In my last post I talked about Blue Tea Towel Lady and how I had empathy for her as I watched her daily struggle to survive and eek out a living. This is just a fact of life for most of the 7+ billion population on the planet that doesn't live in the western countries and lives off of $2 a day. As Westerners we have a rather EASY life and get PENSION PLANS at 65 years of age and other financial benefits on top of a job and get the creature comforts that come with a first world country. For anyone who doesn't like their job or thinks their life is crap just needs to do a little traveling to any 3rd world country to see people who are 100 times worse off than you in order to get the right perspective for life again. The more I travel the less materialistic I become.
Although it is natural to have empathy for other unfortunate people you still can't show it on your face as they will take advantage of it to get money out of you and there are always more people that will come over for money too until all your money is gone. After I bought a tea towel off of that lady (Oh how I love my Blue Tea Towel!!) other street vendors saw me buy her tea towel (probably thinking "Why is this dumb white guy buying Tea Towels that no one wants?") and so they came over to me to sell there cheap stuff that didn't interest me. Trying to make an honest peso over here is tough business!!
As I sit and see these people trying to eek out a living on the street I realize it is just knowledge and experience that separates them from having a decent life. Obviously there are many filipinos who get an education and then get a decent job or become overseas foreign workers and find better jobs so make more money (even if that means flipping burgers in McDonalds in any western country). They say most children set the bar in life based on how well their parents did so you have to wonder what sort of future these peoples children have. If all you are used to is selling cheap shit on the street for 12 hours a day then they won't be able to afford education for their kids. There are no pension plans, welfare systems, food stamps, EI benefits in most countries which is why FAMILY is so important in these countries just like the Philippines where they all work COLLECTIVELY like a colony where when someone is out of work they live with another family member and get food and shelter until they find work and it sort of works that way. They scratch each others backs. It is a system I truly respect as long as it is just getting the necessities in life like food and shelter to get back on your feet and NOT taking advantage of good hearted family members by leeching off of them like a parasite because they are too lazy to find work.
I have traveled to many 3rd world countries and believe that being poor in the Philippines isn't so bad considering they live in a tropical environment with palm trees and warm weather year round where sleeping outside isn't so bad for a homeless person and you just have to make enough for food each day unlike the poor in countries like India and Tibet where they live in inhospitable environmental conditions that doesn't have one nice thing about it. It would be daily misery.
Now I haven't traveled the Philippines yet except for Cebu City but just based on that limited experience I truly like the Philippines much more than Thailand. I was in Thailand exactly 9 years ago to the month and just like the fact that most speak english here where there isn't a language barrier like there is in most countries. But I certainly prefer the street food of Thailand over the Philippines food. Actually that probably isn't fair as I really have only been to Jollibees and Chowking which was regular restaurants as I do enjoy the little filipino restaurants food and not to mention very cheap. You can eat a meal for $3. I can't wait to check out more places. So far I plan to go to Dumaguete tomorrow morning by bus and will probably stay there 5 days and then go to Bacolod for a few days and then take the ferry over to Illoilo city for 5 days and see some other places in between as I will be arriving at the beautiful beaches of Boracay and stay there for 2 full weeks (March 4th-18th) and after that I am unsure where I will go. It will either be farther north or turning back south but haven't made up my mind yet. I have no solid itinerary plans but just winging it one day at a time. Always best to be flexible when you travel.
Also I have been here in Cebu City for almost 6 days now and have spent $200cdn so far (not including the $100cdn sony camera). So I am staying within my budget.
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