I was in the Philippine Islands (P.I.) in October of ’06 visiting Cebu and Manila. For all y’all broads (and dudes?) who are going on a trip there anytime soon, here are my suggestions as to what to bring.
- PAPER PRODUCTS. Can’t emphasize this one enough, esp. for those of you that are anal about all things bathroom related. Most public restrooms* do not, I repeat, do NOT have toilet paper. Paper towels for your hands or hand blowers are hard to come by as well so be prepared to wipe your hands on your outfit.
- Transformer. If you have necessary appliances or other electronics, you’ll need a transformer. They’re really heavy but I’m sure you can buy them over there as well.
- Flip flops. Most of the locals wear flip flops EVERYWHERE. If that’s acceptable to you, have at it. Of course, there are tons of cheap flip flops there that you can buy as well.
- Your digital cam’s adapter or SD-reader. You photo enthusiasts already know this but being able to download my photos every night was key in helping me chronicle my trip in a meaningful way.
- $100 bills. SUPPOSEDLY, you will get a better exchange rate if you bring money in $100 denominations or higher. We exchanged our money at corner exchange stands (as opposed to in the mall, e.g.) and seemed to get better rates.
What not to bring to the Philippines:
- Loofahs and other bath implements. Unless you’re really particular about what you use to scrub your body, there are plenty of dirt-cheap items in P.I. drug stores that you can purchase. In fact, I bought a whole grip of loofahs from the Rustans (nationwide drugstore chain) for about $1 each because I liked them so much.
- Jackets. For obvious reasons. You can bring 1 or 2, more than that is wasted luggage space.
What not to look for in the Philippines:
- Good food for cheap. This may come as a shock to some of you career globetrotters, but the food in the P.I. (at least in Manila and Cebu) is yuck unless you shell out some duckets. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a good BBQ stick from the corner shop just as much as the next guy but I’m talkin’ about the food you get from your average restaurant. In my experience, the only really good food came from the higher end restaurants. Fast food there is especially bad. Max’s is an old stand-by that doesn’t usually disappoint. If I recall correctly, you can expect to pay about $10 per person at Max’s.
- Dirt cheap brand names. Many are under the impression that because a lot of brands (Banana Republic, Nike, etc.) state on their labels that the products were made in the P.I., clothes whores will hit the jackpot in the local palengke (palenque). You can find everything from Lacoste to Adidas but you will basically pay the same prices as you do in the U.S. What you will find is pretty good imitation brand name hand bags, if you’re into that kind of thing. You can find fake-ass Louis Vuitton, Coach, Marc Jacobs, Diesel, etc. at the Green Hills mall. There’s another place that’s well-known but I can’t remember the name of that one.
- Good customer service. The tenderos and tenderas (salespeople) were complete jerks for the most part. I’d come across the occasional good attitude but not so much. There are plenty of “Good morning, ma’am”‘s (pronounced “mom”) but they’re usually followed by dead eyes and a sluggish pace. I don’t look particularly Filipino and neither does my dad so when we were together we got somewhat better treatment. In fact, we were never patted down or searched at mall entrances like all other locals are; however, when I was with more native-looking folks I generally got the snub.
- Quality coffee. Maybe I just didn’t go to the right places but any coffee I had was average at best.
Other random things:
- Text messaging. Texting is huge there, just like in much of Asia. Folks generally purchase “loads” or prepaid quantities of texts. Lots of folks, young and old, communicate via text.
- Internet Cafes. You can spend lots of time online for mere pennies. I saw ‘net cafes in even the most old-school looking towns. Netopia was my fave.
- Mail order brides and child molesters. Okay, that language may be a tad harsh in some cases but you do see plenty of older white dudes with younger (and in some cases, clearly teen-aged) chicks. I saw a few of these guys with young boys (teens, usually) as well. Blech, but who am I to judge?
- Speaking English. Contrary to what lots of people in my experience like to say, many Filipinos are not comfortable speaking English. I don’t know, maybe the locals were just not really feelin’ me because I’m (a Filipino-)American and so decided they didn’t really want to deal with my non-Tagalog ways but my dad got a fair share of the treatment in Cebu because he didn’t speak Cebuano. Again, this may not be true for non-Filipino (read: white) tourists but this is what I experienced. Sure, if pressed, the locals will generally do their best to humor you but I found that it was somewhat difficult to find folks who were happy to speak English.
- Losing weight. We stayed in the homes of friends and distant relatives so we were always being fed. We had to eat meals and snacks about every 2 hours. That being said, as a guest, I wasn’t going to gorge myself so I usually ate sort of little at each meal. Sugar-free drinks aren’t big there (although Coke Lite is gaining popularity) so I drank mostly water. For some reason, I drank water to pass the time as well. Time passed slooowly for me there. All this to say that I must’ve sped up my metabolism and done some sort of thing that my body was liking because I ended up losing about 12 lbs. in 3 weeks even though I ate a lot more white rice than I normally do.
* A word about restrooms in general in the P.I.– many of them are not half bad, esp. when you go to some of the larger, franchise-type establishments. Where you really luck out are in the “paid” facilities where there is a nominal fee to get in. In these, they typically make it a point to keep the place spotless and offer up paper products (hence the fee). I tried to stay away altogether from the restrooms in the hole-in-the-wall joints, but I do that in the States as well.
