GeoffH

Welcome Gery :)

Welcome to the forum :)

I was asked to shift from an aisle seat which I'd paid extra for to a middle seat so that a guy could sit there. I just said "I paid extra for this seat and the seat you're offering me is a no extra cost seat", the guy looked annoyed and asked again and I refused again. Then he asked loudly again and I said NO again. Then he stormed away. The cabin staffer looked worried and came back a few minutes later and asked me to shift again. I just said "I'm happy to shift into another aisle seat because I paid for an aisle seat, but I'm not moving to a center or window seat unless you give me the cash back that I paid for the upgraded seat". She said "we can't do that..." and I never heard anything from the cabin crew again.

You could buy a new Toyota Wigo, Yaris, Vios, Avanza , Rush or Hilux (in varying specifications) for 1 million peso.

A cousin of the family is a high school teacher in Ozamiz, she teaches (at that school anyway) in English. Bisaya is most widely spoken, often children from poor families don't attend school for long and don't learn much English. Tagalog is not widely spoken in the family even amongst the better educated (SWMBO speaks much better English than Tagalog for example).

To clarify, I haven't had an issue with the implementation of martial law or the check points. My 'good news' comment was in the expectation that martial law wouldn't be being stopped if the threat level hadn't decreased (although in retrospect maybe I shouldn't assume that).

Just read this on Channel News Asia... good news if true! https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/philippines-end-martial-law-restive-south-mindanao-december-12173134

We've used Lazada a fair amount, everything ordered arrived ok but have had trouble with items not arriving from eBay Philippines so don't use that anymore.

Kayo for sports. Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and recently Disney+ for TV and movies and a local cable TV subscription for SWMBO and the family. I have never seen anything worth watching on free to air TV in the Philippines.

Doesn't sound too different to what we got up to when younger! We'd hop on the motorbikes on the weekend, throw a sleeping bag and a small tent on the back and gather at a country farm or camping area in big groups and listen to locally provided rock or blues music and drink beer or whiskey and get drunk (sleeping on Friday and Saturday nights). Then ride home sunday morning with a hang over most of the times, there was always weed around too but I preferred Jim Beam and Coke to be honest.

Saved the cost of a trial, but I'm hoping that the part of the report that says no police hurt is the correct section.

I always use bottled water for coffee and tea. I don't know if I'm imagining it but there seems to be a lingering after taste even after boiling from the tap water. Mineral content in the tap water maybe? I find some of the local baked beans a bit... bland but the Heinz ones are fine (reminds me of those Goodies Heinz videos from the 70s). https://dai.ly/x2nvpvc

Could be... SWMBO and all her family call them "slippers" also (they speak Bisaya... Mindano sub-dialect).

I used to go out of my way to nod or say hi to the small number of westerners near Puerto (most of them seem to live up near the old airport not our side of the city of CDO), but honestly, except for a few many have seemed a bit... off, I keep more to myself these days.

I agree, in the provinces even middle class families tend to order water deliveries for drinking (20 litre bottles) and often for CR use and washing use (200 litre barrels) unless they’re close to town.