german impression of the philippines

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world-tour - Philipines

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2005-05-05 09:47

What a week ... 10 days. 10 days in Makati City, the bank district of the Manila Metropilian District. I haven't seen much, but what I have seen has really impressed me.

The first impression: I'm huge :) With 1.80m i'm averaged sized in Europe, but far bigger than average than the philipinos.

Second: I can understand them. Somone could have told me that the Philipines have be a colony of the USA back in the World War II. en.wikipedia.org helped me to get some background. English is the second official language, next to Filipono.

Third: I'm rich. No, not really. Just here. I'm just sitting in the Bo's Coffee Club in Glorietta and have paid 110PHP for a Iced Caramel Cafe Latte and a Chocco Chip Cookie. This is 1.50E, about a third of the price I paid at home for the same set. The same for taxi, food, cloth, ...

Fourth: It is too hot for me. The humidity of 80-100% and the temperature of 30-35 celcius even at 8 o'clock in the morning is driving the sweat out of the skin even after a short walk that I have to make to get to the customer. My students always said: this is hottest summer since years.

Fifth: Germans will die very quickly if they try to drive here. The style of driving is just completly inverted to the regulated german style. Traffic light are a nice idea, but the horn is a better way to tell the others that you don't want to wait anymore. Usually you spend more time in changing lanes than in staying in your own one. But all this works very well. They drive very defensive and all the chaos is just chaotic for me as I just don't know the hidden rules.

BTW: If your destination is in walking distances (let's say 20min walk) then walk. You will be faster than taking a cab for the same distance. Ok, you will be sweating like hell, but that is the price you have to pay. Cab for this distance is 50PHP btw (0.70E).

Sixth: The mixture of Filipino, Chinese, American and all the other influences had made a really sweet combination. And they have always summer. I leave the last thought to the reader.

Seventh: Leaving the center of Makati shows the other picture of the Philipines. I have been to the provinces, but at least to the suburbs of Makati and drove through to slums. Poor and rich are just next to each other. The big sky-scrapers next the small, dirty houses at the river. ... The river of dreams. The water at the river looks like you get good dreams if you drink it.

Eigth: I have no idea how high the unemployment rate would be if they are handling the traffic in a better way. Every crossing a having one to three traffic advisors, every bus station is guarded by another officer to make sure no taxi driver is stopping and unloading a passanger, every door is guarded by a inspector to check your bag and so on. Just on the Alaya Avenue perhaps 100.

To give a simple slogan: Makati is Rock'n'Roll. It is colourful and dirty, loud and sweet, chaotic and hot. Like every big city, just more.

Will I come back ? Yes, I think so. But not alone and not in the summertime.

Just one last thing: Don't forget the USB cable for your digicam. At least didn't found a shop were you can buy one. You can buy new digicams incl. the cable, but not the cable alone.

Philipines - Landmark

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2005-05-05 09:46

You know the game: How many Philipinos do you need to sell a t-shirt

Four.

One for selecting the T-shirt (keep in mind that every small brand is served by one clerk). As I always paid by credit-card I was guarde to the cashier where someone else has taken my t-shirt, checked the price and prepared the receipt. As this person isn't trusted a third person is supervising her and is checking the receipt with the price on the t-shirt and is checking my name on the creditcard with the one on the receipt. Putting ticks behind every position, the name and the price. Number four is taking the receipt, checks the ticks and puts everything into a bag and staples the receipt over the open end of the bag to make sure that you don't put any additional stuff into the bag.

This is what we call pipelining and is actually a good idea. If it wouldn't be so sloooow.

Sun is raising

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2005-04-26 00:10

I'm currently in Manila (2 stop at my world tour), it is 08:00 in the morning and I had a wonderfull, very delicious breakfast. Muesli, Schoki-Pancakes, some sea-food, various kind auf bread to choose from (rice-break at one side and the black bread know in Germany on the other), fruits and so on.

After getting up at 04:00 (still a little bit jetlaged) the sun came up very quickly. Only 30 minutes between darkness and sunshine. As sun as the sun is up the pool gets crowed. First by the pool-boys, a few minutes later by the first guest haven their morning bath.

I'll try to buy a USB cable for my digi-cam today to upload the photos I made. You have to see this beauty to believe it.