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Top 10 Best Experiences and Bottom 10 Worst Experiences

2nd January 2006

The experienced traveler will probably find the Philippines a relatively easy country in which to travel. Like all countries, however, it does have its own peculiar challenges and frustrations.

The Lonely Planet Guide to the Philippines.

Top 10 Best Experiences

Meeting people from all over the world
So many cool people to meet. I like this.
Meeting the locals
A close second. Lotsa nice people here. The Captain says I am not a volunteer. I am not even a foreigner. I am a brother. Nice.
Immersing myself in the culture
I think volunteering in a country is the best way to learn about a country. I've seen and done so many things here that I would never of seen as a tourist.
Teaching at the School
A very rewarding thing to do. When I got back from the Christmas break, all the kids rushed up to greet me. Very nice.
Killing a Goat
Maybe I'm just a sick bastard...
Hunting Dog
See above. I'm going out again next week. *grins*
Playing Basketball
Lotsa fun despite the fact that I am pretty useless
Gambling with the Locals
Take note. This is the experience of gambling with the locals. Not the gambling itself. Pusoy and the Cock Fighting are obvious highlights.
The Christmas Experience
Was really interesting to see how it worked in another culture.
Boracay
Even though it was a bit touristy, it still makes my top ten list because it was so beautiful.

Top 10 Worst Experiences

Being Assaulted By Old Demons
Bastards.
I did not die. It was not poison.
Isolation
Sometimes I can get a bit isolated. The in-between days between Christmas and New Years were a good example. There was nothing official happening and the other volunteers were either at touristy destinations or being very ill. I talked about this a little bit in the "Living Conditions" section on my half-way report page.
Banging my head against the wall for the Project that Wasn't
In a way though, this could of made my Top 10 list. It made me realize some things about myself.
The Poverty
This will gets its own page some time soon.
The Philippines' Child Prostitution Problem.
Inevitably related to number four above.

In 1999 a informal survey revealed that there were 400,000 sex workers in the Philippines, a quarter of which were minors. To keep this figure in perspective, that is greater than the total manufacturing work force. ^**I don't want to do the math for my school, but some of them will probably head down that road. Mine is an impotent fury though. There is nothing much I can do about it.
Children on Tricycles
Also related to number four above.

I'm getting really passionate about education. Seeing eight year old kids driving a tricycle when they should be in school really pisses me off.
Time
When I was working in New Zealand, I was very obsessed with time. I would stress that I was two minutes late for an appointment. Time in The Philippines is very fluid. 2 p.m. means anywhere from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. This frustrates me.
Working in Molasses
It is really hard to get momentum in projects here. The Project that Wasn't is a good example.

Emma raised a lot of money that she intends to use to install some water pumps. I went out with some other volunteers to have a look at some Barangays (villages) to assess their need. We arranged some transportation. Or thought we had anyway. We turned up at the agreed meeting point at 9.am. No transport was there.

We made a few phone calls to try and work out what was going on. We were assured that there would be transport to pick us up. We waited a couple of hours in this weird quantum state. We weren't sure if we had made ourselves clear and that some transport would soon arrive, or whether we had misunderstood what was said. This happens quite a lot here. I now know how Shrodingers cat felt...

Eventually some transport did turn up. We were getting a lift to the area in the back of a truck together with a local youth group. Not exactly what we asked for, but we took in nevertheless. We only made it to two Barangays.

What made it more frustrating was that a driver and vehicle arrived bright and early the next day. The driver was happy to take us wherever we wanted to go. Unfortunately, we all had other commitments for that day and nothing was organised. We had to send the driver away.

Ugh.
Getting Violently Ill
Messy
No hot showers
I'm allowed one petty gripe...

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(c) 2005 and 2006 Malcolm Trevena.
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