I'm back from this last jet over to Manila and Hong Kong.

Just a short trip this time with another longer trip planned in a few months. Just as the US is breaking out into civil war/ total economic collapse, I plan to be working on my next attempt at a unique business adventure there. :)

Sure, it might be entertaining to stick around to see the carnage personally but I'm thinking that these new times of turmoil will also bring us new images of sorrow and struggle that I'd prefer to bypass entirely, not to say that the party will not extend over to Manila. I'm guessing that it will.

Anyway...

The trip to HK was very nice. We stayed in the Chinese speaking area near the night markets. The people there were very accomodating and friendly and my thanks go out to them.

The Chinese food in HK was absolutely fantastic and a good value. Many of the goods for sale in the night market were traditional Chinese paintings and clothing. Some of very high quality too.

Back in Manila, much of my time was spent talking with people there about setting the stage for my next big adventure.

A lawyer here, chief of police there, some local seniors and a few selected friends and I talked about my new secret mission.

It's much more involved and will probably take a year to get moving. Everything is hush-hush here again until the stage is set and I'm on location.

There is also another big question in my mind too. Is this thread here at the cellar a good place to keep posting commentary and photos?

Even if the topic actually changes from a specific city in the Philippines to just some new project that happens to be going on in the Philippines?

Is the bandwidth worth the content? My preference is posting here however there is another place that this might be more on topic in the future.

The evolution of my adventures is here to get up to speed though and that might be helpful.

Your opinion?

Do it.

I'm with Bruce.

Great.

Big time thread drift on the horizon.

Not really, everyone knows the real title is the adventures of Slang.

True enough.

Adventures of Slang......in Makati City (most of the time). :)

Hey there Slang - Merry Ho Ho & Happy New you...

Thank you.

May you and the other Classics have a merry and happy as well. :)

I look forward to the next adventure, with lots of pictures I hope. Good luck.

Thanks Merc. It wont be like one of your adventures overseas, to be sure but should keep me busy for a year of pain here in the US.

The economy is just starting to feel the crunch now. Exports to the US are down 19%. I don't know if this somehow includes call center services.

offshore call center services might get a pass on the recession since companies need ways to do things more cheaply. even if the customers are just calling to cancel their accounts!

True enough.

That might save them from a total collapse of their real estate market.

Starting to see 30-40% discounts on the big luxury condos now. They are still overpriced by about 30% IMO even with the discount but it shows that they are willing to deal in a soft market.

Hey, slang - you here?

Any Bataan Death March memorials around where you are?

Hey Brianna,


Sorry for the late reply. I don't check back here regularly.


As for the Bataan memorials....

We've not seen any in Manila but Bataan is on the other side of Manila Bay. Outside where we normally explore.

There are several places that we've yet to visit. Bataan and Corregidor are on that list.

If you have an interest in Bataan I can post specific requests of photos and information when we go there. I don't know when that will be.

That guy was Alex. He was fired from the shop for taking the meat money that goes to the wholesaler.

The owner was out for a day and returned minus the money and a butcher. He was out gambling and drinking with the money from the shop. :blush:

What a shame. He was a good worker and a likable guy.

But, but, it was the perfect plan. Pay off the wholesaler, pay off the boss, and pocket the winnings... what could go wrong? :lol2:

Yes, with a plan like that who would have been any wiser?

It was a shock to me but also a learning experience at my buddy's expense. Don't trust anyone with money.

That seems to be the reality there.

It's getting warmer here in Indiana but it's been beautiful here at the beach.

This is the South China Sea. I'd like to be in that photo. Will be shortly.

Just a few more weeks to "no pants day(s)". :blush:



:lol:

I've made it safely back. There are some internet connection issues then I should be able to post some photos.

And my pants are still on.

That is gratifying. :)

I've all but given up on reporting back to anyone online because of the poor connection possibilities so far out into the jungle.

Even the wireless is failing.

We are taking hundred of new photos and hope to publish them soon but we don't have any idea of when.

There are monitor lizards roaming around close to our property as well as monkeys less than a mile away. Wild chicken pass fairly regularly as well.

The pinoys are hunting down and eating the snakes so they've not been a big issue so far.

We're in a completely different world for sure. You want to experience rain. I've never seen anything like it here.

Wish I had more time.

As soon as I can I'll get pics out.

excellent

Should we start calling you Col Kurtz yet Slang ??

Wait, you moved? Out to the jungle?

You should have been around here this summer... 4.5 inches in 40 minutes, and today 1.2 inches in 10 minutes. :eek:

Hello everyone

It's me, the 3rd world adventurer.

We have a crew here working at digging and clearing the land. They call me Sir out of respect but one might logically call me;

Red Face
Always drinking water man
White man that falls down often
Nap after every physical activity man

Yes, we've moved out into what might be described as a jungle. We've bought a small farm lot and are in preparation of making a sustainable farm.

We'll be producing tilapia, chickens, goats, rabbits, pigs, worms and alcohol.

Bruce, I dont know the inches of rain fallen here but your numbers there are truly impressive.

It's not the least bit fun here with all the heat and humidity and mud everywhere.

It is beautiful though and many times I stop what I'm doing just to watch or see the scenery.

This is one of the locals that helped to clear the sloping portion of the lot.

There are 8 of them in total on our crew now. His name is Norley and he's a very tough guy and very hard working.

The temp is 85-95 f here now but the workers wear a lot of protective clothes, mostly for ants and snakes

On the photo on the right there are tree trunks visible in the distance. This is where I took a fall/slide down the hill to where these pics were taken.

My job is to get the photos and not to fall down the mountain.

My favorite quote of the workers was when I asked them what might be hiding in some very thick underbrush that they had just cut but was still in place and not pushed downwards.

They said in broken English "we'll soon find out" as thet hacked through the vegetation and pushedc it downward.

The second shot shows the crew building the dyke for our tilapia pond.

These are a few days old and we're further along now. we'll soon be ready for stocking the breeder pond.

The entire excercise is more exciting here in person than these im ages show.

The work is also exhausting. Even those simple things like walking back up the mountain.

No. I'm commanding a small untrained force of poor farmers. Long knives, yes. Long guns, no.

A part of the mission is to demonstrate how capitalism can work on the lower end of the spectrum and doesn't always suck all the life out of those working within it.

It's possible, right?

There was a typhoon hitting around my arrival here. There were many typhoons or storms that kept everything soaked here until the 3rd week of Aug.

There is an article here that describes the rainfall as possibly 78 inches in a 24 hour period.

The rain here during that time was less than that where you are but nearly constant for weeks. The clouds coming in off the Pacific can keep the rain coming down for longer periods than one would expect inland US.

It seems that a coffee can left out in direct rain will estimate the inches fallen in a 24 hour timeframe. I'll be sure to set that up on the farm to get an idea of how much rain is falling.

Yeah, you're out in the jungle... watch out for critters.:3_eyes:

It's been an unusually wet year with the rain coming, not daily like you get it, but huge deluges you know aren't normal for PA.

What are you going to do with that steep slope once it's cleared?
If you kill all the vegetation, eventually the rain will make the whole place level. :haha:

Wow slang, that's amazing. So are you going in to town to an internet cafe to post here, or are you connected wherever it is that you call home these days?

You tell us. :)

That slope doesn't get constant exposure to the sun. There is also a breeze coming up from the river to cool things off. Once the grass and vines are gone I'm hoping to have some chicken cages there. It should be cool enough.

We don't want to kill all the vegetation just the tiger grass and the vines. There are many trees on that portion that we'll be keeping ( by necessity ).

The accommodations at the farm lot are minimal but we do stay there for days at a time. We have an apartment in Baguio that the inlaws stay at and when we have had enough of the farm we go back there.

This post was typed in Baguio. The photos were taken in Burgos.

I'm betting that it is possible.

This is the view from the last portion of the slope up to the flat. The first time I went all the way to the bottom and climbed back up I forgot my water bottle. On the way up it was the focus, my motivation.

Our Man Slang goes down on the Farm ,
Ee I Ee I Oh !!!!

Seriously , Good Luck with this and Keep us Posted !!!!!

i didn't see any pictures of that! :eek:

great pics and great plan. Are you there for good now, or is this another 6 month stint?

Uh, Tiger Grass? :unsure: Is it named that because it's two toned, you know, like stripes? Or because Tigers like to hang out in it?

The planned duration is one year. And when ever the US backs out of this communist kick, I'll be all the more happy to return.

If my numbers are at all accurate I'll not need to leave but will most likely still design as before but under much better terms since a design income wont be required for my adventures.

The better that the business side of this farm is going the less bullshit I'll be putting up with in the US. ;)

Thanks Zip.

There is a growing food shortage in SE Asia and the Phils specifically.

The government bureau's are increasing incentives for food production. Not particularly exciting incentives but they are being offered in many cases for the first time. The gov't sees this situation as serious.

As the sea fishing yields decrease maybe I'll get a piece of this market big enough to spend much more of my time here.

The grass has stripes of sorts but has very sharp leaves that slice as you walk past them. The stems are also sharp and hazardous after being cut. The stalk is rigid and the cut pattern is normally angled down to give the remaining portion of the plant a sharp edge sticking up from the ground.

It's main use is the base material for making brooms.

Link to tiger grass

Image

Link to soft (native) brooms

Great photos Slang!

I lived in the Philippines for a couple of years (1979-1981). Beautiful country. I was active duty Air Force, live on Clark AB, just outside Angeles City. Used to love to go to Bagio - would stay at Camp John Hay. Wife and I had our honeymoon there. Lots of hills, totally beautiful.

Are you hiring?

Thank you.

It is beautiful here despite the tough living for most everyone here.

We are in Baguio at this moment and visit CJH once in a while.

It does rain a lot here but it is cooler than Manila.

We are hiring for contract positions only. The pay is 250 pesos a day and there are some hazardous and physically taxing situations.

The numbers of people wanting work with us is growing. We work 5 days from 8am to 5pm with an hour lunch.

It's not that we are all that great to work for or that the salary is all that great it's just that in the rural areas paid work is so very hard to find.


We're going back out for a few days and I don't expect to be online for a few weeks.

Thanks to everyone for your interest and comments.

The Bureau of Fisheries has delivered 2000 fingerlings to our pond on Saturday and it's getting more interesting.

We have a mix of Israeli and African tilapia and the officer from the bureau tells us that they will grow into very good breeders. That's precisely what we want.

Photos should be available next time we get back into town.

Oh, fish porn, super. :haha:

Good luck man!

:lol: That's not exactly what I meant by that last post Bruce but after re-reading it...you're right. Sounds funny.

No fish porn though, sorry. :blush:

Thanks Griff,

Seems possible that in a year we could have some decent yields of fish. If that sort of thing interests you.

What do you feed the fish? Or can they find their own food in the pond?

Tilapia eat bacteria and algae. We feed them commercial feeds which are essentially processed chicken manure with the bacteria automatically mixed in.

They eat two types of feeds as fingerlings, one mash which is a very fine powder and another which an additional ingredient is added to allow it to float but it too is processed chicken manure.

Once we have enough chickens on the property we can toss the commerical feeds and stop paying for food for the fish. Maybe.

The feeds are not all that expensive but the profit margin on the fish is not enormous so every bit we don't buy will be helpful.

If only the chickens ate fish manure. :)

So the fish eat shit? And we eat the fish. Amazing.

And this shit eating fish is considered a much healthier food choice than chicken, pork or beef.

:)

It's aaallllllllll shit. Haven't you seen SouthPark?

Hey slang, did that tropical storm cause you any problems? Manila was looking pretty wet.

It is damn close to Manila.

Well, Slang said he's now a couple hundred miles to the north of Manila in Burgos. That could be a good thing for him, because most of the bad news about the flooding is coming out of Manila. Not sure if the news comes out of Manila because that's where the worst flooding is, or because that's the capital city and the reporters are there. Maybe it's bad in Burgos too. Hope he's fine. Almost half a million people are homeless from this flood.

But Slang is in the boondocks, and the news media is based in Manila, so we don't know until he checks in. :unsure: