788 replies to this topic

[Legend]

Holy cow, Anthony. That's pretty harsh. That harness really scared me,.

its reality my friend.
its not a coincidence that all falang deaths are "suicide".
a few quid to the right bloke, and you are just another suicide in pattaya people with a photo of a copper pointing at your body.
foul play not suspected.

i wasnt swiping at the filipino,s particularly, i never put my life in the hands of any fairground, bungy , watersports etc......

[Macman]

Okay, Anthony. Fair enough.

I forgot to mention in my last post that I had a pretty productive day yesterday as far as my social life is concerned. I thought I was supposed to play golf, but actually it was just to meet with a couple of members of the golf club here. I was concerned that I wouldn't be allowed to join because I'm a foreigner, but that isn't the case. They made me feel very welcome, and I played early this morning. We teed off a little after 5:00 AM, played just 9 holes, and I was back home by 8:10. The cost to join is more than reasonable,and it gives you unlimited play. All you have to pay is the caddy fee. I don't know about the cost of golf in the UK, Australia, New Zealand or Denmark and the like, but Americans will sure appreciate this. The annual fee is 7,500 PHP (about $175 U.S.) and the monthly dues are 1,500 PHP (roughly $35). So for less than $600, I get golf for a year. The caddy fee, by the way, is 200 PHP (less than $5).

BTW, Angel came with me to the meeting because it was a friend of her mother's that arranged it. I wondered what the reaction would be, and was maybe a little worried. They could not have been nicer about it and to her. Both of these men have homes in the U.S. with dual citizenship. One of them even got into a discussion with Angel about the fact that same sex marriage can't occur in P.I., but can in the States. He owns a number of businesses here, and said that he would see to it that Angel would get a discount whenever she shopped at any of his stores. Because I don't have my Alien Certification Registration card yet, I can't buy a car, so he picked me up at 4:45 this morning. They play every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, so we're playing again this Saturday (Thursday I'll be in Cebu, extending my visa, and seeing about the ACR card). Incidentally, the other guy didn't realize that Angel was a LB until his friend explained it to him. I had been talking about the difficulties of getting Angel to America, even if just for a visit, and he said that we should marry. That's when his friend explained the situation.

A few more pics - I had said that the wealthy neighbor owned horses, but I now realize that people rent horses to graze on their property to keep the grass trim. The horses that I sometimes see in the morning are not even on his land; they're in a lot that separates our property from his.

[Surin Nix]

I'd have done the zipline in a second. Last time I checked, life is 100% fatal....just a matter of when.

You are on the zipline ride of a lifetime Mac. It takes some serious cahonas to do what you're doing, and it makes for a fascinating read. Glad to see that you're posting photos. Brings to life all the stuff you've been telling us about. Angel, by the way, is a cutie. (nice rear-end, if you don't mind me saying so... ).

How is the overall vibe now that you've been there for a few days? It surely must seem like a honeymoon....at least i'd think so. Does it feel that way to you? Is everything still a little bit akimbo, or does life seem to be taking on a predictable rythym?

...and does Angel seem happy with the arrangement?

As always, just native curiosity. Don't mean to pry....

Nix

[thailover57]

Sorry you couldn't get the VPN to work. Anchor Free is the source. They have a website here: http://anchorfree.co...hotspot-shield/ and advertise their product with download buttons. Hope that will work for you.

And your report is great - continuing to enjoy it.

Thanks

[Macman]

I don't consider it prying, Surin. I'm posting this stuff, so questions are definitely in order. Thanks for the compliment about Angel. I had asked her if it was okay to post those 2 photos before I did so, and made sure I used pics that didn't actually show her face. Nothing wrong with doing so, but I just wanted to protect our privacy to a small extent. The overall vibe is very good. I'm adjusting pretty quickly. It doesn't really feel like a honeymoon. Angel is so easy to be with, it just feels like a normal relationship. It's as though we've been living together for a lot longer than we actually have been. I know Angel feels as happy and comfortable with the arrangement as I do. When I was here a little over a week, my younger son asked, "On a scale of 1 to 10, how is it going for you?" At that time, I said "It's a 7.5, and trending upward." It's a solid 8 now, and still trending upward.

Thanks for that, Thailover. I'll give it a try tomorrow. BTW, Angel and I were supposed to go to Cebu today so I could go to Immigration for a visa extension, and apply for an ACR card. The weather service was predicting a very serious tropical storm, so we decided to go to Tacloban instead, not wanting to risk the ferry ride. It was a pleasant surprise. We got to the Immigration office at about 2:15 PM. No one was there except the office workers. I got my extension, and applied flor the card. The ACR will take about 3 weeks because they have to mail everything to Manila, but I am very glad it went so smoothly. We were out of there in less than an hour.

I'm still finding it a little hard to get used to how many things I can't buy here. A silly thing, but I tried to buy deodorant today. I like plain deodorant, not anti-perspirant. No such luck. Every product I looked at was a combo of both. I got my first haircut in P.I. yesterday. Every day is a new "first". It'll take time, but soon I'll be a full-fledged Pinoy.

Macman

[Legend]

Every day is a new "first". It'll take time, but soon I'll be a full-fledged Pinoy.

as long as that dos,nt involve dressing up and enetering a pageant, you,ll be alright.

[Macman]

Anthony, if that happens, it would most likely spell the end of pageants not only here in P.I., but all over the world. And rightly so.

Macman

[Surin Nix]

...When you tell us that you've eaten Balut, and liked it, then will you have achieved Pinoy status!



Nix

[Macman]

Nix, if that's the ultimate test of being Pinoy, I guarantee that I'll fail. Angel doesn't like it, but a lot of her friends do. I don't even want to look at it. By the way, I meant to tell you earlier that I've had the lumpia shanghai. I know it's one of your favorites, but I can take it or leave it. The dish that Angel called sasarasso is actually chicken and pork afritada. I think she made up that "sasarasso" word. She likes to do that.

I've been trying to eat as much of the local cuisine as possible. Some of it I just can't take. There are animal body parts that I never knew were meant for eating that are common-place foods here. Angel bought a cook book yesterday in Tacloban. I was thumbing through it in the van on the return trip. Jeez, I think there are a couple of pages I need to tear out before she sees them and is tempted to try them out. On the other hand, I just finished some delicious pancakes and bacon. It was the first time she ever made pancakes, and she did a great job. She's really spoiling me. I need to get back to the same exercise regimen I had in The States or I'm going to be in trouble.

Well, I have a bunch of emails from back home that I need to answer.

Macman

[Macman]

I played 9 holes this morning. Teed off at 5:15, finished by 7:15, and home by 7:45. Angel's still sleeping. When we teed off, it felt great; nice and cool. By 6:30 I was wringing wet. My God, the sun is so strong here even at that time of the day. One of the guys I played with is the president of the golf club, so my acceptance as a member looks pretty good. I'll find out by Tuesday. It's really strange, but even though we have a golf course right here, I haven't seen any golf balls for sale. It's not a problem because I know I can buy them in Cebu, and I have plenty coming in the balikbayan boxes I shipped over (which are scheduled to be delivered on July 25th), but it just goes to show you how much of a rural area this is.

Well, I only got about 4 hours sleep last night, so I guess I'll take an early nap. It's not even 8:30, but at least it's nice and cool in the bedroom.

[Legend]

every summer we used to hunt for lost golf balls and sell them back to the golfers when we were kids.
i would have thought the filipino young uns would be doing the same.?

what is a balikbayan box, is that your american stuff .?

[Macman]

Anthony, I used to do the same thing when I was a kid. On doglegs, we'd run out onto the course, grab a guy's ball, and run like hell, selling it to another player. Now that I'm into golf, I feel guilty about robbing a guy of his score and maybe costing him some betting money. This was a NYC municipal course, so we're not talking about rich guys.

A balikbayan box is a box usually used by filipinos to send things home or when they themselves are returning home. They go by ship, and are very practical. I actually don't know how anyone makes any money. I know it's volume, but it still way to cheap. The boxes are fairly large, and the charge is by piece, not weight. I sent 4 boxes. I could have fit the stuff into 2 boxes, but they would have been too heavy for me to handle, so I used a lot of bubble wrap. I shippped clothing, golf balls, vitamins, DVDs, music CDs, toilet articles, etc. Again, I don't know how they do it. As an example, I got the name of the agent of the shipping company through a women I used to date. She's a nurse, and worked with a lot of filipinas in New York. The agent had to drive from his home in Queens, New York City to my place in Westchester County, a distance of about 30 miles, with a round trip toll of $13 plus gas at over $4.00 per gallon. The next day, he had to take the boxes to the port in Jersey City, NJ, with double tolls each way, plus using gas in a very heavily trafficked area. The boxes are then shipped to Manila, and then shipped to the specific location. From there, they are delivered to my door by truck or van. Gasoline is expensive here, too. All this for $60 per box. It takes time, but it's very cost efficient. Compare that with the fact that I sent 2 small boxes by Priority Mail in the U.S. to here. I had to use Priority because the boxes weighed over 4 pounds each (7 and 9 pounds). They took more than 2 weeks to arrive. Cost -US $129. I shipped the balikbayan boxes on May 26th and they're scheduled to arrive on July 25th.

Macman