Full.Circle.With.Michael.Palin.04.Vietnam+Philippines
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00:30We've arrived in the People's Republic of Vietnam at a time of great change.
00:55Ho Chi Minh, father of the country, is a memory.
00:58Vietnam is rejoining the world.
01:10Hanoi has sprouted hotels, mobile phones, English-language newspapers, and cricket.
01:17English expats v. Indian expats.
01:22I'm asked to come along, watch the game, and spin the coin.
01:35It's a chance to find out more about the policy the Vietnamese call Doi Moi, new thinking.
01:41But old thinking reasserts itself as our cameras are ordered to be switched off.
01:45Our stills photographer keeps going.
01:49They're not interested in cricket, they're interested in us.
01:59England not only have to cope with fierce Indian bowling, but a Vietnamese military
02:03build-up as well.
02:08The officer in charge rings his supervisor.
02:10He calls for reinforcements.
02:13International diplomacy is brought to bear.
02:15The British Embassy is informed.
02:18India House is put on red alert.
02:20The Pentagon will call us back.
02:23The Vietnamese arrive in force.
02:26We retreat.
02:27What's happened is that the only pitch where they can play in Hanoi is actually on land
02:31owned by the Vietnamese Air Force over there, and filming the cricket match was deemed to
02:36be a threat to national security.
02:44The Vietnamese do not look a war-like people, yet they've fought like tigers for the last
02:4850 years, against the French, the Americans and their allies, and the Chinese.
02:55Now they can live the way they want to.
03:03Banners across the road proclaim the message of socialism, but the shopfronts proclaim
03:07the message of the market.
03:10The Vietnam War, this prison where captured Americans were interrogated, was known mockingly
03:15as the Hanoi Hilton.
03:19Now it's part of a property development from which a real Hanoi Hilton may one day rise.
03:27Where Americans were once tortured, they will one day come to be pampered.
03:35Despite the changes, an air of wartime austerity still hangs over Hanoi, and the railway station
03:41undoubtedly smacks of a more comradely era.
03:44Which way to the train for Saigon?
03:49This way?
03:50You don't want to?
03:51OK.
03:52I'm leaving on the Reunification Express, southbound for Ho Chi Minh City, which most
04:07of those who live there still know as Saigon.
04:19Its average speed for the distance is 25 miles an hour, so there's no rush.
04:32The Vietnamese coast curls gracefully along the South China Sea.
04:37The railway follows it for 1,250 miles on the long haul from Hanoi to Saigon.
04:42From where, God willing, I shall eventually strike east to the islands of the Philippines
04:47and Borneo.
05:02At mid-morning next day, various delicacies are prepared for lunch.
05:07Pork is unwrapped from banana leaves.
05:13There are prawn fritters and raw vegetables and something in a bucket.
05:22We're crossing the Ben Hai River, the border of the old demilitarised zone.
05:27We're now in what I grew up calling South Vietnam.
05:32The scars of war have been quickly covered by this fertile landscape, but the main highway
05:37is still woefully inadequate for a country that hopes one day to become a Pacific tiger.
05:43On this railway, the main link between North and South is still only single track.
05:57Four hundred miles south of Hanoi, we pull into the city of Hue.
06:07Fairs are welcome in Vietnam these days, but fair dodgers are definitely not.
06:19The old imperial city lies on the Perfume River.
06:22One of the fiercest battles of the American war took place here, and the central span
06:26of this bridge was bombed into the river.
06:29Today it's busy all day long, as is every other thoroughfare in this crowded land.
06:44If you want a bit of peace and quiet, I recommend the Forbidden Purple City, seat of the emperors.
06:51What happened to the royal family?
06:52I mean, presumably, are there any of them still alive?
06:56As I know, the last emperor, Bao Dai, he's still alive in France now.
07:03He's about 83 years old.
07:06And does anyone in Vietnam want him back to rule the country?
07:12I don't think so, according to my opinion.
07:17I think he's only now, in our mind, he's the king of the past.
07:25This is good.
07:26Yeah, here is the bell, made in, under the time of the second king, Minh Mang.
07:33My guide, Miss Hong, explains that this was the religious and cultural centre of all Vietnam.
07:39But as we move from the gatehouse and through to the heart of the temple, I'm in for a shock.
07:45So now we are at the centre of the Forbidden Purple City, where the royal family used to live inside here.
07:53There's nothing here at all.
07:55It's all gone. The French started the work of destruction and the Americans finished it off.
08:01It's as if the Forbidden Purple City had sprouted wings and flown away.
08:08The Perfume River is Hue. People drink it, wash in it, fish in it and live on it.
08:14I've hired a sampan to take me out on it. Progress is picturesque, but pretty slow.
08:20It's not as easy as it looks, is it? That's difficult, I think.
08:24Difficult for someone to understand all the turning, yeah.
08:29You can start the engine now if you want.
08:37Start the engine now.
08:43No, seriously. You can now start the engine.
08:47He says, start engine now.
08:51I mean, what do I have to say?
08:56So, where is the engine?
08:59OK, can you start it now?
09:01Yeah, good. Now.
09:04Yeah, yeah, right.
09:12Yes, I'll go here and you start it, OK?
09:15Yes.
09:22Once we're underway, there are no problems.
09:30That is, until we have to stop.
09:33Oh, yeah. Turn the engine off.
09:36Kill engine. Stop engine now.
09:38Yes. OK?
09:41Good. Stop engine.
09:43Yeah, stop it now, OK?
09:47I can't do this.
09:49Will you stop engine now?
09:52Yeah, I'll move this.
09:54Yeah, that's right.
09:56Move this. Yeah, that's it.
10:01All right, can you turn it off?
10:03My destination is the Tianmao Pagoda
10:06that has stood here for 400 years.
10:15But in the Buddhist monastery next door to it,
10:18I discover something much newer and infinitely more macabre.
10:27This is probably the most famous Austin motorcar left in the world today
10:32because it was in this car that a monk from this monastery
10:35was driven to Saigon one day in 1963
10:38and he set alight to himself
10:40in protest against the way the Buddhists were treated
10:43by the Saigon government at the time.
10:45A world-famous photograph was taken of the monk
10:48and in the back of the photograph there is a picture of this very car.
10:52And it's really kind of weird to see it here,
10:55a photo that one knows so well.
10:57It's also rather strange
10:59because my father had a car exactly like this,
11:01same colour, same make.
11:03I mean, I went to school in a car like this.
11:20Next morning, the heavens open in style.
11:2380 days away from the Arctic Circle, we're in monsoon country.
11:30Today we continue our journey
11:32on the next reunification express southbound out of Hue.
11:40When the French were booted out of Vietnam in 1954,
11:43they didn't leave much behind, but they did leave a railway.
11:47And their word for railway station, Ga, has somehow survived.
11:51MUSIC
12:21The train slows as it toils up from the narrow plain to Hai Van, the Pass of the Ocean Clouds.
12:33The mountains come close to the sea here and at Da Nang is the most famous of them all,
12:42Marble Mountain.
12:49Hello. It's at the foot of Marble Mountain that I meet Miss Tan.
12:55What are they? This one. They're marble, little marble. Yeah, this is Marble Mountain. Yeah.
13:01I'd like to see the mountain. Yeah, this way. Yeah, you know, where do I go? Just keep going?
13:07Will you show me what to do? Okay.
13:12I may not buy anything. I warn you that. I'm very, very mean. Be happy. Yeah, I'll be happy.
13:23How do you learn? Where do you learn your English? At school.
13:27That's very good. I don't know many Vietnamese who can say lovely jubbly.
13:31Lovely jubbly. What else can you say?
13:33Do you want to learn Vietnamese? Yes, I'd just like to be able to say hello.
13:48How often do you do this? How many days a week? Six days a week.
13:51Really? Every day? All day? No, all day. We go to school in the morning.
13:56You go to school in the morning? Of course. Because tell me how old you are.
14:00Sixteen years old. Sixteen, that's right. Yeah. And when will you leave school? Twenty-two.
14:07Twenty-two? That's a long education. At the same school or will you go to university?
14:12University. Where? In Da Nang City. Da Nang. Yeah. And what do you want to do? I want to be a doctor.
14:21So, I can see daylight. Looks as though we're nearing the summit. Is that right?
14:27It's not a big mountain, but it's where it is and what's next to it that's important.
14:32That's spectacular. Spectacular. Spectacular, as we say in English mountaineering circles.
14:40Here you see five mountains. Yeah. That's metal. Metal. Wood. Small one. Wood, yeah. Fire, too.
14:47Yeah. Earth. And this is water. This is water. So, having got up here, have I done some good for
14:53myself? Yeah. Will the gods smile on me? Yeah, you sit down to be the king's child. Yeah.
15:00Family very lucky and long life. A long life. Yeah. For you, old man. I could do...
15:06I think I've had enough, don't you? Quite enough. Fifty-two years, quite enough. I'll try though,
15:10might get another ten years out of it. I feel like a drink anyway. Okay. Let's have a sit.
15:16Thank you, by the way. King's throne adaptable for all sizes.
15:24Oh, that's better. I feel revived already. I feel at least, you know, ten more years I could go on.
15:31Yeah. Let's make this a 25-part series. In cinemascope. Get rid of those mountains.
15:43Yeah, I've got a beer.
15:47Oh, thank you.
15:49I think this country will be a great success. There's always someone around with exactly what
15:53you want. Miss Tan is very likely to be a future president. Her fluency in English makes my dumbness
15:59in Vietnamese quite shaming. And she's incredibly well-informed. Marble Mountain, I'm learning,
16:05is much more than it seems. It's a holy place and a military stronghold. But Miss Tan will not let me
16:11leave until she's shown me its darkest secret.
16:18Wow. I can see what you mean. I need your hand. It's absolutely pitch black and very slippery.
16:24Because it's slippery. Here we are. I can see now. Yeah. Water. Ooh. Hey. This is for God,
16:31two good and two evil. Oh, yeah. Yeah. This one good God to heaven and evil God to hell.
16:36These are the guardians that you find at the entrance to any Buddhist temple. Yeah. So this
16:41is a working temple. Do people come and worship here? Yeah, many people come to worship Freddy
16:46Buddha. And that's the altar. That's extraordinary. And this is the Hollywood American bomb.
16:56This is the Hollywood American bomb. Oh, right. Yeah, before. The American bomb made that hole?
17:01Yes. Before 1980, this was a hospital. And after American bomb down. Yeah,
17:06there was a hospital here? Yes, before.
17:09After that, I need some fresh air. I take a walk on nearby China Beach,
17:14once a favoured haunt of off-duty American troops.
17:18Now there's only the roar of the ocean for company. Or so I thought.
17:29American forces may have gone, but the sight of a lone Westerner without a seashell or a slice of
17:34mango is just too much for the local children to bear. I'll tell you, now I've got 5,000...
17:415,000. 15,000. There we go. 15,000. There we go. All right. There's 20,000 and I have his as well.
17:51OK. All right. Thank you. Thank you, kids. Bye. All right. Make sure she gives you the money.
18:04I'm on my way to Vietnam's deep south and one of the world's great rivers, the mighty Mekong.
18:19After its 2,500-mile journey, the Mekong forms a huge delta here.
18:26These are fortunate people. The river deposits enough mud on Vietnam to increase the size of
18:31their country by 200 feet a year. And what's more, it's high-quality, well-travelled mud.
18:38So there are probably a few grains of Tibet in here because it rises in Tibet, rather large
18:43chunks of China, huge bits of Laos, chunks of Cambodia, but it's now incontrovertibly,
18:49all this mud belongs to Vietnam and it forms one of the most profitable agricultural areas
18:55in the world. So where there's mud, there's brass. As they say in southern Vietnam, not in that sort
19:01of accent, but, you know, not to me, you know. This being Vietnam, a little bit of water doesn't
19:09stop people buying and selling. These dugouts become shops and shopping baskets.
19:15And this being Vietnam, you can find almost anything you want.
19:19How much are the snakes?
19:35Are they pets or are they for to eat?
19:39Getting into difficult water here.
19:40$100 for each. $200, well, I think we'll keep looking.
19:57I don't just want to buy a snack snake, you know, without checking out. Are they poisonous?
20:04They're not poisonous.
20:05Why would I want them?
20:19From this little delta town dominated by a Catholic church,
20:23it's a short hop to Tien Ninh province, home of one of the world's newest religions.
20:28It's called Cao Dai and it was invented by a civil servant in 1926.
20:35This splendidly designed religion is a sort of spiritual curry,
20:39containing a little bit of everyone else's religion.
20:44The writer Graham Greene was so taken with it, he seriously considered becoming a convert.
21:05In the foyer of the great temple is a mural depicting three of Cao Dai's patron saints.
21:11Chinese revolutionary and statesman Sun Yat-sen,
21:14Vietnamese poet Nguyen Binh Kiem and Victor Hugo, author of Les Miserables.
21:27Spirits play an important part in Cao Daiism and messages to the people of Vietnam.
21:33Despite this all-star cast, Cao Daiism has not made much of a mark outside Vietnam,
21:39nor, to be honest, outside Tien Ninh province.
21:45As we draw closer to Saigon, we pass an extraordinary relic of war.
21:51And this area here, this underground area,
21:53has been the site of a major civil war.
21:56These are the Cu Chi tunnels, a 100-mile underground network
22:00built to house guerrilla armies fighting the French and the Americans.
22:04Despite being blasted with bombs and raked with defoliant,
22:08they were never destroyed in 35 years of warfare.
22:14This is the Cao Dai temple.
22:16His secondary church was a religious temple.
22:20Here, you can see the lights here.
22:22For the questioning you've just asked,
22:24how many people were there inside the tunnel?
22:27I can't tell you because I don't believe in the Quantum of Beliefs.
22:30But I do know that there were at least 4,500 in here.
22:34That's three thousand people.
22:36Now, if you want to know about the Quantum of Beliefs,
22:38if you go and visit here,
22:40you will see a picture of the Quantum of Beliefs.
22:42Before I expire, can I explore a little on my own?
22:46OK. Is that allowed? Yes. OK. Please.
22:49All right, I won't go far, but I'll try this one down here.
22:52This leads to another fighting bunker.
22:54Come to another, another, not fighting bunker, another room.
22:58All right, another room. I'll see what that's like.
23:01Here we go.
23:05People lived here for up to two weeks.
23:07Two minutes are enough for me.
23:09I head straight for the emergency exit.
23:12Oh!
23:20Hello, Ratty. Hello, Moly.
23:30I'm obviously not cut out to be a guerrilla fighter,
23:33otherwise I'd have closed the door behind me.
23:36I find little resentment among the Vietnamese
23:39about the war. Maybe it's because they won.
23:42But this museum of war crimes in Saigon shows they won't forget.
23:51There's one particularly gruesome exhibit,
23:54a guillotine, bequeathed by the French,
23:57last used against the Vietnamese in 1960.
24:05If I were ever to make a series of great post-office films,
24:08this one would have to be included.
24:11Uncle Ho beams down as I write all those postcards
24:14I've been putting off for weeks.
24:18Dear Helen, dear Rachel, dear Tom, dear Will,
24:21only nine months to go.
24:23Happy Christmas.
24:39It's time to leave Vietnam, if I can.
24:42My impression is of a small, crowded country
24:45riding a high tide of energy and confidence.
24:48A country where there's no point in shouting stop.
24:51No-one will hear you.
24:59A thousand miles from the heaving crowds of mainland Asia
25:03are the heaving crowds of the Philippines,
25:06where the capital, Manila, with a population of 12 million and rising,
25:10is one of the Asian Pacific megacities.
25:15This is what happens when bicycles become cars.
25:22The gridlocks of Manila are enlivened by the jeepney,
25:25that peculiarly Filipino conveyance
25:27evolved from American jeeps left here at the end of the war.
25:31They're brightly painted and often eccentrically named.
25:36Not always.
25:43Manila has just about every problem a big city can have.
25:47Too many cars, too many people, too little space,
25:50too few houses, not enough money, not enough jobs.
25:57There's no unemployment benefits,
25:59no income support to fall back on here.
26:02If things are bad, and they usually are,
26:04these people club together to pay an agency fee
26:07so that one of them can go abroad to earn money
26:10and support the family back home.
26:23I'm outside the headquarters
26:25of the Friends of Filipino Migrant Workers.
26:29So we were discussing about labour export.
26:33And the export of labour generates about...
26:39..$2.5 billion.
26:42One of this country's most profitable exports is its young women.
26:48Just imagine how big the amount goes to our country.
26:52That's why we are considered as new heroes.
26:59By our government.
27:01There is a price that the new heroes pay.
27:05In the newspaper today was the story of a young Filipino maid
27:09under sentence of death in the United Arab Emirates
27:12for stabbing her employer as he tried to rape her.
27:15Here the women are warned in their own language, Tagalog,
27:18of what to expect when they go abroad.
27:29Despite the dangers, these women cheerfully expose themselves
27:33to a life that is often not far short of slavery.
27:36But before they go, they must come here
27:39and listen to the problems that lie ahead
27:41in countries where they will be second-class citizens.
27:44I asked some of them where they're going.
27:47Qatar.
27:48Have you been to the Middle East before?
27:50Never.
27:51Brunei.
27:52Oh, you're going to Brunei.
27:54Bahrain.
27:55Bahrain. For how long?
27:57For two years.
27:59Going to Taiwan.
28:01What sort of work will you be doing in Dubai?
28:05A D.H.
28:06Housekeeper.
28:07A D.H., a domestic worker, because that's an easy way to go there.
28:12Caretaker.
28:14Caretaker.
28:15Yes, sir.
28:16I just want to earn money
28:18and I just want to support my family and my parents also.
28:24I want to work in Taiwan, sir,
28:26because I want to support my family,
28:28my father and mother, my brother and sister.
28:32When you're away, who will look after your family?
28:35My husband.
28:37I'm a college graduate and a major of English.
28:42Colourful as the traffic jams may be,
28:44I'm itching to get out of Manila.
28:48I do so in style, heading for the hills on a quiet Sunday morning,
28:52high above where the traffic jams would have been
28:54any other day of the week.
29:01Luzon is the largest of the 7,000 islands of the Philippines.
29:05Its northern end is composed of rugged mountains,
29:08where we hope to find the eighth wonder of the world,
29:11the rice terraces of Banawe.
29:17But the highland weather is turning bad
29:19and my pilot is not a happy man.
29:30The cloud base is too low for him to attempt a landing
29:33near the rice terraces,
29:34so he puts down on a village football pitch,
29:37during a game.
29:44Leaving the teams to take half-time early,
29:47he organises alternative transport.
29:51We're just hailing a passing jeepney.
29:55There's no way we're going to get up in the helicopters
29:57another thousand feet above the clouds
30:00before we get to Banawe.
30:02We've landed in the middle of the school football pitch.
30:05I think it was a game on when we came down.
30:09The jeepney's stopped.
30:11Shall we go and ask him?
30:13He's on? Good.
30:16Transfer to more primitive technology.
30:47Well, there we are.
30:49It's been five minutes of landing.
30:51We're on our way up there.
30:53How long is it to the terraces?
30:55About one hour, sir.
30:57One hour drive?
30:58One hour drive.
30:59Right.
31:01I see much more this way.
31:03Well, more slowly, anyway.
31:08Our new driver, Rodolfo, has other ideas.
31:13He's clearly had Grand Prix training.
31:32We start to climb through 2,000 feet, through 3,000 feet.
31:37If it's rice terraces we want to see,
31:39Rodolfo will get us there.
31:41And he does.
31:51The trouble is that the terraces themselves are at 4,000 feet.
31:55This makes all the difference.
31:57Hello.
31:59Come see the rice terraces.
32:01Well, behind...
32:04We've made it.
32:07This is the viewpoint, and behind me are the world-famous
32:11Banaue rice terraces.
32:13You'll just have to take my word for it.
32:15They are there.
32:17But unfortunately, as you know, there were problems with visibility,
32:21so...
32:23Well, just close your eyes and imagine some rice terraces,
32:27and I'll read from the guidebook.
32:31I'll read from the guidebook.
32:34The Banaue rice terraces,
32:36rightly called one of the eighth wonders of the world,
32:39stand at an altitude of 1,200 metres.
32:42It took the Ifugayo tribespeople, with their primitive implements,
32:46over 2,000 years to create this imposing landscape.
32:52Oh, dear.
32:54Oh, dear, it's taken us so long to get here.
32:57Helicopters don't come cheap.
33:00We've come all the way from Manila to see the rice terraces,
33:04and it's hard to see.
33:07Shall we do some other terraces?
33:12It's all rather embarrassing.
33:14I make my excuses and retreat, with Rodolfo,
33:17to the highland city of Baguio, where strange things happen,
33:21but in much better visibility.
33:24We're heading for number 114, Lord's Grotto Road,
33:28to witness surgery performed with bare hands,
33:32without anaesthetic and without instruments.
33:35It's called psychic surgery.
33:37It has its roots among the forest peoples of the north.
33:40The surgeon who operates from number 114
33:43is called the Reverend Jose Segundo.
33:46His hands, he claims, are guided by God.
33:50He and his assistant are operating on a young man called Gustav,
33:54who has an arthritic limb.
33:57I'm surprised to hear a distinct pop, then blood appears.
34:10Psychic surgeons claim the blood appears through the skin
34:14by a form of magnetism.
34:17INDISTINCT SPEECH
34:20Now the other leg.
34:22And that noise again.
34:32This is surgery stripped of all the familiar trappings.
34:36No lights, no masks, no rubber gloves, no machines that go ping.
34:40Just fingers.
34:42To me, it looked as though there was some slight of hand
34:46that you were perhaps popping a little blood capsule or something like that,
34:50because I could see no way in which blood could come out of Gustav's leg
34:54without piercing the skin.
34:56There was no mark on the skin at all, yet there was blood.
34:59Were you actually popping a little pill to make him feel better?
35:02You know, you cannot see what I am doing.
35:05You cannot see what I am doing.
35:07You cannot see what I am doing.
35:09You cannot see what I am doing, the operation,
35:12unless you have the third eye.
35:14If you have the third eye, this is one, two, and then the third eye here.
35:18Yes.
35:19If your third eye is open for you, then you can see what is that.
35:23Well, I could see with my two eyes.
35:25But your two eyes you can never see.
35:29To get a second opinion on my eyesight,
35:31I make my way to another address in Lord's Grotto Road,
35:35the consulting rooms of Mr Ambrosio Pellinghen.
35:40As I arrive, his patient is summoned in
35:42for what is known as the bloody operation.
35:46The patient's wife waits outside.
35:48Ambrosio has no assistant.
35:50He asks me to help him.
35:54It looks as though you are opening the skin,
35:56you are making a hole with your fingers in his chest,
35:58and that's just not...
36:00possible, is it?
36:03What are you doing now?
36:05Are you being guided to something that you think is...
36:07Yes.
36:08In his hand is a small piece of slime,
36:11which he calls black toxin.
36:13You'll feel better with this on.
36:15Throughout, the patient remains fully conscious.
36:18Yes.
36:20I've had no training, you see, so I'm not quite sure what to do.
36:23Have you trained medically?
36:26No, sir.
36:29No, sir.
36:31It was, I think...
36:33I have...
36:36I take it from my ancestors.
36:39Really?
36:40Yeah.
36:44There's a little channel in there.
36:46I mean, it doesn't look as though there's a hole,
36:48but there is no hole because there's no mark on the body, so...
36:52I don't know quite where this red stuff,
36:54which is also on me,
36:56where this blood comes from, there,
36:58that's...
37:00Someone could analyse that.
37:03My fingers are completely unsterilised, they're unclean.
37:05Yeah, never mind.
37:06They need his wound.
37:07Never mind.
37:08Why will that not infect the wound and make him worse?
37:12I will soon explain to this.
37:14There will be no contamination or anything
37:18as long as healers are the one who is working on it.
37:21As long as the healer is the one who is working on it?
37:23Yes.
37:24You create a sort of spiritual antiseptic around it.
37:26Yes, yes.
37:29That is the use of garlic.
37:31Use garlic?
37:32Ah, now we're beginning to get some secrets of the trade.
37:36It's easy to be sceptical about psychic surgery,
37:39but if you believe it works, it clearly works.
37:42After all, Ambrosio and the Reverend are busy seven days a week.
37:46Philippine history, they say, began with the Spanish
37:49and ended with the Americans.
37:51300 years in the convent, 50 years in Hollywood.
37:54These mountains, with their 1,000-year-old terraces
37:57and ancient forms of healing,
37:59leave me with the impression of something more powerful.
38:08700 miles south, it's all so different.
38:11It's hot and it's tropical and it's December.
38:14Next day, the director decides it's time I learnt scuba diving.
38:20AUDIENCE MEMBER SINGS
38:22Next day, the director decides it's time I learnt scuba diving.
38:46My instructor is called Louis.
38:48OK, so we'll put the mask on, make sure there's no hair in it.
38:54Repeat the exercises.
38:56Yeah, that's good.
39:00Louis tells me the worst that can happen.
39:02It's a dangerous world down there.
39:04A world of embolism, ear squeeze and nitrogen narcosis.
39:08But by next day, I'm ready for the reef.
39:12Once you realise that your role model is a fish and not a human,
39:16a whole new world opens up.
39:20I'm enjoying it so much, I decide to stay down here
39:23and join some fellow divers for lunch.
39:26You can't understand what anyone's saying, but it's all pretty obvious.
39:42I'm going to try and get as close to the reef as I can.
39:45I'm going to try and get as close to the reef as I can.
39:48I'm going to try and get as close to the reef as I can.
39:51I'm going to try and get as close to the reef as I can.
39:54I'm going to try and get as close to the reef as I can.
39:57I'm going to try and get as close to the reef as I can.
40:00I'm going to try and get as close to the reef as I can.
40:03I'm going to try and get as close to the reef as I can.
40:06I'm going to try and get as close to the reef as I can.
40:09I'm going to try and get as close to the reef as I can.
40:12I'm going to try and get as close to the reef as I can.
40:15I'm going to try and get as close to the reef as I can.
40:19I'm going to try and get as close to the reef as I can.
40:25I'm going to try and get as close to the reef as I can.
40:28I'm going to try and get as close to the reef as I can.
40:38Back on the surface, I've reached the last stage of my Philippine journey.
40:43I'm aboard the ferry Princess of the Pacific, heading for the port of Zamboanga.
40:54I'm not sure if I'm hearing things. I decide to take a closer look below decks.
41:00What I hadn't realised is that Zamboanga is one of the cockfighting centres of the Philippines.
41:16And here they all are. Arranged, packaged, labelled and probably pretty fed up.
41:30This is Zamboanga, our home until we can find a boat out of here to Borneo.
41:52The dockside is not for the faint-hearted.
42:00As we fight our way off the boat, I can't help wondering where all those cockerels are going to end up.
42:12The answer is places like this, the Galleria, Zamboanga's largest cockpit.
42:18The Spanish conquerors introduced the sport 400 years ago. There's a cockfest here about every other day.
42:29The fights themselves may not last more than a few seconds. It doesn't seem to matter.
42:35It's all about betting. This provokes strong passions.
42:43How much money is bet in each bet? Is there a minimum?
42:47Minimum for people on the ringside, 500. For people outside...
42:51For people on the ringside, 500 pesos, that's about $20.
42:54Yes, that's correct.
42:56And how is the bet recorded? No one seems to write anything down.
42:59The colours, the crystals, we call them locally, the crystals.
43:02The crystals, the men in pink.
43:04Yes, they can't remember faces, who bet it and who bet against.
43:08So there's nothing much that has been recorded.
43:25It's an ugly sport to watch, but there's huge local enthusiasm.
43:29One man told me this is the Philippines' number one pastime.
43:32But, he added sadly, basketball is catching up.
43:37How many fights, a cock survives one fight?
43:40How many fights would a good cock survive?
43:43More than 15. More than 15 fights.
43:47And then they are given back to the owners for breeding purposes.
43:55As others wait to fight, the in-house vet is backstage to patch up those who already have.
44:07But this is the Philippines, and alongside the gore is the glamour.
44:15The beauty competition is widely held and widely revered.
44:19Imelda Marcos was a Miss Manila.
44:22Winning a beauty competition can be an important step in a girl's career.
44:29Judging one could be an important step in my career.
44:32Tonight, beside the sea at Zamboanga, my fellow judges and I will choose Miss Bella Pacifica.
45:03It's not just vital statistics that will win prizes here.
45:07I didn't hear a vital statistic all evening.
45:10A winner must be beautiful, but she must also show intelligence and a strong moral sense.
45:16This is a very Catholic country.
45:18If your husband told you he was going away for a few days,
45:22you should have told him he was going away for a few days.
45:27This is a very Catholic country.
45:29If your husband told you he was going away for a year to film a documentary series in many faraway countries,
45:36would you try to stop him?
45:39If so, why?
45:41Although I haven't been married, yes, I will not stop him.
45:46Because I believe that true love is tested by time.
45:50And as long as you love and trust each other, no one and nothing can stand in your way.
45:56Thank you very much.
45:58Well, I believe that trust is the key to a successful relationship.
46:02So I will allow my husband to go to other countries.
46:06And besides, it's his job.
46:08He's not going there to go girl hunting.
46:11So I'm sure Michael will get the clue.
46:13Tonight, of course, is an exception.
46:18Thank you very much, ladies.
46:21I really can feel the tension mounting.
46:25MUSIC PLAYS
46:41There are many things of beauty in the Philippines,
46:44but I think if I had to choose one object that represents the spirit of this country,
46:48it would have to be the jeepney.
46:51It's pure Filipino, completely exuberant and wild,
46:55and not totally in touch with reality or practicality.
47:00I'd love one.
47:16I've been longing to drive my own jeepney
47:18since I first set eyes on one in Manila ten days ago.
47:23But they were all stuck in traffic jams up there.
47:25Down here in Zambo, you could be on a racetrack.
47:32That's not a bad idea.
47:33I could inaugurate the first Zamboanga Grand Prix.
47:37For jeepneys only.
47:41HONKING
47:48On second thoughts, I might just take it to Borneo.
48:18MUSIC PLAYS