This is of a tricycle ride back from town as seen from the sidecar.

Here are some pics and a clip from a Baguio amusement park. It's mainly for the small kids but the bump cars are still a great time for us "adults". :)

We're doing mildly interesting things every day here now and I'm way behind on posting pics and clips.

My average number of photos per day is about 700. :blush: Of that large number maybe 10 are worth posting. With all the editing and selecting ect, it's time consuming to get everything posted.

We'll be leaving for Manila again in the next few days. I'll be able to catch up then.

Looks like your haveing fun Slang !!!

Oh yes. And you are just seeing the pictures that I'm allowed to post. ;)

Back in Makati with sinus infection.

Not doing too much for the next few days.

The sinus infection has morphed into what my wife calls "sore eyes". She's an RN, I don't argue stupid names.

So lets take a tally here of my current ailments.

1. Original sinus infection
2. Big Canker sores on the tongue
3. Left eye infected with viral "sore eyes"
4. Coughing again like with the last cold.
5. Sore throat, swollen glands
6. A small cut on my foot is now all swollen and sick looking.


I'm losing the battle. Even went to the doctor yesterday. That's a story worth telling. When I'm up to typing it you'll read it here.

Things are very different here, yes. :yelsick: With a little luck things will not get worse.

Youch...that doesn't sound like too much fun. I'm glad I wasn't sick for the short time I was there. Makati was clean enough, but outside of that...:eek:

Getting sick in what is essentially a third world country is not smart.

:eyebrow: And you're not expecting me to ask for more details?

You were probably not all rolling in the grass and climbing the banana trees, chasing the lemurs through the jungle, wading through crystal clear streams, and drinking alcoholic beverages to capacity either.....were you? :blush:

This is not news to me.

On the upside, the medicines are effective and cheap.

I'm taking medicines for one ailment or another about every two hours. Sometimes taking doeses for more than one ailment.

I'm not allowed out of the yard and have been prohibition-ized until the battles(s) have been won.

Was it worth it?

If it doesnt get any worse, yes. My adventures cannot be fully experienced in a body condom or some other form of western style safety net.

I kill the chickens and goats, clean them out, cook them and eat them like a crazy man.

I drink till I'm the only man standing and go pee in the middle of the road. Pinoy style. ;)

Until I'm wasted or taken out by some SE Asian funk, I'm living a bit more wildly than my American self.

At least, when I'm allowed to leave the yard I am. :blush:

Oh, and I've been banned from operating any motorized transport device. :(

Ok, let's talk food for a bit.

This is siopao (show-pow ;) ) . It's rubbery bread steam cooked with a little pocket of meat inside it.

You can get the siopao at Chowking and most other Chinese food outlets in the Philippines.

This siopao cost P25 at Chowking or about half a buck US.

No, I've not verified the source of the meat. Some things are better left unasked. :)

This is Puto. I bought it from a native Filipino for 12 pesos each bag ( the white man price...a bit high ;) )

Me and several others Filipinos gobbled these things up in a minute.

The second shot is the puto shown on the presentation platter, the banana leaf.

These are of the Jeepnys out in the provinces. There are far fewer Jeepnys away from the city and so more people ride each one than in the city.

It's very common for them to ride on the roof. I would normally call these people organ donars but since we're in the Phils maybe statistics might be better.

One wrong move and......you know the result.

This is the most people I'd seen on top of the Jeepny.

Wow. :eek:

I've decided not to tell my clinic story just because it's not flattering to the staff there.

I did see the doctor, he was professional and knowledgable and I was given a script for effective medicine. The visit cost me P250 ( about $5) and the medicine another P250.

Now, let's look at the bridges far out in the country.

Note that I take so effing many photos that everyone around me is annoyed. When I see something I can normally get a pic but it's not always great quality because we'd be stopping all the time to get pictures of "stupid crap" that no one is interested in.

These are taken from inside the car and it was raining outside which also makes it more difficult to get a good clear photo.

It's helpful to have a beer or a shot ready as a passenger for these types of rides. To be fair, everyone uses this bridge and they pass on everything from a jeepny to a carabao.

It's just not something that Americans love to experience.

We arent going all that fast on the bridge but it does make you appreciate all those thousands of rural bridges in the US and that maybe they arent all that bad after all.

There are so many more (what I consider to be ) interesting things that I have pics for but I'm running out of steam.

I know that there are a few people out there that truly appreciate all the photos and the commentary and I do the work for you guys.

These are exactly the types of photos that I'd like to see of someone else's trip.

So many cool things.....like the rice harvest. All the phases of processing the rice....such strange and interesting things here.

I love the loose gravel in the road just before the bridge. Do they spread gravel on curves too? That's got to be fun.

You have to understand that the temperature never falls enough to make slippery conditions so, yes they do. Just to keep you on your toes though. Speed kills as they say.

My impression of that gravel was that the flash floods and other quirky weather phenoms had created a pocket of stones as seen.

The dept of spreading gravel in dangerous places was most likely not responsible this time. :D

This is a "diesel powered leaf blower".

On the way to Baguio our car was caught behind a fuel truck like you see here.

I wasn't paying all that much attention to the road as it's better for the passengers to focus on something other than driving since they have no control and the conditions are often frightening.

We were driving up a winding hill road when I first saw the leafblower effect. A higher engine rpm with slower speed demonstrated how someone on the side of the road just minding their own business could get blasted with a power shot of diesel, dust, and leaves.

You see, the exhaust discharge is in the front, not the top or the rear. Why is it exactly where it might do the most damage? Possibly to re-route the exhaust and reduce the possibility of igniting the fuel.

That's not what I believe though. I think that someone in charge of design likes the diesel leaf blower effect.

It is pretty funny to see someone get dusted. The dustee doesnt pay attention to what vehicle is driving toward them as they are walking or standing on the side of the road.

Then they see the debris flying toward them and they take cover. :lol:

These are from San Fernando.

As I was walking around I heard the chicks and had to get some photos. This is a poultry supply store.

If I were there again, I'd buy some chicks and just walk around with them. Maybe take them into some restaurants and all.

It only takes about 2 months for them to become delicious meals.

Damn !!
I wish I was there with ya Slang !!!!

Oh That would be a BLAST !!!

When you are ready to come visit again, this time as a civilian....let me know.


Yes, we would have a great time here Zip. :) I hope someday you take a few weeks to visit here again.


Subic is an "economic" zone now.

It's always interesting to me to see what things sell here.

This shop in is San Fernando and I stopped in because I saw the Stressmas decorations in Oct.

Take a little walk through this place with me. From the flowers just outside the door to the toy guns and Barbie dolls inside, it's worth a peek.

These are the decorations that first caught my attention. Once inside there were also many variations of Santa Claus.

People here have a fascination with Santa Claus and snowy, cold weather. Reindeer too I suppose.

Girl gifts are traditional here as well as the boys. There arent a large number of girls running around with the toy guns and not a huge number of boys holding a baby doll.

From the girls side of the isle.....

And the boys side.

The whole time that I was looking around this store there were stock boys bringing in large boxes of goods.

In a store that is too small to start with, having these guys stocking the shelves at the same time that people would like to see what's for sale seems stupid to me. That's what the night shift is for, I'm always telling people here.

There is no night shift here and every effing delivery wll inconvenience you by either holding up traffic for blocks on the main streets or squeezing you out of a store like toothpaste when new stock comes in ready to be put on shelves.

In most places that I've gone there are people in the GDF way stocking something or other.

It get's old very quickly.

But....

The prices are very competetive. :) Just trying to stay balanced here.

[singing] Oh, Santa Claus is comin' to town.....[/singing]

Just make sure that you leave the front door open for ol' St. Nick because there are no chimneys for him to climb down here in the "Pee-Eye". ;)

Not a bad deal on Chinese vases, $2.25.

This is the shot from the coolest place in the store and the place that I spent the most time in. This vantage point is from the large upright standing AC unit.

Chinese everything. And God bless em for that. There are millions of people in this world that can only afford the Chinese (slave labor) made products. The reality is that I believe that these goods are often of very low quality BUT the people here are surely glad to have them.

And check out the arab looking man on the camel ! :lol:

Something a bit different......

The growing season is long and productive here but there's very little corn grown ( that I can see ).

Here are a few rows of it way out in the rural back woods of LU.

We went way out looking for a goat to bbq that night. They normally sell for P1700-P2000 ($37-45)

We looked at the goat for sale and said "That's a small goat you have for sale there.....how much for the dog?"

They were not amused and we werent impressed either.

Our journey out there was not a complete waste of time but produced no goat.

Got time for a movie? It might not be a great one but it'll prolly not cost you more than 2 or 3 bucks.

The cinimas are also normally with AC ( or aircon as they say here ).

Dapat Apat A pinoy movie theme and acting

Boy Girl Thing

This is the first time that I've had time to look at the trailer for this. It's a bit hokey but take a look.


One Percent Full

Boy Girl Thing looks so bad it might be good.

What was the movie that I said that exact same thing to myself before buying the tickets?

It was so bad that not one thing sticks in my head. Not even enough to Google for the name.

Ah yes, just found these on disk.

It's the farmers harvesting the rice.

They pluck it out of the mud, stack it in bales, carry it to a machine that separates the leaf from the rice grain, and then lay it all out to dry.

These were taken from 40-50 yds away using the tele lens on my cheap cam.

I'm not sure if they like to have their pictures taken. But since they don't know.....why not take a bunch? :D

Second image is the rice on the net drying. If you can get it in the sun for a good day, maybe two, then it's ready for the mill.

Most of the time it's raining for 15 minutes then sunny for a few hours....then raining while it's sunny.....

During the harvest season you can see these nets all over on the ground. They are on sidewalks, driveways, basketball courts, everywhere you can spread the rice out.

Here are two photos of the rice in closeup.

very cool. It's amazing that rice is as cheap as it is. It looks so labor intensive for such a small amount.

Actually there aren't too many. My wife went on a business trip over there last year, and I went along for the (long-ass, cramped plane) ride. Unfortunately, because of the nature of the call centers over there, and the development team being over here, she still worked EST. So I got to see a lot of overnight Filipino TV while waiting for her to get back to the hotel. We had a couple of days at the end of the trip where we got to explore some (down to Intramuros and around Metro Manila one day, and out to Tagaytay and Lake Taal the next), but we were so beat by the overnight schedule that we didn't have the energy to do everything we wanted.:neutral:

And on another note, I noticed when we were walking around in Glorietta and the Landmark, that some stores had employees hovering right over us. Not watching from a distance, but brazenly just standing next to us and following us wherever we went. Have you experienced this, or did I just look like a shady character to them?

I know so very little about you but I'm guessing that they're curious and or wanting to practice their English OR that they just want to have sex with you but were too shy to ask. ;)

I'm a white man, 6-2 260 and I'm friendly to the locals. My wife's a local here and most of the people that I am with are pinoys.

If there was a young uniformed man following me in the Glorietta mall carrying an M4 and not smiling, I'd be nervous. Anything short of that I personally would just start talking to them.

Pinoys love foreigners and they love Americans the best. Assuming that YOU are not carrying an M4 around with you, they're most likely just wanting to speak to you.

Unless of course they say that aweful phrase...."you buy now" :lol:

True. It's the food staple here. I want to say that most of the rice costs about P25 a kilo. Cheap.

All the rice that one sees out in the provinces are for internal consumption. That's one effing lot of rice I can tell you.

During harvest, it's the focus of everyone ( that needs the rice to survive which is a high portion of the population ).

Was the overall experience positive? I've heard that the call centers here are a great deal for the locals here and the clients.

We have someone working in one and is quite happy. Win win situations are so rare nowdays it's a good thing to see.

Verry cool !!

Uh hate to be a Rice Nazi about it ,
but those guys with the green stalks seem to be planting ,
not harvesting ,
Mature rice is ( generly) tall and brown , they grow LOTS of it here !!!!

What is the level of mechanization in these United States?

and what species of rice are they growing ????

What is the level of mechanization in these United States?

BIG TIME PRODUCTION !!!!!!

I will have to take some pics from planting , growing ( there is this stage where the little green plants are SOOOOO GREEN!!! ) , to growth and harvesting , and I may be able to get some processand packaging shots, lots of cool new stuff farm wise ,
Just this year they finnaly came out with cotton harvesters that spit out wraped modules ( picked and wraped in a neat bundle for pick up )

It appears that I've made a mistake in the descriptions of the photos.

You are correct Zip that those small plants are being planted. The following series shows the harvested plants, very long and brown.

You will also see the machine that collects the rice from the chaff as well.

This is the machine that the carabao pulls around during the harvest season. :)

There isnt much that I truly know about this thing. Those things that I do know are one, that people all day are putting the rough rice into it. The second thing is that there is a carabao that pulls it from one place to another which I personally think is very funny.

New tech teams up with old tech. :D

These are the rice buds that you need to whack off the stalk.

Second shot is one of the many people bringing piles to the machine.

No, I don't know what is in the pitcher Zip, it's probably not gin though.

Two of the many bringing the rice. They didnt seem overly friendly and I didnt want to do their job instead of them so I didnt get totally in their face with the pics.

It's difficult to see but the white elipse shows the rice being thrown into the air on the other side of the machine.

Absolutely fascinating, yes I know. :D

All done? Take the machine down the road for their rice too.

This was taken out of the car window as we were pulling out. How I wish I'd have gotten out to take a few more.

This is hilarious. (IMO) :lol:

Now that all the work is done you need to clean up by setting fire to the still green stalks of rice and other questionable burnable crap.

Thanks for taking the time to create enough nasty smoke to drift into our homes, ya jackasses. :mad:

Here's something a little different.

This is in Baguio. It rains nearly every day in Baguio as it's high in the mountains.

This mini sheild/roof might help a little in keeping the rain off but you'd still get very wet IMO.

.

Food Court rural Philippines.

It's amazingly cool here despite having cooking in process at all the diners.

Fried chicken and spaghetti with a half litre Coke. If you don't actually see how the meats are prepared you might actually enjoy eating them. :D

Seriously, there's just a few things that I don't eat here now.