The only guy in the village

[graham59]

Very seldom see other poriners in my neck of the jungle, but when I do, I can see that they are clearly upset that I am much more handsomer than they are.  

Only others I see occasionally,  are those pests from a certain 'church' , engaged on a little brain-washing of the locals.  

[RBM]

1 hour ago, GeoffH said:

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.

Interesting as I have pretty much same experiences.

[jimeve]

6 minutes ago, RBM said:

Interesting as I have pretty much same experiences.

Yep, same same

 

[Rayj]

Have not seen any here in my wife’s smallish town, guessing 10k+ people. The family unit is pretty tight So It kind of keeps me to myself when traveling out. 1 day saw a group of young athletic guys at the SM and a couple older types with them. Must have been a sports or religious event. When shopping, and met another couple like us, we 4 got on like gangbusters, even exchanging food tips. That kind of circumstance is ready made for open conversation.

[JDDavao II]

1 hour ago, graham59 said:

Only others I see occasionally,  are those pests from a certain 'church' , engaged on a little brain-washing of the locals.  

My wife let that lot in once. French guy with a Filipina who had a small child. Her reaction was, as intended, "Oh, there's a nice married couple all done up in pretty clothes, come for a visit."

Now, everyone here knows my hearing is shot. So the last thing I want is a conversation with a stranger with an accent. It was awful for me.

Came time to go, we found out that they were of that "church" and not romantically involved at all! It was a setup. I was so mad and my wife was, too.

[Maxheadspace]

I'm not living in the Philippines at the moment, but when I've been an expat in other countries the expats always gravitated towards each other and formed great bonds.  It's disturbing to hear that's not the case in the Philippines.  I'm living in Korea now and us Western foreigners always bond quickly. 

[graham59]

1 hour ago, Maxheadspace said:

I'm not living in the Philippines at the moment, but when I've been an expat in other countries the expats always gravitated towards each other and formed great bonds.  It's disturbing to hear that's not the case in the Philippines.  I'm living in Korea now and us Western foreigners always bond quickly. 

There are certain cities in the Phils, popular with expats, where they do get together and socialise more, so need to worry about that.

It's only unsociable ***** like me who you tend to find sweating away inside distant jungle huts. 

(Having said that, even I do take the occasional bus ride down to Angeles City to meet up with a few (male !) expat friends there. )

[graham59]

1 hour ago, JDDavao said:

Came time to go, we found out that they were of that "church" and not romantically involved at all! It was a setup. I was so mad and my wife was, too.

Any particular 'church' ?

I had in mind this particular lot of pests ... 

.

 

[hk blues]

1 hour ago, Maxheadspace said:

I'm not living in the Philippines at the moment, but when I've been an expat in other countries the expats always gravitated towards each other and formed great bonds.  It's disturbing to hear that's not the case in the Philippines.  I'm living in Korea now and us Western foreigners always bond quickly. 

Obviously this doesn't apply to all  ex-pats, and most certainly not to us on here, but perhaps the Philippines (and most of SE Asia for that matter)  attracts a certain type of character which may wish to keep a low profile and thus avoid getting too close to other ex-pats.  I think that explains why most of us have reported similar experiences with ex-pats here.  For me, it's fair enough and I let them be.  That said, most of the ex-pats I see in the mall do nod in acknowledgement.  

[Jollygoodfellow]

6 hours ago, stevewool said:

Walking around the area I have felt like a celebrity as being ‘ the only gay in the village ‘

Is that what you really wanted to say?  Thanks for coming out sweety