Ok i hope im posting this in the right place first, im new here. OK well here it goes. Im going to the Philippines in the new year for the first time to and my gf is from Nagcarlan, Laguna so i was looking online to see what its like there and to plan things to do and i saw this one place that looks like a absolute paradise, well im from a estate in SW London and ive never been on holiday before so when i saw this place i was blown away and immedietly told her i want to go there, well she wasnt having any of it, the place is called Bunga Falls, i asked why we cant go there and apparently its a sort of 'dayo no-go zone' well i was looking on youtube and i see people swimming in there and i read about it online and tell her 'look i will be ok no mythical creature will get me' and i sort of joke about with her which i think made things worse but im not a real beliver in like myths and legends and i want to sort of prove that its only a myth but more to the point i want to enjoy my time there and have a good holiday, well she has agreed that we can go there but ive had to promise not to touch or get in the water, now my gf worrys easy and a lot about things including me and i cant seem to understand why me having a swimm in this place is so much of a problem like i want to understand her but i cant seem to on this thing and i need to be able to understand her and i dont want to be selfish to her beliefs or feelings so does anyone have any advice
Hi Paul, Filipinos are indeed believers in mythical things. I was once asked by some girls in a restaurant if English men bite people in the neck and suck their blood. Of course I explained the origins of this story and told them we are quite safe to be with. I would swim there if it was me and tell her not to worry. You have a long and wonderful journey to get to the Philippines and an even better one if your girlfriend is a true Filipina. Best of luck.
welcome to the site paul im sure you will have a wonderful time in the philippines its a beautiful place enjoy. oh one more thing your 1st stop should be mosquito repellent zip or off are really good
My wife knows I am an Atheist, so she tends to avoid talking about the supernatural with me. That said, I know she fears some things told in folklore..
I think it's more of her being superstitious with a little bit of history behind her. It could be that this specific lake or river has been a place where accidents/ fatalities happened because of under water current or some other factor and people of olden days may have said it is because the water has been taking non-local or visitors' lives as some form of ritual. Yes, a lot of people still believe in stuff like that especially those ones who live in the provinces. It may not be very logical for most people who do not believe in superstitions and can be frustrating for you and her as she believes in it so much. You can always compromise that you will not go too far into the water. Another option (as my husband suggested), the philippines is such a beautiful country and you can always find somewhere else as beautiful to swim in.
You need to think a bit about this. On the one hand, you and I know that the aswang will not get you, but other folks from different cultures may believe something different. You should consider both views as 50/50 IMHO in terms of inner feelings and emotion. There's usually no reason to insist one way or the other. Go with the flow. I did do something one time that some members of my extended family were really scared about. They were seriously concerned about my well being in a specific part of a kind of forest. I ignored their warnings, but to this day they have not forgotten and still won't get too physically close to me. No hugs or kisses for me from them. Although they love me and would do almost anything for me there's still something there they find impossible to overcome in terms of close physical contact. Yeah, it's strange. Unfortunately it didn't affect the Mother-In-Law Joke joke
I will never forget the time that I arranged to meet my wife and step daughter in Thailand at short notice because there were no available flights to the Philippines, my step daughter was 18 months old at the time and as she came down the concourse holding her mothers hand she started trying to drag her mother up against the wall saying "stay away from the white witch" or words to that effect, fortunately thinga have changed since then and we have a great father/daughter relationship.
The moo moo, ghostie, whatever you call it, I wonder if a moo moo has any resemblance to a cow Yep almost as bad as my Irish Catholic mother in terms of superstition, you won't change her, it's there for life I suspect. From a pragmatic practical point of view it is more important to be aware that Laguna is not as safe as elsewhere for westerners, the volcanic springs are very nice and there are lots of lovely resorts, many are very very cheap, these are designed for the local population, price is right and travel distance is not to great for folk from Manila. Westerners are another matter, my personal experience was not great in Laguna although I should also say I would not hesitate to return there, although I would do some things different. Ok so what was my problem with Laguna, well we went to a hot spring resort spent two days there, had a large troupe of family with us, we were a party of eight in total mostly kids, we had a nice time. However when we were about to leave some strange stuff happened, my partner was called directly at reception, the person on the other end of the line informed her that we were being targeted for kidnap for ransom by the local MILF or NPA members. Now personally I thought this was just bull, but it upset my partner and the rest of the family enormously, someone local was trying a soft 'contact us and we will keep you safe' gambit which would have turned into a real kidnap if we had been dumb enough to fall for it and contact them in person. Anyway to cut a long story short we ended up getting a police escort all the way back to Manila from Laguna, I was driving a hire car at the time and we got back home safely, this was in early 2007. Lovely part of the world but we will be a lot more careful next time.
Thanks for that - I've spent a weekend at a hot spring resort in Laguna but maybe I won't do so again.
We were probably targeted because I was driving the hire car at the time and I had also been taking a lot of pics on my good camera's, made it look like I was maybe a wealthy ex-pat living and working in the Phils. Ana went off to get the police and while I thought we should ignore it all, the police did tell me that I should take the threat seriously. What bothered me about it all was that by not just jumping in the car and driving off home, that then meant, that with the police escort, we really did have real guys with real guns following us all the way back to where we lived.
After our wedding, but before our honeymoon, my wife and I hired a hot spring resort in Laguna for a couple of days for us and her closest family. It was great. No problems. Except for one reason or another we chose to cut and eat the wedding cake there instead of back at the reception in Island Cove, only to discover that 2 tiers out of three were made of polystyrene!!!
Believing in mystical things is natural for us filipinos so dont worry. If you will pursue on swimming even your gf syas no, she might (might not) ask you to offer something, or say a prayer, or ask permission to the water guardian or something. Believing on such things are one of the filipinos eccentricities its either you will love that about us, be irritated about it or jwut be fine with it some westeners find it cute-funny
