Update: 12/1/03

A couple of things: I'm not Korean (got a lot of e-mails wondering about this). I've gotten a lot of hits on this page because it's (or it was) coming up first in Google when searching for "Philippines Blog"...I felt kind of bad about that, seeing as this is just a page off my Korea blog so I updated a little more tonight. Sorry I don't have all that much to say as I was basically in Manila the whole time. The page has a lot of pictures so I hope you have a broadband connection or a lot of time to spare as they load. If they don't all load, click the refresh button until they do. They're all here, I checked. Also, sorry that the order of events is mixed up. If your interested in the Philippines, specifically Manila, you should at least get a good visual idea of what it's like on this page.






Korea Life Blog - Late Update



A typical shot of a typical street in Manila. What strikes me are the power lines. Look at how chaotic that is! How would you like to be the guy that has to fix those after a storm? Ouch!



Here's some kind of motel being built or taken down, I'm not sure. Most of the expensive "luxury" motels I saw looked plain like this finished, except they had windows. My zoom isn't that great. What I wanted to show is the homeless that are living inside there during the interim. Sadly I saw numerous families living in the worst of conditions, many right on the street sleeping on cardboard boxes. Makes you think.



Right in the middle of the chaos and poverty you can find these huge department store shopping centers. It's hard to tell from this picture (look closely to the left; it runs all the way down there), but this place is huge, comparable to the Coex mega-center in Seoul. I spent hours in here and still didn't see all of it. What I can't understand is how people can afford the relatively high prices of the merchandise. There were genuine name brand stores like Gap and Levis, some electronics/computer stores, jewlry shops,and several Nike and other sporting goods stores. I'm guessing that like in Thailand, there is a huge gap between the rich and poor, no pun intended. It was like walking into another world. Guards stood at each entrance to search bags for weapons and also to keep out beggars.



Ah, at times I hate the fact that I have to see this place wherever I go in the world. At other times, it's actually a comforting site. I got a Big Mac value meal/set for a little over a dollar. And the staff spoke perfect English (thankfully, almost everyone in the Philippines does - language was not a barrier whatsoever).



Another shot of some less than safe power lines. I advise you not to hang around under them on a windy day. Note the sign hung up there says "Run Gloria Run" - referring of course to the president of the Philippines Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Yes, run Gloria! you don't want to get electrocuted!



A bottle of Pepsi costs just 25 cents in the Philippines. Everything outside the shopping centers is dirt cheap. A bottle of Sam Miguel beer cost me just 30 cents at the 7-11. That was one of the best parts of the trip. This scene is a little scary, looking at it again. I'm not sure who the woman in this picture is. Either she's a nun, a Muslim, or - a ghost. Look at the guy next to her, where's his body?



A typical scene of people hanging out on the street. Everybody hangs out on the street in Manila. Unemployment is pretty high and people seem to have nothing to do. I refrained from taking pictures of all the homeless people I saw because it's rude and it would look really bad. I felt truly awful. If I were Bill Gates I'd be out there handing bags of cash to the most destitute.



Garbage lines many of the side streets. I wish I had been better at taking pictures before my batteries died. The tourism department had really beefed up it's advertising and there were thousands and thousands of signs all over the city bearing the slogan "Wow Philippines", many of which ironically were near scenes such as this.



Here's a Korean Bulgogi restaurant. There's a lot of Korean culture in the Philippines. If I hadn't gone there myself I would have found this surprising. However, my hotel was filled with mostly Koreans, many of them older business men, most of them coming back to the hotel with 1 or 2 beautiful, young, scantily clad girls.



A 7-11, and it was right next to my Hotel. I went here many times to get beer. The same beers in my Hotel room were exactly 10 times the price. There's another Jeepni, cheap private public transportation. I must have seen a few thousand of them during my stay.




This sign cracked me up. It made me kind of wish that I had some laundry to do.


What I hated the most about the Philippines is that everywhere you go as a foreigner, especially one as white as me, people try to suck every peso out of you, whether it's the beggar or his poor, dirty children, the taxi driver, or the oddball that pops up to open the taxi door for you and then expects a tip, the shady characters on the street offering you everything from money exchange (who is that stupid?) to "young beautiful girls," or even the hotel where I stayed the whole time that rounded 10 minutes over to the next hour when using the internet, it totally ruins the experience. You can't walk half a block without getting harassed 10 times, which at first is intimidating and after awhile plain aggravating. (When I was leaving the country, I met another American going back to Korea after staying just one night, utterly horrified by Manila. After getting robbed while paying for a taxi, he couldn't wait to get the hell out.) However, I think it would have been a lot more enjoyable if I had gotten to see some of the beautiful islands to the south. Also it would have been easier if I were with a group of people. I say this because the best part of the trip was when I went to a night club with a bunch of other expats, also teachers in Korea, who were staying at the same motel. This changed everything. We all agreed we had one of the best times of our lives. We truly were like movies stars. I couldn't believe it. The girls were everywhere and literally all over us. Pretty ones too. It was definitely worth all the hassles to experience that.



I met these two. Oops, how did they end up here in my hotel room? I ended up ditching the expat gang and hanging out with these girls for the next few days. Who could blame me! What a memory!



Another shot. The pictures did not come out well at well, but the one on the right was my favorite; she was pretty and shy (act or not, who cares!) She has 10 brothers and sisters and was leaving with an "entertainment" visa for Japan in a few days. Oh well, better she does it there than here. The other one to the left was also pretty cool, but a little strange. I tried to hook her up with this guy from Texas, but she was already intent on me, even though I was into her friend. As I said, we ditched those other guys later anyway.

After all this experience, hanging out with these two, I had a euphoric feeling come over me. I swear it was if I had gone from hell to heaven during the trip. In all my life I have never felt so new, so alive, so inspired, so joyful and free. The feeling of adventure and experience moved me and I prayed for forgiveness for ever having wanted to die, feeling entirely content and fulfilled, that I needed absolutely nothing more, except maybe a beer which I drank leisurely, the best beer I ever had. The feeling was somewhat brief, but for it I am grateful and am entirely thankful that I visited the Philippines. I'll never forget it.


That's it - the last update to this page. The posts below were written the day I came back.

written by shawn matthews -|link

Update: 12/1/03

I've gotten a lot of hits on this page because it's coming up first in Google when searching for "Philippines Blog"...I'll get some more pictures and bits posted soon, maybe tonight.







Korea Life Blog - Manila Arrival


All right! - I got the passport stamp, and the cash. I changed $200 US and got about 12,000 pesos - whoo hoo! I'm rich!


The City Garden Motel, Ermita. It's nice and clean and safe. This nice room cost only around 2,000 pesos, or about $35 a night. You can stay in other motel for around $10-$15, but I'd rather pay a little extra and feel sound and secure.


This is Freddie, the taxi driver. He helped me find the motel above. When he dropped me off he gave me his cell phone number. After a nap, I called him up and asked him to take me around the city. He showed up at my motel in less than 5 minutes. I can't decide if he's just a really nice guy or if he's depserate for tourist money. Either way he is pretty helpful, as he knows all the ins and outs of the Philippines, and he is fluent in English. If you plan to visit Manila, drop me an e-mail and I'll give you his number.


As we drive around I snap some pics. Here are some bicycle taxis. For as little as 10 cents you can get a short ride, Freddie tells me.


As we stop at a traffic light, I snap a picture of this jeepni and its driver. Freddie tells me proudly that jeepnis are mini busses and are unique to the Philippines only, a symbol of the country. I tell Freddie the driver looks drunk. Freddie guffaws and assures me drunk driving is not a problem in the Philippines. In fact he finds it surprising that it's illegal in other countries.


Freddie takes me to Burgos street, the infamous go go bar district in Makati. At a club like this one, hoards of pretty young girls wearing bikinis dance on a stage. You pick the one you want, buy her a drink and pay a "barfine" to bring her home. Freddie tells me the whole shabang in this area including drink, barfine, and tip, will run around 3000 Pesos, or about $50. He mentions about another area wear the total will be around 2000 Pesos, or about $35. Thanks for the advice, Freddie.


We leave the hustle and bustle of the gogo bar street and pass a throng of fast food shops. McDonald's and Wendy's seem to be the most popular in the Philippines. Jolibee is a popular Philippines fast food restaurant. I was a little surprised to see the A&W.;


I ask Freddie to show me some nightlife where foreigners hang out. He takes me to this area - a sharp contrast to the devastatingly poor areas we passed along the way. In this building there is a TGIF's, Hard Rock Cafe, and what the hell? Gold's Gym? Inside one of the bars we enjoyed a nice live concert. The singer was beautiful. I snapped some pics, but it was too dark, unfortunately. I bought Freddie a beer and three for myself.


On the way back to the motel, we passed this Korean shop. There's a lot of Korean culture in the Philippines including restaurants, shopping centers, travel agencies and Korean television.

Well, it wasn't the most exciting night ever, but I'm glad Freddie showed me around. Before he dropped me off, he swung me by some famous night clubs and a few other hot spots. I was too tired to check them out tonight, not to mention that I didn't really want to hang out with Freddie anymore, nice as we was. He dropped me off at the City Garden. I asked how much, a little nervously. He said whatever I thought was fair, the sneaky bastard. I gave him almost $20 for the 2 hour tour, which didn't bother me that much, but I realized later it was way too much for the Philippines as Freddie's eyes lit up like Christmas at the cash, and he began to stalk me in the following days, stopping by my hotel repreatedly, hanging around outside in hopes for more of my business.

written by shawn matthews -|link

Philippines Blog - Stay Tuned

I have quite a few pics of Manila and some more stories I'd like to post here when I get the time . Please check back now and again for updates to this page...

written by shawn matthews -|link

Philippines Blog - There and Back Again

Well, yesterday was quite an adventure. Actually everyday has been wild and crazy. I will have to write about it somewhere else under a secret name, if you know what I mean.

I finally decided to leave Manila and go to a beach. I heard of Olongapo, Subic, White Rock Beach...a 3 hour trip, supposedly. The sun was shining and the sky was a deep blue in Manila, so I gave it a shot, imagining paradise on the beach. Unfortunately I got a late start, for several reasons, around 2:00 PM. But I figured I could swim in the evening and then all day tomorrow.

Freddie the taxi driver picked me up. He was starting to get on my nerves, actually. He kept coming by my hotel and having the management call me to see if I needed a ride anywhere. I felt like he was stalking me when I went out yesterday and he was sitting on the motel steps. He must have sat there all morning, just hoping I might come out. Anyway, he really was very nice, probably just hard up for a few easy tourist dollars to support his family. I felt kind of bad for him and took the poor guy to lunch for a $1 and gave him another $1 for the ride, which was quite generous of me, I must admit. He helped me get the ticket and sat on the bus with me until it left.

We drove slowly through heavy traffic until we got outside of the city. The highway was narrow, old and bumpy the entire way, and I was subjected to cheesy 80s ballads playing loudly on the speakers, namely Chicago, Rod Stewart, and Lionel Richie. About 3 hours into the 3 hour trip I wasn't there yet and the sky kept getting gray, dark gray, and then severely gray, with tremendous drooping gray clouds buffing the green mountain tops in the distance. Typical luck, I thought, a knot tightening in my stomach, realizing I didn't even have a motel reservation. Finally 4 hours later we arrived. There are no taxis there, only really old motorcycle taxis, the kind with a small cart attached to the side. They rushed me when I exited the bus. The rain was still only a sprinkle, so I figured I'd give it a shot, take some pictures from the carriage. Perhaps it will clear up, I imagined blindly hopeful. "Hey, take me to a cheap motel in White Rock Beach," I said. (As a side note, it is amazing that practically everyone in this country can speak English rather well, almost fluently as they are taught early in public school. It is particularly amazing considering how poor it is here and that few people study privately...yet in Korea, a country quite well off by comparison, the educational system is still not teaching English that well, despite it's overwhelming emphasize on teaching the language and the whopping enrollment in private schools such as mine...)

"Let's go," was the reply. We zipped off with a poof of black smoke trailing behind, the engine noisy as a lawnmower, away from the small city and around the bends, past hoards of ramshackle homes full of destitute people without smiles or shoes. I took out my camera and snapped one measly picture of the carriage (which will go here later) and then WHAMO! A torrent of rain pummled down hard and fast. The wind whipped up and the small taxi wobbled, puttering up a hill. The rain came in on all sides, drenching me. I was lucky to get my camera safely back into my bag. The driver ducked his head down behind a meager plastic windshield and puttered along, as if it was only routine. I tried to yell to him to bring me back to the bus station but he couldn't hear me, or at least he pretended not to. We went on for at least 2 KM. For the first time since I can remember, I was genuinely scared. I cursed myself a flaming idiot for getting myself into this mess. I couldn't see a single business anywhere, much less a motel. I couldn't see any beach. I couldn't even see in front of me anymore. Only off to the side: desperately poor people standing in the storm and staring on as we passed. I cowered, clutching my bag to protect it from the rain.

"What's with this weather?" I screamed to the driver.

"A typhoon's coming tonight," he yelled back rather nonchalantly as if were talking about a sprinkle and some fog. But the word "typhoon" whipped up the fear in me, I confess. Shit! I started to get paranoid. Where am I? I thought. Who is this man I put my trust in to take me to some motel I know nothing about. Where is he taking me? He's gonna rob me blind and leave me for dead in this typhoon. Why the hell did I come to this country in the first place? Especially why did I come alone? Once again, shit! But as if by some Godly miracle, in the middle of this nightmarish stretch of pounding rain and poverty, paranoia and fear, I spotted a Dunkin Donuts. I couldn't believe my eyes. Was it a mirage? I wanted to cry for joy, for America, the whole shabang!

"STOP!" I yelled.
"Why?" the driver yelled back.
"Just stop. Let me out of here."
"We go to a motel. I know a good motel for you."
"No! No! I want coffee. I want to stop! For Chrissakes stop this rickety machine and let me off!"

Reluctantly he stopped, looking at me as if I were out of my mind. But I knew the real reason he looked at me like that. He wanted to take me to some motel he had a deal with, assuredly, where he would get a nice little tip for bringing the moronic tourist.

I jumped out of the carriage. "I'll wait for you here," he said.

"No, no, no! That's OK, good-bye, I said, handing him a 10 pesos coin, or about 20 cents. I felt this was generous, considering that inside the taxi the sign said 3.5 pesos. But the man laughed at me. Suddenly another such taxi pulled up and a big ugly driver stepped out.

"What's going on here?" he asked. I showed him the ten pesos. He frowned.

"Here - someone take this," I said, waving the coin around like a maniac, wanting to get out of the rain and into the Dunkin Donuts safehaven.
"150 pesos," demanded the big ugly driver. My original driver was enjoying this thoroughly, a big asenine grin on his ugly wet face. The rain was pouring down on everybody, but apparently the only person it bothered was me.

"Are you kidding?" I shouted, remembering the entire 4 hour trip on the bus to get here had only cost me 140 pesos. Here, "take 50 pesos," I relented. I handed him the money. "Nice to meet you, see you again..."

Again he rejected it, and started to laugh. The big ugly driver frowned. "This is a good deal for you. The distance was far. 150 pesos, no problems, friend. Why don't you get back in? He'll take you to the motel and you can pay then. 200 pesos. That's good for you. Look at you get all wet."

Realizing I had little choice, I reached in my pocket and pulled out some wet bills. This was not my country and there was no sign of anybody who would help me. And then it also occurred to me that I had been arguing about a measly 150 pesos, which was only $2.25. Still, it made me angry to know they were taking advantage of me, compounded by the fact everybody and their dog had been trying to bleed pesos from me or swindle me outright since I arrived.

I forked over the dough and rushed inside, drenching wet, where a pretty young girl behind the counter smiled invitingly and took my order.

"A large coffee. The biggest one you have - extra large, in fact. And a donut, a Boston cream. Make it two."

She giggled rather cutely. Almost immediately I forgot all peril. I sat down and enjoyed the coffee and had a conversation with her. She wanted to know everything about me. But a few minutes later, as the rained and wind picked up harder, a mob of people swarmed inside and all hopes of sacking her lost. I started to panic again, realizing it was going to be dark soon. I knew one thing for sure, I wanted to get the hell out of town. I didn't care how nice the beach was. I wasn't going to wait it out, staying in a motel in a typhoon in hopes of a quick swim in the morning and some scenery. Suddenly Manila and the hotel where I had been staying seemed wonderful, safe, familiar. The weather had been beautiful there too. If I could just get back there, I thought, I could call this excursion a loss and go out on the town again. A wonderful idea! I slugged down the coffee and headed outside, realizing again there were no taxis. I waited in the rain getting drenched - which didn't really matter anymore at this point: I was soaked to the core. Then another motorcycle taxi pulled up. The driver looked friendly. A woman sat behind him on his seat.

"Hello, Sir," he said. "Where are you going?"

"Bus station, OK?"

"Certainly, Sir. Please, get in," The lady on the back smiled at me.

This time I demanded to know the fare back to the bus station. He said it wouldn't expensive. "Just 100 pesos," he assured.

Oh whatever, I thought. That's less than two bucks. It's getting dark and I want to get the hell out of here. This guy even had some plastic protection around the carriage to mimimize getting wet. We drove for about 5 minutes, then he pulled over at some motel where he tried to get me to stay. It was old and dirty and looked as if I would either get mugged in the night, or that the roof would fly off in the wind.

"No way! Bus station!"

"Sir, I'm afraid 100 pesos isn't enough. This rain is too hard. Maybe I can't drive you. My wife is getting wet, you see."

I looked around, panicking. It was almost dark. There weren't many cars on the road, the wind and rain getting worse. He had tricked me. He had me in his clutches - and he knew it.

"But I think 10 bucks will get you there," he said, smiling assuredly.

"10 dollars?" I cried. That's almost enough money in the Philippines to take a bus halfway across the country, or better yet, half enough to take a girl home for the night, if that's your pleasure.




Here is a picture from inside the rickety skooter. I barely got my camera back in the bag before the storm hit. Notice the sign says 3.50 Pesos per person. That's about 5 cents. Talk about price gouging, huk!



I really didn't know what to do. I was trapped. I had no choice but to agree.

"Yeah, go on..." I said, while muttering, "you filthy futzer!" under my breath.

"Good idea, Sir," he smiled. His wife smiled, too. What a marriage.

We puttered through the wind and rain for an alarming amount of time. He stopped once to let his wife off and to see if I wouldn't go to another motel, just down the road, which I denied. He started to scare me saying there might not be any bus and if there was the traffic to Manila would be horrible. It was now fully dark. I couldn't see a thing, not a single street light around. I was thoroughly terrified at this point, cursing myself over and over again for being so stupid. Really this guy could have done anything to me, had he wanted - take me off to some back road for his thugs to beat and rape me, steal all my stuff, chop of my feet and feed them to their starving iguanas. But alas, like Heaven's Pearly Gates, there came the bus station bright in the darkness. I realized 10 bucks was not such a bad deal, though, out of principle, I still managed to weedle him down 2 bucks.

At last I bought a ticket, just in time too. The last bus back to Pasay, Manila, was getting ready to leave....

Stay tuned for more adventures from last night and the previous nights as well... As for now I have to get ready to go to the airport...

written by shawn matthews -|link

Philippines Blog - Manila Party!

Let me say my opinion has completely changed. Manila is a riot. I went out last night and have never seen such a scene in all my life of people dancing and having a great time. It was completely fun, and also cheap. All I can say is I really felt like a movie star here last night. More details later...

written by shawn matthews -|link

Philippines Blog - Manila

Well, I'm here at a PC room in one of the big malls. The internet connection is really slow here.

I had Freddie the taxi driver pick me up last night and drive me all over the city. I took a lot of pictures, especially of some of the infamous clubs. However, when I scanned through them today on the camera screen, most of them appear to be blurry. I checked and the lense had some smudges on it, just my luck. Anyway, I hope some will come out OK. Fred also took me to the Hard Rock cafe and I bought him a beer. It was pretty slow out last night because it was Thursday. He suggested I should rest up and party tonight instead. I took his advice and went home around 12. slept in until 11 today. I went all over around my motel taking pictures or this and that, nothing too special yet, but of course, a few good ones and some comical stories to come. Along the way I got asked at least 20 more times to exchange money or buy a pretty girl for the day. A few groups of little barefoot children with dirty faces begged me for money. I want to help, but it's impossible to help everyone, the poverty is all pervasive, and I felt giving them money would only encourage them and others watching to further harass tourists.

Well, I hope I have some fun tonight. Tomorrow I will go to Cebu and hit the beaches. I need to buy some camera batteries if I can find them. Mine are almost dead. Stay tuned...

written by shawn matthews -|link

Philippines Blog - Manila


I'm in Manilla now at the motel. I've been all over the city, but as for pics, I've been afraid to take out my camera besides in my motel room. As it is I've been harassed 37 times to exchange money or buy a girl. It's a little scary here, a lot like Bangkok; however, in Bangkok it didn't seem this bad. The people there are a little less desperate than here, at least overtly. That's probably because I stayed on the foreigner street there, Kaoson road. The foreigners seem pretty well spread out here. I've only seen a few, realy old scary looking guys with young hottie girls around this area. At least the future isn't all that bleak. I'm sure there are more across town where the gogo girl bars are, like in Bangkok.I'm going to head to Makati to the Hard Rock Cafe. I heard that area is pretty decent. I think I'm better off leaving my camera in the room though, not sure. My motel is nice and clean. Down the street people are eating garbage. There's garbage and poverty everywhere. A little further down is a large upscale shopping center like Coex, or like a huge, nice clean mall back home. They searched my bag for bombs before I went. I felt like I was at JFK airport again.

I got lucky and had a really nice taxi driver today who helped me find this motel without getting a fee. He told me he has been waiting 13 years for a tourist visa to visit his aunt in New York City. We're practically best friends now. He's picking me up tomorrow to take me back to the airport to check on Cebu tickets and help with motels. He even offered to drive me 3 hours north to Angeles, the famous nightlife city, for only $30! I'll be sure to take his picture. I'm really not sure my plan, though. I may head to Cebu tomorrow or try that Angeles place. I want to see the islands...Manilla is dirty, but a real eye opener to how well off we are in the states and also Korea! Well, I'll try to update more, but don't expect pics until I get back to Korea as I forgot my USB reader and there's only 2 computers in this motel.

written by shawn matthews -|link