Foreign Travel?

[ning]

This is reported as being a 2 leachon celebration with the second with more family in Cebu and a celebration mass at the Cathedral in Cebu...

Being the matriarch of a large family comes with provides...

Temp actually the same or slight cooler there right now... the difference is California is 90 blue sky and 57% humidity and Mindanao is typhon with rain everyday of 10 day forecast and humidity in the 90's expected.

Get lightweight travel gear, button-downs made of ripstop ideally with a mesh upper lining, or deliberately wrinkled gauze linen (more traditional tropics wear).

 

[ultrarunner]

Get lightweight travel gear, button-downs made of ripstop ideally with a mesh upper lining, or deliberately wrinkled gauze linen (more traditional tropics wear).

I picked up a few items of Tropic wear in the last couple of weeks…

Not sure on footwear as I’m always a boot person and never sandals or as they say “Slippers” person.

If it’s going to rain a lot it sounds like the right footwear is important…

 

[garry1p]

I have been fortunate to have traveled to many foreign countries including the Philippians I stopped traveling in 2001 and happy to do so. My last trip was to Venezuela and I had and armed guard for a chauffeur, kidnapping was becoming and national sport.
Many years ago I visited with some friends living in the Philippians they paid the local police monthly for protection for their house and car and it was well known you were paying and left alone.
I also received the State Dept travel advisory and paid attention to their warnings.
As far as Mindanao that's a tough call staying in a plantation would be a safe call and traveling with natives is far safer than just being a tourist however, there is a travel advisory so if you do go trust you friends and enjoy.

Reading this doesn't seem to be much help in making a decision but my advice is if you go, avoid late night parties or bar hopping, I was never scared traveling but cautious, use common sense and you will be OK.

 

[California]

My last trip was to Venezuela and I had and armed guard for a chauffeur, kidnapping was becoming and national sport.

my advice is if you go, avoid late night parties or bar hopping, I was never scared traveling but cautious, use common sense and you will be OK.

Uh yeah. My only bad experience in 2 years in Venezuela was bar hopping after midnight. Outdoor patio fried chicken restaurant, Colonel Sanders equivalent. Buddy and I struck up a conversation with the next table, 4 formally dressed guys celebrating graduating law school that evening. Buddy asked them for a ride home.

After dropping off my friend they turned to the highway out into the oilfields and offered to show me the tank were a policeman's body was found when the tank was drained. Said the view from the top of that tank was remarkable. We drove quite a ways out into the countryside before I though to say these drunk youths had given my friend graduation cards - like business cards. Oh. Now it was all a joke. They turned back.

At the time (1967) Venezuela was wavering between supplying oil to the US, or following their ally Cuba into the Soviet sphere. Domino Theory in action. That's why we were there, Peace Corps, in our case teaching rudimentary auto mechanics to urban barrio kids to give them some link into making a living in the city, when all their family had known was rural subsistence farming. Hoping to avert what we still see in the Middle East, large numbers of young men with no hope falling in with the radicals.

At the time Venezuelan radicals were on a campaign to kill a policeman each day somewhere in the country. I've always wondered if these fresh graduates had been looking for a way to make a name for themselves doing something drastic.

Aside from that - two uneventful years. Closest to trouble was a bar girl disappearing and leaving me with a huge bill, that I negotiated down the next day. That bar was interesting, we figured out it was a CIA(?) listening post to closely sense the political climate. We were often asked what we thought was going on in our respective barrios. We always replied with whatever was in the newspaper headlines that day, staying out of politics was what kept us safe. Our suspicions were strengthened when the prettiest bar girl was the date of an American we often saw there, at the Consulate Christmas party.

Oh and the time a neighbor took me across town to a family BBQ where it became clear they were looking to match me with an already-pregnant cousin. Just normal neighborhood interactions, no different from anywhere in the world. But then as VN exploded in the news, everyone wanted to ask us how the US could send people to kill over there, simultaneous with our volunteer efforts clearly oriented to making a better world. The background to this was their political leaders feared the possibility of a US invasion to 'liberate' the Maracaibo oilfields if they declared solidarity with Soviet-oriented Cuba - and they might become the next VN. Interesting times!

 

[mjarrels]

Uh yeah. My only bad experience in 2 years in Venezuela was bar hopping after midnight. Outdoor patio fried chicken restaurant, Colonel Sanders equivalent. Buddy and I struck up a conversation with the next table, 4 formally dressed guys celebrating graduating law school that evening. Buddy asked them for a ride home.

After dropping off my friend they turned to the highway out into the oilfields and offered to show me the tank were a policeman's body was found when the tank was drained. Said the view from the top of that tank was remarkable. We drove quite a ways out into the countryside before I though to say these drunk youths had given my friend graduation cards - like business cards. Oh. Now it was all a joke. They turned back.

At the time (1967) Venezuela was wavering between supplying oil to the US, or following their ally Cuba into the Soviet sphere. Domino Theory in action. That's why we were there, Peace Corps, in our case teaching rudimentary auto mechanics to urban barrio kids to give them some link into making a living in the city, when all their family had known was rural subsistence farming. Hoping to avert what we still see in the Middle East, large numbers of young men with no hope falling in with the radicals.

At the time Venezuelan radicals were on a campaign to kill a policeman each day somewhere in the country. I've always wondered if these fresh graduates had been looking for a way to make a name for themselves doing something drastic.

Aside from that - two uneventful years. Closest to trouble was a bar girl disappearing and leaving me with a huge bill, that I negotiated down the next day. That bar was interesting, we figured out it was a CIA(?) listening post to closely sense the political climate. We were often asked what we thought was going on in our respective barrios. We always replied with whatever was in the newspaper headlines that day, staying out of politics was what kept us safe. Our suspicions were strengthened when the prettiest bar girl was the date of an American we often saw there, at the Consulate Christmas party.

Oh and the time a neighbor took me across town to a family BBQ where it became clear they were looking to match me with an already-pregnant cousin. Just normal neighborhood interactions, no different from anywhere in the world. But then as VN exploded in the news, everyone wanted to ask us how the US could send people to kill over there, simultaneous with our volunteer efforts clearly oriented to making a better world. The background to this was their political leaders feared the possibility of a US invasion to 'liberate' the Maracaibo oilfields if they declared solidarity with Soviet-oriented Cuba - and they might become the next VN. Interesting times!

Remember the power is 230 volts, brown outs are on a day basics. stateside electronics will work well for about one second. I spent the entire decade of the 80's in that part of the world. Olongapo rose is a great documentary about life in the Philippines during that time. I have a book called the making of olongapo and the numbers are stagging about flights out of clark AFB and the ships out of subic during the Vietnam war. I was there when Marcus was removed from power and during the US bases strikes. Interesting times. The Navy seabes built NAS Cubi Point and moved a mountain. Three aircraft carrier battle groups in port at one time was also amazing to see.

mark, Chief Petty Officer Retired

 

[ultrarunner]

The connection with the United States runs deep for those that remember WWII

Dad had some Navy transport pilot friends and they knew little of the Philippines except it was hot and they spent layovers in the A/C of the officers club where the beer was cheap.

We hired 2 new nurses this week and both have parents born and raised in the Philippines… one had visited relatives once and the other has never been.

33 years ago from not having any staff with connection to the Philippines to now with 60+ percent ties to the Philippines even if born here.

Some go back every year and have homes there and plan to retire there and others have never been to the ancestral home.

In high school I bought a Camaro with Subic Plates from a Navy guy… it had been in a typhoon awaiting stateside shipping… it had fine rust everywhere but ran great with only 19,000 miles… was a very dependable car for $400

I guess it was in a salt bath best I can describe because every inch of exposed underside and engine bay rusted…

 

[EddieWalker]

Speaking of WW2. When I was stationed in Indonesia, we had a cook for the Marine House that we called Pops. He was a tiny guy that could only speak a little English, so it was hard to talk to him. During WW2, he fought the Japanese and he said that the tried to kill one every day. He also said that he usually did. There's no telling how many people he killed, but you would never know it by just looking at him.

 

[dmccarty]

Red Horse or San Mig?

We have a pretty good selection of beers in the stores but I have not see those beers. Will have to check the local store that only sells beers and see if he carries those.

I do miss the beer in the Netherlands. MUCH cheaper than here, even if one did not return the bottles/cans for the deposit.

 

[dmccarty]

The connection with the United States runs deep for those that remember WWII

Dad had some Navy transport pilot friends and they knew little of the Philippines except it was hot and they spent layovers in the A/C of the officers club where the beer was cheap.

We hired 2 new nurses this week and both have parents born and raised in the Philippines… one had visited relatives once and the other has never been.

33 years ago from not having any staff with connection to the Philippines to now with 60+ percent ties to the Philippines even if born here.

Some go back every year and have homes there and plan to retire there and others have never been to the ancestral home.

In high school I bought a Camaro with Subic Plates from a Navy guy… it had been in a typhoon awaiting stateside shipping… it had fine rust everywhere but ran great with only 19,000 miles… was a very dependable car for $400

I guess it was in a salt bath best I can describe because every inch of exposed underside and engine bay rusted…

We are watching a TV show filmed in Canada about a boy, his family and friend growing up in Newfoundland. Pretty good show, and oddly Malcolm McDowell is on the show. The main characters best friend is from the Philippines which is weaved into various episodes.

One of our neighbors when I was a kid was a doctor from the Philippines. Doctors and nurses from the Philippines have always been something I have been aware of in the US.

What model year was the Camaro? I had a 1984 model, a cousin had a another GM model, but of the same year and color as my car. Both had rust issues.

 

[ultrarunner]

Red 1968 stick with 6 cylinder and heater delete.

Bare bones but very dependable...

I had it until I found a 68 Mustang convertible for 1600... still have the Mustang and rust free.