The love of texting in the Philippines

I've heard people say that the Philippines is the 'texting capital of the world'.  I'm not sure of the latest stats on this, but anecdotal evidence does point very much in this direction.  There are a number of reasons for this:

1. Texts are very cheap to send - 1 Peso (about 1 pence) each; about a tenth of the cost of a voice call
2. Filipinos are very sociable and will communicate in any way possible
3. Texting is less invasive than calling
4. And probably a lot more which I haven't thought of...

When interviewing for my position at a local telecommunications company I was made aware of a slightly unusual (to me, anyway) behaviour which takes place in the Philippines.  In order to make new friends, some Filipinos will just text random numbers and see who responds.  An interesting application of texting!  That aside, I've been surprised at some of the other (not that I've had random people texting me!) transactions and interactions that I've had via text message during my time in the Philippines.


1) Being asked to attend a job interview
For one of the jobs I applied to I was asked to attend the interview by text.  There was no other communication, it was only by text.  Initially asking me to attend at a certain time, me replying, and then confirmation of the interview.  Granted, it was for a telecommunications company, but I was still surprised.

2) Signing up for broadband and phone
When we moved into our apartment, we wanted to sign up to get broadband internet.  Other than filling in an application form (I can't actually remember doing this, but I'm sure I must have), the whole interaction was handled by text.  This became a bit of an issue when I wanted to end our contract and was told that we were locked in for 2 years.  I had no record of ever being told this (I still don't think I was told this).  As an aside, when I told the broadband-service-provider that I didn't want to pay the early cancellation fee, she asked why, and I told her (because I don't remember ever being told that I was locked into a 2 year contract), so she told me just to write a note of why I didn't want to pay and we'd see what happened.  I still don't know the end result.

3) Booking accommodation
We went away to Palawan in August 2013.  As usual, we left the booking of our accommodation until the last minute.  I was doing some research via TripAdvisor and found a B&B which looked great.  I searched for the B&B online to see if they had a website, but they didn't.  One of the reviews on TripAdvisor included a mobile number for the owner of the B&B, so I just texted the number.  I did try to call the number too, but no answer.  Miraculously our accommodation was reserved!

4) The persistence of some Filipinos
If someone texts you, they expect an immediate answer.  If you don't answer, they will just keep texting you until you do answer.  Sometimes, they will go further and try to contact you in other ways (email, Facebook), just to make sure they get an answer.  And this will be in the space of less than an hour sometimes.

5) Not answering my calls, but answering my texts
There have been a few instances where I've called someone, but they won't answer.  I then send them a text message immediately, and I often get an immediate response!

Some of these transactions have been great - it's often easier to send a quick text than make a phone call, for example whilst at work.  It may be something I have to reverse-adjust to when I move back to Europe.  I don't think that texting is as widely accepted for some interactions in the UK.

What if it rains?

You park your car.  You pay your fee to park your car.  You go and do whatever it is that you need to do.  You're a bit longer than you thought you would be.  You go back to where your car was parked.  And there is no car.  All there is, is a note on the pavement, in white chalk with your registration plate number and 'Claim at Amorsolo St'.  But what if it rains?  The chalk would get washed away, and then how do you find your car?

The benefits of a lack of organisation

This may just be my perception, but generally things in the Philippines don't seem very organised.  For example, a number of the doctors that I've seen don't work by appointment - you just turn up and wait your turn.  I don't *think* there bus timetables - you just show up at the station and wait for the next one to your destination.  In restaurants it's common for one diner to have finished their meal before another has even received theirs.

But sometimes this lack of organisation works in our favour.  Take the example of the gas canister running out.  Whilst I was sterilising various baby-feeding-paraphernalia on a Sunday I noticed that the gas was low.  Very low.  About to run out low.  First thing Monday morning I phoned the concierge in our building to order a new canister.  Within less than an hour someone had turned up with the new canister and fitted it. 

We're cooking with gas again. 

I'm not sure that that would happen so fast in a more 'organised' country where there are schedules to stick to, which are organised days in advance.

Easter in the Philippines

Easter, or Holy Week, is a big thing in the Philippines.  So big that even all the shops and most restaurants close.  For 2 whole days.

Greenbelt is a big mall near to where we live.  It is a mixture of buildings and green space, with a large semi-open-air chapel in the middle of it.  On Ash Wednesday the chapel is so full that people have to stand outside to be part of the service.

It's a long time since I went to Sunday School, so my memory is a little rusty regarding the significance of the various days around Easter, but I do remember that Lent takes place between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday.  During Lent here in the Philippines, a number of restaurants offer special 'Lenten menus'.  A great way of commercialising the occasion and something I've never seen anywhere else.

For Easter itself, the holidays are slightly different to those we celebrate in the UK.  In the Philippines, it's called 'Holy Week' and the holidays are Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Black Saturday.  The Philippines is a predominantly Roman Catholic country, so Christmas is celebrated too.  But at Christmas all the shops and restaurants remain open.  On Maundy Thursday and Good Friday all the shops and most of the restaurants are closed.  It's quite eery wandering around the normally thronged Greenbelt.  I captured some photos of the occasion.

Enjoying the brrrr in Baguio

Eilidh in her car seat

The weekend before Easter we ventured out on our first family holiday.  We hired a car and a driver from Viajero Rent-A-Car and set off on our adventure to Baguio.

Baguio is about 240km North of Manila.  The drive, with about 1.5 hours break, took roughly 7 hours.  For the first hour, we were hostage to Manila traffic but after that we flew along the various tollways (NLEX, SCTEX, TPLEX) at a decent speed.  The last hour or so was a windy climb up the mountain road to Baguio.

Everyone I met who had been to Baguio only had positive things to say about it: Baguio's so lovely, the taxi drivers are so honest, the air's so fresh, it's cooler than Manila...  But other than that I didn't really know what to expect.  I was surprised when we first entered Baguio - it's very hilly, and very built up.  But not built up in a Manila-skyscraper kind of way.  Built up in the sense that all the hills seem to have buildings clinging to them.  But there are lots of pine trees and lots of parks too, so it didn't feel stifling (other than in the very busy city centre).  The air is much fresher than in Manila, and it was definitely cooler than Manila is.

View from Chalet Baguio Hotel

We stayed in the Chalet Baguio Hotel, located on Upper Military Cutoff Road.  Another building built into the side of a hill, you enter effectively on the 4th level and a lot of the rooms are on 'Lower Ground' levels.  The best views were from the rooms on the 4th level - below that, whilst you still have windows looking outside you can't see much.  The lower rooms are also loud as the karaoke room (de rigeur for hotels in the Philippines) is on the lowest level.  On our first night we were slap bang right above the karaoke room.  Luckily it didn't go on until 2am, even though it could have done as that was closing time.

Sunflowers in Baguio Botanic Gardens

Whilst in Baguio we explored the Botanic Gardens, Camp John Hay, Wright Park and The Mansion.  It was great to be able to walk around in green open space.  The Botanic Gardens are small, but have lots of pretty plants and flowers.  They are not the most manicured Botanic Gardens I've been to, but people were very happy wandering around.  The terrain is pretty rough, even the paths.  Luckily our buggy has big wheels, and Eilidh seemed to enjoy the 4x4 bumpy ride by going to sleep.

Camp John Hay was a former US Military base, and now has lots of open space, hotels and some shops & restaurants.  We only had a small wander around there as it started bucketing with rain.  We did discover a great restaurant inside Le Monet Hotel where we had lunch on both days we were there.  The seats were more like sofas so Eilidh could lie on the seat between us, which she enjoyed, meaning we could have a relaxing lunch.

The water feature in Wright Park

Wright park is very small, with a long body of water, and at one end, over a main road, there is The Mansion.  The Mansion is the official summer residence for the President of the Philippines.  Maybe they were trying to recreate the Taj Mahal effect of having the building reflecting in the water of Wright Park?  Anyway, it sort of works.  But the water was a very rusty brown colour.  I had someone ask me why it was that colour.  I thought he was going to tell me, but it turns out he didn't know either.  Rust?  Dust?

So it was a good trip, even though the journey there and back was long.  It was refreshing to get out of Manila and great to see another part of the Philippines.


Travel information

We hired a car with driver from Viajero Rent-A-Car:
+63 918 948 21 91
+63 905 288 21 56
+632 836 79 97 / +632 890 01 68
Rm 401-B 4/F RCI Building
Rada Street, Brgy. San Lorenzo
Legaspi Village
Makati City, Philippines
reservations@viajerorentacar.ph
www.viajerorentacar.com
https://www.facebook.com/viajero.carrental

The route from Manila took us on the North Luzon Express Way (NLEX), and then onto the SCTEX (Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway), then onto TPLEX (Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway), and then the MacArthur Highway onto Kennon Road.  Baguio is well signposted.

We stayed at the Chalet Baguio Hotel (http://www.chaletbaguiohotel.com/)

e-nesting

Whilst I was pregnant, I read a lot of pregnancy related information.  Probably too much.  But then there is a lot of information out there.  One of the phenomena I read about was the 'nesting instinct'.  Apparently, as labour approaches, many women get this instinct.  It can cause strange behaviour like cleaning your home from top to toe with a toothbrush.  This didn't happen to me; I thought that labour would never come.

But something else happened.

Just a day or 2 before I went into labour, I started furiously organising the music files on my computer - removing duplicates, making sure that they were correctly organised by band, album etc.  Is this e-nesting?  Did the phenomena happen to me after all?!

I still haven't finished this organisation by the way... maybe it'll never get done.

Where does the time go?

It's been a while since I posted on my blog. But I've been a little busy with something else. Our daughter, Eilidh, arrived on 31 January. There should be little excuse in the weeks leading up to Eilidh's birth as I did have some maternity leave... But somehow those days were busy too. I was still working 2 days a week and was trying to fit in as many chores, pamper sessions and social engagements as I could.

Eilidh is now 5 weeks old and it's difficult to remember what life was like before she came along. Life now is taken up with feeding and nurturing Eilidh along with the daily household chores that build up. Making lists of 10 things to do in a day (ha!) now seems a completely alien concept. I'm sure it won't be like this forever, so I'm trying to enjoy every minute that I'm completely focused on Eilidh. 

So the blog will suffer. I used to aim for a post every week, but perhaps every fortnight or month is now more realistic! So I will still write, but not quite as often. Until next time, adieu.