Fast food here on Luzon. Not exactly McDo but some good foods for a cheap price here.

I only see one uncovered dish. The rest are under lids or behind sneeze guards. It's a very hygienic place.

I hope that wasn't it...it was always guys.:eek:
It could very well have been. It was just a bit off-putting...and when I did speak to them, they seemed really nervous. I'm not a big guy by any means, so I doubt it was my intimidating physical presence. :p

It was an interesting place. I probably would have enjoyed it more had it been at a different time in life. But unfortunately, it came up shortly after my mother had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. That really put a damper on my excitement to be there.

It's definitely good for the people there. Apparently, a degree is required to work in the call centers that my wife visited. It's a strange thought...over here, the call centers are usually staffed by the people not quite cut out for higher education.

In that way it is hygenic Glatt, but you have to know about how the meats are prepared. How they are cut and cooked.

In the lower level of this commerical plaza is the meat cutters area. You can smell the meats well before you arrive there. There are no freezers or refridgorators there. The flies are waved off with swatters that dont stop moving.

After several long discussions with my wife I've decided to eat some of the same foods that she and family does here.

Some of those meats from that exact shop has ended up on our table.

This is not my preference but given that the better butchers are so far away out in the country areas, I've taken my chances.

Just like sausage and laws, the less you know the better.

As for the food court itself? The sneeze guards are nice and most all foods are covered, but where are the dishes washed and is hot water used?

I didnt see any active sinks. :3eye:

Wish me luck buddy.

Before I reply I'd like to say thanks for you quick responses. I'm very curious about your trip here and to hear about specific experiences.

Well, there is an unusually large community of gays there but it sounds like that was not the case for you. :D

The Tagalog word for gay is "ba-ding" and they always try to catch my attention. Most likely just because I'm a foreigner, American, and they assume that my opinion of gays is better than the locals.

In any case, they fling their hair, batt their eyes and even take their tops down a bit. The gay men here seem to have quite large breasts medically, I'm assuming. :lol:

We've got a few in the family here. It's a very interesting community, I'll say that.

No Zippy, I'm not a switch hitter. :eyebrow:

Ok, this is making more sense to me. If you came here without any family or friends that are pinoy, no natives walking with you, they are cautious but friendly.

Many of the first conversations that I had with people in this neighborhood were very cautious. There is a strong colonial mentality here and they are overall a bit passive.

Most have been verbally abused or embarassed by some foreigner at one time or another. Let's face it, their country is not nearly as developed as western countries. They feel that with new foreigners.

Another point is that they generally understand much more English than they can speak. Most are aware of their accent.

Many had thanked me in our second and third meeting for not being rude or making fun of them for living here in this culture. That many of the normal things for them everyday are somehow unacceptable by the Americans.

I've found this to be true with other Americans visiting the native areas. It's much different here in many ways. Some of those ways are scary.

So, back to your experience, I can imagine them wanting to be friendly to you, to maybe learn from you and to make a new friend. At the same time they might be nervous because you have no direct connection, say your wife growing up in the Phils, so you might have a bad impression of them for the condition of the country compared to the US.

Please understand me....all non-white Americans, if you are white in the Phils, you are a priviledged minority.

That's not to say that all other variations of Americans are not appreciated there but the whites have privilidge.

So, I cant imagine them keeping an eye on your for fear of you stealing something or the like. Curiosity most likely IMO.


I'm so sorry to hear that. In that same situation my excitement would be gone as well.

My mother passed very slowly years ago with various cancers. It was the most difficult emotional event in my life.

We have nieces and nephews that work in them. They love it and although they have bachelor degrees or above it's a very viable option here for a career. Not at all like the US.

There are two very important factors to being employed there. Their job is to offer technical assistance for a variety of IT and engineering type tasks, so having a tech degree is a must. The other must is the use and understanding of the English language.

Yes, it is true, in the US if you have hit bottom, you're only option might be a call center job.

In those cases though, the position is just as a salesperson on the phone. The call centers here in the Phils are often tech assistance centers to be more accurate.

There are tons of ads in the papers here that if you can pass the English test ( I think it's called the TOFEL) then you can get a position selling on the phone.

I wouldnt encourage any of our family here to do that. Those people have done nothing but irritate me over the years. They bring very little value to the world IMO.

For those that have English skills though, I suppose it's better than what life has to offer here.

Goat: ba-aa-aa. I'm tito's goat, you can't eat me.

Slang: Mother effer. :mad: I wonder what tito wants for this talking goat?

Goats are so darn cute. I love the pics in this thread, slang.

Have a minute to spare? Take a walk with me into this bakery. It's a Goldilocks. I'll spot you some pesos. Take a look ( and smell ) what they have to offer. :drool:

This is the upscale bakery here. Their foods are fresh and actually have a sell date. :biggrin:

When was the last time you have Cracker Jacks? They used to be great. Now they're not.

Check out the circled bag of "nutty caramel popcorn". This is what CJ used to be. It's about a buck and tears will leak out of your eyes when you eat these. Absolutely delicious.

Thank you Shawnee. I'm so glad that you like the photos I post here.


Everyone here: You take too effing many pics slang! Leave the cam home.
Slang: What!? I'll have you know that millions of people all over the world see these photos and they fall in LOVE with the Phils! :mad: As bad as things are here don't you think it makes more sense to get some good press for the Philippines.
Everyone here: :neutral:
Slang: You're GD right. Lucky for you I'm not charging you all for the time and energy ( :lol: )

You know that's not true! This is a beloved thread!

There are several galvanized truck bodies in front of this traders shop. These are of the hummer look alike but there are jeep type bodies too.

I could only take these photos as the car passed the shop but I was very curious as to the price and configuration of the hum vee body.

Creating a nice looking surface on galvanized steel is tricky or costly as well.

It'd still be a cool ride. The authentic hummers would be (guessing) in the $70k range here.

Thanks very much. This is a strange passion of mine. I'm truly very happy that you enjoy the pics and comments.


Thanks too to Mr Toad for allowing these to be posted here.

I'm impressed how crisp the pictures are. You were stuck in traffic as your car passed, weren't you?

This is the Bell Church in Baguio. It's a very interesting place and I have a million photos here to show you what it's like there. :blush:

There has been a significant Chinese influence here over the years. China is only 500 miles or so away, over the ocean, and over the years Chinese people have immigrated here.

I did not focus on getting pictures of the inside of the church. There are different rules for the Chinese churches and there were people inside at the time that we were there.

Thanks. They did come out pretty good. We werent stuck in traffic though. I used the continous drive to snap pics every 2/3 of a second as we passed.

There were 4 or 5 that actually captured the object that I wanted, the rest were junk.

Maybe you can imagine how much of a pain in the ass I am with everyone while taking these pics.

I know that no one wants to stop for me to take a million pics so I set the camera to just keep snapping as we go by.

Everyone knows that I'd LOVE to stop. They also know that if they stopped for every pic that I wanted we'd never get anywhere.

The driver sees me get the camera ready, setting the options. Then we all here...click-click-click-click-click-click-click just as we pass. :blush:

"It's ok, we don't have to stop. I got what I wanted with the continuous drive" :biggrin:

More of the Bell Church. This is just a very interesting looking place.

.

Very nice looking colors, green and red.

What is the attraction of the oversized goldfish? There are so many places that have them here. Some are HUGE too.

And take a look at the scary dragon. Enough to give you nightmares for sure. ;)

.

Geeze. What I really need here is a paying photo gig. Looking at all the pics I have of all of these different things....this is what I need. A pro pic gig.

Even a tiny one would be good at this point. :blush:

Of course there are more photos of the Bell Church ( as well as a few thousand of other mildly interesting things ).

I've got to take a break.

Thanks for your appreciation and comments. :)

Wow!

"Where do you live?"
"Just up the hill from you."
"OK, see you in about 3 days."

:lol: Yes, you have to be in good shape to get around in Baguio.

More of the Bell Church

There was another building up on the hill that we didn't go up to see. By this point, everyone was tired and on the way down while I was still on the side of the hill taking photos.

One of many very cool sights to see at the church.

The door was locked to the temple here and I couldnt get close up photos of the golden man.

The reflections are very visible but the golden man is pretty cool to see. :D

Ever wondered what a "real" Chinese restaurant looks like here? Wonder no longer. Take a stroll with me through the Taipan Garden Restaurant.

Three of us came here and one had to do some bank business, which is notoriously time consuming. The three of us ordered and one went to stand in line with the bank.

Fifteen minutes after ordering the meals came. Three orders of rice, pork and some type of chicken. Not bad tasting and the price was surely good.

After we both finished the meal, our friend had still not come back from standing in the lines at the bank.

Over the next hour and 15 minutes I ordered 2 separate plates of the pork ribs. They were fantastic and cost about 3 bucks each.

Everything was good in this place. The service was good, the temp was very comfortable and all the menus and placemats looked very professional.

It seemed as though this place was serious about making some money here. That's a pleasant change from many places that almost seem as though the restaurant is some type of hobby that they don't quite treat seriously.

Anyway... this place was very good.

The staff was a bit nervous about me taking so many pics of the menus and such but without the flash they couldnt tell for sure if I was taking pics.

This is the menu which you cannot read well because it's very dark and I couldnt use the flash.

There are a wide variety of delicious looking meals that I would believe would arrive on my table as they appear on the menu.

Again I say, the pork ribs were delicious.

More of the menu

Good food and fair prices. Wonder what the upstairs looks like? :)

The restroom was a 5 out of 10, but realistically, people here don't care what the restroom is like.

Also, some of the decor on the second floor.

Any Chinese speakers out there? What does the sign say?

First shot is the front door from the second floor.

I didnt take photos out of respect for the workers but there were several people, assuming cooking staff, that were napping upstairs.

They were lying down on the cushion of several chairs lined up.

If I had to guess they had been there for a very long time and taking a sleep break during this "slow time" .

At any rate, this is a place that I'll surely go back to. Good food, comfortable atmosphere, and good service.

Vehicles pics.

Out in LU there is a gold mine. That means that there are big dumptrucks running around the countryside.

Here are a few. These are not diesel leafblowers. :3eye:

Very interesting, thanks. When are you due to return to the US, or are you there for good now?

Not a problem...sorry I had to drop out yesterday...they expect me to occasionally work:p


We did run into quite a few, but they didn't seem to interested in me. I keep telling myself that it's because my wife was always with me...;)
And she said that a number of the guys in the call centers were giving her fashion and make-up tips...
OK, that is a bit assuring. Honestly, it felt like they were just waiting for me to do a grab and dash...not that I would've been able to even if I wanted to...I'm not much for warm, humid environments.
Thanks...and my condolences to you. It's a horrible thing to go through. I hated every moment of getting on that plane. Worse yet, my wife and I weren't even seated together. Since she was traveling for business, she got world business class. I was in the sardine section. I still give her hell about it.:D
The ones my wife visited were collection centers for a credit card company...she said that all the associates she worked with spoke almost flawless English...so much so that over the phone, you wouldn't be able to tell that they weren't native English speakers.

And if you don't mind, I may go through and pick out a few photos I took while we were there to post...

That would be fantastic.

If you have specific questions about something that you saw there but didnt have the time to investigate, we may be able to supply more info and/or photos.

I'm curious to see what other people find interesting here in Manila. Sure, there are more than a few tourist areas and attractions but seeing other peoples' photos is surely interesting.

For the photo sizing, I use 610 x 460. That's not law here but it would keep the images consistent if you are able to resize without major hassles.

Just ran across this. It shows the flyswatters there.

This is a friend's bbq shop that's very popular and profitable. The meats are partially cooked then put in the (unsanitary) racks on the table, then someone buys the meat and it's cooked completely and heated up, ready to eat.

Pretty effing scary, huh? :lol:

Something I forgot to describe here.

At the end of the night the foods that did not sell DO go into cold storage. They do have a fridge there but it's not used in the prep and display of the foods.

An important point that I left out

Everything that doesn't kill you, makes you stronger. By this time next year, you should be immune to everything.;)

:lol: Yeah, by this time next year I should be able to digest roadkill if necessary :lol:

I'm hoping never to need that ability though. :neutral:


My illnesses are all but cured now so it seems that I'm developing resistance to other funk not in the foods too. :blush:

Ok, it's 4am and I'm bored out of my mind.

What do I miss about living in the USA?

1. The seasons. It's hot all the effing time here. Sure, sometimes it's less hot than other times and there is a regular rain to bring some uncomfortable humidity to the air.

2. People that are of a similar background as me. Everytime I start talking about this cool thing or that thing that I went to see or do everyone here is like deer caught in the headlights. They're all disadvantaged and from a very poor background. Fun was not a big part of their lives here.

3. Sleeping with a handgun. Even when you do not use your pillow hand cannon, just knowing that you could step outside and euthanize that effing dog that barks all night would be a good thing.

4. People that know they are not good singers don't sing, muchless sing with an amplifier that announces to the world that you can't carry a tune in a bucket. People here rent those videokey machines and sing like a dying mule...at very high volume, every weekend.



What do I not miss about living in the USA?

1. The fast pace of everything . Get up early, go to work, work late, get home late, have an hour to yourself and then go directly to sleep. That part I don't miss at all. If I sleep all day, there's no negative consequences. My schedule is completely my own.

2. Millions of restrictions, regulations and worries to do most anything. It's pretty wide open here. Not heaps of laws regulating what you can and cannot do. Very free (for those that have the money to do things).

3. The high cost of nearly everything. Gas, foods, fun stuff...everything.

4. Widescale lack of respect. People here surely show respect in the way that people in the US did in the 50s.

5. In the US, I'm a complete nobody. I move all over the US and work for all sorts of BIG companys doing some pretty cool stuff but no one outside of those that I work with have any idea that I might be able to find my ass with both hands. Here, I'm that American guy that likes to drink beer and have a good time. The guy that designs airliner components, cars, boats and all sorts of other cool stuff.

6. A significant attraction for living abroad for me is experiencing something different. It's so effing boring in many ways in the US. It's the same GD thing regardless of where you are.

7. NOT DRIVING. Sure when we're all 17, it's a big deal. Now after 20+ years of driving, it's not. The public rail system is comfortable and cheap here. The taxis are cheap ( although often beat up ). The trycycles are small and uncomfortable but very cheap. I effing LOVE NOT buying GAS!!

8. Here if you are family, you can stay with almost all other relatives! When we travel long distance, we call those who are living there and are in the famliy. Why pay for a hotel? Many of them have some decent places to stay too....with AC. What would my relatives in the US do if I came to visit them for a week or more? Kill me, most likely.


I'll surely be back to the US but there are some things about being here that I enjoy very much. :)

Just a quick word to say keep on keeping on - I adore this thread and will sometimes go back to the start just to see if I spot anything diferent in pictures I haven't looked at in months.

Thanks for the time and effort you take for us, it's well appreciated here.

Thank you SG. Your appreciation makes it worth my effort. :)

Besides, it's this weird thing that I'm good at. There arent many. :blush:

Yeah what SG said !!!

Keep it up , keep safe , and have fun !!

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2007/...2ee3a660b2.jpg

From Bauang Beach.

It's a beautiful place. And simple. And it's pretty cheap too. :D

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2171/...e0779e5e45.jpg

And yes, I'm keeping it up ;) , we're being safe and having fun.

Had I known that we would be going to this beach resort and swimming in the ocean, I would have surely brought some kind of water protection for the camera and took shots from out in the South China Sea.

The water was warm and it was great fun. No photos of us out floating on the tubes this time but next time I'll be prepared.

Here are some kids nearby swimming.


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2388/...f6181a0698.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2363/...f0b853da07.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2239/...ccfe7b1bee.jpg

There are still some 5k images that I'm fiddling with to get organized.

I just ran across these. They show that meat market without the refridgeration.

These are all walk and snap because as you might imagine the locals don't want any foreigner to see how the meats are cut and stored here. It's embarassing to them.

There are three photos showing the market that came out reasonably clear.

The first photo shows the chopping blocks for the incoming meats.They are tree stumps. I suppose the only reason that these meats don't kill everyone that eats them is that they are so very fresh.

It's been estimated to be less than an hour that the animal was breathing when they arrrive early in the morning.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2283/...788f9b9f47.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2285/...63dfef9edd.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2183/...fd4978ddfb.jpg

For those of us that are accustomed to much cleaner environments to have foods prepared it's hard to believe that more people don't get sick from this.

It may be because their immune systems are always in high gear, or possibly that the situation is not as bad as it seems.

It hasn't killed me yet. Yes, there is still time.

Oh, and take a look at the sign. There are no preservatives in the meat. :)

This video clip just appeared out of the mass of photos.

It's from the trip to Tam awan in Baguio. There was a very native looking bamboo bridge that ran from one side of a creek to another.

The moment that I stepped onto it the movements and groans made me a bit nervous.

Check your sound. It's a bit loud.




This is what the bridge looks like from underneath in the walking path.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2146/...668035af92.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2151/...511085f7f2.jpg

This trip has some thrills in it. Mostly the traffic here in the provinces but also little surprise thrills like this. :D

Alright, here's a couple, with more to come later...

First up, on the way over - Mount Fuji from the air:
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c7...a/IMG_0019.jpg

Next, the view from our hotel window. We stayed at the Shangri-La, Makati. The mall you see is Glorietta (specifically, Glorietta 3.) The bomb las month was at the Glorietta 2 entrance, which would be off to the right of this picture. I've got a panoramic that I'll add later:
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c7...a/IMG_0042.jpg
Here's a telling shot. This is the Pasig river down in the Intramuros area, right near Rizal Park. You can see the "housing" under the bridge. What you can't really see in the photo are the kids swimming in the river, right next to the trash floating down it:
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c7...a/IMG_0113.jpg
Grave markers at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial. It's one of the most stunning and sobering places I've ever been...I'll add some pictures of the memorial later:
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c7...a/IMG_0269.jpg
Finally, Star City (without the Ice Palace thingy that Slang posted):
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c7...a/IMG_0066.jpg

BTW, Slang, have you heard any more about the explosion in Quezon today?

I havent heard a thing about it. Been busy uploading and editing photos and clips for .....3 days now.

Hey, thanks for posting your images here too before I forget.

Let me investigate the bombing before making any other comment.

MSNBC Asia Pacifc details on the bombing

The Manila Times has a different story than the link above. No mention of the Rebel turncoat.

That's about 8 miles north of here...or about two hours drive in the car. :biggrin:

It's disturbing for sure but not to the point that I'll not go outside for days.

Wait, I don't go outside for days now. :D I guess I'm uneffected so far.

For the pictures that you posted....

It is bothersome to see not only the houses of those folks but having them swim in that crappy water.

On my photo shoot of the Manila floating hotel there was a family living there on the shore with just a blanket on the stones and some flimsy sunshade type of rig.

There is a man raising a family there on the shore. I talked with him briefly. He swims and even dives underwater around the ship looking for plastics for return. The going rate is 8 pesos per kilo

W-O-W

It's sad. Very tough to see. BUT almost no one asks or even hints for money.

That's just up the river from the scene in the photo.

There's always all sorts of vegetation growing, floating in the Pasig river too. Not a place that I'd want to swim even with recent hep innoculation.

And for the American Manila Cemetery, it is surely a powerful place. There are some excellent displays that detail all the battles in the Philippines and the surrounding islands during the war.

There are rows and rows of scribed names within the walls of the monument displaying the name and hometown of all the soldiers ( that were identified ) there.

The place creeps me out and I cant be funny or drunk there, so we don't go often.

And Star City!! You don't have to go to Snow World to have a great time. There are games and interactive type activities, traditonal rides, specialty shops and all sorts of fat food places there.

It's not just for the kids, although if you go with at least one kid, it's probably better. :)

Yeah, the swimming was a bit disturbing to see. And when we went down to the harbor where everyone was gathered (it was a Saturday afternoon), the smell nearly knocked me on my ass. I've got a few pictures of just the mounds of garbage that washed up. When I got back home, I just couldn't even begin to explain the level of poverty to people. If you haven't seen it, you just can't understand it.

I've got more pictures of the Cemetery and Memorial...I spent about an hour there walking around. I would have stayed longer, but my wife got tired of it. I'll probably put some of the battle maps up later.

I wish we'd had a few more days to actually do stuff. I would have loved to explore deeper rather than just take pictures from the back of a car.

True. That's a part of why I take some of these photos.

I've been a few other places in the world outside of the US. Until you actually go, and not to the "tourist-ey" places, it's hard to understand true povery.

It's also very disturbing to not be able to improve bad situations here. It's impossible. At times I give small amounts of money but what good does that do? Not much.

Instead I try to learn more about poverty and the options for people here. Many time I wander into places that would not normally be considered safe. I want to see the dirt. To get a better understanding of the macro and the micro.

I've found that there are dangerous people in terrible poverty but there are surely good honest people too.

In the US, if you eff up very badly you might end up in poverty over time. Here, it's not that way.

On another idea....

Since there is so much travel time to get here and it's so far out of the way, if you can research and plan your next trip before you arrive that would surely increase your appreciation of the beautiful and interesting things to do and see here.

There are tons of travel agencies and other travel groups that can assist you. I'd also help you out with information and photos/background of things that you may wish to do here.

The more people that come to visit the better. Tourism is big revenue here.


That reminds me ( I'm rambling again), what was your opinion of the Shangri-la in Makati?

That's another good line. I don't talk about it much but it's powerful in many of the places here.

Don't forget people have been eating meat for a long time, and refrigeration is a relatively recent invention. People have learned what they can, and cannot, get away with when it comes to food handling. If you push the limits, it will probably make you sick but not kill you, so you learn what the limits are.

My grandparents always let fresh meat "hang" for awhile, to make it more tender. Basically, they let it start to breakdown naturally.

Simply put, it's one of the nicest places I've ever stayed. The staff, by and large, was extremely friendly. The hotel itself was spotless all hours of the day and night. The restaurants were top notch, and room service was incredibly punctual. Even the security guards were friendly...they even let my wife play with the bomb sniffing dog for a few minutes.

If you all want to do a really nice meal, try the Circles buffet there. Pricey for over there of course, but it was just great, great food.

I appreciate the offer on the trip planning. It's doubtful she'll be sent over there again (the project she was working on was a total system conversion - easily the biggest thing ever undertaken for them), so unless her job changes, it was a one time opportunity. As for personal travel, I would like to go back someday and actually be able to enjoy the trip, but for now, we've got a lot of other places to go first - I still owe her a trip to Scotland and Ireland that seems to be pushed back by circumstance every year...

Nice video dude!
My part of NEPA is snow covered again today, an interesting contrast...