My two good Cambodian friends had the habit of showing up at my hotel to take me somewhere on their motorbikes. I tried to get them to say where we would go and for how long. That way I would know how to dress and things. But, the converstation never turned out good due to the language barrier. Eventually, they both started responding by saying "to see around". I suspect they discussed it between themselves how to answer me and came up with those words, because they both started saying it at the same time. "To see around" turned out to mean anything from sightseeing around town, in the countryside, visiting Pagados, or eating with their families, or maybe playing frisbee. So, my new catch-phrase is "to see around". It covers everything.

 The Philippines is made up of 7,107 islands . I wonder who has seen them all? I won't I am sure.

The Spanish colonized the Philippines when Ferdinand Magellan arrived in 1521. The Philippines became part of Spain for more than 300 years. This resulted in the predominant religion in the country being Roman Catholic!

The Philippines boasts of being the only Christian nation in Asia. 86% are Catholic, 6% belong to Christian cults and 2% to over 100 Protestant denominations. There is also a small minority (4%) Muslim population.

The United States acquired the Philippines from Spain after the Spanish-American War. The Philippines wanted independence, though, and declared war on the U.S. in 1899 that lasted until 1902. Separate groups continued to fight the Americans until 1913, when they were finally defeated by the Americans.

The Japanese then occupied the Philippines during WWII . Following WWII, the U.S. granted complete independence to the Philippines in 1946.

The war and occupation by the U.S. changed the landscape of the Philippine Islands, though. The Roman Catholic Church was disestablished in the Philippines as a 'state church', which was established by the Spanish.

Also, the result of the U.S. occupation saw the English language become the primary language in the islands among the government and businesses, and decades later by families and individuals.

I got a flight from Bangkok to the capital of the Philippines, Manila, Philippines. But, Manila is a big city and I don't want to start my trip to the Philippines there. I booked a flight to Manila, then a separate flight the same day from Manila to the island of Palawan. 

Everything I read said connections were hard to make to other places because it would take 3-3 1/2 hours to clear immigration and customs in Manila . So, I booked one flight to arrive in Manila at 6:20 P.M. I booked another flight out of Manila for the next morning at 4:30 a.m. 

I will need to clear immigration in Manila, catch a shuttle to another terminal, go through security and get my boarding pass to fly to Palawan Island.

The plane arrived in Manila 40 minutes ahead of schedule. Clearing immigration and customs took only 15 minutes. This is good and bad. The horrendous long lines I was told about didn't happen, and I breezed through the airport in Manila. That was good. The bad part is, now I have a very long wait at the next terminal before my onward flight.

At 5:45 a.m. I landed in Puerto Princesa, Palawan. Palawan is an island in the Philippines. It is also a state. Puerto Princesa is the capitol. 

After landing at the small airport I walked for 30 minutes to reach my hostel . After a few hours nap, I am up and ready to "see around".

As I 'see around' Puerto Princesa a few things stand out.

It's Clean Here!
The streets here in Puerto Princesa are "CLEAN". I mean they are spotless. This is the cleanest city I have been to, even cleaner than Singapore. There is a strict anti-littering law, and, the city, unlike almost everywhere else in Asia, is clean. No garbage and piles of litter to wade through here. I do not know if the rest of the Philippines will be like this or not, but I am very impressed!

Churches!
I think of the phrase, "Cleanliness is next to Godliness", because besides being clean Puerto Princesa seems to be very religious. Many of the other countries I have visited are Muslim, Buddhist, or Hindu, the Philippines is Christian. There are churches everywhere. And not only that, but signs with religious quotes are all around town in all types of places, on sidewalks, sides of buildings, tikes and busses, you see them just everywhere!
 
As I 'see around' today, I am walking . I find a beauty of a Catholic Church. The blue and white church building stands on the land where the 1st mass was held in 1872. It was that year that the Spaniards proclaimed the Immaculate Conception Mary as the patroness of Puerto Princesa. 
 
Bathrooms!
Another thing different here. In most of Asia, bathrooms are marked WC standing for Water Closet. Here in the Philippines they are called CF for Comfort Rooms.

Transportation!
Some of the Jeepneys have religious names. It seems most of the local transportation has a name painted on the front of it. A Jeepney is a converted former US Army jeep made into a type of bus. They have been painted in bright colors and tricked out in various ways. You simply jump on the back and pass your money along the line of other passengers to the driver up front.

The other popular form of public transportation are the trikes. They are motocycles with sidecars attached. About 3 or 4 people, besides the driver, can ride . They fill the streets and the locals use them to move about. They are cheap and many of them also have religious names.

Jobs!
There are job signs posted at a lot of businesses here. But, they specify just what type of employee they are looking for. The qualifications include gender, age, single or married, even height and weight sometimes! 

Basketball Rules! If you like the game of basketball this is the place for you. Nets can be found everywhere you look. Maybe there is a law to be a Philippines citizen, you have to play basketball? I see them in yards, public lots, churches even saw goals set up in the middle of a street. The vehicles just maneuvered around them!

War Memorial
My 'see around' also took me to the Plaza Cuartel. It is a park on the banks of the ocean in memory of the U.S. soldiers that died here fighting the Japanese in WWII. A sign tells the story of how the Japanese herded the American War Prisioners into POW shelters, then threw gasoline inside and around the bunker and burnt the prisioners alive! Any that tried to escape the flames were machine gunned down, bayoneted, decapitated or clubbed to death .

Kids Like Photos
On the lighter side, as I saw around, little kids would come running up to say hello. When they noticed my camera they would want me to take a photo of them. One group of little boys were pushing and shoving to get a good spot in the photo. The problem was when I snapped the photo, one of them would start to move again to get a better spot. Either their face would be blurred or hid behind one of the other boys. It took several tries to get them to find a position and stand still long enough for me to get a good photo. When they see the photo on the camera they squeal with laughter and wave as they run away.

I was almost hit by a green mango on my see around. A young man was shaking a tree to get them to fall as I walked under. He said 'sorry' but I said "it's okay". He then asked if I would like one of the mangos to take with me.

It was a good first day in The Philippines as I "see around".