My First Impressions of the Philippines

It's a paradox. The roads are hectic (very) with places like the malls, and our gated estate relatively serene and calm. There are the wealthy and the poor living side by side. The roads are lined with small businesses (probably as a result that there are no government handouts for babies or unemployment) and we work in an Economic tax free zone with large national and multinational companies.

But it’s certainly fascinating and I've no doubt it will grow on me.

It's hard to believe that we've only been here for a week and that this time last week were arriving from the South Coast. It is certainly different from there.

Fortunately I've got a driver who drives me to and from work … and will continue for a while (a long while?). However I work quite close to home so should manage that trip in the next few weeks, make that months? On Saturday he drove us around Cebu and Mandaue City and we went to the Mactan shrine (the spot where Magellan was killed on his round the world trip), Ayala Mall (pretty upmarket!) and then to lunch at a floating restaurant in Cordova (which is right next to Mactan but is actually a separate island). Finally he took us to do our grocery shopping.

To give you some idea of the traffic congestion – it takes about half an hour to and back from work …. for about 4 k’s. And although cars, bikes, motor cycles and bikes (together with the odd pedestrian) weave their way along there is no angst. Everyone just accepts it and moves along.

We live in a gated, secure complex alongside pretty poor houses (shacks), spaza shops and little businesses. It’s a great experience and the people are very friendly. Carol has a maid (Emily who is more like a companion) and already they have taken tricycles (3 wheel motorbikes that carry up to 5 or 6 passengers at real squeeze!!) and Jeepneys all over town. You can forget about any arby health and safety rules here with whole families cruising around on a motorbike with no crash helmets Emily is going to come and pick us up on Saturday and take us to her home (it'll be my first experience of the public transport system). 

Our factory is superb (in some places virtually like a laboratory) and the quality of the products outstanding … unfortunately often after a number of attempts!

So after an initial shock I'm taking it all in and I think that it'll be a challenging work experience and great to be in an economy which is now growing at a rate faster than China's. 

There is certainly a lot of need for infrastructural spending on roads, sewerage systems, electricity, rubbish collecting, etc. While they continue to sort out corruption. The one good thing is that this has started at the top with a new Prime Minister.

Booze prices especially wine are quite steep but everything else compares or is a bit cheaper than at home.

At the moment we are having our first tropical storm and it’s thumping down. I just hope that the shacks here are built a bit better than the ones at home.

It's the start of my worldwide gypsy experience until I can't do it any more.