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| It's very blurry, but this car has a TV in the front seat in case the driver gets bored. |
Arriving into downtown Manila from the airport, I learned that my hostel was located in the red light district. “There are a lot of pretty girls here,” my taxi driver noted, pointing out of the window. “Americans love Filipinas. Especially black Americans.”
I tried my best non-committal noise, perfected from a year of invitations to karaoke in China. In the silence that followed my driver offered a story from his past. “One time an American asked for two Filipina girls. He used to be in the navy. Then he asked if they could meet in my car. You know what I mean? Sex. He offered me $300, so I took them out of the city and then left them alone.”
Relieved that I had put my luggage in the trunk instead of the backseat, I pointed behind me. “There?” I asked.
“No,” he said. “I used to have a different car.”
I’m curious to learn more about Filipino attitudes towards Americans. I know that sex tourism is not a problem unique to the Philippines, but I can’t think of any other country that benefited as much in terms of infrastructure and development from the American presence. For that matter, I’m not even sure the Philippines did benefit at all from the American presence. Is the general concept of an American that of a benevolent helper, an invasive conqueror, or a wealthy sex-maniac? Good questions!
And for those of you who are curious, I saw no prostitutes hanging around my hotel. I did go to bed around 8:30, though.
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| View from my hostel |
Oh dear, poor Philippines, now that wealthy sex maniac kevin has been unleashed.
ReplyDeleteThere you go, getting distracted - speaking of distracted I am wondering if you asked him if he had seen that Black Eyed Peas video, which kind of proves his point. Your mission is to ask him if he knows any moneylenders. Like : "If this guy I know wanted to hire a third Filipina where would he be able to get some cash real quick?"
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