Random Ramblings On The Beginning of 2018

A popular photo blogger recently announced he is coming over to the PH to gather content and feature "random" people in the country as he did on his own. Great. Awesome, actually. And honestly.

He reached out to social media and asked for resumes and references because he needed an interpreter to help with this project. I understand that Filipinos are a proud and competitive race. I think this is why there were so many people who said that this guy doesn't need an interpreter. Apparently every Filipino speaks English. Partly true. Most Filipinos know some English to be able to help a brother out.

But here's the difference between people who feel they are significant when they post something online and people who knows the shit they post online: They know that (proper) research and meticulous analysis is the best way to gain credibility. So hey, if they have resources why stop them from getting what they need.

When you want to gather content to present to people with the intent of informing and not just making yourself look like a know-it-all influencer, you do not just look at something, hear 2 words about it and decide you already have it figured out. And then tell the world wide web you got it figured out. More than experiencing things (because everyone knows if you've experienced it once you are an expert? -- lol), responsible people actually think before opening their mouths (or in the case of social media, before typing three letters on a comment box).

I've said this before and I'll say it again, it's very easy to make content but there's a TON of gullible people online. Some people believe everything they read online -- I mean a few minutes ago I just Googled DIY frothy milk because I wanted a cappuccino and I'm too lazy to walk a couple blocks to the nearest Starbucks and all I have at home is drip coffee and some full cream fresh milk. I followed the instructions online because it said "full proof" ... just saying.

Christmas Rush playlist (and random ... ranting)

Let's do vocabulary, shall we? Nothing fancy. Just something made-up in line with the holidays.

This usually starts around November, sometimes earlier, and can extend up to February, being Valentines and all. It's funny when you think about it. It's not when you actually experience it. Like every year it's okay to get some "hi's" and "how are you's". But it's not okay to get "i'll be in town next week" and "you're single now? wow me too!".

Seriously? You can't like a person occasionally. Only because it's Christmas and you're lonely. It's either you like a person or not.

Anyhooooooo, I made a playlist. Originally, a friend made a Christmas Rush playlist for me (for all the men I've loved before, ha! jk). I thought I'd make one now because, well, I just received messages this morning from a couple ... people ... from ... a life I left behind.

In no particular order:

• Shame For You by Lily Allen

"Oh my gosh you must be joking me
If you think that you'll be poking me"
--seriously

• These Boots Are Made For Walking by Nancy Sinatra

"I just found me a brand new box of matches
And what he knows you ain't had time to learn"
--start walking

• You Don't Know Me by Ben Folds

"If I'm the person that you think I am
Clueless chump you seem to think I am
So easily led astray
An errant dog who occasionally escapes 
and needs a shorter leash then,
Why the fuck would you want me back?"
--maybe it's because you don't know me at all? heh

• The Party by Regina Spektor

"You taste like birthday, you look like new year
You're like a big parade through town
You leave such a mess, but you're so fun"
--so ... nope. never again. lol.

• Ring-a-Ling by BEP

"Cause if I call you at 2 in the morning
It only means one thing"
--ah ... those 2am calls

• Don't Cha by Colbie Calliat

"See you don't care but I, I don't wanna share"
--erm ... yeah

• Warm Water by Banks

"I got this thing for you
If you come closer I can whisper in your ear"
--tease, i know

• Temporary One by Susie Suh

"I was your second-hand
And you were just my temporary one"
--admit it! ADMIT IT!!! :p

• In The Moonlight by Susie Suh

"All we got is this moment
And I say we own it"
-- ...hey, You :(

• Why Can't I by Liz Phair

"Got a girlfriend you say it isn't right
And I got someone waiting too"
--argh! You again! :(

• 9 Crimes by Damien Rice

"It's the wrong kind of place to be cheating on you
It's the wrong time she's pulling me through
It's a small crime, and I got no excuse
--i really don't have any, sorry

• Vacation by The Go-Gos

"When you looked at me, I should have run
But I thought it was just for fun"
--i should have known

• Don't Call Me Baby by Madison Avenue

"You know I don't belong to you"
--i belong to me

• How You Like Me Now by The Heavy

"If I was to cheat, would you see right through me?"
--i see you're checking out my instagram

My Dreams Are Way Beyond The Dream Dictionary's Powers Of Interpretation ... and random ramblings

Sorry, I had to share this dream. Normally, I don't. I write it down in my journal because someday I will use it as content for my book ... which I REALLY need to get started on. Last night's dream was just amazing and disturbing (and that's something coming from me) at the same time so I had to.

Little history, I rarely have normal dreams. The most normal was when I dreamed my friend adopted a baby crocodile. That's normal because she's weird (Hi, Pearly). You may argue most dreams are weird. It's our subconscious in the first place and sometimes our subconscious think things we don't even want to think of ... consciously. Heh. But I've shared dreams to people and they said my dreams aren't normal. Actually, they said I'm not normal ... but that's for a different story.

So last night's dream involved: my friends, my hometown, the house where I was raised, a co worker, dogs, a duck, a crocodile, cambodia, a train, the hound(ish), 5 restaurants from a made up movie, my nephew's school service driver, a toilet with leftover chicken and chicken bones (eugh), native americans, goons, a kid ... and super powers.

By this time I forgot how it started but the setting was the apocalypse. Not zombie-type apocalypse although I had a zombie apocalypse-themed dream couple weeks ago. Anyhoo, I was in my hometown, people are starving but there's apparently a feast for the well-off ... IKR?! How politically and socially mainstream is that?! Lol. So I saw this kid looking for something to eat and I had ground pork (pang shanghai rolls) that mysteriously appeared out of nowhere and I said: "Here, you have it. But you'll need wrappers for that." My nephew's school service driver appeared out of nowhere and said: "I'll take care of it." He then produced the wrappers. Little did we know he stole it ... from a guy who, well, looks like a goon. I can't find a photo of the local goon from the old Filipino movies but let's just say he's kind of like the hound on steroids (yes from the Game of Thrones series). Like really huge with long hair and really scary. COMMERCIAL: I tried to Google the goon so I could post a photo and I typed: Filipino movie goons and a photo of the former president GMA appeared on the list. I should've screen capped.

So now, this guy is after me thanks to the school service driver. Fucker. So I had to get away. I walked and walked and I know I can't stop. It's either I face the dogs on the street (dogs scare me shitless no matter what size, true story) or go back and face the scary goon. He finally caught up when I was contemplating if I should face the dogs or him. Stupid. We were in someone's backyard, with chicken wire fences. I said something like: "ok, come and get me" and I smiled (fuck im so mainstream). That was where it got interesting. When he lunged at me, I jumped over the fence. It was over 8 feet high. I'm like 4ft 10in (barely). But he's a goon, with a huge wrestler body so chicken wires won't stop him, right? Now, there was another chicken wire fence behind me and you know what I did??? I PASSED THROUGH THE CHICKEN WIRE! Hell yeah, I'm awesome!!! So! Somehow that stalled him. I don't know if he couldn't get through the wire or he was just dumbstruck by my awesomeness. 

I thought I won't see him again so I stayed in the house on the other side of the fence. Which turned out to be the house where I grew up. But it was stripped except for a flat screen TV. It was huge. Go figure. I turned on the lights and the TV and then I realised people will notice the lights are on (this was night time). I was running away. Duh. The goon showed up he challenged me again, I smiled again and he came at me with ... something, I dunno. But the next minute he was on the floor on his back, and I had my foot on his neck.

Me: 2 
Goon: 0

Did I mention there was a duck? Like, the whole time. The duck turned into that kid. The one I gave food to. And he said: stop fighting! And we did. And all of a sudden the goon and I are friends ... and we were both watching TV. 

By now you must be thinking where's the twist. There's none. But there was a guy at the back of the house the whole time we were there. He was also watching TV (and it was morning all of a sudden) and he was drinking beer and there were kids running around. One of the kids sneaked in the house and I saw that he saw us and I didn't mind. And then I looked at the window in front (the one that looks out to the street) and I saw other people (who looked like goons too) with huge guns and shit. And I was like, TURN THE LIGHTS OFF! AND THE TV TOO! WHAT ARE YOU?! STUPID?! But it was too late. The men got in. I thought for sure we were dead. But they just stood there, the guy who was at the backyard went in too. I thought he looked grandfather-ish. And he started talking about god-knows-what. But first, I have to point out, these guys with the guns and the grandfather-ish? They were native Americans ... I'm in the Philippines. Go figure. By this time, me, the goon friend, and the boy that was a duck were backed up in a corner. Grandfather-ish pulled out a gun and shot at us like there was no tomorrow. All I could do was freeze while holding a book against my chest. And that was when we died.  Or the goon and the kid died.

I woke up ... in a train going to Cambodia. My shirt had blood spatters on the chest area. I felt like I was still running away. Naks, drama. When we got there (I was with my friends and it didn't feel like the apocalypse anymore), wherever that was, we were apparently in search of 5 restaurants featured in a book-turned-hollywood-hit (I don't know if it actually exists) and all were in Cambodia (I don't know how I knew it was Cambodia, either). At the third restaurant I realized we had one of my co-worker with us. I will call him DenMunch. And we were all talking like we were food and film critics. Lol. And then I went to the toilet. It was disgusting. It had chicken bones and chicken left overs in the seat like someone tried to flush those down and I was like: "OMFG this is disgusting!" I had to wipe it away cause I had to pee ... with all my friends there (there was also an ex boyfriend in the group in that dream, probably because it was a toilet scene and I think he's shit ... erm never mind). The toilet seat was in front of the dining table. And we had to pay to use the toilet. On top of the food bill. Disgusting, I know. But go figure.

We went out to the 4th restaurant. It was sort of al fresco. We were waiting for our orders and I thought I'd go for a walk by the beach. Sunset, you know? But there was a crocodile. We were at Puerto Princesa by that time. And by this time, if you're still reading, you should know better than ask how we got to Puerto Princesa.Also, the duck was back.

I woke up. Like for real this time. And I was late for work.

because Writers are Readers

The note that was inside the Greenwich planner that was a gift from a friend ... the paper was torn from my office-issued steno pad, heh

I don't doodle. I wouldn't know where to begin. I remember in one of those meetings in the office I actually tried (because yes I wasn't listening) and all I came up with was the question "how does one doodle?" ... in cursive. Well, that's what I do. I write. Anyhoo, I found an old note tucked in an old planner inside an old bag. Well, oldish. I wrote it at work I think late last year when I was supposed to be doing something else. Heh. I can't remember what prompted me to write it but thought I'd share.

==

I am both a public and a private reader. 
I am the one sitting at the coffee shop hours after my drink is done because I couldn't put the book down. 
I am the idiot walking in a busy street, bumping into people because my nose is stuck in a book. 
I am the loner hanging out at the park under a shade. 
Or on the beach sprawled on a towel under the scorching hot sun. 
I am the inconsiderate one staying too long at a cafeteria table even if there are others trying to grab a seat. 
I am the one frowning over noisy kids because they distract me from the world in the story I'm exploring. 
I am the one falling asleep on an arm chair by the bookshelf. 
I am the one who spends hours at the bookstore every chance I get. 
I am the employee spending my break time reading over eating. 
I am the one who sleeps late and wakes up early to finish a page turner.
I have mastered the art of folding a newspaper. I got it from my dad.

==

Yes, my penmanship sucks.

And it ends there. It looked like I just stopped writing. Just like I'm about to do now.

Dear Dunkin' Donuts

I love you, I really do. I will choose your choco butternut over Go Nuts or Krispy Kreme or effing J.CO but this ... this is one of the worst chicken salad croissants I've ever had. First, the bread tasted like it's a week old. It doesn't even look like a croissant. And I know photos on the menu rarely look like the real thing but come on! This is like mayo and cheese and lettuce ... it doesn't taste chicken salad-ish. Where is the chicken?! The mayo is sour like it's a couple seconds from spoiling and the only good thing about it is the lettuce is fresh and crispy. Maybe I should've stuck with the Bunwich. I will go back tomorrow and get one. Please do not disappoint.

P.S. Maybe I should sell you my chicken salad/spread recipe?

Thoughts on: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

I've read a few books (fiction) about autism and this is one of those that I liked most. Yes, I would recommend this for everyone, parents especially (even those whose kids do not have autism). No, I won't go as far as saying it's an awesome book. For one, this is not a happy book, the main reason being ... it's too real. But that is also what makes it so good.

There should be a few different ways to rate this book instead of just an overall pick-a-number-of-stars-to-go-with-it. Here's an attempt (feeble, maybe) to explain my point. There may be a few spoilers although I'll try not to give away too much. 

1) Concept/Awareness/Cause/Subject: Five stars. I don't think I have to spell it out. This is one of those books that aim to raise awareness about autism in kids. What they are going through and why adults should rally alongside them and their ... let's call it "rights" for now because I can't seem to find a fitting word. 

2) Story telling: It's pretty generic. There's chronology, words are clear, pace is just right, I won't say it's dragging too as it's not a long book. Pretty straight forward so ... For that I'd give it a fair 3 stars.

3) Conflict. It's all over the place. The two main conflicts being: It's a story of a kid with autism whose parents are divorced and are both having some sort of affair. And as you can imagine, in a story like this, every other conflict has their own ... sub-conflicts. And since I'm a person who hates reality and its conflicts (heh) ... Four stars.

4) Twist and Conclusion/Ending: When I finished the book I thought ... "Oooookaaaaayyy ... That's it?" Then I thought, "Well, how do you expect it to end?" The too real story's ending is abrupt but the author actually made us a favor of giving us a realistic, but at least not tragic and traumatic, ending for the kid. Four stars.

Over all, it's far from Kite Runner or Orphan Master's son but they share something in common ... It kinda makes you wish you live in a better world.

People, Please Don't Get Delusional

Another Senator Tito Sotto blog, I know. I just need to get this out once and for all. Before that, let me make it clear (and yes this is me being defensive) that, politically, I'm not a fan of this guy. I grew up watching his movies (dahil yun lagi ang palabas sa sinehan sa Tagaytay) but I never voted for him, he never gave me a reason to. This blog is not on his defense either but I know some fanatics (of stuff they don't understand) might look at it that way because ... well, they don't understand. So let me begin discussing the topic by telling you that yes, like many haters and (feeling) patriotic people on the web, right now, I think this guy does not deserve a seat in the senate and that I do not think he knows what he's doing.

Now, most of the people online bash these politicians for the things they say but they may be doing it for the wrong reasons. The main thing that pushed me to write this blog, though, is not what the senator above said, but something I heard from a grown person somewhere ... that it's shocking and sad to know that this country's rulers, the upholders of the law, do not write their own speeches and their own papers (for whatever cause). So ... as the title of the post says ... People, please don't get delusional. 

If you do not know yet, politicians and our country's leaders very rarely (or do not at all) write their speeches. They have a personnel(s) for that, and they have a team who does the research. Why? Because they have other things to do than spend the day in front of a desk writing a speech or going out to do research from scratch. Writing a speech, ladies and gentlemen, is not their job. It's not what they're getting paid for. And it's not the reason why people should vote for them ... although, of course, in this country, mamatay lang kamag-anak qualified na maging presidente.

Granted, the speeches should get their approval first and the content should be what they believe in (or what they got paid for, kee-hee), but that was not my point. The upholders of the law's real job is to, UPHOLD THE LAW. They are the "face" of what people (and again those who paid for it) believes in and fights for. 

Here's an example, the president. This guy's job is not to make laws (yes he can lean and put pressure on some people because he has that power to, and that ladies and gentlemen is the biggest form of corruption, duh!!!), he does not write the law and does not approve it (supposedly). Other parts of the government writes and the other approves. He should also not be wasting his time blaming the past administrations for his failures but that's another story, eh? THE PRESIDENT IS AN ADMINISTRATOR. He administrates, overlooks, leads, inspires etc. Yes he should make sure whoever stole money should pay for it but he is ruling a country with actual people in it and a lot of problems to face. SO he can't just concentrate on that one thing. What does a manager in a company do? DELEGATE. That is what secretaries of departments are for and that is what his allies are for. Get the gist?

So if I am a senator, for example, that gets invited to hold a speech for whatever function or for the RH Bill (there, I said it!), and I have a ton of appointments to go to like a closed meeting with the party to discuss our official stand on an issue, meeting other people who wants me to lobby for their cause, publicity stunts, functions I'm invited too, personal stuff (and TV shows ngehe) I can't slave the day away writing speeches for 8 other functions I'm supposed to give a pep talk at for the month. At best, I should be sitting with the team making sure things are in order. That they know what I want to say, and that we get the facts straight so I don't look stupid in front of people.

So you see, what's really scary here is that the people who works for him (Sen. Sotto) gets away with it because he himself is unaware of what the real issue is about. Also, the people he hired are competent but only up to a point. They do not know how to address an issue, they just deflect it. Maybe it's ego but clearly, they do not want to accept the fact that they made a mistake by not doing their job properly. If our leaders' staff can do that, can the rest of us act the same way? And if we do, could we get away by being arrogant too (like that lawyer who couldn't keep his mouth shut about bloggers being just bloggers).

If anything, this senator should fire his staff and get a new one.

Random ramblings ... and Why You Shouldn't Mess with Michael D. Higgins

DISCLAIMER: I am somewhat drunk so bear with me.

Apparently, this debate between Michael D. Higgins and Michael Graham that had recently gone viral  is old news (it was from 2010) but I have to join in virtually shaking the hands of the Irish President because he really killed it. Lol. I'm not going to pretend I completely understand what's going on, as far as I know (and by know I meant read-from-the-internet-which-sometimes-doesn't-really-amount-to-anything-because-people-copy-paste-and-react-about-shit-they-don't-know-anything -about-all-the-fucking-time), the tea party movement is a bunch of whiny people who oppose government tax spending and tax increase (but which citizen in what country doesn't have an opinion on this? ... oh wait ... N.Korea),hates Obama and sometimes support the war and may have racist members. And if that is truly the case ... I don't think I like them much.

Actually, I'm not going to discuss the tea party movement here. Hey, I'm not from their parts of the world so don't expect me to be able to relate to the tea party hoopla much more pretend to make a solid opinion on it. No,  this is about some of the things that the Irish president said that may be related to local events. I liked Higgins in this debate because of the bit about his Sarah Palin depiction. It's very true in a lot of ways but I can say that because it can be attributed (if that is the right word) to other conditions and circumstances.

The more popular line was, "You're about as late an arrival in Irish politics as Sarah Palin is in American politics, and both of you have the same tactic. The tactic is, to get a large crowd, whip them up, try and discover what is that creates fear, work on that and feed it right back and you get a frenzy." He said this while Graham tries to interject but to no avail *sniggers*.

For the most part, I can understand where the Irish President was coming from. Aside from the loud cheers when Higgins said "... be proud to be a decent American rather just a wanker whipping up fear" (I mean, seriously, who didn't like that :p), it's his description of the alleged Sarah Palin “tactic” that people should ponder about. Face it, it happens … all the time.

A lot of people talk of things they barely know anything of (like me right now?lol). It has happened to everyone at one point or another. You read something online, watch something on the prime time news and suddenly you feel very passionate about it or against it. That is what the media feeds on right now, people’s thirst for sensationalism. And of course they have the gall to deny it and call what they do responsible journalism.

Locally, on the death of the DILG Secretary Robredo … while  in a cab going home, there was a DZMM radio broadcaster who was answering a listener’s tweet. The listener said something about the media (particularly ABS CBN lol) sensationalizing and milking Robredo’s death too much. To this, the broadcaster answered something like it’s hard for us to report anything else as journalists, but he did not elaborate on that. He also said, they respect the former secretary and honor him so they feature him a lot. First off … journalism is not an easy field … so don’t say it’s hard for you to talk of anything else because if that is the case, what the hell are you doing working in there??? There is no easy line of work. And if you respect the guy so much go ahead and report the facts, give him a bit of a tribute but stop planting conspiracy theories in the heads of your audience. You’re reporting these things because that’s what a common person wants. Drama. The frenzy. Conspiracies. Get your facts and work on them, why doncha?!

Seriously, Higgins said it all in his debate (the long part) if you paid attention: “You're not dealing with facts … you're talking about ships that you don't know the name of, you don't know the number of. You're really a good student of that kind of journalism that says: well look, if i could get away with it it's good; if i can work people up it's even better, but the fact of the matter is this is just, this is just very, very dangerous stuff …”

***

RANDOM RAMBLINGS: (If only for the fact that I'm too lazy to create a separate post)

• The guy who slapped the MMDA employee on the road ... Yes, he was an arse and yes he shouldn’t have slapped the MMDA guy and yes he probably deserved to be crucified for the world wide web to see but a FB page that had his (alleged) home address in it??! Goes to show how powerful, so out of control and so scary the social media can be. How would you like that to happen to you just because someone didn’t like something you did? No matter what size of the action is.

• The RH Bill and that plagiarism issue … I’m pro, btw. And I don’t think the people associated in making the bill approved or not should appeal to people’s emotions when debating their point (because being too emotional is the second biggest problem of the Philippines -- first being the increasing population, hah!).  But anyway, the plagiarism issue … people got so worked up on that and I too was upset when the Senator said (or was it his chief of staff) that Ms. Pope was “just” a blogger. Well, you know what? I’ll say this again, people copy and paste on the Internet ALL THE FUCKING TIME! The biggest mistake of the senator’s staff is that this is a very controversial issue and that the whole country and even people out of the country is actually paying attention! Of course, there is this thing called spinning articles and the senator’s staff should’ve at least done that. But what about the other bloggers who not only posts but does actual research before writing something up (but before you say you can't write without researching, please read the paragraph again, wise-ass)? Their articles get copied too and then get spun using a bot and presented as a brand new article under a different writer’s name, all for the sake of traffic. And we all wonder why writers don’t get paid much? Lol. Okay, okay, that’s for a different topic. Moving on …

El Nido: This is ... Philippines ???

The travel bug hit me kinda late this year ... partly because of the new job, partly because I'm broke (heh), and partly because I wanted to sulk and feel bad because of some bad decisions but that's for another story.

Anyhoo, El Nido - what a transition, eh?

The name itself sounded exotic and beautiful so I had a lot of expectations about the place and this trip. For one, the gang was in Coron  last year and it was A BEAUTY! El Nido and Coron are in the same province and since El Nido became popular internationally before Coron did, I thought it would surpass last year's adventures. Well, it did. And in extremes.

I was hoping for a relaxing vacation but the weather didn't permit it. We wanted to go away and we did but oh! the price we paid! It rained everyday during the scheduled tours so we were wet even before we got to hit the beach shores; couple times during the island hopping tours our boat nearly tipped over; we got stuck at the sandbar they call "Snake Island" for 3 friggin' hours I was so sure I'd catch hypothermia! Going there (yes there were misadventures even before we reached the island), we experienced extreme turbulence. Aside from the heavy shaking, the plane dipped a few feet down that my ass actually left the seat, the last 10 years of my life flashed back, and the pilot said: "Ladies and gentlemen, we will now be experiencing ... self-reflection." ... OK, you caught me ... that was one of my friends exaggerating.

Regardless, it was the company and the "going away" part that I actually enjoyed and was looking forward to so it wasn't all bad. And hey, we got "rescued" by an official looking rescue team in their official looking rescue jackets (or raincoats) and despite the huge waves I would admit it was pretty awesome.

The destination itself, however, was a disappointment. Don't get me wrong, they have some of the most amazing bitc-- oh wait that's me, I meant-- beaches in El Nido and a 3-day tour is not enough to get tired of. I even went inside the musty, disgusting smelling cave (but really what would you expect in a cave ... Eau de Parfum?) and had fun doing that. I don't think it's fair to compare it with Coron as well at this point since, again, it was rainy during this trip whereas I burned in the other. In both trips, though, we stayed in the town proper. I'm not a full fledged backpacker (although I dream to become one) but staying in town is the best way to "experience" what the place has to offer. So anyhoo, what am I ranting about? The culture ... or the lack of it.

When I say lack, I'd like to make it clear that they are not devoid of it so don't get smart with me. It's just that ... I barely felt it.

FOOD. When I go to a new place for the first time, I like to eat what the locals eat, where the locals eat. Apparently in El Nido, they eat pizza and pasta. I'm not picky, I would eat what's available as long as I'm not craving for anything specific but this is a vacation and I like to pig out on good food when on vacation. Given, a lot of foreigners stay at the town proper so they would want to offer what the foreigners are used to and in different varieties. And yes, the locals have the right to eat pizza anytime they want to. But what about local tourists? If there are families or groups visiting who want to eat local dishes then there is very limited choice, sad to say. The price of the food is also very standard. This might be good for local businessmen, though, so people don't just go to the one who offers the lowest price. There are some good places but it's not something I'm going to crave for.

PEOPLE. Oh they are sincerely nice and accommodating. And we are paying guests, after all. Lol. I asked the tour guide on day one.
Me: Kuya, ano'ng dialect nyo dito?
Kuya: Madami na. Iba-iba. Kasi madami nang dayuhan.
Me: Ah. Anu-ano yon?
Kuya: May German, Italian, French.
Me: (Errr... ok) Yung local dialect? Tagalog lang?
Kuya: Oo, Tagalog dito.

I rest my case.

Well, this is a tourist town with immigrants from European countries and I can't really blame the food and that dialect conversation on them. It wasn't their fault they saw the potential of this country waaaay before we did.

I guess what I'm getting at is that ... places like Vigan boasts of a Spanish town but, hey, the Philippines got owned (in more ways than one) by the Spanish so when I went there I knew, "This is Philippines." Baguio might be overrated for some but I never get tired of walking on their highly populated streets even on my own because and when I do I can say, "This is Philippines." Manila is a place vacationing locals want to get away from but when I'm here I can feel, "This is Philippines." So why can't I feel the same for El Nido when I know that it's in the same province (and also has immigrants from Europe) as Coron, a place where I felt I was in the Philippines?

Then again maybe I wouldn't have noticed if it wasn't raining so hard.