Fear of water? Then to the Philippines
Since the end of my working life, I have been spending the winter months in Thailand and neighboring countries for a reasonable number of years. Due to some physical problems I had to cancel this year.
Apparently there is such a thing as a supernatural power, because the weather gods were very kind to me and let the winter period in the Netherlands glide very gently over me. At the beginning of April I leave the beautiful rising spring sun for what it is and quickly arrange a ticket to Bangkok to end a lesser period in my life.
The well-known Thai New Year's party Songkran follows on the weekend immediately after arrival. Have experienced this once before in Chiangmai with very little pleasure. To each his own, but for this boy once, but never again. So looking for an alternative that is difficult to realize within Thailand.
To the Philippines
Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam are an alternative to avoid my fear of water. However, these are countries where I have been several times and that is why the choice falls on the Philippines this time.
For a very reasonable price you fly from Bangkok with low budget airlines such as Tiger Airways or Cebu Pacific to Clark and from there bridge the approximately 90 kilometers to Manila by bus. Would you like to visit the capital of the vast 7107 island country. With about 12 million inhabitants, Metro Manila is comparable to the Thai capital Bangkok. In fact, everything has been said and this is the only agreement.
The city makes a messy and shabby impression with many begging people and young children. The restaurants are of a mediocre quality and the Filipino cuisine is not exactly refined. Admittedly, it is something completely different and in few ways comparable to Thailand.
angeles city
As described, the cheapest way to travel to Manila is a flight from Bangkok to Clark, the former US Air Force airbase, and a ten-minute drive from Angeles City. Just compare the place with Walking Street in Pattaya. Spend a night or more in Angeles and then take the bus from Swagman to Manila for about 10 euros.
You can book the bus in any hotel and they will even pick you up there as a special service. Countless bars with scantily clad ladies attempting on a stage, not the least bit like dance steps, mark the road for miles.
Poor trump
The 'dancers' earn a frugal daily wage, which for at least 8 hours of hopping on stage yields a result of barely 200 pesos, or three and a half euros. Some girls are occasionally offered a lady drink as a minimal supplement to the modest income. On my quest as a hobby photographer and member of a photo club, I set out for a meager neighborhood outside the party bustle.
Suddenly someone calls to me. It is the waitress of a pub where I had a drink the night before. When I come to talk to her, she shows me her little hut, because I dare not call it a house. Together with a colleague, they both live in this accommodation and each pay approximately 30 euros per month.
The whole furniture consists of a wooden bench on which one of them spends the night and the other sleeps on the floor. Water or shower is not to be found in any fields or roads and to be honest I don't dare to ask about it either. A sad and sad feeling takes possession of me.
The same day I read a story on the Thailandblog in the evening about income differences in Thailand. Half of the Thai population has an income below 15.000 baht and the elderly are dependent on their children. It should also be remembered that a large part of the population has to make do with considerably less than the stated amount.
Satisfied
The sun may shine abundantly in these countries and may mean heaven on earth for the foreign tourist or expat, but for the majority of the indigenous population the sun shines much less.
Try to imagine what it means to have to make ends meet with this income, while also having to pay the living expenses. That night has a hard time falling asleep and keeps thinking about that humble shack where two young women live on a minimal income.
Grumbling and complaining is part of our national character, but wanting to look over the erected wall every now and then will make many people think.
I have been coming for many years and have never seen so much poverty in this rotten corrupt country anywhere in the world. 13 million philipinos work abroad and send their money to their families, but the majority don't even live in a hut, and sleep in the most crazy places. There are neighborhoods in Manila, but also in the center, where you have to overcome obstacles about people sleeping on the sidewalks. I was also on the run to Angeles, and met many acquaintances, because I never want to experience this unstable water festival again. Had a great time, because they still know what manners and service mean. Wouldn't want to live there, but those people get a big compliment, because nothing is too much, unlike the Thais, who are still too miserable to greet you. The Philippines is always a breath of fresh air for me among civilized humanity. But you have to be very careful because the crime rate is very high, and I was even robbed in my hotel safe by the night manager, who took 1700 euros from my safe the last night. I was also robbed 2 times in Manila by some brats, but those I was able to disable and abused quite a bit. I received a compliment from the police, and was treated with all due respect, and was even offered a beer at the station.
That is very contradictory. You find it a relief that humanity is so civilized there and then you go on in a kind of tirade that you have to be very careful there because of the high crime rate, have been robbed by the night manager of the hotel and also by 2 brats are raided. Moreover, it is also a rotten and corrupt country according to your argument.
Well, how civilized or how decent, polite and decent do you want it to be. 🙁
Great people, but you wouldn't want to live there! The Thai are rude, but you live in Pattaya?! And then a righteous “crime fighter” who brutally abuses a few “brats”! I would like to have a beer with you sometime, because I like exciting stories!
I won't be moving to Asia anytime soon, but if I did, I'd rather go to the Philippines than Thailand. That's because it's a lot easier to communicate with the people because of the widespread use of English (the Americans took care of that with their education at the time) and because Tagalog, the language of Manila, despite horrific difficulties and stumbling blocks, seems to me easier than Thai. At the same time it is a very misleading country: because of the Catholic faith and the Spanish heritage it all looks a bit Latin, but it is a very Asian country with – let's call it that – Asian values. Manila offers the appearance of recognisability, so to speak.
It is indeed a poor country. The Filipinos had Marcos at a time when governments elsewhere in Southeast Asia laid the foundations for an economic miracle. It seems that they are now catching up in the Philippines, but the backlog is very large.
Furthermore, it is a country for fish lovers. Don't believe what Joseph Jongen writes about the food. Here's what you can get on the roadside in Ilocos Sur province. http://www.choosephilippines.com/eat/local-flavors/972/road-side-eats-in-ilocos-norte/
Finally, read this great newspaper next to the Bangkok Post http://www.inquirer.net/
Dear Han, Whether people want to believe what I write about the food is for them to judge. And when it comes to food, it's always a personal taste. Would like to eat at a reasonable restaurant and not at a roadside food stall. When I look at the rubbish on the street, I really don't want to think about it. The restaurants in Thailand are on a much higher level. Incidentally, I can recommend everyone a trip to the Philippines, if only to realize in which welfare state we live in the Netherlands. And that awareness is fading among many.
Just got back from the philipines and totally agree with both speakers.
Indeed Joseph and we worry about whether or not our (future) pension will be spent in Thailand.
Dear Joe,
Nice of you to mention this, indeed many people do not understand that we (fortunately) have nothing too little in our society. It's nice that we're better off than there, but.... indeed thinking about it would do many good.
Dear Joseph,
You should look further than just Angeles and Manila. That is the same if someone only visits Pattaya and thinks that he has visited Thailand. I agree with you that the Philippines is a poor country and Thai cuisine is a lot better. What I do find an advantage in the Philippines is that you still have islands that are not overrun by tourism, as is often the case in Thailand. I've just been to Palawan, beautiful and wonderfully quiet and very cheap. Philippines has a lot to offer if you flee the larger cities because that is misery. I feel that many places in Thailand have been ruined and lost their charm by mass tourism.
Greetings,
John Hoekstra.
both speakers are somewhat right. I have been coming to the Philippines for years, was there for a good 6 months last year, traveled around a lot and saw a lot, but every day they try to cheat you everywhere in everything and anything, of course it is because of that poverty, but fun is different.
The food in the Philippines is just CRAZY, sorry but that's the way it is, ask most who have been there, if you want something nice to eat or don't want to be sick you have to go to a foreign restaurant, to 4-5 * hotels or to the restaurants in a mall, the food court is also edible, but much too fat, lots of pork and almost no vegetables. Thai food is towering above that!!
Choose where to live in Asia? in the Philippines, think about it seriously and talk to people who have lived there, break into, steal, family and acquaintances of your girlfriend who constantly come to scrounge for money, etc ………… and you need serious security if you want to sleep peacefully.
Yes the language is an advantage and they are Catholic, are the 2 main reasons why farangs go get a maid and live in Thailand with it, safer and you are also left at ease from the family. Few last long, or some who have to go on with a very small budget and also live in such a hutteke / house for the cheap.
Dear Patrick and those other know-it-alls, I am married to a Filipino after vacationing in Thailand for 20 years. You talk a lot and don't know what you're talking about. Messy about food? If you first take a closer look at the Philippine kitchen, you won't make such a gibberish! Manila, yes indeed, you should stay away from there. But if you've never been there and don't know where to go, it becomes a difficult story. Doesn't this also apply to Thailand? Indeed many exciting stories as Bacchus told, but luckily I know better…..
N tip for the eaters who eat nothing but fries… Watch youtube and Anthony Bourdois about the Filipino kitchen. just look what comes along in all the provinces, yes also Manila and Angeles… bad? What a limp bitch!
A very realistic account of that 'Boy'. I have been there a few times and fell in love with a very nice lady but what a misery there. Then Thailand is a few steps higher on the financial ladder.
There is also great poverty in the villages, but at least they have something to eat. As a culture I prefer Thailand more than the Philippines.
It is indeed very sad.
French
I also visited Manila more often a few years ago. What a mess. Not comparable to Bangkok. Bangkok seems like a paradise opposite that city. I had been to the market then and we had only just arrived when we saw a few meters away someone with a large machete who wanted to hit around with it.
Food in Manila? I tried Filipino food in a food court. It was crap for me and certainly compared to any food court I've been to here in Thailand.
The best Filipino meal I've ever had was in Japan, of all places. I had a Filipino acquaintance there who lived near Nagoya and who had never eaten Sushi. She worked there in a shrimp factory as a wage slave and simply did not have the money for it. But in the city where she lived, we couldn't find anything and she suggested we go to the local Filipino restaurant. A shop with all kinds of Filipino stuff in the front and in the back a room with two tables and chairs, which served as a restaurant. I then ate some kind of goulash. And I must say, I was impressed. It tasted excellent.
But in Manila… no.
And I never felt safe there.
I think the high crime rate and willingness to do so also has to do with religion. In countries like Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Hong Kong (when it wasn't part of China) and Japan, I've seen very little violent crime. It happens, but everywhere in the countries where the Catholics were (it's my personal opinion): almost all of South America, Mexico, Philippines, crime is almost always accompanied by a high willingness to violence.
Culture in the Philippines? What else is "authentic" there? In fact, I'm surprised how little has changed in Thailand in the last 35 years – since I first came here – despite all the tourism.
Of course, Thailand also changed, but compared to the west, it still depends very much on old traditions and norms. That may make it a bit more difficult for some to deal with the Thais on a daily basis, and therefore often complain about the nature of the people here. Many simply cannot imagine the much stranger Thai culture to us than in a society like the one that originated in the Philippines, which was built by the Catholic Spaniards and the Americans.
Did big cities exist in the Philippines before the Spanish and Americans? Kingdoms like in Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar??? I haven't heard of it yet. I also know nothing about impressive temples or ancient cities, such as Ayuthaya in Thailand, the Borobudur in Indonesia, the Ming Tombs in China and many more…. There were civilizations there long before the Europeans arrived…but in the Philippines???
It can be quite nice there, not really, but from what I've seen and read, it's not the country that appeals to me.
Well, to be honest, it must be said: if I had found the Philippines more beautiful than Thailand, I would not have been here, but there. Or not?
Dear Sjaak S, It is your personal opinion, but I think I am allowed to respond. If you had found the Philippines more beautiful….then you would have been there or wouldn't you sometimes write? Well I tell you now the Philippines is more beautiful!!! Do I have a right to speak? Yes! I have been in Thailand for 20 years from North to South and have also been to the Philippines a lot. Manila a machete, ohh in Bangkok they don't walk with guns? Machete can I still run, gun they shoot me in the back! kingdoms? Philippines has not been a kingdom and will never be, a strange example not to compare with 4 other Asian countries. Philippines has had a lot of Western influences through the past and they are still there, so logical than the typical Asian culture of Thailand. High crime rate? Is it higher than in Thailand, if so give me a link and substantiation. What's beautiful about Bangkok? All those Buddhas and temples, Royal palace? No smog, no traffic jams, no gases that affect your lungs a little bit? Indeed, I don't like Manila either, but have you been to Intramuros, THE old inner city with its beautiful colonial buildings? Have you visited the Cordilla Mountains, the rice terraces of Banaue, can you already tell, you will not see them anywhere in Thailand or Indonesia! Ever been to Boracay? Bohol? Yes, those are the so-called Sa Muis and Pi Pi's. Can you already tell that these Thai islands can't match it! language? Go to the Isaan for example and make do, Philippines English is an official teaching language. Go island hopping between Cebu, Bohol and Negros….Diving? Any idea how many beautiful coral reefs there are and how many people go diving every year? Food, the porc bbq, the bicol express, the well-known sissig, the adobo, the pancits, the seafood dishes, the crabs and lobsters, continue? delicious dishes that have nothing to do with anything and taste great. Do you see the American influences? Yes of course. Do I eat that greasy bite? No, I eat purely Filipino. Food junk you say? A sentence later you had an excellent meal in a local Filipino restaurant. You called it a goulash. That's what I meant! Perhaps you had landed in Hungary and thought of a goulash. I'm sure it was an adobo because of the ingredients, so tasty right? Yes, good because you ate purely Filipino. Am I sitting here advertising the Philippines? No, I'm pointing out to bloggers that they're talking nonsense because they've been to Angeles once ( why there? Drink and women? and Manila and indeed I don't like Manila either, but that doesn't mean that the country is a mess because it has nothing less to offer than Thailand. Been on holiday in Thailand for 20 years, taken Thailand with its advantages and disadvantages, which every country has. The last 15 years I was lucky enough to be able to afford to stay there for 5 months in the winter. No, can't say anything bad about Thailand, come there every year for 2 weeks for the delicious food and the very pleasant atmosphere that will always fascinate me. Will never forget the beautiful time of Thailand, both the beautiful and lesser experiences.
Moderator: Irrelevant text removed.
With the great danger that it will turn into chatting, I would like to point out to Mr. Noah that I had eaten in a food court in the Philippines – ok Manila – just like in Bangkok. In Bangkok I haven't been to a food court once where I didn't come across something I liked. In Manila, I have not once come across something that I did like. I used to go there many times because of my work.
It was a surprise to me that I write that I also ate something delicious. But, that was not in Manila, but in JAPAN!
You probably wouldn't have read this blinded by your defense of the Philippines.
For the rest I just gave my opinion and impressions. Sometimes first impressions are wrong and I do not believe that a capital represents the whole country. But you would say that in most capitals you also get the better, such as a better kitchen.
And I have been to many other countries of the world besides the Philippines.
Also that I mentioned “only” four countries… they were just examples. I love to hear that there is so much nature in the Philippines and also beautiful rice fields. I wasn't comparing them either. I compared historical cultural remains of the people of the country itself. I also knew that there are colonial churches and buildings. But they were built by the Spaniards. I don't know anything about that. It is different in many other countries. Even in South and Central America there are cultural centers that predate the Spanish influence.
Most Filipinos will no doubt be honest, hardworking and lovely people (a good friend of mine is of Filipino descent and I am also still friends with the Filipino lady I had dinner with in Japan), but they cannot boast of a culturally rich past. Almost every country around the Philippines can do that.
And that's what I like about Thailand. Today I visit a beautiful temple and receive the blessings of a Buddhist monk and the next day I laze on the beach.
When I'm a few meters away from the tourist trails, I can have the best local food (until three years ago I didn't particularly like Thai food) and don't have to worry about getting sick.
Anyway… I'm glad you defend the Philippines so strongly. I had to smile when I read your contribution. I must have stepped on someone's sore toe!
Moderator: We are closing the discussion about food in the Philippines, new comments on this item will not be posted.
Dear Noah,
I'm not saying I'm a know-it-all or that you are, but if you say that Filipino cuisine is better than Thai, well, there's something wrong with your taste buds. I have been coming to the Philippines for 12 years, not just in Angeles or Manila, from north to south also far south, chicken and pork on the grill, chicken pork adobo, does not taste bad but greasy stuff without any vegetables. The vegetable you can get overall is chop suey and then they STILL put pork fat through it. Tell me why most Filipinas have different love handles, Jolibee and all those other fatty foods. I eat a bit more than fries, I love all the nice buffets in Thailand's star hotels, but also Thai cuisine and you can say that you know better, no boy in the Philippines you don't have to be for a superior kitchen, although there are some tasty things though.
Even fresh fruit, Davao known for its durian, give me the monthong in Thailand, Cebu for its mango, give me the Thai, I'm not saying this to tear down the Philippines, I was also in Vietnam for years, the Thai fruit , durian, lichi, mangos are the best of South East Asia.
Dear Patrick, you can accuse me of anything but this is my last posting on this. I've made my point and that's it. Just want to say don't judge if one doesn't know and I mean that in general. About a country, as well as its culture, as well as its food!
My taste buds? I have been a sous chef in a 2 Michelin star restaurant, so my taste buds are fine! In addition, I am still in the hospitality industry and have been an owner for 15 years!
Now about the accusation I'm opening with. Where does it say that I think Filipino cuisine is better or tastier than Thai? Where did I write that?
I often have the impression that people want to read what is not there at all.
Just said that if one knows the real Filipino cuisine it's not rubbish!
To make you happy I think Thai cuisine is one of the best in the world, so better than the Filipino one!
What is all this about Manila, what I read there? Take me back in your arms, Manila and promise me you'll never let go. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dK8-U9dt280