Long Times

I came across this on the net recently and it rather amused me that I should equally recently have found this charmer with a somewhat different message to importunate males. It is a fact that there are many who chase the Asian ladies and although in no bar have I actually been accosted with the words forming the title of the video I have heard it said.

In view of these hotel advertisements I have recently photographed here in Cebu, I suspect that the tee shirt wording is more true. Should anyone want to read the adverts' wording they will naturally have to click on the photo to enlarge it.
I have never entered a hotel such as this but there is a branch of the "Place with a touch of Class" quite close to our city home. I had thought about dropping by to see if they have a restaurant of any standard but on reflection I suspect that it would not give any great success.
Many Philippine homes have a great number of relatives living there-in and my belief is that these hotels are used by those seeking privacy, for whatever reason. It must be daunting having to decide how long one requires. I am sorry for those city dwellers who do not have the same opportunities for seeking respite from people as countryfolk by strolling in the farm lands.
And with the short time periods quoted I suspect that the goods purveyed by this shop, also photographed in Cebu, would be a help to any male thinking of using the hotels.

Sea Travel

While listening to the Animals this morning I thought of Alan Price's fear of flying and their break-up. Sea travel does have a special cachet, although the numerous tourist class cruise boats these day are not in the same class as the real, stylish, transatlantic ships.

Mind you I personally have a fear of travelling by boat; especially with the numerous shipping disasters around the Phils and Indonesia. Perhaps my first equatorial "crossing of the line" put these in my head. It certainly looked to me as if we were about to hit something fairly substantial and dangerous, but apparently it is merely a painted line.
But, especially after reading (and listening to) the Discworld novels, I always had the fear of the edge (nothing to do with U2) and the possibilities therefrom. For either big or little ships the danger remains and is definitely not something that I care to encounter. Nevertheless occasionally I need to travel around the Phils and, not being a strong swimmer, I consider it advisable to have my own rescue equipment with me at all times. I have not had to use it as yet but it is wonderfully comforting to know that it is with me, just in case of need.
My work has taken me around the world and I have become inured to the discomforts of the paraffin budgie but I do wish they could produce something for air travel that was more in the way of the old liners and hence might provide rather more comfort.

Busy Times

The belongings from Singapore have finally arrived and we expect the UK stuff to arrive shortly. As seen with Alice while in Singapore we had a few books (although those seen are only from one area in the condo) and a rake of ornaments.

I have realised that it is just as well we have two houses since the fact that we have numerous others (and dogs) living with us makes it impossible to get everything into one!
As yet we have only opened about half of the boxes but the labels have enabled us to choose those to go direct to the farm house, which will happen tomorrow. At the same time we will send furniture there and arrange for new settees and the like for the city house.
It really has been all go for quite some time but we are reaching the end and I can now turn my mind to seeking some more work; semi-retirement means I need some occasionally and so far I have only had a couple of weeks in Jakarta and a day's work for a Japanese company, done at my computer here in Cebu. Still the difficulties of a double move and building the farm house have kept us busy. It would be overstating the case to suggest that some of our stuff travelled as shown but still it has seemed that hard to get everything here!
Perhaps it would have been easier to stick with old fashioned methods?

Differences

The visible difference between European and American ladies has been well documented all over the net. The jpg even provides an indication of the obvious reason, food and drink, for the clearly visible difference. However the rice and viands eaten by the majority of Asian ladies provides them with extreme grace, seen in all of their movements.
However I would say that I am so glad that as a man my underwear is considerably more substantial, although the access flaps can be a nuisance in the occasional times of extreme urgency, particularly with my bowels.

There are probably even more handphones here than in most other continents and the combination of handphone and thong is an interesting sight, as one might expect.
Having said this it was not until I moved permanently to Asia that, to my great surprise, I discovered that in this part of the world the thong is not just displayed at the rear. Not that I have any major complaints, of course. Particularly since my wife, an extremely sensible woman, makes me stick to the good old motto "you can look but you can't touch". The Filipina's knowledge of the more esoteric use of scissors would help me to accord with this in the highly unlikely event of me even considering straying!

A Moan

When you leave the above for the right then the first thing one notices is the plethora of insects; all of which are far more interested in you and bigger than you are used to. Luckily my time in Nigeria had previously prepared me for what might otherwise have been a shock.

Nevertheless that size of the things still does surprise me a shade and children can easily be borne off by some of the things.

Even flies are far larger than the UK and the amount of flyspray required to bring one down does mean that one's entire shopping budget could easily be spent on the stuff.
Insects will invade even the most palatial of homes and turn up in the most surprising of places. I have to say that I am not a lover of them and yet somehow I seem to be the most attractive to any marauding flying nasty.
I gather this is partially due to the different diet leading to one's exudations being more interesting to the things.
But whatever the reason I seem to have almost as many injections from mozzies as I have had from medico's and I am just a little tired of it.

Repentance?

But is it in this blog? I feel a bit naughty for indicating our house was as shown last post, and think I should make sure any (unlikely) reader is aware that I am rather pleased with where we are. Ranging from the friendly people to the wonderful sunsets and sunrises; as is this particular shot taken on the beach when we went to buy fresh seafood for breakfast one morning.

Following this of course one has to sit back and actually enjoy the meal, hard for me since I am presently banned from that wonderful mix of champagne and fresh orange juice that is so suited to the first meal of the day. Dieting is not my favourite occupation.
And then I consider again my tendency to hyperbole and exaggeration and wonder if there is likely to be some-one prepared to check and realise that there may be an element of misdirection and will this lead to my being captured and led to trial for such verbal excesses?

Housing

I never had a tree house as a child, so seeing this sweet type, on the right, I had visions of the future. The nearest I came was buying Alistair a plastic house, here seen in the garden in PJ when we were still in Malaysia, and a favourite spot for one of our many cats. It was not until we came to the Phils that we went wholly overboard for dogs.

This house was a reward for a quite young Alistair being so good while I was having my first major emergency operation cutting out great lengths of my bowel.
Our house in UK had its points but was perhaps a shade exhibitionist for a quiet lad like myself, and also not really suited to the old guy that I am now.
So I planned that one of our houses here would really display all those things I had dreamt of and would also be a trifle showy, and it should have been as on the left.
Well, unfortunately the cost was prohibitive so a cost cutting exercise was set into place still giving a real approach to my dreams.
But as time went on I realised that even this was beyond me and we finally had to settle for something rather less than my dream and yet it has the advantage that I am living like many others and so not being elitist or asking the butler to warm the sea.

Relax?

The Phils is a beautiful place in parts designed for enjoyment and much cheaper to live in than many places. This can lead to a decision to upgrade one's lifestyle and perhaps instead of the life of a small farmer, that I really am, we should be thinking of rather more grand a style. The butler ensuring that some nob's bath is to the correct desired temperature iss nothing in comparison to the real luxury of swimming off one's yacht and having the early morning sea just warmed a touch by the addition of a boiling kettle to ensure that one suffers no chill.

Nevertheless being greeted each morning in a manner clearly set up to distinguish between the "have's" and their supporting staff can take a little bit of getting used to; this in spite of having staff in Nigeria so many years ago. But we will strive to enjoy life as best we can.

The Tops

Ay-Ay is now wholly well again, much to our delight. A fairly close neighbour lost one of their number to the illness. Due to shortage of cash he was treated by massage; a well loved Philippine remedy for virtually anything. But not for this and in just a couple of days he was dead, poor soul.

We decided a pleasure trip, rather than the innumerable runs to arrange for the final steps of farm house completion (large water tank and pump, dirty kitchen and the like) was due. So we took a trip up into the mountains running down the spine of Cebu Island. Alice drove us up to the Tops, where to our surprise we did not just have the wonderful view over Cebu City but also a clear sight of the preparation of a group's video.
There was a young lady standing off to one side, soaked in water, regularly resoaked and included within the filming. What this was for was never properly discovered by us, but she was a nice young girl, although not as charming as Ay-Ay naturally.
Alice disgraced herself by eating three ice-creams, while Ay-Ay and I had but two each. I admit I did have a Red Horse beer, but only a small one; so I feel that I showed as a better dieter than Alice!
Having said that this photo shows that I am much more in dire need of the dieting than she is. Never mind, after Valentine's Day (with its need for good food and plenteous wine) I will try and cut down on alcohol consumption, which is my main downfall.
It was a great afternoon but we decided not to stay after dark to see the city lights as the road is precipitous and we figured another trip to get Alice used to the road was best before staying after dark.
Perhaps just as well; our brakes started smelling and steaming as we descended and we had to stop, luckily just by a major shopping centre, seen on the right, while they cooled. I found Alice, not having had much mountain descent driving experience, had been riding the brake. So we discussed the merits of low gears in going down as well as up steep slopes and proceeded onwards.
And should you ask did we enjoy ourselves, I refer you below.