9pm BBC2 SUNDAY - Toughest place to be a bus driver - Manila

[joebloggs]

London bus driver Josh West heads to Manila, the world's most densely populated city, where, with his host Rogelio Castro, he braves the chaos of the streets in a Jeepney.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode....._Bus_Driver/

[les_taxi]

Cheers will record that

[Dedworth]

Thanks Joe

[Sim11UK]

Will watch that Joe

Here's a couple of Americans having a go.

[stevie c]

cheers joe i shall look forward to watching that

[Terpe]

Good info. I'll set the recoder.
I reckon that will be a real interesting watch. Bet it makes us all laugh.

[stevewool]

i will be watching that too, thanks, i would love to ride a motorbike out there but emma says its to dangerous

[Terpe]

..... i would love to ride a motorbike out there but emma says its to dangerous

Outside of the cities and on the open roads it's just heaven. Take time to enjoy the sights the sounds and the smells. Unbeatable

[Englishman2010]

Great, that's on straight after Top Gear, my Sunday viewing is sorted then

[Englishman2010]

just bumping this back to the top of the daily posts to remind you all that it's on BBC2 at 9pm tonight

[stevewool]

tv is set on timmer, i hope it shows the roads i went down

[Terpe]

My recorder is on too
Top gear and Toughest place to be a bus driver - Manila

Thanks for the head up though

[Sim11UK]

Was reading a bit about it earlier & it sounds as though it's a bit more than just the driving. It deals with overcrowding & poverty, so should be interesting.

[Jimbojac]

Great programme, i gave the heads up to a few of my Mates about this on tonight.
Might make a few of them think when the greatest stress that they face on a daily basis is running out of milk!
Nevere been to Tondo but back in December was stuck in traffic as we headed to a friends place near there in Caloocan, Jeez, like hell on earth!! Traffic, pollution, overcrowding and poverty on an epic scale.
Makes ya think eh.......are we all lucky or what!!??

[Sim11UK]

Gotta be programme of the year ...It was brilliant.
Not ashamed to say I had a tear in my eye a couple of times.

[Englishman2010]

It was a great program, and a bit of an eye opener for me. I considered myself to be fairly experienced in how Filipino's live day to day, but it made me think I have been fairly protected from how a great number of Pinoys live in the squatter camps. The Pinoys I know are all fairly well educated, have decent jobs and don't have to resort to eating pagpag to survive. Whilst they don't have much by our standards, compared to some they are very well off.
Sadly these TV programmes always play up to the stereotype that all Pinoys are poor and live in slums, so that those who don't know what it is like think that everyone lives like that.
If a foreign TV chanel made a program about a British working family and shot it in the middle of an inner city slum, the rest of the world would also assume the whole of the UK is like that too.
It would be nice to see a bit of balance on these programmes to show how the average middle class Pinoy lives and what the slum dwellers aspire to.
Overall, it was great, and made me want to be back over there now.....although I'll give the pagpag a miss

[fred]

If a foreign TV chanel made a program about a British working family and shot it in the middle of an inner city slum, the rest of the world would also assume the whole of the UK is like that too.

Englishman.. There are well over 500,000 Squatter families in Metro Manila alone..Obviously this is only an indicator of the general poverty that exists within the city.
I would say the poor reflect a good representation of the general populace as of today.

[Terpe]

Both of us really enjoyed the program. The London bus driver, Josh, was for me, a good choice and gave a good balance for the content.
What a difference between his bus and Rogelio's 'bus' !!
I had only ever heard of pagpag, and didn't really understand or experience the reality.
Overall, 10/10

[imagine]

fascinating, gob smacked, brillient program, i was rooted to my seat,id love to see more like it,and of different areas of philipines

[keithAngel]

Didnt manage to see it yet myself but I can relate to the images you mention I often think the guys that dont spend much time are insulated from the every day realities of daily life here especialy in the metropolitan areas just because the poverty is more intense and in your face.

Im sure glad I live the life of hmmm not sure what to compare to theres no middle class in UK terms teachers on 150 quid a month paid 30 piso to the doc in the general hospital yesterday so I guess hes not rich either

[Englishman2010]

Englishman.. There are well over 500,000 Squatter families in Metro Manila alone..Obviously this is only an indicator of the general poverty that exists within the city.
I would say the poor reflect a good representation of the general populace as of today.

I don't doubt that at all Fred, I don't know about any other Brits here, but personally I have never seen that side of Manila as the Pinays I know generally come from slightly better off families living in nice sub divisions and have gone out of their way not to show me that side of the city. Of course, I've seen the way the Badjao's live by the side of the road at Baclaran, but never been into a whole suburb like it. I suppose it's similar to part of British cities in that we know where the really poor people live but we don't go into their areas usually. However, there is a massive gulf between our poor and their poor.

[joebloggs]

Im sure glad I live the life of hmmm not sure what to compare to theres no middle class in UK terms teachers on 150 quid a month paid 30 piso to the doc in the general hospital yesterday so I guess hes not rich either

unless your a consultant i dont think docs get paid much more than that

[Manila_Paul]

Going to download it later but.... that isn't even the toughest driving job in Manila, is it? Bus driver on the ESDA anyone?

[purple]

I've seen that program last night and I should say that there is a bit of imbalance with the information and plays a bit more dramatic.

I know life in Phils. can be tough, considering that Maning Rogelio got a much better life back in the countryside but because of false belief that going to condensed place like Manila will make his life better is the same ideas for many filipinos that going abroad will help their lives better.

Those people who tries to live and work hard, I must say that it is surely a difficult one. But at the end of the day it comes to choices. A choice to make a radical change like moving and shifting to another job, choice of career, of having your spouse to help.

My uncle, who is exactly the same as Rogelio's... with three children and a jeepney driver.. not in Manila though (CEBU) made his daughters to university now both teachers and married. The youngest is making his way to grade school. I must say that my uncle is not as ideal husband and father as Rogelio but just a difference on how people can make it through living the hardships in life by coming to choices.

It saddened me actually to see and to have this portrayed to the world that Philippines is the toughest place to live. When in fact behind camera, those people are happy because they are with family and hardships is nothing compare to being away with their love ones.

The "Bahala Na!" mentality of the filipinos are so strong, with luck of information plus the strong ties with catholicism is driving most people to poverty and drags most of the filipino lives to misery compare to british.

[fred]

Going to download it later but.... that isn't even the toughest driving job in Manila, is it? Bus driver on the ESDA anyone?

I posted this earlier but for some stupid bad connection reaso it did not show...
Paul.. How are you going to download it?? I player does not work for me here..A proxy server perhaps??

[Manila_Paul]

I posted this earlier but for some stupid bad connection reaso it did not show...
Paul.. How are you going to download it?? I player does not work for me here..A proxy server perhaps??

A torrent site called thebox.bz - not sure if they're allowing members at the moment though? Good site for British shows.

[fred]

Thank you very much Paul.. Just checked the torrent site and there is tons of stuff http://www.kickasstorrents.com/search/thebox-bz/ ... Not sure if I have to be a member or not to download though?? I`ll give it a go.

[fred]

Tried a search ..."Toughest place to be a bus driver - Manila" Nothing found!

[Manila_Paul]

Tried a search ..."Toughest place to be a bus driver - Manila" Nothing found!

It hasn't been uploaded yet. It should be on there by tomorrow.

[Terpe]

Is there any reason why you don't use a UK proxy??
PS don't get technical it's just wasted on me.