JoeKahno

Hi Everybody,

I should probably have posted here first but I did eventually get around to it.

I'm an old guy, (60+), who grew up in Wisconsin but can no longer tolerate the sub zero winters. So I moved to the Philippines.

Between monsoons, typhoons, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and what passes for government here it has to be the most "disastered" place on earth. But, you know, it's the people that make a place home. There's the usual handful of jerks and losers you'll find anywhere but I'd say the average Filipino has the sort of cheerful resilence that has been pretty scarce in the US since the generation that lived through the Great Depression.

The climate reminds me of late July or early August back in Wisconsin, what we used to call the dog days of summer, and brings back childhood memories of the best part of summer vacation. I seem to be reverting to a kid on a bike, pedaling all over hell and gone, making new friends and seeing what sort of mischief I can get into.

Life is good.

Trsnrtr

Welcome. Nice intro.

2cam16

Welcome! I lived there through my childhood life. Life was good back then even with the government that we had ( and I've heard it hasn't changed much sadly). But like you said, it's the people that makes it better.
Glad to hear you're enjoying the PI! LOTS of avid cyclists over there. I heard they even had their first UCI sanctioned road race a few months ago.
Enjoy your riding!

Siu Blue Wind

Welcome to Bike Forums!

I always wanted to visit, I heard some parts are beautiful but can be a huge culture shock since I'm raised in SF and am now in the suburbs. I wish I can take a month or two off to stay there just to experience a difference in life, maybe something that will expose me to what others see as the simpler life. Would you say that it's less stressful compared to being in the states?

JoeKahno

It really depends on the sort of things that stress you out.

You know you've adapted to riding in Philippine traffic when an oncoming truck swerves into your lane and you smile. Because it means there is either nobody tailgating you, or very shortly there won't be. On the whole, traffic here moves *much* slower than in the US. I'd bet half the vehicles on the road don't have a working speedometer. The only place you're going to get over 50mph is the airport runway. Trucks, buses, jeepneys, trikes, bicycles, pedestrians, and livestock seem to blend with the casual disregard of a basket of puppies. I'm not sure I could even explain the concept of "road rage", to a Filipino. The less traveled side roads aren't as crowded as the average California bike trail.

If you do visit and you're used to suburban SF prices, you need to brace yourself for severe reverse sticker shock. I'm renting a furnished studio in a decent complex, not a new high rise, older but well maintained. The rent includes basic cable and WiFi fast enough to be usable but you probably wouldn't want to stream movies. The price varies a little because water and electric are included on separate sub meters. Total for the bundle is $150/mo. Electricity is more expensive than SF and if I got crazy with the AC I could easily triple that. If you eat at US fast food franchises you pay US prices. (Grand opening of a new McDonalds is still a big event here.) The supermarket doesn't have the quality or selection we're accustomed to in the states, especially for fresh meat and produce. They do have food and if you know how to cook keeping yourself fed can be done for $200/mo if your tastes are simple.

I no longer drink or smoke but the last time I checked a liter of drinkable rum was roughly $3 and a pack of Marlboro's would set you back less than $2. You can still take a girl out for dinner and a movie for under $20. Like I said in my intro, life is good.

2cam16

Sounds like traffic hasn't changed. I learned to drive in that mayhem and drove for several years. Driving here in the US was a breeze compared to that! lol

JoeKahno

Once you sort out the beeps it's no big deal. My bike has no motor and no horn. If I had to choose, a decent horn would be worth more to me in local traffic.

Siu Blue Wind

My friends wife is from there (dont' ask me which part, I do not know) and when her US born daughter was about 5, she went back home to visit. It was the little girl's first time. They came back three weeks later, about 5 weeks sooner than they had planned to. The reason for this is because when they got there, after the first day, the daughter really did not eat. They tried to give her beef, and she said it tasted funny, even though her mother cooked it the way she's used to. The milk tasted funny. Chicken was tough and stringy, no matter how it was cooked. The vegetables looked horrible in their raw form and she didn't want to eat that either. The only thing she would consume are the sweets and desserts.

She got sick due to not eating and the poor girl lost so much weight. It took us a few days to get her back to eating just a little bit of real food. She is now 13 and still refuses to go back.

Anyway, just wondering: Why would the milk and beef taste different? It could be a possibility that the animals there are raised more naturally vs in the US where everything is production raised.

JoeKahno

There isn't much of a dairy industry here. So the milk is imported and VHT (very high temperature) pasteurized for shelf life. Not a big problem for me, I drink my coffee black. I grew up working on dairy farms. Milk is the perfect food, if you're a baby cow, not so much for human beings. I'm probably better off frying with coconut oil than butter but I still miss cheap cheese.

The chickens are much smaller here. Maybe they don't feed them enough arsenic.
https://www.kcet.org/food/fda-finall...n-your-chicken
Maybe they just don't feed them enough. I normally buy boneless skinless breasts and cut them cross grain then stir fry. That takes care of the toughness but the flavor really is a little different. I mean the chicken here actually *has* a flavor. This has to be strange to a kid who grew up in a country where "tastes like chicken", is pretty much the same as saying it has no definable taste.

The beef has multiple issues. First, a lot of it is Carabao rather than the more common breeds raised for meat in the US. The stuff that is actually beef as we know it mostly comes in from Australia. While they raise beef steers every bit as good as those in the US, when it comes time to sell them the Philippines is a low budget market. Instead of spending weeks on a feed lot before going to the packing plant, they often get herded straight onto the boat. While I don't know for sure, it wouldn't surprise me to discover they get slaughtered in transit then off loaded here as frozen sides and quarters. For beef to taste *right* to most Americans it has to have a certain range of fat content and it has to *hang* for a certain time at a temp just above freezing. You can buy that kind of meat here but you have to go to a membership store like S&R. It's the local equivalent of Costco or Sam's club.

At the risk of giving offense I'm going to offer a little bit of unsolicited advice. I've never had kids but I have had a cat that believed only a certain brand was actually cat food. They really need to work on expanding their kid's dietary options. This is a very common problem. Every year loads of kids leave home for the first time, going off to college, entering military service, or just moving out on their own. Discovering that the only food available isn't what they're used to is *NOT* a trivial issue. Trying to adjust while under several other forms of stress often compounds the problem. You'd be amazed at how many kids wash out of basic or drop out of college because they can't eat. The ones that stick with it often have health problems from trying to live on fast food and snacks rather than a more balanced diet.

As a kid I would throw a lip over anything that didn't get out of my way fast enough. Aging has made my gut a little cranky but I still make it a point to try new things. However, I draw the line at Balut.

Siu Blue Wind

Wow, that's actually good advice about children and their dietary options. Since that trip my friend had divorced the lady and now the girl has a multimillionaire step father who takes her traveling and exposes her to all kids of different cultures and foods. But because they are financially wealthy now, they always get the best of the best, high line classy upper crusty cuisine.

I would love to see her be able to go back to her mother's home town and learn more about her family's culture but that may not be happening. That family in the Philipines are slowly coming here to stay permanently.

Thanks for the run down on the food production I appreciate that. Very nice chatting with you, I learned quite a bit.

Let me know if you need anything or have any questions okay?

Thanks again!

Siu