Back on the Road

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Well after two days essentially confined to bed, we're off an on the road today. Today we're going to Tagaytay near the Taal lake, site of the world's smallest volcano. The thing about it is though, it's actually a volcano that has formed in a crater lake of an older volcano. I recall going here last time (2000), but it was a brief visit, basically for lunch.


Today we're going there for a traditional Filipino Christmas with Squish family ( well part of it anyway ).

Some personal observations on Filipino local so far.. . . . . It's probably a little cliched to talk about how friendly polite and courteous they all seem to be. As you would expect, hotel, restaurant and retail staff especially so. My observation is that the notable exception to this is the "concubines" of westerners, Japanese and Koreans. These women who have been blessed with good looks and the willingness to do anything seem to treat the local staff and street people almost with disdain. Perhaps I'm mistaken - but it sure looks that way to me.

Another thing I've noticed is that no matter how poor they are, the locals take pride in their appearance with all except the very poorest always clean and fresh and well presented. Another apparent anomaly is that almost everybody (again with the exception of the very poorest) has a mobile, even the kids. I don't know the stats, but it wouldn't surprise me if they far outnumbered landline phones.

This is the last entry using hotel WIFI - so future entires may not be as frequent as I'm not sure of mobile broadband quality here.

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