Gina and Pete's Philippine travel diary - No Reservations

[ginapeterb]

Gina and Pete's Triumphant return - Philippines holiday blog

I noted when I left a message saying it was that time of year for us to travel back to the land that once brought us together, some of you asked if i would do a Pete special on how things are, I am absolutely delighted to do a sort of daily blog, perhaps there will be some things of interest to some, I love to read about what others do on their holidays, so here it is for what its worth.


Day 1 - The Hanging around - waiting to Fly.

Friday was a pretty funny day, in that it did not seem real, after all we had been sort of packed, well not actually, but Gin had packed all her suitcase, I had done absolutely nothing the night before, but then again I was not working.

The time seemed to drag, and Friday morning I got most of my clothes together and bundled them into a bag, Gina's suitcase was huge, and I was worried about baggage allowances, as most years we really do get hammered for excess baggage, and Cebu Pacific can be donwright awkward when it comes to this.

But at around 3 pm in the afternoon, our taxi arrived and we headed down to Heathrow airport, this time to terminal 5, our flight being with British Airways, Flight BA031 departing at 21.15 pm.

What is great about British Airways for those who have not flown with them before is that they have a baggage weighing area, in terminal 5, plus on online check in service, which enabled Gina and I to get our boarding passes at home, and allocating our own seats, some of you I know will be very familiar with this, and you can do this 1 day before check in, a good idea because you are not rushing to get to the airport in quite the same way.

British airways were very generous in any event, as they did not charge us for any excess Gina had 28 KG of baggage when the allowance is only 23 KG.

I had a flymo box with me, about 12 KG my bag was carry on, so not a problem there, she also had a carry on, and a bag.

So no real problems, the flight was on time, and the food was very welcome, the best morning full english breakfast yet, staff very courteous, and our flight landed safely in Hong Kong at around 16.00 in afternoon, thats when the usual problems start when you transfer to one of the Philippine registered carriers.

Day 2 - Delays and problema.


We transferred through quite happily to the landside of the airport, but as there was little time to go, we did not feel there was time to go around Hong Kong, our flight with Cebu Pacific was scheduled to leave at 19.30 so we had coffee and cake at the Pacific coffee company on the upper level before check in, the airport free wi fi was pretty crap, so we just sat and waited to check in.

As usual Cebu Pacific had not changed its spots, talk about things being in their nature, the baggage allowance for Hong Kong to Manila is at present 15 KG can you believe that ?

So we were 15 kilogrammes over the top, but the funny thing is they charged us HKG 250.00 to pay the excess petty I am sure you will agree, I also had the fortune to be stood next to a Philippine Army Colonel who kept me amused for the 3 hours the flight was delayed, their was a big sigh and faces of resignation when they announced that the inbound flight from Manila was 2 hours late due to a typhoon crossing the Philippine sea.

What did I care, I had my Ipod and the Colonel to kee me amused, I think he was just about as bored as we were, a very pleasant gentleman, very well spoken.

Finally after3 hours of hanging around, we boarded the flight, as we were about to board, 3 young chinese girls working for airport services came around relieving us of our hand baggage saying that the flight was full, and Cebu pacific had requested hand baggage be checked, as it was they sent an A319 the smallest aircraft in the fleet.

At 23.30 pm we finally landed at NAIA terminal 3, exhausted, and hot, however the typhoon had cooled the air, and it was only 25 degrees local.

We headed into a taxi which by the way costs P750.00 from NAIA 3 to Makati Avenue, arriving at 0030 hours, at our hotel the Great Eastern for anyone that stays there, they had no record of our room reservation telling us that perhaps Quezon City had taken the booking.

After all i had called 3 times, e mailed 3 times, and had an e mail confirmation, nevertheless I was determined not to let this SNAFU get the better of me, I told Gina to flip out a package of Cadburys chocolates to smooth the way forward.

Amazingly, they did have a room for us, a superior room, and to be honest the way we felt we would have taken a nippa hut, we were so tired, an hour later, we were fast asleep, end of day two.

[ginapeterb]

Day 3 - Sunday Morning -

We started early on Sunday Morning, with a quick taxi ride down to the Intercontinental, where Gina and I first met back in 2004, we remembered with interest how we used to take breakfast at the Jeepney restaraunt, and it had not changed one bit, apart from it used to be P700.00 for a buffet breakfast, now its P1000.00

Lets face it things do go up, and it has only gone up 300 pesos in 5 years, or thereabouts, It did not take long for both of us, to tuck into Longanissa, Ham and tomato omellette, fish, hash browns, bacon, tea coffee and mango juice, the guy serving us, brought over a plate of fresh fruits, every kind you can think of, toast, cakes, croissant, we were hungry and it showed.

This was 8 am in the morning, and the temperature was about 23 degrees C, not bad for Manila although the sun was not up as yet, a little humid, but no cares in the world, after breakfast we took a taxi back to the room, and slept for another 2 hours, I don't know where Gin had gone, but as usual she is the eternal butterfly, wanting to go down to Glorietta to look around, ha ha, she could not, they did not open until 10.00 am.

I said, we have to leave for the airport at 11.30 for our flight to the provinces, and we also have to face the dreaded Cebu Pacific baggage problems again, we were carrying 150 bars of Cadburys chocolates, to give out to every person in the Philippines that came past us, (well thats what I thought)

We managed to enlist the same taxi driver who took us down to Makati, he said he would be back on the dot at 11.30 am, and he was, the most friendly Manila taxi driver I have ever been a passenger with, no reklamo, not complaining about life, or how hard it is, he simply jumped out, put all our bags and boxes in the back of his beautifully air conditioned full lengh van, its always better I find that when you land at NAIA you take one of the large white air con vans, with lots of luggage space, these crap little rust bucket taxis are a no no.

It costs a bit more to use them, but hey your on holiday, 200 pesos more is really worth it, when it comes to my comfort and security and ambience, 200 pesos is worth it dont you agree boys ?

At the airport, we checked in ok, amazingly, the lady at CP was really nice, checking us into the exit row on the A320, a much larger aircraft, and giving me loads of leg room, ok they charged us a few hundred pesos for excess baggage but it was ok, we hardly noticed the difference, the flight was great, and I ate pancit canton on the trip to Bacolod City, it was enjoyable no complaints whatsoever.

A good day, and no problema, yet !!!

[kimmi]

Have a happy holiday there in Pinas, Kuya Peter and Ate Gina..;D

[Arturo]

A good day, and no problema, yet !!!

Amused to see the Great Eatern and Quezon City. I was over there 4 weeks ago. I booked in the GE at Quezon ... arrived to find no record of our reservation, Ella dealt with the situation while I stood back looking stupid!

The really bad news was we were on the 8th floor at the front looking down onto Quezon Avenue....which is as busy and noisy at 3am as it is at 3pm!
And the room curtains did not fully close so we had orange coloured search light beamed into the room.
I had an iPod to kill the noise and an eye mask to shut the light.

Great to read the "travel blog" ... maybe highlights and fun bits from your hols aand return flight will appear.

Arthur & Ella

[ginapeterb]

Day 3 - Going downtown to do things ! Like pay bills, buy things we need and shopping at SHOEMART.

Our first day in Bacolod City commenced with none of us being able to sleep, haha, I got up at 3 am, as the rooster was crowing, and we have 2 guard dogs at the house, they were both barking as well, I don't know why they love it so much here to have dogs, but really, I was informed by my house manager that she prefers to have dogs outside as they bark continuously if someone approaches, and there have been a number of robberies in the sub division.

I could not sleep, Gin got up and made coffee for the 3 of us, and we sat up and cracked jokes about everything from Globe Broadband, to the Great Eastern telling me that the American breakfast i did not order was not in my itinerary.

The heavens had opened up in Bacolod City, and as most of you will be aware, of course the roads were never built with adequate drainage for the many inches of rain that can fall here in the rainy season.

The roads were like lakes, luckily though I keep a 4x4 Sport Utility vehicle at the house, so when we drive downtown we avoid most of it, but still we forgot our Payong, and got drenched parking up and getting under cover, nevertheless its ok, all part of the fun.

I absolutely refuse to reklamo about anything when I am here, I just simply accept the SNAFU and realize its the Philippines, no use complaining, better to grin, because I find people understand the grinning and nod in agreement.

Filipino's who are local, they know its all SNAFU, they make fun of it too, so a foreigner making fun usually gets the polite nods of agreement.

We went to Centrum to buy a colour t.v. for the house, that was fun also, we had to go in and pick out what we wanted, then we tried to get a lower price, that was fine, apart from the fact, it took 2 hours from start to finish, first to sort out the mountain of paperwork for the transaction, it was almost as we were buying a house, not a colour t.v., its not like Tesco, where you just pay for it, and take it to the car, or have it delivered.

Here they have to fill out multiple copies of this and multiple copies of that, its not like I was not expecting it, I was, I have travelled this road many times, I amused myself standing and watching the t.v.s in the store, for want of nothing more to do, after all, as Arthur said, you kind of feel redundant, like a spare part, not fitted, just standing in the background watching proceedings with a big grin on your face.

While the wife does all the talking and makes the transaction, the only time you are consulted is when its time to pay, but no matter how many times I come to the Philippines, it never really changes, you are there to pay, and nothing else.

Shoemart was an experience this afternoon, we were in there for 2 hours again, I really dread the grocery experience here, why it takes so long to shop I will never know, but the problem is friends, cousins, high school class mates, former work colleagues and Lola's.

My Gin stops to chat to everyone, and they tell each other about where they went, what they did, what they bought, and of course, the proverbial, I have a pasalubong for you, stop by later and collect it.

I of course do my usual bit and stand looking like the 3rd peson in 3 is a crowd, standing there, redundant, bemused and carrying the shopping.

They rattle away in Illongo, the local dialect, I can undestand quite a bit of Illlongo words, but the translation gets lost by the sheer speed at which they talk to each other, with animations and emotional expression.

I think Gin is telling someone they had sale on in London at Selfridges, and thats where she got the item they are talking about.

Finally, we get to go home, its raining really hard, and I cant wait to get back to the house, today was a day I expected to do everything, we did 2 things, one buy a t.v. 2 shop at shoemart, I was dissapointed with what we did not do, Gina tells me tomorrow we will buy some more things.....yikes, how long will that take, and how many things will we tick off our list.

Things move slowly here, after all i am told, whats the rush.

[somebody]

A great read sounds like your both having a great time. You sound like me wanting to rush rush (British style) but the beauty of phill is rush rush is a no no.
Always takes me a while to adjust and once I do its heaven:D

Relax and enjoy:xxgrinning--00xx3:

[Jay&Zobel]

Day 3 - Going downtown to do things ! Like pay bills, buy things we need and shopping at SHOEMART...

...Finally, we get to go home, its raining really hard, and I cant wait to get back to the house, today was a day I expected to do everything, we did 2 things, one buy a t.v. 2 shop at shoemart, I was dissapointed with what we did not do, Gina tells me tomorrow we will buy some more things.....yikes, how long will that take, and how many things will we tick off our list.

Things move slowly here, after all i am told, whats the rush.

Hehehe.... Girls and shopping!! :xxgrinning--00xx3::xxgrinning--00xx3::xxgrinning--00xx3:

[Mrs Daddy]

enjoy the rest of your holidays.:)

[Alan]

A nice 'blog' Peter! Please continue. :xxgrinning--00xx3:

Al.:)

[ginapeterb]

Days 4 5 and 6.

Hi Guys, thanks for reading, I hope this not boring the life out of you all, cos if it is, please don't mind my rantings ha ha, I am trying not to rant, Globe broadband again, we are having so much problem with it.

I was mad, because, I thought rather wrongly it turns out, Why after so many trips out to Phils will i not understand, that my best of intentions, in the UK with all these great ideas I have for improving the Philippines on my next trip, simply never come to fruition.

Keep it simple stupid, isn't that what its all about, and after all, chill out dude, i mean whats the rush, calm down, have a soda and a pancake sandwich and kickback.

I had this idea of bringing a Dell Laptop 17 inch, a really nice desk top model, with Windows Home Vista, thought to myself, this will be nice for the house, will complement the broadband, and after all, the old computer system we had, when dinosaurs were around can go.

Hmmmm not so, for one thing the modem and software is not compatible with windows vista, we had no end of problems in setting up the new system, I mean don't get me wrong, the Globe guy was nice, but his multiple overtures of:

Sorry Sir, we cannot do it,
Sorry Sir, it wont work.
Sorry Sir, we are maintaining the lines right now.
Sorry Sir, its not very good the connection.
Sorry Sir, maybe after it rains.
Sorry Sir, its raining right now.


I think you get the picture on this one,

and finally

Sorry Sir " maybe tomorrow (Bukas)

No amount of offers of bribes, oysters, dinner, and a patridge in a pear tree was going to get the system working for what we were paying for.

It always amazes me at just how you pay for a service in the UK and lets be honest guys and girls we expect to be given the service we are paying for.

However not so here in Phils, you pay for a service, and feel lucky if you get it, if you don't everyone simply shrugs their shoulders and says, Bukas.

No amount of reklamo ng reklamo, (complaining and complaining) is going to change that, so why get up your blood pressure in the process.

I am LOL Gina just came in the computer room, and said Good Morning Itlog !

why she said that I don't know !

She is LOL as my shorts have split and she said, you can't go downtown with split shorts, its not good for a foreigner to have split shorts, I said, its not good for anyone let alone a foreigener.

However apart from connection problems, the weather has been glorious, over 33 degrees in last 3 days, great for British sunbathers, of which there are none as far as I can tell.

I saw about 3 foreigners in Shoe mart today, 2 nodded, and gave me what i call the "Hey your a foreigner, I'm a foreigner how are you.sort of acknowledgement look"

The 3rd foreigner a really nice guy from Ohio, who lives in the area, was really nice, he stopped me in shoe mart said hello, and we chatted for about 10 minutes, he invited me to a monthly breakfast meeting, they are having, he said all the foreigners go, and I said, I am on vacation so would not have the time really, but he thanked me and moved on.

That was nice to be stopped and greeted, I noticed though that the 2 other foreigners were pretty scruffily dressed un shaven, I was dissapointed, I never go downtown scruffily dressed and unshaven, I was in casual canvas trousers, Nike Trainers and a Fred Perry top, I insist on looking decent downtown, i think locals expect to see foreigners scruffily dressed, look at the locals though they are never scruffy.

In fact they are immaculatly dressed at all times, especially Filipino business people.

I think it stands out when we dress well in town, something to think about for the future I also note that people warm to me in town, especially the sales girls, I have occasion to complement them on their english, the service they give, and how attentive they are.

Example, we went to buy Gina's nephew a new mobile phone from the Nokia concession in shoe mart.

Now this is what I call service, we were met by a young lady, how to say she is immaculately dressed, beautifully done up face, not bad actually, ssssshhhhhhhhhh hope Gina is not looking.

She greets me, and invites me to come in and see the phone, as I am outside the shop just looking.

Ok I go in, she takes out a new phone, describes every peice in detail, charger, head set, device, memory, features, I can just imagine this at Nokia in UK, orange, etc, she then tells me how many free downloads we can get for music, and demonstrates phone in different modes, video, camera, and music.

I am impressed, it makes me want to buy, and we did, she spends another 30 minutes, going through warranty, downloads, computer connections via usb, I am desperately wanting to get away, but feel compelled to listen, she is attractive too, which is all part of the process for a man I think.

In the end, we buy the phone, not bad for P5300.00 with 2 mega pixel cam, and uncle tom cobley and all.

This is all part of days work for this sales girl in the Philippines, for her, a quick sale, for me I feel tired.

hahahaha, its back home to rest, is that my one deed for the day, Gina hastenly takes me to Shoe Mart grocery department, she says I will like to eat, Shawarma Beef, she buys me one, and its amazingly tasty, its like a wrap, with Beef, rice, egg and all kinds of sauces, I am greedy so I have two, no one cares, the staff behind the concession look on and laugh, they can see how I am enjoying it.

Gina introduces me to all kinds of foods, she says,later we will eat oysters, she says, someone will bring them to the house, we don't have to go and get it, this is the Philippines after all, if you have the money, everything seems to be available, and it comes to you.

Our car is making a funny noise, this morning when I was sleeping, a mechanic showed up and took it away, downtown to be fixed, when I finally rise, its outside, fixed a slipping fan belt, he charged P200.00, for his time.

I am shocked, this is the Philippines, and its not a £200.00 bill, I am just handed the Manila bulletin, with my pancake sandwiches from Jollibee, its laid out on the table, my clothes are ready, boxer shorts, shirt, and shorts, the helper just tried to whip off my shorts, she says she will sew it now.

Gina says take them off, and brings another one, the maid whips them away, she is sewing them now.

This is the Philippines is it not my friends, everything is not a problem, and things get done if you have the money.

Thats it for today, I am going swimming, the driver is waiting outside to take us, but first the maid wants to assist me to dress, is this going too far, is this subervience, no not really, this is service and your paying for it.

No reservations....and I love life here.

Don't get too comfortable Pete.........its not the real life for you....just remember...your on holiday...

[Northerner]

:xxgrinning--00xx3: Keep on blogging Pete.. Makes me wish I was there buying a cell phone from that girl :rolleyes:

Ahh, might just do that in ooh, 98 day's :D:D:D

[Ji&Ma]

Sorry Sir, maybe after it rains.
Sorry Sir, its raining right now.


Very good blog Peter:xxgrinning--00xx3:
Especially this got me into the stitches as I have my own very similar personal experience:icon_lol::icon_lol::icon_lol:

[fred]

Personally I think the Shawarma`s are a mouthful of mush ...I had one,but never again..

[Jay&Zobel]

True true... Money can buy everything! :Erm::xxgrinning--00xx3:hehe... Can't wait for our next holiday so we can indulge too!:D

[mickcant]

Thanks:xxgrinning--00xx3:
This is very intresting to read.
Mick.:xxgrinning--00xx3:

[scott&ligaya]

Hi Pete and Gina,
we have both been reading and getting more and more envious by the minute and have decided to start looking for our trip "home" next year around April time. We both miss our place in Palawan and Ligaya`s home in Pangisinan as well as our old place in Hong Kong. UK summers do not seem to be getting any better( so much rain) and after we get the Citizenship thing sorted (another 17 months yet) we might look to return to HK despite the pollution we left because of. Maybe I can swin git to be home based in the phils as I work mainly in China or with Chinese clients anyway so HK and Manila are both not to difficult to cover China from.

Anyway thank you for your blog and making us think about the phils, enjoy your vacation:BouncyHappy:

[ginapeterb]

Days 6 and 7

Wow I cannot believe it, its been nearly a week now, time flies when your enjoying life, not looking forward to coming back to UK, I know Uk is where I make my living, but cannot help feeling, the Philippines is where my heart really is.

Yesterday, was a lazy day, woke up at 9.00 am, sun outside the patio door, Gina let me sleep, she had been up since 6.00 am, she sat outside with Tita this and Inday that, chatting about everything, they had coffee and toast, then every vendor in the area had been past, selling everything from fish, chewing gum, food servers, insurance, jewellry, you name it they are selling it.

I had a Sony Bravia 32 inch cinema surround system installed in the bedroom this year, it was great to wake up and stick on a concert, to watch, I had Ronan Keating Wembley 2002 blasting out, no one cares here about noise, in fact, neighbours liked it, wanted to know more about it.

The maid taps on the door, "Your Clothes sir", wow thats what I call service, getting worried about this, may not be able to dress myself soon, and anyway, isnt dressing ones self a little overrated.

Walking around now regulalry in my boxers and flip flops helpers dont seem to notice, you get used to those close to you in house, anyway, house seems to be like Bhowani junction, everyone coming and going, driver coming in for coffee, then helpers moving around doing washing, cleaning floor, so much dust comes in, hanging out clothes, and getting me snacks.

Life is good, decided to get dressed and go to cinema, we watched Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince which is showing right now at SM CITY, very perculiar habits the Filipinos have.

In UK, we all get to the cinema about 20 mins before, and get ready for the start of the movie, here, they seem to go in at any time, we noted that very few people actually go in when we do, the cinema seems to be packed with people already in from the last showing, whats going on here I ask Gina ?

She said "oh they probably came in to watch half way between the last movie showing"

I say "Why is that", thats weird !

She says "Well they cannot wait, so they go in, it doesnt matter if the movie is half over, they will stay to see the first half"

I say "But thats crazy, no one does that in UK, they go in, and then they watch the movie from start to finish, then they see it all the way through"

She says "Not here, I am afraid, they will go out soon, when they get to the part they started at ?????xjxjxjxjdpod-3-3-3=3=3= ??????

They are weird then honey, I say, she says thats the way it is.

I am slightly irritated, as when we get in the movie, about 15 minutes later, they all start piling out, during the movie, someone is playing on 3G internet on their cellphone, another is taking a call, I am so mad.

I look at the young lady, as though to say, "Hey girl I am trying to watch the movie", she looks back and just carries on talking, even Gina has to say, "Excuse me Miss please do not talk on your cellphone while the movie is playing"

She gets the message and shuts down the call.

The movie is over and we leave, interestingly enough, I decide to venture into the cinema toilets, amazingly, this year, they have an attendant, handing out tissue paper, and hand cleaner is available.

I marvel at this, as in previous years, they did not have it, things have really changed here, its getting better and better every year.

We decided to go to a restaraunt called Appollo, its chinese, and I have been looking forward to eating there, there are 4 of us, myself Gin Gin, the helper and our driver, thats the way it seems these days, when you go out for meal for 2, there is like 4 of you to say the minimum.

We order lots of special fried rice, Beef Tenderloin sizzling tips, All kinds of seafood, hot and sour soup, there is enough food to feed a purok.

When we are finished, we cannot eat it all, most of it gets boxed, and the helper and driver take the food home with them, left overs will not be left as in UK, you just leave it, here everything gets used, I am bemused by this process, and look on smiling.

Then outside we are accosted by 4 little boys, all beggars, they are asking for money, so I decide to say "Sino gwapo ?", the boys laugh and all say "iKAW", I decide to give them 10 pesos, its fun, and i like helping them.

We decide to head home, and have coffee in the gazebo, we laugh and joke, freinds are coming over, and are bringing cakes, Filipinos are great for that, someone brings cakes, somone brings pulutan, someone brings something else, next minute you know there is a midweek party, they are laughing joking, and talking about everything that happens, but most of all, they are making fun of the Philippines, its their country, and they know its shortcomings, they talk about the politicians, and what they did not do, but lining their own pockets, I listen intently, but cannot follow, this is the Philippines and I am treated like a King, never feeling left out, always feeling inclusive, I may not speak the language, I may be a foreigner, but you feel a sense of belonging, and thats enough for me.

I feel at home, and would not wish right now to be anywhere else, I am glad I came again for my holiday, its a long way to travel, but the waiting is worth it, its already been one week, and I want time to slow down, wow if it only it could.

[Dedworth]

A good read thanks for taking the time

[ginapeterb]

Day 7 A Night to Remember.

Going out for dinner in the Philippines can introduce you to foods you rarely eat at home, last night was one such experience, I am all for trying things new, but to try things new and then come away thinking wow that was superb just about makes it all worthwhile for me.

Gina took me to her favourite restaraunt when she was a little girl, she said, friends who were rich used to treat her, she could never afford to eat there, she always asks me "Why you Bitish men come here, and meet us poor girls, and then you marry us, bring us to your country",

I think she is asking a rhetorical question, it deserves no answer, I look on and smile, she nestles her head in my shoulder, and laments on the fact that life has changed and we have all moved on.

As we drive through Bacolod City, she asks me to stop in the old Barangay she used to live in, she takes a trip down memory lane, Barangy no 8 affectionately known as Punta Capri was where the squatters used to live, she is not ashamed to take me there, and although they had a reasonably well constructed house, the place is no more, the landowners having evicted the people that lived there, and have since done nothing with the land.

As we drive down, she puts down the window and hails several people walking around the fish market, she says to me, this is where I used to take lunch, this is where my father sent me to buy rice, this is where I caught the jeepney to work, she is quiet and pondering how life was, I give her this private time to chat to this one, people here in this part of town are poor, but they are polite, and have not lost their self respect and dignity.

The people come up and peer inside the car, they want to see you she says, they are tickled by you, they know you are my husband, they say, oh that is Gina;s husband, he is so white, they are all standing at the window, in perfect english, they say, "Good afternoon sir", I smile and greet them also, they are poor, but they have the politness of the best people in the world.

We pop downtown to the plaza mart area of the city, as Gin wants to go to Post Marketing, she wants to install satellite television at the house, she said it would be better for me to have Star Movies, HBO and CNN as she is worried I might get bored when it rains, as it does so heavily here in the rainy season, as we arrive a boy comes out to guide us into a parking space, we glide in with no worries, he gets 10 pesos for his assistance, parking is at a premium around here, and you need a helper to get you a space, this does not seem to be a problem one is always available for a 10 pesos tip, Gina tells me, "Always keep lots of change near the change lever" "This is handy for giving the boys to park us" I make a note of this as its good advice.

I have been coming out here for years, maybe on my 15th trip, and still learning about life in Philippines, I realize, I am no expert, still a novice, and still learning every day, Gina does not expect me to live as a Filipino, she knows that will never be possible, but expects me to pick up tips and hints at how to make life easier, plus, my Illongo understanding is getting better year by year, I notice now she is talking more in the local dialect to me, but I reply in english, she breaks into illongo dialect quite frequently to tell me something, if its a simple request, or a peice of information, she then has to break back into english to give me the meaning, if I look blank, or my head goes brain dead.

Maybe its a sign, she is noting my advances in the language and feels comfortable to talk to me, little does she realize, I have to translate and it takes time to reply, but I'm getting better by the year, some english guys never bother learning Tagalog, or Cebuana, or Illongo, I think personally this is a mistake, as you entrench yourself, and especially when you are trying to access services in the Philippines, you need to speak a little of the local dialect if you can, it helps, and also, causes a few warm smiles along the way.

Gina tries to encourage me to eat at home, refraining of eating out every day, she wants me to get used to life at home in the Philippines, not expecting to eat downtown all the time, she is slowly trying to get me to eat the food she cooks at the house, some of it I am not happy about, others is ok, she says, "If only you would try - you might like it"

At the Post Marketing, we are going in to enquire about Dream Satellite t.v., we are directed to an older lady who is dealing with it, we are invited to sit down and discuss the various options, this is not like Sky T.V. where you either book online, or do it in some shopping mall.

Here you go in to the people that install it, and sit and discuss your options, how much it will cost, installation fees, packages etc, it only takes about 2 hours to complete, and yet again I feel tired, geeeeeeze, how do they ever get anything done here ? I am smiling and watching, sights and sounds everywhere, hustling and bustling, my private thoughts I keep to myself, its can be seen as being rude to criticise, I have to remind myself of something I learned about 5 years ago, its no use saying "Back home in UK we don't do it that way", "Its much faster there", in fact, thats not strictly true, after all, the lady tells us, they can come at 10.30 in the morning and complete the installation", well lets be honest, SKY cannot do that for you the next morning, in fact, I was told recently, that to get SKY HD it would be about 6-9 weeks.

I also remind myself about my recent purchase of a suite of furniture from Harveys furnishings in UK, its been 9 weeks and we are still waiting for the dining table, here in the Philippines, you buy a dining suite, and its delivered often that afternoon, or latest next morning, I am ashamed at how long it takes to get anything delivered in UK, and lament that Philippines in part may be slow to get something ordered, but to have it installed and delivered, thats a different matter.

I find people want your money here, and your business, and move fast to fulfill your order, money talks, and once you have paid and handed over your cash, things start to move, and to be truthful, thats the way I like it, especially being on holiday when time is a premium for all of us.

That being sorted out, we head over to the Globe Lines office in 27th street, on arrival, the security guard comes out to ensure our car is parked properly, I ask Gina why is he complaining about where I parked the car, I feel ashamed as Gina tells me "No honey he is not complaining - he is worried that your car will be damaged, and is suggesting you move it closer to the wall, then it will be safe" again, my zenophobia has got the better of me, assuming the worse, instead of keeping an open mind, I make a mental note, not to judge what someone is saying in the Philippines by facial expression and tone of voice.

When we get inside the building, its beautifully air conditioned, we take a number which is 3078 and are told to sit in a certain place, and wait our turn, this is like buying your fish at Tesco deli counter, Gina tells me this system is better because when you are called to take your turn, you get the full attention of someone who will deal with your enquiry.

She is right, we sit for 40 minutes waiting, and I am bored, but there is a newspaper to read, so i content myself with that, when we are finally called to the counter, we explain that we wish to upgrade our broadband to 1 MB which seems to be the new speed, I have to contain myself from laughing, but my little jokes about them being 20 years behind UK, fall on deaf ears, and in any event, I don't think the lady behind the counter has even got the joke "When dinosaurs were on the earth, we had 256 kb, now since they went, speeds have got faster"

She is not amused, or didn't get the joke, she continues on with her explanations at what will happen, we fill in a form, and show our ID, we are informed as our house is over 400 metres from the connection that Globe have in the area, it could be the problem that we are experiencing, she suggest that we switch to a kind of satellite broadband, its a mini dish on the roof of the house, communicates with the local Globe tower, I think thats a better idea, and she says, its the latest technology in Philippines, I am shocked at what they have here, although in UK of course we are used to fibre optic cable.

But I am all for it, and we are informed they will install it in 2 days, again, I am in shock and awe, wow, what a great service, 2 days, geeeeeze with British Telecom when we move din our flat, it was 6 weeks before we could get the phone connected, as there were no cables running up to the development, again, I have to eat humble pie here, things are moving faster in the Philippines and I have to say I am quite impressed.

We say our goodbyes and the guard stands behind my car as I back out, making sure I hit nothing and seeing me onto the road, another visit to a service provider, another job well done, I have learned a nice smile, a friendly greeting, and being well spoken goes along way to getting the best out of Filipinos who work in offices.


We move quickly out of this area, and decide its time to head over to the restaraunt where we will eat dinner, so we head over to ABOYS a well known and popular place in the city.

Gina wants me to eat different local filipino foods, she says, if you live here one day, I will have to let you try these, and get used to them, when we arrive the service is impeccable, we are taken to a nice air conditioned area, there are lots of Filipinos parked up outside and going in, Gina tells me Negros is rich in some areas, the Filipinos did welll out of sugar cane, and the island once thrived on the world price of sugar, some are doing ok, others not so ok, but the people that dine here are generally well off people.

I ask Gina where is the menu, she says, there is no menu as such, the seafood is raw, you just go to the chef, look at what they have caught and then pick it live, I see fish swimming around, and I am shocked to find that we are to choose our catch, this is something new to me, I am mesmerized by all this.

The only thing not swimming around is of course the Blue Marlin, a deep water fish, and this has to be caught quite far out at sea, she says, do you want to try the Blue Marlin, I have to say it looks inviting, she picks out a Kilo of blue marlin, it looks like a huge steak, but white of course slight white, and more of a creamy colour look, the chef takes it and they start to cook it, the chef puts lemon bits, and garlic, and puts tomato and onions in, with red peppers, this will all add to the flavour, he tell us, I feel like I am at Gordon Ramsy restaraunt in the West End.

When the blue marlin comes to the table, its amazingly hot, soft and delicious, served with rice, and calamansi, soy sauce and locall vinegar, then a tray of beautiful fresh scallops cooked in butter and garlic sauce arrive, I ask who are they for, Gina tells me, they are for you honey, try them, next a plate of dressed crab omellette, in the crab shell, I try this as well, its amazingly, yummy, I can't stop eating them, everything I try is amazingly tasty, and at the end, the scallops just keep coming, the theme of my travell blog is no reservations - because here in Philippines, you don't need a reservation to have fine dining, its everywhere ubiquitious, if you have the money.

My Gina orders me a gourmet belgian waffle filled with mango ice cream, and sauces on top, enough to sink a ship, I ask if she will join me, no she says, its for you, everywhere I go, people seem to put themselves out for me, its as though they know I am on holiday and they want me to have a great time, I feel like I am living as a King, and its a great feeling.

After a superb meal, we thank the waiters, the chefs, who have a broad grinning smile of appreciation when I tell them, its the best fish I have ever tasted, it means so much to them, they know you are a satisfied customer, thats what counts.

We head home, the streets are quiet now, not many pedicabs around, not many drivers, a few people crossing the streets, but life is there if you look for it, lots of Filipinos hanging out on the barangay entrances, selling foods, sitting and laughing and joking, you can be poor, but you can have a good time at night too, you dont have to have money, it helps though.

Gina tells me she has plans for tomorrow, she says, we are going swimming at a private resort, she says we will probably have the resort pool to ourselves, its an olympic size training pool, and spa, I ask why we will have it to ourselves, she says, no one can afford to go there, only the rich.

I ask how much it costs for a swim there, she says, P125.00 I lament on the fact that it is probably going to cost us about £3.00 between the two of us to swim there, and most people here cannot afford £3.00 to go swimming, when we go swimming back home, it normally costs us £8.00 for two of us, and thats at a basic swimming pool, not a leisure pool.

She says, we will swim and take lunch, and then later go to Vienna Kaffee House, to have gourmet coffee and cake, later then we will watch a movie, and then perhaps later, we will have dinner and some other unspecified gourmet fine dining, she has one picked out, and she wants to introduce me to a high school freind of hers, this seems to be the life here in the Philippines, swimming, lunch, coffee, browsing the mall, cinema and dinner out.

but then again, who is complaining, certainly not me !

[Jay&Zobel]

Day 7 A Night to Remember.

I ask Gina where is the menu, she says, there is no menu as such, the seafood is raw, you just go to the chef, look at what they have caught and then pick it live, I see fish swimming around, and I am shocked to find that we are to choose our catch, this is something new to me, I am mesmerized by all this.

The only thing not swimming around is of course the Blue Marlin, a deep water fish, and this has to be caught quite far out at sea, she says, do you want to try the Blue Marlin, I have to say it looks inviting, she picks out a Kilo of blue marlin, it looks like a huge steak, but white of course slight white, and more of a creamy colour look, the chef takes it and they start to cook it, the chef puts lemon bits, and garlic, and puts tomato and onions in, with red peppers, this will all add to the flavour, he tell us, I feel like I am at Gordon Ramsy restaraunt in the West End.

When the blue marlin comes to the table, its amazingly hot, soft and delicious, served with rice, and calamansi, soy sauce and locall vinegar, then a tray of beautiful fresh scallops cooked in butter and garlic sauce arrive, I ask who are they for, Gina tells me, they are for you honey, try them, next a plate of dressed crab omellette, in the crab shell, I try this as well, its amazingly, yummy, I can't stop eating them, everything I try is amazingly tasty, and at the end, the scallops just keep coming, the theme of my travell blog is no reservations - because here in Philippines, you don't need a reservation to have fine dining, its everywhere ubiquitious, if you have the money.

My Gina orders me a gourmet belgian waffle filled with mango ice cream, and sauces on top, enough to sink a ship, I ask if she will join me, no she says, its for you, everywhere I go, people seem to put themselves out for me, its as though they know I am on holiday and they want me to have a great time, I feel like I am living as a King, and its a great feeling.

After a superb meal, we thank the waiters, the chefs, who have a broad grinning smile of appreciation when I tell them, its the best fish I have ever tasted, it means so much to them, they know you are a satisfied customer, thats what counts.

If you enjoyed that type of setting, it's also worth visiting Seafood Paluto Restaurants "Dampa", along Macapagal Avenue in Pasay City :xxgrinning--00xx3::xxgrinning--00xx3: near Mall of Asia. But this is slightly different, you have to shop for your own favourite fresh seafood at any seafood stalls/market and have them cooked at any restau of your choice. They will cook everything the way you like them to be! :xxgrinning--00xx3::xxgrinning--00xx3:

Aaaaahhhhhh!!!! YUMMY!!! :xxgrinning--00xx3::xxgrinning--00xx3:

:bigcry::bigcry::bigcry::bigcry::bigcry::bigcry: I'm missing the PI more!!!

Anyway, I'm an avid follower of your blog.:xxgrinning--00xx3::xxgrinning--00xx3:

[trader dave]

:xxgrinning--00xx3: Keep on blogging Pete.. Makes me wish I was there buying a cell phone from that girl :rolleyes:

Ahh, might just do that in ooh, 98 day's :D:D:D


was just thinking that myself :icon_lol:maybe the maid could give you the old wash treatment in the shower :Cuckoo::icon_lol::censored:


great blog wish i was back there not waiting in uk for wifey to arrive:bigcry:

[ginapeterb]

Sunday exactly 1 week since we arrived.

Its been a week now, and a great week it has been, certainly done lots, had fun, and had some great days here.

Today was one of those lazy days, it was Sunday morning and at 6.00 am I could not sleep, I tried to mess Gina around, she was having none of it, if a Filipina is not eating, shopping, or at the cinema or in the mall, she is sleeping, and this was the moment I dare not disturb her, about an hour later I went back to sleep, the noise of the aircon buzzing in the background, my trip to the loo proceeded by a quick check for cock roaches in the shower area was my only venture outside the comfort of my bed.

There were no cock roaches in the shower, one has to check, I don't know how these vermin get in to your house, but even in the richest houses, I am told they find there way into your lounge, kitchen and shower area.

Having a shower in the Philippines is always a hit and miss affair, its ok in major 1st class hotels, and even the lower cost ones, some showers I find are a death trap, like the one I experienced in Baguio City, about 3 years ago, the one at my house is powered by an AEG water heater, we have a great shower cabinet, with dolphins on the side, doesnt matter how much we paid out, I think it was P30,000 in totall, if the water supply is not up to scratch, then your shower experience isnt going to be that good.

We pride ourselves at the house for having hot water, well for about 1 minute, we also pride ourselves on a dedicated cold water storage tank, which at great cost to me was mounted on a mini tower, that resembles a low level cellphone tower in UK, most of the houses here have them, if you have not got one, your water pushing to your house is going to be pretty crap.

The tank fills up slowly during the night, in the morning its full, the water pressure is then so much better, and you can actually get a decent shower, however, the hot water is another matter, we still cannot seem to get a decent hot shower, not that you need one, but its nice first thing in a morning to wake you up.

Here to get a hot shower we have to turn first the hot tap on the basin which opens up the hot supply, then quickly make a mad dash for the shower and switch on, it last for about 1 minute, enough to get you used to the cooler water, which then comes gushing out in true deluge style, that comples that experience, Gina also tells me, if you want to use the toilet, go now, as they are fixing the pipes down the road, and there will not be any water until morning.

I have to remind myself where I am, its the Philippines is it not, they have top of the range cellphones, 3G internet, latest technologies abound, but water supply is still 3rd world, and we are well advised not to forget that.

I take heed of my wife's kind words, after all, they have lived with this for years, it might seem a novelty to us, but it does get kind of irritating after a while, I am told if the water goes down, there is a deep water bucket in the 2nd shower room, with a tabo, I am also told that is the back up, we can always go in there, Gina says, she will come in and pour the water over me while I take a shower, in the Philippines there is always a way, you just have to know what to do.

She also shows me how to save money on water consumption, she gets in the shower and lathers herself with strawberry shower gell, from head to toe, and puts palmolive hair wash in her hair, she has not switched on the water yet, and why should she, she is not ready to bathe as yet, she tells me this is how Filipinos save money on water, she says, only switch on, when you are ready to rinse, clever advice I think to myself, we don't do this in UK, but maybe its a good habit to get into. hmmmmm food for thought here.

Today, we are visited by inday Mylou, who is a relative of a relative, she is a seamstress by trade, and comes to make cushions for the house, she tells me that one day she hopes to have her own sewing machine, I ask how long as she been sewing clothes for other people, she says, about 25 years, she has made a small living out of it, but she is trying to borrow someone elses sewing machine, but there's is broken and the cannot afford to have it fixed.

I tell Gina and tell her to send the driver downtown to buy one, a 2nd hand machine is about P3000.00 seems to be the quickest way me thinks to get the work done, inday is mesmerized when the sewing machine shows up at the house, I tell her, now Inday you have sewing machine, is this ok ?

You have never seen such a big smile on someone's face, maybe this is worth everything, £40.00 for me, and a new future for Inday Mylou, seems like a good investment to me, she promises to get on with the job and have it all done today, I tell her to relax, finish it when she is ready, there is no rush.

We get ready as it is raining and decide to go to the cinema, we get there about 4pm and watch Ice Age 3, as we sit in the front row of the premium area, I can hear this unusual noise, it sounds like someone snoring, and loudly at that, Gina is grinning as she already knows what it is, I look behind me in disdain, but she cautions me to look ahead, she says, people come in here to sleep as well, as it is cool, and they don't get disturbed, I am wondering as to why come in, if not to watch the movie, Gina tells me young couples come into sneak kisses, and to sleep.

But she tells me that sometimes, boys come in to sleep but have their wallets stolen while they sleep, I LOL at the thought of that, but then again its not funny.

After the movie, we stroll over to Pizza Hut and order a barkada meal, a large multi topped piza with 3 types of starter, garlic bread, meatballs and spagetti, and salad, its enough food to sink a ship, and unlimited coke.

Total cost P700.00 its about £9.00 in UK money, we cannot eat most of it, and it all gets packed up as a take away, I am informed that there are other mouths to feed back at the house, the house manager, the seamstress, and also we can take some over the road to a friend who lives across.

This is what they seem to do in the Philippines, there is always someone else to take food for, we also go around to Red Ribbon bake shop, as Gina wants to buy a cake for a certain Doctor who rendered her good service so many years ago, she tells me its customary to take a nice cake, I think to myself why are we going around at 7 pm on a Sunday looking for a cake.

She tells me now is the time to catch her in, so we take a cake for a Doctor, pizza for the neighbour, and left overs for the staff at the house, I feel like a delivery boy, but I am told its all worthwhile, and people always remember what you do for them, we call in at the pharmacy on the way home, I am exhausted from stopping and waiting in the airconditioned car, I ask why we are the pharmacy, she tells me that so and so's sister is sick and she needs to buy meds for her, plus she is picking up a prescription for manang so and so, (ate so and so) who cannot get downtown, I can't help feeling that if we did not have a car, we would not be doing this.

But something inside tells me, not to complain, its not wise to do that in front of your wife or partner, you may be seen as being stingy and unfeeling, people in the Philippines seem to do so much for each other, no errand or picking something up, is too much trouble, I know we cannot be bothered to do things like this in the UK, but then again, its not the UK here, and things are done differently.

I lament on the fact we are not an inter dependant culture like the Philippines, we are self dependant, but they are not !"

Its only a Sunday afternoon and I am exhausted, geeeeeeeze what will Monday be like !

[ginapeterb]

Monday 27th July 2009 - SONA Philippines - State of Nation address day.

Yesterday was that time of year, when the President addresses the nation and tells her what is the state of the country after a further 12 months in office.

As I had satellite t.v. installed at our house I decided to watch this grand spectacle at the Batasan Pambansang, house of representatives, or simply the Philippine congress.

This is where the President and both houses of the congress, the senate and congressman meet together to hear the President set out the many accomplishments that her govenrment has made in the preceeding 12 months, I was expecting lots of detailed facts about what the President claims are her accomplishments, and yes that is exactly what one got.

I looked on intently at the t.v. and noted that I as a foreigner was the only one watching in the house, the remaining relatives, including my wife, sisters, and helpers, freinds etc, were the slightest bit interested, instead they were all outside laughing and joking and cooking something, such is the priorities of life in the Philippines.

Downtown, earlier in the day, I had passed a large gathering of people at the centro plaza area, they were listening intently in the rain to a political meeting whose leaders were against the SONA, and what it stands for, I ask Gina what is being said, she tells me "The spokesperson is saying, that regardless of SONA it does not matter what they say, the problems of the Philippines will still be there"

I looked at myself and said, "Told you so" as if to say, why should I not be surprised, I also saw on t.v. over 75,000 people gathering on commonwealth avenue Quezon City, they were also protesting the SONA and burning efigies of PGMA, saying that she is corrupt, is guilty of graft and gross incompetence.

I turn to the t.v. again, and wait for the President to come up on her podium and commence her speech, I also notice how immaculately dressed all the congress people are, the congressman and senators in their barong tagalog, the ladies in superb dresses with embroidered sequins, with the mandatory, wings on the shoulders, like they are Queens of Kingdoms, you can clearly see that these people are multi rich, Gina says to me, oh they are so rich, they have 3 gardeners 5 or 6 helpers, 2 or 3 drivers, and lots more besides, they live on another planet.

The president steps up to commence her speech, first telling the party faithful on how when her father was president, (the late President Disodado Macapagal) the economy was 2nd only to Japan, (not sure about this one) and that in 2001 they inherited the largest debt of any South East Asian country, she says, foreign debt has been reduced from some 83 per cent of GDP to 31 per cent of GDP, she cites various figures to back this up, saying that she had made the right decisions at the right time, which were hard decisions to bring the economy back to growth and prosperity for all Filipinos, not just a few.

She talks of great bridge building and road building programmes, talks of scholarships and businesses started, shows in the crowd examples by having the ones favoured stand up and be recognized, the lucky ones get up and nod and grin not sure what there place is in this great spectacle of self congratulation.

The speech starts of well and dignified in english, but fails to keep the momentum as the President drifts into expressions of Tagalog, and the back into English, as she moves between the two languages.

She continues to pile on the examples of her great strides forward and leadership credentials, continuing to cite examples of where the OFW of the world have contributed 16.4 Billion dollars in 2008 towards the Bankgo Central ng Pilipinas, thanking congress for economic and political reforms.

The speech lasts about 45 minutes to 1 hour, but closes rather undignified by continuing to make jibes and have pops at her political oponents, whom she seeks to make slight fun of, by saying that "I made these unpopular decisions and my critics are now silenced" I did this, and my critics blah blah, she often uses the term critics, but fails to identify who these ones are.

The speech started off rather dignified and Presidential for the whole, but finishes rather un-presidential with too many jibes, at her opponents, she tells the faithful she will step down in 2010 when her term expires, but also says, she will not step down until that term ends, she will see out her term, and she will work every single minute until its time for that term to end.

She tells everyone of her sterling commitment to helping the Filipino wherever they are, and that whoever comes forward to stand for the next presidential race, "Please try to build up the country, and not tear down each other"

With that she gives a solemn Maraming Salamat Po, and steps down gracefully from the podium to rapturous applause.

That was the SONA, it came it went, and now life for the ordinary Filipino carries on for another 12 months, it won't change anything, the roads in the provinces will still be the same, potholes and mud, poverty and filth, I ask my driver Georgo what it means for him, he just grins and says, not much, he tells me about his life here in the Philippines, when I listen to his story, because he speaks perfect english, I am reminded that his story could fit just about any of us.

Georgo was educated at one of the best colleges in the city, he trained to be a Nurse, but because of financial constraints, he could not complete his education, unlike some who do get through by borrowing funds, his Mother was unable to do this.

Georgo, did well during the time when the Negros sugar industry was booming, he had a nice house, a decent lot in a decent sub division, when the price went down dramatically, his business suffered, the people he owed money to, wanted it back and took all his business activities in return for the loan he had.

Sounds just like one of us borrowing from a bank and then they forclose when life is tough, thats happened to many in UK over last couple of years, his story is similar accept that his financial backers are money lenders, and not banks.

Georgo has nowhere to go with his wife and 3 children, he ends up squatting in a shanty area of town, where people live in buhay kubo's or nippa huts, all huddled together, with no running water, no electricity, and filthy conditions.

I ask him why he smiles so much, he tells me "Life is what you make it" "Its not great, but if I just had a good job, I could get going again"

I ask Georgo, what is the main problem in your mind that affects the Philippines" I am surprised by his answer, I was expecting him to say "Poverty", he shocks me by saying "No Jobs" I ask him to expand this, he tells me "poverty is not really the problem here in the Philippines", its lack of jobs, if I could get a decent paying job, I could lift my family out of poverty, its a direct consequence of job opportunities that are not there.

He tells me, "Here you have to be good looking, or young, or some set of factors to get a job, like if you want to work at shoemart for the girls, they have to be pretty, and well made up, or they have to be younger, for older people its hard to get a job, I ask him what he is doing when he does not drive for me "He says, I work on a pedicab, maybe I will make P200.00 a day, if I am lucky, its just about enough to feed my family"

I look on in disbelief, thats about £2.50 a day, he tells me that is better than what some are making, the ones who live near the sea area, they are on less than USD 2.00 a day, some collect plastic and sell it, others try and cook food and sell that, others etch out a living by collecting garbage.

I look at my driver, and ask him is he happy driving for me, he says, yes sir, you see, with what you are paying me, and you are also feeding me, life is better for me and my family, I feel at slight embarassment, as even I am not paying him that much, just above the daily average, for just acompanying me around town, Georgo is acting as my local knowledge guide, he does things like going with me to do errands, or goes down to pay something or get something.

Sometimes with the traffic, he will rather do it than I, I get sometimes tired of driving in the traffic, Georgo is great in this role, he also cleans outside the house, and does some gardening, but he is not lazy, or work shy, and he is here from 8.00 am in the morning until around 6-7 at night, he works long hours, and I am proud to say, he asks for nothing, last night, we went to shoemart, and picked up some chocolates and drinks, I gave them to him to take home for his children, a big smile crosses his face.

He also asks me can he take the plastic bottles from the coke that we bought in last few days, I ask him what he will do with them, he tells me, that they do not have running water, "Sir with the bottles, I can use them to buy water from BACIWA the water company, we can fill them for the house" I smile in slight embarassment as I have no concept of no running water.

Georgo has taught me so much about life, and how we all live different lives, in the UK we take for granted our running water on demand, our electricity on demand, our satellite television, hot water when we want it, Georgo places a value on everything he gets, and knows exactly what he has got.

No matter how many times I come to the Philippines, I still don't really understand what it is like for ordinary people, I kid myself that I really want to understand more about the lives of others, I tell myself that this should not be, that people should not have to live this way, then I make myself feel better by citing the examples of the makati rich and elite who live like Kings while the masses live in poverty, if they cannot change the lives of these people, then what can I do.

Gina tells me "Do what you can for them, and give what you can, anything you can do will be appreciated, anything you can give will make their life just a little bit better" She tells me "They don't expect you to give them anything, they would rather work for it " I take a mental note, that the only thing seperating me and Georgo, is better life chances, and yet who is always smiling ?

Strange....its not me.

[fred]

The only thing not swimming around is of course the Blue Marlin, a deep water fish, and this has to be caught quite far out at sea, she says, do you want to try the Blue Marlin, I have to say it looks inviting, she picks out a Kilo of blue marlin,



Blue marlin is a good first class fish but if you ever get the opportunity try and get a couple of kilo`s of white marlin..(in visaya`s they call the sliced steaks Tiniggi)
Simply the best fish I have ever had the pleasure to eat..and eat..and eat.

[fred]

At the Post Marketing, we are going in to enquire about Dream Satellite t.v., we are directed to an older lady who is dealing with it, we are invited to sit down and discuss the various options, this is not like Sky T.V. where you either book online, or do it in some shopping mall.


We got a chipped Dream box for 8k....Never have to put a card in it for some reason??

[mickcant]

Monday 27th July 2009 - SONA Philippines - State of Nation address day.
Hi Pete,:Hellooo:
Tjhank you for this latest blog, this has been very intresting reading and an eye opener on what happenns in the lives of filipino's.
Thank you very much.
Mick.:xxgrinning--00xx3:

[Tawi2]

Glorias speech was like the lady herself,full of flatulence,they really do live in ivory towers blinded to the plight of her country,but dont worry,she will retire to the states:NoNo:If your driver is on £2.50 a day he is lucky,if your on Negros try and get down to Dumaguete,pop over on the Don Martin or fastcraft to Larena,the girls there working in Burger Junction 7 days a week without a break are on £15 a MONTH :NoNo:

[ginapeterb]

Tuesday 28th July 2009 - Taking the Magulang to the mall.

Today my Filipino wife has reserved this day for taking out the Magulang, or in English, the parents, it seems customary that when the overseas foreign daughter has left home, at least once a year, if resources allow, she comes home for a visit, some are luckier than others, they might come twice a year, or they may go once every two years, or even 3 or 4, but at some stage they will travel home to visit family and parents.

Some girls have big families, others may not have a big family, I can only blog about my experience with my wife's family, some of you may read this, and say, its not like that, but I can only tell you as I am living it now, and this is my personal experience of life here, I like to be truthful with my writings, because its easy to gloss over the reality, the truth is always best, it never comes back to bite you, so for what its worth here it is.

When I discussed coming back to the Philippines this year, we have relatives in the U.S.A. who will not come back to Bacolod City, they think I need my head examined, they say it always costs you too much in having to fund everyone else in the family, plus also others, I know there is an element of truth in there reservations, because thats also my experience here too.

You have the best of intentions in the UK, you set a budget for your trip, and you hope to live within that budget, I have to tell you guys, we had these big intentions about how we will budget, that has all gone crashing down.

To be honest, I have been somewhat quiet in last couple of days, my wife has noticed my quietness, we have spent nearly P100,000 in just over 10 days, I have friends also, I think they told us, they spent similar in the time they were here in Philippines, its not that you dont have good intentions, but its clear to me, that you will never stop the flow of money outwards when you get here, this is about the 4th or 5th visit I have made over last 3 or 4 years, and when we come, it does not change.

The mathematics of coming to the Philippines, means that if you go anywhere, other costs creep in, like for example, taking the parents out for a shoemart visit, my wife wants to treat them to a months food for their house, then there is allowances for the month, then there is cousins who need help with school fees, help with hospital bills, then there is this one and that one, nephews who are promised a mobile phone, and also, new clothes, then there is female cousins, who are promised things as well, then there is continuious loading of mobile phones, and others mobile phones.

I could make long list for you, this is my experience, please people out there reading this if you wish to comment you may do so, however I will not reply to individual stories of how its different for you, of whether you never let this happen, the simple fact of the matter is, my wife tells me, my family loves me in the Philippines.

They say, what a generous husband my wife has, and wherever we go, people tell me, that my wife is very happy with me, it seems then to onlookers, that happiness for the Filipina is measured in the pleasure and help she can give to immediate family, by financial aid, pasalubong, and help with other costs.

This does I find ingratiate you to your immediate family, my private thoughts I have to keep to myself, my holiday budget being smashed very quickly, and having to draw on other funds, I did not intend to spend, however, my wife tells me, she has never been happier, and it shows, her love for me is never in doubt, she worships the ground I walk on, never stops telling me how proud she is of me.

She tells me how I bring so much pleasure to her and her family, we are travelling up to Subic Bay during the last few days of my visit, her cousin a young lady of 25 has never been out of the city, let alone visited the capital.

She toyfully asks if she could come, my wife asks me if we could take her, I check out a flight and its about £25.00 return to take the lady with us, we text her to tell her to meet us, and she is coming to meet us at Red Ribbon for coffee during her work break.

She works 9 hours a day, and 6 days a week, with 1 day off, like some of you have mentioned in your comments, the wages are low here, she earns P7500.00 a month, for 54 hours a week, she lives in a boarding house because its so far to her house with parents.

She at least has a job, but the job is going nowhere, I break the news to the cousin that she is booked on a flight to Manila with us, she is ecstatic, she cuddles and kisses the foreigner cousin in law, she tells me, can i get a husband as generous as you, I laugh and say, yes if you really want to....she is beautiful (get your hands off you lot).

She is so happy and my wife tells me, in seconds the whole office will know she is going to the capital city with cousins from UK, my wife then laments on the trip home, "You have made someone so happy", "Why are you so nice"

£25.00 does not seem an awful lot of money to you and I, but here in the Philippines, its bringing pleasure and has affected one life with a trip they will cherish forever.

I can spend £25.00 on one days groceries down at tesco, but I cannot buy the pleasure the young cousin will get from coming with us to Subic Bay, how do you put a price on that kind of joy.

Every where we go when downtown, we seem to have to pick up food for this one and that one, my wife tells me, its custom here to do that, she tells me that when she lived in poor conditions, these ones would always share what they had with her, she tells me, its her way of returning the generosity of others, I have to say, Filipinos are quite generous when they have something to share, I remind myself again of the inter-dependancy of this culture, where the good fortunes of one are shared by those around them.

I have to say to the guys here on this forum, my wife has a spring in her step I haven't seen so much in UK, yes she sends money to support her ageing parents, but I think its different here, she has demonstrated to them that she can come back to the Philippines, get out her bank cards, and spend money on them, it seems to me to be important enough to her to say "Look when i was young you sponsored me at school and got me through college, when money was tight" "Now its my turn, I went abroad and now I am back to help you", I can certainly see, how important it is to her, I do not involve myself in this cultural way of doing things, but as you can see, I see everything and say nothing.

I see this everywhere in the Philippines, we all know that they all send money to support family in one way or another, but this has hit me personally, it may not be your experience, but this has been mine.

A sigh of relief goes over both of us, tomorrow we fly to Mindanao for a 5 day trip, perhaps then we can have some time together on this part of our holiday, our obligations fulfilled, its time for a well earned break.

[aposhark]

Good blog, Pete.

I admire your generosity, but your spending seems a lot to me :yikes:

You must be much wealthier than me, but if money is no object then fill your boots :icon_lol:

[Tish]

I once been in the Philippines with one of my 'ex-filipina friend' and she spent half a million pesos in just 2 weeks:omg:

I tried to make her see sense by quietly reminding her of the amount she has spent at that time, but all i got was basically mind your own business kine of reply!:doh

It wasn't my intention at that time to make her feel 'bad', but she took it the wrong way :NoNo:

[Tish]

BTW, I'm really enjoying you blog Pete. :xxgrinning--00xx3:

I look forward to the next one.

Tish

[Jay&Zobel]

Oh no! :bigcry: Now I'm dreading to coming back to PI... Holidays in PI is really expensive if you come & think about it. :bigcry::bigcry::bigcry:

[fred]

Oh no! :bigcry: Now I'm dreading to coming back to PI... Holidays in PI is really expensive if you come & think about it. :bigcry::bigcry::bigcry:

If you are a soft touch its a certainty..

[scott&ligaya]

hi there Pete,
personally I think your approach is spot on and like you I get a great thrill watching my wife and seeing her so happy. I have asked some of her extended family if they think she is being "flash" and showing off and they strongly assure me that their tita is just very happy to be able to help them and proud of her hubby and their achievements. She is I have to say very down to earth and I would say on balance is happier spending time in Pangasinan on the farm with very few creature comforts but loads of neighbours and extended family as she is when we are diving or socialising in Palawan with our ex pat friends when we are there.

carry on the blog, it is a great read

[Florge]

well... we all work to earn money to spend.. we can't bring them to our grave... I like your wife Pete... she never forgets the people who helped her when she was down.. she's just paying it back.. and paying it forward as well by helping other people in the littlest way she can.. she's an amazing woman...

And amazing people always wind up being together.. that's why she has you... enjoy your stay here... Philippines is where Asia wears its smile.

[Jay&Zobel]

Oh no! :bigcry: Now I'm dreading to coming back to PI... Holidays in PI is really expensive if you come & think about it. :bigcry::bigcry::bigcry:


If you are a soft touch its a certainty..

True true but it is so so so sooooooooo difficult to stick to a budget. It feels so good treating your loved ones, honestly it really does! :xxgrinning--00xx3::xxgrinning--00xx3: But once you are back in the UK, hehehe, reality starts kicking in :bigcry::bigcry: :REGamblMoney01HL1::REGamblMoney01HL1::REGamblMoney01HL1::REGamblMoney01HL1::bigcry:

[lost_bulak]

True true but it is so so so sooooooooo difficult to stick to a budget. It feels so good treating your loved ones, honestly it really does! :xxgrinning--00xx3::xxgrinning--00xx3: But once you are back in the UK, hehehe, reality starts kicking in :bigcry::bigcry: :REGamblMoney01HL1::REGamblMoney01HL1::REGamblMoney01HL1::REGamblMoney01HL1::bigcry:

I totally agree!

[GaryFifer]

Any more info from Pete, hope he is fine. Look forward to reading his Mindanao exploits.Yes the big guy is all heart. He likes to see people happy. It is nice to see him start to talk to his driver and learn more about life there. Interesting that all that driver wanted was bottles for water. I wish that the driver can get a water pump in his area. That would make a considerable difference to everyone living there. Instead of satellite TV and big TV. Keep it simple lad.

First thing I bought for Jessica house was air conditioner&bed for Edilyn.I decided to get a small DVD player which was used later to see photos on disc.
I saw her mother who is 60 and her father. I got her mom a pair of glasses&she was happy with that. Her dad was happy with coffee&new pair of slippers!

They did not speak much english, so we shared something on DVD. I showed them some Charlie Chaplin on which is universal!

[Jay&Zobel]

Any more info from Pete, hope he is fine. Look forward to reading his Mindanao exploits.Yes the big guy is all heart. He likes to see people happy. It is nice to see him start to talk to his driver and learn more about life there. Interesting that all that driver wanted was bottles for water. I wish that the driver can get a water pump in his area. That would make a considerable difference to everyone living there. Instead of satellite TV and big TV. Keep it simple lad.

First thing I bought for Jessica house was air conditioner&bed for Edilyn.I decided to get a small DVD player which was used later to see photos on disc.
I saw her mother who is 60 and her father. I got her mom a pair of glasses&she was happy with that. Her dad was happy with coffee&new pair of slippers!

They did not speak much english, so we shared something on DVD. I showed them some Charlie Chaplin on which is universal!



Just treating them with food makes them HAPPY :smileybigtmouth: :xxgrinning--00xx3:
So simple yet the joys that you have given is so much!:cwm38:

[aposhark]

I once been in the Philippines with one of my 'ex-filipina friend' and she spent half a million pesos in just 2 weeks:omg:

I tried to make her see sense by quietly reminding her of the amount she has spent at that time, but all i got was basically mind your own business kine of reply!:doh

It wasn't my intention at that time to make her feel 'bad', but she took it the wrong way :NoNo:

£7,000 (500,000 PHP) in two weeks is a very big sum to me, but if she has it and wants to spend it, then I suppose it is her business.

I generally work on a 1:10 ratio between the Phils and the UK.
That is to say, if you give £100 in pesos to a family member there, it will probably have the equivalent spending power of £1,000.
My ratio may not be correct, it is just something I use in the province.

I cannot afford to be a "soft touch" when I do go there, it is hard enogh for me to keep up paying the bills in the UK.

I suppose though it is always down to being rich and being not rich.
There are hotel rooms in London that cost £10,000 a night :NoNo:

Some people have the money to afford that, and this has always been the way.

[trader dave]

i have read every word of petes blogg and have relived every step it has bought a lump to my throat at times :bigcry:

i am not going to make a big story here as its petes blogg :xxgrinning--00xx3:
but as always a word of caution:rolleyes:

i have just married pilipina wife number 2 :Rasp:and they are as different as chalk and cheese :icon_lol:

but i am not going to talk about number 2 :Rasp:i am going to talk about number 1 and the pilipino family:furious3:

i met number 1 in uk she was an overstayer run away from her employer we met got involved i spend lots of money making her legal in uk got british passport the whole lot:Erm:

i supported her i helped to support her family ,invest in this send all the children to school the whole works we went there a few times the family as pete said was fantastic i like pete thought i had the best pilipino family in the whole world:doh

i was warned by other ex pats ---friend you are there investment if you fall out with your wife THEY WILL DROP YOU LIKE A STONE:Help1:

and that was exactly what happened i made one mistake and the divorce papers where on my doormat within 4 weeks :angry: would the family help me then NO :Brick::furious3: all they could say was WE ARE GOING TO ENJOY SPENDING MORE OF YOUR MONEY :Help1:

FORTUNANTLY FOR ME the house me and my then wife occupied was still in my 79 year old mothers name otherwise it would have been goodbye £125.000.00 quid

so i picked number 2 wife with great caution SHE NO FAMILY AT ALL hard to find i know but it was our fate

BEWARE even after 10 years of a somewhat happy marriage you can still feel like you have been scammed:doh:doh

[ginapeterb]

Destination Mindanao specifically Davao Del Norte (Davao City).

Hi guys and girls, I have been touched by some of your comments and I am glad you are getting some enjoyment on reading about my experiences here in the Philippines, I hasten to add guys, in no way do i ever pass myself off as some kind of expert, in fact, I am learning all the time.

What I hope to do when writing is to share with you what I have found, the more I try and integrate into Filipino life here, the more it enriches my total understanding of life for the masses.

Just in passing, my Gina and I went down to Globe today in town, we just cut off our old landline system and the old internet connection, as the Globe Tower uplink system is now up and running very well, I have to say 2MB makes a big difference, and no wires, all completely from a dish on the roof (tiny one) up to the local router tower, and puts the Philippines really into the 21st century, they should be congratulated.

We were chatting along about our trip and what we had seen, and she made this comment as her sister in law and brother will visit us today from another island, we managed to find out what the cost of the trip would be and its around P2000.00 although we managed to get it down to 4 round trip tickets to 1625.00 paid in advance, again family are happy today, they are visiting us at our house, and making a trip as well, Gina said something strange to me.

She said "I could not go back to this life again, my brother could not afford to come and see me, I had to send the money, I am happy to do that, but she lamented on the fact that 5 years ago, that was me"

"She sees herself in that position, and tells me I love my life with you in UK, I have everything i want, but to give my family so much pleasure, I had to go and take the chance of a life oveseas, but now looking here in my hometown, I cannot ever go back to this"

I then said, of course honey, your life has changed in every way, and lets be truthful, you would probably not make it in this life again.

It was a private thought from her, but a very poignant one for me to hear, I guess it was Gina's way of thanking me for bringing her to UK, because in UK she has the chance to give something to her family, and that for so many Filipina's is the greatest thing they can do, sometimes maybe us British guys, we underestimate that power. the power of what they can do, if given the chance they can do it.

For me, and I know for many of you reading, my fellow British guys, you will get your own rewards deep inside, that glowing feeling, that somehow, your a part of that privilidge, you made it happen too for them, you brought pleasure to others, but most of all its your wife's family, and one thing I can testify to, is that if your wife's family are happy, she is happy, and thats all you need to have a good Filipina wife who is happy and contented.

My first time in Mindanao taught me quite alot, first of all about the infra structure of the general Davao City area, Davao seems to be a collosal size city, reportedly the safest in the Philippines, and much of this can be atested to the iron rod control of its Mayor, Mr Roddy Duterte, who drives about town on his Harley Davidson motor bike, with twin colt 45 pistols, he is called the Punisher, and is often seen on t.v. slapping officials and barangay captains for not taking a tougher line with the people.

I am told there are about 2 bodies a day show up in Barangay Patay, famous for being the object of the reported death squad punishments meeted out to drug abusers, petty criminals, and glue sniffers, when Mayor Roddy reads out a list of those who have offended on a 3 strikes and your out basis, 2 days later, they end up dead.

Of course he totally denies any involvement, stating that they are criminal gangs who do this sort of thing, I have to remind myself, that many expats living in Davao would gladly vote for him, many telling me that the city is much safer under his control.

Our trip to Mindanao involved flying from Bacolod City on a superb Cebu Pacific ATR 72-500 aircraft twin propeller type, a very comfortable and pleasant take off and landing and about 45 minutes later we are in Cebu Mactan International.

Our connecting flight to Davao City aboard an Airbus A320 leaves Cebu about 2 hours later, and we have a lovely pleasant flight to Davao City International, needless to say, Davao International Airport is much bigger and has more facilities than many of the regional national airports.

And my first impression of the roads are good, I am pleasantly surprised to find that the roads around the main city area are of a good standard, dual carriage ways in many places, and the traffic seems to flow much faster, there are less jeepneys in the city, and less tri cyles than I am used to seeing in Bacolod City, it appears to me, that Davao City is more cosmopolitan than some of the other cities I have visited and that impresses me as well.

I am totally assured by my hosts, a British Filipino couple, (who I will not name as they asked not to be named in my writings, due to security considerations), that the city is the safest in Asia, and we are collected and taken to a posh sub division next to the Insular Hotel and Resort, which was the premier hotel in Davao before the Marco Polo was built.

Our freinds have very kindly arranged for us to stay with them for our 5 day visit, and we are happy to do so, the sub division is heavily guarded, and gate access is controlled by 3 guards.

The one thing I am told about Davao living is the cost difference between other islands, they tell me that building houses is much cheaper, and that eating out and enjoying yourself is also much cheaper, this is due to the thousands of buffet style restaraunts that have sprung up, around Torres street, I am shocked that most evenings the city buzzes with entertainment, and restaraunting, in fact I am convinced that Davao is all about eating out.

We all know that the great Filipino past time is eating out, but here its even more apparent, we are assured that tonight we will go to a japanese sushi buffet, the shock is, its only 290 per head with drinks, at todays exchange rate, somewhere around 3.75 per head, but I am also amazed to be told, that this is one of the more expensive offerings, and the Marco Polo international buffet is probably the most expensive, at around P500.00 per head.

The food is superb, and there is plenty of it, and we are told that this is just one of many places we will visit.

On the downside, I notice that in Davao especially when we go to Gaisano Plaza mall in the city, we are the object of a few more stares and chatterings than we encounter in Bacolod City, because there are 2 pairs of us walking together, our host Filipina tells us, that people are talking about us, some say "Look at the 2 foreigners with their pick up girls, others have said, oh they are with their sugar Daddys,", then another said, "Oh, look they cant be mistresses because they are fat", this brings some amount of amusement to me, who then decides to turn the tables on the onlookers, by me telling my Gina to cling to me with 2 arms, and make it look like you are hanging on to your ATM Card tightly.

Gina laughs and does so, the other lady does the same, and then we are the object of even more laughter and stares, someone said, in the background, don't worry we wont take your man, hang on to him, dont loose him.

I make a silent note to myself, that no amount of integration into the Philippines way of life is going to stop locals staring and commenting, I had the same experience on my way back through Cebu, It compelled me to point to my wedding band, when 3 Filipinos lounging on a tricycle were looking in our general direction, and talking about us, that seemed to do the trick, as they nodded in admiration.

Gina says to me "Dont bother explaining yourself to people, its not their business", somehow I am uncomfortable nevertheless, in UK, no one stares in the mall at Gina and I, and if they did, I would not care, so why is it that in the Philippines, I do care, I think it has to do much with myself noticing other foreigners going around with Filipinas half their size, yes it does look odd, and sometimes they are pick up girls, who is to say whether they are or are not, but trust me when I say, people talk about it, they want to know, the most rude questions, our Filipino host tells me recently, that she is asked impertinent questions about the size of her husbands penis, and other sexual innuendo trivia.

Gina tells me, educated people do not ask such questions, but then I say, maybe not, but trust me honey they are thinking about it.

Apart from the stares, our time in Davao is very nice, our hosts take us to the Insular hotel, which is next to the beach, and just opposite Paradise Island, my British friend takes me across to swim at the hotel in the pool, and tells me that he has a membership there, which costs around P1500.00 a month, for this he can come over, swim in the leisure heated pool, towels are provided, and there is a multitude of staff on hand to cater to his evey whim.

He tells me, this is luxurious living, but you know Pete so many foreigners come to Davao after reading blogs such as Mindanao Bob or Living in Philippines, or similar blogs, they think that they can come on a USD 1000.00 per month, and then find, that it does not give them the life they want.

This is also something Gina and I are noticing guys and girls, the costs of living in the Philippines are going up, he tells me that especially americans are coming to Davao, and finding life hard, there 1000 dollars is not going very far, firstly they fail to consider the unseen costs, for example, what happens if you get sick, what happens if you need to replace your car, maintenance, and other costs, yes its cheap to eat, but if you have to switch off the aircon in the daytime because you cannot afford to run it, it means you are sweating all day.

Some Americans only have it on at night, because they cannot afford the electricity bill, electric is expensive to consume here in the Philippines, and we have noticed that the bill is quite high compared with UK electricity prices.

There are stories here of Americans who came to Philippines for a better life, have ended up homeless and living on the streets, there are one or two examples, but not many, the other thing my host tells me, is about those who integrate too far into Filipino life, they end up living in sub divisions outside of the more expensive ones, they end up with Filipino family living in the house, and thats where their troubles start, there is always a situation to spend money on, they end up broke, and have to leave and go back to US.A.

He tells me that people under estimate just how much they will need, he said at one time £700.00 a month would be ok, now he says, you have to double that, at least £1300 to £1400.00 a month, but that does not cover emergency hospital treatment which we take for granted in UK.

I am not surprised by what my freind tells me, I have noticed that things have gone up in Philippines, however, he also tells me, that if you take advantage of lower cost eating out, and live sensibly, you can do well.

I notice that we are the only 2 people in the pool, the pool is situated just above the beach, and there are 4 or 5 staff just standing around watching us, the hotel has excellent changing facilities with hot showers, and soaps and shower gel, etc are provided if you swim there, a very pleasant morning.

In the afternoon we are to go to Paradise Island just across on the main island of Samal, I know perhaps some of you have been here, and can tell a similar story, I am impressed by being able to catch a boat for 20 pesos across to Paradise resort.

My freind tells me we will snorkel off the reef and later take a lovely lunch, on arrival we decide to take lunch first, and I am so impressed with the service, and the quality of food, the bill around P1500.00 does not do the food justice, it is superb in every way, steaks, salads, birds nest soup, mango ice cream deserts, coffees, cokes, everyone eats well, and later, the grand finale, my friend and I go snorkelling off the reef, the kit being provided for us, I am also told I can get scuba diving lessons for around £10.00 for the day if I want, as there are several Korean people there, doing Scuba.

A fantastic afternoon, and a great boat ride back to the Insular hotel, we are home for about 6 pm, I am told we are going to eat out again, and then go to a club called the Aquarium, its a tourist club, and very popular in Davao.

The Aquarium is a girlie show bar, and 6 or 7 girls come out and dance sexily to the DJ' offerings, mainly techno dance, its not a lap dancing club, more of a scantily clad club, there are a few foreigners there including ourselves, we look better of course as they wife is with us, the other foreigners look abit spare, as they look up at the girls, most of them are around 17 to 20, but properly dressed, this is of course Davao City, run by Mayor Roddy Duterte, about 2 hours later, having had a few San Migs and enjoying the music, we head home for a well earned rest.

Tomorrow we are being taken to see a banana plantation and how bananas are packed sent to other parts of the world, we will also take lunch with our hosts parents, and then be taken to eat coconut fresh from the trees, also we are told this area was the site of a recent gun battle between the Philippine Army and MILF.

We are a little hesitant on this, but I am assured that Task Force Davao, have cleared the roads, and in any event, our vehicle is fully tinted, the next morning, we are whisked away out of Davao towards the city of Panabo, to me in the Philippines, one city seems the same as the rest, but I am cautioned that recently, there was a dispute between the Philippine Police and Army when a soldier tossed a grenade into a group of Policeman, only in the Philippines you might say, as my friend chuckles, and says, he was unhappy with his pay off or something.

I do not laugh, and just sit rigid in the car, perhaps a bit of bravado I think to myself, as we speed inland towards the town of Santo Tomas, Santo Tomas seems to me to be town that everywhere else has forgotten, the only resort in town seems to be the Aloha leisure pool, however, its not one you would want to swim in, the water is good now I am told, it was brown before, not its green, lets be truthful, you nor I would ever contemplate swimming in this pool, you cant see the bottom, it has not been maintained for years, and every where any structures are rusting away.

I privately laugh, as we take coffee and biscuits, and wonder why, I was ever here in the first place, our trip to the banana cooperative was informative, if not warm, our visit also takes us past some indigenous tribes people, whose relatives I am told still live in the mountain areas, where they chase about naked and use the bow and arrow to kill their food, "Even Mayor Duterte pays them P5000.00 for every pig they kill", maybe he intends to court their favour in local elections", These people I am told are called the Lumads.

I meet Samuel who is a Lumad, he shows me his modest house, thats if you can call it a house, its more like a wooden rabbit hutch, which he says he lives in with his wife and children, Gina tells me ask him about his children, so I say as best I can "Kamusta Samuel ang Anak Mo", hoping I would be understood, Samuel gives a big smile, and says thank you they are well, in perfect english, he then catapults himself up into a tree, and drops 2 coconuts to the ground, with his machete, he cuts one open and invites me to drink from it, then he cuts out the kernel of the cocunut and offers it to me to eat, Gina motions me to eat it and thank him politely.

Gina says to me, oh he likes you, he has offered you some of his food today, I am reminded that hospitality knows no bounds, than perhaps one of the poorest Filipinos in society, who to offer a visiting foreigner something that he knows he can give, then proceeds to climb a tree which is a good 25 feet of the ground, without any help whatsoever, and then gives me a morning snack.

Thats hospitality in its purest form, and I am humbled by my experience, Samuels father comes to greet us, a perfect english "Good Morning Sir", would you like to see my Caribou, I am most pleased to accept, and Samuels Father, who looks like his brother, brings the caribou over for me to pat and hold on to, he then taps the caribous foot and gets it to stand on 3 legs, again, small acts of greeting for the foreigners who are visiting.

I am touched by the greetings of these indigenous Lumads, who have been thrown off the land they once lived on, and have had to etch out a living as best they can, they don't have aircon, running water, but they have jobs, looking after the rice paddies and keeping an eye on the banana plantations at night.

After taking lunch with our hosts parents, and doing a tour of the wet market and various other places in town, we decide to hit the road early, my British friend says, its best to get back on the road and drive to Panabo asap, as the road is not safe after dark, Philippine Army Intelligence were consulted the day before, and they said, its best to go in daylight hours, as they cannot guarantee our safety after 5 pm, they say, the rebels put up road blocks, but mainly for the purposes of extortion from drivers, the sight of 2 foreigners would delight them, for the kidnap money they might get.

I am not inspired by this late peice of news, although my freind tells me, the contact is a retired Major, and sometimes he likes to ingratiate his self about the information he has about certain areas, I dont know what to beleive, but I am glad when we arrive back in the area controlled by task force Davao, the para military police who guard the approaches to the city.

Its safe now, and I know we wont be going in those areas again.

Tonight its the night for the Marco Polo International Buffet, and we arrive at around 6.30, its American theme night, and we tuck into lots of prime rib, sushi, omellettes made to order, steamed fish and every other kind of delight, I notice one or two foreigners in the dining room, the Marco Polo is the place where the rich seem to go, my freind laughs and says, there is always a photographer outside, taking photos, hoping to snap some policitican coming in and out.

for P500.00 its not a bad deal, however I am told, that today its 2 for 1, so we only pay for 2 people, they are always doing promos, like this, how they manage to do it Im not sure, but hey I am not complaining, its a great night out.

I am a bit apprehensive to be told we are being taken to another club this evening, but I laugh when I see its a ladyboy club, they have these stand up comedians, who are gay, but look like beautiful women, one of them, who is introduced to me as Daniella, could pass for a good looking woman, however the others would be kind of spotted quickly.

Danielle makes a big fuss of me, and my freind, and our wives just laugh at it, my freind will not do kareoke, but I consent to going up and singing "When you say nothing at all by Ronan Keating" the comedians are poking fun at me, which is all part of the process, I enjoyed myself, my freind told me, they are always trying to get me up, but I wont sing, Pete of course has to make a spectacle of himself and does so quite eloquently.

But, like all these things, I am falling asleep by 11 pm, and we make a mad dash for the car, and head home, its our last day in Davao, and we have done so much, but we are ready for our flights back to Cebu City, and then to Bacolod.

Our freind wake us up on Sunday morning to a heart send off, hot dogs, eggs, omellete, toast, coffee, juice, pomello, jack fruit, mango, Durian, you name it we had it, actually, you will probably like Pomello, its a fruit which is better from Davao, and of course the dreaded Durian fruit.

Having not been able to eat any more, we head back to Davao City International Airport, and say a tearful goodbye to our hosts and freinds, they have been fantastic, not letting us pay for anything during the time we were there, we wont forget this trip, and its sad to part.

But part we must, holidays don't last forever, but the memories of them do, and I am sure for us they will be re-visits over the years, and we have a full day in Cebu to look forward to, and more eating I guess.

Our flight to Cebu heads off on time, and lands in Cebu Mactan International bang on time at 10.30 am.

A High School Class mate of Gina's has not seen her for 25 years, can you imagine that, this is how the Philippines is, they link up after years and years, like it was yesterday.

Our freind is obviously out to make our day great, and we head to the Grand Majestic Hotel in Cebu City itself, after we are met by her driver and a suzuki carrier, its been renamed now, as the Grand Convention centre hotel and Conference centre, its chinese buffet day, for P390.00 all you can eat, Chinese food.

If any of you guys are seeing girls from Cebu, Mandaue, Lapu Lapu, or surrounding area, make sure to take your girl to this buffet, its superb, and well worth the money, its just how chinese food should be, plus your girl can eat Filipino food there, they have Lechon Kawali, steamed fish, Shoipaw, Dim Sum, Sweet and Sour Pork, fish balls, and guys the fish balls are out of this world.

Gina glady picks up the bill, for 4 of us, it was only around P1500.00 a superb lunch, one that I would not forget easily, and a visit to Shoe Mart in Cebu, shows me just how much bigger Cebu is in terms of places to go, it takes about 40 minutes from Cebu to get to Mactan airport, of course all the first class resorts like Plantation bay, the Beach of Marco Polo, Shangri La, etc, they are all there, and Cebu Airport has of course free wi fi, which is helpful if you are bored waiting for a flight.

We were drained, from over eating again, thats a problem for us here, I am afraid to say, over eating, hahaha, who cares, anyway, its holiday, can always work it off back in standard Britain when we get back.

A nice flight back to Bacolod, and the trip ends, no regrets guys, great time, great food, great photos, everyones a winner.

Davao City, is the place to go though, and I forgot to mention, if you want free wi fi for your netbook, and great coffee, try the BlueGre coffee house, not sure which street it is in, but I am told all the foreigners like it.

Best wishes.

[Alan]

Again, a wonderful read Peter. Thank you.

However, I so wish that I could have said 'Hello' to you yesterday in Cebu.

Al.:)

[Tawi2]

Lumads isnt a specific tribe,its a mandaya term meaning indiginous peoples or natives,if you get the chance to visit again drop over at the Eagle reserve,absolutely incredible birds,or if you want to meet Duterte visit the gun club at Golds,I met him there when he was practicing :xxgrinning--00xx3: Next to Samal island is a tiny island called Talikud,Isla Reta resort is worth a visit :xxgrinning--00xx3: Dave,if I marry a pinay is it best to murder her family :Erm::icon_lol:

[Florge]

Pete,

Glad to know you like Davao. It is a good place to visit, live in, and invest... but then, don't compete with Duterte's cronies or else your business will close shop before it will even have an anniversary... I wish this coming elections, Duterte will be replaced by someone who's heart is really to serve the people. Yes, they know him to be a "good" mayor.. but, inside info on him tells me otherwise. His children, his women, and his "kumpares" have a different story to tell... hehehe....

Not going to say it as it may be life-threatening to my family who has been threatened time and again... nice to know you're enjoying your holidays.

[Tawi2]

I have heard rumours behind the scenes that he is giving tacit approval to the salvage,but Davao is the safest of pinoy cities under his "Rule" :icon_lol: If someone else steps into his boots it might become like any other :NoNo:

[Florge]

I have heard rumours behind the scenes that he is giving tacit approval to the salvage,but Davao is the safest of pinoy cities under his "Rule" :icon_lol: If someone else steps into his boots it might become like any other :NoNo:

yup... he does.. and whoever tries to become mayor will get threatened for sure... got inside info on that as well... LOL :xxgrinning--00xx3:

wonder why my sibs and I are not in Davao? Go figure tawi... :NoNo:

[aromulus]

Again, a wonderful read Peter. Thank you. Al.:)


I could not agree more.:xxgrinning--00xx3:

Thanks for your experiences Peter.:xxgrinning--00xx3:
I will remember the finer points when my turn comes....:)

May I just take this opportunity to ask some of the members that if they find something to talk about or elaborate on some points of this thread.... :cwm23:
Would they please refrain from hijacking it, but open another one, where they can discuss whatever took their attention to their heart's content. !!!!

[trader dave]

I could not agree more.:xxgrinning--00xx3:

Thanks for your experiences Peter.:xxgrinning--00xx3:
I will remember the finer points when my turn comes....:)

May I just take this opportunity to ask some of the members that if they find something to talk about or elaborate on some points of this thread.... :cwm23:
Would they please refrain from hijacking it, but open another one, where they can discuss whatever took their attention to their heart's content. !!!!


I did say that :icon_lol::icon_lol: so move my comments and we will discuss the reason behind the smile:xxgrinning--00xx3::xxgrinning--00xx3:

[trader dave]

again great read pete:xxgrinning--00xx3:

[ginapeterb]

Today is Balik Bayan family reunion day.

Hi Guys, and Girls, thanks for all the well wishing comments, those of you who seem to like my ramblings and observations I am touched by your replies, and sorry Alan, had I known you were in Cebu on Sunday I would not have hesitated to say lets meet up for coffee in Shoemart, or something, sorry we missed you, would love to have met you personally.

Its always nice to try and meet up with forum members, just to say Hi, we don't always get that chance, you know how things are in the Philippines, you have so little time to get anything done, and I have found, meeting up with people is so hard, as you are so tight on timings.

Back to today, today is Balik Bayan family day, my wife tells me, its important today, as she is inviting the exended family for a nice lunch.

Wow extended family I though to myself, how many will that be ? well it turns out, there was 17 of us today for lunch, we met up with the parents, uncles and aunts, cousins and freinds, and one extra, who just seemed to slip into the group unnoticed, I was not too bothered, it appeared that we were going to pay a rather large bill, so one more was neither here nor there.

My wife tells me, this is important, because she says, when the balik bayan returns, whether accompanied by the foreign husband nor not, she would normally throw a party, or the girls family would throw a large party, and normally a lechon would be provided if not 2.

On this occasion, the girl is quite proud to throw the party and pay the bill, its a sign of respect for the family, and common in Filipino culture, today was the day, our relatives seemed to arrive out of nowhere, turning up on the back of multi cabs, jeepneys, and pedicabs.

One relative who was working, had only 30 minutes for lunch, but still she took 2 jeepneys, and 1 pedicab to get here o time for the lunch, my wife tells me, often the relatives who live some distance away from the city never get the opportunity to be taken out for lunch, this is a big treat she tells me, and it shows, we go to a chinese buffet for an all you can eat lunch plus free drinks, the relatives go up many times and eat, I am still being told, this is a big thing for them, no one pays for them, and they appreciate it very much.

The family exchanges jokes, and laughter, happy to all sit down together, I ask my wife Gina, is this the whole family, she laughs, nooooooo...this is only the ones I could get hold of on text.

There are many more of them, probably over 75 to 100 in the area, but we will not be inviting them all, we can only invite those who are close to the city, of course some of the family are overseas as well.

Later Gina tells me yet again, I am so proud of you, making this happen for me, I still see little or no significance in the day, but to Gina its everything, she tells me, when they have had lunch, they will all disperse and go there own way home, I offer to arrange transport for them.

My Gina tells me, no honey, they will get home themselves, she tells me, anyway, we are off to Robinsons, we have things to do, all in all the bill was not too bad around P3000.00 and a bit extra for other persons who showed up late, for about 18 to 20 people as it turned out, the bill was not too bad, about P200.00 a head or thereabouts, one of the Tita's in the family grabs hold of me and wont let go, she is cuddling, and squeezing my arms, my chin and just about everything else on my upper body, another cousin (female) is cuddling also, the attention can at times be overwhelming, I know some of you guys will back me up on this one.

Its always the way, it seems that the foreigner husband is the centre of the families attention, it seems they will do anything for you that is within there power, while I sit at the table, i note that no one wants me to get up and serve myself.

Later today, some of the female cousins turn up, Gina tells me, oh cousin so and so will massage your head today, another comes in to do my feet, I am kind of pleasantly overwhelmed again, I feel like Daniel in Stargate, when the women all start brushing his hair, and doing his nails.

Gina says to me, they will do a manicure for you if you want, the others will give you a massage, and do your feet, I say its ok, let them relax, no, she says, they want to do it for you, if you saw the scene on this one, I look like King Solomon with all his concubines, but Gina cautions me, let them look after you, after all, your family to them, they are pleased your here.

What is it about the Philippines, that nothing seems to be a problem, whilst we are inside, my brother in law, tells me that the fish aquarium I built needs cleaning out, he tells me, he will do it, and have it finished in about 1 hour, he also tells me that the filter needs cleaning and the water needs changing, he seems happy to get on with it, and he and another relative are busy doing it.

I have to remind myself that at home, no one would seem to want to do these things, Filipinos come over to me as somehow, happy to be of service, and that family is everything to them, I am sitting here telling you about my day, as a glass of coke with ice, and dried mango suddenly appears at the side of me.

I must also be careful to remind myself, I am on holiday, is it perhaps that fact that is the key point here, Gina tells me, no not really, they are just happy to look after you, don't think anything is out of the ordinary here, they like you.

The day has been wonderful, for what little I contributed, I am told that the family have already been texting to Gina saying, to thank your husband, we had such a wonderful day out, I feel sort of that I did not do anything really, but clearly someone thinks its been pretty special.

I don't know about you guys, but judging from your comments, you all seem to have experienced this in one way or another, where can you buy all of this happiness you seem to bring to people in the Philippines.

My brother in law tells me that people here can do so much, if only they had a little capital to make it happen, a couple of years ago, my brother in law was desperate to expand his small business, breeding fish, actually he is pretty smart on the subject, and knows the business inside out, the only problem for him, is having a little extra money to make his business happen.

I care about my brother in law so much, apart from the fact he is my brother in law, he has that filipino heart of gold, that is so hard to find back in UK, he smiles all day, and excepts life for what he has, hmmmmmmm I could do with learning from this.

But he works 9 hours a day, and he tells me today, remember the money you gave me to start my business, well he says, will you come to the fish farm with me, I want to show you something, I promise to do so, and he takes me, I am shocked to find that he has not been idle in last couple of years, in fact, he has several water vats filled with fish, he also employs 4 caretakers, and he tells me he just sold 4000 fish for 30 pesos each, thats a very large order he tells me, and his wife also tells me, just how good they can do now, I am shocked at his successes, and wish him well, but he says to me, in his very best english, (my brother in law cannot converse well in english) thank you very much, and that just about is enough for me.

Again guys, I am getting alot of internal warmth out here, and I just want to share that with you who read this, a little money from us, can go along way here, 2 years ago, I gave him £300.00 to start this, now my brother in law, can feed his family, and house them, and put his kids to a decent school, now he is saving for his own house, there is a story behind this and I want to remind you all of this story.


"Give a man a fish, he will feed himself for a day."

"Give a man a fishing rod, and he will feed himself for a year"

Dont you agree guys ?

[Florge]

I agree! Amen!

awwwww.... such a nice story

[trader dave]

fantastic as usual :D:D


"Give a man a fishing rod, and he will feed himself for a year" great great

[eagles]

:xxgrinning--00xx3: hi pete and gina.. thanks for appreciating Davao and enjoying your stay here... Come again next time..

[ginapeterb]

A day of hanging around town and doing well nothing actually ?

Whats to do...when you cannot actually find anything to do, well I have the answer, Filipinos they know, you go downtown and hang around, just look at the Filipinos, they will yes youve got it....go to the mall.

Bacolod City must be the same as many other Filipino cities, full of places to eat, and have coffee and cake, if you count all the shopfronts, everything seems to be centered around eating out.

Davao City taught me that, Bacolod although being much smaller in size, seems to have the same traits, what is it about the Filipino passion and past time, of eating out and generally sitting around having posh coffee and rather expensive looking cake.

Filipinos just love to be seen I am told by my Gina, they would go and sit in Bo's coffee concession in shoemart, or Bigby's cafe, Bob's cafe, or Calea Coffee and Cake house, it seems to me, that no expense is spared when it comes to coffee, and mounds of thick chocolate cake.

If the statistics are anything to go by, Filipinos end up having more problems with their teeth than any other country, they spend exhorbitant amounts of money on sweet things such as pastries, cakes, and different kinds of breads, ube and Ensaimada seem to be popular, boxes of Bong Bong's Bing Bongs and every other door bell sounding products come to mind, you cannot sit for 5 minutes without one my relatives coming up to greet me.

Its customary to introduce ones self to the visitor, and you will always see your intended or wife saying, oh this is my cousin from so and so, they have not seen them for years and years, but they talk as though they last saw them yesterday, sometimes they would be told to pull up a chair, and have a coffee and cake, or spagetti or something weird like that.

Today was kind of like that, we could not get across the concourse of shoemart, without bumping into multitudes of high school class mates, cousins, and freinds from previous employments, if its not Doctor so and so, its a former professor, or some other dignatary that your intended or wife seems to pile upon you.

Not that I am complaining, Filipino's by nature are so polite, when they meet, a freind of my wife took us out for lunch yesterday, she introduces me to her daughter who is politely told to go and kiss uncle Pete, she does so without reservation or purpose of evasion, thats how it is in the Philippines, I am told its a kind of respect for me.

I am quite tickled by the whole process, I am by nature a very polite person, but more so in the Philippines, when perhaps not so much among my own kind, trying to be extra polite in public, and showing interest in those who are thrust upon me as distant relatives.

But back to eating out, today we started early at Jollibee, around 10.30 am, the problem is I slept late last night watching a late movie on Star movies, plus I wanted to take in a soccer match between Man U and Liverpool which was showing on star sports, a bit of a treat in this part of the world.

I got up late, but it did not matter, by the time I was up, Gina had been outside chatting at the top of her voice it seemed to me, with a passing Manang, she talked for over 1 hour, when I asked what they said, she told me, ohhh not much really, we were just talking about London, ohhhhh I thought, she knows someone there do you know xxxxx ??

I said honey, London is a pretty big place, greater London has 15 million people, oh...she thought you might know her sister who is living there ?????????

A jollibee breakfast was pretty nice, as the guard comes over and hands me a copy of the Manila Bulletin, hmmmmmm wonder if McDONALDS would do that for me when I arrive for my big breakfast, most of the time they forget my hash brown when I drive through, I don't think somehow I am going to get a copy of the Mail to read.

After Jollibee, it seems my Gina wants to visit a cousin in a neighbouring sub division, we take the circumferential road, (hmmmm thats if you could call it that), she tells me not to worry too much about the road, the trucks use it, and the potholes are pretty bad and it has flooded so that does not help.

I make a private chuckle, and slip up by saying, geeeeeze, this is like the 3rd world, I am hastily corrected by my loved one, who tells me "Its not like the 3rd world darling, it is the 3rd world"

I have to take a reality check, and remind myself that I have been out here for 3 weeks, and it its about the 15th time, it also shows how little you adjust even after so many visits, I note a man on the jeepney in front of me, who spits into the front of my car, I am not happy, and incensed, my wife laughs and tells me, dont worry, thats common, they shrug their shoulders and tell me its not worth worrying about.

The sight of someone urinating down the side of someones taxi kind of lifts up my eyebrows, as do so many sights in the this part of the world, I just see a tri-cyle go past with about 40 people on it, actually there were 10 but you get the point, life is hard here for the masses, people have to make do with what they can.

This part of town has delapidated nippa huts for dwellings, and we get to a subdivison which is brand new as we would say, nice guard house, with controlled entry, nice frontage, new homes, carmella valley, a very nice place to live, it tell us, I say to my wife, these houses are quite nice, it looks very clean.

She is laughing "Yes she says, its clean now, until people start moving in, then watch for the sari sari stores appearing, then vendors with pork sticks and all of a sudden a whole lot of garbage"

She tells me, they all start of very nice, then people start to move in, and in come the bahay Kubo's the chickens, the roosters, and other animals that are not supposed to be there, forget any notions you have about covenants, or sub division home owner rules, when push comes to shove, they simply do not obey any rules, and enforcing it is pointless, as the sub division developers simply shrug their shoulders once the lots are sold."

I silently sigh, and understand and agree, thats how it is here in the Philippines, rules are made simply to be flaunted, and Filipino's are innovative when it comes to getting around rules, I was offered a satellite t.v. system last week for P9000.00 for life, but then found out, its tapping into someone elses system, I remark that whey cant they do things honestly, and realize what an empty rhetorical question I just asked.

The cousins we call on are delighted to see us, as we enter the house, a fan is quickly drawn up and switched on in my general direction as I am told to sit down, a coke is put before me, with lots of ice, my Gina tells me, they rarely use the fan as they cannot afford the bill, but they will put in on for you, I am privately embarassed, as I feel I am costing them money.

Gina tells me not to be embarassed as they are happy to put it on, but it does not help my state of mind, she tells me, its ok, they understand its hot in here, but they live like this, because they only put on the fan at night.

I cant help thinking I would have trouble living here in the heat, there is a lack of air in this house, and how they stand it I will never know, the hospitality of these people again is incredible, what little they do have, they will give you, I have found this througout all my vacation here in the Philippines, right from Samuel the Lumad, to cousins to rich freinds of my wife, who seem to think nothing of pulling out their credit cards to settle a bill.

This Filipino hospitality is unconditional in every form, my wife tells me, this is the way of the Filipino, she asks me if we can stop by Robinsons today as it is the birthday party of her high school freind, we are invited to dinner and she wants to buy a gift, I wholeheartedly agree, and say, make the gift nice !

Filipino hospitality is always about gifts, Pasalubong, and taking something for someone, a great culture even a quick visit to a long lost freind, or a cousin or relative you have not seen for sometime, its customary to take something, does not have to be expensive nor elaborate, a token of gift is always appreciated.

As we could not find a movie to watch today, we descended on Robinsons for lunch, at Shakeys, I love the mojos, those lovely spicy potatoes, with dips, and we sat for an hour and half having lunch, I looked around, the place was full of locals all having similar lunches, I allude back to the obesssion with eating out, and money does not seem to be in short supply when it comes to this.

I ask Gin, where does all the money come from, she tells me, oh someone will always pay, if they save their money, the one who makes the invitation will be paying, that is something I learned here in Pinas, if you invite anyone to dinner, it generally means you are paying the bill.

Not like in UK, when you meet freinds for dinner, its normal to split it up between the guys, thats normal and an easier way to cut the cost of large bills eating out, here it seems the one who invites takes it upon themselves to pay.

I still think though, where is all the money coming from ? the mall is full of restaraunts such as Mang Inasal, Shakeys, Greenwich Pizza, KFC MCD's Jollibee, Bigbys Bobs, Yellow Cab Pizza, Pizza Hut, Chow King, and so many more eaterys and cafes, they are all full to the brim, and of course my wife tells me, people come in the mall for the airconditioning, its so hot where they are, so a visit to the mall is better than getting hot at home.

I see lots of Filipinos hanging out around the center of the mall, overlooking the floors below, just looking down, listening to the loud music that seems to bangbang bang across the mall, she tells me they are expecting some Filipino actors today who are signing autographs, I ask what time are they coming, she says around 6 pm, its only 2 pm in the afternoon, and people are piling in.

After our lunch, we go on the toiletries expedition, for some of you guys, this is going to be funny to say the least, as you cannot get through some of these department stores without being deluged with offers of help from the skirts.

The skirts as I call them, are the young ladies who seem to be in abundance, wherever you go shopping in the department stores, every part of each department seems to have young small petite, scantily clad short skirt dolls, made up from head to toe with 3 inches of make up on their faces, and waistlines that defy human physiology.

I know you are probably laughing out loud at this, cos I know I am writing it, but you see them heading towards you, with this enormous grin like a cheshire cat, saying "Good afternoon sir - welcome sir, hello sir, can I help you sir, pleased to see you sir, and a partridge in a pear tree sir"

My Gina tells me, they have to be extremely courteous, as the supervisors are watching, who also have to be extremely careful, as the line managers are watching them, who in turn are being watched by the store manager, who in turn is being watched by the store owners, its a revolving process of on the spot staff training.

She tells me, that in the morning the staff have to report for further politeness training, and staff physical activity, I can just imagine how they turn up to a japanese style company meeting before the shop doors open, and its up and down, up and down, stretch stretch and blow that air through the nose, breathe deeply, in out in out, shake it all about.

"Now remember, the customer is always right - smile big smile, and greet the total t.... who comes in to shop"

"I could think of more amusing things to say about customers, but customer relations are taken so seriously here in the Philippines"

Buying something well thats another matter all together, God forbid, that you want to actually buy something, but please my dear freinds, allow at least 4 hours if you do decide to buy anything of value, i.e. P1000.00 and upwards, that involves multiple staff attention.

We only went in to buy some toiletries, and within seconds, we were deluged by 4 different department skirts, number 1 skirt offered us a basket, no 2 skirt, offered a push cart for the basket, no 3 skirt, asked if she could attend us, no 4 skirt, showed us where the shower gel was.

Amazingly, they had 2 for 1 offer on, we were told that there were 5 different flavours, and skirt no 4 actually opened each bottle for sir to smell, after that experience and by the way I was almost ready to snore at that point, out of sheer politeness and effort in customer service, I decided to play along, saying that the Marigold had no smell, but the Lavender was better.

Skirt No 3 comes over again, and suggest we might like to look at today's offering a large bottle of hand sanitizer at P149.00 on special offer, with so many SM advantage points, I ask my wife how many points we have, she tells me P38.00, I laugh and say, well at least we can have a free SM coffee, sorry sir I am told we do not offer free coffee, I say well you should do !"

They are not laughing, as we pack all these bottles of shower gels, hand sanitizers, and all the rest of the codswollop we are being shown are todays special offers, please please let me get out of here I promise to buy it all...if only you would let me go......

Supervisor comes over and thanks us for our shopping, and motions us to the cashier and checkout, I am bemused again, there are 4 skirts on the checkout, one to look at our purchases, another to put them in a bag, another one to take the money, and another one to staple the receipt on the bag.

I am exhausted guys and now its showing, I need a coffee or something, so we make a mad dash for the red ribbon coffee and cake shop.

My wife tells me she needs a facial toner, I shout, .aaaaaaaaaghhhhhh no please no please honey, i cant take it anymore, nooooooooooooo she is understand, that the foreigner husband cannot be put through this again. he has taken just about enough at the great shopping day out again, he just cannot go throug skirt no 2's shower gel demonstrions anymore.

Red Ribbon is a complete joke today, for a cafe that claims to serve you coffee that will get your taste buds going, she tells me we have to wait 30 minutes as the coffee machine is not working.

So we sit there waiting, and lament on the fact that at least its only 30 minutes, its been a tiring day, and I am all in, the grand finale today I am told is that we need to go to Globe Lines and pay our phone bill.

I am not looking foreward to this, as I know from past experience, you need about 1 hour to get your bill paid, I still ask my Gina, "Honey why dont you pay on direct debit like we do back in UK"

She laughs "Thats too easy honey - here its queue and pay, take a number and fall in line"

I look at the Globe notice that reads "Please take a number and then fall into line" I gesture that I am just about ready to fall over anyway, so I would consider I am being very compliant.

We go into Globe, and pick a number, its 1116, and I look above at the display, the number is only 998, I grimace, and my wife suggests we go back to Red Ribbon and get a coffee, they should have fixed the machine now.

I suggest we pay the bill tomorrow, my wife knows better, no she says, we have to pay someone to sit here and pay it for us, so she pays an on the spot young cousin to go into Globe and sit and wait to pay our bill, remembering guys this is only a tenner, would you want to sit for 1 hour to wait to pay a bil for a tenner, trust me, they do, we go off to enjoy our filtered black coffee, while some other poor relative gets to sit and pay the bill for P20.00.

Its been a hot day, we did not do much, we ate lunch, saw a cousin, and bought toiletries, but why do I feel exhausted and feel that I just spent 8 hours at work....

Tomorrow has got to be different...please....

[aromulus]

I have been waiting for this last instalment, and I was not disappointed by it.

Thanks Peter.:xxgrinning--00xx3:

[Alan]

Absolutely wonderful reading Peter! I am going to take a couple of your issues and put them on a separate thread.

Many thanks for a 'novel' read.

Al.:)

[GaryFifer]

I am tolerant to a point in SM shops.

Let me explain. When they bug you a bit too much in SM Angeles city. They want you to buy this or this, and I have never even looked at the product yet. I know its psychology but I really did have to stop some of the shop staff in their tracks.

They really did get physically in my way when I was trying to look at things. Also if I tried to move to another isle to look at other things, I got another 2 or 3 of them walk up to me. I said politely. May I look first? This sir- this is suitable special offer- I said YOU do not know what I am looking for. Can you wait?

Anyways- they got the message after a few day they knew my face-Just leave me alone, I will call you when I need to ask you. I like to read first, observe and judge a product.

I had a laugh when them anyways. Cos I bought an double bed airbed from them. And me...and Jessica..well we broke it after a week and half. They say how you break it? I just smiled. Ok-you come back in few days we fix! So every time we walked in shop they smile at us :)

[ginapeterb]

A change in the norm, off to study the historical Buildings of Negros Occidental.


Today I was at a loose end, had no idea what I would do, the sun was out, not a cloud in the sky, and last night, I made 3 skype calls (skype phones) back to UK, spoke to 2 of my colleagues and called my office, people said to me, "Welcome back mate, how did you holiday go"!

Funny thing was, I am outside my place, its 28 degrees at night, I am watching my Koi fish swim, and having a 3 i 1 nescafe, my office administrator actually says to me "Glad to have you back pete, when you are back to work ?"

??????? is skype that good ? in truth, I have to say it was, its really nice to call back to UK on skype phones which is the package where you have unlimited country for about £3.00 a month, you get to call any UK number from anywhere you can get wi fi or access to it.

Globe Broadband by uplink dish, seems to be doing the job, certainly my colleagues told me, I sounded as though I was in the next room, and this is good, is it not, I dissapoint them when I say I have another week to go yet, urghhhhhhh say some, oh well enjoy your time, not much happening in UK, pretty dismal rain rain rain.

I lament on the fact, that I am better off where I am, even if I could not think of anything to do, well today was different, I had a brain storm, "Why don't I get my driver to run me around and look at some history, I mean, I am always going around town, malls, cafes, restaraunts, shopping, paying bills, going to this restaraunt or so and so's house.

So armed with camera's and water, off we go about 10.00 am this morning, what amazes me though, is that I am shocked to find there is much to see if only you look for it, I decide to get my driver to take me out of the city, when I was here 4 years ago, I had a tour of the city of Silay, about 15 Km out of town, and I am anxious to go back there again, I really did not see it in the way I wanted, just from the side of someones pick up truck is not enough for me.

About 15 minutes later, after passing Robinsons mall, we are out of the city and in the country side, this is where the real Philippines is for me, there are sights and sounds to be found, we are tickled to death by this large truck that trundles past with a 30 foot bambo pack sticking out of the back, my driver tells me its ok, they have a permit.

I take a couple of photos, because I wonder what Elf and safety would have to say about that one, as always we all chuckle about it, multitudes of jeepneys pass us, but they are in a hurry and we are not, I see more of the Philippines this way, than trundling behind gas guzzling old buses, and stinky belching jeepneys, its a nice day, and the breeze is with us.

On entering Silay, my driver enquires about places of interest, and the traffic enforcer tell us, we should go and see the Balay Negrense, a historical building now a museum, I am anxious to go there, because I want to learn more about my wife's heritage, when they come to UK, we really do expect them to trudge about our historical antiquties such as castles and the like, the least I can do i thought is to get an insight to the history of the province.

A surprising thing happens, actually guys I am really enjoying this, I am presented in front of me with this amazing haciendero style building, but I am puzzled as the architecture seems to be French mid 19th century, and its hard for me to imagine this is a Filipino building, I thought I might be near the mark, and when I did my research, it appears that there is something French in this story.

The Balay Negrense, is actually the ancestral home of the Gaston family, now I know there is a French man involved somewhere, Gaston has got to be French, and I am proved correct in this, Yves Leopold Germain Gaston arrived on Batangas in 1837, for a while he help set up a business with a Filipino partner, and together they made money out of Printing and other businesses.

But Gaston got itchy feet, and wanted to see other areas, of the Philippines, he arrived some years later in Ilo Ilo City, on the Island of Panay, it was there that he met his wife, a certain Prudencia Fernandez a Filipino beauty of Spanish descent, with his wife in tow, he crossed the Guimaras strait to the then Port City of SILAY, which was the old provincial capitol of Negros Occidental.

After some time, he found that the soil a rich black type soil was very conducive to growing sugar, and hence, he did something that was out of the ordinary for the time, he introduced the first iron mill to the area, he went on to produce extremely large quantities of sugar cane, and gave the island its place in world history as a major sugar exporter.

Thus the Hacienderos came into being, they employed thousands of workers in the fields, looked after them from education to medical, and they were often seen looking down on the masses from their high story buildings, the Balay Negrense is now a museum as the house passed to the son Victor Gaston and his 12 children who lived there, around 1900, later on the house fell in disrepair, but was later restored by some concerned benefactors of Silay who put some money in to make it very similar to what it was in the late 1800's

Putting the history aside which with pictorial evidence was even more interesting, I was amazed to see how many school children had visited the house while I was browsing around with my driver, there were several groups on education visits, one group stopped near me in the grand parlour on the 1st floor, an many of the children bowed to me in a way I have not seen in my entire life.

The boys placed their hands across their stomach, and gave a polite bow, I was overwhelmed by their graciousness, and one young boy asked me "Sir are you from Switzerland", "I said no, from the UK, actually near London"!, "Oh sorry sir, your hair is white, I thought you were a Swiss man".

Having chatted with these amazingly polite children, and discussing the history of the Gastons, i was moved to read the historical records at the house, this house it appears was designed with airconditioning in mind, of course there was no mechanical or electrical air con back then.

But the builders and designers were pretty smart in that all ceilings are 10 feet high, the bedrooms inter connected by latice topped air flow vents above the doors, thus ensuring an amazing flow of cool air across each room, the grand parlour was designed in such a way, that to sit in it, gave you shade, but a thorough fare of air came through the front of the grand balcony on to the rear of the house.

Even the foundations had a 1 metre crawl space underneath, this was to prevent the foundations rotting, they had thought of everything, a teacher tells me "Sir this is how Filipino houses were built by the rich, not like the small box concrete structures of today, which are so warm inside, no thought is given to air flow, now people have aircon and fans"

But on looking at the Balay Negrense, I can see what he meant by this, there are lots of photos of the Gaston family as they were in 1900, showing the sugar being exported, and the various children in their rooms, it talks about the Sweet Silay, a time of good fortune, for those who owned and tilled the land.

My next stop was to take a drive to Patag, in the mountains, I am told by my driver, that this was the last stand of the Japanese defenders, before they surrendered to Filipino scout rangers, and American 40th division who fought under harsh conditions to get them out of their mountain hideaways, it takes us a good 2 hours to negotiate the terrible bumpy road up the mountain, I wonder what it was like back then.

Silay and the area, is rich in history, and is listed as a historical site of antiquity, many of the French influence Colonial style buildings can be seen today, and the city does not seem much different to what it was a 100 years ago, thats good for me to see, as Bacolod, which is a newer city, seems to have no culture whatsoever, with so many areas of shanty type dwellings, it offers little in terms of cultural and artistic flair, I am told that those who still live in the city prefer Silay because of its heritage.

We spend quite alot of time going around taking photos, my driver takes me to the Bacolod provincial building, the lagoon and we take a walk in government parks, its safe during the day I am told, but at night, an American was stabbed a few months ago for his wallet, he did not survive.

My driver tells me, My cousin is in the park on duty, we are safe, its good to know my drivers cousin is around, I am infomed that he texted his cousin to say he was bringing a foreigner relative to see the park, apparently people know I am coming, I am not sure about this, maybe some ingratiation is going on, but I go along with the flow, as it happens the park is pretty quiet, a few people, and its light of course.

I did something today that is out of the ordinary, I went historical researching the Philippines, it was fun, different, and I encourage some of you who come after to me, to do the same if you get the chance, its not boring either, there is much to see, if only we look for it.

The Philippines seems to have been spoiled in my view by monolithic shopping malls inherited from a culture that only started 200 years ago, the US influence is everywhere to be seen, but look beyond that influence, and the Filipino heritage is there right in front of us.

Its been a great day, and one to remember, tomorrow, we are going to the mountains to dip in the well known Mambukal resort spring, but my driver tells me, he is taking me on a trek up into the area's I have not been before, can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring, my holiday has had so many different facets, and its been the best one yet, I hope there is much more yet to come and I am excited.

[jam07]

Everytime I log in into this forum I always check if Pete updated his blog and when I see it, I was like 'Oohhh Pete posted again! better prepare a coffee to drink and get biscuits to eat' because I know its gonna be a long post and I will enjoy with a cup of coffee :)

Its a GREAT READ Pete! And I thank you for enjoying your vacation there and somehow learning more about our kababayans and our traditions.

Keep on posting Pete! :)

[ginapeterb]

A Great day out as an Eco Tourist - the Philippines opens up to me.

I have been constantly looking for ways to expand my horizons, and in last few days, the Philippine Islands have started to open up to me in ways that I had not considered, during my many visits over the last few years, I have tended to concentrate my holiday around the main cities, we went to places like Baguio City, Bohol, Cebu, and of course our home Island of Negros.

But do we truly see the Philippines in its true glory, I am not convinced we do, for many of us, we get the chance to branch out our horizons, yesterday was one such day, but the way in which we undertook this mission, impressed me and gave me much food for thought in the future.

My Gina tells me, that we will go and visit the Mambucal Mountain Eco Tourist resort, I have been a couple of times before, but just to swim, take a dip in the volcanic sulphur pool, and then we come home, we are normally there about 2 hours, and then we call it a day.

This time, its different, my Gina wants me to see some of the hidden treasures up higher in the mountain, she tells me, there is much wild life to see, and I would enjoy it more if we also had a Picnic.

Now forgive me about this, because I thought Picnic's died a death in UK, when Jane Eyre was written, back in 1800's England, the rich and wealthy used to take Picnics on their country estates, Picnics to me were for people who could not think of anything to do at the weekend.

I was wrong, or rather should I say, I thought wrong, Picnics to Filipinos are totally different in concept, my Gina tells me, Filipinos have to be thrifty, and if you often wonder why they are in so big a group, it has several benefits.

Firstly, the cost of such a trip, to get into Mambucal Mountain resort, it costs P30.00 per head, imagine a group with 30 people in it, well I saw such a group, they rented a picnic cabana as I call it, a shelter with seating, and a barbecue stand, for P300.00 per day, well 30 x 30 is P900.00 plus P300.00 for the shelter, and then if you want to take a dip in the volcanic spring, its another P50.00 imagine 30 x 50, thats another P1500.00 then if you want to swim in the main pool, another P50.00 per head, my Gina works it all out, that this trip would cost them around P10,000 with transport up the mountain, and then food for them all.

The figures are staggering my Filipinos standards, my Gina tells me firstly they will pay for entrance on thier own, P30.00 they will find, then to contribute for the day out, they will not eat at the food court, that is provided, they will all bring something to contribute to the picnic, plus, many of them will not swim in the assigned pools.

What I did notice, is the gushing river that flows down the resort, from the falls further up, my companion and driver JoJo, tells me, the Filipinos will find ways to enjoy themselves without it costing them.

He says, you have to be like this, the streams and gushing clear waters of the falls, are of course free, he tells me no P50.00 for this.

That is probably why i see over 50 or 60 Filipinos in the river, they are of course taking advantage of the fact that it doesnt cost anything to get in the river, also the river is clean, as the gushing waters come up through the mineral rocks in the river.

Gina also tells me, their is probably a celebration going on, someones birthday, or anniversary, or some event, so they decided to come up for the day, what amazes me, is that everyone tucks into the mountains of food they have brought, I see one man cooking barbecue pork, fish, and every kind of food.

We for the first time, have followed suit, my Gina started early in the morning, preparing food, rice, pork, snacks, coke, mountain dew, cups, ice, fruits, we take everything, towels, games, even ipod speakers and an ipod, she tells me, we can play our own music in the picnic area, we can play our own games, I said, leave it all behind honey, we dont need it, she knows different.

And it shows, when we get there, all of those things she thought of bringing, are needed, and even though we pay to get in the dipping pool and main pool, she tells me, you don't want to be eating at the food court, they dont have what we want, and you dont get much anyway.

Whereas she tells me, if we take our own food, we can eat as much as we want, and what we want.

She also tellls me, that Filipinos will eat, go and have fun, come back, eat again, then go off again to swim, come back, eat again, and then have snacks, and then she also says, the cost of pepsi and other drinks is twice as much when you buy it at the food court, whereas, you take your own, and its so much cheaper.

These calculations come from much of her life spent here in the Philippines, its a hard habit to shake, and actually a very good one, your Filipino wife will always teach you how to save money, although maybe sometimes some of us think they will spend it all, actually they dont.

Later we leave our driver and companion JoJo to watch our things, and we decided to take a trek up the mountain, I am told its not for the faint hearted, we feel its better to have a guide, and we meet Boboy, who agrees to escort us up the mountain, I am glad we did, the path up the steps of the hill can be treacherous, its slipping and I need his assistance on more than one occasion to negotiate several areas of the trek, plus when we have to cross a very high speed gushing river, his assistance is invaluable.

It takes a good 15-20 minutes to climb to stage 1 of our viewing, a beautiful view of cascading water falls, a perfect pic opportunity, then we are told to look up, and we see a wide variety of species of Bats, our guide tells us, there are 25 different species, of which only 4 of them are found in other parts of the world, he tells us they are unique to the Philippines, and seems quite proud of the fact.

Later, he takes us to see some more of his guide freinds, they have captured a live orange tarantula, of which they scooped it up in a plastic bottle, we take a look up close but decide to leave it at that, the guides tell us, it can kill instantly if stung by it, they say, its rare to be stung by one, but some of the guides in the mountain have been stung, and death was instantaneous, the sting attacks the nervous system, and shuts down the blood supply, I gulp in my throat and start looking around me quite nervously, our guide assures me no harm will come to us.

I ask about Cobras in the forest, our guide tells me they are around Sir, but not on the paths, its rare to see them, but sometimes they might sliver across the path on their way down the mountain, but its rare to see them, but just be careful as to what you step on, again I am nervous, but make a sort of nervous chuckle and we move on.

We pass several people going up, mostly Koreans I notice, who seem to be extra loud as they come up and down, I am told, the Philippines is becoming a major tourist destination for Koreans, who seem to flock to the Philippines in large numbers

30 minutes later we are the 2nd falls, my breath is taken away, it is spectacular, and my guide invites me to go in and swim, I am hesitant at first, as I am reluctant to swim in an area, that I cannot see the bottom, my guide tells me where to swim, and says, just feel your way in, its perfectly safe, and you will enjoy it.

I am still relucant, but the bravado in me seems to want to do it just for the thrill, I get in and find the stones under foot are quite easy to walk on, the guide says, the water is pefectly clean as it comes up through the mineral deposits and is cleaned, he says its also drinkable water, and tells me, that it gets bottled in local markets, and is a Grade 1 water supply.

That kind of makes me feel much better and I enjoy 15 minutes or so of cooling off in the lush white waters, the pounding of the water falls is deafening here, but its a sight I have not had in UK, and not had the chance of bathing in this type of water falls before, its my first time, and I feel quite privilidged.

The climb is taking its toll on me, I am out of breath, as it is getting quite steep now, someone has built some steps into the mountain side, but I declare my time is up, our guide quickly tells me to look up, a swarm of bats are hanging in the trees directly above us, I whince, as they are so close, but he tells me , they wont move, they are always there just hanging in the trees.

I feel like I am in the jungle, and lament on this fact, the guide laughs and says, well yes sir, you are....we all LOL

Eco tourism is fantastic to enjoy, its a side of the Philippines I rarely see, its been a great day, and there is yet much to do, from swimming in the leisure pools, walking along the hanging bridges in the trees, which again I am reluctant to do, but do it in the end for the experience, everything I do here is great, I enjoy every minute, and when the day ends, its getting slightly dark, we are still in the river sitting in the gushing waters, we have all eaten 3 or 4 times, had snacks, drink so much pepsi, with our own ice....that time has no meaning here.

What is it about time, no appointments to cover, no clock watching, time is endless here in the Philippines, and there is so much to do, what is it about having fun here, that makes you think your in another world.

My Gina tells me, Filipinos love to have fun, they like to enjoy life, you don't have to be rich to do this, and being in a large group certainly helps, they will crack jokes, make fun of people, but the fun making is innocent, no one takes offence really, she tells me, people are commenting about me, I ask what they have said, she says, oh its nice to see a foreigner smiling, I ask why is that so significant, oh she says, they just said, you are laughing and smiling, and they said, some foreigners are straight faced or maybe snobbish it seems to them.

Some children come up to me, and say hello, they want to feel my skin she tells me, the kids are really cute, and I talk to them, Filipino children are great to be around, they are polite, nice, and cute.

All the children here seem to be extra polite, they are a joy to talk to, in perfect english they told me to have a nice day, what is their secret I silently think, what is it that these people have that I dont have....

I cant work it out, I have yet to come up with an answer, like my guide Jo Jo, who acts as my driver my companion, always smiling, never complaining, just happy about life, but normally lives on about £2.00 a day.

These questions and many others still seem to occupy my mind, its around 5 pm, and its time to get ready to go, all the food is gone, the drinks gone, I go to throw the plastic bottles in the bin, JoJo, says no sir, I will take those, oh yes I forgot I tell myself stupid.....you should know JoJo will take them.

As we drive down the mountain road, a tricycle with about 7 guys on it, comes up the side of us, I have the window down, and they all put the thumbs up to me, I do the same, and wave out of the window, they shout hi Sir, did you enjoy the day, I said, yes I did, thank you Guid, they smile back, they are happy about something, I dont know what....maybe its the life here itself...

On the way back, my Gina asks me if I want to have something to eat, I said, oh my goodness, we ate so much at the resort..she tells me..that was hours ago, well i said, what shall we have, she said, I would want you to try Kikiam, its like a fish but cooked and then you dip it in sauce, like barbecue sauce or sweet and sour sauce, she asks me if I wanted to try it....I said, anything honey I will try.

She comes back 5 minutes later with 4 or 5 trays of squid balls, Kikiam, Fish balls, and says, try it all.

I said, is that our dinner, she says..noooooooooo its just a snack honey, dinner is later...I am LOL, as I thought it was for our dinner, she says, Filipinos will eat up to 6 meals a day, they start with breakfast, then snacks, then lunch, then snacks, then afternoon snacks, maybe something quick, like fish balls, then later more snacks, and midnight snacks, I am LOL, as I cannot imagine it, and then I said, but they look so thin, she is laughing, eat rice she tells me....and more rice.

I cannot imagine eating rice all day, at dinner she says, eat more rice, and tries to pass me another serving, I am floating on rice...and cannot take anymore.

Today was just one day in the my life.....I think it was the longest....tomorrow, is another day....oh..more snacks, more rice...

I wouldnt change it for the world. !!!!

[Ji&Ma]

Superb post again Pete, pleasure to read it :xxgrinning--00xx3:
Ahhh man you are making me envy hehehee :doh :icon_lol::icon_lol::icon_lol:

[ginapeterb]

Glad you are all enjoying my ramblings, thanks for the support of everyone who reads..I certainly enjoy sharing what I am finding out here in Philippines...wow today is so hot, 35 plus degrees, at home today, its quite, just listening to music, and relaxing.

[Sun Shine]

Hi Pete and Gina,:Hellooo:
I just wanted to say thank you so much for sharing your holiday experiences with us in such a detailed way. I have spent the best part of the last 3-4 hours reading and digesting what you have written, and having not been to the Philippines yet, it has given me a great image in my mind, and actually made me feel as if I was there with you if that's possible :D
Once again, thank you so much and I look forward to the next installment.
Sun. :)

[ginapeterb]

Despedida day - celebrations, parties, visitors galore.

well guys and girls, the great nostalgic and triumphant return is once coming to its proverbial end, its been 3.5 weeks now, and I am on what I can only term the wind down period.

How can you possibly want to wind down to come back to UK, I know its depressing, but I have often experienced this in the past, its rather a sad fact, that the last few days seem to be hard, in that a part of you, has already landed back at Heathrow, the other is still entrenched in this beautiful country.

Yesterday was pretty much a quiet day all round for me, apart from the fact that our funds are now depleted, well we are still ok, but we are not spending anywhere what we did in first 2 weeks, that kind of tells a story, but yesterday, we had visitors, people turned up for my sake my Gina tells me, she put the word around that Pete is off to Manila tomorrow, so freinds of the family are showing up to have snacks and coffee.

My Gina has organized my very own despedida tonight, we are meeting at Pendy's a fashionable restaraunt in the city and there will be 17-20 people there, I am told, Filipino's love to celebrate, they will go out to dinner for almost any reason, but Gina tells me, she is splitting the bill with a high school freind of hers who is a Nurse in the U.S.A.

Aparrently this has all been arranged last week, so i am looking forward to going out to dinner tonight, and share a few jokes with the crowd, the problem for me is, its hard to say goodbye.

I have also come to make friends with our driver JOJO, he had me sad abit yesterday, in his best english, he told me he will miss me when I fly home, I said the same about him, we have been together quite a lot, this is what happens when you make freinds with a Filipino, he has been my trusted guardian, companion and driver for over 3 weeks, he takes me everywhere, points out fruits I might want to eat, or stops by the road, to buy me something to try.

Its going to be really hard to say goodbye, but say It I must, I promised JoJo, next year we will be back, but with the economy the way it is, its really hard to say what will happen.

JoJo, really needs alot of help, if he could just get a decent job, but secretly guys between you and I, for those reading this, I have decided to buy him a tri-cycle and side car, not a brand new one, but a used one, there is a franchisee in town, wanting to sell one and I have seen it, what JoJo does not know is that I left instructions with Gina to buy it for him when I go, and give it to him as a gift from me, he does not know yet, but I wanted to leave him a letter when I go, to tell him, that its to make his life better, he said, he dreams of owning his own tri-cycle, what he does not know is that dream is already a reality.

Gina told me, his life will be so much better, because he can earn easily P500.00 a day doing this kind of work, he just needs a helping hand, I know what some of you might think, that you cannot keep giving out money to help this one and that one, but honestly guys if only you met JoJo, youd want to do it too.

He is the nicest Filipino you can ever meet, never complains, does anything for you, asks for nothing, and is honest as you can ever meet, I dropped 50 pesos in my towel, and he noticed it, and gave it to me on the way back from swimming, P50.00 to me is not much, but to him its all about honesty.

He is a great guy, and he is worth it, I know now at Christmas, he will be able to feed his children, and to me thats what it is all about.

Call me sentimental if you want, I know, it is really, but here I can help someone, in UK I can do little to help anyone, the state of the economy as it is, and everyone is out for themselves.

Gina is ecstatic, she says it will change the lives of so many, its hard to imagine it, its nice to be generous when you can be, its gives you a great feeling, well i think it does.

Yesterday, was all about trying to do something good for another, its party night to night, and then tomorrow we are all flying up to Manila, that is me Gina, our house manager, and a cousin who never has been to the capital city.

She is also ecstatic to go, as Shoemart her boss, gave her the leave as she had to produce a copy of her ticket, we are hoping to visit Malacanang Palace, Intramuros, and obviously they all want to go to the Mall of Asia, its a big thing for them, its like my sister who has never been to London, coming down from Yorkshire for first time, I guess its the same as that.

So guys, the holiday is coming to an end, not much to tell you other than its that time, so see you all in Manila tomorrow, and I will update on how the 2 days there goes.

Best wishes


Pete

[laurel]

Been nice to read this blog, whetting my appetite for when i go later. That was a lovely gesture buying Jojo the tricycle.enjoy Manila

[Sun Shine]

Hi Pete,

Another good read - thank you. This one really touched my heart (the part about JoJo) and I found tears welling up in my eyes, I can't even begin to imagine how happy you will make him when he finds out.

Thanks again,
Sun. :)

[ginapeterb]

Destination Manila - last 2 days of the greatest month of my life.

Have you ever looked at your life and realized that at some stage it was a life changing moment, the last month has been like that for me.

It was with some sadness that finally, preparations were being made to fly with my family to the capital, for me, it was the start of the beginning of the end, for others, an opportunity to visit the capital of their own country, something of which they had never done, I don't really care about myself in this, it was mainly the pleasure and excitement it would bring to others.

Wednesday night, our youngest cousin came over to sleep over, this is the usual Filipino custom of togetherness, you have to see this and experience it for yourself to understand just how secure and happy you seem, I found this recently, we all piled into our bedroom in the house, 3 of us in the bed, LOL, myself, Gin Gin, and our younger female cousin, a couple on the floor, Filipinos do not like to be seperated, they are quite happy to all pile in to a room, its cheaper on cost, and, they sit up until all hours of the morning cracking jokes and exchanging general chit chat.

That was kind of how it was, Thursday morning was a funny experience for me, since we all had to get up and use the bathroom, it was 4.30 in the morning, and we had a 6.40 am flight from the provinces to Manila.

I don't know how this happens, but everyone seem to move around me, like my clothes were laid out, but I could not see how ? I go in the shower, oh by the way guys and girls, I managed to get hot shower, hot shower is a big thing for me, cos finally it works hahahaha, great, 2 days before I go home, the shower is now working, someone sure is smiling on me, hot shower, in the Philippines at the house, wow, we are getting sosyal.

I get dressed and the younger female cousin has been sent in to put on my socks, I am LOL as this is a nice gesture, again, I think Gina is sending in the cousins to help, you know guys I am getting used to this, this is a family that really works together, I tell Gin, dont send in the girls to help me, she laughs, "No she says, I told them to help you, shut up and dont be silly, the girls love you....."

I am privately very touched, one of the cousins tells me, "I will miss you, and gives me a bear hug which is a tall order, considering she is 5 foot 1 and the smallest girl in the world , hahaha, small maybe, but big in affection and cuddles", this will not be easy when finally we all go our seperate ways.

Whats even more amazing is that we all manage to pile in our car, which I bought about 2 years ago, its a Kia Sportage and should really only have 4 in it, in usual brilliant Filipino fashion, we manage to squeeze 7 of us in it, me in the front with JOJO our driver, and 5 others in the back, don't ask me how they do it, they do, and off to the airport we go, well wishers, and travellers all at the same time.

We arrive on time, and check in for the flight, our cousins so excited to go, and also, Gina's sister in law is going to Manila to meet us on Friday, so she is leaving from a seperate airport, she is in the capital to buy new breeder fish for their business, Gina gave them a little bit extra business capital to buy new fish, they wanted to buy certain imported types that can only be found in Manila, our sister in law is ecstatic because they now have the money to take the business forward, my brother in law has been working hard on his land, because he is to become a major supplier of tropical fish to wholesalers, again, we did not give much money, but enough to put a few smiles on a few faces.

Our flight lands in Manila 25 minutes ahead of schedule, so its quite early when we arrive at Terminal 3, for me Terminal 3 has got better over last 2 years, the aircon seems to be working much better, and seems to be better organized now, thats the general impression I got.

We decide to jump in a metered taxi this time, although their are 5 of us, the taxi driver does not complain as they would in UK, no elf and safety to worry about here, he is all smiles, as he asks for P250.00 to take us to Makati, my wife told me, that he said he could put the meter on, or just ask for P250.00, Gin tells me its ok, let him have P250.00 at least we know what to pay.

I am happy because the first day we arrived we took a airport white taxi, which cost us P750.00, something for some of the newer guys who have yet to go in country, I have a suggestion for some of you reading this, this may at first seem hard to do, but I wholly recommend if you really trust your girl, let her do the budgeting, giver her some money, if not alot of money, and tell her what your budget is for the trip, tell her straight how much you have to spend.

I find a Filipina will respect that, if you tell her, you have say P100.000 (thats around £1300.00), then she knows how to budget for your stay, they will handle everything from all the petty payments that need making, like taxi fares, buying you food, airport terminal fees, and your Filipino girlfriend, Fiancee etc, can be a great source of savings, remembering that for most of their life, they have been used to stretching money and making it work for them, since in truth, they probably have had so little to work with.

Its just a thought, but my Gina handles all financial matters in Philippines, and to be truthful, I like it that way, if I want an ice cream she gets it, if I want a snack like fish balls, she pays for it, she pays for everthing, and this is really a compliment to the girls, who budget very for everything.

Going back to the taxi, we are down in Makati, and went straight to our hotel, the Great Eastern, known as Aberdeen court, we have used the hotel over several years, but I decided that this year will be the last, our experiences on the 2 occasions we have stayed there, have led me to beleive that sadly, the hotel has let itself down.

We booked 2 rooms over the phone, for our stay, and got verbal confirmations, on arrival, they could not find our name again, this is the 2nd time this has happened, and its kind of irritating since I see lots of koreans again in the hotel, and do they have this happen all the time, surely not.

On getting our 2 rooms, we end up with 2 superior rooms and not 2 deluxe rooms as we had booked, when we get to the room Gin and I had arranged, we find that its 2 single beds, and not a double as we had requested, again, a minor point you may feel, but irritating to me.

Then I notice their is no remote control for the t.v., Gin calls down to reception and is told, "Maam, you have to request it, because they are stolen so much" when I go in the bathroom, I note that their is no toilet tissue, again a call to reception finds that their apologies and someone will come up, someone does about 15 minutes later and comes with 1 roll.

The first t.v. remote control has faulty batteries in, and a second call has to be made, this is becoming a joke, and I am trying not to loose my cool, after all, why would I want to ruin what has been a great month for me, I decide to bite my tongue and let Gin deal with it.

The rooms we are offered are starting to look delapidated, I know we could have stayed at a 1st class hotel, but as we are on our way home, its pointless paying out P5000.00 to P7000.00 on a room down at Intercon, or Shangri La, etc, maybe Makati Palace, or Dusit Thani, there is plenty to choose from, but we are paying P2000.00 a night, and in the provinces, P1200.00 a night gets you a fantastic room, Manila is definately getting expensive, for comparitive rooms, this is something we have noticed, things are getting expensive in the Philippines, this has also been commented on a freind of mine, whose wife has gone back after 2 years, and was shocked at the prices of basic commodities.

But for P2000.00 a night we expect to be able to sleep together, and our reservations are in advance, so it should not be an issue, I make a mental note, that for next year, we will make alternative arrangements, also, we check the 2nd room and find their is a support pillar in the center of the room, thus seperating the 2nd bed from the t.v. line of sight, this is getting ridiculous, the towels have to be changed as I complain that they are not white, but like a slight creamy brown, shortly after my complaint, new towels are sent up.

Gina tells me, there are some pretty dirty people, the staff were telling her, that people wipe the floor with the towels, however, I say, that has nothing to do with me, I want clean towels, and I am paying for a service.

Hotels aside, I really want to go around today, as I want to go to some places I hear often visited but as I use Manila for a stepping stone to the provinces, I rarely visit them.

This was one of those days, Intramuros, literally means "CITY WITHIN THE WALLS", its the old Spanish colonial Manila from 1545 onwards, and I have never actually been up to Intramuros, I also wanted to see the Manila hotel, and JP Rizal monument, and the Government parks, that line that part of Roxas boulevard.

We engage a taxi again to take us across from Makati over to Malate area, due to the severe traffic, it takes around 45 minutes, considering its only about 8 KM it seems to take forever, our taxi driver tells us, the traffic is getting worse, and he takes several chances near other taxis, how they don't collide I will never know.

The Old Spanish Garrison of Fort Santiago - Intramuros

Intramuros is probably not visited by many BRITISH guys who go in country for the first time, often they are meeting a lady in Manila, and they get taken to Makati, we all know why, all the first class hotels are there, plus many of the first class shopping malls, its generally cleaner, safer and it makes sense to go there.

Getting out of Makati, opens up the capital a little more, and I am quite interested in the history of the Spanish occupation of Manila, the one thing that seems to restrict my touring is of course by elimination, the incredible heat in the daytime, Manila is great to tour around, but the heat is a killer, especially for me, who is a bigger guy, th heat is excruciating, and no matter how many times I go, and get aclimatized, I cannot take long periods of being out in the open.

I always carry a pack of moist scented tissues with me, and also a sweat rag in my pocket, by the time I have been out in the open for about 15 to 20 minutes, my back is starting to trickle with pockets of perspiration, my Gina is well aware of this, and does her best to make me comfortable, sometimes I look at Filipina's and they don't seem to be perspiring at all, however, my Gina tells me, yes its hot, we are used to it, but we don't stay out in it too long either.

The taxi drops us off at the gates of Fort Santiago, the cost to go in and walk around is 75 Pesos, not bad about a £1.00 a head, a Filipino guide comes over and shows us a map of the area, there is quite alot to see, however, it becomes apparent he is not doing this for free, he talks about the Spanish occupation, and after about 5 minutes tells us we can hire a guide and a horse and cart type bugey for around P1000.00, Gina gets irritated quickly by this, and tells the guy we will just walk around, he rather rudely tells us, that their is other customers to attend to, Gina says, "We did not ask you to come over and talk to us", she is going on about his rudeness for about another 5 minutes, she is clearly irritated and embarassed by his attitude.

The gardens in For Santiago, have clearly been well looked after, the Government is obviously investing money in making this a tourist attraction, there are many school parties there, and I would recommend, if you do go there, allow about 1 hour, because any more, and your going to be feeling the heat, we head out and visit Manila cathedral, we don't spend more than 10 minutes, there, I am about to pass out, and we jump in the nearest aircon taxi we can hail.

Within 5 minutes we are heading down Roxas boulevard, to the JP Rizal monument, in Luneta, this park is amazing in that its incredibly clean and tidy, clearly much money is spent on its upkeep, and it rather does the Philippines much credit, Roxas boulevard is clean, and quite wide, puts some of our roads here to shame, we pass the Manila hotel and the United States Embassy, again another building with a commanding prescence in the area.

Our historical sight seeing over and many photos having been taken, we are of course destined to head down Roxas Boulevard for the Mall of Asia, a must see place for anyone who goes to Manila, Mall of Asia is SM's group largest project in the area, perhaps slightly smaller than EDSA Mega mall, but not much difference in content of shops.

I have been to Mega Mall of Asia a few times, but this time I get to see more of it, I am visibly impressed by the night life around this area, on Sunset Boulevard, this week there is an United States Naval Fleet anchored off shore, I can cleary see an Aircraft carrier, and a few support ships including a couple of Missile cruisers, I note in the mall, a few hundred American personel going around, I also notice that I am not stared at here, I ask Gina why ? she tells me, well they are used to seeing foreigners in the malls here, its no big deal, no one seems to bat an eyelid, that makes me feel kind of at home...

For me Mall of Asia is a giant monolith and testimony to American shopping methods, I mean come on guys, this place is huge, like a giant maze, what amazes me is just how many different eating places there are, the food court is the noisiest place in the world it seems to me, with every different kind of food to eat, not just inside but outside too.

Have you noticed just how many eating places there are, there must be hundreds, from snacks stands to restaraunts, you are so spoiled for choice, it does kind of put some of our large shopping malls to shame, even at Westfield in London, the food courts there, do not stack up to mall of Asia, you can easily get lost in here, and by the way, Gina wants to take me to Shangri La Plaza and Edsa mega mall, this is a triple diet of shopping malls, all within a 10 KM Radius.

I find the whole thing not only tiring, as my constant requests to sit down at the food court and get a drink are a testiment to, Gina simply laughs and says fine, lets do that, in the end, I ask to be put in the cinema, as I reall don't have anything I am interested in buying, and I decide to go and watch GI Joe, which is P200.00 at least twice what it would have cost down in Visayas, I note that Manila is twice as expensive and it some cases 3 times as expensive as Davao City, something for you guys to note, that if you are courting a Davao Girl, you are probably going to find your money goes 3 times as far.....as if you court a Manila girl.

HAHAHAHA, I am going to be in trouble with the girls from the Manila area now, I can see this will happen, sorry girls, its a fact, Manila and surrounding area is expensive compared to Davao City, cinema is only P60 to P70, depending on the cinema, Manila is P200.00.

I really want to go to the IMAX Theatre, that is really why I am here, I am a little dissapointed to find that there is only 2 movies showing, that is Transformers and Harry Potter, I had already seen Harry Potter in the provinces, and I was not overly impressed by it.

So we booked Transformers in 3D, by the way guys its P400.00 per head, a 50 per cent hike, its late and we are at the IMAX, Including Gin and myself there is 5 of us, it just cost me P2000 to go in, remember thats around £25.00, just be aware if you have a big entourage of family doing this, it can work out pricey, hahaha, just be aware, I was happy to do it, as it was a great experience for those travelling with us, they were anxious for photos, for Facebooooooooook and Freindster....

It was enjoyable, the IMAX is a great experience, and well worth the money, I am impressed, and the only thing I noted is that half way through the presentation, my guests fell asleep, I am afraid, the day had taken its toll on them, and tomorrow its Shagri La Plaza, and EDSA....I hope they are up for it.

[ginapeterb]

Day 2 - EDSA Megamall and Shangri La Plaza, will I make it through the day.

I am pushing GIN GIN to take us to the Malcanang Palace, I want to see where the President lives, but the girls and by the way, its 1 guy, thats me, and 4 girls, they are having none of it, "What do you want to go there for they ask" as though I asked them to jump over the edge of a cliff.

We wake up Friday morning, and Gin says to me come on, we are all going in the 2nd room to chat and have breakfast, what is it about Filipinos who are known for rising obscenely early in the morning, this happend this morning, and has always seem to happen for all the times I have been in country.

They have already been out and bought things for breakfast, I say, "Are we going to breakfast in the hotel", "No she replies, we already have been down Makati avenue and bought Jollibee for breakfast", we thought we would all eat together in the room, this is the way of Filipino families, forget any notions you have about privacy, they simply don't think that way.

They would rather go and buy food for everyone, and then take it to the room, and all sit and eat, this is how it has been for me, this is my experience, and its great to tuck into Pancake sandwiches and coffee.

Although I was wanting to rest and take a nice hot bath, I am told, we are all going, and to be quick and get ready, the girls want to go to EDSA mega mall, I am not looking forward to this, as the heat is already coming up, and its going to be a hot day again I can tell.

We all jump in a taxi again, which is fine because I come out of the hotel, jump in a aircon taxi and everything is fine, get off the other end, and go into an airconditioned mall, thats fine also.

EDSA Megamall is 3 floors of shops selling everything known to man, brands I have never heard of, again I end up dragging around behind the girls with my Iphone playing music, this is boring the pants off me, and Gina wants to put me in the cinema again, I am relucant since the place is huge, I have been to EDSA before, but our cousins have not, I forget, that here I am having travelled 6000 miles on a regular basis, and here we are, with family, who have never left the provinces I content myself with the thought that this is really for them.

One of the cousins is excited to buy something, and purchases a pair of shoes, and a blouse, Gina tells me, they will be ecstatic to take something back from Manila, everyone will get the hear about it....and they of course will be talking about their trip for days to come.

One of the young cousins is constantly on her cellphone, she never stops texting, I ask her, who is it Inday who is on the phone ?

"Oh its my boss at shoemart, she is wanting to know what I am doing, how is the mall, I said, but you have been texting all day, yes she said, maybe 100 texts, but I am keeping her informed, that is how it is..............texting all day, to keep other people informed of how the emerald city at the edge of the rainbow is....its hard to keep up with all of this.

After 2 hours of totally being dragged around, my Gina asks me, "Honey areyou ok, I can get you a drink, oh you are so kind, the cousins are so happy, they are shopping, why are you so nice...going around with us...(I choke at the thought), actually I am falling asleep, but I am trying to put on a brave face.

We decide to come out, and walk around to Shangri La Plaza which is about a 5 minute walk from EDSA mega mall, the Shangri La Plaza is more up market, with stores such as Gucci, Prada, Chanel, and alot of European brands, I am amused to see Debenhams, and Marks and Spencer are there, and many Italian brands, but the place is like a ghost town, there are a few sosyal type Filipina's prancing around, Gina calls them Ekra...! with their pencil slim skirts, Louis Vuitton handbags, and Blackberry phones, thats another thing Guys, it has to be Blackberry or the dont want it.

Something in the Philippines about cellphones, you have to buy them a Blackberry, that seems to be the in thing, doesnt matter what the phone can do, as long as its Blackberry.

But the plaza is almost empty, Gina tells me, not many come here, as its expensive, and even by London standards, things cost more here, because they are imported, its cheaper to buy these goods in London she says, "I am not paying these prices Gina tells me", its amazing how she calculates the difference, she has the advantage of course of living in the London area....and tells me, hmmmm there are no sales here...

ITS A HARD LIFE...NO 50 PER CENT. NO 70 PER CENT.....IT SIMPLY WONT DO "!

A couple of hours later, and intense purgatory for me, the girls call it a day, I am told we are off to eat Malaysian food, and she knows a good restaraunt locally to our hotel, I am happy, if my feet are anything to go by, my reputation as an ardent mall visitor just shot up...

My feet are killing me, where is the taxi....we are going to this Malaysian restaraunt, I forgot the name guys sorry it serves absolutely superb, King Crab Chili, and this is what the girls are being treated to.

Gin Gin's sister in law is asking about money, she says, we are spending too much on them, Gin Gin tells her...no...we are so happ to treat you...isnt that so, hubby ?

I LOL, I wish I had a button on my neck that she could press, and every time she presses it...It has a digital voice recording that says.. "Happy to help, happy to help" well what else am I there for, if its not to pay...

The bill is not much, about P2000.00 for 5 of us to eat out, and eat King Chili Crab all dressed in salad, and other gourmet items, I hardly flinch, thinking that in any event I could not afford to eat this at home...so why worry.

By 10.pm I am all out, its time to go and sleep, Gina tells me, tomorow we will all have a lie in, I am not sure what they mean by this, and I welcome it, my feet are killing me, I am hot, and I need to relax, by 11.00 my head hits the pillow, its been a long day, FILIPINO style, malls malls malls eat...malls eat malls eat....malls eat...

Tommorrow I am flying home....I am not looking forward to the goodbye stage...its finally hitting me..its all over...

[ginapeterb]

Time to go home - all good things come to an end.

We do have a lie in on Saturday morning, I am quiet, I think Gin can sense it...

We chat about all the months experiences but the reality is creeping in, the thoughts of UK start appearing, and I know I have a long flight again, I also know I have done this many times, one more time is neither here nor there, every year I go through this, it shouldnt be any different this year.

We have a breakfast again, all LOL and chatting, exchanging stories, our sister in law has gone ahead to buy her fish and prepare the shipment, so we all agree to meet at the airport at 12.00, its early, but we would rather sit there and chat than hang around a hotel room, and in any event, the traffic is heavy, and its another scorching hot day.

We end up at Terminal 3, and its full today, but I Notice that well wishers are being allowed in, no ticket check at the door, they seem to have relaxed that policy now, thats good for Filipinos to see off their relatives.

We are early, but the time just seems to go quickly, Gin our house manager and our cousin is going to one destination, our sister in law is going to another, I am flying back to Hong Kong, I am irritated as it takes me 1 hour in a queue to check in for my flight to Hong Kong.

People keep getting court for oversize baggage or excess baggage, its irritating, but I tell myself, it doesnt matter how long I wait, my flight is not to 16.40 so why worry,

We all sit and chat, but I am quiet, Gin is staying in Phils for another 2 weeks, she always does this, and I always come back ahead, she is sad now, she says, she does not like me going back to UK, but I know I have to....the younger cousin is sad too, she says she will miss me...

Whats the song guys...all my bags are packed, its the OFW song, John Denvers Leaving on a jet plane...I am LOL cos the shoe fits today.

Finally, its time to go, terminal fees paid, cards filled in. I tell Gina, ok Honey, I will go through, its only 2 weeks until we meet up again, and this time, I will collect her from Heathrow, its a doddle, not too long, but then again, we are always together and cannot bare to be parted...thats how it is...


I go through to airside and take long last look behind, Gin has gone...my holiday is over..


Concluding Thoughts.


My time in the Philippines has been a month which I can only describe as an incredibly life changing event, I have seen the lives of others touched in ways and seen people have pleasures that money cannot buy.

I have watched peoples lives touched by things I had a hand in, I have been to places, gone out with freinds, had dinners, lunches, and have photos galore, I have spent my money and put my time in, I have eaten some of the best gourmet food, such as thinking back to the Cebu Grand Convention centre, Pendys in Bacolod City, Marco Polo international Buffet in Davao, I have relaxed in the pool of the Insular Hotel Davao, and snorkelled off Paradise Island, Samal.

Every day has been a great day, I have no regrets, I have made freindships, been treated everywhere as a King, and all good things come to an end, its time to go home now, and get back to work...I am relaxed and refreshed...

Thanks for listening guys and girls, maybe I can hear your experiences, I can tell you this...if you go to Philippines, you can have the time of your life...and live like a King..


And by the way, there is always next year...isnt there ?

[Mrs.JMajor]

And thank you very much indeed for sharing such nice holiday of you with us, everytime you mention something about Phillipines, my imagination is working about how nice my country was.

[Sun Shine]

Hi Pete,:Hellooo:
I've really enjoyed reading your posts, so much so, I've always looked forward to the next post, waiting anxiously for it to come in.
I haven't been to the Phils yet, and now I look forward to it more than ever after reading your detailed account of your experiences.
Thank you so much for sharing it with us.:xxgrinning--00xx3::xxgrinning--00xx3:
Sun.

[Ji&Ma]

Thanks a lot Peter, well written and very touching - all your travel diary especially the end. Pleasure to read :xxgrinning--00xx3:
I guess that most of guys (and girls) who had to leave their beloved behind there know well what are you talking about when you described the feelings by the departure...

Kudos :Hellooo:

[mickcant]

Hi Peter,:Hellooo:
Thank you for all the accounts of your lovely trip.
It really felt as if we were with you.
And it was good to hear your account of the few places I myself had been to, and your explanation of filipino coustoms was very usfull.
Thanks again.:BouncyHappy::cwm12::xxgrinning--00xx3:

[ginapeterb]

The Encore - the return to UK.

Although my holiday experiences are over, I thought I would add this last final section, today its Monday Morning and I landed safely yesterday at London's Heathrow Terminal 5, after being full rested on Sunday, I am up early this morning to get back to work, its an eye opener let me tell you.

Firstly, the object of this section was to put in some comments about coming back from the Philippines alone, most of you have had to do this some stage in your relationship, this is mainly for the men to read, but perhaps the girls too, because it gives an insight into how the men feel.

I am no different, I really hate coming back alone, it has to be done sometimes, either your coming back from the 1st visit, or your 8th visit, or your a husband coming back because you left your new wife there, or your fiancee there, whatever it is, you have this sort of empty feeling, I experienced that everytime, and although I have been coming back alone for 2 or 3 years now, not including my first 2-3 visits to PHILIPPINES, the feeling never changes.

Don't forget you have had such a great time, not just in your love life, which we all know is great, there is nothing like waking up next to a Filipina I know what your thinking the smell of their hair, shall I go on.....nope, I think you all get the picture.

So you are at a loss, you miss them terribly, and it shows down your sleave, as you wait for your flight, that is how it was for me, getting down to the gate with CEBU PACIFIC was hard, I was quiet, I told myself, youve done this all before, hmmmm who am I kidding, its not that easy, the flight to Hong Kong was ok, I sat next to 2 other rather older Filipinas, so it was not like I was staring at them trying to imagine my girl was next to me.

Sitting around HONG KONG airport for 4 hours wating for my late flight was hard as well, I played around with my Ipod, watched people generally, and attempts at using the free wi fi was hard too, could not get a skype call to the house, irritated to say the least.

When finally I went down to the gate which was 17 for my BRITISH AIRWAYS flight back, the reality steps in, the real world is just 12 hours away, and I was apprehensive, actually as I often say coming back to UK was not a big puller for me, for those of you who share my sentiment, actually, if you could afford to live in Phils you probably would, I know, I was not happ about the prospect of coming home, to me there is little or no equivalent life in UK.

But I tell myself life is what you make it, so come on, buck up, lets go.....British airways surprised me, and put a smile on my face, it made the trip a little easier, at last minute I was upgraded to a club world seat, apparrently, many families were going back and flight was over booked.

Who was I to complain, it made the trip just a little more bearable, all I could think about was landing in UK, the flight was comfortable and enjoyable, and the 12 hours seem to move quickly, I slept most of the night, and on landing, it kind of hit me hard....this is it, but then again, I also know, my girl lives here in UK she is just taking a further 2 weeks leave, come on Pete its not like you wont see her again for months or even a year as some guys have to go through.

2 weeks is a doddle, and then again, I can always watch what I want on T.V. HAHAHAHAHAHH

Still though, no Filipino wife to cuddle up to for 2 weeks, come on be truthful, how can you not want all that reklamo in the mornings when you throw down your boxer shorts on the floor, or when you squeeze the toothpaste the wrong way, or when you dont drink water....

take care guys nice to be back in a way, I hope you don't have to wait too long to be with your girl....being apart is never easy, even for married ones, who have been coming back and forth for years....


just bring her back to me....and soon.

[laurel]

Hi Pete, read with great interest. Many thanks and welcome back. Im off myself in the next few months......was there earlier this year and that thought of coming back is haunting me already. At least Ginas back in 2 weeks so keep your chin up. All the best.

[Alan]

Pete - IMHO this is nothing short of a literary masterpiece! (Apart from a few mistakes - or typos:D:icon_lol:)

I think that you should seriously consider having this published as a novelette - I am serious.

Thank you again Pete for giving me - and many other members of our 'family' so much pleasure.

Al.:)

P.S. I'm still as sick as a pig that I didn't meet you in the Queen City!

[Tawi2]

The "Horse and cart type Buggys" around Intramuros are Calesas,introduced in the 18'th century in pinas for high-rankers,the movers and shakers amongst the spaniards,they are found in a few pinoy cities but nowadays they are tourist traps like the Rickshaws in Hong Kong or the Bedouin thoroughbreds around the Pyramids.

[ginapeterb]

Hi everyone, well I am happy to hear about the horse and cart things, Calesas, or whatever they were called, thanks for that info.

Thank you Alan for your comments, interestingly enough, a contact of mine at the Visayan Daily newspaper read it, and said, I should write a news column about life in Philippines, Oh my goodness, if only I could be a writer, journalism is something I missed out on, in some ways, I enjoy writing about my experiences, Alan thank you for your suggestion and yes, I sure did miss the chance of meeting you in Cebu, thanks for the Grand Convention Centre Buffet, the 390 all you can eat was superb, wonder if you have been there yourself.

Thanks guys for all your comments, I am back on the forum in general now, maybe I will come in on some visa questions, but for me, the forum is about experiences, how to get by in the Philippines, maybe its the place itself.

I always say, its the place itself, it does something to you, now I know how some of our girls feel when they first arrive in UK, its quiet, when they say its boring, I know what they mean.

Now I see so clearly why they love to be in groups, in groups there is life, we are so used to being isolated in UK, by 2020 1 in 4 households will be single occupant only, the only freind being social networking sites.

Just a point Alan I will be hopefully transferring some of my literary experiences onto the website I built in time, I think I would enjoy doing that, when time allows, I have had so much great feedback for guys going in country for first time, telling me how they relied on the site for information, its been great fun, and writing is my passion, perhaps thats where my spare time will be take up.

"Nothing prepares you for the Philippines, - but don't worry it only seems weird the first time"