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Eye on the Philippines
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The Philippines: A Life Experience
I am a Filipino American and I visited the Philippines for the first time in 2006.
No one in my immediate family had ever visited the Philippines and my mother had not returned since she first moved to the US when she was 14. It was amazing to see where you are truly from. At times I was saddened by the poverty, but thankful that I am from a culture where patience and respect are prevalent.
My friends and I traveled north to the rice terraces in Bohol. We roamed the rice terraced hills and huts comprised of wood, whose tenants would cultivate the rice just outside their doors.
We traveled to Donsol where the locals took us to sea on their small boats. I will never forget that our boats' name was Kenneth. The captains would stand above us on a wooden plank, searching for what we were there to see. They would yell "Go, Go!" and we would all, without hesitation, jump into the ocean to swim alongside whale sharks.
We also visited the Chocolate Hills - hundreds and hundreds of large, grass mounds for miles. It was here I came across a young boy, no more than 5, whose only toy was a machete.
The Philippines is a beautiful country. Perhaps I am biased, yes, but if you visit, you will not regret it.
No one in my immediate family had ever visited the Philippines and my mother had not returned since she first moved to the US when she was 14. It was amazing to see where you are truly from. At times I was saddened by the poverty, but thankful that I am from a culture where patience and respect are prevalent.
My friends and I traveled north to the rice terraces in Bohol. We roamed the rice terraced hills and huts comprised of wood, whose tenants would cultivate the rice just outside their doors.
We traveled to Donsol where the locals took us to sea on their small boats. I will never forget that our boats' name was Kenneth. The captains would stand above us on a wooden plank, searching for what we were there to see. They would yell "Go, Go!" and we would all, without hesitation, jump into the ocean to swim alongside whale sharks.
We also visited the Chocolate Hills - hundreds and hundreds of large, grass mounds for miles. It was here I came across a young boy, no more than 5, whose only toy was a machete.
The Philippines is a beautiful country. Perhaps I am biased, yes, but if you visit, you will not regret it.
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