What makes the Philippines a great country to discover?

I can't help but feel like making up for those first reports on life in Manila. After the first three days of paranoia and actual rip offs I started to settle in and slowly but surely I started growing fond of the way life worked in this place. I realize as well I only saw some of the more populated places and as far as I can imagine from meeting people coming from different parts in Philippines, every island has its own way of dealing with life and mostly it involves a lot of smiling even if the shit hits the fan. Not that people are fond of problems here, but they tend to worry mostly over the real big ones, the ones that truly matter, making life a bit less complicated than it is for your average European, who seems to carry some illustrious stress-magnet-device that turns your regular daily in life into a day of worries and upsetting events. (I consider myself as one of those average Europeans, especially when traveling around in these parts of the world.)
So, I figured I would mention some of the things that made my stay in Manila and surrounding areas appreciate the Filipino society, even if the reasons seem a bit strange at times.
Let's start with aforementioned Alex Garland. He wrote this book, "The Tesseract", which takes place in a rundown motel in Angeles City. Well, if one reads this book it doesn't take much to feel unsafe and paranoid in the streets of Manila, turning the sunsets into backgrounds of dramatic events to come in the following night. But after adjusting to life here it seems Garland has gotten the place wrong. Angeles is not really part of Manila, it's three hours away and is much like Pattaya, but then without the crappy beach. In fact, no beach at all. No less old farts barhoppin' though. But it is like some of the more infamous parts of Manila in its seedier days, in a not so distant past. Malate and Ermita come to mind. The gogo-bars may have been mostly washed away in a tide of catholic and fatherly mayorship, but the Korea's seem to have taken over nowadays and KTV and Videokes with their assets of GRO's (Guest Related Officers, all of them female and willing to make your life more comfortable in ways you wouldn't want to mention to your mummy) pop up like mushrooms on a freshly manured damp cellar floor. I thought Old Fat Sweating Germans and Drunk Blokes From England on a Roll where good in making people feel ashamed of the male species in general, but that was before Koreans and Japanese entered the picture. What is it with Asian men and their obsession of young and brainless giggling girls to entertain and stupefy their otherwise so well organized and productive lives? And why do they seem to have such an active interest in meeting girls that are not allowed to consume alcohol even in some countries? (I mean those countries where 18 is the limit.) Anyway, I almost felt like wishing the Germans to move back in, and some English blokes on a bachelor trip. But the images of Angeles still fresh in mind, I don't know which one is worse... This wasn't my war anyway. I started writing this post to be positive, so let's move on.
One of the things that makes you feel like calling up Garland and telling him he got it all wrong is the way people here try to be helpful if they don't get anything out of it. (Actually this is a bit logical, as the people who do profit from helping you will certainly try to make the most of it for their own profit, so they are not to be considered as objective standards.) I even once was taken along by someone who couldn't explain me how to get somewhere without getting blank stares from me, so he decided to just take me there. After which he walked all the way back to his busstop where undoubtedly he had missed his bus... Or that time when I was taking a bus to Puerto Galera to go diving before leaving the Philippines. It was that or Banaue, the rice fields of northern Luzon. But since the typhoon season wasn't over yet I was suggested not to go there this time around. So anyway, I was sitting on the bus next to some old guy and smiled at him to show I had been properly raised. Of course he smiled back and soon a conversation in rather perfect English unrolled itself like the fields enrolling themselves outside the bus. (That's another plus for traveling here, in general people speak English better around here than in any other Asian country, except maybe Singapore, but that's more like a city.) So this guy turned out to be a freshly pensioned police officer. Even more so, he was the kind that didn't like to play cards or drink, as it seemed to him that to many people forgot about taking care of their families with such behavior. The light burning in his eyes told you he was adamant on taking care of his family and upholding the law. I felt suddenly very comfortable sitting next to this noble man. He told me with great pleasure how he now spend his days taking care of the stuff in his garden and playing with his grandkids when they stayed over. He lived in a place not far from Taal Volcano, and without a trace of suspicion he invited me as a guest should I ever come that way. Truth is I almost gave up on the diving trip and went along, but I realized his warm and honest invitation would also mean he had to take me in the house at night by lack of hotels around there and probably his wife would be lovingly ordered to disappear into the kitchen and come up with a royal feast for this unexpected guest. Somehow I could see all these things unraveling before my eyes as he gave the invitation, and it felt good to know that this was all possible. So I declined, and noted down his number so I could visit him another time (where I would be just passing during the day and not imposing too much on them. But events such as these are not uncommon for people who travel in this country. One really feels welcome indeed.
Another thing about Filipino people I the way they like to communicate using their mobiles as little Telex machines after than as actual phones. It is a rare sight to see a person actually having a conversation on the phone, however countless mobiles are being constant pulled out of pockets and with the speed of trained marconists people tap in message after message to loved ones or even their colleagues at work, giving instructions or passing on words of love as they send text after text. No wonder one of the bigger pictures in the movie theatres was a ghost movie that used text messages as its mayor plotline. (It seems that the Philippines are just like other Asian countries in that way, consuming one scary ghost movie after the other.)
Jeepneys and Trikes is yet another thing that makes life here so interesting. As a foreigner moving on foot in Manila means being constantly addressed to and taxi after taxi hoots the horn as they pass by hoping you will exchange the fumes and heat of the traffic jammed streets for an airconditioned seat in their (not necessarily used) metered cars. But why take a taxi if you can sit in one of the most extravagant pimped up modes of transportation ever seen: the jeepney. Stickered from bumper to bumper, painted, airsprayed, fitted with light tubes or sometimes even whole disco installations, these two-row vans are a pleasant and fun way of moving from point A to ... Well to some point. And the trikes! Think of motorbike meets the A-team meets pimp-my-ride. Sidecars are welded with various degrees of efficiency to a motorbike and then fitted with rooftops, stickers, logo's and all sort of little details to make each trike into a unique driving vehicle. Expect to overpay if you don't Know your way around here, but then again, expect also to just sit back and enjoy the ride as if you were sitting in a rollercoaster back in some themepark, but then without safety belts and the reassurance of stepping out in one piece at the end of the ride. Which adds up to the fun of course. Tip your driver and enjoy his bewildered look as he already overcharged you and almost got you killed seven times. Then have a San Miguel while listening to tagalog love songs in some karaoke restaurant.
Ah yes, the beer! San Miguel is definitely one of the cheaper and better beers around in SE Asia, except for my all time favorite, Singha, but the funny thing is that San Miguel comes in various forms lately. So you have the San Mig Dry, the San Mig Ice, and the San Mig Light. Now I ordered a Light to start with soon as I arrived in Manila and was settled down in a guesthouse. Out of healthy chauvinism I decided to look on the bottle for more info about this national beer. I noticed it contained 5 % alcohol. Hmm. I wondered how much a regular would be then... Then someone kindly pointed out that light here means less calories, not less alcohol. Bugger! That's also something you gotta appreciate them for. Indeed, what is the point of ordering a beer if it has no power? So light means that now even the types that went to fitness or were trying not to sport a beer belly could happily order their beers and still get hammered. Cheers for pinoy logic on this one!
Well, I guess there are plenty of more reasons to love this country, and I'll make sure to discover them sooner rather than later, but for now I'll have to do with Reading Garlands "The Beach" while sitting on a beach in Southern Thailand. Since Alex did actually got the Philippines right, he just decided not to spoil the country with numerous backpackers and the likes washing in on Mig Lights and surfboards. After all, The Beach was originally inspired by the wonderful islands that are part of the Philippines. Not for nothing was Apocalypse Now shot there. Thanks to Alex for getting it all wrong and doing it with style. ;-)