Great Things about The Philippines

Out of fairness and respect, I think sometimes we should share the great experiences and what is wonderful about the Philippines. I think we sometimes get so stressed and upset with all the bad things that happen to us a business owners, foreigners, and tourist. That we forget to mention some of the great things about the Philippines.

Of course, we must feel it has something great to offer of why would we be here. I can give my personal opinions and feelings of what I like and find great about this country.

* I will have to say, that throughout my travels I have never found more beautiful women in all the world as the Filipina. They posses a natural Asian beauty that far surpasses all other Asian culture's. To me Asian women are the prettiest in the world. ( Sorry Mom and Sisters back home).. Out of all the Asian women, the Filipina hold the most grace in their body, smile, shinny hair. They are capable of being warm, caring, loving, and loyal to their companion. The Filipina is very emotional, and also very smart. I have often said to my friends, the Filipina is the only woman who you know is scamming you, who you know is just playing with you, and you still like it... and you still want it.....

* We sometimes complain about the corruption and government, but I will also have to say, its easy to get things done. Pay a little "FEE" and your time is cut in half, not so much hassle, and not so much red tape. So its also a benefit for us who don't want to stand in line, or go through allot of procedures to accomplish something. The law of course works for us also. If you do something a little wrong, drink to much, run red light, you can easily pay a " PENALTY" and you are good to go. No big deal. So even if we complain about the corruption, we also benefit from it in certain ways.

* Beautiful beaches and oceans. We all love the beaches and oceans, the blue waters, the amazing scenery. Philippines holds some of the clearest and purest shallows in the world. Nothing more exciting then riding a pump boat across a shallow and looking down into 30 feet of water and seeing bottom. Its for sure a great feeling...

* Being treated like a VIP. Even though if your white your are considered a millionaire here. Us expats and foreigners know that is not true. But still even if we are not, it makes you feel good and boost your ego to be treated as such. As a foreigner especially white, you have a esteem that follows with you, where ever you go. It for sure is not deserving to us, but in The Philippines you still get it. So another reason why I think we like it here.

* Cheaper way of living. We can take the small amount given to us by our home lands and come here and live a comfortable live. That we could not have done in our home country. Another way that boosts our ego, and makes us want to live here. We can live a higher class of life, and feel better about ourselves here. Back in our country's we would be in the poverty class...

* Of course here comes the big one. No matter if you are old, fat, ugly and bald, you can have a very pretty, young lady who will want to be with you. We cant get those things back home. You can go to bikini bars every night. They is no regulation of those places, they are very plentiful. So you can find all kinds of young, pretty ladies who would love to spend a evening with you, no matter what you look like. ( Of course for a fee) ...... Even if you did not want to go to the bars, if you try, you can find a nice young lady who will want to have a relationship with you. Plus the fact that even when you are older, and little round in the middle, and not so much hair anymore. Walk the roads or the malls and you will still have young ladies looking and smiling. Wow, what a ego booster for us. Dam, makes you feel 10 feet tall.

So in all fairness, you will hear a lot of us expats (myself included) complaining about how the girls will take advantage of us, try always to get money, act like they like us but really don't. But in truth, if they stop that, we would be devastated. We like it. But we also like to complain about it. I often find myself so mad about going to a bar, talking with a young lady, and buying her a drink, and she will run off. I get so mad, but guess what, my butt is back there in a few days doing the same thing again....

Putting up with all the bad things, attitudes, and failures of the Philippines is just a daily thing. We should stand up and say what is wrong. We should not stand by and be taken advantage of, or we should not let others walk over us. But in fairness and not being a hypocrite, we should also realize and accept that we are here. We are here for some reason, and we stay for some reason. So they must be some benefit to us that we like, or we would get out.

Although the benefit of us being here still does not give others the right to be cheaters, stealer's, liars, or taking advantage. I think we both benefit from each other, but both cultures are to stubborn, or just to proud to admit it and learn to work on the quality's we have to share. I have tried here in my business at The Jungle Restaurant and Cultural Entertainment Center to learn to work with the " corruption" and not fight it so much.

Ending up, to say that they are lots of good things about the Philippines. It is not always bad. Lot of great friendly, nice folks here. We just have to learn that their culture is about getting and wanting as much money as they can, by what ever means they can. But also, our culture is a 60 year old man dating a 18 year old girl, liking the bars, paying off someone to get out of trouble, pushy, loud, and sometimes just flat out but holes. So which one is worse. In our eyes they look bad, in their eyes we look bad. Who's right, who's wrong???? Work together, and just realize what each other really is. Don't lie about it, accept it and work with it.....

Example of confutation:

Filipino to me : You always looking the girl walking down the road, talking about sex, making strict rules for employees, drinking, wanting everything so perfect, getting loud, acting like your better than some others, always complaining about things here........

Reply : Yep, that's me....

Me to Filipino : You always scamming the tourist, overcharging the white guy, always wanting something for free, only talking or coming around when you can benefit, not being responsible, always making excuses......

Reply : Yep, that's me....

Best result : OK, then i will help the Filipino to earn more money from tourist, through proper means, and giving of commissions. Set strict rules for him to follow so he can earn a bigger salary, but not scam the tourist, or over charge the white guy. Include free meals for him and incentives for working hard, help him to save money and provide for his family through connections and work that i have, he can help me with. Help him to earn.

He in return will help me with other Filipinos, and watch out for things that will hurt me. Protect me from any bad deals, learn me the best places to go, the right things to do. Places where i wont have to deal with bull. Introduce me to people that wont bring out my bad quality's.

So instead of us arguing who's right and who's wrong, we accept what each other are, even if we don't agree, and we work to help each other get out of life what we like and want....