Salamat!

Now that we have already left the many gorgeous islands of Philippines, I would just like to say a few words about the wonderful people living there.
Filipinos, or Pinoys as they call themselves, are Asias smallest and shortest nation but also one of, if not the friendliest.

Always smiling, curious, helpful- there is little not to like about the Pinoys. Random passers by were always helping to lift our baggage to taxis, whenever we stopped on the street lost for two seconds there were helpful people around us straight away to tell us where to go and what to do.

Filipinos also have an almost psychic way about them. For the first weeks we thought that either they are psychic or we have perfected our latent witchhood talents. We never had to ask out loud what we wanted. Suddenly the Pinoys were already fulfilling all our wishes and answering all our unasked questions. Later we noticed that they use a lot of facial signalling in order to communicate (their trade-mark being a lift of the eyebrows, the exact meaning of this eludes us to this day). So yes- the Pinoys might be a bit psychic and we might still have the Estonian witch genes in us, but the main reason is probably that they are simply extremely observant. Aware of the other person, their body language, tone of voice, facial expression, to such an extreme, that in their case its almost an art-form. We found this amazing!

Pinoys are also passionate lovers of music and singing. To our amazement almost every single one of them was a good singer, starting from a cleaner in the toilet, to a tricycle driver or guide and ending with a tipsy boy in the bar singing karaoke. Even if they spoke with a soft voice and a rough English accent, when they opened their mouths to sing, their voices rang strong and beautiful, with no accent at all.

All in all, it is impossible not to fall in love with this tiny nation, and this we did with our whole hearts. The Pinoy charm, clever little twinkle in their street-smart eyes, and constant aware, hospitable and friendly behaviour, will always leave them dear to us. We will return to the Philippines.

But till then- Salamat! Thank you!