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Was in bed, half-asleep; felt a sharp, short jolt. My first thought was earthquake, but then I wondered, could it be something else, something more sinister? Perhaps my pacemaker had a meltdown, but quickly ruled that out since I don’t have a pacemaker. Stroke, diabetes, Parkinson’s…? Haven’t had any of these, as far as I know. Relieved to know my first thought was correct. Approaching my mid-70’s – may all future jolts be merely a mild earthquake!

 

A Thai restaurant would be most welcomed

 

Totally Agree but when we see Mothers or Fathers tossing Used Diapers any where and the Kids in tow see this then that, is their Learning curve. This is where the Barangay Captain fails at his First hurdle, Clean your Barangay up and people might start to Respect the City!
If Not
Hurt them where it hurts, In the Pocket.

JP

 

I have seen or experienced much of what this fellow has seen also. I admire the ingenuity of the Filipinos at times to get around with very economical methods of transportation. I enjoy watching the school children walk home from school, as the wait for a large dump truck or some other means of transportation to go by. The drivers that stop for kids and are are always happy and the kids have smiles on their faces as the climb up on what ever huge truck that stops.... I am not sure this is that bad, as I do not hear of many kidnapping or injuries to kids from the activity. In the US this would never be "allowed" to happen but then again the kids would have walk all the way home, or huge expenses would be occurred for transportation. The ability to travel at low cost is one of the "dumb" techniques the kid (and adults) have mastered here. There is not money available to be spent on transportation here many times by the locals. They have to walk around, like being on a treadmill here, same things my friends do in American after driving to the gym and fighting for the closest parking space.
Secondly, I think you can find bad in any city, anywhere. Although it does take some mental adaptation to accept everything that goes on in Dumaguete, some say a lifetime to totally adjust, , You can adjust your immediate environment almost immediately if you have legs to walk a couple of hundred meters. When you are on a street with pollution get on another street. When I ride behind a truck belting out smog, I stop the motorcycle sometimes and give the truck a little distance rather than try to anxiously ride closely behind the truck with my face up the exhaust pipe as I cough. It only takes minor adjustments in your location in most places here to find a much better spot to be.
Dumaguete is not perfect,and it is not hell. You can find the perfect city when your attitude allows you to find it, just as you can find your hell city when your attitude allows you to find it. Dumaguete is neither. Just move around, and adjust and there are some great things about the city to enjoy, just as there are some horrible things to avoid here. It just takes a little time to find the perfect and hellish experiences of this city. Maybe two weeks is too short, and a lifetime is too long to learn the necessary living adjustments for a great life here.

 

Rash completely gone, took about 8 days

 

If/when you settle here PH for the longer term you will not find this strange at all, or that your In-Laws will be giving you wrong information and don't ever expect Filipinos to think about tomorrow, they will just wait till the next day to think about that?

It is more Fun in the Philippines provided you keep your expectations at a very low level.

 

My goal is to stay alive long enough for my 12 yr old to go to college and to support my dear wife and him financially, as long as I can. Absolutely nothing else matters to me.

 

I did just that and it was a disaster.

The bank (OCBC) tried to persuade me to convert my GBP to SGP or USD (commissions for them I assume) - this was at the time the GBP was at about 58 pesos! I said I would wait but they insisted that the pound would crash further very soon. They were wrong.

They phoned me regularly for a chat but I guess were just trying to get me to convert my cash. Then they swapped my 'Advice Manager' to a lady with a very strong Chinese accent and I could not clearly understand what she was saying. I emailed them and asked if they could contact me via email as I had a difficulty in understanding the accent.

A while later I received a text to say all my money was being withdrawn and as as it was a substantial sum I was very alarmed. I phoned them at once to tell them it was a false withdrawal and discovered that it was because they were closing my account - and intended to send the money back to me by cheque (those things that they say they want to phase out!). I told them I was not living at the address currently and so they said they would send it to me in the Philippines and that it would be via normal post and not a courier. I had transferred the money originally by wire transfer and so asked them to send it back the same way - they refused (in fact they were extremely unpleasant all the time during this matter). I even faked an illness to get them to be more sympathetic but as they were Chinese they had no concept of that.

I then contacted the UK branch where I had signed documents to open the account but they said each country was a separate entity - however they said they would try to help. The money was then sent back to me via wire transfer. Phew!

Banks are interested only if we do with OUR money what THEY want us to do. Two months after this debacle the pound rose briefly to 74 pesos and at that time I would have done the conversion. :(

So my advice is to be very wary about opening accounts abroad and NEVER deal with the Chinese.