It was one fine day in Coron, Palawan. Before I dipped into the waters of Kayangan Lake, I approached a mother who’s painting the landscape according to her image. She is Marilyn from France who is traveling with her model daughter. After she finished her masterpiece, I asked her permission for it to be photographed. Her own interpretation of Coron’ iconic spot is beautiful.

Then all of the good things I heard from the visiting foreigners about the Philippines flashed back. It was one fine day indeed.

We often fancy the likes of Kyle Jennerman (Becoming Filipino) and Nathan Allen (I Dreamed of This). Words of praises resonate and become viral. It is a phenomenon that somehow shows our need of validation on how beautiful Philippine and its people are.

I felt a genuine pride as she narrated how happy her vacation is in the Philippines while her daughter is working. With the negativities and exaggerations we get from the media in all corners, these are the moments I feel good about the collective traits of Pinoys and the appearance of the Philippines. Here’s a list of what foreigners say about Philippines and its people.

1. Filipinos are always smiling back.

Sam, an American with Chinese descent, can hardly recount the times he got a smile from strangers. He tested us in many situations. I can still remember how his face lighten up while his height was being challenged inside our tricycle. Our moving tricycle aligned with another one loaded with Filipinos. He smiled. And they share theirs. The connection they created is a sight to see.

2. Our kids are genuinely happy.

I was with Jena, an English teacher around Asia, in the money-sinker Boracay. The kids playing and back flipping around our anchored boats caught her attention. They live simply but they enjoy the life most, Jena said.

3. Halo-halo is psychedelic. Kare-kare is good.

I giggled when Marilyn found our beloved halo-halo psychedelic in colors and taste. The mother-daughter tandem also recommended ube (yoo-beh) to the Lebanese and Israeli whom we were with also.

Danny, whom I met in Siargao, enjoyed kare-kare much and didn’t find how weird it is to dine a soup of peanut butter.

And the balut rite of passage is not that bad at all. For some. Like only 1 hated it for every 7 tolerant.

4. Traffic is bad. But the drivers care.

Those are the exact words of Jay, a French guy and once a flight seat mate. While he described the Manila traffic as one of the worst, he is still amused with how swerving motorcycle and cars care, for the lack of better term, and give way to each other.

5. Our possession of power banks is apparent.

Jay is an exchange student in Taft. He sees a lot of power bank carriers around. And of course, his seat mate has one too. He is thinking if we’re really that tech savvy or just online clingy.

6. Philippines is both tropical and cool.

Australian mate, James, is amazed that we also have mountains like Mount Pulag bearing temperature close to 10 degrees centigrade despite Philippines being a tropical country. The Israeli couple I met in Cebu shares the same sentiment so they planned to go around the Philippines – wander around the beaches in Visayas, see landscapes above and under ground in Palawan and visit the cool Northern Luzon for the terraces.

And while I was at Kitelpan to welcome the sunrise (or to let go of my feelings), I bumped into a fellow photographer. She’s a Bulgarian and with her is a her partner. As a birthday gift, her better half gave a GoPro. She thinks the Philippines is the best place to use the GoPro and she couldn’t hide her excitement to take videos of the whale sharks in Oslob.

All of them carefully planned their itinerary to maximize what the Philippines could offer.

7. Pinoys love to abbreviate.

Lost in conversation, Sam thinks Filipinos likes to abbreviate terms for some things. The CR (when it is the toilet or bathroom in worldwide English), the FX public utility taxi, EDSA, TY. Including our text and Internet speak. SMH.

8. Filipinos wake up way early.

While some foreign travelers would complain about the roosters every morning near the hostel, they also wonder how come people from the Philippines wake up so early and have already done things before they wake up.

They are also surprised with our ability to be kicking in the morning even we don’t get enough sleep after drinking last night. Well, Filipinos have high alcohol tolerance.

9. Filipinos look younger than the actual ages.

They can’t guess our age. And this is a good compliment to boost our self-esteem. Maybe it’s Asian genetics. Or maybe it’s our energy.

They can hardly distinguish lady boys too.

10. We love music and games and we got the moves.

Despite the throwback-ish playlist of Club Paraw in Boracay, I strut and dance with the DJ jams. Those moves had impressed Lucy, an American visitor. “You, Filipinos have the moves!” So I continued even though how awkward my steps were. She witnessed our fondness with music and dancing during her stay.

And yes, videoke is another thing. One surely won’t miss that. Sam is fond of singing in karaoke but he was surprised of our machines found in common streets aside from the closed pubs he was used to. I don’t forget to advise our friends of their song selection not to include My Way.

Danny noticed that everywhere he goes there’s a celebration. He was referring to the town or barangay fiestas. He went to the Philippines this January where a month long celebration exists for the child Jesus.

Sam stepped on our soil in one of the best times he could possibly be – it was Ati-atihan Festival where everyone is encouraged to dance in the streets. He was schooled how we party.

Meanwhile, Alexis from Canada, had experienced the longest Christmas celebration ever. She noticed the countdown in television, the songs being played in some of the world’s largest malls, and the caroling of the children.

As for Jay, who had experienced Cebu Pacific for the first time, find the games inside the airplanes really fun and funny. “Is this a thing here?”, he asked.

11. Philippines is a home.

Chris, a French guy working in China, flew to Philippines to get away from the bothering winter of China. His original plan is to spend 2 weeks in Siquijor in the Philippines. But the love grew fast so he extended the stay to the mystical island for a month. Then, he discovered Siargao through his friends and stayed for another month.

We’re flying out from Siargao when we met. “I love Philippines and I love that I can wear shorts here”, he said. “I found peace here.”

12. We love peechur-peechur.

Leaving good or bad impressions, Filipinos love to take pictures of ourselves.

Power couple, Peter and Lisa, photographer and journalist respectively from Germany noticed the number of Filipinos owning a digital camera, DSLR even. This observation also leads me to think our priority given our purchasing power of an average Filipino.

Meanwhile, our love for self-portraits put us in a bad light too because some trekkers would a slow down the group in hikes and treks for selfies. Sometimes foreign visitors couldn’t afford to lose time so they would rather go by themselves to the end of the road and take better photographs at the ultimate destination.

Being the selfie capital of the world, this behavior is hard to change.

Falk, another German, aligns with Peter’s thoughts of Filipinos that we like to be photographed by others too. Falk likes to take pictures of the kids and it’s automatic that our Ato and Ine will strike a pose and smile in front of the camera. Peter does not have a problem of taking street photography with human subjects. He used to experience where explicit permission is required to take a daily activity of a local. But in the Philippines, he would be even asked to tag his subjects in his Facebook account.

And of course, the likes of Sam, who is according to him not used to be called handsome, is a celebrity when Pinoys find them pogi. Pinoys loves to take a picture with foreigners. There’s always that fascination.

Philippines has the best and unmatched tourism package. We have islands that offer variety. Our people are gems that radiate warmest hospitality. But we’re far from perfect. We also hear the other side of us from the visiting friends. These unfavorable comments also trended because Filipinos defend the race hard even there’s a light of truth on such statements. Fortunately, based on the statistics from the people I met when I travel, we still leave pretty decent impressions. And it is important. Because first impressions last.