It's best to eat them young there before they get tough. Also much easier to get the fur off.

Take some photos of the kitten meal as you do the other regional meals there. Let's see how things are there for real.

(adds Phuctifino to ignore)

Here's a clip that I made just the other day. It's a sound clip not a video. I had to use my camera to make the clip so there is an image attached but it's the sound that is the subject of the clip.





The nicer homes here in the Phils are made from all concrete. That's fine as a building material but Jesus H fucking Christ what a noise when constructing.

That can continue for 2.4 to 4 months. :mad: If we had any idea that this would be going on, we would not have selected this apartment.

There is no escape from the noise anywhere inside as the whole structure is concrete and transmits the noise very efficiently.

Went out for a bike ride today and took some photos. The time away from the banging and clanging was nice.

Stopped in an intersection I noticed something strange.

Was this dog stuck up there? How did he get into this tough spot? Was it truly a tough spot or just a place that looks tough?

An hour later he was gone and there were no blood and fur splotches on the road. I guess everything is fine.

It looks strange though.

(adds Phuctifino to ignore) Good show IMHO. BB

Thanks. Some people are just jackasses right out of the gate. You say something really dumb or irritate me, you go on ignore.

Maybe that will change in time but with a name like "[I'll be]Fucked if I know", it's not looking good.

The kids in front of "roof dog's" house tell me that he has a doghouse up there and that it's normal for him to stand up there.

"It is a bit unusual to see a dog up on the roof like that though......right?"

"whatever you say Sir" :rolleyes:

Yes, this is much darker than the clips uploaded to YouTube. What you probably cannot see is 3 Christmas carolers, aged about 10-12. If you give them money they sing one last song, the thank you song. If you don't give them money they sing a "babarat ninyo" line, which means you are a cheap bastard.

I gave the little darlings 3 pesos each and they sang the thank you song. Very easy to please.

Here are some of the Christmas lights seen here. Keep in mind this is middle class here in the Philippines but it's still very poor by western standards. None of these are over 15 seconds long.

My neighbor died on Christmas and I was completely bummed over it.

She had been sick for a long time. Her death was no surprise for all the family and friends.

I talked with her husband for some time and quite honestly shed some very real tears.

Why has this had such an effect on me? I had not known her for very long or very well at all. She represents the committment to family and a better life for all the kids.

Their home is very modest and their lifestyle very simple. I'm sure that they have money for more material things than they actually have. The kids' lives in another country and having infinitely better opportunities was their life goal and they succeeded.

Then there is the fact that she died on Christmas. It's very sad.

Heavy stuff man.

The kids are just now arriving from the US and Austrailia. Two engineers and a nurse. All very classy people.

Now my wife tells me more stories of what a great lady she was. Always helping people in need in this neighborhood with food and drink. Always giving time and or efforts or prayers.

There are many families here that have successful kids abroad. Most of them have a nice house, modern imported cars and very easy lives. The parents house is very simple, very few luxuries and a pinoy style jeepny that would look quite at home in a junkyard.

I'm guessing that the kids would have bought them a more comfortable life but their satisfaction was in having the kids leave the Philippines. That was all that was important.

This family's selflessness is truly humbling.

Ok, I'm done rambling on about it. :)

Wow...truly touching stuff, man. It's a great, but sad, story.

BTW, I apologize for my absence...between work, holidays, and dealing with the house being built, I haven't had time to breathe much, much less post...I'll get some more pics up soon.

Good to see you back here. I'm working on some other projects nowdays and would love to see your pics. :)

At least you can feel pretty sure she finished it out with no regrets. A lot of people can't say that.

I'm still here in Makati though it's been a while since I've posted here.

I've just recently recovered from a non life threatening but seriously painful and inconveint couple of infections. Oddly enough my wife has had the exact same infection but not as widespread.

This is actually open sores about the size of half dollars on the bottom of both my feet. Right in the arch, the sensitive part.

Sometimes in early December they first appeared with no signs of the serious pain they might cause. It took about 2 to 3 weeks for this to develop into something more serious.

This condition has kept me from leaving the house for about a month and for a period of about three weeks serious pain. As the sores continued to get worse I relented and started taking anti-biotics, which I would rather have not done. The topical regimen was just not working.

Having this type of wound on the bottom of your feet seriously limits your walking. :) I admit that more than a few times I was crawling to the bath room.

Now things are much better. I thought there would be very visible scars from this but everything is healing and feeling just as good as before the infection.

The source of the re-infection was those Tsinellas, the "flip-flops" as we call them in the US.

We would clean them regularly with fairly agressive cleaning solution but the trouble was that my weight compressing the foam on the flip flop would just reinfect the area again.

Just as the healing was gaining momentum, it would take again and go downhill.

This is not the worst thing that could happen to me here but surely not something that I want to repeat.

I threw the flip flops away but since they are the uplevel expensive brand, someone else picked them out and started wearing them. I explained the danger of using them but they were not at all concerned.

Now I put my boots in the freezer as well as cleaning with a specific anti-bacterial wash.

On the upside.....

I've found a business to develop here and I'm currently making steady money doing it. It's all on the net and many of the people here could do it with some practice. There is also a very BIG market for this type of thing.

Now to get all the legals and business side of this venture researched and in motion.

It's not going to make me personally much cash at all until we see a good number of people here making money at this.

This could easily provide 1000 to 15,000 pesos a month. That's a good income here and in a place that there are few jobs, I'm confident that this will be a geniune opportunity for the locals here.

When a bunch of people here succeed with it, I'll make some cash too. My cut is determined by the amount of money that people will earn.

Ponzi? Amway?

jeez slang, that sounds horrible. (The sores.) Glad you are on the mend.

Sounds icky. Mmmm... pyramid scheme.

Gots to keep those feetz CLEAN !!!!!!
Infections grow FAST in tropical climates !!!

















So what is your web cam sex line address ??( just so'z I know where NOT to go !!! ;) )

There's no sex, pyramids, ponzis, or Amway involved with the developing venture.

It's all about English language services.

Would I start and run a porn biz here? I think all of that is illegal here. Anything you may find online with pinays working on cam are probably not in the Phils.

It's difficult to even find a mag with full frontal nudity locally here.

I'd double check that on Google to search down some Filipino smut but the spam would soon follow.

Now, if you want to rent a pinay to see some full frontal nudity, I've heard....that this is possible. No personal experience with that though.

English language services is my bag here. And no Zippy, that doesn't mean young girls talking dirty in English on the phone with some 1-900 line. :rolleyes:

A search online for Philippine internet porn produces results that suggest that online porn is illegal but that the laws are not enforced to prevent it here.

I can understand that. There's enough bribe money built into the profit margin with this sort of business that it doesn't matter what the laws might be here.

The infection grew to a painful state after about 2 weeks of seeing it grow. It really wasn't fast.

The problem was the infected footware. I'd kept clean before then and since but was re-using the infected footware. Every time it would get better, the re-infection would start again.

Should have known that from the start but didn't. Live and learn.

Thank you Glatt. My feet are smiling now. :)

Life is good. Now for the next challenge.

Much more of my time is spent inside the comfort of our small abode lately. The temperatures are rising and it is increasingly hot and uncomfortable out and about during the day.

Now that I'm mobile again I've been going out on bike rides in the mornings.

Most of the time the ride ends at a friends newly acquired butcher shop where we talk about business ideas for the Philippines.

His shop sells pork and chicken only. As we talk the butcher cuts up the whole pigs into smaller and smaller portions. Some hang from a hook on a crossbar in the shop and some are just left on the ceramic tile counter.

The butcher cuts the meats and my pal skins the pigs heads as I drink a cup of instant coffee. I have my camera hanging from the strap around my neck but I've got a thousand photos of pigs heads and the blood, guts and flies of the process are just not interesting any more.

It's 5:30 am and the kids have just been dropped off or have walked to school. I stand in front of the shop and drink the coffee as I watch the sun come up.

Sometimes I seriously wonder what the fuck I'm doing here because from the outside it looks like such a desparate place.

It's still interesting to me though. People still stare and I still smile and wave to them. This is even more true with the olderly women. Their faces are so weatherd and worn. Their teeth are often missing and their hair is very grey.

I still love to see them smile and they usually do when I smile and wave to them.

For all the realities here, I still have a great deal of hope for common people in the coming years.

Here's something a bit different.

Someone in the family here is having kidney troubles that have become increasingly more serious. The good news is that there is a kidney hospital here and that there is money for treatment.

The bad news is that a transplant is needed and this is not the only serious ailment that this person has.

In typical pinoy fashion, we all went to the hospital to accompany that one of ours. That means about 8 people ended up going plus the patient.

What is the quality of care at this special hospital? I can't make that judgement myself. It's one of the best if not the best place for such care here in the Philippines.

The hospital itself was newer but not new, very clean and looked very much like an American hospital.

Payment here is cash and to be paid immediately following services renderd.

This is the place for middle class and above pinoys.

The most obvious difference in the facilities that comes to mind is that in the US there is a large waiting area and that you register there and wait until the doctor is ready to see you.

At this hospital, the waiting area is directly outside of the doctor's door. There are chairs lined up in the halls next to each of the offices. You walk through the hallways past people sitting waiting.

There are no live chickens, pigs or voodoo doctors with painted faces at this hospital.

Here are a few walk and snap pics from inside.

Here is the outside of the building.

Be sure to deposit your firearm with the guard on duty (so that they may evaluate it's worth and lose/sell it by the time that you return.) ;)

There is plenty of seating for the large numbers of people that come with people in need of treatment. The seats aren't all that comfortable or clean but there is a Rice in a Box concession there.

Fried rice with pork at just about a buck. Not exactly LeBec-Fin but something to tide you over for the long wait that you will surely have ahead of you.

There are signs here that just grab your attention. Some have double meanings that you aren't sure are understood here, some are spin offs of words or phrases from the US and some are just plain strange.

This is from Pateros, the world's balut capital. It's early morning and I pass by this mysterious American facility, area 51.

Where are the little green men? Where are the bright lights in the sky?

Where is the security keeping me away?

It's hiding right out in plain sight. Very sneaky.

That's where they make the Soylent Green, I bet.

As always, great pics.

I'll check on that. Maybe Soylent Green is what makes the balut so tastey(!?).

Thank you.

Sidenote: I seem to have effed up my re-sizing. I'm using the Gimp after Paint crapped out. This will be fixed by the next episode.

What sorts of items are available there in the Philippines? Good question. Here are a few more websites that you might find interesting.

Makro - This is the supermarket for businesses. They sell in bulk and are meant for Sari-Sari type stores ( the stores that sell out of your home - survival profit only) and maybe restaurants. Check out all the strange things that are for sale there in the foods department.

The Makro site runs a lot better than some of the others here. It's quick and easy to navagate through their website.

They are still showing a Christmas theme on the site but check it out. :blush:



How about appliances? Take a look through this one.

Abenson - It's all imported goods. There are lots of choices and departments on this site. To compare, remember that the prices you see should be divided by 40 and then multiply by 1.1 for the VAT tax. That's the out the door price without the delivery charge which might be another 200 pesos, depending on the items bought.

Most imported goods here are much more expensive than the US. Take a look and you'll see.

Makro is in the UK too. The "only for businesses" is easily bypassed, so it's effectively an equivalent of Sam's Club or Costco.

Interesting. I've not seen one outside of here.

Not that I'm all that attached to dried squid balls and all.

The damn Brits have their tentacles everywhere.

My MILwas the canteen lady in the Nottongham Makro for many years. I'm very familiar with the place... but no squid balls in the UK -just your regular sam's club style crap.

Really enjoyed flipping through these images.
You've got quite a few very nicely composed captures in here, yes indeed.
Thanks for posting them

Thank you GS.

Now that I have nearly exhausted the photos of "normal" things going on here I will move into more specific images with more background.

I'm glad that people enjoy these pictures.

I made some movie clips of my friend's butcher shop this morning. One of the clips is of the butcher cutting a pig's head apart and removing the tongue.

I thought it was excellent but is that too graphic for YouTube and this thread?

What do you think?

My daily bike ride discovered the new fire station. I was friends with the firefighters here but have not talked with them since the move into the new firehouse.

It's very nice. The building that is. The same 70s model firetruck is at the firehouse though. In a few days I'll go see the fire chief and get some photos.

You'll like the new firehouse. Just ignore the old fire truck. :lol:

I vote for seeing the pig's head video. If anyone doesn't want to watch it, they don't have to.

I like pork, and I've had tongue. To see how it's done would be interesting.

Ok, Glatt. This is surely not how it's done in the US ( and I'm sure that we're all thankful for that ) but this is how it's done here in the Philippines.

This is not something that you want to watch if you're not comfortable with blood and guts.

Don't watch it to get yourself all pissed off. This is reality in the Philippines, don't bitch and complain if it offends or saddens you in some way. Don't watch it.



Listen to the end of the audio. Rain says that Alex, the butcher should put on a black mask when cutting up the pig.

This next clip is even nastier than the first IMO. This one shows the pig's face being cut off from the skull.

Not for the squeemish.

Do not watch the clip if you are going to get sick, angry or cry. I don't want to hear your thoughts on animal cruelty or veganism.

Headlines that make you wonder..what kind of place is this?

My bike along the road as I take some long exposure shots of the sun coming up.

We live very close to the Global City and what used to be the old US military base during world war II.

There are a variety of choppers flying around during the day. They still get my attention but they are very common. Some are military and some are rescue.

The land traffic flows, shall we say, BADLY here. If you are seriously sick or injured the choppers might save your life by getting you to medical help in time.

Here is a clip of a passing Huey but you can only hear it. One had just passed in the space that I was pointing the camera at in the clip but it didnt pass through the fielf of view.

The sonic from the chopper blades rattle the windows and you can feel them coming. Take a listen.



I didn't see how high this chopper was flying but it felt like it might land on the house.

This is the last clip for today.

It shows what you might see stepping up to the counter of the meat shop.

I can and have eaten everything you see there except the pig tongue and ears, and the linked sausage.

Each morning 2 pigs arrive at about 4 am. They weigh 80-85 Kg each. Alex is there to recieve them from the truck. It's funny to see.

A small man pulls a pig out of the truck and holds it on his shoulders. Right hand holds the rear pig legs, left hand holds the front. He plops each one on the counter with a grunt.

Hey Slang, what do you wish you had brought that you did not?

Great question.

The first thing that comes to mind is very good hearing protection (muffs) and or foam earplugs. With both, you can all but eliminate any noise.

Here is a list of things that make too much noise here.

Basura truck ( garbage collection )

Dogs

Cats fighting and in heat

Loud exhausts on cars and bikes and jeepnys

The neighbor's construction and pounding and cutting and noise, noise, noise all the effing time.

The other neighbor singing Videoke that often starts at about noon and ends in the early evening.

Helicopters

Commerical jets ( we're right in the approach path to Ninoy International )

The Puto guy that has a certain sound that he makes early in the moring to announce he has arrived and has Puto.

Firecrackers ( in season )

Horns of vehicles of all sorts. Some have the traditional "beep" sound and others have that electronic kind that plays some musical theme. I wish to eff they'd all just go away.

That is the list of most of the sounds that I find annoying here.

Here is another little clip. I'm out on the bike with the camera making clips.

This is nothing that you haven't seen in this thread before.





This is the bike that I paid $130 to ship to Manila. The bike with the $130 Cygolite LED super high intensity bike headlight with the "water bottle battery" ( that doesn't work now because of using the 230V outlet ). It's the bike that I put $400 into before shipping it here.

Was it worth it?

I wouldn't bring another one here for sure but it's got heavy duty tires and a gel padded seat that I've not seen available here.

The whole light thing ticks me off but overall I'm glad that it's here with me.

When I was listening to the audio, the thing that struck me was how loud the traffic noise was, even inside the shop. Then in a few posts you talk about wishing you had brought hearing protection. The place sounds like hustle and bustle to me.

That butcher is skilled with his very sharp knife. He's so fast and confident with his cuts. Amazing.

I just watched the other few clips too. There really is a lot of traffic noise, isn't there? I guess in person it seems less obvious than when you are watching on a computer screen inside a quiet house like I am. The constant stream of motor bikes is remarkable.

Yes. It's not just the traffic noise here either. The vehicle noise is probably the biggest part of it but there is a lot more.

The honda mini scooter/ motorcyles are very popular here. These bikes are normally 100-150cc and are the new design. They are quiet.

What does a kid or young adult do when he buys one of these bikes?

He puts a louder exhaust on it. There are many aftermarket exhaust shops here. They must be cheap too becuase so many people have them on their bikes. Not just the new bikes either.

Then what? Some type of stereo that everyone can hear. Not something that plays inside ear buds, something that everyone can hear blasting on the street.

The street noise is so constant that I don't even notice it.

Our apartment is away from the street with another apartment between ours and the noise of the cars. I thought this would surely keep our place very quiet. I was wrong.

The construction continues even today and I don't know which noise pollution is worse, traffic or construction.

This whole building is concrete which tends to deaden most external noise. When there is pounding on the concrete structure however, that noise is transmitted though the whole building. At the height of construction next door there were 10 workers.

That's 10 tappers of my walls, 10 big noise makers. From effing sun up to sun down, people were tapping and pounding. JFCA, I'm sure glad that there aren't 10 of them anymore.

Now there are 2 or 3.

Take a listen to the chopper passing overhead clip posted previously. That's another big source. Not just chopper but airliner noise too.

This is a very noisy place.

Yes, that's Alex. Like many others here, he understands English more than he can speak it.

I ask a lot of questions about his work. He's been doing that for over 10 years now. The first thing I looked for was missing fingers or scars on his hands. Everything is intact and unscarred.

Think about it though, he does the exact same thing every day. Early morning brings 2 pigs. Every day.

Every day those pigs are the same size and weight. Every day he cuts the heads off and guts them out. Every day.

Everyday he cuts the legs off and digs the bones out. It's so much the same thing every day that it must get boring.

He should be good. He should be able to do this job in his sleep. :D

One thing that he does that I think is funny. He's constantly changing knives as he's working. When he picks up a knife, he will rub it twice against the sharpener two times. It's always two times.

That must be some kind of ritual for him. It doesn't sharpen the knives one bit.

Found on the net;

Also;

I'd love to get some pics of a Tarsier but they don't live here on Luzon.

They'd be extinct if they did. Someone would capture and sell them for beer or gin. :blush:

Here are some pics from today.

This is Pateros, the balut capital of the universe. It's also the duck egg capital of the universe.

Pateros just had a festival day and this big duck was left over from the celebrations.

I don't eat the salted duck eggs or the balut....or the monkey on a stick....or the pig's ears....or a whole lot of other things here.

Looking for a place to hide away to do something naughty without it costing you a lot of pesos?

You're in luck.

There are a number of these "hide away" types of bars here that all have regular transportation to the SOGO hotel for a little bang bang ala native style.

Or so I've heard.

This sign just hit me as ridiculous. See what you think.

Cheap advertising for Nokia.

It seems as though this texting is common while walking. Many don't need to look at the keypad but may still be distracted and hit by a passing Jeepny when trying to text at the intersections.

Another clip for your enjoyment. Black water in Pateros. Fish are visible swimming in it as you look over the railing.

Probably not something you'd like to eat though.



It is much quieter over here in Pateros.

I went to the new fire station / police station today to get some interviews and photos.

The PNP officers invited me to go with them on patrol which I did go with them.

I also talked with the dep Fire Chief of the Makati Central Fire Station in downtown Makati.

There are some cool photos and clips from today but I'm exhausted from doing next to nothing and I'm going directly to sleep now.

Pics and clips coming tomorrow.