At this very moment, it’s half past two. I have a book to my left, a beer to my right, and a pen in hand. I went to bed shortly after ten last night and woke up just before seven. I feel well rested, relaxed and calm. I cannot tell you the last time I felt this way. If I had to take a guess, I’d say it’s been four years-ish.
Soon, I’ll be back at my desk looking at schedules and sending off emails. In many ways, it’ll feel as though this trip never happened. It will be easy to fall into fast-forward again, where even seeing my friends is itemized on the To Do List. I’ll try and fight it, though… At least a little.
In a world that moves at lightening speed, where the success of your day is measured by productivity and efficiencies, it’s easy to feel winded, before your feet touch the floor. We want everything, and we want it now. Right now. We no longer breathe, we no longer pause. Instead, we favor the fast, over the slow and steady… even though it supposedly wins the race.
We’re so immersed in a culture of speed that we almost fail to notice the toll it takes on every aspect of our lives. Our health, our diet, our work, our relationships, our environment — they all suffer. All of them. At least for me, anyway. I feel like the motto for my generation has become something along the lines of “Faster, better, stronger, now. Now, now, NOW!” I recently read a quote that said “In today’s world, even instant gratification isn’t fast enough.” So sad, so funny, and oh so true.
My time here in the Philippine has given me the gift of slowing down. It has far exceeded any and all expectations. To be honest, before coming here, I had little to no knowledge of the country’s history, ethnic and cultural diversity, or economic standings. As naive as it sounds, I just wanted to go somewhere new in the region that offered warm weather and white sand.
From the beaches to the mountains, to the buses and the bike rides. Everything moves slower here and everyone has patience — it’s practically a necessity. From what I’ve witnessed, outside of the hustle and bustle that is Manila, life takes on a more simple form.
As a whole, the people here are the most warm and welcoming I have yet to encounter. Never did I feel pestered or pressured, which is a constant in neighboring countries. If I said “no thank you” it was met with a smile, and only a smile. And even though crime rates are high, I never felt unsafe or as if I was being taken advantage of. My only complaint is the traffic and often mediocre cuisine — I mean, let’s be real. Who actually wants to eat a hard boiled egg with a partially developed duckling inside? — but everything else more than makes up for it.
My advice to anyone considering a trip to SE Asia would be to skip Thailand and head this direction. It’ll be more of an adventure and less of a frat party; you won’t be disappointed.
Next stop: home.
