“Yes mam” – Feel like a Hollywood star in the Philippines

The Philippines are part of Asia and in general the asian people are really friendly. People smile a lot and getting angry is “getting you nowhere” because the worst you can do is lose your face. This takes some practice especially when things are not working or service is slow. Losing your face is a drama in Asia. People will do anything to prevent it. In case you do not know what to do, you can save the situation by just starting to giggle. A smile goes a long way 😉

The Philippines is the politest country

In the Philippines however people are not just friendly. They are SUPER polite. They answer every question with “yes or no mam”! They are very interested to know more about you and they seem like very genuine people. Everybody is eager to help! We met a nice lady on the ferry to Bantayan Island. She wanted to make sure we would not pay to much for a tricycle, so she walked all the way to the terminal bargaining with drivers to make sure we would get a good price. Before that she had already tried to call our hotel to ask them to pick us up (which for some reason did not work)… She was a complete stranger that we only had a short chat with on the boat.

We also met Mae and her great family while we went on a boat trip to the islands around Bohol. This Filipino lady took tons of photos of me and my sister while snorkeling, because we did not have a GoPRo. We had exchanged Facebook accounts, so she could send us the pictures, but for some reason the request did not go through. So Mae went all the way back to the place were we had both booked the excursion on the evening after the trip to ask for my phone number to text me about sending the pictures! We got the pictures on the same evening! People go a long way here to make you smile!

The beaches

The Philippines has some amazing beaches. Turquoise blue water. Giant Sea Turtles, Whale sharks, sea stars as big as a pizza and much more. The sand, the water and the coconut trees make you feel like you are on bounty island. Since locals stare at you, want your pic and call you “mam”, you feel like a true hollywood star while visiting the Philippines. Not to mention that the super strong sun gives you an amazing tan, that makes you look like one too 😉

So if you want to relax and pump your ego – visit this amazing country! …And read my post about Cuba!