Another Wednesday group stroll. After Monday’s ball-busting Hash, we gave ourselves a bit of a break with a comparatively easy 6K walkabout.
A good morning on trail and a good evening in store. I started the drinking portion of my life at Sloppy Joe’s and enjoyed some camaraderie at Chris’ table. We were telling stories from our past and having some good laughs. It’s strange the things I can remember from way back when, but I am so forgetful in my day-to-day dealings. Oh well, I’m grateful for the life I’ve had and hope to continue enjoying the one I have for as long as I can.
Swan joined me after her family time, and wanted to go to Wet Spot. Aine had messaged her that she had some news to share. Turns out that Aine has a new Swedish boyfriend and he doesn’t want her working in the bar. That’s understandable. So, it wasn’t exactly a goodbye, her fella lives on Baloy and we invited her to bring him out to the floating bar on Tuesday. Looks like my lady drink tab will henceforth be lessened, but it was nice having someone for Swan to chat with during our Wet Spot visits.
We brought some food home from Sit-n-Bull and called it a night.
Over at ROKDrop, a Korean blog I still follow, there is a post about the littering problems during the cherry blossom festivals. When I lived there, I noticed more litter than I grew up around in the USA, but since moving to the Philippines, Korea seems almost immaculate. Here’s the comment I left:
I lived in Korea for twelve years, then retired and moved to the Philippines. The litter culture here makes Korea seem pristine by comparison. There is no such thing as public trash receptacles; people toss their garbage on the street with impunity. It’s a beautiful country otherwise, and I admire the Filipino people in many ways, but I just don’t understand the mentality of trashing the environment.
That’s one of my biggest pet peeves here, but the good far outweighs the bad.
The Quora Q&A thing:
Q: Many older male expats move to Southeast Asia because of the foreign exchange. Why don’t more older female expat Westerners do the same thing? Why aren’t older women attracted to cheap living in Philippines? Why does it appeal more to men?
A: I’m a man, so take my answer with a grain of salt, as I can’t really speak for women. The few Western women I’ve seen living in the Philippines were almost always part of a couple or had some other ties here. I often laugh about my hometown here being like a retirement community for old white guys. There are bars, restaurants, beaches, and other things to do, shopping nearby, and rents are comparatively low. What’s not to like?
I guess one obvious answer as to why a single woman wouldn’t move here is that they would likely stay single or have a harder time finding male companionship. Guys here don’t have to be lonely unless they choose to be.
It may also be that while making progress, the Philippines remains a developing nation. Infrastructure can be poor and there are also inconveniences to be dealt with on a daily basis. It could also be that a single woman might not always feel safe living here alone.
So, I guess my bottom line answer is that for women there may be better options.
A single white woman here does stand out, something very rarely seen.
And here are today’s attempts at humor:
The adventure continues tomorrow. Come on by!
Congrats to Aine on her new beau. May he lift her out of her current life and show her something better.
Nice walk pics, as always.
Korea definitely has a pollution problem. It’s sad and so easy to avoid. File this under “how to turn a conservative into an environmentalist.”
re: old-boy retirement community
I bet there’s a biological underpinning for such gender-split behavior.
Re: Littering Not sure how much time you have spent in Japan, but Japan is crazy clean. Walk around any big city and see almost zero trash. And this is even after most/all public trash cans were removed in 1995 following the sarin gas attack in the Tokyo subway, whrere trash bins were used to place the gas canisters. Just a culture thing I guess.
Re: older foreigner/younger local. I have heard that Bali is a place where there is a somewhat substantial older foreign female/young local male population.
About the litter thing. I’ve thought about this a bit and had plenty of discussions. It may be due to a combination of factors:
1. Many people have a country-living mindset not fully transitioned to life in communities with ready access to consumer goods. Mango pits and banana leaves tossed on the ground are naturally eliminated. Plastic wrappers and disposable diapers, not so much.
2. Incompetent government that in 2024 still can’t figure out the utility of public trash receptacles. It’s just mind boggling.
3. Grinding poverty makes many people far more focused on immediate personal and family needs than on the environment or esthetics. Better to blow up coral reefs with dynamite and scoop up lots of fish today than consider that there will be no more fish there tomorrow.
4. There’s a pronounced cultural predisposition to care only for immediate family and its property and fuck everyone else. Notice how some folks keep spotless households but think nothing of tossing trash in the street.
5. A legacy of having had colonial rulers, religious indoctrination, feudal government, and sugar plantation bosses is that the concept of personal responsibility is hard for many to grapple with, similar to the way it is in many an American housing project where most residents exist on debilitating welfare checks and too many aspire to little more unless it can be stolen or otherwise quickly and illegally obtained.
6. Petty snobbery of the well-to-do or newly middle class makes litter a problem for some barely paid janitor-type to worry about.
7. Extreme class stratification allows the truly rich to live in splendor and simply avoid the larger reality of filth and degradation.
8. Societal immaturity has left many folks with an adolescent mindset that prevents them from understanding the concept of shared existence and public spaces.
Yes, these are sweeping generalizations and stereotypes, but they’re not entirely unfounded.
A few brief observations: When the Americans ran the bases, thousands of Filipino workers were there every day but litter was very rare because standards were enforced. As soon as you crossed the Shit River bridge, it often seemed that someone threw a magic switch that let standards and expectations plummet, although Olongapo was still in some ways much cleaner and better-disciplined than plenty of other places. Amazingly, I’ve seen filthy barrio plazas and vacant patches scrubbed clean and decorated for religious celebrations, only to turn immediately back into absolute shit pits after they return to secular public spaces.
I could go on. It’s probably best for mental health to just accept that you can’t change this stuff except in your immediate circle and maybe by setting an example. But yes, in such a beautiful country the lack of respect for the environment and the low expectations can be simply heartbreaking.
Drain, you make some solid points about the contributing factors to a littering culture here. From my observations, people just don’t care. Poor kids throw a candy wrapper on the ground, and the parent says nothing. Middle-class folk in fancy cars roll down the window and toss out plastic cups as they drive. It’s insane.
Yes, I’ve seen what you describe where the yard of the poorest shanty is kept raked and clean, but the household trash is dumped into the vacant lot next door. Of course, out in the sticks there is no trash collection service, so I can kind of understand it, although I have seen people in that situation at least burn or bury the garbage.
I remember as a kid growing up in the USA there were lots of anti-littering commercials (like the crying Indian). It must have worked because, as an adult, I never even threw my cigarette butts on the ground. I just don’t see similar efforts here to change the litter culture.
Your observations about the old Navy base kind of prove that enforcement works, but I don’t expect that will ever be a government priority. Anyway, it is part of the Philippines experience, I suppose. I don’t like seeing it, but I don’t let it get to me like it used to.
Thanks again for sharing your insights.
Brian, I’ve visited Japan several times, and I don’t recall any litter either. You are right; it’s a cultural thing. I tease Swan sometimes by tossing an empty Coke can on the floor and saying, “Don’t worry, it’s the culture.” She just shakes her head and replies, “Not in your own house!” She’s still getting used to my off-the-wall sense of humor.
During my last visit to Phnom Penh, I noticed many tourist families and several backpacker-type ladies on their own. There were some single gals in Pattaya, too, especially on Beach Road at night. Oh, wait.
Time will tell if Aine has indeed embarked on a new path. She seems like a nice gal, but she has been in the bar business for many, many years. Those are hard habits to break.
People need to be shamed into putting their trash into proper containers. Of course, here in the PI, you never see trash cans. They do put up “no dumping” signs, but they are usually surrounded by mounds of garbage. I don’t expect to see a change in my lifetime.
I’m no biologist, but it seems that old men like hot young women and hot young women like rich old men. It’s funny how that works.
I remember the “crying Indian” commercial very well and it was incredibly effective, perhaps the best US public service announcement ever made. (He wasn’t even a real Indian, but that’s another story.)
As Philippine culture tends to be both star-struck and faddish, just imagine how effective a combined effort by local celebrities and government could be in stamping out littering by publicly proclaiming it ignorant, uncool, and something to be ashamed of. It really wouldn’t take much. Except, of course, competent leadership and commitment to national wellbeing beyond shallow pride.
I think Drain Snake’s first comment wins Comment of the Day.
DS, yeah, I think if it happens, an anti-littering culture will be a generational change. I see other things I find irksome, like gaping holes in sidewalks that are left unrepaired, which tells me the well-being of the people is not a government priority.