Quality woman for a quality guy

@mugteck If it’s a good fit for me I would love to but it’s tough with the kids. I thought about that also with the church. Is their holy day Sunday?
-@Slowdown23

About 80% Catholic , some protestants and Muslims mostly on Mindanao.  Many also incorporate old time beliefs and superstitions within their new religions.

I mostly agree with Dirk’s comments.

If you come here for Two weeks or beyond, your purpose should at first be to just have Fun, Explore and Observe.

Only dating, don’t look for a serious relationship, that usually happens on its own when everything just lines up.

To me the area or destination isn’t really a factor, there are Beautiful, Honest woman everywhere here.

But I would agree that your chances of being scammed or lied to are higher in big tourist cities, I recommend the surrounding Provinces.

Small towns or fishing villages are great places to find a meaningful relationship. Yes, they won’t have much to bring to the table, but that aside, you can find a real Gem here.

@Slowdown23 You have no idea about the differences between American and Philippine culture. I thought I was pretty "cluey" having travelled a bit but was shocked by West and Philippine cultural differences. Best advice I received from an OFW in Hong Kong was "Go to the Philippines and enjoy, but trust no one" I beg you do not declare your intentions of wanting a wife. You'll find them but be ready to part with your money to support her, her family and her friends. Minimum requests will be you buying her a house, car and other goodies. Then there's the Green card. Go to a restaurant with your new GF? Don't be surprised if she invites 4 / 6 other people. You pay. I've seen a table of 15 people all enjoying the food and chatting to each other in their native tongue while the foreigner sits in silence but will pay the bill. Dark picture? Well I've just renewed my visa for another 6 months so I'm obviously enjoying it here with my Pinay

I spent some 12 months on the internet communicating with my GF before I came here. I communicated with others and those who asked me for money I blocked. (Sick Mother, terminal ill best friend, lost phone, etc.)

May I suggest you have a look at [link moderated]/@TheFilipinaPea. She recently interviewed Paul from the States. Worth listening to. Also listen to what others here are telling you. Just because you are a prison guard and therapist means f*ck all. To mention it comes across as arrogant.

@Georges Laborie I thought as a visitor he would not be allowed to work

@Slowdown23 Pinays want an FB to have a better life for their family and themselves. Customs that surprised me. 1. They invited themselves to visit then expected my Pinay GF and me would meet all their expenses of food and drink. 2. Invited a friend of my GF to come with us to a resort. She invited another person. All expenses paid by me as it is expected. 3. Once people realised my GF had a foreign boyfriend (FB) her "friends" came out of the woodwork asking to borrow or give them money (borrow means you don't repay). If you telegraph that you are looking for a wife you'll get plenty of offers. And they'll tell you anything to snare you. Then you will be expected to buy them a house, car and household goodies as a minimum.

@Gezzar reeding your comments it looks like ya had bad luck or made bad disisions .

wen i arived here it was never expected of me to pay in restaurants or beach ressorts at the contrary they explained my as i was invited it wood be insulting to them if i had payed for it . no one was asking for money .

how can stating the job one has bee seen negative ? realy.

or may be that i did better resurch before comming here or that i just am a very lucky sob he.

greets Dirk

@Gezzar

May I suggest you have a look at [link under review]/@TheFilipinaPea. She recently interviewed Paul from the States.

Do you mean Paul (Worldzoom) as opposed to Paul (Old Dog New Tricks) ? Both good interviews but the former was one of the best I've seen. Tremendous rapport between two cerebral protagonists.

dirk.c. said. . .
wen i arived here it was never expected of me to pay in restaurants or beach ressorts

********************************************

Belgium's are not known as tippers too.

@dirk.c. Your "reeding your comments it looks like ya had bad luck or made bad disisions"

Neither, Dirk. It's what I experienced, was told and observed. Happy with my Pinay and have just renewed for another six months.

@Lotus Eater Paul (Worldzoom)

@dirk.c. Your "how can stating the job one has bee seen negative ? realy." You have taken it out of context. Read the OP by @Slowdown23

@Enzyte Bob ask around and be surprised .

have you ever been in belgium ?how manny belgians do ya know?

dwl

by the way i have been in several us states for short or prolonged stays so i know exactly how to hit the nurve wen it comes to "naging" and anoying .

but all this has nothing to do with the topic here so i wil refrain from further reaktions who are of topic

greets Dirk

@Slowdown23

If your intent is to travel about the central Philippine Islands (known as the Visayas) I can tell you what I know about the area. The Visayas consist of 7 larger islands which are Bohol, Cebu, Leyte,  Masbate, Negros, Panay and Samar. Boracay is on the northern tip of Panay and probably the most popular white sand beach in the Philippines.

I live on the smaller island of Biliran. The main attractions are the numerous waterfalls and it is becoming popular with mountain climbers who like to scale the sides of the old volcanoes. Tomalistis Falls is the most popular falls because it spills directly into the ocean and according to Guinness it is the world’s sweetest water. Unless you are a waterfalls nut or a mountain climber there is no reason to waste your time coming here.

My island is connected to the large island of Leyte by a single bridge. Northern Leyte, the part I’m more familiar with, has some interesting stuff for WW2 buffs. MacArthur Park is in Palo, Leyte at the site of MacArthur’s landing. I’ve seen, and spoke to, many college girls taking a break in the park. Hill 120 is in Dulag, Leyte where the first American flag was raised when retaking the islands. There are a few of Imelda Marcos’ things to see also since she is from that region. The San Juanico Bridge that she literally paid for with her checking account is or was the longest bridge in the Philippine and connects the islands of Leyte and Samar. I don’t know much about Samar, only been there a couple times.

But you’re probably not coming on a sightseeing visit so what I would do is head out of the city to some smaller towns and visit the open air markets. I see a lot of girls at the markets and if they are out shopping for fruits and veggies they are probably more of a “traditional” Filipina than you might find at the malls, although Cebu has some nice malls and you should visit a couple. Every barangay of any size has a festival once a year so somewhere there is always a festival and every barangay that has an open air market has a market day when lots of people visit, buyers and sellers. They are friendly people and a nice greeting goes a long way.

There are also a lot of “resorts” on these islands. Some are beach front and some have an assortment of swimming pools. One nearby resort has mountain spring water running through the pools keeping them filled with fresh running water. Some resorts are just for day trips with no other accommodations but a few have hotels and those may be good places to spend a night or two and party with the locals. If you drink beer be aware that Red Horse is a strong beer. I stick with San Mig Light. I also would not advise drinking any of the other alcohols like Tanduay rum. The locals usually drink tuba which is made from the juice of the coconut tree. The juice does not come from the coconut but from the tree itself. It tastes like vinegar to me and even the Filipinos have to mix it with Pepsi. If you’re walking along a province beach you may run into a few locals sitting around drinking tuba and they will probably invite you to have some but I advise you not to drink it.

I roll up some toilet paper and stick it in my back pocket when I go out. I see more and more flush toilets and bidet sprays but you may run into a pail flush toilet. It is a tiny bowl with no tank and probably no toilet seat. There should be a bucket and dipper in the CR (Comfort Room) so dump a few dippers of water in the bowl and you’re good. I have experienced toilets with the flush water in a 55 gallon drum outside the CR so if you don’t see the bucket and dipper look outside. Filipinos usually wash their butts when they finish. I’ve done it. Americans may think it dirty but Filipinos think it’s dirty to just wipe with dry paper. Filipinos also eat with their fingers so my father in law always eats with his right hand and never puts his left hand on the table.

Cebu is cooking, I travel to Cebu by boat and when we enter the channel between Cebu and Mactan all you see is tower cranes indicating multistory buildings are being erected. I also see more cars and fewer motorbikes on the street each time I visit. Metered cabs are a cheap way to get around. There’s an app called Grab that we used in Manila to summon Taxis but we didn’t need it in Cebu. RedDoorz are good hotels for the money. You can get a room for $20. The best hotel I’ve used in Cebu was the Parklane International. Breakfast is expensive but pretty awesome. It is advertised at about $80 a night but we found it online for just under $50.

Flights to Cebu are somewhat limited and domestic flights are cheap. It sometimes pays to fly into Manila and take a domestic flight to your final destination. The only time it I flew into Cebu instead of Manila was when I was working in South Korea. I flew direct from Incheon to Cebu on Cebu Pacific airlines. It doesn’t matter where I land. From Cebu it is a 3 hour boat ride and a 2 hour road trip. From Manila it is a 1 hour flight and a 3 hour road trip. Travel in the Philippines is slow so relax and enjoy the scenery.

@Moon Dog Thank you so much for spending all that time on the post. I really appreciate the valuable info. 

@Slowdown23 No problem. My house is being painted and I'm having work done on the pool so I have to stay home and keep an eye on the workers. At break time I would type a paragraph thinking about how I would do it if I were coming here at your age.

Right now I'm waiting on dawn to break. I've been taking motorcycle rides around the island before the workers arrive. Cruising though the coconut groves and along the beaches is something I will never get tired of. At that time I'm usually the only one on the road and the bike is new so I like to break it in on the cool mornings.

Moon dog agree on being around to monitor/direct the workers, been doing it for 4 plus months and 2 to 3 to go. Went to Singapore for a week and would get 2 to 3 calls a day asking questions even though we sat them all down before we left and went through the weeks work ahead, seems information retention is lacking with these guys,,,,, 9 of them.

Appreciate your post #55.

As we all know planning is important when coming to PH; any alien country for that matter but as said boots on the ground reveals all both good and bad and plenty of both no matter the destination.

Good luck to the OP and hope it all works well.

Cheers, Steve.

@bigpearl It is probably a good thing that they called you with questions. Many would forge ahead and you may be surprised when you return. We are down to 5 workers now and all that is left is painting and that is almost finished. One big job was building the fence on the back of the property which was the last fence to install. The inside is painted the conservative gray like everything else but my wife told them to use up all the leftover paint on the back side. I didn't even realize they had painted it. My wife asked for dirt for her flower pots this morning so I unlocked the little gate I had made in the fence and went to get some dirt from the cow pasture. That's when I saw the fence has been painted and they used the left over paint. Looks fine to me, only the cows and the caretaker can see it.

I know I will miss the guys when it is finally finished. My wife says she has a surprise for them on their final day, but she won't tell me what it is. Photo is a cow's view of fortress Moon Dog. The OP can see that we are security conscious here, even in our sleepy little barangay. The bare patches are where we got our sod. The caretaker is cool and we slip him a few pesos now and then.

`

Looks good and secure Moon Dog. And I'm sure that soon you'll both be finding reasons to keep your best workers around and about your lovely property often in the future.

Or send some here, we're just making the roadway into our new property

For eg, here they are just about finished the first grader pass, you can see the original footpath into the area ..

And, now we are nearly finished with the bulldozer. Then next week just a grader for three days to crown this roadway, and form the rainwater run-off gutters either side.

By the way, both the bulldozer and grader were free from the Baranguy. We only paid for the twelve concrete culverts over the three streams, and the diesel fuel, the truck transport and we also provided good, hot worker meals. They work hard and did and are-doing a great job

--

So anyway Moon Dog, we are waaay off-topic. But i guess house building and maintenance is what the perfect guy will soon face when he meets the perfect Phils woman?

`

@PalawOne That is amazing. Looks like you're living in a jungle, lucky you!

Be nice to have a topic about projects so folks doing things like that can be on topic.

I did extend the guys a few days for painting the pool. The first time it was painted there was a lot of bubbles in the Davies pool paint and I blamed it on the heat. This morning I painted a test area with a small roller and saw bubbles. One meticulous worker said he could probably paint it without bubbles forming using a brush, and he was right!

`

Good, very glad you solved the pool paint bubbles, and enjoyed your workmen's company again today Moon Dog. Sounds like a productive and social day once again for you guys!

And yes, we are building in the jungle Moon Dog. My wife owns her house and land in the middle of Roxas town, Palawan. But now, just outside Roxas, this 7 hectare property is going to be the new family farm. And maybe also an eco-tourist attraction in future?

Over the last few months the farm has been built as a completely traditional working (and already profitable) farm. We have planted several orchards, and vegetable gardens, and have ducks, chickens and pigs. It's been an exciting few months so far.

Here's the farm when it was recently close-by, on a friend-of-the-family's land. Must say every woman in this family photo has a teaching degree, including dearest wifey sixth from the right and in jeans. I'm honored to join her family.

`

@PalawOne Looks like you truly achieved paradise. Great looking bunch of smiling Filipinos. I read once that the Filipino philosophy is to wake up with a smile and try to keep there all day long. I agree with that credo 100%.

Moon Dog writes, Looks like you truly achieved paradise. Great looking bunch of smiling Filipinos. I read once that the Filipino philosophy is to wake up with a smile and try to keep there all day long. I agree with that credo 100%.
-@Moon Dog

`

Yes Moon Dog, and don't know we've achieved paradise yet, but same as you, we're working on it my friend.

Great news this morning! Instead of the grader starting work tomorrow, they rang and said they will start today! This is really good news, because as we expats will know 'Filipina Time' can really mean anytime.

These are my favourite quotes regarding Pinoys and time. "Filipinos are generally not known to plan ahead in the future. Whatever comes tomorrow is something that is left to God or fate. This attitude is best captured in the common Tagalog expression “Bahala na!” (Let it be, or So be it!). What lies ahead is something beyond the control of human beings."

"In talking about up-coming activities, Tagalog-speakers are often “imprecise” about reference to time in the future. Instead of an actual time, it's common to hear expressions that refer to any particular part of the day.

For example, common Tagalog expressions about activities in the future can be:

mamayang gabi (later this evening)

mamayang madaling-araw (later at dawn)

bukas ng umaga (tomorrow in the morning)

sa makalawa (two days from now)

sa susunod na araw (in the next day)

sa darating na buwan (in the coming month)

sa darating na taon (in the coming year)

sa pagsikat ng araw (when the sun rises)

pag lumaki na siya (if he is a grown up already)

mamaya pa (later yet) (end quote)

Haha being retired, I love some/many aspects of the Philippines culture!

`

@PalawOne I know "bahala na" and the various interpretation of the phrase. In this area it is more of "I'll worry about it tomorrow, tuba today" phase. We have standards that are hard for the locals to understand, like not throwing trash on the ground. Some workers and guests would walk past a trash can to throw paper or plastic over the fence. I put a stop to that.

@Slowdown23 I did a helmet cam video of a ride through our province. It is my first YouTube video so take that into consideration.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6hAcK2PSfU

@Slowdown23 I did a helmet cam video of a ride through our province. It is my first YouTube video so take that into consideration. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6hAcK2PSfU
-@Moon Dog

`

Nice smooth ride Moon Dog. And great camera work and audio for your first attempt man. Excellent, thanks for the interesting ride. And if that very pretty green spot where you stopped and turned around is typical of your area, it's a lovely place.

From a Youtube video point of view, maybe in future if you had more of a formal script prepared it'd be even better?

Anyway, thanks for sharing Moon Dog. Your area seems a neat and clean place, good roads, pretty, colorful, and vibrant. A nice place to be cruising while you're breaking in a new bike!

@PalawOne Thanks, and I very much appreciate all the tips and constructive criticism you can give me. The Gopro hasn't been used since we've been here. I found it in a cabinet and there was a self adhesive helmet mount. I've never used it so I watched a YouTube video while the batteries were charging and jumped on my bike and took a ride to try it out. I didn't know if it was framed properly because when I hit record the preview on my phone went away. That is a bug in the Gopro when using an iPhone I later learned.

I stopped at Caibirin, I should make another video starting at the Caibirin sign because there are more interesting things to see on that side of the island like Tomalistis Falls, Paradise Beach and the hot springs. There are little pools of bubbling water along side a mountain stream where the locals hard boil eggs.

`

From an online look at Caibirin, your area certainly looks attractive (of course, being a Phils province) and also somewhere unique, with a variety of geographical and natural features

Folks can see it here: https://youtu.be/7B1zaSxpZbM

Admire the endless coconut plantation by the sea. And the city nestled in the green valley. The thought just struck, what would the world's city folks give to have all this virtually just outside your front door?

Regarding your video-making skills, just wondering if you might look at arranging for the occasional cut-away to individual and group segments, where-in you and others talk directly to camera. Be nice to see the folks behind your camera also.

`

@PalawOne Thanks, excellent advice. I need to get acquainted with some video editing programs to do those things. The Gopro apparently records the videos in certain lengths. A 15 minute video is in 2 mp4 files and I just use MS Photos to join them into one. It is a very basic program but good for joining segments.

I made another video yesterday on my ebike. This time I turned left and went to Cabucgayan which is our municipality. School was letting out so it was very busy. When we bought the property around 2008 it was more like vacant lots on a back road. This will give the OP the other side of province life, the exploding population.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRKCy1O574E

Certainly you live in a busy, lively and vibrant city Moon Dog.

And with no shortage of fit and healthy people, especially younger folk.

Thanks. It's a great effort. The audio was fine, clearly audible and interesting.

One thing that fascinated me is the perfectly round hole in the middle of your concrete pier. Odd! Looks to me like it might have been made by a bomb, dropped from some aeroplane? Absolutely great aim if it was. It'd be spectacular accuracy from some Air Force bombardier!

Regarding video technique, two things. At the start of both videos, and for several minutes, you had your head down. And so of course, with your helmet mounted GoPro, at the start of the video your viewer is greeted with a somewhat lengthy view of the ground, while of course you attend to the needs of your bike before you set off.

May one suggest it might be best to start the camera off only when you are ready to present the normal forward looking viewpoint? Maybe also would suggest just a minute or two of just watching the people pass by your house while you introduce the who, when, where and why of your location and video? That always interesting listening, whilst also simply watching the normal people going by and going about their daily business?

Anyway, just some thoughts on your video efforts as requested Moon Dog

Looks like we all soon may have another video-professional in the making!

-   

@PalawOne I did more of what you suggested even before I read your message so we are thinking along the same lines. Thanks again.

I made another video last evening and ended up going to Kasabangan Falls parking area, which is just large enough for one car so I use the term "parking area" lightly. I was able to turn my multicab around in the parking area but I had to back the Fortuner about 1/2 km to in order to turn around.

I need to make a video of the walk to the falls on the swinging bridges. The very closest falls is Casiawan Falls, the road up the mountain to the falls begins in Cabucgayan, only about 1 km from my house. I still have to do a tricycle trip and a multicab trip so maybe I'll take the tricycle up the mountain and make a video.

In a previous message I briefly described our island to the OP and said there is no reason to come here with such a sort visit. He would probably be better off to spend the short time he has in and around Cebu, there is a lot to see there, but he can have a few video clips of a neighboring island.

Latest video, if you don't want to watch the whole clip fast forward to the mountain lane up the mountain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvkrwI6PC_Q&t=2s