This blog is a continuation of Adventure in the Philippines, and is my 2nd post from the 3 part series.
In my previous entry, I laid out the joys of traveling. But you know me, I always share the good, the bad and everything in between. So, I thought that I'd also write about the challenges that come with visiting another country. Please note, however, that these are my personal observations and is not meant to denote any disrespect to the people, culture nor the country itself.
And with that out of the way, let's dig in!
The first thing we had to deal with was the long flight from New Zealand to the Philippines. I'd say it took us almost a full day from Napier to Auckland a hotel stay, flight to Sydney then Manila. This is on top of the time spent waiting for our interconnecting flights. And when you land in Manila, prepare for the humidity. The Philippines is a tropical country so they do not experience four seasons, but they have summer and rainy days, instead. But hey, we're real troopers so we picked up our luggage's, stretched our limbs and went on to thread our way out of the crowded airport where we met up with one of our staff who lives there. Coming back was definitely not as smooth as the arrival with long continuous delays, lines, snappy air hostesses. Our Quantas flight was probably the worst I'd ever experienced in all my life. 3 hour delayed flight, not all of us passengers receiving our waters and parts of our meal, the hostess would not help us and were grumpy, our suitcases taking 35 minutes to get on the conveyor belt, my damaged suitcase all resulting in a missed connecting flight delaying us getting home to our children until the next day, another hotel booking and another flight.
The second thing I noticed after arriving in Manila was that almost everyone speaks English. That's good, right? Well ... not entirely. English has its nuances, and each country has their respective inflections when speaking the language. And this is the crux of the matter. There are times when talking to your everyday folks like a security guard, or a salesperson at the mall, or a random stranger that you need to ask - isn't really all that easy. So, I sometimes had to resort to gestures, pointing fingers or several repetitions before I'm able to fully get my point across. The other thing I noticed and has happened every time I travel or are around people who speak another language is they forget that body language is universal. I think they forget that I know that if you are pointing at me while gesturing and speaking in Filipino, I know you are talking about me.
Shopping. The fun part, no? Sure. But it has its pitfalls, as well, especially for someone who's obviously from another country. For example, I mentioned in my previous blog that we found out that it was more prudent to let a local ask how much an item is before we swoop in to buy it. This is due to the perpetual misconception that foreigners are all rich. I wish this were true! Many an exchange we had been told we were paying 3 times the amount. From masseuse, travel, clothes, food the list became endless. Nevertheless, I learned to bargain like it was nobody's business. Something I learnt in Bali. In New Zealand prices are as is. I have however learnt to ask for a discount and a lot of the times they offer one. Before our trip was over, I was able to get some discounts on most stuff I bought. Mind you, not everything is cheap in the Philippines as they also have a ton of malls. For such a small country, they sure have this incredible love for huge shopping centers with almost everything you can think of. The best thing about them are the Christmas decorations because you can tell how much effort and expense went into putting up awesome displays!
Then, there are the bugs. Oh, the bugs! While the Philippine countryside and beaches have their charm and remarkable scenery, there's always the villains in every story. And they are the geckos, the lizards, mosquitoes and other bugs that run amok all over. We've been assured countless times that they are quite harmless and are usually staples in every household that they are practically considered as family members. But for someone like me and my co-worker Sarah (who was deathly afraid of geckos and lizards), they were a bit terrifying. We see them slithering on walls, popping up inside the bathrooms or behind doors and furniture. I'm sure they were more scared of us than we were of them, but we had to make some major changes to our lodgings just to dodge these creatures, more for our sanity than anything. Not once but several times. Nevertheless, they were minor nuisances and didn't deter us from exploring as much of the country as we could.
Accommodation can be great, or it can be horrible. We had some amazing accommodation and some that I was happy to leave. Our first accommodation started off with just about to walk through a glass door into this small entrance. However, the security told us we had to go around the back to go to the "front". So, we did. When we entered, we see the same security guard just on the other side of the glass door we went to enter before. Why in the world did we have to exit the building walk right around to enter on the opposite side when the door we tried to enter was separated only by the glass door you would not let us walk through! When we finally got off the 20th floor and walked to the Air BnB a smell so pungent hit us like a ton of bricks. The toilet would not flush, the shower was on the washing machine, kids screaming right up until 12:30am and then that's when the parents started arguing. Two of the rooms were less spacious than a coffin. We left that one and headed to a really lovely hotel which was wonderful.
Let's not forget, too, that there would always be those unforeseen circumstances while you're visiting another country. This might involve money, awkward situations brought by cultural differences, personal preferences and many other factors that you need to consider while you're out enjoying your vacation. They will crop up in the most unexpected times and ways that you need to brace yourself for these scenarios. Patience and an optimistic take on things never hurt at times like these.
Remember, a sage man once said, "“Adventures are the best way to learn". I'm going to preface the next blog (Series 3) with that quote because I'm going to share all the things I've learned during this adventure. Be sure to keep tuned in and see you soon!
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