Reality Bites

I’ve met a lot of really frank but nice people in my 3 weeks in Europe. They tell stories. I tell stories. Mostly good stories resulting to interesting conversation.

They say Filipinos are friendly and always smiling.

They say Filipinos are warm and very good English speakers.

They say they chose Philippines because of the quality of graduates we have.

I agree with them.

Europeans, well,most of them, are well traveled. Some have visited Asia. Some have visited Manila.

They say Palawan is beautiful.

They say diving and surfboarding are so damn good in the Philippines.

They say Sagada is one of a kind experience.

They say San Miguel is a really good beer.

They say Filipinas are hot.

But you will not always hear something good about your country. There is a bad side in each city/place that a tourist visits.

Some say food in the Philippines is really bad and awful.

Some say Manila is the dirtiest city they’ve been to in Asia.

Some say there’s too much pollution in Manila.

Yes. We can be caught off guard. But I am somehow used to all these kind of comments having visited a number of cities and met a lot people from various continents.

So what do I normally tell them to not sound defensive? After all, reality bites. It bites hard and it is painful.

I say, yes Manila is polluted. There is overpopulation. We are a third world country but try visiting the countryside.

I say, yes, you are right. We do not have really good cheese nor gourmet bread there. But you can always try rice cakes?

Deep inside my heart, these people are not lying. Manila is dirty. Manila is polluted. Manila is not really that safe. I really do not know if these will change.