oldbuckster Posted February 17, 2007 Share Posted February 17, 2007 Glad to see you back............How did your trip go? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvel Posted February 17, 2007 Share Posted February 17, 2007 The trip went great. In some ways even better than I expected. I'm working on getting some pics ready to have printed out later today. After almost 20 hours in the air yesterday, I'm also beat. Since it was in the 70s and 80s there the whole time, I'm not quite ready for the temps here at home. I've been in short sleeves for two weeks, so getting back to layers and a coat is going to be a bit hard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldbuckster Posted February 17, 2007 Author Share Posted February 17, 2007 20 hours in the air is a long time..............Glad everything went well........Welcome back.......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZAKO Posted February 17, 2007 Share Posted February 17, 2007 20 hours in the air? are your arms tired? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt1stcav Posted February 17, 2007 Share Posted February 17, 2007 Glad your flight was okay, Bruce, and that thing's turned out better than expected for you. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvel Posted February 17, 2007 Share Posted February 17, 2007 I've got to think about that one Jim. The Philippines, and Manila in particular is interesting. Metro Manila is over 10 million people. You have extreme poverty right next to extreme wealth. Some of the shopping malls are very fancy, and Filipinos are spending money like crazy. Yet their economy is absolutely awful. Makes you wonder. My girlfriend and I spent the first sat. there with one of her sisters and brother in law. We drove around the harbor in Manila. There were tractor trailer rigs hauling materials with 3 and 4 year olds walking half naked in the streets.The air quality was awful as well. Saw a woman urinating on the sidewalk about a block from the U.S. embassy. Yet most were modest and dressed extremely well. I had a great time with my gf while there. Met some of her family. A couple of her sisters work overseas, one in Ireland and one in Iceland. She works in China, as an English teacher at a university there. The food was great, and I didn't get sick, even after eating from the street vendors. I won't begin to tell you what I had to eat while there. I made a point of visiting a bunch of the local churches, and even found one only a five minute walk from my hotel. It was built in 1620, the same time period as Jamestown was being founded. Yeah, a great time. I also got to experience the bureaucracy in full bloom. We went together while she got her passport renewed. The first part wasn't so bad, but it was a three hour wait in line just to pick up the new one. In any case, it is time once again to go to sleep and rest up for tommorow Bruce Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt1stcav Posted February 17, 2007 Share Posted February 17, 2007 It's a totally different culture and mindset over there, far more different from the western influences we all know and live by here. But they are trying to modernize their society to some degree, even with their overall poverty-striken economy. I hear modern-day Vietnam is also the same way...extreme poverty right beside extreme new wealth, something the average Vietnamese is still learning to accept; they're where China was only 20 or more years ago. Hopefully soon the Philippines will become more technically advanced and their economy flourish to the point where Japan is now, and that Manila will become another Tokyo. And I hear dog meat is a delicacy there and in much of their food...am I right? Your girlfriend is an adorable person, and I give her much credit for working and living in China. I hope her (and her sisters) are well compensated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldbuckster Posted February 18, 2007 Author Share Posted February 18, 2007 Very nice picture Marvel..............Tell me, do we live in the Greatest Country in the World or what ???????? Some of our people should go there and see how others really live.............filth, dispair, and poverty.........It's a big world out there, and sometimes, not so pretty........................ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvel Posted February 18, 2007 Share Posted February 18, 2007 It's a totally different culture and mindset over there, far more different from the western influences we all know and live by here. But they are trying to modernize their society to some degree, even with their overall poverty-striken economy. I hear modern-day Vietnam is also the same way...extreme poverty right beside extreme new wealth, something the average Vietnamese is still learning to accept; they're where China was only 20 or more years ago. Hopefully soon the Philippines will become more technically advanced and their economy flourish to the point where Japan is now, and that Manila will become another Tokyo. And I hear dog meat is a delicacy there and in much of their food...am I right? Your girlfriend is an adorable person, and I give her much credit for working and living in China. I hope her (and her sisters) are well compensated! I don't believe that dog meat is used much at all there. Lots of pork, of course, beef, chicken. Beef intestine (I didn't care for it much), cooked in a soup, looked like a giant hollow sponge. I'll ask her about the dog meat. The compensation is... still pretty low. I'm not sure what the American teachers get there. I have a buddy from high school who works about 150 miles from where my gf works. I'll ask him to give me an idea (he is a retired U.S. Marine air traffic controller and doesn't need the money fro teaching). My gf gets about $700 a month, which is more than she would get paid back home, and more than what the Chinese teachers get. One of her sisters is a pharmacist at a hospital in Manila, and her husband is a mechanical engineer who helps build submersible oil rigs (currently working in Malaysia, although he was home when I was there). They still have a very modest home, although they do have their own car. One sister works as a nurse in Ireland and another in Iceland. People are one of the country's largest exports. To put some of it into perspective though, the light rail system in Manila only costs about $.25 to ride. The jeepneys are about $ .14. Not sure about the tricycles (motorcycles with a side car). Cabs cost more, but a lot of the people walk. Seemed to all eat a lot healthier diet. There was plenty of food, but you didn't see nearly as much obesity as you do here. Our health care system here will end up taking a beating here for our lifestyle. All that being said, it was a fun place to visit, but I would certainly much rather live here. There is an expat place in Laguna, south of Manila. Nice bungalows selling for around $40k US. If you had a good retirement income, you could live quite well over there. Met a guy on the way over, while going through customs, who is married to a Filipina. He was going over to meet with an architect to finalize the plans for their house. They own about 500 hectares (approx. 1,200 acres) of land north of Bagio, toward where all of the rice terraces are. They both work in the States at the moment, but will move there soon. On the plane I sat next to a surgeon from Pittsburgh (he and wife are both from Philippines), who was going for two weeks to do surgeries for free. Dawn to dusk, with about fifty other members of a medical team, to help those who can't afford to have anything done. A land of contrasts for sure. But then, I've seen some of that in our own cities here at home. I didn't find much of it to be as much of a shock as they expected I would. They are still people who want the best for their kids, some work hard and some don''t. If you are courteous to them, they are courteous to you. The sex industry is big in some parts of the country, because the women can make more money that way. Homosexuality is pretty open. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvel Posted February 18, 2007 Share Posted February 18, 2007 Very nice picture Marvel..............Tell me, do we live in the Greatest Country in the World or what ???????? Some of our people should go there and see how others really live.............filth, dispair, and poverty.........It's a big world out there, and sometimes, not so pretty........................ I agree. This was the first time I had been in an airplane in 17 years and my first trip outside the U.S. I guess I was prepared in some ways, as I work with a man whose wife is from the Phil. Some things are very, very modern. The malls in Manila go on and on, and match anything we have here. My gf's parents live on the island of Palawan, and don't have power all day, only certain hours. But Palawan is turning into a tourist area, so it will get the pluses that will bring (and the negatives). Palawan is home to one of the largest leprosy hospitals/sanitarium. A disease that is totally treatable, but devastating if left unchecked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvel Posted February 18, 2007 Share Posted February 18, 2007 I also don't want to gloss over their problems. We have it way better here, in most ways. You tend to overlook some of it because it is exotic and different. Most folks here just don't get it. We tend to take it all for granted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldbuckster Posted February 18, 2007 Author Share Posted February 18, 2007 I also don't want to gloss over their problems. We have it way better here, in most ways. You tend to overlook some of it because it is exotic and different. Most folks here just don't get it. We tend to take it all for granted. AMEN Brother...........We are all brothers and sisters in this world,different, but the same......just my take on it.......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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