This man was fueling his taxi during one of my walks. It seems funny that the Coke bottles are used for most anything, even diesel fuel.

It wasnt clear where the bottles were being filled from. Inside a shop of some type.

One man's noise in another man's music. There was a band rehearsal here the other night and when you are playing in a band and someone is in range with a camera...it's just natural to want to be a star. :D

The volume inside was so loud I just wanted to shoot someone. To keep the peace and my freedom, I just left.

Pretty cool kids even though the sound wasn't refined quite yet.

This collection of photos includes many animals and most of dogs. The dogs here have tough lives like all the people.

This is the closest to starvation that I have ever seen an animal. Dehydrated and starving, it must be sick with something.

It sqatted to pee and left bloody urine. At that moment I only had one peso to buy something for that dog to eat and that was not nearly enough. After running back home for some money the dog was gone.

The locals didnt understand why I might be looking for such a sickly dog.

"to give it some simple comfort before it obviously dies a very painful uncomfortable death"

Thanks for this slangster. We often forget how good we've got it.

Here's one of my favorite dogs here. He's in this exact spot every day at the pet store.

Normally he's a friendly dog but the last photo he started growling at me.

The owner said that maybe I should not show up for a few days just to give this guy a little rest.

It's funny how the names at the cellar just stick with you even if you know that person's real name or even if you dont really follow that person's stuff.

These are two cellar names as businesses here.

Here is the view from the roof of the hotel. Notice the contrast in the high rise buildings and the squalid commoners homes.

The only way to stay cool aside from an air conditioner....wear wet clothes.

From the moment I get up until the time the sandman comes, this place is HOT and HUMID. What's the solution? A soaked shirt before going out.

No, this method would not work for all but aside from the concern that everyone has that I might catch cold, this works great.

The no smoking sign is not that surprising here but the Wendy's help wanted sign requires an applicant to be a second year college student and to be at least 5-2.

To serve food you must be a second year student. To serve food :eyebrow:

As bad as things are for the people here, the natives are very happy for those things that they have and tend not to focus on what they dont have (like a typical American would).

Most everyone knows someone or has a relative now or in the past that has been working in the US. They know from those people that it's work, work, work and very different from life here which almost no one seems to care what time of the day it is muchless have a list of things to do for this day.

It's appealing for a vacation to see this. Living like this and having so few things of living comfort and entertainment would not be fun.

Regardless of what China and India are doing now, the US is still the most desired country to live in. Will that change? Who knows, in time maybe.

It's tuesday night now. I'm drunk. Not just drunk, piss drunk.

It's very cheap and easy to be drunk here. The exchange is very good. The Filipinos, very friendly and forgiving.

We took 80 or so new photos today but I was too intoxicated to process them.

We're having a great time here despite the rain.

More photos coming soon.

Sycamore, you are an ass. :)

Just kidding.

More soon.

Wow! Fantastic pics.

As you brought up the topic of drink - what's the beer like there? As in what size bottles/ glasses is it served in & what strength? I've been amazed at how much a common drink like beer varies country to country.

I know you had the one that made you sick - have you acclimatised, or is there something else on the table?

My hectic life pace lately has caused me to overlook the hottest thread on The Cellar until lunch today. Slang...dude...you're a wild man. Great pics, and I hope you'll do us all the honor of stashing them somewhere online en masse so we can mull them over.

When are you coming back? Or *are* you coming back? How many of your camera recipients have you met face to face by now? Is the exchange rate for...um...escorts as good as it is for everything else? Not that you'd have availed yourself of one or more, of course, but I figure you'd find out just to add to the big sociological picture.

Do the locals steal from you when you get into your pints? Hmmm... sounds like a retirement scenerio...

I can't speak for The Slangster , but from My experences in the early 80's as a stupid young drunk Marine .
The exchange rate when i was there ( early 80's ) was 18pesos to $1 on the street , but we had just gotten paid as we pulled into port in Singapore , so i walked in to a bank , the exchange rate was 30Pesos to $1 , I droped a $100 on the counter , 2 weeks of liberety !!!!!!! I don't rember much of it !!!
you could get a COLD beer for 7 pesos in a high class rock and roll bar with live bands , clean girls , etc,,, if you went to the dives I went to you could get a beer for 3-5 pesos , and if you were feeling REALLY adventures you could go to the corner stores and get a beer for 2-3 pesos , give Momason the bottle back and she woulg give you a peso back .

You could make a $20 LAST that way !!!!!

Girls were cheap ( sorry ) $9 for the night( but they could be had for cheaper , actualy once for a cheap Timex watch ) , hotel rooms were cheap $5 for the nite ( no fan , no radio , community bathroom down the hall ) up to about $20 a night ( AC , TV , pool , room service , full bath room with a NICE shower and tub , etc,,,,,)

As I said i was doing the stupid young drunk Marine thing around So East Asia , I wish I had kept my self togather better and seen some sights , gone to some intresting places .

Oh well ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, the follies of Youth !!!!!! :sniff:

Oh and the drink of choice when you got tired of beer was mini pitchers of mixed drinks , CHEAP , i don't rember the prices , but i do rember my fave , it was called a bull frog , rum , vodka , black berry brandy , and hell i don't rember what all else , they were GOOOOOOD !!!!!!!

Good question SG.

The beer that I drink most often is San Miguel. It's not a great beer (not German) but it's common and cheap. It would be compared to a Budwieser here, the most popular but not the favorite. The bottles are small and I've been too drunk/distracted to compare volumes, sorry.

The SM is not very strong but after about ......a few, life is good.

I've had some Red Horse beers a few days ago and I like them much better. More bang for the buck, if you know what I mean. :) The RH is more like dark beer that I'm used to. Powerful.

The brandy is also ok but a very good deal here. I had some "15 year old" brandy yesterday that I bought at the drug store (!!). The cost was about a buck and a half for a flask which in comparison is about 8 bucks back home.

The beers from the first day that made me sick were not from the beer. I've had two or three ( :blush: ) here after that and all is fine with no praying over the throne.

The water dispensed as "mineral water" from the coin op is also fine.

The video card to both home computers went out today but we took a ride on the rail and got some good photos even though they cannot yet be posted.

We're going into Makati city tomorrow to buy another video card and should have some more photos soon. They are piling up in the time the computer is down.

Thanks for the compliment Ep.

There are somewhere around 1500 photos of various places of interest (or non-interest) on her home machine now. About half are not clear or not centered etc and arent much to look at. The remaining, along with the MPEGs of street scenes and the TV programs here are cool to see and will be available somewhere when I get back.

It has been my goal to capture as much of the Philippine people doing all those same things we see and do at home. These activities range from going into market for food to seeing what the hospitals here look like.

I'm doing a study of how things are different and the same here in all aspects of life for a variety of people. A large part of the exercise is to show people in the US how things work here now and to show our common ground.

Once they are all catagorized as needed cellarites will have full access to the collection.

The official exchange rate is 54.something to one dollar. In Pembo just yesterday I changed some dollars into pesos and got the rate of 53/$1.

Now that I'm out of the city there are no prostitutes around. I dont have any idea how much they cost but could find out. If I can find a rate without getting into a hassle, I will.

They are drop dead gorgeous but I'm not here for that sort of fun. Many that I have seen would easily fit into a men's mag.

Some of them are aggressive and I've had to forcefully remove them from my path/ romove their hands from me.

A few have been polite at my reply of "you're very nice looking but no thank you, I'm not here for that" and quietly disappeared.

This is the first of my net pals that I have met face to face. This is the only woman that I've sent a camera out to and would expect to meet more in the future as the rest are western wise young men looking for honest friendship/opportunity.

I will return to the US and start working again once the military budget for fighter jet development rolls into the next fiscal year.

Another great question.

In the city a white guy is a target for all sorts of scams. Out of the city I'm very well received and friendly with all of the Phl nationals.

I dont drink without having a "babysitter" here. It's not that it's very dangerous here from the people but as I have said before, the everyday hazards are often deadly. Big holes in the street with no warning, rebar hangind or falling out of buildings. That sort of thing. Things that could easily kill you without malice but that you're still just as dead.

Though the locals dont consider me one of them they have all been very fair and courtious.

As the US retirement system creeps deeper and deeper into uncertainty, yes, retirement here would be a viable option.

I'm looking at real estate here now but not the fancy tourist sort. There is a Frenchman here that I (argue about Bush and ) talk with that has built several homes here. He has gone through all the problems and I hope to learn something from the things that he has to suggest.

Sorry Zip, I've run out of time.

SM beer15 peso
hotel room with private shower/bath (no hot water), no TV, ceiling fan that rotates like a Huey with a fire escape that doubles as a terrace - $6.36 night

I bought a half gal of ice cream today for 99 pesos ($1.80)

Tricycle ride from her place to the hotel - 20 pesos $.37 (it's about 3/4 mile)

sorry man, got to split...more later.

1. Have you heard the President Arroyo corruption proof tape?

1a. If yes, have you heard it as a ring tone?

Another great topic of discussion here.

Many of the locals are critical and or suspicious of president Arroyo. These people tend to be older working class people that see her as a corrupt elitest. This older group has heard all the hype from Arroyo about moving forward as a country and seen this society stagnate or regress.

Foreign investment is increasing sharply. More filipinos have jobs. My guess is (that means I havent seen any numbers or paid close enough attention to say with confidence ) that the fast food jobs and the imported (junk) shops are giving people here the most jobs.

The more people that have jobs, the less critical they are of what the president does. This seems to be a universal human truth.

Back to your original question, no I havent heard the tape. There have been a few Filipino news programs that have talked about it though. Most of these news shows are in Tagolog so clearly most of the footage is lost on me.

If I talk politics with someone here I ask about where they stand on Arroyo and the corruption case. The educated young working people could care no less about it and see it as total folly. These people are building condos, selling computers to a growing market or own some type of money making business. They're too busy to care.

Those not directly involved with the "new economy" or the increase in the standard of living are most critical.

I'm not in a position to be critical of the president here or even have any desire to dig into the details of the "proof" tape but the case seems weak, irrelevant and only an issue with people that need to crucify someone for their lack of progress here.

Sounds much like another little situation that we're all a bit more familiar with.

As for the ringtones.......

Have not heard the proof tape ringtone but the cell phones are so common here that it's beyond annoying.

The younger people dont talk on their phones as much as they text message one another. Now the new thing is sending photos over the phone. There's something that can keep my attention for more than 20 seconds.

You see people holding cell phones in front of them with both hands, playing games and texting at every turn here.

Slang: Hey! it's a cell phone...talk on the God damned thing already! Kids today.

I butchered that reply but hope you got something out of it.

My back and ass are killing me from this kindergarden chair. :blush:

Not fast food or imported goods jobs. This was a major oversight on my part. The large employers must be the building trades and contractors of every sort. Buildings are going up in large numbers.

These are two examples of the many choppers and commercial planes flying all around here. If you sit on the roof of the hotel and watch, you can clearly see the planes taking off and landing.

The frequency of big commercial planes coming and going is about one every hour or so and I always wonder what the natives here really think about all these foreign people coming and going. My guess is that only a very small amount of Filipinos are in these planes going to far off places.

Is there attitude one of hope that all this development here will lead to better things for most Filipinos or just seen as a bunch of people that dont belong here and dont really care about anything or anyone in the Philippines, just taking advantage of the strong exchange rates and warm weather?

This is my funny tricycle ride. It's only a 100 cc motor trying to cart me and a sidecar, a driver and 3 passengers up a hill.

"tell him to give it HELL or we arent going to make it"

Must be something was lost in the translation because he just wouldnt rev it up enough to get us all up the hill.

two more from the same event

These are from a butcher shop right next to some friends of ours. We were both talking with them when a refridge truck stopped in next door and we all saw a small Filipino man carrying a large pig on his shoulders.

Notice if you can how clean this place is. It's got all stainless countertops and they clean the floor for real every night.

It's the only place that I'd even consider buying meat.

Here is the American Manila cemetery. It's a very somber place and despite many requests to get specific photos of the cemetery we took a walk around and just left.

The rows of markers are unnerving. I snapped a few photos of names on the walls and quietly left.

The whole facility is very well cared for and those that come to visit are very respectful.

Looking for the cheapest ride in town? This would seem to be the one. There are many busses that travel to the hotspots around town but for just getting to the local market and such, this is the most economical.

And you wonder why the Asians are all so thin?

What needs to be explained with this shot? Anything?

Ever seen a sign that you thought was so amusing that you had to have a photo of it? When I saw this I just broke out laughing. Sometime after the photos were taken the sign disappeared.

This was taken at the third floor of the Durban St Inn, Makati.

Last image

It seems that everyone here wants their footprints in any new construction. So much so that very few steps or sidewalks here dont have some writing or footprints or some type of creative expression hardend into them.

This is a tricycle driver that was asking me if we wanted a ride. To be more specific, just after we both said very politely....no thank you, her in Tagolog, me in English.

As the trikes pass they almost all slow down to see if the only white guy in town might like to ride instead of walk. Those fatassed American guys like to ride and have the money to pay, right?

It gets downright annoying with everyone asking or slowing down to gesture "do you want to ride"? It happens every time I go out walking and they should know that I have the ability to hail a trike. At least I'd make eye contact if I was wanting a ride.

So this is one of many we politely turned away only this one has a little girl attached. Very cute.

This is the only golfcourse that I've seen so far. It's really nothing special by American standards but the thing that caught my attention was the grounds keepers.

They do a great job at keeping the grass nice and short. They keep the leaves off the lowermost branches too and I'll bet they're cheap to have working for the golfcourse.

last image

There are more but just as before....I just dont have the patience to work with these machines. If the chair is good, the mouse doesnt work worth a shit. If the mouse actually works, the fucking keyboard sucks goat ass. If everything seems to be working well, the machine crashes constantly.


What a mother fucking pain in my ass. :)

And another thing while I'm all pissy and bitching.....


There isnt ONE SINGLE God damned table here that doesnt rock back and forth when you put your drinks down on it.


ok, I feel a little better now. I'll go have a cheap beer on a table that shifts 5 degrees back and forth and back and forth and back and forth.......

You should really be carrying shims so they know you're serious about your drink. (match books may suffice)

Just don't put the drink down. Drink it until empty, the order another. Lather, rinse, repeat, fall down.

Or just use the tried and true method of standing while drinking thus giving one an idea of about how drunk they are by the difficulties in standing.

One of many walking hazards that you might easily bust your ass completely in while drinking and not paying close attention to what you're doing.

The hospitals here are not the same as the US either so after busting your ass, there's not nearly the chance that some talented doctor can repair it without shipping you back home.

My home away from home, hotel Frenchman.

How's my driving? Is that what you call this. Looks a lot more like parking to me. In any case, there's an offshore callcenter that listens to your bitching and complaining about the many things that might annoy you about the driving here.

The fact that these lumber wagons actually have some kind of certification was mildly reassuring, despite the fact that the stickers block a substancial portion of the already small windshield.

Then you read the small print only to find that this "certification" has expired nearly two years ago and not been replaced.

Ahh, but they are cheap as dirt and more fun than an amusment park ride.

So how is the light rail, you might ask? A great deal. The railcars are clean, cool and cheap to ride.

Very interesting. Much different than home.

So we stumble across a man that has a fighting cock out in front of his barbershop. She asks if I can take some pictures, he says yes....and I resist using the strangely akward, but totally culturally acceptable phrase...."nice cock ya got there".

Taking photos here and there in the midday heat, just minding my own business and enjoying all the fascinating things to see here..

Next thing I know, a motorcycle cop rolls up and politely asks me what I'm doing taking all the pics.

slang -"Just very interested and curious about Makati, Ma'am"

cop - "No more photos....this is private property"

slang - "ok, I've not come all this way to get arrested, how should we fix this? Do you want the photos erased?"

cop - "no, just......no more pictures please...have a nice visit...no more pics please"


Fair enough.

How popular might a movie about cold weather be here?

The SEA games were in Manila this year. Hooray for parking lots in the streets and cabs waiting for half hour intervals without aircon.

Ever been outside the US and not speak the native language....and realize you probably should before you go out like you belong there?

I have now.

This is the line at the MRT, light rail, in what I can only assume was some type of spot check for terrorists.

We all know how many Americans like to blow things up....but not with little body bombs. Not our style.

So the line that normally moves quickly is now slowed down to a crawl because of a (outter) body and bag search in which there is only one officer conducting the searches.

The Filipinos were all pretty patient about the whole thing but let me tell you, I'd have taken a freakin' cab if I knew the line would be moving that slow and to take another 45 minutes.

We went to to the volcano yesterday. The little one that pokes out of the ocean.

We didnt get more than 2 miles away though due to my extreme frugality and the expense of taking a boat to the island and then riding a horse up the hills, etc, etc...

It's a very nice looking area there so the photos came out pretty good.

shims are cheap too. I'm all over that suggestion Griff.

That is because all of their talented doctors fled the country and are here working in the US being paid by insurance reimbursment, rather than in chickens and pigs.

OK, Slang, by mutual agreement Luisa and I will not be making any further comments on this thread. I thought your decisions were "strange" in the beginning, but now it has moved through "weird" and gone to "surreal". Because I choose to believe you are actually an intelligent man, I have to say you are doing all this as part of a deliberate plan :headshake


Luisa says:
Crap! Bonifacio city! What was he doing taking pictures at a military camp? ?He wan'st int he comemrcial district. He was out of bounds on military proeprty. That was no cop. That was military police!
Tonchi says:
what did I tell you
Luisa says:
Of course nobody else would be telling you this.
Luisa says:
I now believe he took those pictures for a reason.
Luisa says:
That is the entrance tot he camp
Luisa says:
Jesus christ!
Luisa says:
I am inspectign the photo he took where the cop approache dhim.
Luisa says:
He was at PACES. That is our rapid response Kidnap team.
Luisa says:
They are called in for immediate action on terrorist threats.
Tonchi says:
Accidentally there, of course
Luisa says:
What in the blazes!? If he weren't american he would have been hauled in for questioning and beaten to a pulp at the very least.
Tonchi says:
maybe he was, or at least arrested
Luisa says:
No. he said he wasn't.
Luisa says:
American's don't get arrested here.


BTW, you don't have to kill us now, we're already on the same side ;)

The plan is what it always is when I travel. To understand and be able to fairly compare that country in all aspects to those things in the US. For understanding of those people and that culture as much as possible in the short time that I'm there.

That's always the prime directive although most everyone thinks I'm with the CIA or some spook BS.

Not true. I'm just curious and have a camera with a large memory card. :)

To capture all those seemingly insignificant things that I see that are somehow different but are of little or no consequence.

I've got over 2 gigs of "common" photos of all sorts of uniquely Pinoy sights and things.

There's only been one man at the barangay that's even asked a single question about the numbers and sorts of photos that have been taken aside from the nice lady on the motorbike.

After an hour of conversation and a few follow up chats, he's comfortable with me hanging around now. :D

Still dont have a photo of him though.


And what a lovely military cop she was. Not great with English but very pleasant.

That shot was taken 100 feet away from "market! market!" and there were exactly zero signs on site or on the net that no pics should be taken there.

A truly lovely area I might also add. The most "fun" and pleasant area that I've seen here so far.


No doubts about that. Aside from some wiseasses, people here take good care of me. And when ever possible we stop to chat and answer questions people might have.

Yes, the chickens here are tastier but nothing like getting paid in solid western currency.

Dont let them hear you say that all the talented docs came to the US though, they get a little defensive when you reach the boundries of that conversation. :)

Only because it's true.

No objections from me. I acknowledge the fact that we have a major brain drain going on here. Doctors have actually stopped being doctors and started studying to become nurses in the hopes of getting the better life anywhere but here. In fact, at this rate, we have the practicum nurses outnumbering the practicum doctors at any given time in any given hospital. Pretty soon, we may have the nurses doubling as doctors.

Now if only these doctors turned nurses would remember that they were hired as nurses and stop messing with the REAL (read as accredited to practice in that country) doctors prescriptions and diagnosis in whatever country it is they are in so they would stop getting black listed and deported in shame then coming back here and telling horror stories about why this and that country is racist and bad.

:headshake :redface: :

Okay Slang, just so you know, Market ! Market! is located within the "demilitarized" zone of FORT BONIFACIO. It is located within a military camp and right now, nobody really knows where the boundaries stand. Long story, has to do with some unpaid real estate taxes and idle military property and stuff. Too boring to tell. It really seems to me that you found yourself within, if not too close to, the military zone. Be glad you are a tall, well built American, the cop did not dare try to shake you down for a "picture taking fee" or anything. He probably figured you could hurl him into the place he was guarding with one hand tied behind your back and cut his losses before you got wise to him .


:D