I have a friend (i'm not gonna tell that he's my boyfriend), who went on a backpacking trip recently to the philippines.
yes we all know that it's a beautiful country with friendly pple, and where our friendly and hardworking maids come from. but there are many obvious dangers lurking around. firstly, daylight robbery is probably not that surprising, whether you're a local or not. then there's the issue of the burning singapore flag thing. then now that it's christmas season, and with so many terrorist bombings ard, plus philippines is a catholic country, it is a possible target too. and of course other not-too-safe factors against foreign chinese pple of course.
well, what happened was that they all went out drinking. but it got a little out of hand. all of them started feeling tipsy. on the way to getting drunk, but not quite there yet. the only girl was already falling asleep on the side. and they were all drinking with friendly strangers. let's just leave it at that. i won't be elaborating on any arguments that follows after that. this happened not only once. but several times more. and of course, my friend (the one i'm not going to say that is my boyfriend) was wise enough not to follow suit.
let me just make my point first. overseas can never be safer than your own home. whatever it is, a foreign country should always be the last place you wanna let your guard down. you like being drunk and passing out by the side of the streets and have someone else carry you back, that's fine, although in my opinion totally stupid. but pls, do it somewhere safe, like your own country where it's less likely to get into trouble. of all places, you choose to put yourself in danger in a foreign country??? WAKE UP! already a legal adult and not thinking properly for yourselves??? WAKE UP YOUR STUPID IDEA. every one has a brain. what sets the intelligent pple apart, is that they actually USE their brains. ok, u wanna argue that u've got nothing to lose if you've brought no cash or valuables with you. if you're a girl, then bye bye to your chastity, or whatever that's left of it when you wake up the next morning from your drunken stupor. if you're a guy, sure you got lesser to lose. but how a bout your life? or the risk of getting beaten up by racist? it's a 50-50 chance of anything bad happening. so yes, go ahead and destroy yourself. the world is better off without pple who still thinks nothing much of the above.
maybe i spoke too soon. maybe there's another side of the story, and i'm in no position to judge. but the moral of the story is, when you travel with a group of friends, there should always be tolerance and trust. you make a pact (in this case, a promise was made not to get drunk in clubs), you jolly well stick to it. you break a promise and there goes the trust. get yourself into trouble, who gives a shit. but getting a friend into trouble? that's not what friends are about.
so yes, stay out of trouble and stay on the cautious side, helping one another out is the right thing to do on any trip.
so what's your take on this issue? leave a comment or a tag. i just wanna know that i'm not a stick in the mud to think this way =)