Manila, Philippines
So we finally made it to our planned original destination of Taroko Gorge in Taiwan a few days ago (mountains and waterfalls and marble gorges!) before heading out the the Philippines.
Upon arrival, we quickly noticed a very different atmosphere in Manila compared with Taipei. Huge crowds, dirty, a less safe feeling, and way more poverty than Taipei. It brought us closer to reality to see how many Filipinos live, with tons of street kids/babies sleeping on the side of the street and following you for blocks begging for money. (From Sara's point of view, she's glad her ancestors decided to take the long boat trip to Canada instead of the Philippines, although we visited the Chinese cemetary and the deceased Chinese live it up in style! Flush toilets and marble floors! AC! We'll try to upload pictures soon)
Today we headed to Taal Lake where in the middle lay a volcano. Note, Filipinos like to increase the price by more than double the fair price when they see foreigners. What started out as P3500, we bargained down to P1500, still P700 more than what we were told we were originally told in Manila...Sara wasn't the happiest camper, but our distaste for Filipino scamming subsided as we reached the crator and saw a beautiful big lake within the crator.
Music of Southeast Asia: In Taiwan, one bus had a Celine Dion CD on repeat. Here, it's 80's love songs, and not the good ones - cheezy Chicago style (Dan, you'd love it).
Dave and Sara
Upon arrival, we quickly noticed a very different atmosphere in Manila compared with Taipei. Huge crowds, dirty, a less safe feeling, and way more poverty than Taipei. It brought us closer to reality to see how many Filipinos live, with tons of street kids/babies sleeping on the side of the street and following you for blocks begging for money. (From Sara's point of view, she's glad her ancestors decided to take the long boat trip to Canada instead of the Philippines, although we visited the Chinese cemetary and the deceased Chinese live it up in style! Flush toilets and marble floors! AC! We'll try to upload pictures soon)
Today we headed to Taal Lake where in the middle lay a volcano. Note, Filipinos like to increase the price by more than double the fair price when they see foreigners. What started out as P3500, we bargained down to P1500, still P700 more than what we were told we were originally told in Manila...Sara wasn't the happiest camper, but our distaste for Filipino scamming subsided as we reached the crator and saw a beautiful big lake within the crator.
Music of Southeast Asia: In Taiwan, one bus had a Celine Dion CD on repeat. Here, it's 80's love songs, and not the good ones - cheezy Chicago style (Dan, you'd love it).
Dave and Sara
posted by Sara and Dave at 5/17/2006 07:33:00 a.m.
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