Of all the destinations, I've always found the denizens of AC and the Phils a non-stop source of the unusual and interesting.

1. On my last trip in July, we were dining at this good-sized Filipino restaurant near the Robinson mall when a group of about 10 teeny boppers sit next to us and order up a storm of food, must have been a huge bill. Nothing unusual about that, but unexpectedly, two of them (gal and guy) start arguing and making a huge fuss. As everyone stared at the fighting couple, the waiters and cashier escort the couple out, more heated arguments outside, the gal seems to lose it and runs down the street, with the guyfriend apparently running after her. As things settled down, I looked to the table where the teeny boppers were seated, and the remaining eight or so had all bailed during the commotion through a side door. It took awhile before anyone realized that all this was a ruse for a free night out on the town Filipino style.

2. Recently, a galfriend who works at a Burgos street bar says that the owner is so peeved about the bargirls using their cellphones that he's instituted a 500 peso penalty for any gal caught using it, and then an escalation of penalties including confiscation. So she, and all the other gals, being the resourceful Filipinas, start calling from the bathroom of the bar for a few weeks. Then mysteriously, a few ago, she's getting no signals or reception from the bathroom. She says the phone works fine outside, only thing I can conclude is that the owner must have caught on, and perhaps installed one of those cellphone jammers (which are illegal in the U.S. but not sure about the Phils). Now, instead of accepting her new fate, my galfriend is asking if I could get her some machine to unjam the thing. Seems, there's always a way to do an end run around authority in the Phils.

3. In Feb. on Macarther Hwy, about a 100 feet ahead of me, this old guy on a motorcyle is riding alongside the curb, when all of a sudden, some dude in a nice sedan (which is sitting in traffic) opens his passenger side door to get out. Smack! The old due on the motorcycle had no time to react and hits the opened door and hits the pavement. As I rush over to the old dude to see if he was alright, the rich dude in the sedan, who I assumed would be coming to the aid of the old dude, gets out and starts screaming at the top of lungs at the old dude. What was even weirder is, none of the bystanders did or said anything and one lady said to me, "don't bother". It was clearly the guy in the sedan's fault, but then again, I forget that the Filipinos came up with the old saying "He who has the gold make the rules".