.

[Randoman]

I really hope the eruptions calm down soon, especially with all the problems it's causing the residents of the Philippines.

On 1/29/2018 at 7:23 AM, Will O'Donnell said:

Yeah, apparently these are common in ALL of the houses here in the Philippines (I'm a Filipino too; Mabuhay!), but I do wonder why you are weirded out in this format. 

Mabuhay to you too!!

Bathtub + toilet fusions really grossed me out as a kid, since I was always scared of slipping while taking a bath and falling into the toilet. The bathtub + toilet fusion my family and I had in the Philippines didn't have a toilet lid, either. I... don't really know what else to say, regarding why it weirds me out. I mean, I guess most Filipinos just get used to using them, but to everyone else, it just feels like a bad and gross idea having a bathtub/shower and toilet fused together in the same space.

[Will O'Donnell]

8 hours ago, Randoman said:

I really hope the eruptions calm down soon, especially with all the problems it's causing the residents of the Philippines.

Mabuhay to you too!!

Bathtub + toilet fusions really grossed me out as a kid, since I was always scared of slipping while taking a bath and falling into the toilet. The bathtub + toilet fusion my family and I had in the Philippines didn't have a toilet lid, either. I... don't really know what else to say, regarding why it weirds me out. I mean, I guess most Filipinos just get used to using them, but to everyone else, it just feels like a bad and gross idea having a bathtub/shower and toilet fused together in the same space.

I see, well if that's the case, you like it here so far?

[Randoman]

On 2/1/2018 at 2:23 AM, Will O'Donnell said:

I see, well if that's the case, you like it here so far?

I've technically been back home in North America ever since January 16, 2018.

I really enjoyed the Philippines, though. It was definitely a nice change of pace from North America, and it was really enjoyable seeing so many new and different things that I'd never encounter in my home city. I also really appreciated seeing my birth country and the cultural heritage I have.

[Will O'Donnell]

7 hours ago, Randoman said:

I've technically been back home in North America ever since January 16, 2018.

I really enjoyed the Philippines, though. It was definitely a nice change of pace from North America, and it was really enjoyable seeing so many new and different things that I'd never encounter in my home city. I also really appreciated seeing my birth country and the cultural heritage I have.

Yeah, even though I never visited North America, it's a real change of pace. Also, if you're going to Metro Manila at some point, try going to SM branches in North EDSA and the Mall of Asia, it's real nice. Mall of Asia is located at Pasay, and it's HUGE; also includes a view of the ocean if you go farther enough. North EDSA has a lot of places to eat there so... hehe.

[Randoman]

2 hours ago, Will O'Donnell said:

Yeah, even though I never visited North America, it's a real change of pace. Also, if you're going to Metro Manila at some point, try going to SM branches in North EDSA and the Mall of Asia, it's real nice. Mall of Asia is located at Pasay, and it's HUGE; also includes a view of the ocean if you go farther enough. North EDSA has a lot of places to eat there so... hehe.

It's really funny that you mention that, actually. My family and I actually rented a condo in the Grass Residences apartment that was right next door to the SM North EDSA mall. We actually went there a lot as a result, for both grocery and general mall visit purposes.

We also went to the Mall of Asia. Sadly, by the time we went to the ocean viewing area, it was nighttime and really dark. I guess for my next visit, I'll be sure to visit the ocean viewing area when it's still bright out.

[Will O'Donnell]

2 hours ago, Randoman said:

It's really funny that you mention that, actually. My family and I actually rented a condo in the Grass Residences apartment that was right next door to the SM North EDSA mall. We actually went there a lot as a result, for both grocery and general mall visit purposes.

We also went to the Mall of Asia. Sadly, by the time we went to the ocean viewing area, it was nighttime and really dark. I guess for my next visit, I'll be sure to visit the ocean viewing area when it's still bright out.

Sunset's good on MOA; and yeah, I think I see the Grass Residences whenever I travel there with someone. 

[Dismissed]

I still prefer Davao City. Two SM Malls y'all!

Davao feels cleaner than Manila, in my experience.

What do you guys think of balut? I think it's delicious.

[Will O'Donnell]

1 hour ago, Purple Mage said:

What do you guys think of balut? I think it's delicious.

I don't normally like egg yolks, but it's pretty damn good; and people get excited when there's a hatchling inside the yolk, which is the reverse of what I'd like. Sue me if needed lol.

Edited February 3, 2018 by Will O'Donnell