After an unusually long time in Singapore (several weeks without travel!) I headed to Manila for a week for a business trip. The great thing about my job is that it involves a lot of consumer research, which means I don't spend too much time in hotel conference rooms!

Manila is actually a really interesting city. The Western-business area is known as "Makati" and is pretty much were all tourists stay. It's very safe, upscale (think Chanel, Coach, LV stores) and there are literally armed guards everywhere you look. After spending a couple days interviewing small business owners in Makati, we headed to the "grittier" part of Manila ... including Chinatown. Chinatown (and the area surrounding) was more what I expected the Philippines to be like. Teeming masses of people, extremely cheap merchandise, fake designer goods, etc.

There's a really interesting divide in Filipino society between English-speakers and non-English speakers. I was working with both, and one of the girls was telling me that Filipino's that speak English fluently look down on those that don't, and treat them differently. Speaking English is considered a societial mark I guess, which is fascinating.

I spent the week wandering around Manila interviewing small business owners. Interestingly, there is a very high percentage of business owners that are Chinese. When I enquired about it, I was told that Filipinos are typically very relaxed, and have a laissez-faire attitude ... they work to live, not live to work. The Chinese however, are known for their work ethic, and work extremely hard to grow their businesses (often living on top of their stores). The result is that many Filipino businesses are owned by Chinese. The more upscale businesses are owned by more naturalized Chinese - they speak English, send their children to private schools, etc.

The low-end Filipino businesses are also owned by Chinese, but typically Chinse from mainland China. Their goods are often brought over illegally from mainland China and they are generally illegal immigrants who don't speak English or Tagalog. Generally they partner with a local Filipino, who can take care of the store while the owner is in China looking for new goods.

After spending the week absorbing as much as I could about Filipinos, our agency treated us to a local dinner the last night. Unfortunately, part of that dinner included a local delicacy ... the balut. If you've never heard of a balut, google it. Somehow I managed to eat it (yes, the entire thing ... it tastes just like egg yolk) but it's not an experience I am looking to repeat anytime soon!!!