trip to the mountains

I was invited by Rocky at the tennis club to join a "boys" trip into the mountains about an hour and a half's drive from Davao to the private weekend cottage of Bobby Co, who is also another tennis friend. I thought it would be interesting and fun and it was.

The place was / is big about 7 hectares and is partly developed, partly wild, he has a weekend retreat house, basic but nice with a large veranda for entertaining which we used later on for eating and drinking (all night) i crashed out at 12 but the drinking went on until 3am, no way i could manage that. We slept on foam roll mat and that was fine...some of the guys (heavy snoring...not me honest) but we got a few hours sleep.

We had a walk and in Philippine style (only in the Philippines we say) a couple of helpers lugged a cool box full of beers up the hill, so we enjoyed the views in and amongst the clouds, while swigging cold beer, it was fine.

The place is 5000 feet in elevation and it was fairly cool and this is what attracts the guys up there the coolness. For me it has less charm than for the Asians and a jacket was required but it was scenic, cool beery and good crack.

We left early morning, dropped rocky off at his home and was back for 10am, pretty knackered but very ok.

Pictures shown are The caretakers cottage, taken from the main house. the main house itself, timber framed. "The guys" at the top enjoying a beer (four others joined later) and a view back down from the top to the main house and surrounding area.

Bits and pieces

We had a lovely day out last Sunday at friend, Fiedens place on the slopes of mt Apo, have written about this place before but last week we had a family invite, so, we all pitched up...including, auntie Wharlita, Uncle Vic, Ann's Mum and a sundry young german couple who are over here "working" for a "NGO" thingy and got invited along.

We crammed (i just counted) 12 in the car and i was glad i was driving, coz i had a comfy front seat, the rest squeezed in, it was no problem.

Me, Ann, Annika and Lorenz have been there before but the other 8 hadn't and were very curious to see the place, which is impressive and beautiful....uncle vic called our friends, secret millionaires and i think he is right, the place is very impressive.

Annika did well...she slept on the way, she walked and crawled about, being passed from hand to hand, even to Nike (the young German "girl" on the photo) and generally being very happy.

Raul our neighbour was also invited and brought 'tuba' (coconut spirit) and we enjoyed that..its great i really like it....of course. See photo...

What else, well Annika's walking is getting prolific, falls, slips and trips are a feature now of her little life and there are many many hands available to minimise, but not eradicate them all. she is for sure, a sausage.

Photos are of Nike happy with Annika, Fieden serving his guests Marang (delicious), Annika being a sausage and Raul instructing on tuba drinking.

A week left now before my big trip, looking forward to it, very much in a take it as it comes type of way, swine flu, flight delays and sundry terrorist attacks permitted.

Listened to a thrilling end to the Lords test last night and no pictures of me leaping up and down by the computer, but in spite of beng 6000kms away, i was almost there. Ricky Ponting, never mind......

Birthday Girls

Annika was 1 yesterday and Germaine was 19.

Where did that first year go?...quickly that's where it went, of course our little girl is growing up fast and we celebrated yesterday.

We were lucky with the weather as heavy thunderstorms were predicted, but fortunately they didn't materialise, it was dry and so it made the party run smoother, it would have been a problem otherwise, as we have a large place and some room in the outside kitchen etc but it would have driven people home early. Anyway it didn't rain and the party went well.

Eating and drinking of course and later dancing, games for the kids and singing naturally.

Germaine has been with us now for about 18months and so we were delighted last year when Annika was born on Germaine's birthday. Germaine and Annika are an item and so we were pleased to celebrate both birthdays at the same party. Germaine had friends and family attend and we had loads and loads, kids, adults, friends, all sorts...see photos, a sample only.

Annika conked out about 9pm, i persuaded Arnel's sister, Vanessa to sit and mind Annika for an hour while she was also watching soap operas, i took over at 10, Ann joined me at 10:30 and then the party went on till 11:30, it was quite a sensible party, not too much hard drinking because it was mid week, i was on the tennis court for 6:15am and had a great game, so, no problems with a hangover there.

Just a few photos, difficult to capture accurately the party with a few photos but also try this flickr link, for more and more and yes...more

http://www.flickr.com/photos/20963162@N05/

i checked back on my own blog and saw the link above does not work, but you can "copy and paste" to your browser and i think anyone will get there.

I forgot to mention the forgotten heroes of the Philippine party( ....and i have a lot of experience now of this ) and that is the ladies (all female) who just pitch in and help, fetching and distributing food drinks and washing up and clearing debris, in our big place, what a mess it would be to clear without this sometimes even unsolicited help. I have seen Aunties turn up for a party here and be greeted by us and then head straight for the kitchen sink to wash up all night...more than once i seen this it makes and helps the party be a pleasure to host.

When i got back from tennis about 9:30am, the garden was swept, the place looked fresh and clean and apart from the poster of Annika and a few balloons no sign of the party existed...selfishly, (could you imagine leaving for tennis in the UK the night after a big party and letting others clear away the debris and detrius?) ....me i went with a clear conscience. This is accepted and normal in the Philippines....one of the many reasons i like it here (selfish male chauvenistic person i am)

Walking in Peoples Park

Peoples park in Davao City was developed into a community facility about 4 years ago and is rightly very popular because there aren't many non-commercial public spaces around the city which are clean and free from traffic fumes.

Anyway this park is very nice, statues, paved pathways, bridges, waterfalls and play areas for the kids. Its not huge but also not small say the size of 8 football pitches, but that is a guess.

We hadn't been there in a while and Sundays can be a little dull at times and so i floated the idea of a trip to peoples park with the family on sunday morning and all agreed to come and the kids were very enthusiastic.

Its open in the mornings then closes for cleaning, its very well maintained and re-opens in the afternoons when it cools down a bit and then it gets very popular, particularly Sundays.

The "walking" part of the title is Annika, pictured getting some walking practice. She can walk 5 or 6 maximum faltering steps by herself or, more securely, wander round with arms held high for support by an adult while tottering round as she pleases, this can be a bit tiring and wearing particularly on the back, but we all take it in turns, me less than most.

Pictures are from around the park and Annika walking.

After the flood

After the flood, mud basically and a hell of a mess. What happened was that a combination of weather systems collided in the mountains and a wall of water arrived n Davao looking for the sea. Instead it found over worked and blocked drains and high tide. The exceptional volume of water flooded our local area here in Bangkal.

People were evacuated to our local basketball court for the night and people scrambled to save their possessions. Like always in a flood.

We were lucky for sure as the water level reached to 1 street only away from us and went to have a look yesterday just less than 24 hours after the flood.

There was a big mess and a clear up was in operation, but it will take time and basically speaking there is nowhere for the mud to go to. Ironically rain is needed to help clear the mud.

I saw food and basic supplies being delivered to squatter area nearby which was hit hard by the flood, good to see rescue services in operation. Actually, in the Philippines, these emergency rescue measures are very well organised, the mayors office gets involved and rescue and medical services are on hand with follow up practical help, the mayor here is a big supporter of poorer people who are always the ones to suffer the most in these situations, why? Because they live in marginal areas like coastal or mountainous areas where natural disasters strike hardest, mudslides and flooding being the most common natural mishaps.

Photos shown are of a typical muddy street scene. A car which shows if you look carefully the line on the window where the rainwater got to, which is the windscreen height. The squatter area where supplies were being delivered and a fire for cooking was just being lit. Also another squatter area where piles of household goods have been stacked and rescued from the floods.

I went to the court to see what was happening there but the people had returned home and there was a poxy basketball game in progress, so, i guess the immediate emergency is over. For sure with this volume of rain it can happen again any time. (have trouble with the letter i on our keyboard, but just went through editing spelling mistakes, sure there are many more....but ....never mind)

Local Parish Church

For the last 3 years (approximately) our local parish church, Lady of Lourdes has been under construction.

It has a ubiquitous blue roof and an open steel span roof, in fact for a minor point in construction it is concrete column and tie beam frame, with blockwork infill and a steel truss roof, cheap and practical for this large building.

The church is being built by donations and every week at the rundown is given on how much has been collected, during the week, how much money has been spent on construction during the week and what is the scheme construction balance.

It always seems to me to be small figures, like 50,000peso collected in the week, 48,000 spent and say 3,000peso balance. By the way 50,000peso is about 600 pounds, so, quite a lot of money but it is a large parish and has a large daily attendance.

The church is showing real signs a progress and i would guess another year and there will only be bits and pieces left outstanding. Annika was christened here, we attend on a Sunday when we get a guilty conscience and that's about it really.

Pictures are self explanatory and the priests house and office shown also at the back of the church.

Gaisano Illustre

There are many many Malls here in Davao and plenty either in construction or planned. The more modern malls are SM and NCCC mall but there are more established malls in the centre of town, like Victoria Plaza and Gaisano Mall and also shown Gaisano Illustre.

I like this shopping centre, outside sure it looks tired and characterless, this is an understatement as its one of the ugliest buildings you can imagine but inside its a friendly place. There are:

Supermarkets and food areas, some restaurants and of course multi choice department stores and some individual shops. There is particularly a good clothes section and also sports goods section and i went there recently to purchase goggles, snorkel and flippers, no problem with the selection there.

Pictures shown are outside from 2 different elevations (not pretty eh) and a couple of internal shots which i agree look like any other shopping centre pretty much anywhere. Anyway, thats it.

Covered court and local election

A common sight here in the Philippines is a basketball court, they are all over the place and established areas of a little bit more affluence have covered courts, like the one shown which is here in central park very close to where we live. If you wonder why covered, well when it rains here all hell can break loose and if there is a function being held, well, self explanatory really, a cover s much better.

As well as games of basketball they can be hired for private parties or used for group meetings, fiestas, child groups, anything at all really and in the case shown for a local election.

The election is for directors of homeowners association who will then form a committee and elect president to deal with local issues such as rubbish collection, security, fiestas, beautification projects and other things as well. I was asked to stand as potential director and it took me 2 seconds to dismiss the idea as there is a lot of side issues and even hostility between rival groups. Do i want to get involved in that rubbish, not likely, for sure NO.

Anyway Ann voted on behalf of our household, we are in Purok 4, which is a local area of just a few streets.

Anyway that's the covered courts and the local election, i will find out later who gets elected and sworn in as president.

Pictures shown are of the court from the inside, one of the voters, our neighbours waiting to vote, the rules and regulations inside the court and of course Annika and Mum going to vote, its a very short distance from our house to the court.

Eden

Fieden a tennis friend has a beautiful 3 hectare property on the slopes of Mount Apo and the general area is known as Eden, i have no idea why BUT...it is paradise, it is unbelievably fertile and under developed and so there i may have answered my own question, its like the garden of Eden.

I have been to the place before and in part the property is used as a conference and training facility for the family pharmaceutical business and the last time we went there a magnificent training facility was being built, pictures shown are from this newly built facility.

There are kitchens and balconys and beneath the main area shown are 4 separate bedroom and bathrooms for guests. There is a fish pond and snooker and table tennis area and Fieden has a plan to build a tennis court. This is great news for me because Fieden is one of my regular tennis partners (or opponenents) and so i am bound to get invitations to use his faciltiy, i do count Fieden as a good friend at this stage.

I stopped off and showed Mum the place when we were visiting Eden nature park and Mum waved a tennis racket in the general direction of Fieden, so she knows it all but will not recognise the internal shots, you can see its big.......

Doggie Dogs

Yep the dogs are growing up fast now, not quite full grown but say 2/3rds or 3/4ths, anyway growing up. We have been to the vets quite a few times for inoculations and anti rabies jabs and the vet gives them a full 100% tick in the health and condition department.

The dogs are dogs and here they are treated like dogs, let me explain. In the UK, a lot of people treat their dogs better than people, here a lot of people treat them harshly, short leads or caged life and suchlike, here at this house we treat them with respect and friendship but they sleep outside, are not allowed in the house and generally get on with their doggie life.

We penned the dogs in to half the garden to keep them out of the kitchen and generally this now works well, they have plenty of room to exercise and "explore" but are not under our feet all the time.

Different people here have dog responsibilities......I am the shit clearing and vet guy. Germain or Joy feed the dogs and Lorenz baths and inspects for tic's etc.

Pictured above are Chai chai (or is it Spike........................... not sure) getting a bath and picture of Chai chai (or is it Spike etc etc) with Anti Tic and Flea powder after his bath.

Nikka

Nikka has been at swim club most of this summer and it culminated last weekend in swimming competition on Saturday and triathalon Sunday. Ann, Annika and I attended the swimming Saturday.

The event was held at Ladislawa subdivision clubhouse, they have good sports facilities there including a 25 metre pool.

The event was well attended and suitably well organised, Nikka was well supported by sister Jaiya, Mum Joy, Karen Arnel, Grandma at times and us at times too, as well as assorted other toddlers and members of her swim group.

Nikka did well, she won the 50metre breastroke easily when we watched and came back with a stack of medals, very pleased with herself as she should be having put in a lot of effort during the summer.

Towns and Cities, not really very pretty

The Philippines is a beautiful country i wrote a blog a few weeks back about natural beauty and its true the natural part is beautiful, very...but.......

Where it isn't pretty is where civilization makes its mark and builds towns, cities and sub-divisions.

Services, mainly electrical distribution cables but also including telephone, satelite and internet cables are "slung" along roads and highways, towns and in fact everywhere. Sure its the practical way to distribute power etc but it isn't pretty, in fact its ugly, practical yes, pretty no.

Secondly and also allied to the above is money, money here tends to be at a premium, Philippines s a poor country and beautification although it does take place, with plantings etc, in general terms the lack of money both in the public and private sector does not allow for too much expenditure on aesthetics.

For example with the "slung" electrical distribution, they could be buried under the roads and pavements but this would be expensive and so, the cheaper more ugly alternative is used.

People don't have the money to "finish off" (paint) buildings, see house example above which has been left with bare cement render finish for years, i guess no money to paint.

Shanty and squatter areas, simply they are not pretty, for obvious reasons, in town they are ugly in country villages they can be clean and structured.

Oh well, the natural beauty more than makes up for it and i quite like the cities, they are grimey and kind of interesting.

Pictures shown are squatter housing Sasa port area, "unpainted house" public building (library or city hall i think) San Pedro and random shots from the highway and in the city.