First visit - first meeting – first impressions

[aromulus]

Either I missed an instalment or there is a lot of "getting to know each other" going on.....

Keep it up , lad, we are rooting for yah.....

[PeterB]

...is a lot of "getting to know each other" going on.....

Hey! No plagiarism, please!

[paulgee]

There are two types of men who read the Forum, those who have met their gf and those who have not. There is the big build up, months of emails, chats by phone and on messenger/cam, and when the meeting takes place one hopes their gf is all you hoped for. Myself? I was lucky, I was in Manila with a beautiful gf at the start of a 2 week holiday.

Even with aircon temperatures at night are high. But I was to enjoy the heat during my time there, just as long as a cool shower was not too far away, Filipinos being so clean, (even on crowded jeepneys I was impressed with the personal hygiene of people!) The first morning was a chance to see the real Philippines. Breakfast at the Mabuhay Manor was excellent, a buffet of mainly Philippine foods with a nod towards western tastes. As a Filipina Shirley cannot survive without every meal containing rice, and I tried to ‘go native’ and follow her lead.

I was much taken by the Egg Station in the restaurant, a chef standing behind two burners, cooking eggs, omelettes etc to order. I was to find out that ‘Station’ was a favourite word, used to describe all manner of places. And this is where I was to find out how a Filipina looks after her man, food types were explained, fetched from the buffet for me. It has been written elsewhere, more eloquently than I can put it, how men are cared for by their Filipina gf’s and wives. How lucky we are – and let us not forget it!

We walked down the street to the market after breakfast. It was a hot, sunny day – and Shirley was underneath her umbrella! It was a common sight, lighter coloured Filipinas staying out of the sun to avoid getting a suntan, quite the reverse to England. The sights and sounds of everyday people and life are what I had looked forward to seeing, and the market had this in abundance. Jeepneys whizzed past on the narrow road from our hotel, men stood at the roadside with tiny trays of drinks, seemingly selling only to Jeepney drivers, close to a pickup area adjacent to the market.

No pavements on the narrow road, leg breaking holes in the roadside to be avoided, ‘short-time’ hotels advertising their charms, bicycles with their sidecars of passengers pushing their way through the crowds, men selling single cigarettes from their small trays of ware (how on earth do they make a living?), uniformed men with white gloves directing traffic whilst standing in mid-road suicidal positions – I loved it all.

This was only my first day here. As I write this I realise I am doing it more for my own sake than anyone else, maybe to re-live my time there. So I am sorry if I am boring anyone, but I am sure those who have flown out to be with their gf will have similar memories.

More later …….