How do you get to those former bases you have been writing about, Dave? Well, it’s easy. Here’s the layout of where the bases are and the handrawn red lines are the US-quality toll roads connecting them to Metro Manila. Tooll fee from Manila to Clark about $4 USD, $2.50 or so to go on to Subic. Feel free to zoom around on the map, use the top right buttons to change the format, etc.
Enjoy
Shopping is a big thing here in the Philippines. It’s big culturally in that many Filipinos love to spend a day at the mall, and it’s big to Westerners as well, because malls are often the best bet when trying to find that certain something you miss from back home. SM is the largest chain of malls in the Philippines. It’s far from the only one, though. But SM has taken more risk and spread themselves farther geographically than any other chain. Might sound silly to some but checking out how far you’ll be from a mall is one important factor in choosing a place to live. Here are all the SM Malls (as of today, they spring up pretty fast!). Just click on any mall’s location symbol for exact locations and contact information.
For those readers who don’t already know it, I also blog actively ate www.satviz.com covering the world of GPS with a particular emphasis on using GPS to make a profit … getting a ROI (Return On Investment) in both the US taxpayer’s huge investment in the GPS and on business’ investment in their own efficiency. I very seldom cross post but I thought this subject had enough Philippines appeal to put it on line here as well. Any volunteers? Anyone with a better solution than a volunteer effort to get the job done?
I just posted Friday about a GPS road-oriented marketing event here in the Philippines. A question that might be in some people’s mind is, how to they know where to drive? Are there good maps available? And the answer is an unqualified yes, no and maybe.
Unlike the US and much of the rest of the world where the ubiquitous Google has broken open the floodgates … made available previously closely held, for profit, mapping data, the Philippines suffers from a lack of readily available GPS-generated mapping data. There are two ways to deal with this issue.
The first is the method demonstrated by the Philippines designated government mapping agency, NAMRIA (National Mapping and Resource Information Authority) On their website, http://www.namria.gov.ph/home.asp (skip the annoying and totally inappropriate silliness of their Flash into) they profess to being tasked to meet the needs of commercial users of maps. But, in fact, they don’t. No one asks that they do this for free, but their charter instructs them to do this. perhaps there is no one employed there who can understand the basic principle of commerce … make a product, charge more than it cost you to make and you’ll actually have profit (which can be plowed back into environmental projects they are also tasked with that wouldn’t be expected to earn a profit? Too much to hope for, I believe. In all my years in the business in the US I found that NAMRIA’s counterparts in the US were similarly anti-business. The ultimate refuge of the government employee who doesn’t want to do anything is just to whine, “there’s no money”, even when there are potential customers trying to give them money. So what other alternatives are there?
see http://www.philballoonfest.com/
The annual Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta (PIHABF) is the country’s biggest aviation sports event today. Hot air balloon and airplane pilots from all over the world fly into the Philippines to join their local counterparts in this breathtaking event. In addition to daily flights of the hot air balloons, other activities include: skydiving, daily flag jumps (a skydiver jumps with the Philippine flag while the National Anthem is played to the start of the day’s activities); micro light demonstrations; small planes fly-bys and fly-ins; remote controlled airplanes exhibitions; aerobatics; light airplane balloon bursting competition; ultra-light formation flying and bomb dropping exhibitions; helicopter fly-ins and exhibitions; an air rally from Clark to Vigan; rocketry demonstrations; kite flying exhibitions; and races between ultra lights and motorcycles… and more.
From February 17-25, a host of activities make Panagbenga, or the Baguio Flower Festival something to remember: the people, sounds, sights, touch, smells of the Festival. It begins with “Let a Thousand Flowers Bloom”, which captures the community spirit and sets the tone that echoes throughout the Festival. Then, the Floral and Float Parades resonate with feet dancing to gongs echoing sounds of long ago. At the same time, bands play the Festival hymn as floats fashioned with flowers glide down the parade route. Moreover, Flowerscape in various guises showcases flowers which blend colors and shapes with nature’s perfumes. See More:
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You know almost all my American friends as well as many of my Filipino friends ask me, time and again, what do you do to stay busy, Philly? To tell the truth, before we made the big move, I figured I might have a lot of time on my hands. That’s one of the reasons I got myself involved with this blogs, as well as my others @ www.retiredpay.com and www.satviz.com/GPS_Blog .
Had I only known. There’s something going on for us all the time … and now I see that February (just around the corner you know) is going to be another busy month. I’m smiling.
Many folks who drop by to read this site are retirees thinking of going to the Philippines for their “Golden Years” or younger people who are just tired of the rat race and wish they could go to the Philippines but have no way to support themselves. Here’s something you may not have considered. The US Peace Corps is still very much alive and well. They have on-going projects in the Philippines and have opportunities for people of all ages and couples as well.
No one will get rich in the Peace Corps, but they do take people for 18 to 86 (or even older), pay for training, pay for transportation and living expenses on the job, pay a small stipend, take care of medical expenses and pay a small stipend when the assignment is over. Worth a look for some folks.
Davao City International Airport: Ready for more passengers and bigger aircraft
By Rita Festin
The Philippine STAR 09/18/2006
DAVAO CITY — With air transportation crucial to economic and social connectivity in the Philippine archipelago, the new $128 million state-of-the-art international airport in this city is a welcome development. It is now fully operational and is raring to take in more passengers and bigger aircraft.
With Asian Development Bank (ADB) financing, the Davao airport in Mindanao has been upgraded and expanded to provide reliable and safe all-weather operations that meet international standards and remove infrastructure bottlenecks which were constraining the growth of domestic and international air services. It will also enhance Davao’s access to nearby markets and improve the overall economic prospects of the southern Philippines, and could be considered one vital link for the intermodal transport network essential for this area.
Last year, actual passenger volume already surpassed one million domestic passengers flown in by Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific, Air Philippines and Asian Spirit out of 14 daily local flights. International passengers to and from Manado and Singapore reached almost 25,000. But Davao’s spacious and modern terminal building is designed to accommodate much more, and can easily accommodate up to twice its designed minimum passenger capacity of one million passengers… Full Article Here
Any time we see a major infrastructure upgrade like this in t
he Philippines, it’s good news.
But this one is particularly good news, because I have long been under the impression that Davao City just doesn’t get any respect. It’s a lovely town, tucked far enough out of the way to make it quiet, but with all modern conveniences needed to make it livable.
It’s a bright, sunny and _frosty_ Saturday morning here in Colorado. I can’t stand the feeling of winter coming on, I’m ready for my full-time move to the Philippines and it won’t be long now.
Michael, a member of one of the many Yahoo Groups on the Philippines sent me a note with a link to a site he maintains with witeups on a lot of beach resorts. Happy to put it up here so folks can take a look. Don’t free another winter.
Gawad Kalinga communities to be ‘tourist-ready villages’
By Tessa Salazar
Inquirer
Last updated 00:02am (Mla time) 09/23/2006WITH THE first grand event of Gawad Kalinga communities to happen from October 6 to 8 at the Mall of Asia, the emerging challenge for township and property developments using the GK format is how to make GK shelters tourist-ready villages as well.
Tourists-for-a-cause and youth groups from 34 countries dropped by the GK villages recently to learn for themselves how and why the villages “clicked†and to assess if these same villages could suit them in their future visits to the country.
GK volunteers present during the visit said, however, that they were not looking to build resort-type communities but visitor-friendly structures that could be upgraded to accommodate tourists who would like to stay for some time. Full entry here:
OK first thing many readers are going to ask is, what the heck is Gawad Kalinga? Short answer is it’s a free-standing charity (NGO or Non-Government Organization) that coordinates people who want to help the poor by building houses with people in need of houses. If you think that sounds a bit like Habitat For Humanity, you’re correct, but it’s not the same organization. HFH is very much alive and well on it’s own in the Philippines and the two organizations work to the same goals.
In my 7 years of intimate acquaintance with the Philippines I have run into many foreigners who want to help cure the abysmal housing conditions of the poor. The schemes run form grandiose ideas like let’s re-make the entire government to sending cash in the hopes it will get where it will do some good.
No scheme I can think of is better than building houses for people. It has concrete, immediate satisfaction, there’s no nagging thoughts of where did the money go, and like the parable about teaching the man to fish and feeding him for a lifetime, when you build a man a house you house him and his children for their lifetimes and the lifetimes of children to come. Kind of a monument that serves a purpose for a change.
There are many, many places in the Philippines I haven’t yet had time to visit, but one at the top of the list is Baguio (bag-e-o) and the former US military installation there, Camp John Hay. I found some excellent posts on the area from a fellow blogger, here, so I’ll direct you to read and enjoy there for the time being until I post my own Camp John Hay reports.
Even the doormats were cool, the entryway to the Commanding General’s hideaway, Bell House.
Hi,
A little over a week ago the effects of a strong tropical depression heading for the coast of China manifested in my area as unusually large waves. Well, just up the beach from me about a quarter of a mile is the designated surfing area in La Union. For some reason there are not many surfing areas in the entire Philippines. Perhaps a surfer would know what characteristics create a surf suitable for riding and just several hundred feet away there are no rides available. This is a lovely area. It has been developed somewhat, just private housing, but there area still some areas where the jungle type vegetation goes from the highway to almost the high tide line. The property just adjacent to the one where I shot the photos was being offered at about $100 for a square meter. In my book that is CHEAP for beach side property. In the U.S. an area like this one would be overdeveloped with expensive condos, or tourist type facilities. But, the economy here just would not support a high paying clientele. So, these juicy properties just go to those looking for a nice area to build a home. In the immediate area there are several surfing oriented businesses, one mini resort and another by-the-day surfing establishment, with equipment rentals and instructors but they don’t seem to be doing a fantastic business.
Here are some photos.
Take care,
Tom
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Ed Note: I’ll post this in two parts in deference to dial-up users.
Courtesy of Thomas Glenn
We’ve changed server locations and had a few other unavoidable delays. But things should work better from now on. I’m going to post some more of the excellent market photos that Thomas Glenn was so kind to provide:
Today I have another treat for us, those interested in sightseeing, learning the countryside and (my kinda folk) those who like to eat. Thomas Glenn, one of our PhilFAQS guest writers gave me another great post with especially wonderful pictures. It’s most kind of Tom to share and the pictures are big, so I think I’m going to space this post out over several days. Be patient, tune in every day, and your patience will be rewarded.
—————————————————————————-(Noyte, if you see a huge white space here, scroll down and you’ll eventually come to the picture …I don’t have time to fix it right now … it only happens if you are using an outdated, non-standards-compliant browser like Microsoft Internet Explorer. Switch to a moderne browser like Firefox and all will fall into place. … Philly)
Hi,
Today’s topic is close to my heart, and even closer to my stomach. Most of the towns here in the province of La Union have a public market. This is built with taxpayers’ money and serves the whole community. The stalls in the market are rented out to vendors, primarily of fresh fruits and vegetables (including rice), animal flesh (chicken (manok), pork (baboy), beef (baka), goat (kambing), and a variety of fresh and dried fish. Any day of the week these permanent vendors open up their stalls and work the whole day. In my area the markets also have what they call “Market Day. There are vendors of non-traditional food and non-food items who set up for business on Market Day. Most of these vendors will not have a stall, but will place their items on some fabric or plastic or tarpaulin on the ground in the area surrounding the permanent vendors. The Market Days in the towns adjacent to one another schedule their days (usually two times a week) so as to not conflict with the nearby towns. This permits the transient vendors to travel from town to town and sell their goods on Market Day. A major attraction of these regularly scheduled days is that they attract many more buyers than the normal days. For some people this provides the opportunity to make major purchases for the kitchens for the entire week. Market Day is an exciting time, both for the vendors who hope to sell their entire stock and buyers who are hoping to find the foods they want at bargain prices. Over a period of time all these vendors, permanent or transient, come to know one another so there is a lot of greeting and gossiping (chika-chika) going on.
Today we went to San Gabriel so that Julie could spend some time with her employee and to do some photography herself. I took this opportunity to go to the market with my camera. There is no way that I could sneak into the market incognito. A person six foot, one inch, weighing almost 300 pounds and with Scotch-Irish complexion and blue eyes just naturally appears as a foreign object. After a while I forget that I am a pink spotted giraffe and begin to relax and enjoy myself. Invariably the people I see there are friendly and inviting. A few are Hollywood stars and want their picture taken but for the most part the people are shy and sometimes conceal their faces if I point the camera in their direction. The children have no reservation about having their picture taken. I don’t know what it is but something must happen after childhood and into puberty that changes a camera hog into a camera shy teenager. Then the MUCH older people enjoy having their picture taken. But, enough of all this text and on to the photos.
Take care,
Tom
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here’s something worth thinking about for those of you still wondering if you should make a Philippine trip … and when:
http://www.pinoyurbanblog.com/events-happenings/2nd-world-pyro-olympics-2006/
Manila Bay is an ideal venue for this kind of display, miles of shoreline to stake out a good watch-spot, great weather, and the best display companies in the world trying to outdo each other.
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