I finally have a chance to blog about my journey to my homeland. It has been 21 years since I have been back to Cebu, Philippines, my birthplace. I was excited about seeing Cebu in my own eyes and nervous about the lack of the Visaya I know. I can understand Visaya, but trying to speak is a challenging thing. In conversing with my cousins, I became comfortable speaking Visaya and even had guts to ask random vendors or people speaking my native tongue. I luv the Philippines and truly luv Cebu. It was nice to reconnect with cousins who I hadn't seen in years. I regret not going at an earlier age, but living in regret is dangerous. I am happy that I was able to visit at this age and time. As an adult, you tend to see the world in a different perspective and deeply too. I have seen other places in the world and it makes me more appreciative of where I come from and where I am. I also I got to see Banaue, the home of the rice terraces. A goal of mine to see if I ever do visit Philippines and what a journey it was to get there. It's a 9 hour bus ride from Manila, and getting to the terminal was even drama. Nevertheless, My sister and cousin Ye Ye were able to see the 8th wonder of the world, world heritage. We weren't able to stay the night since our schedules were so packed with activities. But I was just blown away how beautiful the area was and how fresh the air is. We were able to visit the Batad rice terraces and see the Ifugao people living off their own land. The Ifugao people are beautiful and proud; life is simple and disease free. They have no DM, HTN and CA because everything they eat is natural and stress in nonexistent. When I am fortunate enough to visit Philippines again, I will stay in Banaue for 3 days and also experience living in Batad for the night. It would be grand.
One thing that really saddened me during my trip was actually at the tail end when we made a stop in Manila. Manila is bigger and more industrialized. I expected it, since Manila is the capital of Philippines. I was looking forward to seeing Makati as well. I have spoken to people and they have raved about how modern and westernized Makati is. I was blown away seeing that Makati can exist in Philippines. Many business people truly invested in Philippines and I say thank you. What was disturbing about Makati and Manila was how I saw the people divided greatly between the rich and poor. It made me sick how the rich are richer and the poor are so much poorer. The Makati facade doesn't match the majority of the peoples' incomes. My cousins telling me that the age limit to for a decent job is 25 years old. After the age of 25, your old and good luck finding a decent job. Some of these jobs are contracted with no benefits and last for only 6 months. The worker with more experience is ostracized and the newly grad will most likely be hired. My sis and I wonder around the Ayala mall in Makati and fall deeper into Glorietta 3 and 4 and saw the truly rich. The rich that can afford to eat in a restaurant with American dollar prices. The rich sippin on Starbucks, when the price of a cup a joe can be a good meal in SM mall. The rich shopping in LV and Gucci, with pesos. It was a crazy realization. I hope there will be change.
Nevertheless, Philippines is an amazing country, especially the island of Cebu. More pics in my flickr account, click here!
