{"id":1102,"date":"2013-09-14T04:28:24","date_gmt":"2013-09-14T11:28:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/66.147.244.209\/~canadiu3\/?p=1102"},"modified":"2014-02-01T04:33:02","modified_gmt":"2014-02-01T12:33:02","slug":"filipino-canadian-in-focus-jason-godfrey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2013\/09\/14\/filipino-canadian-in-focus-jason-godfrey\/","title":{"rendered":"Filipino-Canadian in Focus: Jason Godfrey"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Taken<\/a>
Taken while shooting for “Mata-Mata,” a TV program he stars in.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He\u2019s one of those guys that are too good to be true. He is (in Derek Zoolander<\/i>\u2019s words) \u201creally really ridiculously good-looking,\u201d he\u2019s funny, he\u2019s witty, he acts and writes and poses professionally. What more could you possibly ask for?<\/p>\n

Well, why not throw in being a professional traveler?<\/p>\n

First Taste<\/h6>\n

Jason Godfrey is a Filipino-Canadian. Born and raised in Canada, he first visited the Philippines in 2005. His first destination? Coron, Palawan.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went to Coron in 2005\u2014it was like this little fishing village and it was awesome. There was no one around, and you get to do all these things where you really feel like you\u2019re on the frontier of doing things that no one else has; it just felt really authentic,\u201d he fondly recalled.<\/p>\n

He also shared his first love(s) in the Philippines back then.<\/p>\n

\u201cI lived here for four months, in Makati. Ate at Italianni\u2019s and Cyma. That\u2019s when I got my love for Cyma. I love Cyma,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He also stayed somewhere in south triangle, Quezon City, where his mother grew up. He went around the Scout area taking photos to show his mom.<\/p>\n

Aside from Coron, he also backpacked around Legaspi (Albay, Donsol (Sorsogon), and Puerto Galera in 2005.<\/p>\n

Now, more than 8 years after his first taste of his Motherland, Jason is back to help promote local tourism in the first ever locally produced travel show to air on international cable channel AXN Asia. The show, called \u2018TEN,\u2019 premiered on September 5th, and airs every Thursday at 7:15PM (PH time).<\/p>\n

\""They<\/a>
“They said this was a cleansing bath but I still think they were trying to cook me.” (caption from his FB page)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\u2018The Dark Knight\u2019 of Diving<\/h6>\n

Jason notes some changes he noticed in the country after his 8-year absence.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we went back this year, obviously Coron was still beautiful, but it\u2019s more developed, which is good for the local people,\u201d he pointed out.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously they\u2019re earning more money. From a tourist\u2019s point of view, you\u2019re almost selfish because you want it to be this little fishing village that only you knew about,\u201d Jason adds.<\/p>\n

Jason and his crew explained that the show is called \u2018TEN\u2019 because they want to showcase reasons why the Philippines is a \u201cperfect ten.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I first went to Coron, I went there to dive. I wasn\u2019t prepared for how good it was going to be, and it actually destroyed diving for me. I didn\u2019t really dive for the next five years because Coron was too good,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

He even likened Coron to a Christopher Nolan epic.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was like \u2018The Dark Knight.\u2019 I didn\u2019t watch movies after \u2018The Dark Knight.\u2019 Coron is \u2018The Dark Knight\u2019 of diving,\u201d he jokingly said, but we believe he\u2019s dead serious.<\/p>\n

\""Sigh.<\/a>
“Sigh. TEN made me do it.” (caption from his FB page)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When asked about his most unforgettable experiencing filming for \u2018TEN\u2019, Jason had one quick answer right in the barrel.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe merman thing,\u201d he beamed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t really crazy, but the pictures were crazy,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Jason\u2019s talking about his mermaid swimming lessons where you get to wear a mermaid\u2019s tail. It\u2019s becoming more and more popular in Boracay.<\/p>\n

Jason, in one of his episodes, said that he may be adventurous, but he tries to avoid death at all cost.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhenever I engage in sports, I like to avoid death,\u201d he joked.<\/p>\n

Although he does admit to doing as he was told.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the warden tells me to touch my own crotch, I touch it,\u201d he says deadpan when he became a part of the Cebu Dancing Inmates for one of the episodes.<\/p>\n

\"Jason<\/a>
Jason getting ready to ski down Mt. Butler.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Big Smile, No Teeth<\/h6>\n

Jack of all trades, master of none. Jason acts, models, writes, and hosts, but he confesses the downside of dabbling on a lot of different things.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the problem when you\u2019re so talented. The problem is I do all those things, but none of them well,\u201d he laughed.<\/p>\n

Being a model for most of his professional career, Jason got his own chosen moniker from the modeling industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was modeling, \u2018big smile, no teeth\u2019 was something that people would always ask me to do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you model too long, your muscles get overdeveloped when you\u2019re smiling all the time. I think, sometimes, when I smile too big, it looks grotesque,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

We disagree. His pearly whites are nothing short of a glorious toothpaste ad.<\/p>\n

When asked about his success and being really big in Hong Kong and Singapore (even having his own TV series \u2018Mata-Mata\u2019), Jason was very down-to-earth, but never missed the opportunity to make us crack up.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it takes a lot of intelligence to be successful,\u201d he mused.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I also noticed people who are successful at stuff aren\u2019t necessarily the smartest people. I don\u2019t think it takes a lot of intelligence to be successful. I think sometimes you have to be stupid to realize you can fail,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think sometimes being too smart can\u2014maybe I\u2019m making myself an excuse for not being too smart\u2014it can hold you back, you know? If you think too much, you would never try anything once. Nobody would really go for their dreams,\u201d Jason continued.<\/p>\n

And right then and there, he has proven himself to be both stupid and smart.<\/p>\n

\""Hanging<\/a>
“Hanging at Bukit Timah, who knew there was outdoor climbing in Singapore. There’s not even a mall in sight.” (caption from his FB page)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\u201cCheap Bastard Traveler\u201d<\/h6>\n

Jason considers his modeling career as the spark that ignited his love affair with traveling. As a model, he got to travel from one country to another just for photo shoots. These experiences filled him with a longing to explore deeper and experience more things.<\/p>\n

And while the modeling world might seem all glamorous and chic, Jason admits that he\u2019s nothing like that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a cheap bastard traveler,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m the cheapest traveler known to man. I\u2019ve slept on pavement, although, to tell you the truth, that was when I was so much younger. I don\u2019t know if I could do that now. But I\u2019m still pretty cheap. I think that when you\u2019re traveling, it\u2019s great to go cheap, not just because of money, but I think that\u2019s when you get really interesting experiences,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

He rationalizes that staying at five-star accommodations give you almost the exact same amenities and conveniences anywhere you go.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo you get a generic experience,\u201d Jason said.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s a firm believer in unforgettable experiences, no matter the cost. For \u2018TEN,\u2019 just some of the places he explored are Pampanga, Panay, Coron, and Boracay.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like traveling third-class on a train with a chicken sitting underneath my seat, and all cramped up and sweating like a maniac. I don\u2019t like it, but it\u2019s more fun, it\u2019s more interesting.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ll remember reading a book under mosquito netting, and you look up and there\u2019s a cockroach on your book. It\u2019s bad, but you\u2019ll remember that, right?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

We hope it\u2019s a rhetorical question.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something that you\u2019ll laugh about, when you stay in a hut where everything crawls through it at night, and you wake up and there\u2019s rats eating your food out of your bag. Yeah, it\u2019s a crappy experience, but it\u2019s an experience,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

And quite poetically, he adds, \u201cthings only get really good when you open yourself up to the possibility of things going bad.\u201d<\/p>\n

With reports from Tatin Yang (PDI), Cate de Leon (PhilStar), and Annie Alejo (Manila Bulletin)<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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