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Heeeelpp, Where is the nearest Toilet?

August 27, 2010 By GenSan Chris 66 Comments
Know the Feeling.

I am sure that at some time in your traveling career, all of you have had the miss fortune of being caught short and in desperate need of a toilet in a place where public toilets are few and far between, I know I have. Always carry Toilet Paper with you as it can get expensive if you have no small denomination bills on you at the time you are caught short. Usually, when people travel to different areas of a Country, Continent, World, they usually notice a difference in hygiene standards and in many cases they also notice the health problems which are caused by these different standards. The problem can even start on the plane to your destination … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Chris Tagged With: Chris Dearne, Daily Life, Health, Living in The Philippines, Travel

Get out of England, we do not want you here!

August 20, 2010 By GenSan Chris 80 Comments
ba

This is a bit of a strange and unfortunate story which involves a man called Mike who is a Muslim Relation of mine here in the Philippines. Mike is related to me because his daughter Gemma is married to my step son Niel. The whole family are very nice people who I get along with very well indeed. Gemma and Niel live and work legally in London, Niel is a British Citizen and they have now been there about 9 years where they have two great kids and are both parents are doing very well in their work. Like many other families, in order to look after their kids, Gemma was working through the day and Niel was working on the night shift … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Chris Tagged With: Chris Dearne, Daily Life, Living in The Philippines, Travel

New Dump Site for General Santos

August 13, 2010 By GenSan Chris 15 Comments
dump

It has just been announced that General Santos City will be getting a new p362 Million Sanitary Land Fill Dump Site on a 63.3 hectare piece of land in Barangay Sinawal with the official Ground Breaking Ceremony having taken place on Friday the 11th June 2010. Great News for Gen San. This project, if carried out and completed correctly will be a big help to the City as this new Dump Site is much closer than the old one in the Bawing area which is now reaching its maximum storage capacity and needs to be closed down and the area re landscaped so it will not be another blot on the land like many projects end up. The project will be funded … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Chris Tagged With: Chris Dearne, Daily Life, Expats, General Santos, Living in The Philippines

Dogs in the Philippines, are they lucky or not

August 6, 2010 By GenSan Chris 73 Comments
dog2

The Dog is supposed to be Man's Best Friend, if the dog gets a good person to look after him then life is good but unfortunately this is not the case for most of the dogs in the world. Over the many years that I have been living and working overseas I have seen all kinds of dogs living in many different kinds of conditions. Some are so well pampered that they do not really know that they are still dogs, others are looked after very well and are a very important part of the family. Some are only useful to the owner as long as he can make money from them and some are just living on their own as nobody really wants them. All around the world, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Chris Tagged With: Animals, Chris Dearne, Expats, Filipino Culture, Living in The Philippines

The Killing of Apex Predators, What does it mean

July 30, 2010 By GenSan Chris 23 Comments
EAGLE10

People who read my articles on a regular basis will realize that I am quite passionate about the Marine World and I try to advertise to people that in order to keep the balance in the oceans that Apex Predators such as Sharks are very necessary because  as it is being discovered right now in many areas of the world that without such great predators to Cull the sick, lame, old and stupid members of other species the balance of nature will be lost and the species Gene Pool will degrade to a point where the species will be useless. This is happening now in Australia where the bigger sharks like the Tiger and Great White have all but been … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Chris Tagged With: Animals, Chris Dearne, Expats, Filipino Culture, Living in The Philippines

The Death of a Tourist in Gen San. Part 2

July 23, 2010 By GenSan Chris 43 Comments
Jock in his Coffin.

As I explained in Part 1 of this still unfolding drama, Jock, a Scottish Tourist fell sick and unfortunately died in hospital in the early hours of the 24th May 2010. Now most people will be thinking that this is a simple case where a person dies, he gets in-turned and the story is closed but unfortunately in this case the story is far from being over. Today, 6th July 2010 I am continuing with the story because even now, 6 weeks after his death, the body of Jock is still laying in the funeral home, un-chilled and with no decision as to what to do with his mortal remains.   I have now contacted a City Councilor and a Doctor Friend to see … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Chris Tagged With: Daily Life, Expats, Filipino Culture, Financial, Living in The Philippines, Mindanao, Travel

The Artificial Reef Domes 2010

July 16, 2010 By GenSan Chris 21 Comments
dome

For any readers who have been following my articles over the past year you might remember that myself and an American friend, John Heitz founded and completed the Sarangani Bay 5,000 Artificial Reef Dome Project which has now been finished nearly 2 years. The project itself for the 5,000 Domes cost just over 900,000.00 pesos which at the time was about $21,000.00 US so really for the quantity of aid going towards the environment this was a very economical project. All the funding came from the private sector, from organizations like: Rotary Clubs, School, Petrol Companies, Port Authorities, Project Aware, Fishing Companies and private … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Chris Tagged With: Chris Dearne, Diving, Ecology, Expats, Living in The Philippines, Mindanao

Immigration, what can go wrong.

July 9, 2010 By GenSan Chris 60 Comments
IMMIGRATION LOGO

This is an attempt by me to explain a bit more about the Visa System in the Philippines, I am sure that there are lots of bits missing due to the complexity of the subject but I will give it a go anyway. In March this year, A friend of mine and his wife planned a short visit to Hong Kong in order for him to get the required fresh start to his Visa after nearly 16 months in the Philippines. The trip was booked through a reputable travel agent here in Gen San so away they went to enjoy the break. On departure at the new airport in Manila the Immigration Officer asked for his Certification of Clearance, he explained that after spending … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Chris Tagged With: Chris Dearne, Expats, Immigration, Living in The Philippines, Travel

The Death of a Tourist in GenSan Part 1

July 2, 2010 By GenSan Chris 61 Comments
scottish bagpipes player

This story is a sad one as it involves the death of a British Tourist, The death of anyone is a sad event, but for me, as the British Embassy Warden for the area I was directly involved with the case from the beginning until the mortal remains were interned here in General Santos City. The Gentleman in Question, I will just call him Jock (a standard nick name for a Scottish Man) as I do not wish to give out his real identity as it could possibly cause more grief to someone reading this article,  was from Scotland and was on his second visit to the Philippines where he had found a girl whom he intended to marry. Now let me tell you … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Chris Tagged With: Chris Dearne, Death, Expats, Financial, Living in The Philippines

Copycat, Copycat, Copycat!

June 25, 2010 By GenSan Chris 19 Comments
water_bottle

During my time in the Philippines there is one question that I get asked quite regularly by visiting Foreign Nationals and the question is, what business would you recommend for me to do when I move here? This is always a difficult on for me as I have seen many people come here, start a business, go broke and go back to where they come from. There is a huge choice of possible business's to get into if you have the money but many people will help you to set up a business that you know absolutely nothing about and then offer to run it for you. Probably the thing that gets to me most is when the foreign Guy says that he is going to do a business … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Chris Tagged With: Business, Chris Dearne, Daily Life, Expats, Food, Living in The Philippines
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