Foreign Travel?

[ultrarunner]

SM malls are fantastic a bit of trivia SM stands of shoe mart. If you get a chance eat some krispy pata, its like a ham hock that takes hours to prepare.

mark

Henry Sy... a real rags to riches story how he started selling shoes out of the space no bigger than a closet...

Tips always welcome.

 

[2manyrocks]

Basic principles of risk mitigation are to consider the probability of something happening, the level of threat, and your options to recover from it. It's one thing to be a victim of a pick pocket and something else entirely to be kidnapped/murdered. Can't speak to what the situation is where you plan to go, but the fact that people familiar with the region are expressing concern is not something I'd ignore.

Then there is the unexpected. A Tennessee couple visited Mexico some months ago. The husband ate something that made him vomit so hard that it separated the tube entering his stomach from the stomach. The local docs wouldn't operate without payment in cash up front which meant the mother in law here had to find a way to wire funds there. The guy didn't recover well and had to be flown back to Tennessee on a medical helicopter. I have no idea what his health insurance covered from all this.

 

[mjarrels]

Basic principles of risk mitigation are to consider the probability of something happening, the level of threat, and your options to recover from it. It's one thing to be a victim of a pick pocket and something else entirely to be kidnapped/murdered. Can't speak to what the situation is where you plan to go, but the fact that people familiar with the region are expressing concern is not something I'd ignore.

Then there is the unexpected. A Tennessee couple visited Mexico some months ago. The husband ate something that made him vomit so hard that it separated the tube entering his stomach from the stomach. The local docs wouldn't operate without payment in cash up front which meant the mother in law here had to find a way to wire funds there. The guy didn't recover well and had to be flown back to Tennessee on a medical helicopter. I have no idea what his health insurance covered from all this.

One thing that is really big in that part of the world is RC cola, a couple pesos cheaper than a coke or pepsi. All bottles of pop are good there because they are sweetened with pure cane sugar vice corn sweetener. I think henry sy died about five years ago but yes a good rags to riches story. I know you will not be in the metro manila area but the mall of asia is so big that you could spend a week there and not see it all. About one million square meters (not square feet) and growing. Built on reclaimed water of the south china sea and we wounder why ocean levels are rising. Singapore and Dubi are doing the same thing. One of these days Diego Garca will be under water, yea I spend three days there for R & R. Makes you wonder why so many politians are so dumb.

mark

 

[ultrarunner]

One thing that is really big in that part of the world is RC cola, a couple pesos cheaper than a coke or pepsi. All bottles of pop are good there because they are sweetened with pure cane sugar vice corn sweetener. I think henry sy died about five years ago but yes a good rags to riches story. I know you will not be in the metro manila area but the mall of asia is so big that you could spend a week there and not see it all. About one million square meters (not square feet) and growing. Built on reclaimed water of the south china sea and we wounder why ocean levels are rising. Singapore and Dubi are doing the same thing. One of these days Diego Garca will be under water, yea I spend three days there for R & R. Makes you wonder why so many politians are so dumb.

mark

I think the entire hospital is in the know… I walk down a hall and someone I hardly know says your going to have a great time 2 weeks is way too short… try to extend.

On the flip side few that encourage know actual destination is a province plantation on Mindanao…

Never knew I had so many well wishers.

 

[2manyrocks]

You haven't caught any of them measuring your office?

 

[dmccarty]

One thing that is really big in that part of the world is RC cola, a couple pesos cheaper than a coke or pepsi. All bottles of pop are good there because they are sweetened with pure cane sugar vice corn sweetener. ...

mark

Too funny that RC Cola is a big thing over there. RC Cola is an old time Southern favorite along with peanuts and Moon Pies.

As a kid, the school took us on a field trip to a soda plant in Atlanta GA. It was not a Coke plant but another brand, I want to say Fanta but that does not seem right. Maybe Nehi. We got "fruit" flavored sodas to drink. I remember the owner of the company was a big game hunter and we saw lots of his trophies. Maybe it was an RC Cola plant but I remembered the colored, "fruit" sodas we got.

Sometimes Mexican Coke Cola is sold in grocery stores. It has cane sugar and not corn syrup. Or at least used too.

 

[mjarrels]

You haven't caught any of them measuring your office?

I remember a few years ago tony borndian did a eposode on OFW's that was good, I'm very familiar with ofw, most of my family there are working in Eroupe or the middle east. I sent some to china a few years ago to work in the new gaming industry and they did not like it, much too cold.

mark

 

[dmccarty]

...
On the flip side few that encourage know actual destination is a province plantation on Mindanao…

The terror groups were mostly kidnapping along the coastal areas because that is where the Westerners were located, i.e., that is where the money was located, so to speak. But there was quite a bit of fighting in the internal areas and the terror groups were exploiting at least some of the local population. This was a decade ago, and it seems things have gotten better down there, but given the history, I would expect things to flare up again at some point. Unfortunately.

 

[mjarrels]

The terror groups were mostly kidnapping along the coastal areas because that is where the Westerners were located, i.e., that is where the money was located, so to speak. But there was quite a bit of fighting in the internal areas and the terror groups were exploiting at least some of the local population. This was a decade ago, and it seems things have gotten better down there, but given the history, I would expect things to flare up again at some point. Unfortunately.

The best soda there is Sarsi.

msrk

 

[WinterDeere]

All bottles of pop are good there because they are sweetened with pure cane sugar vice corn sweetener.

One thing that's been popular to order at Mexican restaurants around here is "Mexican Coca Cola", for the same reason, it's sweetened with cane sugar instead of corn syrup. I don't know if it really is better, the power of suggestion can be strong, but my brain seems to tell me it is.