{"id":4915,"date":"2013-11-09T05:38:13","date_gmt":"2013-11-09T04:38:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/?p=4915"},"modified":"2020-01-04T10:34:08","modified_gmt":"2020-01-04T15:34:08","slug":"the-philippines-first-impressions-and-a-minor-case-of-culture-shock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/2013\/11\/the-philippines-first-impressions-and-a-minor-case-of-culture-shock\/","title":{"rendered":"The Philippines: First Impressions and a Minor Case of Culture Shock"},"content":{"rendered":"
The beauty of travelling by bicycle is that one country gently flows into the next.\u00a0 Crossing from Cambodia to Thailand, for example, you hardly register a change.\u00a0 Sure, the roads are better in the former Siam and people have a little more money to spend.\u00a0 Most Thais can afford a shiny Honda scooter while many\u00a0 Cambodians still struggle on rickety bikes.<\/p>\n
Early morning cycling Thailand means you\u2019ll \u00a0be surrounded \u00a0by smiling kids in crisp uniforms ambling off to school.\u00a0 In Cambodia, on the other hand, you\u2019ll find many youths idling by the roadside, working alongside parents in the emerald rice paddies or busy minding a pack of younger siblings.<\/p>\n
But the changes are not vast enough to be disconcerting or overwhelming.\u00a0 The food is similar (though better on the Thai side), the languages closely related and the landscape, climate, and costs virtually the same.<\/p>\n
Flying from Korea to the Philippines was a jolt. A jump from cool crisp days and cold nights to oppressive heat and humidity was just one of the many changes.\u00a0 \u00a0After spending the previous 14 months in the rich world (Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Korea) we were in for a few surprises.<\/p>\n
Before we\u2019d even made our way out of The Manila International Airport, we were struck by the friendliness and openness of Filipinos<\/b>. Idle chit chat with two young women drumming up business for taxis revealed that motherhood was joyful but overwhelming.\u00a0 One woman had four children; the other was already mother of 5.\u00a0 The women\u2019s workday was long (the night shift dragged on from 7PM to 7 AM) and pay was lousy (commission only).<\/p>\n
They were on their feet 12 hours a day, and barely scraping by.\u00a0 Still the women laughed and joked, revealing not an ounce of self-pity.<\/p>\n
I\u2019d have like to take them up on their services, but we were in no need of a taxi.\u00a0 Our Warm Showers host ( a Korean expat) had arranged for a car to fetch us from the terminal.\u00a0 That was a World Biking first (and probably last!)\u00a0 This door to door service, I\u2019ll easily admit, sure beats spending a rough night on the terminal floor.<\/p>\nWhat a great way to begin our tour of the Philippines! And what a relief not to have to pedal into Manila at midnight, take a risk on public transport or curl up in a corner of the terminal and wait for dawn to break. We were thrilled that our Warm Showers host family had arranged for a pick up.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nWe were so fortunate to stay with Garfunkel and his family during our first few days in the Philippines. An odd coincidence that our first host family should be Korean expats–it helped with the transition.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Our driver, Aldrin, taught us a couple of things: First off, Filipinos work hard and complain little<\/b>. \u00a0It was a Saturday night and well after midnight when our flight touched down in Manila, but Aldrin still greeted us with a big smile.\u00a0 Sure, being pleasant is part of \u00a0his job.\u00a0 But he could have just picked us up and tossed our bags in the SUV rather than making the extra effort to make us feel truly welcome in his country.<\/p>\n
Later we discovered that Aldrin is actually a college graduate who studied engineering.\u00a0 This brings me to the distressing fact that many Filipinos are acutely under<\/i>-employed<\/b>.\u00a0 We\u2019ve met personal assistants who are actually computer programmers and nannies who are really nurses.<\/p>\n
Good jobs are hard to come by in the Philippines and it\u2019s not surprising that 2.2 million of their citizens work abroad.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Our first trip to the supermarket was a happy one\u2014our money seemed to stretch so far<\/b>!\u00a0 We loaded up the cart with raisin bread and peanut butter, quick cooking oats and sinful chocolate fudge cookies, couscous, chunky spaghetti sauce and elbow macaroni.\u00a0 \u00a0The tally at checkout was probably half of what we\u2019d pay in Korea.\u00a0 No longer would we have to count every single yen, won or dollar, with a pocket full of pesos we were relatively rich.<\/p>\n
A leafy suburb of quiet tree-lined streets and elegant homes was our introduction to the Philippines. A haven of calm thanks to our kind hosts. \u00a0As soon as we ventured outside the gated complex, we were overwhelmed by the chaos and frenetic pace of the *real* Philippines<\/b>.<\/p>\n
Broad avenues gave way to roads congested with Jeepneys ( a cross between a jeep and a bus) tricycles (The Filipino version of an auto rickshaw) flashy SUVs (there\u2019s no dearth of super rich in Manila) and cyclists.<\/p>\n
After more than a year navigating first world roads, we\u2019d almost forgotten how to deal with the disorder and disarray of the developing world.\u00a0 We figured sticking to the outer lane of traffic was the best bet for survival.\u00a0 In fact, with all the Jeepneys and tricycles lurching to sudden stops, this proved treacherous.<\/p>\nA far cry from the tranquil bike path’s of Korea. It took us awhile to adjust to the Filipino traffic and remember the road rules of the developing world.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
We were far from the only fools on bikes. \u00a0I spotted an old man on a wobbly cycle with a load of sweets attached to the back rack straddling the white line between the middle and outer lanes.\u00a0 He rode slow and steady, unwavering and courageous.<\/p>\n
Drivers honked, vehicles swerved, but the old man never flinched.\u00a0 He just kept on pedaling, making steady progress through the Manila traffic.<\/p>\n
We stuck to the shoulder.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Obstacles popped up every couple hundred meters and the going was slow. \u00a0We\u2019d speed ahead for a while and then a jeepney would swerve in front as it took on passengers.\u00a0 A pedestrian would suddenly dart into the road or a stubborn pack of street dogs would block the path.<\/p>\n
Eventually, I lost sight of the old man in his zen-like bicycle bubble.\u00a0 His method for dealing with traffic was obviously superior.\u00a0 Still, I couldn\u2019t muster up the courage to give it a try.<\/p>\n
Metropolitan Manila is home to 16 million people.\u00a0 The only quick way to exit the city is via the toll highway\u2014cyclists prohibited, naturally.<\/p>\n
We\u2019d have to wind our way through the city.\u00a0 Fortunately, we\u2019d finally got a handle on navigating via the GPS.\u00a0 Plus we\u2019d printed out the Google maps suggested pedestrian route.<\/p>\n
Alarmingly, our Google itinerary contained 72 different instructions.\u00a0 Yes, 72 different turns just to land on the highway heading north.<\/p>\n
One of those turns brought us to a district of old warehouses and rundown flats.\u00a0 The area was busy with men loading and unloading trucks, beads of sweat glistening on their sun darkened skin.\u00a0 At the end of the road, a high metal wall blocked the passage of vehicles, though pedestrians could still squeeze through an opening.<\/p>\n
I shot Eric one of my this can\u2019t possibly be the right route<\/i><\/b> looks.<\/p>\n
He consulted the GPS, \u201cYep, through this passageway, hang a right and then we\u2019ll hit the main road in less than a kilometer.\u201d<\/p>\n
I was skeptical.\u00a0 And scared.<\/p>\n
What I observed through the opening in the wall lead me to believe that this was not the kind of neighborhood in which cycle tourists should be venturing<\/b>.<\/p>\n
I accosted a few passersby and enquired whether it was OK<\/i> to continue, motioning to the passageway ahead.\u00a0 Each time I got the same response, a little grimace and a slight shrug of the shoulders.<\/p>\n
I took this to mean, \u201cYou can do as you please, but I wouldn\u2019t risk it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eric, with the help of a barefoot, glassy-eyed youth, was already shoving his bike through the narrow gap.<\/p>\n
Against my better judgment, I followed.<\/p>\n
What we\u2019d stumbled upon was the underbelly of the city.\u00a0 A squalid shantytown whose residents looked as if they had run out of hope.<\/p>\n
In all our years of travel, rarely have we faced such a heartbreaking sight.\u00a0 This was a place where only the poorest of the poor, the truly destitute, were relegated to eek out an existence.<\/p>\n
As you might imagine, this was not a place to play the happy tourist.\u00a0 I have no photos.\u00a0 but this image I found online is EXACTLY what we saw.<\/p>\nThis is the sad reality for 20 million Filipinos who live in slums like this. (photo via BBC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The place, we later discovered, was Tondo. \u00a0Manila\u2019s oldest slum and, with a whopping 64,796 persons per km\u00b2,<\/b> one of the most densely populated places on earth.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m sure most residents of Tondo are good people.\u00a0 Mothers and fathers who work hard in difficult conditions to raise families.<\/p>\n
But in Tondo, it\u2019s criminal gangs that govern.\u00a0 Clearly this was no place to linger.<\/p>\n
We hunkered down and pedaled, attempting to show no fear and act as if we were just out for our regular Wednesday morning ride.<\/p>\n
No, we did not get mugged.\u00a0 But I\u2019m pretty sure we should have.\u00a0 Next time we\u2019ll get local advice and not let Google lead us blindly into one of the world\u2019s worst neighborhoods.<\/p>\n
Gradually the intensity of the gritty city subsided and we rolled through more cheerful countryside.<\/p>\n
I felt comfortable snapping photos and stopping to chat. This was a familiar world.\u00a0 Gaggles of giggling school children craning their necks to get a better look at our strange machines.\u00a0 A handful of men checking out the tires and testing the bell.\u00a0 Women hawking simple fare in roadside stalls.<\/p>\n
People getting by, living their lives.<\/p>\nI much prefer the relaxed pace of village life to the chaos of Manila.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nYou’re never far from the sea in the Philippines. This narrow strip of land floods during high tide…we got lucky with the timing!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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