My experience of staying in Philippine for 3 months

Philippine was the first country I visited this year and I think I had a good time there. It was suppose to be a project assignment trip but I ended up spending most of my time planning for my non-work activities. Throughout this trip, I had had done and experienced something totally different.

1. Meeting locals people and colleagues

I've used social apps and online platform to get to know local people that are equally interested to get to know foreigner. Also, my local colleagues were being nice to me too. They are friendly and kept feeding me information about where to go, what to try and showed me around the town. I had the chance to visit a local wine bar, visited restaurants where the locals people would visit, and visited a roof-top bar to enjoy the night view of Makati. I got all these experience thanks to the hospitality of the local friends.

2. Local food

To be honest, there are not many local food that suit my taste. I think the choice of food that make me want to revisit are just few - the BBQ chicken from Mang Inasal, Kare-kare from the NOC (my work place) and two restaurants in Greenbelt that serve local dishes. In my opinion, Filipino food has their distinguish taste which are not easily accepted by foreigners. Malaysians have the most versatile taste bud in the world (thanks to the multi-racial background of my country) and yet I can't find myself appreciate most of the food. I believe there are more to be explored and I hope I will have the chance to revisit Philippine.

3. Vacations

I was lucky to have a long weekend (Holy Week) during my stay in Manila and my friends and I took the chance to travel some places outside of Manila. We visited Pampanga, Nasugbu area and Tagaytay. Pampanga would probably be the most memorable trip because of the event I attended to. The event was held on Good Friday and there were crucifixion reenactment performances around Pampanga. It was one bloody event where the local self-flagellated, carried wooden crosses, crawled on rough pavement and the highlight of the reenactment was the performers getting nailed on crosses. This activity can only be observed in Philippine and no where else. As soon as I was told about this, I decided to see it for myself. The after-view comment, it was gruesome! People hit themselves to repent their sin. I could see blood dripping on the pavement as they walk from one point to another. As for the nailing, I am not sure if those men really got nailed on the cross or it was just a show, but they have to be under the scorching sun for quite some time and that was torturing enough. Personally, I do not agree with this activity. It's gruesome and I hope the participants would have done ample health and safety precautions. Even the local church authority does not endorse this kind of acting. Well, preserving traditional or not, this event does manage to draw in thousands of tourists to Pampanga every year. 

As for Tagaytay, I have been telling people I've visited the island-ception hotspot. It is a place where there is a lake on top of a volcano crater which happens to be an island engulf by a bigger lake which is in the biggest island of Philippine. The view itself is alright, not breathtaking enough compared to other places I had been, but it is the island-ception that makes this place special. Like the crucifixion reenactment, this tourist hotspot is the one-and-the-only. We visited some other places around Tagaytay but others were so-so.

4. Traffic
You have to be very careful when you are walking on the road or when you ride a car here. I've visited several ASEAN cities (not all but the cities but some) and I can say drivers at Makati have the highest steering control skill ever. I commuted with Uber in a daily basis throughout my stay in Makati. Sometime, if I was lucky, I would have polite drivers who drove nice and steady. If I wasn't lucky or if I take normal taxi, the experience can be life-threatening. When I just arrived at Makati, I really reluctant to take my company car or normal taxi in order to reduce the chances of me getting involve in accident. But after sometime, I got used to it (not totally got used to it but I was choosy anymore). Makati is a dangerous place to drive and even some locals dare not drive at this area.

5. Gambling
There are three casinos at Makati area and I had visited all three of them. Particularly, I visited one of them almost every weekend night. The names are, according to the sequence of my visit, City of Dreams, Solaire and Resort World. I have "contributed" a good sum of money to them, about my 11-day meal allowance. I know it is a bad and money-wasting habit and I kind of enjoy the thrill to be on the poker table. Since then, I have started watching poker videos from Youtube, trying to learn how the professional handle their games. I am not expecting to win big bucks, but the sense of achievement is there when the dealer pushes all those chips towards you.

Conclusion, Philippine is an interesting places to visit. It will not be the best place but definitely an not-to-miss place in ASEAN region.