The Fight

Van Manila-Cebu-Bohol-March2009

This morning I woke up and I said to myself: I will not be terrorised by this hotel. So many stupid rules: visitors need to pay at the gate (consumable), no swimming before 8 a.m., only one juice at breakfast, extra payment for a cappuccino at breakfast, the list is endless. We had a huge wordfight with daughter plastic this morning, and her plain stupidity took away all my intentions of convincing her that she was performing a bad management of the hotel, I just left the discussion. HL stayed, and tried to arrange things for the best, which included a (paid) upgrade to a better room, and hopefully problemfree breakfasts from now on. Anyway, this hotel has finished for me, it's hopeless.

This afternoon we drove around with TaTa, taxidriver and friend of Allan. First to the mall, then to Allan's college, then to the beach. The beach was a total turn-off for me: an uninspiring place, good for backpackers and retired English who can't afford to spend their pension in the UK. We visited one of the beach resorts, pure horror. 4.000 Pesos for an airconditioned room that obviously had not any paint nor new aircon since the 50's. Desolate.

All this made me think. Why is this still a 3rd world country? Apart from the typical Asian flaws, such as corruption and bad management and the bullying by the strongest, I see two specific reasons here, that are intertwined: a very limited tunnel-thinking (thinking in a very narrow tunnel of thoughts, with total lack of any creative thinking outside the tunnel) and the obsession that rules must be obeyed, especially the rules that as much money as possible must be extracted from foreigners, be it by kidnapping or by hosting them in a hotel. Rules that should apply to philippino's on the other hand, should not be obeyed by them :-)

It's more or less a hopeless situation. After the brief encounters in Manila, Cebu and here in Bohol, I understand Philippino's better now. Not to their advantage, I'm afraid (although there certainly are exceptions).

For those who still consider Philippino's as a friendly people, here's an example of our todays journey: due to the roadconstructions in Panglao, our taxi had to drive on one lane, together with the opposite traffic. Nothing wrong with that, as long as everybody is considerate. Not in Bohol. A bigger car refused to get aside, forcing our taxi to ride backwards all the way, just to let the bully get through. The poor taxidriver couldn't joke with it, but accepted the situation without much protests.

I understand now why young Pinoys attach so easily to older caucasians: the young Pinoys are getting indepent from their families, but urgently need the support of a stronger person that stands beside them and supports them when needed. It is an irresistable attraction for those who are weaker then the bullies.

Does all that mean we had a terrible day? Of course not, I had the time of my life. HL showed once again his genius in finding a compromise (the guy should definately go into Belgian politics), and Allan was the sweet guy we always knew he is - although not always as practical as we hoped for :-) e.g. when it comes to clearly arranging the amount of the fare for the taxi :-)

In the evening, we had a mesmerising swim in the Olympic size pool, the water was absolutely perfect, the stars were out, and swimming on my back, I lost my soul in the hundreds of stars that can be admired over here ... nightswims have that extra spicy aspect, that makes them irresistable!

Does the same counts for the local boys? I really don't know yet. They are incredibly cute and gentle and friendly (see the picture by this blog: one of the cleaning boys), but only that cannot attract me ... the beauty of an empty shell is not enough for me. Or am I still to discover the content?

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