Filipino Oddities

Well, unfortunately things have continued on a pretty rapid downward trajectory with my mom's condition, but we are all trying to cope the best we can. She's resting again right now though, so I thought I'd try to post another severely-delayed blog entry from our trip. Here are some of the strange things we saw in the Philippines:

Ooo... magical placenta whitening soap! Gives me that baby-soft skin I've always wanted...

Everywhere we went in the Philippines, the locals were extremely pro-American, calling America their 'second mother' and attributing the success of the Philippines to America - and I guess maybe the "Obama Grill" on White Beach is just another token of their affection. :)

A small tree-root toilet to add to my toilet photo collection...

Rice drying on the side of the road

Alright, so this is a terrible photo I took of the TV, but I was trying to capture this odd karaoke channel that was showing soft-core porn in the background. The song playing in this image is "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus". :)

Banana Ketchup - blech!

Why go to a gas station when you can just buy your gas in a bottle on the side of the road? I just wish I had gotten a picture of the stand we passed that was selling gas out of Coke bottles...

Ice-cold sarap. Coke na! (For some reason I thought a lot more English would be spoken in the Philippines than actually was - Filipino seemed to be much more prominent. In addition, there are 13 indigenous languages with 1+ million speakers apiece, with most Filipinos learning one of these as their native language.)

A Filipino woman wearing a snake vertebrae 'necklace' on her head to protect from lightning strikes

We saw people peeing everywhere, despite these signs, haha.

Wooden scooters ridden by the Ifugao tribes (I'm not sure how they get them back uphill!)

A bag with chewing substances - areca nut, betel leaf, lemon/lime, and spices. These are chewed together for a stimulant effect - and are the cause of red-stained teeth and lips of many locals. (Areca and betel are also carcinogens.)

And last, but certainly not least, another lovely toilet picture! This is a relatively clean FEMALE trough squat toilet - the gals just back in and pee in a cozy row. I decided just to hold it. :)