I'm back in Manila now. As I haven't been feeling well I have just rested in bed most of the day and night.
So there is not much to report I'm afraid.
I was hoping to visit Hong Kong tomorrow but decided against it, I will see how I feel tomorrow.
Hope you all have a great weekend......
Friday, 15 August 2008
Thursday, 14 August 2008
Midnight Thursday
I am in my room here at my hotel, they upgraded me to a suite after I complained about some noise.......really nice room.
I haven't done very much over the past few days as I haven't been feeling very well, mostly just spent most of my day in bed, the food/heat are not working too well with my body and the pills that I'm taking for HBP make me feel really unwell.
I am flying to Manila in the morning, I catch the 10.20am and arrive at 11.35am. I'm hoping to fly to Hong Kong the next day (Saturday) but most flights are fully booked at this minute online. I will visit the travel agent in Manila tomorrow to see if I can get a flight then.
I know 3 girls that have just moved to Hong Kong, 2 have degrees and one was near to finishing her time at teacher training college.... and why are they leaving the Phils..... to work in Hong Kong as a domestic helper....... DH's there get about 23,000 pesos (£250) per month while teachers get about 8,000 (£90) per month here. Doctors here do the same thing, they take up jobs in the US and the UK as nurses because the pay is so much better.
It's a bit like slavery IMO, you need to go through a broker, they do all the paperwork and find you the job. But you don't know where or who you will be working for until you get there, all you get to know is the salary and that you will have one day off per week, for doing this for you they get your first 5 months salary of a 2 year contract !!! Your employee decides how many hours you work, what tasks you will do, where you will sleep, if you are allowed out in the evening, if you can use YOUR own phone in the day time or at any time in their home.
One of the girls has to share a room with her employers 11 year old daughter, this means even when she is "off" duty she will still have to be there at night for the daughter.
But as they tell me and we all understand..... needs must !!
Anyway I guess that is the way of the world... some have and some don't...... but we in the UK and elsewhere are so lucky to have been born in a first world country.
I haven't done very much over the past few days as I haven't been feeling very well, mostly just spent most of my day in bed, the food/heat are not working too well with my body and the pills that I'm taking for HBP make me feel really unwell.
I am flying to Manila in the morning, I catch the 10.20am and arrive at 11.35am. I'm hoping to fly to Hong Kong the next day (Saturday) but most flights are fully booked at this minute online. I will visit the travel agent in Manila tomorrow to see if I can get a flight then.
I know 3 girls that have just moved to Hong Kong, 2 have degrees and one was near to finishing her time at teacher training college.... and why are they leaving the Phils..... to work in Hong Kong as a domestic helper....... DH's there get about 23,000 pesos (£250) per month while teachers get about 8,000 (£90) per month here. Doctors here do the same thing, they take up jobs in the US and the UK as nurses because the pay is so much better.
It's a bit like slavery IMO, you need to go through a broker, they do all the paperwork and find you the job. But you don't know where or who you will be working for until you get there, all you get to know is the salary and that you will have one day off per week, for doing this for you they get your first 5 months salary of a 2 year contract !!! Your employee decides how many hours you work, what tasks you will do, where you will sleep, if you are allowed out in the evening, if you can use YOUR own phone in the day time or at any time in their home.
One of the girls has to share a room with her employers 11 year old daughter, this means even when she is "off" duty she will still have to be there at night for the daughter.
But as they tell me and we all understand..... needs must !!
Anyway I guess that is the way of the world... some have and some don't...... but we in the UK and elsewhere are so lucky to have been born in a first world country.
Tuesday, 12 August 2008
Tuesday 8pm (1pm UK time)
Well I left Davao yesterday at 3pm, as I was leaving the hotel, I noticed that above the normal 2 armed security guards we also had 2 soldiers with machine guns... so it does pay to stay in a 5 star hotel sometimes. I guess this was because of the elections, if you are going to blow up something... it's best if it's a government building or a tourist hotel..... I blew a raspberry as I left ;-)
I'm getting back into the swing of things again, it's taken me over 2 weeks but I guess that's reasonable. The heat isn't so bad now and I feel more comfortable with my surroundings, I even had my very first ride in a jeepney.
I've decided to stay in Cebu for another couple of days then I am going to Manila at least for 1 night. I am finding it difficult to make a decision on where to go next.... I hate to be indecisive... well I think so anyway !! ... maybe I am maybe I'm not ;-)
You know that I always tell you about how mad they are on texting here, I don't think that I have ever mentioned before some of the asides regarding them. You can have unlimited texts for 24 hours for 20 pesos.... they all use that including me, you simply text "unli20" to 258 and hey presto you have unlimited texts for 24 hours, really very good value. Then you can send someone a load (credit) if you want... 10p, 30p or 60pesos..... you simply put their cell number in a text with the amount and then send it to 808...... they take the amount off from your load and give it to the recipient......neat eh !!
I hope you all had a great Tuesday..... Anne where is our Mary ???
I'm getting back into the swing of things again, it's taken me over 2 weeks but I guess that's reasonable. The heat isn't so bad now and I feel more comfortable with my surroundings, I even had my very first ride in a jeepney.
I've decided to stay in Cebu for another couple of days then I am going to Manila at least for 1 night. I am finding it difficult to make a decision on where to go next.... I hate to be indecisive... well I think so anyway !! ... maybe I am maybe I'm not ;-)
You know that I always tell you about how mad they are on texting here, I don't think that I have ever mentioned before some of the asides regarding them. You can have unlimited texts for 24 hours for 20 pesos.... they all use that including me, you simply text "unli20" to 258 and hey presto you have unlimited texts for 24 hours, really very good value. Then you can send someone a load (credit) if you want... 10p, 30p or 60pesos..... you simply put their cell number in a text with the amount and then send it to 808...... they take the amount off from your load and give it to the recipient......neat eh !!
I hope you all had a great Tuesday..... Anne where is our Mary ???
Monday, 11 August 2008
Monday 1pm
I'm in the mall typing this as I wait for my flight at 5pm to Cebu.
The Philippines air force ( which consists of 2 planes) bombed part of Mindanao yesterday. There are also elections in Mindanao today, during elections people are always killed so it's good that I'm leaving this island today.
I was out for a meal last night at Gerry's grill.. apt or what !!.... anyway across the road was a carnival, some call it a fayre or in Glasgow it's known as the shows !! don't ask me why !! It was a real deathtrap of a place, nothing would pass with a safety certificate in the UK. There were lots of street kids there asking me for money as usual, I refused but I decided to treat them all to free rides, their faces were a picture and it was well worth it, I didn't go on the rides myself... far too dangerous for me. After 2 rides I was aware of being too conspicuous, too many people began to take notice and chat with me.... time to leave... you have to be so careful in these places, guys see you with money and become interested, 1 guy did follow me as I was leaving but I am always aware of my surroundings and whoever is near me, so I turned back and he did the same but I just stopped and then as he passed I left safely, he may have been innocent but better to be safe than sorry. of course I was also aware that it is not good to be seen around children but sometimes you just have to help out.... its hard not to love the smile that you get from a kid when you give them something that they normally can't have.
I have mentioned before on my blog, when I was 5 or 6 years old, an ice cream seller gave me a free ice cream when I was sitting on the pavement, I had no money so he made me smile... I think he enjoyed doing it... he has passed that feeling onto me.
well I hope you all have a great begining to your week.... thanks Anne for your texts.... but don't keep reminding me of my return...... please.... :-)
The Philippines air force ( which consists of 2 planes) bombed part of Mindanao yesterday. There are also elections in Mindanao today, during elections people are always killed so it's good that I'm leaving this island today.
I was out for a meal last night at Gerry's grill.. apt or what !!.... anyway across the road was a carnival, some call it a fayre or in Glasgow it's known as the shows !! don't ask me why !! It was a real deathtrap of a place, nothing would pass with a safety certificate in the UK. There were lots of street kids there asking me for money as usual, I refused but I decided to treat them all to free rides, their faces were a picture and it was well worth it, I didn't go on the rides myself... far too dangerous for me. After 2 rides I was aware of being too conspicuous, too many people began to take notice and chat with me.... time to leave... you have to be so careful in these places, guys see you with money and become interested, 1 guy did follow me as I was leaving but I am always aware of my surroundings and whoever is near me, so I turned back and he did the same but I just stopped and then as he passed I left safely, he may have been innocent but better to be safe than sorry. of course I was also aware that it is not good to be seen around children but sometimes you just have to help out.... its hard not to love the smile that you get from a kid when you give them something that they normally can't have.
I have mentioned before on my blog, when I was 5 or 6 years old, an ice cream seller gave me a free ice cream when I was sitting on the pavement, I had no money so he made me smile... I think he enjoyed doing it... he has passed that feeling onto me.
well I hope you all have a great begining to your week.... thanks Anne for your texts.... but don't keep reminding me of my return...... please.... :-)
Sunday, 10 August 2008
Sunday 9am
I had an interesting Saturday at Bob (Mindanao Bob) Martin's home. This was his seminar on how to earn online.... very interesting indeed. Most of these get rich with this or that, I take with a pinch of salt but Bob is extremely well known for his blogs and has lived in the Phils for over 10 years now. 100% of his earnings is made online.
He has obviously done well, he was involved with ebay as a business and was earning £15k per month but has now stopped that because he felt that there were easier legit ways to make money online..... so how is he doing now...... well it must be good if you can stop one business that pays you that much per month.
This is not a get rich quick scheme, but you will earn money if you do the right things, we all know about "pay per click" from google adsense but there are so many other ways and Bob has refined them to a "T". Bobs website gets 2 million hits per month !!
He is a really nice guy and an intelligent businessman, everything he said makes sense and he is the living proof that it works. I am more interested in the blogging side of things so we shall see how it works in the future. The seminar gave me purpose to go to Davao and meet Bob.
I never knew that there are people online on ebay making millions of pounds per month..... can you believe it !! its there in black and white..... if I didn't hate ebay so much I would try it myself in a very small way of course.
hope you all are having a great weekend.................
Friday, 8 August 2008
Saturday 1.15am
Thursday evening was nice, I spent it at the home of friends in the suburbs of Cebu, I am very lucky as I do get invites to spend time with the locals which is what travelling is all about.... luckily my personality gets on with people and thats why it works out for me.
Thursday night 11.30pm I am entering my hotel after my night out, this Brit is in front of me, he is old (60 +) very skinny and a bit shifty if you ask me, I seen him in the bar one night and tried to smile but thankfully he didn't respond, he is with 2 young "ladies", the hotel is a 5 star so they are careful about who they let in. As I was waiting for the elevator I was watching him as most people were, I heard him say to the receptionists " she is my girlfriend and she is my friend"..... right ... ok... I bet if someone had asked he wouldn't have known their names... they were nice girls but obviously the"working" type..... he was ambitious bringing 2 home !!!! better man than me that's for sure !!!
Thursday night 11pm said goodnight to my special friends, 8.30am Friday I left my hotel to go to Davao, I arrived in my Davao hotel at 1pm, I am in the Marco polo it is VERY expensive but nice. I have spent most of the day in my room as it is soooooooooooooooo very hot outside. It is now 2am Saturday, I am going to a seminar with "Mindanao Bob" at 3 pm today and am looking forward to it.
My special friend is leaving at 4am today to go to Hong Kong to work so I will get ready for the texts.
I hope you all have a great weekend..............
Thursday night 11.30pm I am entering my hotel after my night out, this Brit is in front of me, he is old (60 +) very skinny and a bit shifty if you ask me, I seen him in the bar one night and tried to smile but thankfully he didn't respond, he is with 2 young "ladies", the hotel is a 5 star so they are careful about who they let in. As I was waiting for the elevator I was watching him as most people were, I heard him say to the receptionists " she is my girlfriend and she is my friend"..... right ... ok... I bet if someone had asked he wouldn't have known their names... they were nice girls but obviously the"working" type..... he was ambitious bringing 2 home !!!! better man than me that's for sure !!!
Thursday night 11pm said goodnight to my special friends, 8.30am Friday I left my hotel to go to Davao, I arrived in my Davao hotel at 1pm, I am in the Marco polo it is VERY expensive but nice. I have spent most of the day in my room as it is soooooooooooooooo very hot outside. It is now 2am Saturday, I am going to a seminar with "Mindanao Bob" at 3 pm today and am looking forward to it.
My special friend is leaving at 4am today to go to Hong Kong to work so I will get ready for the texts.
I hope you all have a great weekend..............
Wednesday, 6 August 2008
Wednesday 11pm
I have just returned to my hotel after being out with a group of friends.... well it was a family actually that I know here in Cebu... we really had a lot of fun. Some pics below.
I was also out with them last night too and that was very enjoyable also, tomorrow (thursday) I am going to their home on the outskirts of Cebu City for a meal,
Not much has happened over the past 2 days, just been dealing with this high blood pressure thingy... I stopped taking the tablets as they were making me feel worse than anything else, I felt great on Tuesday after stopping taking them, my BP monitor even registered all great readings.... 130/80. I got up this morning and all readings were 130/95... not so good. I visited the health centre here in the hotel, the nurse took 2 readings which both were 120/90 and she said that is normal.... I've read that over 90 is high.... but what do I know !!
Below is a really nice family, these are the nice girls of Cebu.
Mary Grace, Vina, aileen and airleen
3 sisters (1 x twins) and a cousin.
Airleen's son... I won't even
try to spell his name !!!!
I have had a really great time here in Cebu over the past few days... probably the best that I have ever had in the Phils.... so I will be sad to leave... but I am booked to go to Davao on Friday but I do return to Cebu on Monday. I had some bad news tonight, I was going to visit a resort about 3 hours outside of Cebu just to relax for a couple of days, it was owned by a really nice American guy and I was looking forward to meeting him but unfortunetly he died yesterday so the trip is cancelled as his resort is now closed..... you never know the minute.... the phrase that comes to mind is.... death......is like a thief in the night.
I hope you and your family are well and in good health..........
Enjoy your wednesday................
I was also out with them last night too and that was very enjoyable also, tomorrow (thursday) I am going to their home on the outskirts of Cebu City for a meal,
Not much has happened over the past 2 days, just been dealing with this high blood pressure thingy... I stopped taking the tablets as they were making me feel worse than anything else, I felt great on Tuesday after stopping taking them, my BP monitor even registered all great readings.... 130/80. I got up this morning and all readings were 130/95... not so good. I visited the health centre here in the hotel, the nurse took 2 readings which both were 120/90 and she said that is normal.... I've read that over 90 is high.... but what do I know !!
Below is a really nice family, these are the nice girls of Cebu.
Mary Grace, Vina, aileen and airleen
3 sisters (1 x twins) and a cousin.
Airleen's son... I won't even
try to spell his name !!!!
I have had a really great time here in Cebu over the past few days... probably the best that I have ever had in the Phils.... so I will be sad to leave... but I am booked to go to Davao on Friday but I do return to Cebu on Monday. I had some bad news tonight, I was going to visit a resort about 3 hours outside of Cebu just to relax for a couple of days, it was owned by a really nice American guy and I was looking forward to meeting him but unfortunetly he died yesterday so the trip is cancelled as his resort is now closed..... you never know the minute.... the phrase that comes to mind is.... death......is like a thief in the night.
I hope you and your family are well and in good health..........
Enjoy your wednesday................
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