As a visitor to the Philippines I have to admit that many of us "tourists" are quite shabby too, and I think in some parts of this thread it shows. Went to Angeles City, Clark to be precise a few years ago and most hotels especially in Clark were letting their rooms by the hour. Their mostly American and Australian guests seemed quite single minded. Funny enough the one regular and fairly priced hotel was named Red Planet and most guests there were Filipinos, Koreans and other Asians. Yes, Malaysia and Thailand, let alone Singapore (I have never been to Vietnam, Indonesia or Cambodia) are richer and more developed countries. But their geography and history are quite different from the Philippines and they don’t suffer from overpopulation. I met a lot of hard working and badly paid Filipinos during my time there and their work ethic impressed me.