Do you hate Filipinos?

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Yes, you read the title correctly… Do you hate Filipinos? What do you mean, Bob, of course I don’t hate Filipinos!  If I hated Filipinos, I probably would never visit this site! Unemployment is high in the USA, and in other Western Countries.  In the USA, the official unemployment rate is hovering somewhere around 9.5 or 9.6%.  The true unemployment rate is probably quite a bit higher, I have seen some economists estimate it near 20%.  Those who have given up looking for a job do not count in the unemployment figures, and thus, the real number of people who are unemployed is always higher than the official unemployment rate.  … [Read more...]

Philippine Safety – Viewed from a different angle

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You hear a lot from potential tourists, expats and other foreigners about safety when it comes to the Philippines.  People who are coming here for a visit, or considering the Philippines as a retirement destination voice the “safety issue” often.  They fear being murdered.  They fear kidnapping.  They fear getting mugged.  They fear being ripped off financially by “slick” Filipinos who are out to get their money.  What else do they fear?  Well, from the e-mails and comments I hear from foreigners, it seems that many foreigners fear anything that moves here, even the shadows.  As you can imagine, given the fact … [Read more...]

What is a mangosteen?

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One of my favorite fruits in the Philippines is mangosteen. A lot of people ask me, “Bob, what’s a mangosteen?“  Well, a mangosteen, as I said already, is a fruit. “Ah, it’s some kind of a mango, then?“  Well, no, it is not a mango, nor is it anything like a mango.  It is not related to a mango, it’s not even the same color as a mango.  I am not quite certain why it has a similar name, but it just does. A mangosteen is a deep purple color.  It has a few green “leaves” on the top.  I put leaves in quotation marks, because they look like leaves, but they are hard, part of the piece of … [Read more...]

My Journey to Samal

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The other day, I set out to go to Samal Island.  I was excited to go, because it had been a while since I had gone to Samal, so this was indeed a journey for me!  For regular readers, you will likely remember that I used to write relatively often about Samal and the time I would spend there.  In the past year or so, though, I have not written much about Samal. Life gets busy sometimes, and other activities get in the way of what we really want to do.  Sometimes we let work get the better of us, and we spend our entire days behind a desk, and in front of a computer… or whatever it is your job requires of you.  For me, working means … [Read more...]

CTRES? Yes!

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Over the years, here on LiP, I have published a “Top Ten List of Davao Restaurants” fairly regularly.  It’s been a couple of years, though, since I have published an updated top 10 list.  The biggest reason for that is because we don’t go out to eat as often as we used to.  Feyma and I have become more “home cooks” than people who eat out a lot.  But, of course, we still do eat out from time to time. This Wednesday, we had the opportunity to check out a new place here in Davao, a restaurant with an unusual name:  CTRES, it is pronounced like:  See Tres (Tres rhymes with dress). I now have a new #1 … [Read more...]

Blogger bash

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Last week was a nice treat for us here in Davao.  Dave Starr and his family made a journey down south to Davao, and I had an opportunity to spend a fair amount of time with Dave and his family while they were here.  I have met Dave previously, but this visit we got a little more time than previously, I think, to talk and compare notes on various issues.  For those who do not know who Dave is, he is the owner of the PhilFAQs site, and has been living in the Philippines for a number of years now.  I have known Dave, mostly online, for several years now, and he is one of my closer friends on the Internet.  We share a lot of e-mails … [Read more...]

Updated: Warranties in the Philippines

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When buying a major item like a car, a new PC or an appliance, most of us always consider what kind of warranty is being offered.  The longer the warranty, the more likely we are to consider buying the item if it meets our needs. In my time living in the Philippines, more than a decade already, I can recall dealing with warranty issues three different times. My first warranty experience in the Philippines involved the warranty on my automobile, a 2000 Mitsubishi Adventure AUV (Asian Utility Vehicle).  Anytime you purchase an new automobile, invariably there will be things that need adjustments, or parts that may fail within the warranty … [Read more...]

I never really moved to the Philippines

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Over the years, I have talked and written a lot about moving to the Philippines.  Over the past few days, though, I have been doing some reflection, and I came to the conclusion that I never really moved to the Philippines, at least I never intended to.  You see, when I moved to General Santos City in May 2000, I was not moving to the Philippines, I was moving to Mindanao. But, Bob, Mindanao is part of the Philippines, so by moving to Mindanao, that means you moved to the Philippines! Yes, of course you are right. But, in my mind, it was not the Philippines where I was wanting to live, it was Mindanao.  When I got the itch to move, in … [Read more...]

The Mieles and the Martins

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This weekend was a great LiP get together!  One of our popular LiP writers, John Miele, and his family came to Davao for the weekend.  John was accompanied by his wife, Rebecca and their son Juanito. John came to Davao to sort of enjoy a get-away from the city, and all that is associated with it.  John and Rebecca chose a great time to visit Davao, because this past weekend was the climax of the famous Davao Kadayawan Festival!  John and Rebecca, along with Juanito were able to watch the Kadayawan Street Dancing festivities right from their hotel, and from everything John said, I think they enjoyed it!  I am not going to get into details … [Read more...]

Corn in the Philippines

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Do you like corn?  I do.  I especially enjoy a really fresh piece of corn on the cob.  There is just nothing quite as good as a fresh piece of juicy and sweet corn on the cob!  Problem is that it can be quite hard to find a decent piece of corn here in the Philippines. The Philippines is really an agricultural Country, so you would expect that you could find some good corn here, but the fact is that it is very hard to find such.  Most of the corn that is grown in the Philippines is feed corn, used to feed animals.  It is very dry and hard.  Not delicious to eat. I can remember when we lived in the States, we lived in an area where … [Read more...]