Im in a (quite unusually) lovable mood and, speaking as someone from the west, I want to state exactly why I love the Philippines:


The people: everyone is so hospitable and friendly. If theres one thing I,ll give to Filipinos its that they never fail in making visitors feel as welcome as possible. Theyre modest, humble, friendly, always quick to ask if you need anything, and a sort of lighthearted good humour just radiates from them!


The food: In my opinion, no cuisine can compare (except maybe thai but thats because they have this amazing soup); adobo, longgonesa (dunno how to spell most of them), tilapia MMMMMMMM - oh yeah, and Greenwich pizza? Anyone tried that, becoz in my opinion its the best pizza in the world - and their cheese is amazing! Oh yeah, and the little winkle things in coconut milk, thats another delicious dish!


The weather: hot hot hot - I love heat and hate the cold so it suits me perfectly.


The places and scenery: Anyone been to Pagud Pud beach? Pure beauty. My mum is from San Pablo, Laguna. Batangas is another, home to the famous buko pie. But my favourite area of all has GOT to be Baggio City - I might go live there when Im older. A city in the mountains - beautiful!!!


Oh yeah, heres a little one - stepping into the airport. Soon as you get there, you just feel the humidity smack you in the face - like being in a steam room. Lovely.


Filipinos, you have a lot to be proud of.

^when did u go?

I visit frequently - last time was the december before last.

haha, I remember that too. It's like a warm blanket after 20 hours of being too cold and dry in the plane.

What's your background? I appreciate your comment I don't see these kind of comments everyday

I'm filipino/white but I still sort of see myself as an outsider as I was born and bred in England and brought up in a very English way.

*uff*

i feel the heavy heat & humidity & start choking on the smog after i get off the plain. i love it once im all settled in, tho. coz everything is cheap. and food is like omg... i could get fat there in like a week. i got an ipod for like less than $30 at greenhills & it was crazy. girls in the provinces for sum reason look a lot better than the manila chix. its like their skin is not as greased out & caked out from too much makeup & smog. lots of hawt hapa guys in manila, btw.

manila is only nice if u stay indoors coz even traffic is horrid. the provinces for me were sweeet, tho. boracay, cebu, and bacolod ROCK. people were warm & very personable. food was farm fresh, air was heavenly & breezy clean. i mean for me going to the philippines is all about getting away from manila & enjoying the other islands.

hmm, i wish to visit the philippines. i've never been there before..

Funny thing is, I got to more places outside the Phils. in my 5 years out of the country than to places within the Phils. in my 14 years there.

Never been to Bohol, Banaue, Taal, Cagayan De Oro, Siquijor (heard this place was live with witches... cool) etc.

If only going back was as easy as taking the bus over here

Holy shit! Bixie, on whose side: mom or dad?

Thanks for that. You just boosted my morale boost.

go to ilo ilo, its the home of the witches and the aswang. there are many unexplainable things that happen there. i have a canadian friend who served a mission there for 2 yrs, and damn he experienced witches to ghosts, to even evil spirits lurking around the place. its scray.

My mum. And you're welcome


@Santoloco - speaking of devils and things, have you heard of the Tikbalang?

definitely man. my grandparents believe in this. our little provincial town where my maternal granparents live up in the mountains, near it is mount banahaw. mount banahaw is the mystical mountain of the philippines. there, my grandparents believe that there is a half man with a horse's head roaming around the place. they say whenever it is raining and the sun is out, a tikbalang couple is getting married. they also believe in the kapre, a giant who lives in the trees and smokes a tobbaco. all of those things my granparents describe occur in mount banahaw. personally i dont believe in these things, and i dont know if they have actually seen what they described, but it does sound real when they tell me these things.

OK! There were some creepy things that happened while I was there aswell you know...

I went to visit this village once and in the village there was a bridge running over a little stream next to a forest. One day, one of the boys who had just been at the stream came back to us and turned to another boy, saying "How did you get back from the bridge so fast?" The other boy was like "What?" And the boy goes "I just saw you standing on top of the bridge looking at me a couple of minutes ago." The other boy goes "I've been here for the past hour or so."

This happened again a couple of days later to the same boy, on the same bridge, but with a different person he knew standing there. As what happened before, this other person denied ever having been there.

It was freaky because there was this legend that some spirit takes the form of someone you know, stands staring at you from a little distance away and then motions for you to follow him into the forest. Apparantly, it happened to some man years ago in the village; the woman he was in love with appeared on the bridge, beckoned him silently to follow her into the forest, and he did. When he came out, he was never quite the same again; went insane. No one knows what he saw or what happened and he was too mad to say, at any rate.

I don't know if they told me that just to scare me, or even planned it all out to maybe entertain me; but all the same, it gives me the chills (I'm alone in the office right now and feeling creeped out after writing that); plus has the makings of a good story.

Never been to the Philippines ...
*sigh* .

ohh i remember that pizza. so cheesy and tasty

have u picked-up the language a little bit?

ye and very crunchy too!!! hhhmmmmm delicious.

^i think they have the best "thin crust pizza"

I find it sort of the opposite.

Don't get me wrong, but I love representing The Philippines and stuff, but when I go and visit its real hard to get used to, like the enviornment and stuff.

My parents are both Filo's so I am a full Filo. I dont discourage that. But prehaps its my lack of tagalog? I like shopping though! I guess being born and living in NZ for all my life has got me used to this.. I admit NZ is my home.

Likewise.

why i love the philpines is because of the diversity in cultures which make the philpines a beuatiful country.

Your talking about Capiz not Iloilo its on the same Island though.

ooooh well watever, pretty close there.