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Baguio View

August 31, 2010 By John 35 Comments
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Last time I told you that Migs and myself eventually got on our Bus to go to Baguio, we traveled on a Victory bus,  good condition, air con, and comfortable. The journey cost around p450 for about a six and a half  hour journey. It was great to see the countryside sweeping by, the little towns and villages, and  roads that were changing condition every few minutes. I was so impressed when we stopped at the Victory stop in Tarlac, everything was modern and clean, and really had a sense that a lot  of thought and pride had gone into this particular Tarlac bus station, but be warned there are many others, that do not boast the same conditions. As … [Read more...]

Filed Under: John G Tagged With: Baguio, Expats, Filipino Culture, John Grant, Living in The Philippines, Luzon, Travel

Getting around, or not!

August 24, 2010 By John 24 Comments
Coffee is out of stock?

I love to travel when I have  more than p5 in my pocket. Last week I flew from Davao to Manila, to see Migs and to see my friend off after his vacation, a two month vacation with me in Davao. Davao airport is OK, its normally efficient and reasonable, and there are coffee shops before you go through to the gate that are perfectly OK. I was told that a new coffee shop opened past the gate, so I felt I would give it a chance. When I went in there it was well laid out, very bright, and so clogged up in smoke, that I doubt I would have seen the sandwich let alone taste it. So, about turn and off to another coffee shop past the gates, this was … [Read more...]

Filed Under: John G Tagged With: Daily Life, Davao, Filipino Culture, John Grant, Living in The Philippines, Luzon, Manila, Transportation, Travel

Motorbiking

August 10, 2010 By John 19 Comments
Motorcycle Battery

Over the last two months my friend from the UK has been staying, and as I told you in a recent story he has a motorbike, which over the last three years he has stored here for when he has his regular trips to Davao City. Its true to say that when he purchased it from a friend and owner of a motorbike shop here in Davao City, I was suspicious of the anomalies in the paperwork, as the six month old second hand bike with one previous owner seemed to have had a two year "missing history" when you tried to match the LTO paperwork. Anyway being the legal owner, it was not long before this bike became homesick, it always wanted to go back to the garage … [Read more...]

Filed Under: John G Tagged With: Expats, Filipino Culture, John Grant, Living in The Philippines, Transportation

No news today

August 3, 2010 By John 34 Comments
BBC News

Not sure if you guys were like me, that when we were in our home countries, you were a  a News Junkie, I mean with rolling national and international news it was easy to be involved in anything from a fire in Russia to a disgraced Politician in the UK. It did not seem to matter that nothing really changed on the story for hours and hours, we stayed tuned just in case  it did,and it was a topic of conversation with family , friends and co workers. On arrival four years plus ago, I stayed tuned to BBC World News, and CNN and followed everything as before, but I began to notice that when I was speaking about world events to my Philippine friends, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: John G Tagged With: Communication, Entertainment, Filipino Culture, John Grant, Living in The Philippines

Sunday morning attack

July 20, 2010 By John 22 Comments
Philippine Dog

Sounds frightening does it not? Well do not worry nobody was hurt, well not any human anyway, but I like to share my Sunday morning with you, and what could have been bad for one  little boy too. As I have mentioned many times in my previous articles, I live in an apartment that backs onto fields, and beyond those fields I see the beautiful Mount Apo in the distance, very relaxing, and very nice too. The field below me is also home to a few dozen Goats, who during the day time have free reign in a huge area, and are well fed and looked after, and to be honest fun to watch too. About a week ago, several of the owners Dogs, chased in … [Read more...]

Filed Under: John G Tagged With: Animals, Daily Life, Davao, Expats, Filipino Culture, John Grant, Living in The Philippines

Bike crash

July 13, 2010 By John 22 Comments
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My friend from the UK is staying here for a few months, and  its his 5th or 6th visit, so he purchased  a motorbike that he keeps here in Davao . It is true to say that the rules of the road in the Philippines are a lot different from what the US and the UK have, so its important to take your time and get to know the unwritten rules of the road, of which there seem to be thousands. He has with his bike all the paperwork, all correct insurance and everything is all official, as being a white guy on a bike, he rather sticks out, and has been subject to Police stops that seem to involve money to get on the road again. But, he was always, always … [Read more...]

Filed Under: John G Tagged With: Adjustment, Communication, Daily Life, Davao, Expats, Filipino Culture, Financial, John Grant, Living in The Philippines

The annulment is part of life

July 6, 2010 By John 28 Comments
Annulment is part of life

Recently I was speaking with a person I have known for almost 5 years. Let us call him Joe just as most locals do! During those 5 years, Joe and I have met every few months for a coffee or burger or a proper sit down meal and commiserated with each other, laughing and grumbling about the problems we have experienced while living here in Davao and chatting about things of mutual interest. We felt that in general our life here has been character building and a worthwhile but frustrating experience. Because we belong to several expats internet groups our conversation reflected on the fact that most of the difficulties we had faced and still … [Read more...]

Filed Under: John G Tagged With: Daily Life, Davao, Expats, Filipino Culture, John Grant, Living in The Philippines, Relationships

Music of the Philippines

June 29, 2010 By John 39 Comments
Starsky & Hutch

As I sat on my balcony, looking at the mountains and the palm trees, I had my radio on tuned to a UK station that was playing a selection of oldies from a listener and my foot started tapping. Even the goats below seemed to enjoy the non-karaoke versions of the music, a couple tried to sing along. I started to wonder if I did the top ten hits from the past that in some way related to the Philippines, what would they be. I thought about all the obvious ones that had some link to "Summer " in it, and of course you could find hundreds of those. So  as I daydreamed there I tried to be more specific in my imaginary choices. I wanted something that … [Read more...]

Filed Under: John G Tagged With: Daily Life, Filipino Culture, John Grant, Living in The Philippines

Trip to Boracay

June 22, 2010 By John 13 Comments
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I was fortunate enough to have an invitation from a friend of mine to visit him in Boracay for a few days and as I had not been to that area for some time and I was promised free accommodation and touring around the islands, I thought this was an opportunity not to be missed. My friend has his own apartment in Caticlan, but it overlooks the bay where Boracay jetty port can be seen across the clear blue sparkling waters. This was my base for 4 days and what a lovely base it was. My friend had built his own business up as a boat owner, ferrying passengers between Caticlan and Boracay and also facilitating island tours.  He had worked … [Read more...]

Filed Under: John G Tagged With: Daily Life, Entertainment, Expats, Food, Holidays, John Grant, Living in The Philippines, Transportation, Travel

Those eyes

June 15, 2010 By John 41 Comments
Another street kid

The gap between those that have and those that have not is huge here, its so hard to see children sleeping rough every night, or mothers with the sense of hopelessness, holding out their hands to thousands of passersby who just don't give her any attention, and still she smiles, and holds her child close to her. The child see this as a normal day, living in  a street, living in the arms of the mother, waiting for food to be given, no regular eating times, and I guess many a night they will go to sleep with an ache in  the stomach and a tear in the eye. I have always been told never to waste food here, and now if I have an amount of food left … [Read more...]

Filed Under: John G Tagged With: Daily Life, Filipino Culture, Financial, Food, John Grant, Living in The Philippines
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