The Sounds and Sights of the Philippines

When you travel you see a lot of funny sights, be they people doing weird stuff, wearing unusual clothing, driving and riding with bizarre loads, and a whole range of things. The treatment of animals in different countries can raise the eyebrows as well.

Roosters or C*cks?

One of the most favourite sports in the Philippines, besides basketball, of course, is cockfighting. Then again, perhaps I shouldn’t refer to it as a sport, much like bullfighting – that’s not a ‘sport’ either. The birds are not really roosters as we would recognize them to be, albeit they crow at dawn as well as through the night. They are bred differently with their comb being smaller, compact bodies, and big, strong legs with which they kill the opponent.

And everybody seems to have 3 or more. They literally rule the roost in yards with their own shelters, stands, and chained by one leg to a tree or fence post. The night is filled with crowing co*ks that have no idea as to what time it is. Some do, because at dawn, it’s quite the chorus.

Why am I telling you all this? Well, each day I go swimming at my pebble beach. Usually early morning when there is hardly anybody there. Yesterday, I was chin deep and paddling away. There were three young kids also playing in the water, their dad sitting in the shade watching them. I knew the kids because they were the children of my full-time driver at the hotel. Just then this guy wanders down, co*k tucked under his arm, smoke hanging from his lips.

I thought: Hey! Hey! What’s up here?

Didn’t have to wait long as he tossed his co*k into the sea. (Sorry about how this sounds when reading.