Visiting El Nido, Philippines !!
夏休みには旅行に行きたいですよね(唐突)
Life Where I'm From のGreg(実は私、本人にお会いしたことあります)が、フィリピンのエルニドを訪れます。
地元価格と旅行者価格がこんなに違うんですね。
英語が喋れないと言い値で買わされるカモにされるだけ。
やっぱり英語ができると旅行が何倍も楽しめます。
それでは今日もYouTube英語学習を楽しんでいきましょう！
今回覚えておきたい単語は、
paperwork
vibe (昨日もBrave Wildernessの動画で出てきましたね、こうやって偶然同じ単語に出会って覚えていくものです)
splurge
pedicab (pedが足、cabはタクシーなので、人力タクシー)
grossly (gross incomeのgrossと、気持ち悪い・著しいのgrossは同じ単語です)
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hello world the reason I came to the
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Philippines was to see what everyday
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life was like I had eleven days to do
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this and after all my scheduling was
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done I found myself with a few days
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extra at the end of the trip what to do
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with that free time why not some of the
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things that people travel from all over
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the world to experience in the
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Philippines my basic criteria was
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someplace that was easy to get to from
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Manila and wouldn't take too much travel
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time I only had three days so
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unfortunately no long journeys for me I
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ended up picking al Nieto because even
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though I didn't want to go to well-known
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- or spots in comparison to Metro Manila
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it felt a lot more chill and with the
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boat tours I'd be able to get out and
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enjoy the water the normal backpacker
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journey would probably take a flight to
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puerto princesa and then spend anywhere
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from five to nine hours on the van or
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bus trip up there I didn't have that
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kind of time so I booked a direct flight
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with air swift the tickets costing
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thirteen thousand five hundred and
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eighteen PHP was a bit more than what a
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minimum-wage worker would make in Metro
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Manila in a month in USD this is like
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two hundred and fifty dollars so nothing
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extravagant I got lucky with my flight
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because this is what happened to the
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flight scheduled right before me
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[Music]
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well I didn't record any good audio but
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basically the flight got cancelled and
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people were none too happy while my
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flight was delayed for about an hour or
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so at least I got to board the plane the
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one nice thing about going to a smaller
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place like El Nido
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was that I felt safe to walk around
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freely without a guide with all my
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camera gear on my first day I rented a
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scooter for five hundred pesos no
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paperwork needed and cruised around when
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I got the nut bun beach I threw my drone
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up in the air and captured some of the
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lovely scenery before some clouds rolled
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in many Filipinos asked me if I was
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bringing my family and sadly no I didn't
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because I was planning on interviewing
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people around Manila most of the time
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but if I could have taken them to this
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area I know the kids would have loved
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the beach over here it's a gorgeous
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place even though I hadn't heard a lot
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about this Beach it wasn't really
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crowded at all well there are some
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commercial establishments here you can
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tell it still hasn't been overly
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developed yet the other side of the
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beach seemed like a working village and
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if I flew my drone in just a little bit
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you can see that these aren't resort
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properties but where everyday people
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live so the main strip of El Nido is
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where in fact I have wooded stink I
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chose to stay at a pattern breakfast
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place about ten minutes away from the
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center the noise over here was mainly
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nature which I was totally fine with the
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local government has recently made moves
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to rehabilitate the beachfront which
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includes an enforced three meter
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beachfront easement essentially anything
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within three meters of the beach needed
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to be removed while good in theory the
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implementation went ahead without plans
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for things like roads so the road to the
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area where I was staying
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was removed and people had to drive
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along the beach so technically they
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rehabilitated it but you know I don't
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think vehicles driving along the beach
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was what they had in mind
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I do believe they'll fix us eventually
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and maybe they have already now I didn't
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know this at the time but the seemingly
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picturesque beachfront full of tour
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boats was at one point polluted with too
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much raw sewage
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hi people counts meant swimming was not
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allowed the government has been putting
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measures into place to manage this which
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is great to hear I read that they are
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actually considering doing more to turn
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this into an even nicer beachfront
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the center of town is the most touristy
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place I stopped by here to eat some
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meals but otherwise avoided it if you're
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a partier I suppose you'd have a good
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time for me I preferred it one and a
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half kilometers down the road at chrome
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chrome Beach this was way more developed
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than napkin Beach but not so busy with
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boats like El Nido that you couldn't use
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the beach for beach things like laying
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around or swimming it could have been
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the time of year I went but honestly
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wasn't that busy there are open spaces
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at restaurants and cafes and even some
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speedy Wi-Fi that I could tap into to
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finally talk to my family the best part
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was the sunset which was more gorgeous
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than what I can show you on camera while
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I've read that El Nido was no longer the
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backpackers paradise it used to be to me
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it was not so overly developed that I
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felt there were too many people although
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I saw some developments leading up to
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the beach so it's changing the real-time
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that I could say yeah it would be nice
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to be more secluded in El Nido was the
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boat tours the regular group boat tours
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brought you to what makes El Nido famous
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the island hopping the scenery was
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stunning but I can totally understand
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how people who are able to experience
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this in a small group would have a
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different vibe than having over 100
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people in the same area I'm told that
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you can go on private tours that can
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take you at different times so that you
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can get to places when they're less
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crowded if you have the money
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I'd recommend doing that
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in truth all the senior was so gorgeous
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that I don't think it would have
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mattered where they took me so I would
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have preferred going to less popular
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spots with my last day I splurged and
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went scuba diving for the first time I'm
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so glad I did this boat was not only
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nice and had a toilet but it went to
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spots that were less busy I was an
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absolute beginner to diving and they
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literally threw me into the deep end I
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was quite surprised since I was
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expecting I would have to take some
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swinging pool training or do something
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on a shallow beach a nope I was dropped
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down into the ocean admittedly
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it wasn't too far from shore or the boat
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and I think it was only 5 meters down or
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so at the start before being dropped in
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my only training was what my instructor
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shouted at me as we were cruising along
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at full speed on the way to the diving
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spot when I asked him to repeat his
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instructions he was a bit Stern but
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confident saying to pay attention when
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you're underwater and don't worry he'll
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show me what to do he wasn't wrong when
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he dropped me down we had to do all our
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communication visually I screwed up a
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bunch of times but eventually I got it
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well I think my wife would have freaked
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out in this kind of situation I would
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totally do it again this way what was
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also good was that since I was a total
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newbie all my scuba diving who was
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one-on-one with my experienced guide I
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felt quite safe
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I would like to return again to el nido
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but next time with my family
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the B&B; iced tea that was so hospitable
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as was the scuba diving crew if I can
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afford it and maybe try some of the more
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exclusive tours like multi-day island
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hopping and capping are the ones where
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you get a more secluded beach front with
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a limited number of guests before I go I
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thought it would be fun to talk about
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the difference between being a tourist
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and a local the fact is that unless you
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know what locals pay and negotiate you
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can pay a lot more money like a ride
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that would cost a local ten pesos can be
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100 for the tourist and if you're
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getting off a flight from the nice
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Airport there's no way to avoid jacked
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up fees for transportation on the trikes
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if I didn't have all my gear I totally
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would have walked the five kilometers
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are three miles in Metro Manila I
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encountered this foreigner pricing as
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well for example one day I was going to
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meet a local to do a pedicab tour around
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Intramuros a historical city area
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unfortunately my friend couldn't make it
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so when a driver approached me with the
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official pricing which is 350 P per
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half-hour I was a bit confused because I
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told him that my local friend said it
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would be 150 PT and what you know he
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flipped it around and it was 150 P just
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for me the local pricing I also he rode
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like a local now looking back at the
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footage and wait a sec while I hacked
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this and enhance the image there we go
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there's a notice that our pricing right
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on the front of the pedicab 200 for
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foreigners 150 for locals and as low as
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50 for a student while I rode for the
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local pricing I encountered another
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issue the trip seemed like it would
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never end after two hours when it was
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finally over I was charged for two and a
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half hours yeah somehow an extra half
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hour miraculously appeared but of course
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hearing a story about his family I gave
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him a thousand pesos note and told him
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no change necessary this is much better
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than when I tried to catch a trike for a
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30-minute ride from the UN station to
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PNR pass a station in Metro Manila the
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trike guys wanted to charge me two
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thousand pesos which I flatly rejected
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after 30 minutes of waiting I was
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finally able to catch a grab which is
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like uber and it cost me 238
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whistles so the price went from about
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$40 us to $5 us back in El Nido part of
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my camera equipment broke and I needed
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to get an allen key after searching
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around with many shops I finally found
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one that sold it and she brought this
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out and I said I only need this one
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actually but she said sorry you have to
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buy the whole thing it's 130 pesos so I
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said fine
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so she went to the back go off the set
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and when she came back she said it's 180
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pesos and I thought hmm that's a little
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bit weird how did the price jump 40
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percent in 40 seconds so I just slid 130
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pesos onto the counter and took the set
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of keys she obviously took the money
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what I know is happening is that they
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see a foreigner and they know will pay
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much more than locals I totally get why
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they do it now the thing is I think
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tourist pricing and local pricing is a
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fair practice locals simply don't have
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the wealth that tourists have and it's a
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shame to price locals out of their own
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communities and services my only wish
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though would be that there was a more
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transparent and structured way of doing
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this it's just not a great feeling when
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people are constantly trying to maximize
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the amount of money they can extract
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from you so I thought hmmm what is
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something that other countries do to
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make that tourism experience great for
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both the locals and the tourists one
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thing that I found out was a tourism tax
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Japan actually kind of has this where
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anyone over two years old exiting the
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country regardless of nationality has to
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pay one thousand yen which is like ten
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u.s. dollars Edinboro has voted to enact
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a different form of this where you pay
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an extra tourist fee per night you stay
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in the city
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in fact El Nido does have something
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similar it's called the ETD F or
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ecotourism development fee this is
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tacked on to island hopping tours and
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costs 200 pesos the funds are earmarked
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for protecting the environment improving
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tourism and a mix of some other things
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all in all I would gladly pay more money
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to standardize some services and ensure
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fairness whether it's consistent pricing
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for transportation maintaining
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infrastructure protecting the
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environment and of course making sure
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that locals are equally benefiting from
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that sweet sweet tourism cash but now
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that I think about it I don't know how a
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tourist and tax would result in any type
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of standardized pricing so I think I
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should just throw that idea out the
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window but what I do know is that I
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would have had a lot more fun in the
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Philippines if I wasn't constantly
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trying to think about hey is this person
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trying to grossly overcharge me because
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on the one hand I feel like a bit of an
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idiot and a bit violated if I'm being
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charged a price that I don't think is
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fair but on the other hand I feel like
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an a-hole if I'm trying to not pay a
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price that I can actually afford to so
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this is the end of my series on the
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Philippines a hard thing for me to
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reconcile was the incredible income
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inequality that I saw I was so much more
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wealthy than the average Filipino it
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honestly felt hard to relax when I knew
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I was enjoying a lifestyle that so many
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locals couldn't in making this video
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series going to the Philippines and not
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talking about the parts that aren't as
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glamorous I just felt like I was doing a
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disservice I'd be pretending everything
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was great when in fact I experienced
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many things that I struggled to
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understand my feeling is that if you
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really want to tell the story of a
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people of a country you need to go and
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experience what they do on the day to
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day in my time there I barely scratched
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the surface however perhaps everyone
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would be happier if next time I skipped
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the more complicated stories and simply
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went to the nicest spots and enjoyed my
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time again special thanks to all the
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kind people that showed me around
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I wrote a simple message asking for help
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while in the Philippines and I got that
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in spades
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[Music]
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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[Music]
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thanks for watching see you next time
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bye what would you do if you visited the
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Philippines
