Two sides of a coin

I’m not a big fan of air travel. One of the things I don’t particularly enjoy is having to sit with people I don’t know from Adam. Sometimes you get really unlucky — and you find yourself stuck with a totally obnoxious person. I was once seated beside a guy who decided that the plane was his own personal living room. He removed his shoes and put his feet up on the armrests of the seat in front of him. I consider myself a fairly tolerant guy. But at that point, I just wanted to pull the emergency exit door lever and just push out the inconsiderate bastard. Or, worse, you get assigned to a seat next to a guy with excruciatingly nauseous body odor. That one is a killer. That is pure hell. In those situations, you almost want the plane to do a vertical nosedive so that the oxygen masks drop out of the ceiling. Sometimes, there’s nothing particularly wrong with the person beside you except that he’s very talkative and engages you in endless chatter — when all you want to do is put on the headphones and watch the in-flight movie or snooze. These airline seatmate situations are even more painful if you have to go to the US or Europe — and you have to endure the suffering for 12 hours. Of course, sometimes, you could get lucky. My brother sat beside a young, pretty Austrian lady once — and they eventually hit it off and dated for a while. Now, that’s what I call “a good flight.” But let’s face it, those things rarely happen. It certainly hasn’t happened to me. I get stuck with the 250-pounders who insist on sitting in the aisle while I’m stuck in the window seat. It’s a very compromising situation — especially when you need to go the bathroom.

Another irritating in-flight situation is when you’re seated with two people who are engaged in loud conversation. Sometimes you just want some peace and quiet but you can’t help it — because of your proximity you have no choice but to be a fly on the wall, hearing every word that your seatmates say. 

Recently, however, I had a very good “fly on the wall” experience during a trip from Singapore to Manila. I was in the aisle seat, beside me was a white gentleman, and beside him, by the window, was an Indian-looking man. They engaged themselves in conversation while I amused myself with the in-flight show, Just for Laughs (which is a hilarious show, by the way). Anyway, because of my proximity to these two gentlemen, I couldn’t help but hear what they were talking about. At first, I wasn’t sure if I was hearing correctly. I could hear their words clearly — but what I heard didn’t quite reconcile with what my brain was telling me. It was like seeing a cow move his mouth, but instead of “moo” you hear “oink, oink” instead. Because, frankly, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. These two gentlemen were totally gushing about the Philippines. 

The Caucasian gentleman was particularly passionate about his feelings. He told his seatmate, “Oh, I absolutely love the Philippines. I’ve been all over the world and I tell you, the Philippines is the best. Absolutely the best. I’ve been living there now for two and a half years and I absolutely love it. If you go to Rockwell, Greenbelt, or the Fort, it’s like Singapore. In fact, it’s even better, because you can get a good beer for 1.5 Singapore dollars in any of the top bars there. A bottle of beer in Singapore can cost you up to 10 Singapore dollars. It’s crazy. The best areas — Fort, Rockwell, and Greenbelt — are clean and the people are disciplined. If you throw a piece of trash in the Fort or Rockwell, you’ll almost feel guilty. It’s spotless. And they’re booming, too. If you leave the country for a month, when you come back, you can see the difference in the development. You’d stop and say, ‘Hey, that’s a new building. Where did that come from?’ Plus, the people are great. I have 20 Filipinos working for me, and they’re the best. Great attitude. They hardly complain. They just work, and they know how to take life in stride. I have a guy who takes public transportation. He lines up for a bus, and the line is a mile long. Sometimes I just want to cry, seeing these people go through that inconvenience. And yet, that worker of mine is happy — always cheerful. And when you take them out, say, for a happy-hour session, they always know how to have fun. Filipinos love to sing, and they can sing their troubles away. They’re just an amazing bunch of people. And have I mentioned the beaches? Boy, that’s another thing altogether. The Philippines has the best beaches in the world. And Baguio — wow, what a great place…”  

I tell you, the guy just went on and on and on. I pinched myself and said, “Am I dreaming? Did I just suddenly get transported into a Department of Tourism TV commercial here? What is this? Am I being set up? Am I in Just for Laughs and the cameras are rolling to see what my reaction is to this endless heap of compliments about the motherland?” I was totally overwhelmed by this unexpected toast. After a while, I couldn’t help myself and I cut in on the conversation — “Excuse me for interrupting, hope you don’t mind. But I just wanted to shake your hand and say thank you. Thank you for having such positive thoughts about the Philippines — and for making me see my country in a whole new light.” 

I later learned that the Caucasian gentleman’s name was Mark Bayliss, and he is president of one of the top international commercial insurance companies, QBE, while the other gentleman was Shiri Prakash Rai, the regional manager of Air Mauritius (and the consul of Mauritius in Singapore).   I told them that hearing their conversation gave me goose bumps — positive goose bumps. I said, “You know, I’ve always believed in our country. Unfortunately, the Philippines has had its unfair share of bad publicity. Whenever I talk to people from other countries, they often ask me, ‘Hey, what’s wrong with the Philippines?’ When I talk to fellow Filipinos who are in Singapore, the highlight of the conversation is often about the negative things, and how lucky we are to be away from it all. Personally, I always try to be a good ambassador for the Philippines, and I often try to emphasize the good things about the country, especially in my column. But it’s sometimes difficult to go against the grain when all you get in the news is the negative stuff. Sometimes, on occasion, I’d get into a conversation with a foreigner, and he would gush about the Philippines. But then you kind of wonder if he’s being honest or if he is just being nice and diplomatic. With you guys, however, you are two foreigners talking about the Philippines. You didn’t need to be diplomatic. You didn’t need to say anything positive. And yet you did. It was an unsolicited vote of confidence. And I consider myself lucky to have been able to eavesdrop on your conversation.” 

We continued our discussion after that and we exchanged cards. Mark and I met up for drinks a few days after that flight, and again, he continued to praise the country and its people. He was gushing about everything — from his landlord, Phinma chairman Oscar Hilado (whom I had the privilege to meet a few years ago), and how lucky he is to have such a very friendly and very accommodating landlord (even if he’s such an important man), to the fact that he has not had any personal experience where he had to participate in any form of corruption (unlike in other Asian countries where corruption was an everyday thing), to the fact that he enjoys jogging along Jupiter Street in Makati (that boggles the mind, but I’m glad he appreciates it).

My conversation with Mark has made me realize that there are always two sides to a coin. The Philippines may have its problems. But you can’t just focus on that side. You also have to look at the positives, and believe me, there are many, many positives. We Filipinos sometimes don’t see it. But foreigners certainly do. And if they can see it, there’s no reason we shouldn’t see it. There is a lot going for our country, and as long as we continue believing that, our country is not hopeless. In fact, for as long as we believe it, I have no doubt in my mind that we will come out of this time of recession a stronger and better nation.

After this experience, I’ve also come to realize that there are two sides to air travel. It can sometimes be inconvenient and a hassle. But if I keep my eyes and ears open, it can be an enriching experience.

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Thanks for your letters, folks! You may e-mail me me at rodhnepo@yahoo.com.