Your First Trip To Ph

[Mr Lee]

Good story Jim...especially as I'm familiar with the folk you mention.....maybe you should start another thread about the 'outcomes'...

I did start to do as you requested then decided that I didn't want to bad mouth anyone as we are all getting along so well these days.All I can really say is that truth is stranger than fiction and I can't tell the story at the moment. Suffice to say that Ian and I are both divorced. Another Australian married another of Nide's sisters and they are divorced too!Regards: Jim

Ouch! All three out of three, that sucks.

Yes it appears all three marriages failed by what Jim said, and then there are guys like you (Old55), myself and many others who are happily married for many years, so the key is to choose wisely, be a good person, and hope luck is also on your side and marriage can work.

[intrepid]

One piece of advise when traveling around the Philippines, carry a small supply of toilet tissue at all times. You may find that not to be an issue around larger cities but in the province and private homes, you will most likely find no paper available. Even in the malls and other public restrooms (CR) you will likely find no paper. While you may find a coin operated toilet paper dispenser in the hallway before entering the CR, it does you no good if you are already inside or you have no coins. I find it just easier to carry my own paper,....always!dan

[Jollygoodfellow]

One piece of advise when traveling around the Philippines, carry a small supply of toilet tissue at all times. You may find that not to be an issue around larger cities but in the province and private homes, you will most likely find no paper available. Even in the malls and other public restrooms (CR) you will likely find no paper. While you may find a coin operated toilet paper dispenser in the hallway before entering the CR, it does you no good if you are already inside or you have no coins. I find it just easier to carry my own paper,....always!dan

Good advice,although I have been lucky enough not to have to use public rest rooms I always have a little packet of tissue in my wife's bag.

[Jake]

One piece of advise when traveling around the Philippines, carry a small supply of toilet tissue at all times. You may find that not to be an issue around larger cities but in the province and private homes, you will most likely find no paper available. Even in the malls and other public restrooms (CR) you will likely find no paper. While you may find a coin operated toilet paper dispenser in the hallway before entering the CR, it does you no good if you are already inside or you have no coins. I find it just easier to carry my own paper,....always!dan

Excellent advice Intrepid! Just like a good Boy Scout, always be prepared. However, as your name implies (Intrepid), I'm suresome of the more adventurous and daring members have tried what the locals usually do. As you may know, it's called thetabo-tabo method. The link below explains the basics:http://www.associate...pg2.html?cat=16Surprisingly, it really makes me "presh na presh". Additionally, I always carry a field kit (fanny pack) with me. It consists of a bottle of scented alcohol or liquid soap sanitizer, wash cloth, small flashlight and utility tool device. I always insist that my wifecarries a small canister of pepper spray against crazy dogs and "two legged animals".Respectfully -- Jake

[Inspector]

My first trip to the Philippines?Well, we're going to have to start from the beginning. At an early age, my dad's partner on the NYPD, and still to this day his best friend, was a 4 year sailor....and of course had tattoo's on his arms. Needless to say, he went on a few west pacs and managed to have a few tats of some fine looking south pacific type ladies, one a topless pin up on his forearm of a hula dancing lady that eased my puberty.Later in life, after a few beers with him and dad, I told the partner I used to pleasure myself to his arm. My dad immediately smacked my alongside my head, and Ray barked at my dad it was because my mom had too much influence in my upbringing...have no idea what that the hell that was all about, but I did know I wanted to see the world.Fast forward now past all those rubbing years. I knew I was going to join the military as soon as I watched Patton at age 14...however, I also watched the Godfather then as well, and I also wanted to be a a eventual boss of a crime family, of course without killing horses...figured a dead chicken in the bed for non cooperating farmers until I realized they kill and eat them anyway. I asked my mom if she was Italian, and she said no...Irish. Dad was only part, and I realized then, I would never be made....nor did my sister want to kill an annoying neighborhood kid that picked his nose and ate it, because I helped her with her homework. Favors were always one sided with her. Well, I was going into the military. After much decision, I settled on the Navy, once again because of Ray's porno arm. I always think back to that scene in the movie Stripes, and when they were all telling about themselves and why they joined, and me saying because of a tattoo of nipples during puberty. Well, fast foward again, bootcamp and schooling, until I finally made it my ship. I have a million stories that the older I get, the more I do not remember...but the one I will always remember is my first trip to the Philippines.We finally made it during our first west pac, I believe we hit Guam (pre tipping danger days) and Japan before the Philippines on that first voyage...and the lifers and old timers seemed to be a bit happier and anxious. The stories you heard about Subic, well, I will be honest as it is about first visits...it was called sexual disneyland with LBFM's (look it up), and when the fleet arrived they would bus in thousands of province girls for the bars. Well, I was either 18 or 19 at the time, single...and as any 19 year old who was stuck on a ship for a while, horny, so the chance of hooking up with a nice pretty pinay, or twenty, was alright by me. :yes:Well, needless to say I pulled duty the first day we arrived and thought I was going to be stuck on the ship on some watch...but, to my surprise, I got shore patrol. I put on the dress whites and my little arm band, was given a partner and away we went. That was my first experience of Olongapo, and the bars. Watching actual sex in the booths, hell, on the stages...girls might of been IN bikini's, but by 10 PM they were all naked, and it was what I would call a Pirate's den...OMG, and the live bands. They had any and every type of music in each themed bar. EVERY girl would ask to be your girlfriend even wearing my uniform and official I was stuck with duty arm band. Oh, and there was a nice brawl that occurred that first night, and the guy I was with started calling it in to the MP, but I remember being told to break it up and get the guys out of there BEFORE the MP wagon arrived...so while my anal partner was calling it in, I pleaded with the friends of the combatants to get out of there...they stopped left and the one military guy who ended up being a marine, said thanks and to meet them for a drink the next night...when the MP arrived, I said I do not remember what they looked like, and all the drunks in the bar gave them a hard time...well, listening to advice worked out as the next night I had the best night of my life. I will leave it that as this forum is PG-13, but a few of us shipmates met up with the marines and contrary to belief, we go along...and had a blast. There was a pinoy playing Jimi Hendrix Purple Haze to a tee, and he lit a circle of fire around him as he wailed out...the rock music was amazing, the live musicians outstanding. After a few days, my chief, Ed Acuna...actually he was my first class at that time I believe, and a guy I made great friends with as he was a boxer, and we would spar as the ship was underway as well as play cards. He was also a filipino, as the military of the US had filipino's back then, well...he took me and a few other squids past sailor town, not that it was a bad place for a 19 year old...hehehe... but he took us on a bus to meet his LARGE family, and we seen the other side of sexual disneyland...the culture, the poverty and exactly why woman would do anything for a poorly paid sailor...and it sort of made me wonder a bit about if I was using these ladies...but after a few Mojo's, I said, they were also using us, so lets just use each other and have some fun. :lol:Ah, to be 19 years old again and listen to the important head. :unsure:Ed introduced me to a cousin?...some family member...an OLDER pinay in her late 20's...name was Tess. For a 19 year old, she was ancient..hahah, but beautiful, and a supposed virgin. A "good" filipina, and I guess Ed was trying to hook me up...we wrote to each other a bit, but it never worked out. Ahhh...memories. :)Well, I survived those orgy sessions without any shots needed, guess I was lucky...I remember the corpsman I pumped iron with saying 60% of the ship had the clap....:wt-hell:Things I seen on my first trip...skinned dogs hanging in markets like cattle, sailors throwing pesos at pinays on a boat in a river of shet, that would dive in and get them....brown outs every few hours, and LOUD generators....great bands, roaches falling on beds where you would sleep with your woman, meat on a stick...oh I will always remember that smell. Oh, the kids following you with open bags, having to keep your wallet in the front pocket, hand over it. It was a fun place, but also a very dangerous place...it was alright having a bar throw down with fellow military guys, but outside the bars it was far worst getting killed versus knocked out. Yes, something I will never forget....but the thing I remember the MOST...how incredibly poor, yet happy the filipino's were. Made me appreciate what I had in life, and yet, what I also wanted.

[Dave Hounddriver]

Thanks for sharing that amazing story Inspector

[Rudderless]

I really enjoy reading these stories... More more!Rudderless

[Travis]

Quick question for you guys....The first time you came to Ph, did you travel alone, with a buddy, what was the situation?I'm coming in March and will be by my self initally. Anyone have any pointers for me?Rudderless

I went by myself with advice from this forum & a couple of the members & I did ok by myself. the main advice I can give is do not be flashy & if you meet a lady find out what her obligations to her family would be if you 2 decide to be an item coz knowing up front if you can afford them will be important. another thing is do not believe people when they tell you that you can live cheap unless you are willing to live a very simple life outside the city

[Call me bubba]

The story of my first trip.If you are interested.There is a video to download in the middle of the story too.Regards; Jim

I have a friend called Joe where I was living in Australia. My friend Joe was married to a Filipina His wife Imelda had a sister Anita who was interested in marrying a foreigner and Joe asked if I was interested. I told Joe that I wasn’t interested but knew someone who might. I took Joe to meet my friend Ian. Ian was in his late 30’s, never married and owned 12,000 acres of land, with a family home he lived in by himself. Ian could feel time slipping away so he decided that he would try with Anita. Her photo helped with the decision! Anita was very pretty! Ian knew all about growing wheat but was not much at letter writing. This was 1993 and the internet had not quite caught on where we lived so of course we were still using snail mail. I helped Ian write a letter and we had some photos taken and sent them to Anita. The letter writing back and forth continued for a few months then Joe decided he was going to the Philippines in September of 1994 Joe asked Ian to go with him to meet Anita. I was asked to go too!I had been around the world a couple of times but never stopped over in an Asian country. Unless you count the airport. So I was interested to go to the Philippines and experience something new. Joe had very limited video footage of the Philippines which included his wedding to Imelda. He also had a copy of Filipina Dream Girls starring “Greengrass”. Yes I know his name is Bill Maynard but he will always be “Greengrass” to me. Anyway, that was our only real preparation for the Philippines. Nobody told us about terrorists or anything else that it would be helpful for a first time visitor to know. There was a bikini bar scene in the Filipina Dreamgirls but without context, it meant nothing to me. So even for me who had travelled the world, I was expecting it to be different but not much different from what I had already seen. I think I imagined that Filipino people lived in a world like mine but they were Asian instead of European. I was in for a few shocks!September soon rolled around and it was time for us to go. We had a travel plan for the Philippines. Anita was 19 and still attending high school in Manila. She would still be attending school for our first week in the Philippines but would travel with us for our second week in the Philippines. After that, Anita would return to Manila and we would tour on our own.5 of us set out for the Philippines. There was Joe, his wife Imelda, his daughter Joanne, Ian and myself.We landed in Manila. The first meeting in person for Ian and Anita. Aaaand…. Nothing! Instant unattraction is how I interpret the meeting. No kissing, hugging or anything. Just hello and lets get in the multicab.We had arranged for the family of Imelda to meet us at the airport in a multicab. So the family came to the airport in a multicab full of people and not much room for us. The price agreed in advance for the multicab was P1,000. When we arrived at the house of Imelda’s aunt, the driver wanted an extra p500 because he had to wait so long. I didn’t know at the time but on the taxi rates at the time, we could have caught 2 taxis for less than P200 to our accommodation. And, a couple of days later, we hired a multicab for the whole day to tour around Manila. It only cost P500 for the whole day. That was when I really became aware that we were ripped off when we arrived. Imelda’s uncle had arranged the multicab. A couple of days later Imelda’s uncle is showing his generosity by buying us beer. Something I later realised was very unusual. Usually, it is the Filipinos waiting for us to pay. I imagine Imelda’s uncle made a profit out of our arrival.The house was very large and was built over the top of a garage workshop. It had 5 actual bedrooms but someone had also cut the bathroom in half and made a bedroom there. They had also turned a vacant area in the stairs into a sleeping area. So in effect, there were 7 bedrooms. People also slept on the sofas in the living room. The complex also had 10 apartments at the rear. They were rented out by Imelda’s aunt for P1,000 each per month. So Imelda’s aunt had a decent income at the time. You could go from the house to the top of the apartments and look out over the Sta Ana race track.Imelda, Joe, Joanne and Anita slept in one bedroom. Joe later told me he was in lust after seeing Anita’s breasts. Ian and I slept in another bedroom. Our bedroom was situated right where they hung the clothes to dry so our view of the Philippines for the first week was of drying clothes.Our first night in Manila was a Sunday. We had arranged a roast pig in advance and it was waiting when we got there. In fact it was a huge feast, Just as well because there were a huge amount of people hanging around waiting to eat it. It was my first roast pig and it was delicious. We all thought so and decided that Sunday would be roast pig day. So every Sunday for the rest of our trip, we had roast pig.We all had air beds with us. In Cebu City, we were told we would be staying in a brand new house with no furniture so we had airbeds to sleep on. Joe decided he would use the airbed in Manila. It was the first time to blow it up. The salesman who sold Joe the airbed told him to blow it up with a vacuum cleaner. Unfortunately that was no help as there was no vacuum cleaners in sight. So I started blowing it up by mouth. It was a huge thing. Queen size and about 1 foot thick and took forever. Staying at the house were several of Imelda’s aunts, several uncles and many cousins. Of Imelda’s cousins, there were at least 10 single girls between 16 and 26 staying at the house. On about day 2, one of Imelda’s aunts came to me and said my niece is interested in you. I said which one. She said all of them! I enquired if there was one in particular and there was. Her name was Christine. She was 18 years old and studying journalism in college. She sat down on the sofa and I sat down next to her so we could have our photo taken. Just as the photo was about to be taken, she moved away from me. I immediately thought she has no interest in me and I never spoke to her again. Except for one time after I was married that is. Shortly after my ex wife arrived in Australia a year later, Christine rang to enquire how I was. I put her onto my ex-wife. Christine never rang again!When it was obvious that I wasn’t immediately going to accept an offer from Christine or any other girl staying in the house, the same uncle who took advantage of our arrival came to me and said he had a cousin and would I like to meet her. To be polite, I said yes. He also said he knew some girls who worked in a club and would we like to meet them too. We being Ian and Myself. Coming from Australia, to me a club was a Golf Club, RSL Club (Returned Serviceman’s League) or Bowling Club where you went to drink and play the poker machines (slot machines) at night and play golf or bowls in the day time. The girls who work in those places just serve drinks and food, so of course, we said yes.The uncle took us to a factory where about 100 girls were making clothes. The girls from the club were introduced to us and we were told it was P1,000 each for the day. For what?, is what I wanted to know and then we were told!. Ian was supposed to be spending time with Anita so I was perplexed as to why her uncle would be introducing us to prostitutes. In any case we refused. I suspect the uncle missed out on making more money from us.. Shortly after, we were introduced to “the cousin” at which time I had my own instant unattraction episode.The uncle seeing that nothing was going to happen decided to try something else. He took me to a door where I could see the girls making the clothes and said; “TAKE YOUR PICK“. I didn’t pick any. I wasn’t interested but at that point, I became very aware that there are many Filipinas hoping for a ticket out of the Philippines and they saw me as their great white hope.In the meantime, nothing was happening with Anita. We toured around Manila in the daytime. At night, Anita would come back to the house and would not even acknowledge Ian. After a week had gone by, it was time to move on to Cebu City. Again we were stupid enough to arrange for Imelda’s family to meet us and again they came with a van full of people. This time there was no room for us at all and we had to catch a taxi.. So, in effect, we paid for a van for no other purpose than have Imelda’s family come to the airport to greet us. However, this time the cost was only a couple of hundred pesos so we weren’t too perturbed. Cebu City was another period of time with no interaction between Ian and Anita. Ian would try to pick up Anita’s bags to carry her bags and she would grab them back off him. If Ian sat down beside her, she would get up and walk away. This wasn’t going well. Ian was very patient and trying to communicate whereas Anita was making no effort at all. She was there because her sister told her to be there and that was it. The first opportunity to get away, she would take it.In the meantime, we enjoyed ourself. We spent a few days touring around and doing tourist things, then Imelda announced she wanted to go to Palompon to see her mother. Palompon was a 5 hour trip on a ship. It was Our Lady of Mount Carmel and was my first trip on any boat in the Philippines. The trip was in the daytime so I was expecting we would have seats to sit on but nooo! No seats, just bunks. Bunks everywhere, as many as they could squeeze on. We could sit on our bunks but I found that too uncomfortable so, like all the Filipinos around me, I lay down on the bunk too. What an uncomfortable ride! The bunks were just perfect for your average Filipino but I found that the bunk was shorter and thinner than me.Palompon!A seemingly small town by the sea which turned out to have a population of about 50,000 people. However 50,000 people was still not enough to support a single supermarket let alone a department store. There were many small shops and several of what I would call mini marts but most of the shopping took place in the open markets. They had a fish market, chicken market, pig market and vegetable market. Nothing was refrigerated but they did have ice on the fish. The time to buy pig meat was obviously in the morning before the flies had time to do their work. The afternoon shoppers probably had some surprise protein with their pig meat. When I say pig meat, I don’t mean they had choice cuts like pork chops. The meat was hacked off and charged the same amount per kilogramme no matter how much fat or bone was in the selection. In the fish market, every imageinable type of seafood was on sale, including seaweed. Prawns (shrimp) were very cheap, about $1 per kilogramme. So cheap that they fried them up and ate them like potato chips. At night, they had TV in the park. Not movies but just ordinary TV. There were hundreds of people in the park watching TV. Obviously they were from families too poor to own their own. If there were a similar number of people in a park in a western country there would be vendors trying to sell and drinks but not here. Not a single vendor. Probably, no one had money to buy anything anyway.We were staying with another of Imelda’s aunts. They had beds for some of us but we had to get the queensize airbed out again. Joe was hopeless at blowing up the airbed so I volunteered to blow it up, again. We were in the living room. Everyone knew it would take a long time to blow up so most people just wandered off. The only people left in the living room by the time I was finished blowing up the airbed were Anita and myself. I lay down on the airbed to check if it was blown up enough….and Anita lay down beside me.I was off the bed and standing up very quick. What was I supposed to do. Anita and Ian were supposed to be together and I was not going to be part af a threesome. Anita didn’t say anything to me and I didn’t say anything to Anita. In fact, I don’t believe I ever spoke to her again. I never said anything to Ian either. That day, Anita went off to stay with her mother and we took to eating at the best restaurant in town, Ambrosias. Ambrosias was a pleasant break for us. We had enough of eating Filipin food and Ambrosias were happy to feed us all the western style food we could eat. There were a couple of bonuses too. The beer was only about 30 cents. The other bonus was the waitresses. They wore short skirts and seemed hardly able to keep their legs together while they sat down waiting for customers. They would also lean over the tables more than seemed necessary to take our order. From now on, we were eating at Ambrosias.We decided we should visit Imelda’s mother too and decided the best time to visit was when Anita had to go back home to Manila. We only travelled 10 kilometres but the whole trip was on a dirt road and took about 30 minutes. The house of Imelda’s mother was very small. There was one small bedroom, about the size of a queen size mattress. Not that there was a mattress. Imelda’s mother slept on a mat on the floor. The rest of the house was a combined kitchen and family room not much bigger than the bedroom. We were the centre of attention. It seemed as if the whole village turned out to see the 3 white boys. Obviously no white people came to this village very often. When the exciement of our visit died down, we decided to go back to the main town. The boat back to Manila was already waiting at the pier so we went straight to the boat. Anita, Imelda, Joe Ian and myself all went on board. We made sure that Anita was comfortably settled then left Ian and Anita to say goodbye. Ian walked over to Anita to do or say who knows what. Whatever it was, he didn’t get the chance. As soon as Anita saw Ian advancing she just screamed out something. We had no idea what she was screaming out but it just sounded bad. Ian gave up, never said anything and we walked off the boat together. On the pier, I asked Imelda what Anita had said. Anita had said, Don’t leave me here with him.That was it for Anita. It should have been over long before but that really was the end right then. It was Saturday night and half way through our Philippines adventure. After we left the pier, it was time for Ambrosias. It was commiseration time for Ian but laugh time for us! Joe and I thought it was very funny and we kept teasing Ian about what had happened with him and Anita. After a few beers, our laughter turned into a new plan. Plan B! What a waste of a trip if he went home without a pen pal so we decided to see if any of the waitresses were interested. There were 3 waitresses working that night and we decided to ask the prettiest one, Dana. Of course that was thinking with the wrong head because the prettiest one was also the stupidest one. Dana always got the order wrong. I don’t mean now and then, it was every time she took our order, something was wrong. Anyway we asked Dana. Dana this is Ian, Ian is looking for a new pen pal, are you interested? No! She wasn’t interested. That was a shock to my system, everyday we seemed to be in a situation set up to meet potential pen pals and the first time we ask a girl for ourselves, she said no. I found out later it was a cultural thing. The girls in Palompon were more traditional than city girls and had to be introduced first.Later on in the evening, Imelda’s uncle, Dodong, came into Ambrosias. We told him about our little problem. He already knew about Anita. It would probably be front page news, if they had a local newspaper. Anyway, the grapevine had been working well and he was having a laugh too. Dodong said he knew all the waitresses and he would choose out a girl for Ian. The girl he chose was Margie. He asked Margie to come over and said, Margie this is Ian, Ian this is Margie, Ian is looking for a new pen pal, are you interested? And she was! The next day was Sunday so it was roast pig day. We arranged to have roast pig on the beach in Palompon. Imelda had many relatives and it seemed that they were all interested in our roast pig. Margie came and she bought Dana with her. In fact we saw a lot of Dana outside Ambrosias over the next couple of weeks It seemed to me that she was hoping to be asked again but this time the answer would be yes! The day at the beach was a complete contrast to two weeks with Anita. Ian and Margie were walking up and down the beach hand in hand, they were swinging on the swing together. Margie had her hand on Ians knee. Marvelous! No more of Anita’s nonsense. Margie was all over Ian. Things were going so well, we decided that we would go back to Margie’s house and meet her parents. The night before, we had asked Margie how old she was and she had said she was 19. During the day she admitted she was only 17. This didn’t change Ian’s mind. Joe said Imelda had done the same thing. When he had met Imelda, she had said she was 19 but was only 17. So we thought nothing of it. That was the way Filipinas are. Of course it was a perfect opportunity to opt out of any relationship but Ian was thinking with the wrong head. Margie was very pretty.We came to the house and it was in the poorest part of town. The house was built in the squatter area and was built from bamboo. It had a bamboo floor and walls and a nipa roof. I could see through the floor to the ground underneath and there were pools of water there. I found out later that during typhoons and large storms, the storm surge forced so much water under the house that it came up through the floor. I was never there for such an event but apparently it was common. I also found out later that this was their in town house. They had a house 9km out of town built of hollow blocks but due to the expense of bringing 2 adults and 6 kids in to town for work and school then back home again each day, they decided to build in the squatter area to save money. The combined daily income of Margie’s parents at the time was about P200 (about usd $7 at the time) and the cost of transporting the family in and out was P60 per day, so it made good financial sense. Margie’s father was home and most of her sisters but Margie’s mother was working at her stall in the fish market. Working in a restaurant at 17 meant that Margie wasn’t overly educated so English wasn’t one of her strong points. So, her sister, Nide, translated for us. Nide had gone to college for a year but had to stop after some financial disaster had struck the family. Because of her college eduaction, Nide had quite a good grasp of English. Nide was introdeced to me as Ate Nide, which means older sister but also is a term of respect for any older Filipina. I took this as Auntie Nide and for some reason, Nide looked to me to be about 35 years old. As I was only 32 at the time, I wasn’t particularly interested in Nide. I asked if I could film the house and did so while Ian got aquainted with the family. Download the video from hereAfter the introductions, Ian and Margie spent a lot of time together. Margie stopped working at the restaurant and everyday, Ian and Margie would go out somewhere different. Every time Margie came by she would say, Nide sends her regards. After a few days, I thought I would be polite and invite Nide out for dinner. I don’t know what it was but at dinner, she seemed much more beautiful than at our first meeting and also turned out to be only 20 years old. Anyway, Nide seemed interested in me and I was interested in Nide, so we started dating.I had not gone to the Philippines to find a bride but after more than 100 offers, I succumbed. On one of our visits to Victoria Spring, I asked Nide to marry me and she said yes. Ian asked Margie to marry him and she said yes too.Next came the grilling! I was invited to meet Nide’s father but at the meeting were Nide’s 2 grandfathers and several of her uncles. They all had questions about me. They wanted to know about my intentions. They wantyed to know about my situation. They wanted to know abouit previous relationships. In short, they wanted to know everything. The grandfathers spoke quite good English and were easy to understand. They were educated under the American system. When the Americans were in charge and for a long time after, English was a high priority in schools. It is not such a priority now, which is why older Filipinos can often speak better English than young Filipinos. So after the grilling, it was agreed by all that I was good sort of person and they were happy for me to marry Nide. Nide and I were married ion Palompon a year later

GREAT STORY, :) does anyone have stories ON your 1st trip to the RP? :13_4_10[1]: :chickendance:

[Bundy]

In the 1980's i had a mate who owned and operated a travel agency specialising in S.E.A. destinations. He was married to a very nice lady from Pampanga.I used to spend a lot of time over at his place and i remember marvelling at the great relationship he had with his wife and that it was somehow different to being with an Australian woman.Well, being the mate that he was, he was always in my ear about the Philippines and his wife ofcourse would constantly hound me with pictures of just about every eligible girl that she had ever known!It eventually got the better of me and i walked out on the defacto relationship that i was in at the time, packed my bags and headed for Manila armed with a 59 day visa in my passport and a pocket full of money.There was no internet in those days and very little in the way of reading material for me to research so all i really had was the words of wisdom from my friend.I was no stranger to travel and had been to UK, Europe and Singapore but i would not class Singapore as an "asian" destination, infact i thought it was more "sterile" than Sydney.So, i arrived in Manila by myself just a short while after "Edsa" to what is now called "terminal 1". In those days it was the only terminal there apart from the seperate domestic terminal which more closely resembled a bus terminal than an airport.After surviving the initial onslaught by porters, taxi drivers, money changers and hustlers that used to fill the airports,( you literally had to fight your way out in those days. People would actually physically grab at you and your baggage!) i made my way to Tropicana Hotel on LM Guerro st Malate where i based myself for the entire stay.I did meet some of Alicia's friends in Quezon city but it wasn't long before i boarded a plane for Davao, and then out to Davao Oriental where i met a girl that i really did like.We came back to the city and spent a week or so in the Maguindano hotel.Scary stuff at that time.Rebels had shot everyone in the city hall and taken over the city, bombs were going off everywhere and EVERYONE seemed to be carrying guns!Moved out of there and went to the Apo View Hotel which was a lot more peaceful but still i did not see another white man in Davao until i went back to the airport to leave.When i got back to Manila i learned that the Davao Airport had just been bombed!Twas then that i discovered Mabini! Now my mate had told me all about this place but i just didn't believe it.For those of you who don't know, in the eighties, Mabini was what Angeles is now. This place was just unbelieveable and everything Bazza had said it was. On that first trip i managed to meet a few more of Alicia's friends at various places but the distraction of Mabini was too great!!! So from my first arrival in Manila and feeling like i had done the wrong thing, i now wanted to extend my stay! Problem was the money was running out.On subsequent trips i learned more and more, saw a lot of fellow Aussies making a fool of themselves, saw another mate take all his money there after his divorce, live in Manila for a year and come home broke,saw other Aussies go bankrupt trying to operate bars, still others getting locked up.For me, thankfully i wised up but then made the worst decision of my life by marrying the girl i had met in Davao but that's another story.It was all worth it in the end because i am now married to the most wonderful woman i have ever known.I am truly a very rich man because my wife has a heart of pure gold! We are now planning our early retirement to live in the Philippines and it will happen 2012.