life in Davao Philippines

trip to the mountains

2009-07-22T00:00:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-20T18:03:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-10T01:46:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-06T18:47:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-01T01:16:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-26T00:47:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-26T00:26:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-21T20:42:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-14T23:13:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-14T22:40:00.001-07:00

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

2009-06-01T01:49:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-01T01:21:00.000-07:00

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.

Three in and one out

2009-05-24T03:34:00.000-07:00

The title applies to persons in and out of the Bowden household....first the persons in....

Ann's sister Joy approached us some months ago and broached the subject of her daughters education, Jaiya and Nika. The girls who are both in the same grade expressed some desire to attend high school here in Davao to go to the same state school that Lorenz, their elder cousin already has attended for the last 2 years. Lorenz is 13, Jaiya, 12 and Nika 11.

I agreed and of course Ann wants to support her sister and nieces, so, a couple of months ago in they moved. There have been some small "teething" problems but never mind, we are all adults (no we aren't 2 are kids but you know what i mean) and we need to get on with life... the 3 (joy and the kids) have spent their summer holidays here, school starts in about a week and there we are, real life will kick in.

The one "out" is Lizelle, who left last week after being with us for a year, she was our maid and was a pleasure to have in our house, she is a quiet girl, but very pleasant and polite, she is a great cook, doesn't cause any problems and was a great addition to our family. However...she decided to move on, we let her know we didn't want her to go, but it's her choice and we wouldn't hold her back.

What is she going to do? She told us she is going to Manila to work / stay with her cousin, but Germaine, our yiya (nanny for annika and lizelle's friend) thinks she is going to get married, i have no idea but for the last couple of months of her stay here she got a massive amount of texts from someone on a daily basis, husband to be? who knows.

Photos shown are Lizelle at her birthday party, looking suitably happy, Lizelle holding Annika in typical family pose with the girls, and then Jaiya and Nika looking beautiful and with Joy (Mum) at their graduation from junior school.

We are getting another maid on tuesday next week, although she s on trial only, the position is being held open for a couple of months for Lizelle if she decides not to get married or go to Manila or whatever...we would like to have her back.

(photos wouldn't upload so, will "edit' them in tomorrow.....wait)....update tuesday....photos are not being uploaded, tried 3 or 4 times, anyway never mind eh

Blue Jaz

2009-05-24T01:55:00.000-07:00

We have lots of options here in Davao for day trips out, for example, Eden nature park on the slopes of Mt. Apo is beautiful, there are lots of beach resorts and suchlike very close by and there is Samal island which is in Davao gulf, at the nearest point only about 500metres or so away from the mainland.

Samal is a beautiful island, its quite big, and rural, mainly coral rock base but also has mountains and waterfalls, it is, say about the same size as the isle of man and there are roads and pathways crossing the island, main roads are ok, side roads are dodgy and are subject to heavy rain making them impossible to pass.

My neighbour Raul who has lived in Davao all his life has not for example ever been to the other side of the island, i promissed him a trip there, must do that soon...anyway.......

On Samal and close and convenient to Davao city there are lots of beach resorts, where you arrive by boat direct from the mainland...the boat dropping you at the resort. The beach resorts are not Samal, they just exist on Samal and are a major employer on the island and generally cater for tourists from Davao and everywhere else.

The most popular resort is paradise beach and yes, its great we have been there many times, say 20....so we decided to go and try another venue, Blue Jaz. 14 of us, adults and kids, all our family and Karen and Arnels, we packed up loads of food and drink and shoehorned us into my car, off for about 7:30am and drove to the ferry. Parking was a bit chaotic and the large ferry was full, but before 9am we were in.

The resort is large, and has some great facilties, like water slides and pools but in all honesty it is a "work in progress" (building site) and feels about 70% finshed, nevertheless we enjoyed the day, particularly the kids because of the water slides and well, kiddie fun, i asked the kids afterwards and they all said they prefer Blue Jaz to Paradise beach, but for a cleanliness and facilities, paradise wins hands down, so, its pay your money and take your chance.

Annika went down a small but wizzzy slide 3 times with 3 different cousins, she was a bit mystified by the process, but enjoyed splashing with Dad in the pool while children all around us played and splashed and had kiddie fun. She had 2 lovely sleeps in the arms of Ann and Germaine, we left about 3:45 and were safely home by ferry and car by 5 on the dot, an excellent and fun day out.

Sari Sari Store

2009-05-19T04:20:00.000-07:00

I just asked mrs bowden for a translation of sari sari and it means something like mix and match or variety of goods and that will do because in the Philippines sari sari stores are everywhere.

They fill the gap in the retail market and i give my interpretation only of the pecking order.

Supermarkets and wet markets........... For bulk shopping but usually you need to take transport to get there.

Convenience stores and local fruit veg, meat and fish stalls. More expensive than above but can be more convenient than going to town to visit the wet market or getting jeepney to go to supermarket.

Sari sari store. They are at the street level, often it seems like every street has one, we now have one in our street, construction just finished, see photo.

They buy in bulk and split items to sell individually, like cigarettes, like hair stuff, shampoo or conditioner, or coffee sachet or beer, or load for phones, food, beer, spirits, all sorts of things, but not usually fresh things.

If you run out of things or like to top up with beer or spirits on a sunday and are too lazy to get in the car then this is what sari sari stores are for, of course also if you can't afford a pack of cigs, may be one at a time is affordable, the fact that it ends up twice the price, never mind, the sari sari needs to make profit.

Its small local business and they can be found all over the Philippines.

The first image is the store i use (for beer) and the second is the one just opened on our street a few doors away, the other pictures are of local and larger sari sari stores ....not my type of business.

Jeepney and Tricycle

2009-05-19T03:33:00.000-07:00

My blog (generally speaking.....) is 100% not meant to be controversial, quite the opposite, if anyone gets upset with my post and starts a "flame war" (blog term, i think for extreme views to be aired, erring to nastiness) then this is not my intention and this post is as controversial as it gets, in public from me.

In my opinion, and only my opinion there is one absolutely superb means of medium distance public transport to be found all over the Philippines and that is the jeepney.

Equally there is also a smelly dirty form of transport which in my opinion is practically useless and that is the tricycle.

Arguments in justification of the above are as follows, first the positive, the jeepney.

Jeepneys take large numbers of people to work or to town or to shops etc, every day over short to medium distance journeys, usually from A-B (ie using highways) and at an extremely economical rate. They take up the commuter slack that bus's can't cope with, please bear in mind that taxis and private vehicles are out of reach of the average person on a day to day basis.

Yes, sure jeepneys are smelly, dangerous (not roadworthy....most of them) their drivers are not to be challenged (all of them) , but and its a big but, they are available, regular, cheap, and go where people want to go to.

The tricycle fullfills another function and this is basically to undertake local journeys, for example into a subdivison where the jeepney drops people off at the highway.....so....why do i dislike them? I will try and convince (anybody following and still awake).

They are dirty and smelly, (so are jeepneys) dangerous and not necessary in most cases because the distance they travel is so local it is almost easier to walk, again in my opinon. Very poor people and children use tricycles all the time and i find this amazing, walking doesn't seem to be an option and am talking of distances in the 100metre range. Sure its hot and sweaty here and nobody wants to arrive at work sweaty, but they are hardly spared the rigours of the external climate by riding the tricycle.

Anyway, this is my opinion, i doubt it will change whatever alternative point of view is raised, but i would be happy to hear alternative points of view.

For the foreigners......tricycles can be hired exclusive, or will drop people off in turn in a subdivision, they lurk when idle at the "mouth" of the subdivision waiting for customers, usually there seems to be more vehicles than customers.

Jeepneys are regulated and follow a route, usually displayed on their side and in the front window, the passenger flags them down anywhere, the fare is set by regulation, they pick up anywhere but the authorities designate places (like at busy traffic intersections) where they are not allowed to pick up. Some are decorated very artistically in gaudy style and often laden with fruit or other goods, again a bonus in their versatility.

Photos attached are for example....both jeepney and poor old tricycles....

Filipino Pride

2009-05-14T22:59:00.000-07:00

Are the Filipino people proud of their country?, of course they are, demonstrated most visibly when watching their national hero Manny Pacquiao box.

Manny fought Ricky Hatton 2 weeks ago and we all know the result, a resounding defeat for the British guy and once again the Philippines can relax in the knowledge that their man is safe and champion still.

Truly the Philippines comes to a full stop when Manny fights, its all anyone wants to talk about for weeks before a fight and the pro's and cons are mulled over. Would Ricky be too strong for Manny? (we didn't find out) would Manny be too quick and skillful for Ricky? (yes for sure)

Manny is without doubt a great fighter and also from what i see a great guy. He came up from a tough life on the streets to become a self made man, this all adds to his charisma. To be honest when i first came across Manny on TV 6 or 7 years ago he was a little rough round the edges, but his english has vastly improved, he comes across as a great guy and is loved here quite rightly. Will he stand for political office after his boxing career, probably, i hope not.

Apart from Manny of course Filipino people are also proud of their country but there is also a very healthy high degree of cynicism on issues like corruption....a quote from a Filipino friend (i won't name) "oh its ok he has lots of money, he works for the government" and also on issues like poverty and some other negatives.

However Filipino culture is strong in Family, in food and in cultural beliefs but utmost and most of all at this moment in Manny Pacquiao.

We got PPV for the fight, didn't really get our monies worth but never mind, i consoled myself with beer and gentle ribbing from my Filipino friends.

I get my own back say when someone gives me an easy point at tennis "very kind to an englishman...not like Manny Pacquiao".

Pictures are just before the fight starts / national anthems, i was too sick to get the camera out after the fight, the rest of the Philippines didn't care for my or any other British wounded pride, why should they, they had their hero safe and victorious.

natural beauty

2009-05-11T17:21:00.000-07:00

The title really is self explanatory and for sure and for certain this is a beautiful country, at times the scenery is breathtaking. I said to Ann some time ago that i will never grow complacent or tired of admiring the tropical palms but they are so numerous here and for certain local people Ann included take their beauty for granted. For me they are exotic and, well beautiful.

Blossom and bloom is everywhere and the beautiful bouganvillia (sp? too lazy to research it) is again almost too common to be appreciated. Orchids and other blooms are more sought after but personally i have never been an orchid person.

Beaches and seascapes, well with over 7000 islands there are no shortages of these in the Philippines.

Mountains and wilderness, again there are large tracts of mountainous regions here, i have only just sampled the beauty, must get out there more.

Photo shown are.....

Seascape near Mati, Mindanao
Mum at Philippine eagle Sanctuary, Davao
Mt Apo Peak
La Concha Samal island
Rural garden of a tenant on farm land owned by Emily and Raul.

A sample only to prove the point.

Other peoples lives

2009-05-04T04:58:00.001-07:00

We are all a bit nosy and interested in how other people live, or is it just me?, anyway never mind. When i visited the farm with Raul and Emily last week i visited his farm tenants and they live in basic circumstances, see pictures.

However, the one thing that was very clear was / is that the houses they live in, although basic are clean and tidy. Of course people here aspire to western standards, but they can't afford it, but also a lot of what we pay for they get free....for example.....

Fuel, for cooking...no need to pay in the country, coconut husks can be re-cycled as charcoal and abundant firewood and other dead foliage can be used as cooking fuel. See picture, lunch on the go.

Water, spring water for drinking, washing and everything is used on the farms, this, often requires some effort in collection but nevertheless, here in Mindanao water is plentiful.

Food. Of course farmers know how to harvest and to feed themselves, livestock, normally pigs and chickens and goats are kept, then there are fruit and vegetable crops grown and traded.

Entertainment. the guys drink coconut spirit "tuba", coconuts provide fruit (meat of the coconut) and "tuba" and husks for fuel and grow in abundance, wow coconuts are a blessing here. This is by no means an extensive list for entertainment....the subject is too big for a quick blog article

Religion, well a simple church is all that is needed, see picture

Just some observations on life outside the city here and the majority of Filipinos live outside cities still, its a limited lifestyle and people aspire to city life but not sure they are right, anyway i am not sure of lots of things.

Wet Market

2009-05-01T14:53:00.000-07:00

Wet market is a term used generally here in Asia, the market part is sort of self explanatory the wet bit...not sure but there is always a lot of water around to keep things fresh and to wash away debris and to clean up.

Generally i dodge them because being a foreigner here i stand out like a sore thumb and in the wet market i get lots of stares and well smiles, so, its not really a big problem but i usually leave market shopping to Ann because some of the cuts of meat and types of fish are confusing....which fish goes to what dish and decisions like that need to be made, i would get it wrong, so, i leave it to Ann.

When we lived in HK we used supermarkets rather than wet markets because we were lazy, there were only 2 of us (me and Ann) and we ate out a lot anyway so it wasn't so important. Here though the fruit vegetables and fish are more significantly more expensive in the supermarkets and so Ann or the girls now go to the wet markets.

The pictures shown are when Raul took me to his farms and we stopped off at Toril wet market, i hadn't been here before, it was quite big.

The pictures shown are selection of dried fish, Bulad Filipinos love this, don't know any westerners who do, me i hate it...then.

A beautiful display of vegetables and particularly root ginger and garlic featured.

Then by coincidence we ran into a tennis friend Ram who was shopping there too and i took his picture, he smiled happily.

Then lastly, Raul inspecting the fish.

Farming

2009-05-01T03:38:00.000-07:00

Farming, what do i know about farming? buggar all really to be honest, not one of my subjects and here in the Philippines, what do i know? even less than buggar all..... less honestly.

Nevertheless when Raul my neighbour asked me if i liked to visit his farms with him this morning, seemed like a good opportunity to spend some time with Raul and his wife Emily and enjoy some expert introduction.

His farm lands are (about 40 hectares in total spread over about 5 locations) on the slopes of Mount Apo and so, this was mainly fruit but also flowers and vegetable farming we were talking about, as opposed say to rice fields or fish farms etc.

The place itself is like paradise, fertile, plenty of rain and a very desirable place indeed to live.....but...farming is tough here, prices are low for produce, weather and pests can make crops variable and basically there isn't much money in it.

However i met some friendly and well cared for people, i was made welcome everywhere and even learnt a little along the way.

The land belongs to Raul and his family business, but farming tenants occupy the land and pay rent to Raul in various ways, like......

Sharing the crop bounty with the landlord, for example if a crop sells for a sum, Raul as the landlord gets a percentage share, or....

paying monthly lease and a lesser percentage as above, or...

Any variation on the above.

As Raul said to me, the tenant farmers have a marginal existence, but their children are beautiful and well cared for, their homes are basic and clean and they have dignity and pride in their work AND (and this is a big AND) they live in paradise.

I ate (plenty but also including) 6 different kinds of fruit which were picked straight from the tree, stomach was spot on and all the fruits were delicious, won't bore you with the names but they are all exotic tastey and fresh with a big F.

Raul was a gracious host to me and more importantly welcomed with great hospitality by his tenants, he is obviously very popular...he brought food and gifts to his tenants, we received, courtesy, smiles and Filipino hospitality everywhere we went. For example, one and only one example of his kindness is / was to stop off on the way at the local market to buy food for the day for the whole farm community, we dropped the food off, said "hi" went on a tour of the form (ate fruit)...came back 2 hours later to delicious food, cooked for us of course...

Raul was keen i try Tuba which is a distilled coconut spirit. The 1 day Tuba is like fruit juice, the 3 day old, like rocket fuel, the 4 or 5 day, like vinegar, we tried all 3 stages....what can you say, costs about 50 pence (uk pence) per gallon, drink it when you want.....juice or vinegar.

We stopped at his final small holding and we picked a crop each of egg plant, brought that back for breakfast tomorrow with egg, delicious. Egg plant is aubergine to us.

Some random photos of the day out are shown, it was a great day for me, for Raul it was work with his friend (me) tagging along.

Fiestas, Birthdays, Anniveraries, Re-unions etc

2009-04-27T03:00:00.000-07:00

I am by no means an expert on this subject, but celebrations noted above are a very important part of life here in the Philippines. I have heard the view expressed that they are a little bit out of proportion in that a fiesta or birthday will be spent with lavish extravagance even though times are hard and money is short.

In any case there are certain ingredients to all parties and they seem to have to include...in general order of importance

Food, essential of course
Music and dancing including karaoke
Prayers and rememberance
Drink
Games and prizes

FOOD, Quite simple and straightforward really of course there is some detail...food...lechon which is roasted pork seems to be an essential to any party and i have the feeling here that if Filipinos have a party without lechon, then the feeling of everyone, both hosts and guests somehow think its a stingy party. Most westerners i know do not like lechon because its too fatty the cuts of meat,...... thats why we prefer butchers to prepare the meat for us, Pinoys prefer well lechon, they love it.

Music, of course a party is not complete without dancing and music and karaoke, which i used to dislike but now actually i like very much and also like to sing, the test is (for me) can i sing sober...yes and to an audience,...and surprise yes....but i prefer the party version not the stage and sound production version, my singing is up to the first but not the second.

Prayers, yes there is always a thanks giving and spiritual or rememberance side which is very important here see the picture of Jaiya and Aya offering prayers.

Drink, the guys like to drink, Tanduay is a standard here, a local brandy at about 80pence per 70 cl bottle, Red horse beer (too strong for me, about 7percent proof and if cash is short Tuba which is i think a distilled coconut spirit, about 50 pence per gallon, yes gallon.

Games and prizes....self explanatory

Anns Mum had a family re-union in Tagum Anns mums home last sunday and the pictures are taken from there, i dodged it, stayed in Davao on my own, enjoyed the peace / drank too much and saw city (man city) beat everton at 3am sunday morning, excellent weekend.

Visit to the doctors

2009-04-21T03:22:00.000-07:00

Our doctors here have been excellent and Annika's current doctor, Dr Aguelo pediatrician is very much in that mould....professional, caring, thorough and very nice. Sure, at times they get busy and we need to wait for the doctor, but when you see their workload, some small inconveniences are no problems.

Annika has been (touch wood) remarkably healthy but we have been to the doctor loads, mainly for inocculations....but also for check up at the same time and good to get medical opinions for small issues of concern, like feeding and like alergies that Annika has but we haven't bottomed this issue out yet and it only seems to be a skin blotching problem.

Annika gets weighed and measured on every visit and its great to see her progress, in the photos shown she reached 8kgs, and that's 8kgs of solid baby girl.

The system here for medical appointments is good, basically you just pitch up at the doctors if you have anything wrong and take it from there. For Ann when she was pregnant (buntis here) and now for annika she has her own doctor and so appointments are scheduled for the future at the time of the current visit.

The doctors receptionist (pictured) links the doctor to the patients and is inevitably like this girl a lovely person who seems to care, sure they do....

pictured is the hospital, very local to us, 7th day adventist hospital (no idea what that religion is all about) and then the doctors reception room and then a quick one of doctor Aguelo examining Annika, confirming how lovely she is, Annika not the doctor, but she is nice too.

Fruit

2009-04-14T05:00:00.000-07:00

Here in Davao and here in the tropics, fruit and vegetables grow in abundance....with little help from us it grows. With some help it grows with a passion (fruit?). Pineapple, Papaya, and in our garden and immediate neighbours gardens Jackfruit and Avocado.

In our garden we have 2 massive mango trees and in the neighbours behind they have this productive boko...coconuts pictured.

We used to have 2 other very tall coconut trees on our road but our neighbours had them cut down because they are a safety hazzard...a coconut coming down from 50 feet is lethal when there are children around, so, fair enough.

Behind us there are banana trees as well, there really is no fruit shortage here, it is growing on trees around us.

Growing up

2009-04-13T17:27:00.000-07:00

Yes, Annika is very much growing up, she is over 9 months old now. She is mobile....crawling would be over-stating it, she doesn't so much crawl, as shift herself around. Our floors are tiled and think its too hard on her knees to crawl. Her sitting up is now very stable and she can shift from her front, to sitting up by herself.

Her eating is really excellent, she is on solid food like a natural, not baby food, she doesn't like it, it's too bland she likes solid food. Soups and rice of course, vegetables, anything we eat in fact. Of course she can't chew food yet (two bottom teeth appeared last week) but anything else mashed or soft she gets stuck in and basically she doesn't turn anything down, even...we gave her a local lemon equivalent, Clalamansi its called and quite bitter but Annika sucked away on it quite contentedly.

She sleeps with us and this is onerous on Ann, giving her comfort all night, she just won't be put down for sleeping, this is getting a bit rediculous now because she is a "big girl" now but sleep without a cuddle is not on Annikas radar. She still demands Anns breast milk and from the first nuzzle this hasn't been a problem, Ann and Annika are very happy with Anns milk supply and Annika has no dummy or comfort blanket, she is content with nipple comfort.

She has been remarkably healthy but she did get "my" virus a couple of weeks ago which anti biotics cleared up in a week and also she currently has a cold but generally speaking (touch wood) she is very healthy.

So that's Annika update, 9 months and battling on, she is a delight, most pictures are on her 9 month old "birthday", clutching breadstick.

Paradise Beach Samal Island

2009-04-13T16:46:00.000-07:00

Paradise beach resort on Samal island is an institution here in Davao. What i mean by that is that it is "ubiquitous"....everyone knows it, everyone likes it.....its clean, facilities are great, the people who run it are well trained, friendly and helpful and the place has a great atmosphere. Its not perfect, its a little bit expensive in some aspects but anyway we all like it, it has the name and when we think, where shall we go for a day on the beach, then paradise beach resort is normally the place we head for i have been there about 20 times in the past 8 or 9 years.

Easter saturday was always going to be busy, and it was packed but with people having fun, it was very busy. Plenty of people sleep over night on the beach 250 peso (about 4 quid) when you can sleep on a lounger to the sound of the ocean, filled of course with tanduay, the pain will not kick in....anyway we were just there for the day with kids and i think 14 of us including Annika.

It was hot, we swam and had a feast, for some reason we were all starving at about 10:30 am, was driving, so Arnel and Karen had a well deserved break and had tanduay and ice tea, which i tried a small sample and very nice too.

Most people get the ferry from lanang pier, its well organised, with parking and assistance, it got very hot (of course) and Annika slept..Keisha conked out later, all passed wth food and drink very pleasantly and we arrived at 9am and left after 4...more swimming would have been nice but "day trippers" were ushered away, that was our easter saturday done with.

We got the dogs

2009-04-01T04:26:00.000-07:00

We picked up the dogs this p.m. wednesday 1st april 09 from Nilda about 4pm, 1 boy and 1 girl, Chichi and Spike, names may change, lets see, so far we quite like them.

Dogs played in the garden for a good hour before they conked out and needed a rest. We all seem to get on well, the dogs love the garden, sniffing round...it seems and looks big to them, for example we are not letting them into the swimming pool area or the house but they still have a big area to explore. Also and a big bonus, the garden is dog proof, in other words, they can't get out, no gaps at all in wall or gates, only some gaps between the main house and the swimming pool, but some chicken wire will sort that out.

After a play 4-5pm, the dogs had a sleep in their cage, which is a safe haven home for them whilst they are puppies, they slept like babies. We then woke them up at 6 for a play and feed for 45 mins before it went dark and then back in their home for sleep. they whined for a while but it was dark, they miss their mum and dad and they were sleepy. After say 15 mins they conked out, we hope for the night. Their parents are quiet and we hope these 2 will be too...unless intruders come of course, anyway lets see, so far great fun, early days for Chichi and Spike.

driving fun

2009-03-31T17:59:00.000-07:00

One thing is for sure and that is that driving conventions and habits here in Davao are nothing like my previous UK experience or for that matter anywhere else in the world. There are of course rules and regulations but they treated with a broad brush of interpretation by the driving population and generally speaking more or less anything goes.

For example the rule that driving should be on the right of the road only applies if it gets you there quickest, otherwise left side will do nicely, or going the wrong way down wrong carriageway will only be a matter for the convenience of the offending driver.

More or less, anything goes, except in heavy traffic when yes, anything goes.

To be honest it suits me because at any time and any place on the road, anything can happen, so, you need to slow right down and be prepared for some alarming sites of being carved up in traffic and generally seeing people drive as they wish. It is more creative, it is more fun.

My favourites are at small busy intersections where main road traffic meets local tricycles and jeepney passenger drop off and pick up places. Anything can happen here and to preserve life and limb for all including yourself and passengers and to avoid stress, drive slowly, if you see a gap go for it, smile, wave and be polite and generally all will be fine.

What also i find here is i make mistakes. Like yesterday, now who put that drainage ditch there next to that road repair excavation. Did i see it? can't now remember but the back wheel got more than stuck, it disappeared...see photos.

But, and this always happens here....within minutes, people almost drop everything and rush to help....with skill and hard work, smiles and imagination too. A series of jacking up the car, wedging increasingly large size timbers under the axle, before jacking again on top of smaller timbers, we had a 5 or 6 step jack process that raised the car to a position where a bracing timber could be slipped beneath the offending wheel and then a quick push and we were out. 400 peso tip for the lads, no damage at all by a miracle and 20 Min's later we are on our way.

All top fun here, even at the expense of feeling really stupid for getting stuck in the first place, i didn't have one person laugh at me either, got away with that as well.

Included a couple more graduation shots as well to brighten up the post.........

Jaiya and Nika graduation 31st March 09

2009-03-31T15:04:00.000-07:00

Joy (Ann's sister and mother of Jaiya and Nika) invited us to attend the graduation yesterday of the 2 girls from their primary school. The event took place at the Apokon Baranguay hall, starting at 1pm. The event was formal, the crowd was approximately 600 hundred....200 plus kids, 200 plus parents and guardians and about 200 others, attendees, of which we were 15 or so, adults and kids, so, there may have been more say around 700 people.

The girls were splendid and beautiful in their uniforms, Ann did the girls make up, which was formal and for me a bit over the top but this is the tradition and the girls loved it of course. Each girl was accompanied by a parent or guardian and as the girls father is in Manila, Auntie Karen stood in place of the dad.

There was an grand parade entrance to fanfare music. Jaiya was second scholar out of the whole year and made a speach and was presented with many prizes and awards for her achievements. Nika was presented with her award too and surprise was Joy also awarded a prize for parent of the year.

There were speaches by "guest speaker" by the headmaster and other teacher, there were songs and recitals, no idea how we got through it all in about 2 hours but we did, it was bloody hot in the gym and we were glad we left Annika with Germaine at granmas house.

So, that was it, we all survived, girls were happy, Joy was delighted too, Grandma suitably proud and the rest of us, hot and glad it was over.

Green Pool water and Dutch ladies visit

2009-03-24T23:49:00.000-07:00

Two subjects, running in tandum. We had a spell of problems with the pool water turning various colours, its all to do wth the chemical balance and when it goes green the balance is out. Anyway we "worried it" back into line and within a few hours it went from this murkey green to a clear blue.

Currently its a crystal perfect blue but we all peer at the pool in suspicon and mutter to ourselves, "think its going green again today" but so far all seems perfect again

I agreed to put up for 2 weeks, 3 ladies from Holland who are here to visit the orphanage and to view the labours of their fundraising efforts, see the progress of the children, bring joy and presents and generally see the Philippines.

Nelleke has been here plenty of times but the other two ladies, Margaret and Annita are on their first visit and although there was some culture shock, they have had a great time.

They are staying in our guest area and so are fairly self contained and we have worked out the key situation so they can come and go without always disturbing us. They leave friday morning, just 2 days left for them, for us, onwards and upwards.

Pictures show, blue and green pool water and snapshots of the ladies soon after arriving with Raul next door neighbour being friendly.

8610 Music and resto bar

2009-03-16T15:15:00.000-07:00

My Dutch friend Roel introduced me about 6 months ago to a Filipino guy who is now also my friend Oogie.

We get together once or twice a week usually and lately at 8610 bar because Oogie is the mananger there at 8610, he is usually busy but then joins us for drinks and chat when he can, its a simple place to eat and drink, the food is good and the beer is cheap and cold. The mission statement for the bar is well written and has normal points about courtesy, honesty etc but the one that caught my eye, was "to serve the coldest beer in town" thats one of Oogies, he has a great sense of fun and style although you may not pick that up sometimes from his dress sense, Oogie sometimes dresses like Bart Simpson.

Also and not least important is the live music on there every night, not the same performers every night and last wednesday was a typical nght where Emee and Jean with keyboard guy Richard played. Both Emee and Jean are good vocalists and give similar performance to Ann and Terry when we met in Hong Kong....Panda hotel.

Roel always seems to find himself (although he would deny it) in the company of pretty girls and i have met Jean andf Emee before at another bar...voice clips here in Matina.

I think Emee is probably one of the most beautiful girls i have met in person so could not resist putting the shot of me with her, me looking happy, Emee making the best of it.

Other shots are of the bar itself, the stage with the girls on their second set and Ooogie Rick and Roel. Finally we have another "friend", "Jam" who works at 8610 as floor mananger / meeter and greeter or whatever you call her job and so i posted one of Roel and Jam looking pleased with themselves, Roel sporting new dyed (too black) hair style which is supposed to make him look younger but...well you can judge. The salon job went wrong... ask me if i care?, i don't he does.

So, thats 8610 its a good place to visit and good relaxed atmosphere, a bit rustic but open plan, comfortable and friendly staff all round, suits us. The bar is in town so if i'm not feeling tired i drive, or we get a taxi...its about 20 mins non rush hour journey about 100 peso (pounds 1.50) each way.

Lizelle's 21st Birthday party

2009-03-12T17:09:00.000-07:00

Ann told me yesterday at about 5:30pm that it was Lizelle's 21st Brthday that day. We digested this for 10minutes and decided we should have a party. Lizelle has been with us for about a year now and although she is a quiet girl and still shy of me particularly she is a lovely girl and a pleasure to have round the house, she is lovely with Annika and is part of our family, allbeit a working part, she s our maid and excellent cook.

Ann gave the girls some cash for party food and cake and to invite Roselle, Kitkat and Keisha, Dodong was also on hand and also invited and the message came through that Karen and Arnel wanted to join, so, more food was sent for and by 6:30pm, just one hour later we were having a party.

It was mid week thursday night but of course the drinks came out, we had some rose wine in the fridge, that got spliced, the girls and the kids went swimming, the guys had Emperador and Tanduay and so everyone was happy.

Me, Ann and Annika went to bed after 9pm and left them to it, the party lasted till around 10:30pm, checked with Lizelle this morning, she was very happy with her party, she deserved it, and if she had of told us the day before we would have given her the day off and she would have gone to her sisters, so, selfishly we are glad she stayed with us and enjoyed the party. In typical Filipino style, she was too shy to tell us about her big event and it was Germaine, Annika's nanny who told us it was Lizelle's birthday. We won't forget Germaine's birthday because it coincides with Annika's. Annika was born on Germane's 18th birthday, that was a great day for us.

Naromal childrens tennis tournament

2009-03-08T19:18:00.000-07:00

Mum met Nathan when she was here, Nathan is (i think, and am sure so does he.....) Davao's best tennis coach. I have been having lessons from Nathan weekly, they are a great work out and also great fun. We discussed what we wanted to do and we settled on NOT trying to re-construct my game.....good decision that but to concentrate on hitting balls and trying to improve things on my game. Its certainly working for me.

I was challenged last week to a set of singles by a guy called Joel who told me he was a class C player. I could have lost but at 3-1 down i tightened up, he started making mistakes and i won 6-3. Joel wanted a replay but i was tired after an hour with Nathan and so declined.

Nathan told me that Joel was the best class C player in the club (GSIS heights) and therefore i was a class B player. I think Nathan may have been being kind but anyway i will take that.

No chance of being class A, you need talent and class for that, so, will settle for class B.

I would say its like golf....club players are handicap 30 and above. Class C are between 20-30. Class B are 10-20 (yeah i am a tennis 20 handicapper) and class A is 0-10, no chance of me getting there, no way.

We play at GSIS because Nathan has had a falling out with "the committee" at Ecoland but anyway GSIS s closer for me and i enjoy to play there. As usual in the Philippnes, everyone is friendly.

Nathan runs 4 times yearly a childrens age event open tournament. It s well run, i would say has a mixed level of participants but at the finals stage the kids dsplay a very high level of talent.

I have been part sponsor (minor sponsor) of the last 2 tournaments and i went for a couple of hours last Saturday morning to watch some finals. One of the under 14's boys is a fantastically talented attacking player, sorry can't remember his name but from the backhand and forehand he was striking the ball wth amazing power and control for someone his age. I felt sorry for the boy playing him who was also a talented player but he got worn down and wilted under the bombardment. Most players would have i can assure you.

Nathan as Mum knows is the chap with a microphone in his hand on one of the pictures...he is announcing the order of play etc

I took a few pictures from the event but also post a cute one of Annika in a wash basin as well just for...well for no reason at all........

Agusan Del Sur, Trento

2009-03-01T20:30:00.000-08:00

We were invited by Richard and Jessa to their house blessing and house warming party for saturday 28th Feb 09 and went with a car full....Mats and Cora invited....2 maids, Germaine and Lizelle and Lorenz and Annika as well of course, dropped off Joy (who had been staying with us) in Tagum on the way through to Trento.

It was a pleasant 3 hour drive and the road was good, we missed the turning but quickly corrected ourselves and turned left for the Tansley place...i knew it was big and on a hill...seen some pictures and Paul had also described the place for us and we spotted it through the trees, approach was through a set of gates and past the guardhouse, yes guardhouse, over the river and sharp left up a steep incline, felt like about 60deg in one place but sure it would get easier after a few goes, made that with a deep breath and first gear.

As you can see with the pictures Richard and Jessa took on a big project with land clearing, building and maintenance...sort of 3 hectares of land but then there are adjacent rice fields, stream and pond and woods, Richard is a bit of an estate management person and he now has his own to manange and beautiful it is too.

Party was great, food and drinks and all the normal philippine hospitality and the only monkey there was the rain...not exactly true actually coz they have a monkey, birds, guinea pigs and other wildlife...back to the rain, yes it rained for nearly all the time we were there. Richard and Jessa are used to it and we have rain too in Davao but not quite like this and it went on for a long time, probably still raining now.

Lovely party and great fun, off we went home next day and had a funy incident when we were dropping off Lizelle in Monkayo on the way home to visit her family. We stopped and drove to within say 1 metre of Lizelle's house people started gather...who was this....rich foreigners turning up in the local Baranguay. Ann wound down her window and asked her Mum, where is Lizelle? (she was in the back seat behind tinted window) panicky relatives explained that lizelle was working away, which turned to laughs and smiles as Lizelle clambered out of the car....don't know if it comes across funny but it was and smiles and Cige Salamat (thanks goodbye) all round.

Had an uneventful trip home and went with Mats for a few cold beers what more can you ask for on a sunday............well there was one more incident worth mentioning about 6:30 pm there was an explosion in the kitchen, flying glass everywhere, fortunately nobody was near, me and lorenz on the computer were nearest....what happened we think was this...there was a glass "safety top" over the cooker...one of the kids (keisha stand up) must have twizzled the knob to full and under the glass the thing heated till it exploded, wow was there glass everywhere...nobody hurt phew...we don't even use that cooker (we use our outside kitchen all the time) and we didn't even know it was switched on, so, it was our fault we left it on for little fingers to twizzle.

Strange end to a great weekend

orphanage sewing machine

2009-02-27T03:05:00.000-08:00

At Christmas i asked Lisa what she really needed for the orphanage and she told me a sewing machine would be very handy.

The "friends of Mindanao" group collected funds for a christmas party and very generously Paul Salvidge's family (Paul is an English friend of mine living here in davao) sent over funds for the party but with collection exceeding spends, we had funds over. After discussion with Paul and the "friends" group i contacted lisa about the sewing machine, funds looked ok but how much would it cost and where do we get it from and which one?

Me and Lisa by e mail had dialogue and after some confusion (not surprising seeing the subject the language issues and the "one off" task) Lisa cleared things up by shopping for the item. she gave us price (funds were ok...just...), location and model number.

Paul went to collect yesterday but i had a few texts and phone calls, it wouldn't fit in his car. I was a bit surprised, but see picture, Lisa chose an old fashioned (practical) model with stand so, i arranged to collect this morning. I met Paul after tennis this morning and we went and loaded it into my vehicle, it was inspected, packed, and ready for us, typical Philippine efficiency....wait i thought they were supposed to be the opposite here....this is the subject of further discussion.

Persuaded Ann, Annika and Germaine to come with me to the orphanage and some pictures attached of the event.

Disturbed the kids for their lunch (older kids at school) but it was nice to see something of their routine and good for Ann to see the orphanage for the first time too...............

Generous of Paul and his family and glad to assist...more of the orphanage to come

Puppies end Feb 09

2009-02-26T00:35:00.001-08:00

Visited Nilda on Thursday 26th Feb 09 to visit the Daschound (sp?) puppies and take a few photos, one had died last night, don't know why and so there are 3 left, 2 boys and 1 girl, think we are having one of the boys, will wait for a decision from Nilda, lets see.

Annika does "like" them of course she does, me do i like them, well they are ok, seem to be a good dog, not too big, good at catching mice and rats...(cats lets see) and bark at strangers but not at people they know. The 2 dogs at Rene and Nildas seem very contented running around their big garden and so walking the dog will not be needed as our garden is even bigger and he will have the run of the garden except the swimming pool area. Not being too lazy here just practical because there aren't many dog walks here in Davao.

Small dog in a big garden, should work out fine i think......always someone at home, except on an odd sunday lunch...sunday is Germaine and Lizelle's day off, and so the dog should not get too bored and lonely, i think it will be fine i really do, hope we don't regret it......... A sausage dog for our little gorgeous sausage.

pool repair and change of water feb 09

2009-02-25T19:09:00.001-08:00

The chemical balance in the pool went haywire, pool changed water colour from luminous red tinged glow (too much acid) to murky green (too much chlorine) and then back to blue again but we had already decided to change the water and take the chance to get a bit of maintenance done...namely,.......re-grout the tiles and to replace one of the lights wall bracket that "mysteriously" (kids using it as an unofficial springboard is our best guess......) broke.

Draining the pool was slightly tricky because we have a submersible pump to pump out groundwater and this needed to be balanced with decreasing water content in the pool.....then also because 28 m3 (my guess) was introduced into the water run off drain and it started to back up later in the process, anyway after a day or so it was done.

Bracket changed, re-grouting took place and then re-filling, all took 4 or 5 days and we had a "new" swimming pool party Sunday 21st Feb, water was bracing to say the least, kids dodged it, me and Arnel were the main swimmers it was re-freshing.

Job cost a few quid in repairs, grout, labour and water, but every 2 years or so not too bad.

Samal v Panglao

2009-02-13T23:44:00.000-08:00

Gina (a friend) asked me if i prefer Samal which is an island in the gulf of Davao here in Mindanao. or Panglao an island near Bohol, we visited this week. To be honest i don't know, Samal is close and we take it for granted, it is just there and very accessible for local resorts like paradise beach resort, or Chemas via boat or a RORO ferry away ....or like....

A week or so back we went to a backwater place for our niece Kitkats birthday to a place called La Concha. it is a private resort and can be booked only when the owner isn't present, he rents it out to cover overhead and maintenance costs.

I drove and Arnel also drove his Dads vehicle, about 12 in each vehicle so a happy party of 24 or so, arrived early for a full days eating, drinking and swimming. Wow some of the kids swam all day and were so sun tanned at the end of the day, really burnt but it was beautiful and so.....

Gina, not sure which i prefer but Samal is closer and in support of Mindanao i guess i choose Samal.

trip to Bohol

2009-02-13T19:38:00.000-08:00

We went to Bohol last week and stayed on a popular local island Panglao, going with friends Mats and Cora and of course Germaine and Annika, it was a happy party. We stayed at a place near to Alona beach called Alona studio's, it was ok and fairly inexpensive but not convenient for the beach and with limited food menu, very limited, so, would try somewhere else next time.

We went by plane, 45 mins to Cebu and from Cebu transfered to the port area where we waited about an hour for the ferry from Cebu to Bohol. The ferry was a pleasant 2 hour journey, me and Mats sat on top which was quite noisy but blowy and fun taking in the sites of passing paradise islands.

Annika was fine at "getting up" at 4am, great on the flight and slept on the ferry testing Ann's biceps but resting and happy. We were only there for 3 nights and 2 full days but soon got the feel for the place and "hit" some really good restaurants during the trip. We would have liked to go boating, dolphin watching or island hopping but between us we counted that out because of Annika and the extra hassle that would have entailed, so, we took it easy for the first day, except Annika up at 5am so at first light 5:30am (we called for Mats as arranged at 5:30 but he sleepilly declined to come with) Germaine and I took Annika down to the beach for a nice splash about in the cool weather. Super meal out at night and that was the first day done.

We went on a Bohol trip the next day which was python stroking, monument visiting, tarsier monkey viewing (worlds smallest primate i think see picture with Ann) and chocolate hill viewing, boat trip for lunch and caves and rope bridge it was all packed into one trip, tiring but fun. More beer and food and then back to home next day returning via ferry, 3 hours wait and lunch in Cebu shopping mall and then delayed flight of about an hour home, all no problems apart from an upset Annika on the return flight coz of ear / air pressure problems, she was a handful thats for sure, 45 mins felt like 4.5 hours, anyway she was fine as soon as we touched down so it had to be her ears, she slept on the way there but not on the way back, anyway no big problems.

All in all a good trip, weather not perfect, digs not perfect but it was fun, Bohol is worth a trip.

Bogsers

2009-01-14T17:08:00.000-08:00

Bogsers is a local music bar here in Central Park, Bangkal, (Davao City) good atmosphere, very friendly staff and owner, great music, both live and recorded. Mum liked the bar and we went there quite a few times, Bogs the owner very friendly and welcoming and invited me and Roel to his birthday party last monday, it was fun packed and friendly.

Bogs is a musician who lived and played in the US for 26 years and has an excellent voice, great keyboard man and is obviously a talented musician.

Last night i met Roel at about 8pm and we were joined by an old friend of Roels (Pedrito) and his band. Some short while later some cousins turned up and we were having a party.

We asked Oogie a Filipino friend to turn up, he did with some friends but it was 10pm and i was ready for home and bed, anyway it was a fun night, Bog's place is well worth a visit, the pictures very accurately reflect the atmosphere of the place and very handy for me in central park.

Half Way

2009-01-09T03:00:00.000-08:00

Annika's half year celebrations today and as can be seen by today's photos she is coming on so well. Ann went with Annika to the doctors to get a jab and a check up, she is doing really well and solid foods and the next stage for eating and drinking were chatted through but seeing Annika plugged into the breast at regular times during the day and night there is no way she is in the mood to give up that treat.

Annika does seem to have an alergy, we think to processed milk products, she goes very blotchy in the skin when eating or sampling ice cream, and several other milky things, we will find out more in time, sure its a minor problem, the skin flares up and recedes with lightning speed.

What else, well she can roll over both ways, looks ready to start crawling and has some strength in the legs, she is very alert and knows how to "ask" for things. She is a star.

Today i dunked her under the water for the first time in the pool and was interested to see how she reacted. Shear panic while under water would be the best description but when on the surface after say 0.5 seconds, under water a sort of stunned acceptance. ( i waited till ann wasn't about). Repeated it once more and same reaction, i thought twice was pushing my luck, so decided against a third dunk, we were in the pool for about 25 mins, water very warm.

That is the update on Annika,only good news.............

River rafting

2009-01-03T16:44:00.000-08:00

Our kind next door neighbour's Raul and Emily invited me to come rafting and i invited Mats and his Swedish visitor Anders to join us. The river is very near the San miguel brewery near Digos and a beautiful natural setting, rushing river, trees and canyon views.

We had 8 guides and 1 chef, Emily decided not to take part as she had done the trip many times and the mountain water was fresh to say the least, bloody cold actually but nice to feel cold here sometimes, honestly.

Didn't get any water riding the wave shots because we were on it and mainly in it (the water), it was an exciting and exhilarating experience about 2 hours of adrenalin rush

The pictures shown are Raul and Mats relaxing with a beer or two at the bottom, Emily supervising the lunch, very nice it was, our guides, the river and also a shot of our "raft", great fun and me and Mats are planning a longer trip down Davao river, which Mats has done before, an 8 hour trip, more sedate with beer and BBQ facilities, sounds fun to me.

New Years eve party

2009-01-01T23:01:00.000-08:00

Started at 6pm finished about 2pm by that time i had had enough, switched a few lights off and suddenly everyone got up and left, i suppose it wasn't such a subtle hint but i was dog tired and had some clearing up to do, nobody seemed upset.

How could they, it went very well, just a few friends and a few of Ann's family, everyone mixed in well together, food was fantastic, loads to drink, and the biggest shock of all...everyone drinking coffee...who started that off? think it was Chris and then everyone jumped in with an order.

Then it was beer and spirits again for the midnight toast and on to the streets to "make some noise" (fire crackers not allowed here in Davao) and then back to more chatting and drinks until the 2pm switch off.

There was a strong Swedish influence at the party, Mats and Cora and friend Anders as well as Chris and bingBing.

Thanks to Nilda nd Rene, Cora and Mats and Chris and BingBing for help with the food and all with drinks of course....we had fun.

Happy new year

She is eating

2009-01-01T22:38:00.000-08:00

Goodness me where has the last 6 months gone? It has all been shrinking world markets, sleepless nights and Annika growing up a little star. Ann's target was a 6 month period of breast milk exclusively and she has breezed across that line with a confident smile while breasting (almost literally) the metaphorical tape.

She is growing fast and although 6 months has not yet been reached we are trying her already with the odd mashed squash, mashed banana and latest baby food from the dish.

Annika seems to like everything, even tamarind soup which she had a lick of seemed to get a nod of approval.

As James and Tim of course approaches 21, Annika is a confident and chubby 6 months, evidence supplied.

pre christmas fun

2008-12-22T01:37:00.000-08:00

The nephews, niece's and more are arriving now a few days before Christmas, after tennis this morning, we went Christmas shopping at SM. Expecting horrendous queues it wasn't too bad at all, we got there fairly early and it was more or less normal. Maybe that the recession is making money and spending tighter this year i'm not sure, anyway shopping was fine. Back for lunch, Lizelle away so Nanay is chief cook and a snooze after for the three of us (me, ann and annika).

Quite a cool day and so kids had a play outside with the ball to give them a warm up before the swim. they hit the pool and me and Annika joined them. Tempted out later by Fried banana (yes fried banana) prepared by Nanay for a late afternoon snack. See photo evidence supplied.

Christmas a couple of days away only

Orphanage christmas Party

2008-12-18T17:29:00.000-08:00

On behalf of the "friends of Mindanao" group we decided to give some poor orphanage children a Christmas party at Meregrande which is a splendid beach resort place. the date was set for yesterday 18th of December and the party went fantastically well, everyone had a great time, the children had fun and the adults too.

For me the party started with Paul coming round at 7am, and Paul and I drove in separate vehicles to help fetch the children. We drove to the orphanage at Calinan, about 25km away and met James and Lisa. There was also a Jeepney hired which took the majority of the children, i took some 3 poor infirm children and their carers and we set off back for mergrande arriving about 8:30am. We unpacked, got the kids settled and i bolted back home to pick up my familly and the Bunda familly who also were attending.

I left all the food being prepared by Karen and Lizelle and came back to an organised house, drinks and plenty of food, and presents, loads of presents.

The party was for the 15 kids normally resident at the orphanage but James had recently collected 3 infirm children from the mountainous area and those kids too were able to attend. Unfortunately the three kids were not physically able to join in with the games but they enjoyed the change of scene and being with the other children of course.

The "friends of Mindanao" group had supplied the presents and the funding for the party, but i had also been contacted via this blog by Maricon Bajo who wished to attend the party but who could not because hapilly for Maricon she was pregnant and the doctor had ordered rest. Maricon very kindly donated lots of presents for the day, Dolls for the girls, lots of presents for the boys and also "prize" presents to be given on the day itself, the kids loved Maricons toys, thank you so much for this kind act.

We loaded the car (no idea how we all fitted) and arrived back in mergrande about 10am, none of the kids were swimming, what was wrong? Lisa explained they wanted to do a show for us, they had been rehearsing, they had donned costumes and make up and were ready to perform. Good timing because Reg, Ian and John turned up for the show. Chris and his wife also came a little later. Lisa had put so much work into the show beacuse it was great, singing and dancing and solo's as well, wow those kids are sweet, there were more than a few tears in the eye moments.

Lunch was called for and spahetti, meatballs and rice, what a feast, drinks were served for the kids and then it was time for the adults food as well, which was delicious. 2 other Directors of the orphanage turned up, Dr Robillio and his wife and so we were able to meet them and share some time with the children.

What after that, well of course swimming, James led the way with the kids and i couldn't resist joining in with Arnel and super keish as well, it was great fun. Another emotional moment was when the 3 infirm children were carried into the ocean to experience swimming for the very first time.

After that...party games, prizes, presents, more food kindly donated by Chris Kaluna and his wife
and of course sweets and well, that was about it, time to head of home.

Thanks for Paul for supervision and transport, another big thanks for Maricon, for Chris and familly for their food and Lisa and James.

It was a great day out.

Orphanage party and first swim

2008-12-09T17:54:00.000-08:00

Tuesday 9th of December was a day i wasn't looking forward to but it turned out all right, actually it turned out very well. The "friends of Mindanao" group had decided to sponsor a Christmas party for the orphanage in Calinan called the Pag-Amoma orphanage, there are going to be 18 kids but three of the children are infirm (muscle wasting disease, seems to be congenital) and they need individual carerers, with three other helpers for the rest of the kids and then the "friends of Mindanao" members and family, well there could be 40-50 people going.

The party is on the 18th of december at Mergrande a rather splendid beach resort, sea, playground, swimming pool, gardens, an ideal location. I had voluteered to help organise the party and several meetings had taken place to decide on events. Yesterday Tuesday it was decided that Lisa and I (Lisa is the orphanage manager) should go shopping for the xmas presents for the kids. We set a budget for the party (about 75% collected so far...) and a sum of this per child (going to be fairly vague here) was allocated for the present for the child to be given to him or her on the day. Tuesday was the shopping day aaagh, it was bad.

James dropped Lisa off and we went to Mergrande to ask for discount, partial success there, Lisa chose NCCC China town, Uyangaren (sp?) traffic was horrendous and parking was nearly impossible, circled 3 times, found a smiling boy who parked us up and off we went to shop.

The store is big and suitable, full of bargains and loads of stuff, T shirts, Shorts, outfits, shoes (don't tell the kids) and various other things for the 18 kids. No idea how lisa kept track of it all but i left it all to her, quite a logistical task. Various trips back to the car and then it was done, back to lucnch at our place, mong beans and fried fish, Lisa's favourite, tasted fine to me too.

Then, see photo, Germaine and Lizelle helped to sort the gifts and store them in gift bags ready for the big party, the biggest task here was taking the price tags off everything.

See picture, job got done and Lisa left, the party should be really fun.

Then PM after negative advice from the medical profession here, i asked Ann to check various web sites, which confirmed actually that Annika could swim. So, about 5pm Dad and daughter had our first swim, it went well, Annika very happy, splashing and the usual happy stuff, to be repeated daily for the next few years, pool, toys needed, always something eh.

New camera

2008-12-07T22:24:00.000-08:00

After a week without, and after a little bit of perusing, we bought a new replacement camera. the direct replacement for the one we lost was the sony but it had gone both touch-screen and expensive. We had previously had a sony touch-screen video cam but it went wrong and caused us some grief so we didn't want to go there again, anyway too expensive, about 30,000 peso (nearly 400 quid at the current reducing rate of exchange).

So, we went for the cannon ixus 901s and very nice too...here are a few no too inspiring shots with the new camera. The pregnant lady in the first shot was the sales lady of course for the camera and the first photo taken with it.

Cost was 16,000 peso or about 200 quid, just under really, so, not bad.

Car in for service and estimate for repair "ouch"....camera and anns phone replaced, just the i-pod to go and then we will be back to where we were before the bump and the robbery, ah well only money i suppose.............

good news balanced by bad

2008-11-30T18:25:00.000-08:00

The good news was that Mum got home safely, good to hear from Mum and Janet and Andy, although shame about the derby result following our phone call, i hear utd deserved to win. More good news was my form at tennis this morning, couldn't miss and me and Freddie wiped up the formidable team of Fieden and Pete 8- 1. It was 7 - 0 and a whitewash was only just avoided by them, anyway it was just one of those sets and i couldn't miss. Everyone asking about you at the club Mum.

But bad news and only a few hours after your phone call Mum, we had a robbery and our lovely camera was stolen along with apple i pod mp3 player and 2 cell phones, Anns and Lorenz's.

What happened was that i was in the bedroom with a tetchy Annika, the rest were chowing down on rice and whatever and the house was virtually available and un-attended and so....aaagh the pain, no camera and so of course no relevant pictures but i will look in my archive now and pick a couple which haven't yet been posted. Police came and they reckon (the police) that the burglars will return, hope to catch the buggars next time.

Only inconvenience and money lost, we are a bit sad but glad Mum got home safe and i am also glad my tennis form is at last looking up, my forehand was a weapon, told you i could do it Mum.

Holiday over

2008-11-29T01:01:00.000-08:00

Six weeks have flown by, the highlights were Mums birthday, trip to Mati and probably the highlight of the lot was Annikas Christening which went particularly well, such a happy event.

Karen and Arnel came round to see Mum off and with Joy and Cora, seemed all quite a good send off, party.

I checked flight time on the internet and all was in order. Joy and 3 kids came with me and mum to the airport, checked the airport departure tax (Peso 550), hired a porter for Mum and it was a trouble free drop off, well i think so anyway as Mum disappeared through to the terminal we weren't able to follow due to security reasons and due to opaque glass a few final waves were all we could manage

We dropped Joy off on the road to Tagum and i drove home witht he 3 kids, through town for a change to home.

All a little bit anti-climactic and the end of Mums visit, plenty of incident, from being stuck in the sand on Samal to hitting (the occasional) winner on the tennis court, a full 6 weeks, reflections will follow but for now, will follow Mums progress on the internet and over to Andy to pick up at the airport tomorrow 6am uk time, 2pm sunday here.

last night out for Mum

2008-11-28T15:47:00.000-08:00

We thought we would go to jack's ridge for mums last evening and night out. It was a good idea, there were beautiful christmas lighting and good atmosphere with plenty of people about including dozens of children about 14year old's on a school trip.

We had picked up Roel and also took Joy who had come from Tagum to say good bye to Mum, with daughter nika and Ann's mum too. We picked up Roel at local bar De bojeri (picture of Mum, Joy and Roels girlfriend Valerie who works at the bar) and went to Jacks Ridge. As i mentioned, atmosphere was great but food was pretty awful and the band was too LOUD. Rock music beating away with high decibel level, was driving away customers in droves, off we went after a couple of beers, too......

Where to? where was that place? a small bar near Matina crossing, where we had a couple of beers only, with just time to catch a few songs from the band there. roel knew one of the singers there who joined us for a drink, Emee i think is her name, pictured with Roel.

And that was the night done, Roel dropped off to do some work "on line" and through the night in his new venture and me Joy and mum safely home.

Nightcap for Mum? refused, so i had one on my own and chatted to Mats from Sweden on - line, now Mats, there is one for another blog post....

Mums last morning now Saturday 29th november 08.

This is how it's shaping up

2008-11-26T16:39:00.000-08:00

A slow start to the day, not too much to get up and dash about for, a bit of waiting around for bits and pieces of things, waiting for people to phone and something or nothing to do, Annika well under par (see face in photo) and no idea why, could be teething, could be well, no idea really. All will clarify later.

Hot today with blue skies, fruit for breakfast for me and mum, banana, papaya and pineapple and all delicious. Mum just gone for a swim before it gets too hot and all this before 9am. Annika's sleeping not perfect yet of course, disturbs Ann in the night and then early morning needs some special attention, first to keep Annika happy and also to let Ann sleep, this is the job of either me or Germaine, this is our little life at the mo, nearly perfect...nearly...

red knights garden and golf

2008-11-25T16:49:00.000-08:00

Tuesday 25th of November was golf day, invited by Ray Fimore owner of Red Knights Garden for golf, he had invited me many times before so, on behalf of mum i was pleased to accept and we met at 9am for beans on toast breakfast (very nice) before departing, Ray lent Mum some clubs.

The three of us went together Ray showed me some short cuts which were handy for the future and to the course Palais Verde, which was / is a sculptured golf course wrapped around a high and expensive but mainly empty sub-division. The club house was very formal and BIG

The start was all, club drop off's, choosing caddy, registering for match card (passport!!) and faffing around with locker keys and towels.

The couse was difficult sculptured and opulent and out of step with a poor local population.

Ray was a good host, Mum had a fun Caddy, Bianka and the game progressed, rest stops at hole 7 and 14 i think and about 4 hours to go round, i walked and chatted, mainly to Ray but Mum of course as well, who half walked and half went in the buggy which Bianka drove

And that was it, weather was cool which allowed Mum to finish, it was tiring, even for me who walked. Back to Red knights garden, welcome beer and curry,.... golf over....

Breakfast Crew, "super" Keish and Annika

2008-11-23T14:20:00.001-08:00

Annika coming on so well, as can be seen by sitting results where she is feeling very pleased with herself. The breakfast crew i couldn't resist snapping away at as they were chowing down, a little bit naughty of me because they are all a little self conscious and like mother in law will have no teeth in, but i neither care and if its done with a smile, everyone happy.

We had a few nights of family visits due to an auntie's funeral being on the way to and from aunties house, "we" (me, mum ann) dodged the funeral because...it is in a remote area and no facilities, there was an over-night vigil which there was no way me and mum would have attended and the thought of going with a baby is a bit of a no no.

Anyway, off they all went Sunday morning, shortly after breakfast and all happy. Me, Mum and roel went for sunday lunch and a chat (no pictures...sorry) and with a movie later (Amistad...or rather 2/3rds of the movie...3rd disc tonight...me ran out of energy) that was sunday done and that was that.

Eagles and Vegetation

2008-11-22T17:39:00.000-08:00

Forgot to post these 2 great pictures from the trip earlier in the week to the Philippine eagle sanctuary, the eagle and vegetation equally impressive. Loads of Eagles including Philippine eagles which is in danger of extinction, they are pretty magnificent, so, great shame if the conservation measures don't pay off.

Rocky Challenge

2008-11-22T14:12:00.001-08:00

Rocky is the one on the right and yesterday we had what i dubbed as the "Rocky challenge". After many texts to suss out who my partner was the challenge was set for Saturday morning, early. I chose Fieden, a strong player as my partner and Rocky turned up 45mins late with his partner who i didn't know, but Fiedens smile told me we were in trouble, yes we were. After just a few minutes we were 4-0 down and playing weakly, tentative and were being blasted away, Rocky's partner was too hot to handle. But Fieden and i buckled down (after a quick chat), improved and it became a decent game, we got to 2-6 down and then, playing some strong tennis to 6-6, rocky was rattled.

For some reason we play 8 game sets but at 7-7 we play a tie breaker, which unfortunately we lost and with it, back came Rocky's confident smile. Oh well, we had him worried, and there is always next week.

tennis , eagles and girls

2008-11-21T01:07:00.000-08:00

First the girls and couldn't resist taking this picture of the girls as they gather outside the house every evening as the weather cools, its a time for chat and giggles, i herded them together for the shot shown, there are our 2 maids germaine and lizelle and the maid from over the road ganggang, then there is Ann, Annika and Anns Mum.

Did i mention i found my keys yesterday at immigration, they were "keeping" them for me, "why didn't you come back for them?"....i did.....

Tennis this morning and the usual mixed bag of decent play and absolute rubbish, same old then

Me and mum ventured to the philippine eagle sanctuary and malagos gardens, its all eco friendly stuff and wildlife preservation, it was / is a 40 minute drive away and in the foothills of Mt Apo so its very beautiful, we just had a general gad round, a meal and few beers and then a further stumble round, what more could you want.

Back for a snooze and two offers for the evening entertainments, a birthday party next door in under an hour from now, should be a short do, then friend Roel has asked us to join him at a music venue later on, can't see me making the second because i have a semi serious tennis challenge tomorrow, challenged by rocky, more later....

Looks like suicide

2008-11-18T23:57:00.000-08:00

Couldn't help stopping and shooting this example of dodgy scaffolding on the outside of a 3 storey building going up near to where friend Paul lives. The guys were very pleased to have their picture taken, got cheery waves and hello joe's from all of them, tried not to scare them too much in case of well....death

Forget the power lines that run through the picture, the scaffold is the rest of it, flimsy as it is.

friends of mindanao, immigration and lost car keys

2008-11-18T23:33:00.000-08:00

yes lost the bloody car keys and that was the last event of a successful morning that turned pear shaped. No idea where i lost them, except for where we had been, so, dashed round looking at places, till i ran out of ideas, then taxi home with mum, taxi back without mum and then further hunt and drive home with spare keys. Aaaaghhh

Before that the day had started well, we went with friend Paul to 'friends of Mindanao" meeting, see photo., Mum is a friend of Mindanao. The head spoeaker was Bong Domingo who talked interestingly and professionally about herbs and spices grown in your own garden. I did an update speech on collecting cash for the christmas party, the speach went ok, the cash collection, less so but we will get there.

Then a trip to immigration department for me with Mum coming along, friendly guard allowed her photo to be taken with Mum, all successful there but loads of forms to fill in and some more fees to be paid, finger printing to be done, and waiting for "alien" registration card, then its only a question of appearing every year to register, to apply for full time visa after 1 years probation and then...well, etc etc, you get the picture.

Bit sick about loosing the keys, will have to replace, that will be expensive....aaagh oh well, see ya

She is a star

2008-11-16T22:49:00.001-08:00

Yes the big christening took place yesterday 16th of November 08, check out my FLICKR account for additional photos there are loads to choose from.

We were pleased with everything, the church, the service, the godfathers and godmothers, 6 in total, friend Paul from the UK, Raul next door neighbour and friend, Anns sister Karen and brother GaGa and cousin PinPin and friend Nilda, wife of Rene. All splendid and in attendance.

The service was fairly short, with about 10 children also being baptised, Annika slept through the service but stirred into life when the christening water was poured over her head, it was more than a trickle. Loads of photos at the church and then back for our house party, it was a shame everyone in the UK could not be there, as there was fantastic food and drink, about 60 people plus kids turned up, at least 30 kids all in the pool for hours, singing and dancing later on as the beer kicked in and then everyone to bed early, because we were all shattered, me soon after 9pm was the last to bed. Tired today, very tired, managed to raise myself for tennis this morning, although a tired game...Mum spectated, knock up only.

Mums Post

2008-11-14T23:52:00.000-08:00

Busy Day here. sun is out after wet friday. Rick's back has bothered him this week, always someone suffering. I'm doing ok. Today lovely early am swim followed by a hot local walk. Sweat was pouring. Lots of family have arrived for the Big Do. cora's grandchildren just presented me with a large fancy birthday card they made, signed and decorated. Ahhhhhh

The patrents and god parents (six) are going to a pre-christening seminar at 5am this pm, some groaning about that! I will probably watch tennis, its been good on the same local time as here. Thanks for all news, thinking about you all and missing you - but we can't be miserable here - there's a party on! Lots of Love Mum.....note pictures shown are from the morning walk at a local seminary and church

samal stuck in mud and mid week

2008-11-12T02:37:00.001-08:00

As you can see from the pictures, it wasn't all hardship. After a quiet start to the week, tennis and shopping monday and a meal out and not a satisfactory souvenir hunting trip tuesday, we decided on wednesday to visit Samal.

Samal is a large island a short ferry ride away from Davao city. There are loads of ferries going to different places, i decided to drive R.O.R.O. (roll on roll off) ferry went from an industrial port area of Sasa.

About 3 quid each way and it was a 2 part intended programme. the first was to explore part of the island i hadn't previously visited. this went well, until the car stuck fast in soft sand on a dodgy road. Forward and backwards, it just sank deeper. Hmmm we were stuck. Within a few minutes, 4 guys arrived and helped push it out, a filthy vehicle but we were glad to be out. A 20 minute drama.

After that i thought sod it, lets head for the beach, where we spent a very pleasant day at a small manicured resort called Chemas, arrived about 12, i swam and beered, we then had a good lunch and back for more swimming. After a nod and a doze we were joined by the resort owner Joquin and we had a few beers and chat together.

Ferry back, heavy traffic through rush hour traffic, seemed impossible at one stage to get through un-scathed but we managed it, had sufficient problems earlier in the day, didn't want any more. Safely back for 6pm....sadly and very sadly instead of tennis on there is a poxy football match from australia, no idea at all why as simon is playing murray at the mo. A frustrating part of the cable schedules here, little idea from time to time what is going on, small problem, never mind, all well, love to all

pre-christening build up

2008-11-10T01:52:00.001-08:00

Weekend was fairly quiet, rather very quiet, 2 reasons, first it was hot, second no great plans came to mind and well that was about it, various members of Ann's family arrived for a pre-christening plan and cook up and Ann felt better for some preparations getting underway....food cooked and frozen in part preparation for the big day next sunday. We were all a bit bored but the days passed with bits and pieces of swimming, visits, feeding, drinking and watching some ridiculous movie and then one of my tennis buddies txtd me and we watched some shanhai tennis...so it all passed well.

Monday was back to action style with tennis in the morning, Mum up at 6am for a 6:30 get away, i had a couple of sets, Mum watched mainly but also had a knock up and then it was Mums big turn. Me and Mum took on fieden and Freddie, a fearesome ex-coach and my regular tennis opponent Fieden. It was a good set Mum did well, some shanked winners, one or two rallies and we lost the set 6-3, mum won her serves and so all were happy. After tennis it was christening works, church office for registration purposes, party shop for tables, chairs and ballooons etc, SM for cake ordering and lunch, then another mall for bedding we are short of, and that was it, Monday done. Tennis back on now, Federer 1st then Murray later, its going to be a tennis evening..............all fine here

successful friday

2008-11-07T01:22:00.000-08:00

Why successful? well really because we got Mums tourist visa extended past the end of her visit, it was an hour and a half of waiting around but people were pleasant enough and we got the visa. Obviously with this lack of 6 months validity in Mums passport, there was a small danger of the visa getting rejected, but i didn't think there would be a problem and there wasn't, they are not as serious here as we are.

To celebrate for lunch, me and mum went to ah fats, "best chinese restaurant in town", excellent scoff and 2 (for mum) or 3 (for me) beers went down well. Handed out some christening invitations, did a bit of fruit shopping and that was the afternoon gone too.

Took these few shots in the garden this afternoon, Mum going for her second swim of the day, the first was this morning, i went tennis and i persuaded Mum to laze around and take it easy after our excursion to Mati. It all worked out well, Annika happy, you can see from the photos, staying in this evening and feeling lazy....byeee

trip to "city" of Mati and Masau beach resort

2008-11-06T02:52:00.000-08:00

We had our trip out to Mati and really enjoyed it, it was an interesting trip, some good and started off bad. The journey there was fine (about 4hrs) but near Mati it began heavy rain, roads were in poor condition and with twists and turns Mum got a head ache.

The head ache cleared after a couple of pills and glass of beer, good work....the rain cleared and we made it to a rustic but beautiful resort called Masao.

We had a wander round, weather improved and we decided to stay. Food and beer followed the wander round and after a few gins it was goodnight vienna.

A beautiful 6am swim....wow the water was gorgeous, warm and caressing, "free" breakfast
followed and a weigh up of our options. Weather again looked threatening but after a while sky lightened and we decided to stay another night. A boat was hired for the afternoon and off we were whisked to a white sand island beach and an hours swim.

The fee for the "use" of the island went from 20peso per person to 300 per boat (new policy explained the solemn faced dude and that was his story. We settled on 100 after some verbals with me doing all of the talking and no more was said.

some fun at "tea" with the local waitresses, one of them calling me "dad" after i showed everyone a picture of my handsome son James and the young lady put herself forward as James's future wife, only in a very kind way, on behalf of James, i provisionally accepted. All good fun.

Journey home the next day (today) after swim and "free" breakfast was fine, good weather and easy drive, no problem at all. glad to be home, Annika beautiful, glad to see Dad and Grandma, Mum happy to be home.......thats it

monday tennis and up at 6AM

2008-11-03T13:25:00.001-08:00

Here is Mum at the tennis club monday 3rd of November, the day after the big birthday and this is perhaps the difficult part to believe, mum up at 6am, out of the house for 6:30 and on the courts for before 7. This is our normal playing time here coz, well later it gets bloody hot.

Mum did well, nock up followed by a rest while the gentlemen (inc me) had an 8-6 close set. Mum itching to get in on the action had a nock with the club guy and then we had a set...mum playing with our club man who is a really strong player, and me and my buddy Fieden (pictured).

Fieden is a strong player but he was suitably gentle but not condescending with Mum and there were quite a few good rallies, we won 8-3 or 8-4 and it was good fun

After tennis, shopping with Germaine, lunch, rest, town for me for the bank etc and then a movie "the kite runner" good film, Mum enjoyed it. Early night and now its morning, ready for our trip.

Going (me and Mum) to Mati, heading for a beach resort i heard about, 3 hours drive away and then lets see....blog holiday, good to hear from you James, take care all....report to follow

rick / dad

birthday 2nd Nov 08

2008-11-02T13:52:00.000-08:00

The big birthday and all went very well, as you can see, this was the birthday meal at jacks ridge a lovely setting, relaxed and over - looking the city, meal was fine, not great but there we go. Annika tetchy, a bit tired and well, showing herself not to be a push over. Annika's outfit was Janet's pressie, thanks Jan, will send a better picture, sure you get the idea, ah yes i'll put some on flickr....soon.

What else, well easy morning as per mums description, neighbours and friends round for a few hours chat and drinks in the afternoon, Arnel Karen and kit kat in the evening and there it was all done and dusted. 6:05 am here, mum has 5 mins more sleep, then waking up for tennis, her first session with my tennis friends, with rain and tournaments for children tennis has been a bit thwarted, lets see can mum manage a set, my guess is no but lets see today.

I think you get the picture of the birthday, it went well

all souls day

2008-11-02T13:43:00.001-08:00

We went to Tagum on Saturday 1st of November to attend the Filipino tradition of visiting the graves of the departed, in this case Ann's Dad, deceased Jan 2004, anyway it is more like what we would think of a carnival in fact there was a carnival atmosphere, games, sleeping, eating and later drunken behaviour and fighting...well not for us of course. We attended in the early afternoon, much too hot and then that wa san excuse with Annika to leave. Then a thunderous rain all afternoon, until evening, we were well away.

Arnel stayed until 1am the next morning as is their tradition in a vigil to his Mum who died a short few months ago, Ann wants to do a vigil for her Dad next year, i will be dodging that one i can tell you, now i have been warned.

Tagum is about 65kms away, 1.5 hour drive and quite rural, done it now many times, its a small town / city but not the place for me, its a bit dull for me to be honest. Me and Mum survived...birthday coming up....

80th birthday morning

2008-11-01T20:20:00.001-07:00

A happy start to the day morning-we opened my many cards thank you . then some beautiful red roses and a pearl necklace .Ann cooked a tasty omolette . Then I had a swim>.We had ablast of Mammaia.!Then a coffee listening to Neil diamond_beautiful! We are going to Jacks Ridge for our lunch.!

More later, this is Mums happy birthday morning blog, having fun, love to all

Tennis at last

2008-10-30T23:46:00.000-07:00

Friday 31st PM here and finally this morning we played and watched some tennis. We had previously been a little thwarted due to tennis tournament last weekend and this morning all geared up for tennis but...rain.... Me and mum a little frustrated by the rain and being optimistic we went to our club at Ecoland to view the scene on the ground, but courts well puddled, no chance but with the sun out, maybe in an hour it would be ok.

So, we beetled off to another club GSIS where my lovely coach Nathan was hosting a childrens tournament and Mum and i had sponsored the tournament by supplying some supplemental prizes for the winners and runners up. The rain had stopped and courts mopped and children were knocking up but there were only few persons about as the rain had delayed everyone. I was kindly asked to play a set by 3 keen guys and we had a lovely set, mixed abilities but 2 of the 4 of us (not me) were good strong players and we had a competitive set, which we won 8-3, i actually held serve 3 times, wow, miracles. They were amazed at some of my running, which caused much comment and admiration from my partner and chagrin to the opponents, as i say here, running is not the problem, tennis is. (tennis ability that is) anyway Mum watched happily and we gave the prizes to a pleased Nathan.

Mum, we still "up for it", so, we bobbed back to Ecoland, where it had dried out and me and Mum had a nock up fr about 20mins, at first the bounce was very tricky for her, but she got into it and improved with consistency, it was very hot but she coped very well. After 20mins i had a further nock with the club coach 'do dong" who is a good player with an exaggerated rolling forehand shot, difficult to control but good to hit against. And finally so did Mum, have a knock for ten mins with do dong, where the eye came in and good rallies were played.

Will Mum play tennis on her 80th birthday, lets see......e mails read and all seems fine at home, Mum sends her love to all...rick (Dad)

Mums Blog thursday am 30th Oct

2008-10-29T18:59:00.000-07:00

Morning after "Friends of Mindanao" quiz night held in al's diner. Al runs his diner (American bar and burger) and hands all profits to his own charitable association that buys computers for schools. A jolly quiz with questions as Al said of interesting trivia, eg) a word to rhyme with orange? (there isn't one). Bites have calmed down, hope the nippers stay away. You can see from the pictrures "my apartment" is lovely. the lounge area by the pool, comfy big bed and wee small bathroom and shower. query, my retirem,ent home? only joking rick, glad to hear Dad is coping - bet he's enjoying the extra fuss, watchout for frost bites - don't get those here. Lots of love to everybody. Mum

lazy day and visitors

2008-10-29T15:50:00.001-07:00

The pictures are of visitors, auntie wharlita, and cousin, with grandchildren, a beautiful young girl who took a shine to annika (see mum in background) and then Mum emerging from her extension home.

More or less a lazy day on wednesday 29th Oct, i was lacking some energy after previous nights entertainments, anyway...went to shopping centre Victoria plaza with mum and tried to look for tops and shoes for mum, but like me she gets boggled with the vast choice. Mum found some shoes but they were too small and so had to abandon the search, she came away with just 2 packs of white socks. On the way home we popped up to jacks Ridge to make sure it was open for Mum's birthday meal, because lots of places are shut for the weekend , for all sanits day and all souls day, they are taken more seriously here. Anyway it is closed saturday and open sunday, so, that is OK, we managed a couple of cold beers each while we enjoyed the view and the beer.

Then after a snooze Mums "bites" swelled up and we went to the pharmacist for some anti-hystemine tablets...will they work? watch this space.

A violent shower meant i drove to the quiz which was in town at "Al's Diner. We made a 4 with friends Carolynn and Dino and came a creditable 2nd with 22 points out of 40, the winners only 1 ahead with 23, never mind it was good fun. Back home for 9:30, rain stopped, hightcap and there we were, time for bed.....

Deluge and attacking ants

2008-10-28T15:09:00.000-07:00

The photos are of Mum in Eden before the rain...of Germaine and Lizelle our 2 lovely girls laughing as they had been trying to avoid the camera and then Ann and her Mum at breakfast, Mum still in her pit in the extension behind.......

On Tuesday 28th Oct Mum and i went to eden nature park, its like a part natural, part cultivated park in mt apo national park, foot hills, quite beautiful really but we chose the wrong day to go, weather looked promissing and had a nice drive through rural areas with increasingly spectacular views getting there. Unfortunately, after a drink and a snack when we were mooching around the place it started to drizzle. At first we toughed it out but it got heavier and worse still. After half an hour of sheltering at a comfortable terrace area we abandoned the visit. Walking back to the car was a soaking experience, we were washed out, i took off my shirt and got wet, mum just got wet all over, no avoiding it at all, the park lost its magic after that and so we set offf home. Half an hour home and at the bottom of the mountain, it was bone dry.

In our early walk round eden we were locating a nature trail and were descending a steep flight of steps to a gulley which looked interesting and tropical. There was a handrail and it was drizzling and slippery, so, both me and Mum took the rail for support. I think Mum shouted first but about at the same time we were both attacked by biting ferocious ants, they reallly took some getting rid of, it was as if they had invaded us and got themselves in strategic positions until they sent out "bite" signal...it took a few minutes for each of us to get rid of them (felt longer) and we were left with bitten and stinging hands. When we looked the handrail was infested with the bloody ants, the drop to the gorge looked too steep for Mum to the gorge without support, so, we abandoned that as well and together with the rain, the elements defeated us.

Out to a music bar at night after meeting at roels place, it was his forty something birthday party and it was a good night, plenty of Roels friends there, me and mum a bit tired later so, we ducked out after the 2nd of 3 music sets, that was enough. I bravely got up to sing, but could hear myself singing flat, it was all a bit wierd, wished i hadn't but oops never mind, as they say here next time na lang. and and on that note salamat (goodbye)

Bugs and Bites

2008-10-27T14:54:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was another stress free occasion, all very low key and enjoyable.....me, mum, ann, annika and Nika (neice 11 year old) went to a party shop first to choose layout for the big christening party, tables, chairs, balloons, dish servers, tents things like that and then to Coco's in town for lunch. It is like an american diner type of place, very spacious, clean, great food at good prices and large enough to loose annika's complaints later on in the meal when she also became hungry. Anyway it was great, Mum had a few starters for her meal (soup and salad) and a few snacky onion rings...the best she ever had", lovely mustard and honey dip...yep i think they were the best, anyway all happy apart from Nika who had a tough looking fried chicken, but as Nika was in silent running mode and just a coy grin every now and then it was difficult to tell.

Went to the mall to get bits and pieces, then me and mum went to another mall for post cards,....should have been easy, nearly turned into a herculean task, anyway it got done and for mum to look for a blouse or two. the blouse shopping failed dismally, even i could see there were racks and racks of blouses aimed at young girls with a 22inch waist, in style or size, mum didn't fit the bill. For the moment she is making do.

Later, a swim for mum with the kids round, good for the pool to get some use, mums shower didn't work, asked our electrician round, now partially fixed, another 'warranty" guy round tomorrow. And then garden..for eveneing drinks ......see photo's me, mum and annika outside last night, Monday...Mum trying some of my joggers + scarf to ward off the pesky bighters. Second day i think it was she was bitten all over by what...not sure, then from then on despite some dab on stuff and room spraying, still the occasional bite...

Mum wins the most bite award, annika second, me third and ann practically none, me very few, say 1 per week, annika say 1 per day average, mum so far 8 per day average.....................ooops...more soon....rick, dad (are u reading Jim and Lu? come out now its no use hiding)

Sunday tennis, dance competition and jacks Ridge

2008-10-26T16:01:00.000-07:00

Rene our Swiss friend phoned for a game of tennis on sunday morning, so, Mum and lorenz came and we picked Rene on the way. Unfortunately there were about 60 kids there and when we found an adult, there was a 3 day competition which ruled out play. We noticed a dance competition was being held in the local supermarket (SM) car park and so we stopped for a look to spy (for me and rene and perhaps lorenz,) any pretty girls...there were a few. Music was too loud, so, didn't stop long, sun was coming out, so, out came the umbrellas which stopped Mums viewing. So, that was the morning, invited Rene and his wife Nilda to Jacks Ridge restaurant, it was very nice, quite busy but not too crowded, great food, just right, everyone happy, lorenz had ribs, we all had tuna belly steak grilled perfectly 400 grams, loved the meaty taste, broccoli with beef and fried rice with veggies, it was all delicious, me and mum 2 san mig pilsens, rene just one, he's just not a drinker.

After Jacks Ridge it was an afternoon kip followed by a lazy day really. Anns mum Cora came from Tagum, with Nika (Anns sister Joys daughter) and they flitted between our house and Karens house which is a couple of blocks away. A nightcap or two, watched liverpool grab an early lead against chelski before retiring to bed. Glad we did coz l'pool strangled the life out of the game i read, not pretty to watch, i think they are a poor team really, glad not to watch them.

That was it. Added James and Lucy to my blog list Hi Jim and Lu take care and Love to all

rick and in this instance (Dad) Wow a whole post without mentioning annika....nearly anyway

Second Post today........Roel and Mum

2008-10-25T14:05:00.000-07:00

This is Mum with our friend Roel...the place is an eatery near the orphanage, in Calinan, about 15km away from where we live, we are waiting for James the (also) Dutch orphanage James. It is not "fat matts" either it is well, an eatery they call them here, fair description actually, you eat there. We were having a coffee and waiting for James.

After this i forgot about the camera, so, no further photographic record of the days events, see below....wow 2 posts in one morning

Orphanage, Marang and Fat Matts

2008-10-25T13:23:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning here, as usual i'm with annika blissfully sleeping, she has been a bit poorly yesterday, hot, bit out of sorts and even a vomit which caught us by surprise coz it was her first puke, not bad after more than 3 months, anyway it was only once and she seems to be better now, sleeping like a baby at the mo.

Just uploaded some photos for this "post" and the Marang has come out the best, this fruit is now in season and is delicious, the outer core can be easily peeled away and inside are delicious what can you call them, segments or something of the fruit, they are juicy mouthfulls with disposable seed at the core, thats the best way i can describe them. Taste like ....marang, fruity and refreshing. Mum is iffy, i think she would rather leave than take, i will finish it off today.

Swiss friend Rene called me for a game of tennis this am, mum may come down for a knock...drizzle at the moment, approaching 5am, lets see later this morning.

Yesterday apart from annika being poorly was dominated by trip to the orphanage, difficult to describe in a few words about the orphanage it was a difficult trip, went with our new dutch friend Roel, had lunch in calinan at a place called "fat matts" that was fine and cheap. At the orphanage we discussed funding, projects and in particular a christmas party for the children donated by the "friends of mindanao" (a foreigners group of which i am a member), also a prospective trip into the mountains to bring back 3 sick children to the orphanage and the hospital and also so they can attend the christmas party. The children have a terminal wasting disease and require a helper each to attend to them, i offered to go with James on the trip to assist in the childrens evacuation...more of this later as the story unfolds.

Night in, watched "no country for old men" as saturday night movie....we had seen it before but worth another watch. Mum watched it a bit non plussed all the way through and then slagged it off at the end, but she agreed it was a well made film. Not her type.

After the film we were flicking and by chance caught "live" coverage of the 2nd half of everton v utd, good tonking for utd, so, all were happy.

Dats it, glad Em is reading, love to all ...rick

2008-10-24T14:06:00.000-07:00

Weekend here Saturday morning and all (at the moment) very peaceful. Mum got your comments andy yesterday and looked a bit confused when i said do you want to comment back...she started to flap her hands about to indicate i should do it. I picked a random photo today of me and Annika, this was / is her first shoulder ride, won't be the last, that's for sure.

Its dawn here on Sat morning, me and Annika as usual spending some "quality" time together, well we would be if she weren't sleeping, which she is fast asleep. So is everyone else.
Yesterday it was a take it easy time, me i played tennis am, pretty rubbish i was, getting to be a pattern there.....zipped into town to pay electric bill and visit the bank (the falling exchange rate isn't cheering us up here at all)...back for lunch and a kip. PM, chatting, then a trip round the market and shops for me and mum, bought some exotic fruit for mum to try, marang and mangosteen, even got a jar of home made peanut butter, too sweet for me, back for a swim for mum, few evening gin and tonics and that was it. Report from the orphanage tomorrow.

Todays plans are a trip to the orphanage, will post tomorrow.

"Mums Post",........... First Impressions?

2008-10-22T18:45:00.000-07:00

Extremely warm welcomes and smiles everywhere, rick waiting at davao airport, bonny annika and smiling ann, the pad is luxury, the pool a treat, aircon and sun. Some itchy bites, long lie in's and siestas (catching up with the jet lag) delight of annika in her bath. A friendly night in the local bar, meeting an array of diverse mates, another bar tonight. Looking forward to more of the same for the next 6 weeks.

Seeing Bob Martin

2008-10-22T15:21:00.001-07:00

Mum and i zipped round a few sundry places, shopping centre for some groceries, money changer for some cash for Mum, bank for some cash and then we went to a restaurant just off Rizal street in Davao called De Bonte Koe, western menu, great service and eaten there 6 or 7 times, great food. Anyway, who should be there (the only other customer was Bob Martin with his neice, to celebrate her 18th birthday. Bob met Mum. I had a great pepper sauce steak and Mum had Satay chicken, both were very happy.

Can't supply any photographic proof, but here is aphoto of me and Mum taken by Bob and e mailed to me by him, later on that day (yesterday)...didn't do a lot else, had a pm kip, Mum had a swim and we had a few G&T's later, the alternative's were "deal or no deal" and Filipno soap operas, which are beyond the pale. Lizelle went away for a few days, she came back later on and we all went for an early night, a pretty good day....Mums post will follow (maybe?)

Mums second day 21st Oct

2008-10-21T15:29:00.000-07:00

Yes we took it fairly easy on mums second day, her first full day. She slept well, and more or less caught up with her sleep and got rid of the jet lag, almost anyway. After breakfast we went for a walk, it was fairly cool, although it warmed up later...anyway, called at neighbour's house, Rene in manila but chatted to Nilda, we then walked to matina palengke (market) via Paul and Yvonne's house and they made us a coffee, in spite of being on the point of going out, we delayed them, our timing was poor but we were made welcome. On to the market and bought our fruit and some snacks for later. A cooling fruit shake drink in the AC to cool down and Gina spotted us, my gym and flickr friend, (flygall) and she came and introduced herself....she had already seen mums photo on flickr and left a welcome comment, so, it was nice for mum to meet another friend.

Lunch at home, karen and Arnel came for lunch, Ann cooked coz Lizelle is away for a few days, their kids kit kat and keisha swam....we then snozzed for an hour, after lunch, it was getting hot...afternoon chats, then mum and i showered and went down to the local bar, very pleasant evening. I invited my dutch friend Roel, who joined us and phoned his friend Roenna to join us and there was live music on from the owner and a jam session band, Roenna joined the band for two numbers as she is a singer here in Davao...sorry no photos coz i forgot the camera, but we are going out again with roel and hearing roenna sing again on thursday, so, will take camera then. Also joined at times by owner Bogs, an interesting chat and local businessman Noley...so, more than a full evening, and in bed by 10:30, Mum a little unstable in the dark and uneven roads, anyway safe and she seems very happy in our extension, which is now her temp home for 6 weeks, all going very fine.

Mum arrives

2008-10-20T04:18:00.000-07:00

Not without incident and looking a bit worn out Mum arrives, "no longer waiting for Mum".

the incident part of the journey revolved around the check in where Mum was nearly refused permission to board the flight because her passport although current did not have 6 months validity, and i think most of us experienced travelers know about this 6 month rule. Anyway after phoning the Philippines...and receiving confirmation it was ok to travel, she was accepted on the flight. Seems the rest was pretty much standard flight.

Mum was / is relieved to be here and doing well, we had a swim a cool down, she seemed to be doing fine but then conked out at 7pm, really conked out, hopefully fora long sleep, i guess she will wake in the early hours but anyway lets see. She only mangaed 1 beer, 2 were on offer or a G&T but the offer was refused.

So far, so good, Annika gave mum a smile so that also was a good start lets take it slowly and tomorrow is already another prospect.

night out saturday 18th oct 08

2008-10-18T13:22:00.000-07:00

Yes as per title, had a good night out, with friends at a friends 50th birthday party...it went well...there were a mixed bunch there to say the least...my 50th birthday buddy is gay so there were lots of gay friends around, this could have been ott for me but was balanced with friends who i went with, friends who were there and some new friendly people there. The gay guys there were friendly but for me they were happy to be flitting around being in their own company and so this left a mix of the following nationalities straight types only listed:

western guys like me but nationalities, british, dutch, german, american, new zealander (1)
western women, german....thats it i think
asian men and women....Filipino

So, there were a good mix of nationalities and indeed sexualities at the party, which made it interesting, haven't really got a picture to represent the evening, but i think a post is a bit boring without one, so, will pick one from my photos which no doubt will be highly inappropriate, never mind...continuity dots....more

Ecoland tennis club

2008-10-16T20:05:00.000-07:00

Played tennis this morning, 2 sets only lost them both 6-8, 6-8, should have won the second one, the first we played against a grade A player and i played above myself to have a great set, second set the grade A guy was replaced with a D grader, should have won but very poor play from myself, led to defeat, ah well, had exercise, fun and good company, so, can't be too greedy

waiting for mum

2008-10-15T13:59:00.000-07:00

5am in the morning, me and Annika outside the bedroom letting ann sleep, just normal oct 16th 08, waiting for mum to arrive on 20th oct 08