impressions of living in the Philippines

[Heruamen]

     I have finally come back from a wonderful trip and a positive experience.  And I am ready to turn back around and go  back to that enchanting island.  Here is just a few observations I made that  were interesting to me.  First off the food and the incredibly beautiful women always constantly around.  The food there for me was delicious and cheap.  I mean high quality food for a cheap price.  Anytime I ate out anywhere I spent on average $2 or $3 dollars us currency on a meals that would cost me here $15 to $20 buck.  God i miss that, and the 3 meals a day(plus snacks) that my lady prepared for me. I am now spoiled rotten to the core.  I love Lechon manouk the most especially Sr. Pedro's.  I did have a problem at first with eating the fish that still had a head and eyes but i got over that. Chicken Tocino is especially sweet and tasty and I love the pancit canton.
        There were so many bake shops over there that sold both sweets and regular cooked foods.  For the guys who have not yet gone over let me tell you the beauty of the women you see on the various web sites is nothing compared to what you see walking around over there.  Oh mi God. I have never seen so many lovely sweet and friendly women.  Several times in the malls when I was alone and my girl at home, several women would approach me and start conversations .  Sometime asking me if I was looking for a girlfriend. Even when I was with my girl I would get lots of smiling stare and friendly looks.  I you are African American like myself prepare to get stared at everywhere you go and be the complete center of attention wherever you are ehhehee.
     I think Black men are rare over there.  The whole 3 months I only saw about 3 black guys and one was a blue black brazilian man who owned a meat business in Limketkai mall.  So If you are black prepare to be treated like a movie star.
By contrast i saw many White foreigner/Filipina couples so much so that they barely would get a glance from the native populace.  Everywhere we went though we would get openly stared at.  If you are looking for a woman from there another possibility would be to just go there spend sometime and just meet a woman there rather than online.  Believe it would be pretty easy if you have decent social skills.
   Everything is so cheap over there I came back with s suitcase loaded with dvds and video games.  Sometimes I would pay American 30 cents for a dvd and $2 for a videogame and of course the food clothes everything cheap.  I felt like Donald Trump junior over there. My rent was only $521 a month for a 2 story 3 bedroom house in a very exclusive ,gated, security up the wazoo, with country club place called Xavier estates.  Here renting something like that possibly would have been like $2000 a month.
    The people men and women were so friendly and cool for the most part. If you go to Cagayan De oro thought be prepared to see security everywhere. when you go in the malls they have security at the door and you have to pass thru metal detectors.  They seem to have a security guard in everystore.  Also I have seen security with sawed off shotguns in front of most banks.  I had no problems whatsoever with safety while I was there.  To get in my subdivision you would have to go past security like a military checkpoint.
   Women on average in Cagayan are sweet , friendly, very beautiful and curious about you if you come from another country.
My girl and her family are the greatest. They made me feel so at home and so welcome.  My girl took such good care of me and she is a great with a budget.  I just gave her money and she kept us eating good the whole time. such a good cook. I gained a couple of pounds(not good) my last month there i only went to the country club gym twice so i am out of shape. Got to go now though get my day started.

[jm21-2]

Yes, you really miss the Asian food scene upon coming back here, especially if you live in a small town. Even the breakfast buffet at the ultra-cheap hotel I stayed at in Japan was better than anything I can get locally...I'd have to go to Seattle. For all our science and know how the food here sure does suck, and we have such limited local produce/meat/food. It's such a huge difference. Hard to grasp until you've been there.

[Bear]

Lechon.  I can understand that!! Fish with eyes! Yeah I guess if she cooks it that way but when I fish I cut the heads off before I bring them home.  I was losing big time once I got divorced and no sooner married than it starts coming back.  $521/mo. for rent isn't too bad.  What amenities did it come with - like cable, hot water, etc.  It was tough to leave after 3 weeks, I can imagine they had to drag you on the plain after 3 months.  Glad you had a good time.

The Bear Family

[Ray]

Heruamen has been bitten and there is no cure...

 

[thekfc]

Man, I am so happy that you enjoyed your stay.

I will be heading there the end of January for 2 weeks - it will be my first of many trips.
I also think that piglett will be going in January too.
I will be in the Manila area - my girl is in Taguig City.

I too wanted a rental but couldn't find anything to suit me (stay is too short) - so I may be staying in a hotel - I see some cheap & decent ones: $29 -$50 per night.

Everyday I ask my girl what did she cook & she tells me all the dishes that she prepared (she is the main cook for her family). Sometimes she shows me what she cooked. I cannot wait to sample them......with the exception of balut.

My girl help manages her sister's cafe & she sometimes tell one of her friends (or customer) to come over to say hello. I also chat with her nieces & nephews. Yes, they are some of the most beautiful & wonderful people that I have "meet". And with what I have seen by just chatting - imagine when I actually get there.

Right now it is 29 degrees here in NYC & a friend of mine is stuck in Buffalo NY (Blizzard) - I am ready to leave & go to the Philippines. 

[robert angel]

Heruamen, 

Sounds like it was an awesome trip! Thanks for sharing your experiences in such a way that brought back wonderful memories for me and at the same time, was really helpful to folks like Kfc and other guys still getting ready for the big trip.

There's nothing like the first time, but I am looking forward to getting back over there, seeing familiar places and exploring new ones. It's great that you had a good amount of time to spend with your gal--she sounds great!

I've never had more than a month at a time there and I look forward to  having a few months--maybe even more time than that, to really get more of a feel for  living over there. We've looked at houses there, but have never really had enough time to do that right.

We get a lot of the baked goods and when we get together here in the USA and also a lot of the foods, but there's just no substitute for actually being over there---food on the streets, in malls, people's homes--everywhere, along with music.

You notice how most people over there smile a lot more than in most USA towns--cities?

It's nice to not feel the racial polarization so endemic in a lot of places in the USA. I have to disagree with you on your observation on black guys getting more atttention--it's hard to quantify either way really, but I'm white and not a 'hunk' by any means and  when my wife or her family let me out of arm's length or eye sight, gals hit on me a lot--people wanted to know if I was looking for a GF. I called it the 'rock star effect'. Then again, the rare the dish--the more unusual the person's appearance--maybe that makes them more appealing.

I explained to my wife before she came to the states that there, back in Davao, she felt rather ordinary looking, but that when she came to the USA, she'd stand out and be seen as a more exotic, beautiful lady than she did 'back home'. I am very glad that even though she has said in a sweet way that she feels more like a "hottie looking woman" here, she'd still a pretty modest gal and faithful

Yea--the malls there are amazing, my wife holds my hand and stays real close by!--Definitely need the wrap around sunglasses to avoid any tampo fall out haha....

My wife's probably heading to Davao City and the province this summer and I was thinking of us both going summer of 2011, but I'm thinking of reassessing our priorities and us both heading over this summer. I've seen some really good airfares and now I'm just thinking about making it possible!

Heruamen, here's to hoping that you survive the gravity of your return from the galaxy far, far away!

[Heruamen]

    the house we were in was fully furnished, tvs, furniture, cable, etc. and like I already said nice locale. I will provide a photo.
I know for sure that as a black guy I got a lot more stares from people because we are so rare there.  I saw and met lots of white foreigners, so mabye they get stares too but I think the local population is more used to seeing white foreigners.  I made a couple of foreign friends from different countries.  I met this really cool thirty something Belgium guy who sounded like Arnold the terminator Swartzeneger.  Jm really just reminded me of that food, God how I miss it. I guess I am not the only one.  I got hungry just after reading Jms post.   The music there was totally awesome.  If in the malls what we typically called elevator music had me dancing everytime I was in the Sm department store.  I used to wonder where all the awesome 80s music went, believe me its in the Phils now hehehe.
      Sometime I would be so amazed to see Jeepneys riding down the street  blasting the latest lil wayne rap music right after playing Sarah Geronimo(local artist) or Tony Gonzaga(loca artist). Filipinos are always singing and they love Karaoke.  I did karaoke for the first time in my life with my lady's family.  Just the life in the streets was so much more vibrant and colorful.  I attended something called night cafe in Cagayan De Oro that takes place every friday and saturday night.  Its like a big street festival with lots of cheap shopping and vendors, live music and food food food.  I plan to buy a house there and spend 6 months there and 6 months here, of course i need to wait till my daughter is grown she is 14 now so mabye in 5-6 years.
    The funny thing is that most of the women who hit on me were very young like 18 or 17.  And although If i was single I dont see myself dating someone that young just on the surface they seemed a helluva lot more mature than women here that same age.  However even the 40 plus women there were Gorgeous.  I met several that if I was single and not looking to have more children I would not hesitate to date.  Speaking of children I have one on the way now by my lady Karen.

[soltero]

Hey Cuz,

I am glad to hear you had a wonderful trip and that you are back safe and sound. I don't post much anymore, but I have been checking in often to see if there was any word on you and to see if you had posted anything further about your trip and how it was going. I even went as far as starting a thread after the storm there to find out if anyone had heard anything from you and Dave let me know that your island was in good shape and hadn't been hit too hard in all of that. I will admit that you had me a little worried when you didn't post anything else for the last couple of months, but I am glad to see you posting again and that everything went well and you are planning to get back again when you can.

Give me a call when you get a chance. I will PM you my number.

Speaking of children I have one on the way now by my lady Karen.

WHOA!!!! I typed the above before I finished reading your other posts! Man, you don't waste any time! Congratulations! You DEFINITELY need to call me when you get the time! 

[Ray]

And I was just going to ask him if there was a bun in the oven after his stay...really!

Any wedding plans yet Heruamen?? 

Ray

[Dave H]

Hey Heruamen,

What did I tell you!!! I am excited for you and Congratulations on the little one!

I was just in CDO last Friday...you must have warned the ladies to expect your replacement (me) soon.    It is a very nice city, but nobody calls me "Joe." 

I have been doing a bit of traveling lately...yesterday I was in Surigao and swimming in Lake Mainit.

Dave

[Heruamen]

    ahhh Dave you lucky dog. You were in CDo, I envy you since I miss the place so much. Next time you go get  a whole lechon chicken from Red chicken. Its down the street from Sm mall going toward Xavier Estates and the airport. It will be on  your right. Best Lechon I tasted in Cagayan.  Also there is a place downtown with great food called dear manouk. Soltero I will give you a call and you should post more to share your vast knowledge with Newbies.  I dont know if I would have been able to succeed so fast if it hadn't been for the knowledge people shared on this post.  Actually I might have ended up in Colombia even though the Phils was where I belonged.  I got your number dude I will call you.

[Dave H]

    ahhh Dave you lucky dog. You were in CDo, I envy you since I miss the place so much. Next time you go get  a whole lechon chicken from Red chicken. Its down the street from Sm mall going toward Xavier Estates and the airport. It will be on  your right. Best Lechon I tasted in Cagayan.  Also there is a place downtown with great food called dear manouk.

Hey Heruamen,

Thanks for the info! I will probably go back to CDO next week. It is a great city!

Dave