nearly everyone in the philippines has a decent command of the english language which allows an unprecedented amount of cultural revelations for an engaged traveler. ironically, that's mainly how i've figured out that women don't really want me around... but that's a completely different issue. this is the country i've interacted in the greatest depth with its local people and about which i've discovered the most cultural information.

with that said, i condemn nearly all filipino males of breeding age to a slow and horrible death. i've never seen such blatent misogyny since i went to that melissa ethridge concert at the houston astrodome. wait, what's the opposite of misogyny. well that's what i meant with the concert reference. anyway, every city i've been, i've necessarily met a battered/cheated on/neglected/abused woman who have given up on men altogether. this male dominated, virginity is revered, spinster-fearing culture leaves women prone to the reckless whims of filipino men. guys like tim are far and few between... although we won't hold the bad teenage mustache against him.

at every internet cafe, the following scene (photo) repeats itself. half the room is full of desperate women searching for a meal ticket foreign man through the advent of Yahoo chat techonology.

but to their credit, it appears things are changing slowly, at least in the larger cities. however, in some places, things are so bad that were i a filipina woman, i'd actively choose the comfort of a lesbian lifestyle.

not that there's anything wrong with that or anything

to sum up: the vast majority of filipino men are scum, women are in a terrible position in the philippines due to a simple accident of birth, and your trusty correspondent couldn't get laid if he crawled up a chicken's ass. it's all terribly frustrating. really.