I'm really wanting to finish all these Philippine blogs, so this one is a bit lengthy.

With nothing to do, I thought today could be a museum day. For funsies I took the PNR train, the Philippine version of Taiwan's TRA to see some monument and the President's house. The monument is some shitty plaque in a shitty neighborhood, so, moving on. The President's House is in a walled part of the city that is filled with Chinese people. You even had to walk past security guards to get inside. Why do they get special treatment? Ya got me. I had Niu rou mian at some little roadside shop. I asked the people working if they get tourists here, and they said I'm the first. So lucky! Anyway as expected the President's house is big and fancy. I asked the soldier at the gate if I could go inside, or they have tours, or something. He said no, and please don't take pictures. By his attitude he seemed to imply I shouldn't be there, so I made my exit. But not before sneaking this highly illegal picture. Shhh!

The super roomy metro system

I took the metro back to Intramuros to visit one museum I haven't yet, about Chinese Filipino Relations. It was fine, but strangely comforting seeing lots of Chinese writing. I overheard some foreigners talking about how they don't see how its possible to read Chinese - it's all nonsense. Well, the jokes on them! I can read it well enough to know that it is, in fact, 90% nonsense! Anyway with nothing of note I went to Ayala for yet another museum.

Ayala completely changed my opinion of Manila. I used to think the whole city was a slum. Now I know just 70% is. I kid, but this is the most visibly impoverished place I've been to. Granted North Korea was probably worse, but police states do at least keep the streets clean. It's really distressing to see children playing in trash, buildings made of sheet metal, and kids wearing rags following you with their hands out. For a nation that's 90% Christian, they're doing a pretty lousy job of it. I know correlation does not imply causation, but I was thinking that a lot of the poorer countries of the world (Africa, South America) are very religious, while the atheist ones tend to be richer (Europe, Asia). I wonder if that's because poor people are attracted to Christianity, or vice-versa? Anyway there are certainly exceptions to this but it was interesting nonetheless. Speaking of correlation, this rich part of town had so many foreigners! I wonder if there's a relationship there? Anywho the Ayala Museum was pretty awesome, and I learned quite a bit about the history of the country. The Americans were kind of jerks, but in the grand scheme of the world prior to WWII, it could've been a lot worse. Not that I'm wanting to make excuses, but seriously, other countries were much bigger jerks.

After the museum it was getting kind of late, and I was to meet Che and her friends for dinner in some fancy mall. So I popped on over a few stations to the marvelous Shangrila Mall. One in Che's friends in particular, Alfred, was incredibly friendly and answered all my stupid foreigner questions. Also, wow, Filipinos like to eat a lot. Sure every culture does, but they really stuff themselves. After dinner we piled into a cab and went to the art show I was talking about last time I met with her.

The art thing was weird. In fact, if you type "experimental art" into Google, it should say "Did you mean 'godamn weird'?" It was various pictures of a school gymnasium, and then the same ones at different angles. All using old reel film because it's "cool", I guess. I was about to succumb to my fate of boredom but then suddenly, whiskey and beer appeared! Hooray! At the makeshift bar I met an American from Vermont who's been living here for years. Funny how the Americans were the only ones seriously drinking. We hit it off pretty well and were chatting up a storm until the host said "Hey white people, shut up." God, if I had a nickel for every time I heard that!

After the art show Che and her friends were turning in. It was only 10ish, so I wasn't done just yet. I had heard about midget boxing in a place nearby the hostel. Even if I were to go out alone, I thought I cannot leave this country without seeing that. My friends were very kind to see me get into a jeepney, convinced I was drunk after some whiskey and beer. I definitely was not, and managed to make my way to this bar no problem. After walking in, I was immediately ambushed by girls. I thought this was funny, because let's get real, I'm not that handsome. Knowing full well what they are there for one and I talked for a while, and I was curious about what sort of life they live. She did not spare any details, which I thought was an interesting perspective on daily life for one employed in that profession. Unfortunately I didn't really have an exit from the conversation. I was considering using the restroom and never returning, but fortunately some guys from the hostel showed up and I was able to make an escape. So yeah, midget boxing. Check.

After bouncing to a few bars, we turned in. The next day myself and 3 others I met in the morning headed out to spend the day together. One of them, Kai, is a Japanese guy living in Taipei. Really fun, so hopefully we'll meet again there. We were talking about what to do, and they really wanted to see some cockfights. (Sigh) Here we go again. They do things much more elaborately in the city than in the village I was at. Hell, they even have their own stadium with refreshments, ready rooms etc. We got to see the rooster hospital (wow, lot of blood), and I learned how the cock fighting system works. Also I won money. Yes, I shouldn't support it. But god, the few dollars I won is the smallest drop in the bucket. I saw people throwing down money equal to a month's salary like it's nothing. And plus, by winning, I took money out of the system, right? RIGHT? Anyway, my tradition of "coming out ahead through illicit gambling while abroad" started in North Korea continues unblemished.

We stopped back at the hostel to change and see where to go next. There, we met a girl coming though on her way to Chicago. We took a suggestion from a local and went to the Mall of Asia - this massive mall on the coast of Manila Bay, the X biggest in the world. We had Mediterranean food and went up the ferris wheel. It was near sunset, when I found, finally, balut on an oceanside stall. Yes, balut - the aborted chicken fetus snack you just can't say no to. (Hint: You can definitely say no to it.) It was... ok. Not disgusting, but not delicious either. Kind of like a hard, meaty egg. Anyway, check.

There was a restaurant on the shore doing pitchers of cocktails for next to nothing, so we all chilled out and drank as the sun went down - a perfect end for the last full day in Manila. Back to the hostel again, the party continued. Kai eventually couldn't even stand up, and passed out somewhere. The rest of us went out to a reggae bar, where they were frying up some local things on skewers. I'm sure one was intestine, and the other... no idea what animal it was or where its from. The music was fine, but I was already on fumes from the night before - so I went back.

Now my last day in the Philippines, there was nothing I wanted to see. I had heard you can get some cheap clothing at Goodwill type of stores, and I walked around until I eventually found one. Although it was pretty cheap, it's honestly on par with what you would pay at Goodwill in the States. I know I shouldn't complain, but considering the average wage here I thought it would be a little better. Anyway, I got some new clothes. I had some time to kill before heading to the airport, so I just chilled in an internet cafe for a few hours before popping back to Taipei.

Whew! What a trip - I think I consumed as much alcohol in a week than I did in 1 year in Taiwan. Anyway, my thoughts on the Philippines are as follows: Manila is a crowded, dirty place that needs to go a long way to become a world class city. While it does have parts that are nice, soooo much of it is slum. I was told to avoid the slummy parts before going. That's like telling you to avoid 7-11s in Taiwan - in-fracking-possible. The whole time I was thinking, you remember the terrible Super Mario Bros. movie? Manila reminds me of the city in that. While the jeepney system works surprisingly well, the traffic is too extensive to have them really move along at a rate necessary for public transportation. Also, the metro is bonkers. If you want to change lines, you literally have to exit a station, go back into the one next door, buy another ticket, and go through another security check. However, having said all those negative things, the Philippine people are the nicest, hands down, people I have ever met while travelling. No exaggeration. Hearing "sir" all the time did not get old, and there was a consistent sincerity to it that was very cool. And although all the police were useless for stopping any sort of security threat, they were all completely awesome. Every one I talked to (which was a lot), was happy to help me out, and did it with a smile. And I'm glad I got out of the city a little, even though I don't really care for beaches or nature. So if you're like me, the Philippines is probably not the best place to go. However I think if you do enjoy that sort of thing, and stay in some beach house with some friends, it would be an amazing time. Several of the locals cited proudly that they have 7000 some islands, all giving the exact number. While I know it's impossible to visit them all, if the people on them are as nice as they are on Luzon, it's worth trying.