More vehicle shots.

The first one is a dune buggy that was zipping around the cab. The image is all blurry and it was out of site before another could be snapped

The second one is 3 people on a motorbike. That's fairly common there but it might not be legal.

These are from the Fort Banifacio area (ritzy part of Makati with active nightlife).

From the Army base.

The next 4 are from the Army base. The mural is about 100yds long all with scenes from the army.

I was working my way down the sidewalk snapping one section at a time when an MP (politely) told me that my slippers (flip flops) were not allowed in that area. That it was not a great offense to him but if his superiors came by and saw me with them on in that area that it was technically an infraction. Being barefoot was not an option either as that was worse.

Maybe next trip I'll get the rest of it.

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I like to walk around all parts of the barangay just to see the buildings and talk to those that would like to try their English.

Most people that are out will chat for a bit and are surprised to see me in their humble area.

During one of walks these girls were trying to work this .....thingy. That paper thingy that you twirl around, you know.....that thingy.

After rolling the paper up on the stick a bit they were able to spin this (thingy ) enough for an action shot. :)

Do people ask me for money? Not normally. Most offer me something to drink, sometimes beer sometimes cola. They also like to have their photo taken which is not a problem. ;)

These two are taken from a walkway over the street in Quezon City. There are quite a few of these as there are no American style crosswalks.

There is often some type of surprise on the overpass too. This one had some smelly dog poo but someone selling something that you'll never need would also be a possibility as well as a homeless person.

We have met homeless people in Quezon and it's disturbing to me. A few of them have been just plain raving crazy and unable to function. If someone has family, that family will normally at least give them somewhere to stay out of the rain.

We met an old woman last year that just looked pitiful. We passed and Pinang was talking about something and I told her that we must do something for that woman.

She put some peso bills in the old woman's hand but said that "there's just no one there". In the end we had someone call the church and gave some money to care for her.

I've not seen people in such pitiful welfare as here in the Phils.

Anyway....this is a shot from the overpass with the smelly poo. :)

We have friends in Quezon city. During this trip we went to their apartment.

This was the first time that I'd seen the inside of a rental apartment so I was very curious, looking here and there.

They are small for sure. Most of the "extras" are absent, like a handrail for the stairs. Overall no bad though, IMO.

This apartment is home for our two friends (man and woman ) and his sister.

They have a TV, fridge, sink and all that basic kinda stuff. One thing that strikes me is that the paints are often so dreary that it's depressing. A coat of paint before renting a unit might be standard here in the US but it's extra money for the owner in the Phils.

This apartment rents for 7000 php a month ($140) and heat is included. :lol:

Sorry no interior shots of the apartment. This is what the outside looks like though. Look at all those wires running around!

The first photo is in the hallway looking at the building next door.

The second is the front door which is pretty nice. The woodworking is normally pretty cheap as most of the labor is done in country where the rates are cheap.

Next door to our friends this cat and rooster were both looking at each other.

Some things that the animals here do are pretty funny to me.

The cat is thinking..."I could eat fresh chicken tonight if I could only lift that gate".

At some point in the Christmas celebration with relatives here, we were invited to another party.

The party was at someone's apartment building. The top of the building to be more specific.

These are taken from the 4th floor of aunty ?'s building. The birthday party is for cousin ?, who just happens to be gay ( ba-ding ).

This trip, quite by accident and without any objection we just seemed to run into many gays.

They would completely ignore me for a while, checking my reactions I suppose. Who knows, I might be one of those knuckle dragging, heartless Republican gay bashing bastards!

Pinang would razz some of them playfully and eventually with some beer they would talk to me and ask some questions.

Ba-ding: Hey....do you know any gays in the US
slang: (eating the chicken on a stick like a man that hasn't seen food in a month) Yeah
Ba-ding: Do they annoy you?
slang: No more than all the other assheads....HEY, CAN I GET ANOTHER REDBULL OVER HERE!? YES PLEASE, THE GRANDE SIZE!
Ba-ding: Oh. Cool :D

The food and booze there was pretty good.

1. BIG plate of plain rice

2. Chicken on a stick. No Zippy, it's NOT monkey on a stick. :rolleyes:

3. Chow mein kinda noodles

4. Very well done fish cooked with head still attached

5. Medium done fish cooked with head still attached

I saw this guy at the party and assumed that he was a black guy. He was a dark Filipino.

I didnt see one single black person and I was looking. They would probably be very popular here.

West Rembo

Walking around just after Christmas and all the little boys had their toy guns out in the street shooting the neighbors.

Ah, it's nice to see I tell ya.

"Hey Joe" [Bang! Bang!]

I returned fire with a borrowed sawed off shotgun seen in pic 2.

The toy guns there look remarkably real and have no red tip. "That looks just like my Glock!"

Oh and a sidenote to Wolf. One of the malls that we were at has a gunstore in it.

We were walking by and I saw some short shotguns in a display.

"What the.....!?, we gotta stop in here for a minute!"

With a license, a Filipino may legally own a handgun and this shop sells them.

There were Glocks and Smiths on display in the case. The proprietor said that one must have a license and to get a license you have to be Filipino.

Anyway......

Here are the kids and their guns.

Another sidenote. The kid in pic one is drinking out of a plastic bag, which is quite normal as the beverage is poured into the bag at the store to retain the returnable bottle.

OK, there is the shooting, now lets check out an ambulance.

This is the Makati Ospital ambulance. It looks nice from the outside but the inside doesnt have nearly the same amount of life saving equipment as we have here in the US.

This is very hard to see but what is inside is basically a cabinet and a tank of some kind.

Just for the record during the time that I was across the street snapping pics, there was a patient loaded into that very ambulance on a cart.....and....it....was....very....hard.....not to go and get his pic! :blush:

Party, party, party, everyone's having a party.

The next door neighbor invited us to a party for his niece. She's turning one year old today....but the important thing to know is that there is free food and booze there.

Cool, we're there!

To be polite until everyone has at least one pass through the buffet, I dont load up. After that...it's every man for himself though. :)

It seemed funny to me that the family just set up the tables and parked the cars to block the traffic from the street. This street sees a fair amount of tricycle traffic.

With very little warning or hesistaion everything was set up....right in the middle of the street.

This was my first pass through the buffet. Chicken, rice, fish. :neutral:

There was plenty there though. The chicken as seen on my plate was the best. When everyone is busy eating and not paying attention to me, the plate was nearly completely loaded with the sweet saucy chicken. :)

No, it's not monkey Zip!

This is the family that the party was for. Don't ask me their names, I dont remember.

The man is Filipino and the woman is Chinese....the little girl is just out_of_control cute.

Everything looked great and everyone seemed to have a good time. So good that they didnt see the strange white man loading his plate full with chicken.

Looks like the little girl's name is Kristen. :)

OK, dinner is over. What next? CLOWNS!!!

Clowns singing,dancing and telling very bad jokes. :eyebrow: The little girl shown in pic 2 is from Canada, both Phil parents.

She was exceptionally bright and spoke English very well. If I remember correctly her parents were moving BACK from Canada. They are both professionals of some type.

Last one for now.

This man was pedalling down the street in Pateros (next to Makati ).

You will see these guys riding bikes selling all sorts of things. There is a man that sells "dirty ice cream" (that's what Pinang calls it, home made ice cream ), balut :greenface , dirty corn and various other specialty foods and drinks.

Most of them have a special ring. The corn man has a special sounding bell, the ice cream man has another. Everyone has their own proprietary bell so that you know who is riding around outside ringing.

They all have the same kind of bell even far outside of the area. They must have a franchise of sorts going. If you want to sell dirty corn you get a holder for the corn....and that special bell. The "Hey, I've got dirty corn" bell. :)

This man sped away before I could get a good look at those things on his cart.

Most all of these vendors has been very nice to me. They show me what they are selling and go out of their way to answer silly questions. If they let me take pictures most of the time they get 20 or 50 pesos as a tip. Nothing bought just the tip for letting me see what they have and taking a pic.

2. Chicken on a stick. No Zippy, it's NOT monkey on a stick.
No, it's not monkey Zip!So you THINK !!! HA !!!

Just kidding about the monkey meat on a stick dude !!
I can thruthfully say the ONLY time I knew I was eating Monkey was when the PI Marines shot and cooker one , I HAD to try it , it was TASTY !!!

So Slang , I might have missed it but are you in the PI again or are these just pics from your last trip ??

Eather way it looks like you had FUN !!!
Oh and who is that Little Quitie ? Yours , Hers , Yours/Hers ??

Wait a minute, you actually ate food at a buffet? I can hear your conversation with your doc back home. "Yah it all started after I ate buffet style in the Philipines..."

These are from this last trip, 3 weeks long. The next trip will be in August and I'll be staying for 3-6 months.

The objective is to learn enough and to prepare myself for moving there long term. As America changes into....whatever it's morphing into, I want options. There seems to be a polar shift in politics, hard left - hard right, every 8 years. On the off 8 years, I'll be gone. ;)

Learning Tagalog is a priority now as well as history and the workings of the government there. How do you get things done there? Who do you speak to? What are the systems there? All these things will be important when I'm there long term. There is much to learn.

There is no plan to change citizenship, just geographical location. A place to get away from those things that I find completely unacceptable....like Dem policies.

There is plenty of time to build a place that I'll be happy and that is exactly what I'm doing.

The little girl is Lorin, she's my neice.

Pinang and I are collecting and saving money (I'm collecting and she's saving :lol: ) to build a comfortable life there for us. With a little luck and planning there will be a time that we're just as comfortable there in the Philippines as a middle class existence here in the US.

We're both pretty easy to please as far as lifestyle goes. She's more frugal than I am and that's saying something.

My work nowdays is becoming more and more intense in the way that employers ( that pay anything anyway ) want you to work 100 hours a week to get things done or corrected....then they want you to go away until the next time that they need you.

Shareholders don't want people on the payroll that arent contributing (IE the old way of doing engineering projects, 40 hours a week even when things are slow) and when they DO need you, they pay. This works for me! Six months in the US, six in Luzon.

Being a US citizen will also help with certain assignments and I'll have the flexibility that few Americans can afford, six on six off.

That's fine. The life that I'm building will work around that quite nicely. Everything is paid for and hopefully for the first time in my life I can fucking relax for a few months without stress of paying for the stupid shit that I never really wanted in the fist place.

The land and housing is still cheap in rural Luzon. Her relatives have some influence and have been accumulating land there with the monies sent back from US by family.

Will it be the US? No. Will I personally like it there? I dont know. When the taxes jump up to 50%, I'll just clap the dust off my hands and say fuck it, I'm going home.

Any way we look at it, it's a win. As things deteriorate in the US, I'd expect many more to do the same.

It's strange that every trip the food doesnt bother me until a day or two before the trip back.

That day before there is a lot of time on the can, without fail.

It works out well because on the long flights over, I dont even like to get out of the seat. No potty stops or anything.

Once back in the US, a few hits of Imodium cures everything back to normal.

No food troubles in the long run. Good stuff and cheap too.

A few observations from the trip.

1. People are getting FAT over there like Americans. Many have seen increases in their salaries. Not nearly enough to afford things like a new home or a car but more than enough to eat better tasting foods.

2. The adverts here in the US frequently feature Asian looking models, especially women. The adverts in Manila frequently feature American looking models, especially women.

3. If I'm going to have a conflict with someone during the flight, it's going to be some American asshead. No question about it. The Chinese are curious and friendly more than others but everyone has been extremely nice to me, except for aggressive Americans.

4. Filipinos that have moved to the US, become citizens and are visiting "the old country" often treat the locals like dogshit, and are often confrontational to even me. They are rude and condecending to the point that I have to tell them to fuck off (something that is normally reserved for home in the US)

Just going through the collection again and have a few more to add here.

Pizza Hut and Burger King.

I've not eaten at a Pizza Hut here but the BKs are almost the same as the US. Everything is smaller, tastes a bit strange and comes with rice.

The BEST pizza that I personally have had there is from Shakey's Pizza. Although that "belly buster" pizza was actually the same size as an American medium, it was fantastic. Deep dish pizza with all the meats on it ( except monkey ).

The total bill for one good pizza, 4 cold medium sized beers, 2 sprites, and two chicken and rice meals.....just under $18. Not bad.

The beer was cold too, something that's not always the case.

What's it like there riding around the city in a cab?

It's hard to describe accurately but here are some things that are fairly consistent.

1. The cab is going to be small. Not "Pakastan" Suzuki car small but small.

2. If the driver is an older man he's going to be listening to American Music from the 1950s and 60s. That sort of music is not my interest but was recoznizable. Dean Martin, Sinatra...the old style music where the artist could actually sing.

3. The driver will try not to activate the meter. Check the meter right after to tell him where you want to go. You should see it register "30" (pesos). If it's not, just politely ask him to set it. Trust me, you want them to set the meter. You can be generous or stingy as you want with a tip but make damn sure the meter is set. The cabs are cheap as far as cabs go, but they CAN be expensive if you get the "dumb white guy" rate. Take a second to check.

4. You will be sitting in the car in the street for much of the trip. Notice that I didn't use the term "traffic". The definition of traffic has the word "movement" in it. What you will be doing in the cab is sitting in the car, in the street. :)

5. There will be delivery bikes riding around you as you sit in the street waiting for whatever the fuck is holding up the flow.

This might be from some jackass unloading commerical goods from the middle of the street or someone trying to rebuild their jeepny on the fly.

The bikes will wiggle between the cab and the traffic in the next lane if possible and as soon as you stop many will jog around the traffic.

It was surprising to see what is available at their malls. We were in the electronics section of one of the biggest mall chains ((SM, a Chinese company.) and they have a wide selection of LCD and wide screen TVs. The biggest one cost 1.5 million PHP ($30k).

Who is buying these if things are so bad there? I don't know. I would have but we couldnt find the one that I wanted.

These are pictures from the street of the SM malls.

This photo is from the Fiesta part of the Market Market mall in Makati.

It's the food section of the mall.

There is a big roof as you see that covers the food shops and seating areas. Under the roof are smokestacks belching out bbq smoke visible in the photo.

If the wind doesnt blow the smoke smell is very strong and distracting. This day the wind wasnt blowing much.

There is also a reasonably big sign that says very clearly that there is no drinking of alcohol. Imagine turning the camera 90 degrees to the right.

There is a vendor that sells a variety of domestic and imported beer. :)

What? You're supposed to take it with you unopened from the mall to drink it?

Yah right. :eyebrow:

Another shot of the milk

This is the Uni-Mec grocery store in Comembo.

There is a grocery store, drug store, fruit market, bike shop, bakery, pawn shop, Infotech office and police station right here on the end of this block.

It's one of my favorite places to sit back and watch people.

The grocery store has a line of tricycles next to it. When you exit the store you can step right into one, no muss no fuss. Not exactly perfection because of the size and quality of the trikes but convenient for sure.

This store as many others also has a room out in front that you can leave your bags of goods from other stores. Step up and put your bag on the counter. They take it and put it into a space underneath and give you a plastic card. On the way out grab your other bags and you're off.

Once inside the UM store you'll find a very packed store but it is air conditioned. The carts are small and there's normally a lot of kids playing around either with the carts or each other.

As I've said many times before, Filipinos dont know how to flow. This is true in the street and on foot. People stop right in the middle of the flow and start talking to someone or answer a cell call all the time. In the US it's generally regarded as normal to get the fuck out of the way of the flow when you have to do something other than move forward. They don't flow.

Once you get around 50 people screwing around doing this or that you'll find the items that you're looking for...and 50 people will somehow be unable to get around YOU. :lol:

Everything is tight Everything is small.

But the great part of it all....

Everyone is polite and smiley. :)

Here are a few more of the Ospital.

Quite a modern looking building considering this neighborhood. I've been inside and it's modern and nice looking inside too but I've not used any of their services.

Pinang says it's a good (H)ospital but she's never been to the US.

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These are the little Bas-....um, I mean kids that were tossing the firecrackers at me.

The kid in the white shirt had quite a sassy mouth on him too. Where'd he learn to be so obnoxious? Had to be some American.

From the cab. Just a sign about what the local government is doing there.

We were in a grocery store somewhere, not the Uni-Mec, and they had a small section of American sorta things.

The price was about the same as home and I totally forgot to check the sell by date.

There was some interest by others in the family in eating the pancakes in the morning but overall, I liked them the best.

It's a good idea to get a good breakfast before sitting in a cab in the street for hour on end. :D

These are some other things we bought at that same time. We were going to try to make our own pizzas and cakes but lost interest.

Do you golf? I see golf as one of the dumbest games on the planet but I DO have the photos of the Army golf course. ;)

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I dont like golf, I dont understand how it works and I dont care to learn so....if you are a golfer you'll have to interpret what the photos are yourself.

Thinking about moveing to the PI , cool consept ,
Hell we know all about white flight , we not only left the city we left he whole state , the whole Damn area !!!
But to leave the country ???
That is a BIG step !!!
Luck to ya Bud !! ( oh and keep the pics comeing !!)

Some serious ball washers there. :)

It's all about options man. Most of the sailors that I've talked to would LOVE to move there.

As much as things are kinda on the downturn here, they are on the UPswing in Asia. I've got a lot of studying to do but I'm thinking that the option of going there for 6 on, 6 off will work out well.

Check out those rules...and rates!

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Another observation from the trip. Maybe this has been covered.

When I see westerners they generally avoid me. They avoid eye contact, they don't speak to me, they normally completely ignore me.

In Makati city with all the "adult entertainment" going on with the westerners, that would be logical but nearly everywhere not many speak.

Not a great loss for me because I deal with Americans enough in America. It's strange though.

Slang I reread this thread throughout the day yesterday, it's my favorite right now. Can't wait to see more :thumb:

Thanks Jinx

This is a shot that I passed up before.

We're walking through Comembo and Pinang is leading on foot and I'm snapping.

This woman in this restaurant was waving to us and I asked "do you know her"? Pinang said no, seems she just wanted her pic taken. Maybe she thought that these pictures would be in some fancy famous magazine or something.

Sorry ma'am....just here at the cellar. :blush:

It's common to have people want their image in my camera, and then for all of you to see. Most don't wave as this nice woman did though.

Ever hear about the pollution in Manila? It's bad in some places. In others it's very bad.

There are ditches that run along many of the streets. It's not a storm drain but it's not the sewer either. It's just bad grey water.

Many times there is a very large sign that instructs you not to put your trash in this "stream". Most of the time no regard is paid to it though and you see it piling up, in one case that comes to mind, directly under the sign.

About half to the crap that's along the banks of the streem here is bio garbage and the other half is styrofoam and plastic.

Not this but another place in Comembo there is a strong odor 20 - 30 ft from the portion that crosses the street exposed at the sidewalks.

It's not nearly as bad as many streets that I'd been to in Pakistan.

Coconuts are very popular there. This has to be one of the top 5 growers of cocunuts in the world, if not one of the top 3.

In the rough they sell for 10-15 php ($.20-25) each. They are popular for their juice and I've seen people collect it from them to cool in the fridge and drink.

I've not tried it unrefined so I cant comment on the taste.

Beer is cheaper by the liter so why bother?

Most of them just pile them up in the street with a bike and sell them.

Not something you'd see in the US, but common here.

If you go to "User CP" at the top left of any page and click on "attachments" under the "Miscellaneous" heading, you can see how many times each of your attachments has been viewed. That's a better gauge than the view counter for the entire thread, especially when the thread has been around for a while.

Pictures I've attached within an IotD thread get hundreds of views, but if I start my own thread in the Cellar and stick pictures in there, I'll usually only get 1-2 dozen views. Sometimes less if it's a thread without much of a broad appeal.

Interesting. Thank you Glatt.

Billboards. They tell a lot about what people want and don't want. Some are cool to look at as well.

The Philips bb always seemed to be in exactly the wrong place. This one is in West Rembo, not an affluent area.

Why would people care to see a very big ad for something that they could not (easily ) afford?

Maybe the two billboards together should be considered. :D

This is one of those hotels that rents by the hour. It's a chain hotel there but I'm not sure how many there actually are.

There was a Sogo that we looked at in Guadalupe but didn't stay at.

We walked into the lobby past restaurant style boths towards the front desk. There were people sitting in the booths but I wasn't paying much attention.

No Zip, the floor was not sticky. :rolleyes:

slang: We'd like a room please.
clerk: (Looks at Pinang) How long would you like Miss?
Pinang: (Looks at me)
slang: Two days. (flexes bicep ) :)
clerk: :eyebrow: wow. (hands me a "take a number card") Have a seat and a room with be available soon.

I just wanted to see what it was like there. It's actually pretty funny.

Then we checked in at a nice hotel just off Ayala. Pinang was relieved. :)

Another billboard ad.

These are from the Stressmas eve party.

There is some type of cylinder that explodes confetti and candy up in the air ( and on top of your head if you're not paying close attention )that the host used at this party.

The hazards of this are twofold, the initial concussion of the candy cannon with the resulting fallout and then the rush of kids to get to the candy that landed on or near you. They'll bowl you over if you're not paying attention ( or are trying to take photos and not watching ).

You want to make sure that you are clear of where that candy lands. :smack:

It was a big hit with the kids and was fun to see them having such a good time with something so simple.

Gas prices in the US got you down?

Regular unleaded was $2.95 at the time of this photo.

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This is what a new apartment building looks like. The rooms can't be more than the size of a normal sized US hotel room.

The rent is 7-8k PHP a month.

That rock facade doesn't look fake at all. :eyebrow: It is wallpaper?