5 things I miss the most in Philippines
I just came back from Manila yesterday to attend my cousin Claire's wedding - one of the best weddings I have attended so far. It was a whirlwind trip, and perhaps it is partly because it was so bitin that I got reminded of the many lovely things I miss from Philippines. The top 5 things are:
1. Excellent customer service, I think its people is the biggest advantage of the Philippines: their warm nature and great intuition, are the perfect ingredients for great customer service. My most recent experience of great customer service was at David's salon at Podium where I had to rush to have my hair and make-up done for the wedding. Pressed for time, I explained my predicament to the stylist who immediately came up with a solution, I.e., to ask another stylist to do my hair while she does the make up. Hence, we saved at least 30 minutes with this simultaneous, instead of sequential, approach.
I was also impressed by Discovery Suites' manner of attending to my requests. I talked about this earlier, where my daughter inadvertently wrote on the Duvet cover and got it stained. I appealed and begged for reconsideration, and reasonably enough, the concierge looked at my request and when it was feasible they waived off the charge supposedly for the damage. Not only that, they also promised to get back to me quickly on this, and they delivered on this promise too.
2. The great singers. Filipinos are known for their wonderful voices (I am one of the few exceptions sad to say - I blame that on my mixed origin) and this is evident the moment one tunes in to radio programs and listens to the talent searches. We have a slew of wonderful global artists with amazing voices like Lea Salonga, and more recently Charice. There are also those who have grown overseas or with Filipino origins who excel in the global stage like Bruno Mars they say, Nicole of Pussycat Dolls (easier that than spell her family name which I never get right), and Apple of The Black Eyed Peas. On this trip, I also heard Maria Aragon, the child wonder from Canada, belt out a song during one of her radio interviews - she is totally awesome.
3. The very active literary scene, we have great writers who have been breaking out into the global market recently including Miguel Syjuco who won the man literary Asian prize for his novel "Ilustrado". Whenever I have the time, I would go to the filipiniana section of our leading bookstores to get my stash of Philippine literature including non-fiction writing from our UP Press favorites (guess who they are:-)
4. The diverse natural beauty - the green mountains, the white sands, the azure beaches, the brown mud caves and the colorful fields along provincial highways. Oh how I wish I can go to Boracay again, or Baguio or Bacolod. And hopefully get to Batanes soon - one of my dream destinations. And those are just the cities which start with letter B, for starters. And of course, there is this small village where I grew up which starts with letter B (yes, for Banico!) and our farm in Buenavista, and for me they are still the best places on earth.
5. The food! I miss lechon, adobo, ensaymada (Starbucks is my hands-down favorite), longganisa, pinakbet, spicy tuyo - all pretty sinful. All the great food that we have, specially abundant during special occasions like my cousin's wedding. And maybe the wonderful food is one of the reasons I consider it one of the best weddings I have attended:-) That's second only to being with family and relatives of course :-0
1. Excellent customer service, I think its people is the biggest advantage of the Philippines: their warm nature and great intuition, are the perfect ingredients for great customer service. My most recent experience of great customer service was at David's salon at Podium where I had to rush to have my hair and make-up done for the wedding. Pressed for time, I explained my predicament to the stylist who immediately came up with a solution, I.e., to ask another stylist to do my hair while she does the make up. Hence, we saved at least 30 minutes with this simultaneous, instead of sequential, approach.
I was also impressed by Discovery Suites' manner of attending to my requests. I talked about this earlier, where my daughter inadvertently wrote on the Duvet cover and got it stained. I appealed and begged for reconsideration, and reasonably enough, the concierge looked at my request and when it was feasible they waived off the charge supposedly for the damage. Not only that, they also promised to get back to me quickly on this, and they delivered on this promise too.
2. The great singers. Filipinos are known for their wonderful voices (I am one of the few exceptions sad to say - I blame that on my mixed origin) and this is evident the moment one tunes in to radio programs and listens to the talent searches. We have a slew of wonderful global artists with amazing voices like Lea Salonga, and more recently Charice. There are also those who have grown overseas or with Filipino origins who excel in the global stage like Bruno Mars they say, Nicole of Pussycat Dolls (easier that than spell her family name which I never get right), and Apple of The Black Eyed Peas. On this trip, I also heard Maria Aragon, the child wonder from Canada, belt out a song during one of her radio interviews - she is totally awesome.
3. The very active literary scene, we have great writers who have been breaking out into the global market recently including Miguel Syjuco who won the man literary Asian prize for his novel "Ilustrado". Whenever I have the time, I would go to the filipiniana section of our leading bookstores to get my stash of Philippine literature including non-fiction writing from our UP Press favorites (guess who they are:-)
4. The diverse natural beauty - the green mountains, the white sands, the azure beaches, the brown mud caves and the colorful fields along provincial highways. Oh how I wish I can go to Boracay again, or Baguio or Bacolod. And hopefully get to Batanes soon - one of my dream destinations. And those are just the cities which start with letter B, for starters. And of course, there is this small village where I grew up which starts with letter B (yes, for Banico!) and our farm in Buenavista, and for me they are still the best places on earth.
5. The food! I miss lechon, adobo, ensaymada (Starbucks is my hands-down favorite), longganisa, pinakbet, spicy tuyo - all pretty sinful. All the great food that we have, specially abundant during special occasions like my cousin's wedding. And maybe the wonderful food is one of the reasons I consider it one of the best weddings I have attended:-) That's second only to being with family and relatives of course :-0
