My First Robbed Experience

My first time in Manila did not leave good impression about the city. It was about 5 p.m. when my friend and I took a jeepney from SM Mall to Rizal Park. The traffic was very bad until our jeepney couldn't move. I saw a guy took out his cellphone inside the jeepney so I thought it'd be okay. I needed to check my phone and had a look on google map. I didn't know why I was so eager looking for the destination in the map. Around 10 minutes I showed my phone in the jeepney. It lured me to the incident that I never wanted to happen.

My phone, Samsung Note was suddenly pulled by someone outside the jeepney through the window. Reflexively my hand was pulled along my phone and I turned back because I didn't loose my grip. A blade was pointed in front of me. A man shouted in Tagalog to let off my phone. He pulled my phone stronger and as the result my hand slipped off and hurt by the sharp blade. It happened so fast, only 5 seconds I think, then he ran away.

I was so calm at that time even though a blade was pointed right in front of my face. I didn't shout at all. My friend, Wandi turned pale and he quickly took tissue to stop my bleeding. I knew it's my fault so I didn't blame anyone for it. The only thing that bothered me was how easily people around could bring such a huge knife around. It was not a cooking knife, it's more like big chopping knife . Normally what happened is just pickpockets, not a direct confrontation in the public. It seems like this kind of thing happened a lot until the locals get used of it. Nobody's trying to help, nobody was shocked.  Well, it's just a phone. It's more dangerous if I insisted to defend my phone risking my life. So, I hope this incident just happened to me, and as a new comers in the city, be extra careful. I was still continuing my journey in Philippines and I love it especially on the North. Wish you guys have a safe travel!