Music that reminds me of the Philippines

Over the last few weeks I have been talking online to several people who have visited the Philippines and are now back in their own country for whatever reason and  during our talks we all had in our minds records and songs that we will always associate with the Philippines, that have personal memories or just seem to catch the spirit and fun of the country.

It is rather like telling people the first record you ever bought and watching their faces into trying to understand why, because they do not share the moment in time where thet song became associated with something or somebody.

This got me thinking about records that I will al;ways associate with the Philippines.

If you leave me now/Chicago

Lost in space/Lighthouse Family

Pinoy Ako/Orange  and Lemons  THEME FROM PINOY BIG BROTHER

My humps/Black eyed peas

Father and son/Cat Stevens

You make me feel brand new /Stylistics

Close to you/Carpenters

Life on Mars/David Bowie

Now if I had to produce an album that made me want to make the memories of the Philippines flood back those tracks would be included because of the significance of them.

I have decided to make a CD  setup for myself next year of about 100 tracks.

Can anyone suggest what to put in and why?

What is a lie?

Now in the West we appear to judge a lie a little different from a lie here in the Philippines as the line between a lie here and the truth is so different.

In the Philippines the culture here is not to lose face and this in itself causes many misunderstandings and communication errors that we in the West get annoyed about and in the main the locals cannot understand what all  the fuss is all about.

Examples.

You have an appointment and no one shows,  despite you going out of your way to be there on time the answer is normally  that the person who did not show insists they said “maybe yes they will be there”, which after a while you learn it means I am not coming but I do not want to say the word NO outright.

Example

You have appointment and after twenty minutes they have not arrived so you call and they say they are on the way, you make several other calls over the next two hours and your blood boils as you cannot understand why a twenty minute journey is taking the person two hours as they are “on the way.”

Well here “On the way” here means that they intend to be leaving soon and if though they intend to do that they may have to do other things on the way, this does not mean always rudeness its just the way it is.

On the way means meet friends and have lunch pay the bills and go see a friend.

Example

The word “YES” does not always mean YES  as  especially with foreigners the locals always want to please you and will say YES to many things, even if they do not understand, or have no intention of doing that you must read the eyes and body language, this will help…sometimes.

Now if you are a Filipino and you have the  same conversation you will understand by body language and by years of  sharing the same culture that the person saying YES means NO,  but does not want to lose face in front of you, but has told you by his eyes and by other means and he knows you accept that as you do not want to embarrass him.

Confusing??..YES  will I ever get used to a little lie? I probably will not as in the West a mans word is what defines him, so our culture see a lie for whatever reason as a bad thing, but some lies here are ok, its understood and its fine. OR IS IT?

Videos Memories

You know when you come across old photos and you suddenly remember everything that the photos shows yet before that you have never  given a thought about that time or location for years and years?

Well not a photo this time but a video that I sent back to the UK when I was traveling Asia about four years ago.

I do not pretend its a master piece but the opening few minutes shows Bataan near Manila where it is alleged the highest cross in the Philippines belongs, and later a minute of non Philippines video that I cannot edit out.

The Bataan segment shows my surrogate son Harold jumping for joy to go such to such a place as we both struggle to hold the camera still because of the huge winds on that day.

However the last minute is of HUE HIN in Thailand which is also beautiful. The king lives here but he did not want to appear on the video.

Podcast: John & Steve

I love this country and I also introduced my friend STEVE  a few years ago to the wonder and the beauty of this country, and as expected he has taken it to his heart now and wants to move here too, this despite some of the credit crunch problems affecting the UK..

The following conversation between myself and Steve about what he loves and misses, but also what he maybe does not miss too.

Lets talk Supermarkets and TV and the passion for the people of the Philippines.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

No change sir!!

All over the world it is a problem trying to keep one step ahead of the taxi drivers add on costs and diversions that circle and circle the City and they think you do not know. LOL.

Here in Davao City the increase in fuel prices have really hurt the drivers who rent the taxi for the day, and its very often the case that they make such small monies after deducting rent and licenses that they really do need to get the passenger to dip in further to their pockets by any means.

One thing here that I find is always happening here in Davao City is that you arrive at your destination and you hand the driver the money and he has “No change Sir” and he means NOTHING as he will claim he just left the depot or the last customer took everything and this is amazing as it happens by pure coincidence to those of Caucasian skin, I have never really worked out why?

Yesterday after a long walk and feeling hot I decided to get a taxi for the rest of the way home as I could feel the dehydration starting, so flagging down the taxi i told him my destination and pulled out my p100 note and said OK this is all i have,which is a small amount too.

He mumbled no change, so I asked him again you have change? “NO SIR”, so I said OK please stop at a service station so we can change the note up, honestly that’s about $2 only.

Anyway he passed four service stations and outside my house I gave him p100 note for a p53 fare and guess what? “NO CHANGE SIR”

He claimed to have nothing at all so I asked why he did not stop at service station as I had requested his answer was lost in a mumble but insisted he had no change and said I had to pay.

Now having had this done many times I lept in with my always winning comment!!

OK, I have no change you have no change so lets sit here for the next hour until your meter clocks up to the amount Ill just rest.

Within seconds he pulls a bundle of notes from his pocket and loose change and snatches my money and gives the correct change.

The thing is if he was honest I always give a tip, Always.

Lost my wallet

I have been very lucky over the last few years in my traveling around Asia and I have never lost any ID or Credit Cards, although in Thailand I did have my cards cloned by a waiter who put a £6000 bet in a Casino in England as I slept in my Thailand hotel.

Last week a string of coincidences led me to having a financial and ongoing headache and its because I changed my well trusted procedures that have kept me safe.

As it was my birthday a few  weeks ago I had a present of a new pair of trousers which I decided to wear on  my trip to Manila, however the pockets were not deep so I decided to put all my cards in one wallet not my normal two as I always have done before.

After landing at Manila I got in a taxi with my friend for a Friday rush our trip with an annoying taxi driver who through the whole journey was indicating the journey need a “big” tip. After 50 minutes we arrived at the hotel and as I got out the traffic was heavy so I was half in the taxi and half in the street as the traffic passed. When I left I always check the seat to ensure I had not left anything like a phone or wallet and lucky for me it was clear so I left the taxi to go to collect my bags from the back.

The Taxi  driver was so pissed as my tip was not enough for him so he did not help pull my bag so as I got it out I felt my pocket was not as bulging as I thought it should be so I put the bag down and tapped my trousers and by mistake assumed my big MP4 player was my wallet and continued to carry the bag to the hotel lobby.

Ten seconds later I put the bag down and realized it was not my wallet in the bag and turned to the Taxi who drove off very quickly. I knew he had it and I had nothing, No money, No bank cards and  credit cards and NO ID!!! I felt sick, I had broken my own rules with ONE wallet, wrong trousers and now an unknown Taxi was off with my life.

As i booked in I asked the security guards to see if they could ID the taxi company, lucky for me, a few minutes later someone recognized the company as a NEW company but had no idea how to locate them.

Feeling sick and with NO MONEY my friend and I rushed back to the terminal 3 and I decided to get to an internet and stop the cards in case of fraud which because I did not have my IDs was difficult because most banks gave me a hard time because of my lack of security information.

My friend found the supervisor at airport who managed to identify the company who when contacted by phone had the taxi searched and of course NO WALLET. Lucky for me my friend insisted that the Taxi and the driver should come to him for him to check.reluctantly they agreed and the taxi was 20 minutes away and would come to terminal 3. Strange it took him TWO HOURS to get there.

In the meantime I managed to cancel all my cards and was desperate to find a way to get monies , however everything I thought off was blocked because of lack of ID.

Amazingly the taxi driver who showed up after two hours was swamped on by security and  the wallet was found under the front seat, “A miracle”, the Taxi driver said. The wallet had been opened and everything was back but in the wrong places, but a little late as by this time all my cards were canceled and could not be reinstated.

The security staff at the airport told my friend that they were sorry but they believe the driver was a thief and he would be dismissed but they could not do that until later by putting pressure on the taxi owners who were NEW to operating at the airport.

To add salt to the injury my friends Credit Cards and Debit cards also failed in Manila because of suspected fraud, so we ate RICE for two days and lucky for me I have some good friends who are helping me until my Cards get to me from the UK.

LESSON LEARNT. DON’T BREAK YOUR OWN RULES.

Dress code at Immigration

Now as a guest here in the Philippines its very important to obey the laws and to try and fit in the culture of the land. Last week I had to visit my local immigration office and I am fully aware that the dress code is very strictly followed as in most government offices throughout the country.

Now that means for us guys no shorts or sleeveless shirts and NO SANDALS, if you break this rule there is no obligation on anyone to service your needs and most likely you will be asked to leave by the security officers.

A European man tried to enter and was refused entry for the  above mentioned reasons and decided to  make a huge verbal fuss, and believe me he really was not thinking, as the immigration office with all its powers is not a place to make such a process as all he had to  do was go over the road and get the required clothing and problem solved.

I listened to him making all his fuss and the security officer was well trained to deal with us silly foreigners and never lost her temper and even offered to  to assist him by taking his  paperwork in and out of the office for him whilst he waited in the hot Sun.

I had little consideration for his dilemma until i looked around the room where I saw most of the ladies dressed in Sandals with nail varnish and bare legs and skirts that went up and up and up, i dreaded anyone leaning over the desk to fill in the application forms. LOL.

Now a dress code is reasonable but why oh why is it that only the male species can’t show feet and legs?

Try Durian

One of the surprises in living in Mindanao is that this Island is full of fruits, some I have never heard of before.

One of these is called Durian which reminds me of a scene from the film Alien where the husk is removed to show a milky coloured substance with a high pong factore. I have tried it several times and its just not for me, however on a recent visit to my friend Rick he offered it to my friends Steve and Migs!!!

Intramuros Video

Over the last few weeks I have been coming across some videos related to the Phil. and I am going to share just a taste of those with you over the next few articles.

This short clip is from Manila a couple of weeks ago where I met up with fellow LIP man Migs Bassig and some friends who took myself and my friend Steve who is visiting from the UK for a long hot walk.

Young 50

I have to say that I am nursing a headache from the last few days where I have celebrated my 50th birthday in style here in Davao City with great friends and great alcohol  lol.

It started on Thursday my actual birthday where I went with three friends to an Italian restaurant and during the meal another friend came in as a surprise to join us, he had traveled several hundred  miles from Cebu to catch me off guard.

The next day I was invited to Felis Seminar Resort and continued to celebrate at the traditional OKTOBERFEST celebration..again more BEER!!!

The big event was a party held at my home where 40 people turned up and gave me a great time it truly made me feel I was twenty again. Too many people to thank but thanks to Steve and Migs for organising everything and fellow writers from this site, friends from the FOM (Friends of Mindanao) organisation and friends who I have made over the last few years which I am proud to call family.

I am very humbled by the last few days and here is to the next 50!!!!!

My Birthday Cake featured a mug of San Miguel Beer!