You wouldnt be drinking Russian vodka by any chance, would you? :blush: ;)

These are from post #155 of this thread. Although Tonchi's experience and apparent tone are a bit harsh there are some things that I'd like to add.

Yes, I can find these people any where that I go. They are transparent though.

Most of the people that I am in contact with on a daily basis are friendly and already have some connection with the US. They have money coming in from relatives or have a business with enough income to live reasonably.

Those that do not have that connection are not clingy or manipulative. They very rarely ask me for money and if they do, instead I buy foods for them.

It's very rare for anyone to ask for anything though.

People constantly kissing my backside are obvious and annoying. On top of that, I'm truly not well off anyway.


Life would be very different, yes.

It's not my position here to ridicule or harass the natives for their misfortunes in life.

I would certainly not want to be a native here without access to reasonable housing and regular income.

That doesnt mean that I'm not sympathetic to them though.

From the very beggining, I've made it clear that this is not the case.

That doesnt mean that I've not given assistance in one way or another to family here. The difference in this whole situation is that they do not ask for anything.

It's been my goal to be here for longer and longer periods of time. If I'm going to be here, the living conditions will improve. When I'm not here, those gifts are appreciated and not taken for granted.

There are countless examples of visiting with her family without any expectation of extrodinary gifts of money or luxuries.

There are also many examples of friends and family just not connecting with me for one reason or another. Some have similarities and interests in common, some dont. We meet people in life that we click with and others that we do not.

I'm not Santa Claus so they know that they are not going to lose something spectacular by not kissing my ass. ;)

One thing that they all are is respectful and polite.

Gates do not slam in American faces. That's very true.

Imagine with me for a minute.......

Imagine that you are very normal in every respect. That you are not particularly good looking, articulate, wealthy or connected.

Imagine that when visiting here that about half of the people are interested in you. They look, they smile, they speak kindly to you.

Imagine that every where you go half of the people are doing little things or very big things to help you. To make you more comfortable. To be kind to you for no other reason that you are a priviledged minority.

Imagine parents of small children walking up to you to introduce themselves and their kids to you. See the curiosity in the children's faces and experience the subtle respect that they give you. Americans are very well regarded here and you know that by how their kids treat you. They have been taught that Americans are important.

Imagine half of the people that you see every day are just wanting to talk with you or to have a beer or a soda. Just to talk to you for five minutes. They have a story or a question that they would like to ask and both speak and listen to you when you have a conversation.

Imagine people working and playing until they see you and then they stop what they are doing to watch you. Some are obvious and some are very subtle. They watch your every move with curiosity as if you are a celebrity, but you are not. You are just normal but you are a foreigner in the native's town.

Imagine walking into a large modern building in Ortigas with pinoys everywhere around you. That there are signs "No ID, no entry - no exceptions" , "secured facility" and the like. That everyone you see must present ID and sign into the building but when you arrive to the head of the line the security people don't even ask your name and just wave you inside.

Imagine people giving you their cab when there are not many cabs that particular day. That they flag you inside the cab that they would have taken but that they saw that you were uncomfortable or hot in the weather. With a smile they give you a pat on the back or a handshake.

Imagine having a complete stranger allow you to ride their motorcycle just because they saw you looking at it. No questions asked just , "would you like to ride"? No expectations of gain for them but just to allow you the opportunity. :)

Imagine being a priviledged minority. Not from outward wealth but by being a respectful American. From being someone that they would like to be. Someone that they would be proud of being.

That's very much what it's like for me here and I do not take that for granted. It's something that I am aware of every day.

I'm very thankful for this treatment and respond in kind. :) This is one of many reasons that I love to be here.

This is the water company's construction crew. The streets here in Pembo have been ripped up again to install more water lines and to replace the existing water meters.

When the crews came through here, I thought someone was attacking our building here. The crew started with the jackhammer shortly after 8 am, 2 hours after my bedtime. :mad:

As one sees the work these guys do all day they can appreciate what tough SOBs they are.

Not a single man on the crew wears safely glasses either. Real risk takers as well as rugged and heat resistant pinoys.

This appears to be a Bell UH-1 "Huey". These are flying overhead regularly and I've only seen one modern chopper.

Some are miltary, some police, and this one a rescue chopper. It seems that all the US Hueys retired from service for the states and ended up here.

Maybe rescuing some foreigner from the heat and transporting them to the hospital. :lol:

This is the gym just down the street.

One of many of my goals for this time being here has been to reduce this growing gut that I have going. It's been tough going in the high heat but this workout routine should produce the desired result.

All the machines are outdated or broken. You have to adjust your expectations when you go here. The bikes need tweeking before you start using them. Don't go full out with anything as it might not be all that sturdy.

The treadmill is actually manual. The controls are very similar as to show you calories burned and distance travelled but there is no start button like all the treadmills that I've ever used.

Slang: Hey, can you help me get started here. Where is the start button?

GymGuy: It's manual. YOU are the start button. ;)

Slang: OH SHIT, I should have known that. :blush:

Dispite the older equipment, it's a cool place to go. The man that runs it is (guessing ) between 60 and 70 and still in very good shape.

The staff and patrons are also helpful but very surprised to see me work out there.

Most of them are 5-4 and 125 lbs too. It's always interesting to see them watch me.

Here's a pinoy made Jeep. It's not a Jeepney though, just a single.

The body is made from galvanized steel and all the parts are salvaged.

Is it 4WD? Guessing no. No idea what the engine is either. They are listed regularly in the auto trader for 100 or 150k.

I think that they are cool for the price but no one seems to really like them here.

Maybe if I rode in one my opinion would change. :D

The interior is not exactly luxurious either but I'd say that it's pretty durable.

Does anyone here know what a BMW motorcycle looks like? Maybe this is one but I'm guessing not.

Not a bad looking bike with all the shiney fake chrome and all. Certainly appears to be a nice riding bike too.

The blue front lights fake you into thinking that this might be a police bike but it's not. Blue lights in the front are common here.

Actually, there are all sorts of variations of what is standard here. What sort of inspection is there? What regulations are enforced?

I don't know. The roadworthiness of vehicles here is vaguely defined. Some appear as if they were just assembled from a box of parts and some are very nice like this one.

Since it's the only source of income for many people here, the tricycles, it seems that standards are very low to keep maintenance costs down.

So you have a tough life? Full of inconveniences? Maybe. There are so many here that I'd surely go mad going through the BS of living here as a native.

This is from a trip into Manila the other day.

Several jeepneys passed with people hanging out of them. It seems that your choices are limited in heavy traffic with the jeepneys. You can either wait for another when one is full or you can hang out of the back.

Maybe another will be coming, maybe not. You take your chances.

These two guys are standing on the street while the traffic is backed up in Manila. If the driver is a real ass, this could be a problem when things get moving again. ;)

There is no discount for not having a seat and hanging out the back either.

Here are some schoolgirls coming home at about noon. The classes run in two shifts, morning and evening.

The morning classes begin at 530 or 600am and last until noon(ish). The afternoon classes begin at about noon or so and last until 6pm.

Both the boys and the girls have uniforms to wear to school.

Also notice the barbs on the fence. Ours are not sharpend to cut but there are many here that are. We've not had troubles with theives so we don't need dangerous fences (yet). ;)

Despite all the ugliness of life here it's still a very beautiful place IMO. The skies are very blue and clouds very white.

It's hot as hell here but I often seek high ground to look over the scenery of the town here.

The trees and the flowers are always very colorful as there is no cold weather here. The hot sun is always making vegitation colorful.

A bit out of order here but this is a motorcycle passing very close to the car as traffic has stopped.

Traffic backs up for a long distance when the lights change to red and it stays motionless for a long while.

All the bikes move to the front of the pack and when the light turns green again there are a pack of bikes that fly off the line.

It's like a drag race sometimes when the lights change and you can hear them revving up in anticipation of the green light. :)

Ok, let's look at some foods.

This is one of many meats that I eat here. It's surely not good for you even though the package tells you that there's no "MSG added". ;)

It's very sweet like Chinese food and it almost seems to glow red.

This package costs P85 or about $2.

Very tastey.

It took some looking around here but there is a bakery closeby that sells banana bread. It's wonderful. And cheap, P50 for a std size loaf (10-4-6?)

This bakery makes 3 loaves a day. Sometimes we buy them all. Sometimes we let someone else have a loaf to enjoy. :)

The bread has a perfect consistency and is still hot when we buy it. Absolutely delicious.

The second shot is of the Tocino and a baked potato. Baked potato smothered in butter (not margarine :mad: ) is good here as anywhere in the states.

Friends have told me back in the US that commerical chickens just don't taste as good as home grown.

My experience here confirms that. These chickens were delicious.

You may imagine that I took photos of the entire slaughter and preparation for cooking these birds. I'll spare you all the gory details.

Live chickens prepped on the spot are fabulous.

We baked them in the oven rotisserie for an hour plus. They came out tender and juicey even better than the fast food places here.

The two chickens cost P150 each, about $3.50. That's not cheap food but it's great tasting.

When we use the oven the heat is unbarable but the results with the chickens are worth the extra heat for an hour.

The breast meat was not the least bit dry or tough. The thighs, wings and drums, along with all the skin was the best that I've had in a very long while. :drool: :yum:

Now here is a little bastard that I'd like to stick on the skewer. Ok, maybe not but slitting his throat and euthanizing him would make me happy. :)

This is the cat that terrorizes our mouse chasers. He swats them away from their food bowl if we don't pay attention and has seriously injured several of the other cats in the neighborhood.

I'm very sympathetic to the life of a street cat here BUT, this guy is a pain in the ass. Very aggressive and fearless.

I cant catch the little bastard by chasing him so when I saw this....

It became part of our toolbox for PITA cats. ;)

This replica shoots plastic pellets. I've hit the MFer with the pellets and they do get his attention.

Sometimes I do a little snipe action and hide while waiting for him to snarf the food bowl. :D

He's not nearly as bold now as before having "my little friend".

Then I look at the details on the replica. The sights are very similar to the original. The mag works very similar too.

Also the warning is in Chinese. What would you suppose that it might say? Be careful not to put your eye out? :lol:

Something a bit different.

This is the roof level of one of the buildings in the neighborhood. We don't know the owner and have never seen anyone up on the roof.

It seems like a very cool place to drink some beers and shoot a replica AK-47 at the local problem kitty though.

The roof has a roof too. It's open to the outside but keeps you out of the direct sunlight and the rain.

These are the Philippine twin trade towers.

Nice looking buildings in the Global City.

There are some nice buildings here. It's not all cement block houses and corrogated roofing.

Here is a mini car show at Market Market. The foreigners that are moving in must have the money for the cool looking cars and accessories.

IIRC the majority of foreigners here now are Chinese.

The second shot shows the overpriced condos in the background. :D

The next few frames will show what I call "walk and snap" shots from inside the mall. Many are blurry but you can see what's available and on display here.

Many of these photos are taken for my own benefit so that items or places of interest can be located again when we don't have the time to stop and look around.

In those cases the camera is around my neck but I don't use a flash nor take the viewer to my eye. It's just walk and snap (WAS).

Religious figurines, WAS

More religious stuff and cheap watches.

Clerk: (Chinese accent) Hello Sir, watches? You buy now. :lol:

A Halloween display inside the mall. This is a WAS and didnt catch the big gorilla costume that is shown to the right side of the tent.

The other shot is the elevator which seems a bit twitchy for me to use now that I've experienced the miracle of elevator science here.

Just found this.

Another unlucky commuter hanging off the back of the jeepney.

The first shows more so the dashboard than the scenery.

This is the car of a 35 yo ( straight ) professional pinoy. Why in the world someone would have these dumbass stuffed animals in their car, let alone on the dash is completely beyond my comprehension.

That's a trend here though. Not just the chicks with silly animals on the dash, the guys have them too. :confused:

Second shot is from Roxas Blvd (?), Club Temptation. This is where someone may find an old Marine if he was to visit here.

That would not be Zippy but some other old Marine. ;)

That's all for now.

We will soon be going to the provinces to meet with an architect. This is someone that I've been in contact with via e-mail but have not yet met.

Our visit will include brainstorming about some techincal details that we'd like to have in our house and more details about "how things work" when building out in the rural areas.

To be sure, there will be more photos.

Boo!


Yea!

There was an explosion at the Glorietta Mall today at approx 1:30 pm local time. That mall is just a few miles from here and we do go there regularly.

In the big scheme of things it was a very minor event although it's been playing in the news here for hours and relatives from all over the world are calling and texting to check on us.

It was first reported as an LPG gas explosion but that has not been confirmed until the investigation is complete.

Here is the link.

We were in Mandaluyong at the time and were not involved.

The highlight of today was going to Snow World at Star City.

The cost was P160 each. The temp inside was 5 degrees F. There are two slides that you can ride down.

It was a great time but we only spent about 20 minutes total inside.

We will probably go again and at that time will wear warmer clothes.

The slides are a very cool experience and I was amazed at how fast I could get going without wiping out.

Thanks to the staff of Snow World. They do a great job. :thumb:

We had 3 pinoys and me in Snow City. Three of us guys and Pinang.

There are jackets there at the entrance but there was not one big enough for me.

Next time we will know what to expect.

"taking of pictures and videos not allowed inside"

*snicker*

Get the F out of my way.....I'm with the cellar.org :blush:


Seriously, there was a nightly news clip on this about a week ago. My guess is that since then there has been a big increase in business that they have needed.

Why not have photos of the inside anyway. It's a big advertisement for the Snow World. How silly not to allow them

I put my camera away on the walk in and about 2 seconds after gettting inside saw camera flashes going off everywhere.

If they are not enforcing their own rules, then I will bend them.

This is from Mandaluyong.

From Shaw Blvd exactly. Rena is trying to get a nursing job abroad and this place is where the recruiters are taking applications.

This billboard caught my attention because I am not a believer in abortion and am a Christian even though I swear a lot and drink booze by the barrel. :blush:

This is from the posting board on the placement agency.

This is from inside the placement agency. It's so mother effing hot inside that I could not stay inside.

Kuya Ward and I went to the Petron station and ate Chippy and Doritos with green tea and water while Rena was taking the initial interview and test.

It's harder nowdays to fake the paperworks to go abroad. It was much easier than today with the new system.

Now that there is a more stable and predictable system in place, potential jobs are coming to the PI in larger numbers.

These are from Star City.

This is a good place to bring the kids and even for grownups too.

We will surely go again to Star City but we didnt have the time or the money or the spare batteries to have the good time that is possible here.

The cost of the unlimited ride ticket and the Snow World entrance ticket was about P320. Compare that to the American amusement parts and you can see the difference.

Some of the rides and games are truly lame. Many are well worth the money.

If you visit the PI, take the time to come to Star City. You will not regret the time and money spent here.

This is on Shaw Blvd next to the placement agency. It was so effing hot and boring that I went walking around to get some photos of the surrounding areas.

This is one of the stores selling laptops. Very old and outdated laptops.

We will be riding north to La Union tonight.

It should be a good trip. We have a nice room to ourselves with AC there at one of the family's houses.

A cousin owns a net cafe very close to the house so we should have good access for posting photos.

We are in La Union now from kuya's internet cafe here.

There are 10 stations, 19" LCD screens, new computers and good dsl access here. All for 15 pesos an hour. :) . The keyboards all work too, yeah!

There are so many cool pictures to post but not enough time at the moment.

The air quality is better out in the provinces. The views are very beautiful too as the roads wind around the mountains.

These are from Manila. There are some leftovers before we left. This card holds 2 Gb so we can take a lot of photos without clearing the card off.

Anyway, the rural pics are coming soon.

This is the "all things plastic for P20" man.

Wonder what makes someone use the name Jiz for their online cafe?

Maybe it has a different meaning or is a name here. This was from Guadalupe.

Ok, these are from the pronvince.

This is a tricycle that is for family use only. Two adults and three children use it regularly to get around out here.

It's in a lot better shape than most of the tricycles in Manila for hired transport.

I'd love to ride it around with Pines but I had a "little accident" with one a few years ago and am not sure they would be enthusiastic about having me take it out. :blush:

More shots to give you a better idea of what these are like.

Has a little dashboard there in the sidecar and a sturdy steel rack on the roof to carry large items like furniture or another passenger. :)

Anywhere you might possibly hang a pig or a goat or maybe even another passenger, there is a reinforcing rack.

You will see in later photos that these tricycles often carry a lot more than we might imagine.

This is private school in La Union.

The second photo is of the classroom as a test was in process. We had to wait until the test was complete to extract kuya's little boy so I had the chance to take a look around and get some photos.

The tuition here is P15k per schoolyear.

This is a small school here but it's well known for the kids' higher grades and test scores.

To contrast the two I'll try to get some of the public school.

The biofuel possibilities here seem high. Biodiesel can be made from coconuts and since this country is the one of the largest growers of them it seems logical that this may be a largescale product.

Logic doesn't always prevail in these areas though.

This is the cafe that I'm in right now. It's in a new strip mall ( sorta thingy ) and there are several others serving the young gamers.

The second shot is the kids riding the tricycle home from the cafe. There are 3 additional kids in the sidecar that are not visible in the shot.

This is one of the local resorts (??) that are on the South China Sea. As you can see the property is for sale but because they are only acceepting offers from people that happen to trip onto it, they can't possibly be serious about selling.

There is no price listed either.

This is what I'd consider to be an undeveloped beach as there are only the grass huts for the most part here on the shore.

I don't know what the prices for lots are here either but they are probably much less than the US.

The fishing boats are all small like these and launched from the beach. They use nets to catch the fish IIRC.

.

Even here on the beach the breeze coming off the sea seems warm. At sunset the US beaches normally cool off a bit while the breeze here still seems unusually warm.