GeoffH

Well yes... being a long spoon it would take a while.

When I got my Rabies vaccination in Aussie my Doctor gave me this card which is a vaccine record (in WHO recognized format). I guess I can get an adult Polio booster later and have that added. I have had other vaccinations but I don't have a record of them.

I suspect that gold from a recognised mint would be easiest to sell in the event of some sort of global crash. It’s available in various sizes with the originating mint and the purity stamped on it. Or you can buy coins which can be used as currency also. Or just as a collectible. The fees related to buying and selling favour larger ingots over smaller ones because with small ones the fee is a larger percentage of the cost of the ingot. Sizes between a gram and a kilogram (or 50 Oz) are common (larger sizes are available but not common). I’m not sure about the Philippines gold laws but there are gold depositories where you can store your gold after buying in various countries, however that won’t work if you want the gold with you because the gold remains in the depository (think if it as a bank just for gold or mini Fort Knox places). Silver bullion and Platinum bullion are also available, silver is cheaper per gram but otherwise is available in similar size bars and ingots. Platinum is also traded but I don’t know much about it. I’ve used Perth mint in the past but there are a number of recognised mints (NB Perth don’t send to the Philippines I was just using them as an example). It is a complicated area and I would suggest careful research before jumping in.

My GP told me that digital rectal exams were no more likely to detect prostrate cancer than a PSE test (and that neither was close to being 100% reliable anyway). So I only get PSE tested.

You bunch of sly dogs you...

I'm not in favor of prisons being run like holiday camps but it shouldn't be a death sentence to be in one either (unless you've actually been sentenced to death ie).

That is good news! I've not made any real progress sad to say but you've motivated me. I'm going to email PARA next week (I've been putting it off for no good reason) and ask to join so I can start the process of obtaining a Philippines license and find out what's involved in bringing in a Transceiver.

Manila and Cebu are the largest cities in the Philippines, that means they've got the widest choice of facilities (of things westerners are used to) but it also means they're the most heavily polluted, suffer from the worst traffic problems and cost the most to live in. Then there are more remote small cities and towns, those tend to have less traffic problems but also smaller more basic hospitals and shopping. Honestly I prefer middle sized cities... enough 'western facilities' that it isn't a problem buying stuff but not so big that the pollution and traffic becomes truly painful. Now which middle size place... that's the question isn't it :)

Nice bikes those! A mate of mine had one until he got too old and couldn't handle the weight anymore so he bought a trike. I had a Harley Street Glide until recently that I sold for the same reason, my arthritis and bung knee made stopping and moving it at low speed unsafe (once moving it was fine). I've still got my V-Strom 650 (that's tall but it's a lot lighter) in Australia and the little Honda Wave 125 in the Philippines. Mostly I ride somewhere and have a meal in a pub and ride back (sedately) these days... a far cry from how I used to ride but at least I'm still riding.

You too eh LOL I did mad sunday once on my Kawasaki 750. I had a similar experience... getting passed doing 160kph on a sweeping corner (with a huge drop off down a hill to my right) when 4 suzukis (all GSXRs from what I remember) went around me on the outside doing a lot more speed *voosh* *voosh* *vossh* *voosh*. I don't regret doing it... but I too am too old now for mad sunday, I'd go back and watch the racing and drink beer in a heartbeat though!

SWMBO has family in the eastern end of the red area and I visit a couple of times a year but as I alluded to in my opinion not all of the red area is necessarily more unsafe than all of the orange area. I feel safer in Ozamiz (which is in the east part of the red area) than I do travelling through some parts of Bukidnon (which is in the orange area) due to the active local communinst groups (even SWMBO papa says it is dangerous at night).

I've been as fast as 250 kilometers per hour on a race track on a motorbike (when I was younger and fitter) and I have to say... I think the rider was doing more than that at times. NO WAY would I do that on a public road... I saw a guy fail to take the turn at the end of the main strait at Philip Island race track and his bike bounced and rolled for a couple of hundred meters before it came to a halt (it was almost unrecognizable). The guy was actually only mildly injured but that's because he slid on the grass for even further and didn't hit anything.

None taken (well not me at least) but I will make the observation that not all of Mindanao has the same travel rating, the area where the kidnappings took place is as far west into the Red area as you can get and still stay on Mindanao but most of the east of Mindano (including the 2 largest cities Davao and Cagayan De Oro) is Orange (the rest of the Philippines are Yellow, none of it is Green).

They have been using similar units in Australia for a couple of years now. Initially there were only a few trial sites but they've been rolled out to basically every store now. The follow up trend is reducing the number of registers on the front counter. My Daughter in Austraia (who is still studying and works at McDonalds to help her budget) says that her store still has basically the same number of employees but there are more people preparing food and less people serving so they get more meals made quicker which has been used to increase store volume. It might lead to smaller staff numbers at less busy stores where they weren't running at or near capacity before the change though. It does mean less waiting in lines (which I know a lot of people don't like). Use the machine to make an order, take a display number from next to the machine (for eat in), go to the table and wait for table service.

Unless he's rich and his family can come up with a ransom then I would not be surprised bastonjock