July update, after 3 months

It has been 3 months since my arrival here in the Philippines and according to psychologists, I should be in the third phase of my cultural adjustment or at least at the end of phase 2 (these are 1. Shock of the new, 2. Comparison to “home” and the things I am missing, 3. Acceptance of the new (adjusting to the status quo).

I guess this is true, as I am making fewer statements such as “back in the UK” or “in Europe we do it this way” with the exception of a few of those things that are still getting under my skin. It will be no surprise to anyone reading this that these things are:-

• Driving skills and attitudes, or the apparent lack of them, and yes, I admit that I hit a post whilst negotiating a car park a few weeks ago, damaging Kat’s car, but that is fixed now; I have no excuse for the incident, totally my fault. That being the case, the sheer insanity of some people and their total disregard for their own and the safety of others beggars belief sometimes.
• Bureaucracy, who knew it could be so hard to transact a simple application? To get my residency visa, I need to travel to Manila (Intramuros to be specific) to the Bureau of Immigration Head Office, the documentation cannot be submitted to the local office. Now this is relatively fine as we live about and hour of so from Manila and can make a trip out of it and will likely travel the day before and stay over in an hotel nearby, but what if you live further away???
• Queuing, or the total lack of it here, “Dude, I got here first and therefore should be served before you, get in line and wait your turn!!”

Kat says I am just grumpy or “masungit“ whenever I complain about things like this, but I know she feels annoyance too, but is more inured to it after living with such things all of her life. On the balance of things, I am thoroughly enjoying my life here, even not having a job at the moment is not a major concern as I am occupied enough with driving Kat around and some domestic chores, I admit I would like something a little more intellectually stimulating, but that may come in time and process improvement / management consulting may be the way to go.

I have developed a new concern, food, specifically fast food, or maybe not even that fast food in proper restaurants (‘restos’) something that I am frequently guilty of myself, because of the sheer convenience of it. There is a plethora of good, locally grown or caught food here in the Philippines, this includes many varieties of fish, rice, pineapple, tomatoes, banana, pork and chicken to name but a few. I arrived here anticipating to be able to avail myself of all this good, wholesome local produce and to share this with my wife so that we would both have a healthy diet and improve our levels of fitness and maybe even loose some weight. The progress so far:-

• I have lost approximately 7 to 8 kg since my arrival, probably due to a significant reduction in my consumption of beer. Kat is not convinced about this as she thinks a can or two in the evening and a bucket of beer (not as bad as it sounds, 6 bottles in a bucket of ice) on a Friday evening is a lot of beer, even after asking my friends when they visited about how much we used to get through back in the UK (around 18 to 20 imperial pints of beer each per week and that could be nearer 24 or 28 if there was a good party or sports event on the TV in the pub) that is a minimum of 10 to 12 litres, I can’t calculate US pints or gallons as I don’t have the conversion numbers, but it is a lot. I am now drinking maybe 3 litres per week and that includes going out on Friday night to the local sports bar for a couple of hours, if not then we are down to less than 2.
• We eat out, lunch, normally 3 or 4 times per week; this is mainly due to time constraints between clinics and hospital rounds, so we go to either the local mall or one of the other shopping areas near by. Dinner is mostly self cooked at home, a mix of Filipino or European food, cooked by either one of us.

• When we eat out, we often have either Filipino or American style food, this includes pork, chicken, steak and fish, however
• A lot of it has a fried element to it, especially things like crispy pata, sissig, and nearly all her favourite chicken dishes (see below)
• Kat loves crispy skin on chicken (so do I) so we often end up eating this, the idea of removing it, or not cooking chicken crispy is an anathema to her, the mere suggestion of boiled or steamed skinless chicken portions makes her feel ill.....
• Some of the fried food here is double fried to make it extra crispy (e.g. the pata), I have no idea what they fry it in, but sometimes it is a little greasy and even coconut oil can’t be all good. I have to confess that the best chunky chips (aka fries) are par-boiled in water, dried then deep fried at least twice to get the crispy outside, deep golden colour and the soft inside, but we don’t have a deep fat frier, so we are not eating proper chips at the moment.

• Kat is not, at the moment, encouraging me to eat street food, I think this is to avoid me eating weird things that I am not used to or may not like and there are some Filipino delicacies that I am going to avoid like the plague, e.g. Balut (Google it to find out what it is), but again a lot of this is fried too.
• We are eating way too much rice, breakfast is often rice from the night before, fried with some onion and garlic, lunch depends on where we are, dinner is often fresh white rice (thank whoever invented the rice cooker, much easier to use than a saucepan) but Kat and I probably get through on average at least one cup of uncooked rice each per day.....
• I have persuaded Kat to eat oat meal, cooked with warm milk and served with sugar or honey, this was quite a challenge as previously she had refused to eat it, but when prepared the “Gary way” she relented and has actually requested it. She is also now able to truthfully tell the parents of her patients that not only is it good for them (low GI) but also she eats it herself.
• When we don’t eat rice, we eat potato, often chips (or French fries) unless I cook them roasted or mashed, either way loads of starch.
• On the subject of potatoes, there is a lack of understanding about this wonder vegetable here, there is no availability of the many separate varieties (Maris Piper, King Edwards etc.) and the storage conditions are often sub optimal as the shops display them in daylight, which encourages them to turn a little green, which is not good. I would love to be able to select a good flourery potato like a King Edward to make mash or a slightly firmer one for chips, maybe once I have my own garden I will grow my own.
• We are not eating enough vegetables or fruit, I rarely get my 5 a day and that is with all that is available here (the orange juice is imported from Florida.....) bananas here are a little too sweet for my taste. Kat loves my roasted carrots, but we are back to things cooked using oil or other fats.
• Whilst Kat bought us a turbo-broiler, we don’t have what I would refer to as a proper oven, so we can’t cook some meals that I would like to try, don’t get me wrong, it is a wonderful device.
• It is a hot climate, so we consume vast quantities of soft drinks such as Coke Zero, Mountain Dew, 7UP and the like, these are mostly manufactured locally you will be pleased to hear at the Coca-Cola plant in Santa Rosa 2km down the road from our house (Pepsi has a plant nearby too!) we should be drinking more water.....
• I am still suffering from the affects of gout, something which some members of my family also suffer, I am not sure what the trigger is as it seems to have become worse since getting here, Kat tells me it is the beer, but really???? 
• We are often forced to use UHT milk as for some bizarre reason the local supermarket cannot keep their fresh milk cold enough in the display cabinet; the other week it was at close to room temperature when we checked which even in an air conditioned room is way too hot.
  I bought some from another shop where it seemed cooler, it lasted two days once we got it home and to be honest it wasn’t that good on day 1, the shelf life was for a further 4 days.
• A lot of Filipino food, whilst tasty is slow cooked in a mixture of soy sauce (or fish sauce) and other flavourings, many of which are highly salted and therefore can affect blood pressure. A lot of dishes also contain vinegar which lowers the pH of one’s blood (encouraging uric acid retention, see above ref the gout).
• There are far too many donut shops out there!!

On a separate note, I support the intention behind the various local ordnances which prohibit the use of plastic bags by shops to wrap items with the exception of those that are wet such as meat and fish. I quite like the alternatives to plastic that have been developed including the re-use of boxes and cartons originally used to contain the products or the use of paper sacks. But why oh why do so many of the supermarkets then insist on wrapping some vegetables in metres and metres of cling-film or ceran wrap such as carrots or tomatoes? They don’t need it.  I bought some frozen salmon the other day, it was wrapped in cling-film, placed in a plastic tray which was then over wrapped in film and then wrapped again in a third layer of film, surely one or two of these layers could have been omitted. Please provide the shoppers with bags, paper or plastic to select their own and reduce the wasteful use of a non-biodegradable material, it should be possible to recognise and weigh the produce at the check out.

• Update on the gout thing, I have been prescribed colchicine as a remedy for the latest attack, this has some unpleasant side effects which I am not going to discuss here, some of my readers will be aware of these, others are free to make use of Google to find out if they are so inclined, suffice it to say, this drug is not made available in the UK.....
  In addition to taking what amounts to a mild toxin (but honestly, what drugs aren’t) I have chosen to cut out the following from my diet until I am recovered

• Coke and other soft drinks
• Iced tea (not sure why I chose this, but it is something I have a lot of here but not in the UK).
• Oatmeal (no more porridge for me, but Kat can still have this for breakfast)
• Beans of most kinds (including bean sprouts)
• Green vegetables of the brassica family (broccoli, brussels sprouts etc.)
• Beer and other items with significant yeast content, including white bread
• Reduction in the quantity of red meat, so more chicken and fish, but not tuna so less sashimi and sushi.

I shall monitor the situation and re-introduce things one at a time to see which is the cause of my discomfort, I am fervently hoping that it is not the beer......

A day at the LTO, three letters to strike fear into the heart of the most stalwart Filipino.

Since I arrived in the Philippines a couple of months ago, I have been relying on the treaty agreement that enables me to drive making use of my own British licence, an International licence I procured before leaving the UK and my passport. As you can imagine, carrying all of these documents at all times is a nuisance (and I have on occasion forgotten them, which is a no-no here) especially my passport. Kat suggested that we should apply for my own Filipino driving licence; the process of which I had heard anecdotally was fraught with frustration and a long time waiting.

It is probably fair to say that there are few things in life which really get Filipinos complaining and it seems the LTO (Land Transportation Office) is not only one of these, but is quite near the top. Kat had decided that we should seek some assistance in the application as being a foreigner the process was not quite the same as for a Filipino; these steps were as follows (with some commentary from me on how it all went):-

• ·      We arrived at the LTO facility around 8am after I drove through the rush hour traffic; we found somewhere to park the car we met up with our guide for the day at his office adjacent to the LTO facility a few km from our home. Louie took us through the process verbally explaining each in turn, in Tagalog as his English was not up to it, so Kat translated for me.
• ·      Provide two copies of my original full UK licence (which I have held since 1978), passport (including visa pages), Alien Registration Card and International Driving Licence and have these verified as original copies by one of the LTO Admin Officers. We had already made the copies elsewhere, which seems to be common practice, the LTO could charge for making copies which they know are genuine……
• ·      Complete the application form for the issuance of a Filipino licence based on holding a foreign licence.
• ·      Proceed for a drug test and medical across the road, this involved the first of several forms to be completed on in triplicate, no carbon paper or NCR paper allowed, so complete each one by hand. After which you had to queue up to pay the cashier for the medical and drug tests, it was like being at the deli counter…..
• o   The medical was simple, turns out I am a lot shorter than I thought (or so my new licence says) at 1.65m against 1.7 but what is 2 inches between friends?? I have also lost around 5 or 6kg in weight since arriving here, must be the lack of beer. The eye test was to read a chart, if you could meet the stated minimum with glasses on then no problems, so an all clear on that one, a photo was then taken for the record.
• o   The drug test was straightforward, pee in a bottle, hand it in for analysis for THC and methamphetamine, a negative result on both (a pass) and another photo and all 10 of my fingerprints were taken.
• ·      After this we returned to the LTO facility to continue the process, which involved
• Waiting for a photo to be taken and an electronic signature at Window 3
• Wait some more for another photo and electronic signature to be taken at Window 2.
• At this point Louie noticed I was wearing flip-flops (or slippers) which are not welcome up in the test room, so Kat volunteered to go and buy me a pair of shoes
• Pay a small fee at Window 9, Kat also brought the shoes over, one was a bit tight, but would suffice
• Collect receipt to confirm payment from Window 5
• Take receipt to Window 1 to book in for the road rules review and the written test. We had some time before the review and test, so went to get lunch.
• ·      After lunch I, with a number of others were taken to the examination room where we were shown a number of animated informational films, all in Tagalog regarding the rules of the road and road signs used in the Philippines, fortunately the rules are fairly universal as are the road signs, I did learn something about right of way at junctions with no traffic lights which was handy.
• ·      Subsequent to the informational films, we took a 40 question multiple-choice exam, mine was provided in English, I was confident from my existing knowledge of 38 of the answers with only 2 causing me any problems.
• ·      The exam was signed off as having been completed by me in the exam room by the invigilator and I was told to report downstairs for the practical test. I have to add, at this point that Louie was surprised this was taking place as most foreigners with an existing licence are not required to undergo this, however because us Brits drive on the correct side of the road, unlike most of the rest of the world, an exception is made for us and we are required to demonstrate that we can indeed drive a left hand drive vehicle.
• ·      Pay for the practical test, even though we were using Kat’s car (I think she had made some other payments for the licence whilst I was taking the test at any one or more of the windows!!)
• ·      The practical test, which took place on a track about the size of our 3-bedroom house, was odd to put it mildly. You start at a line, drive about 2m then up a slope, down the other side to a junction with a stop sign, stop, indicate left then execute the turn. Drive along the top of the square, turn left again, negotiate a pedestrian crossing then cross the finish line. I think we managed it without leaving 1^st gear, or maybe got into 2^nd on the back straight!!!
• ·      That was it, job done, just wait some more for the licence, from Window 5. This was completed and we were able to walk away with my nice shiny new licence just after 3:10pm a total of around 7 hours, the majority of which was spent just sitting around and waiting.

Now I appreciate the need to regulate who has a licence to operate a motor vehicle and I will comment again on my thoughts with regard to the overall quality of drivers here, which is generally appalling, or at least road behaviour is and the flouting of even the most basic road rules let alone vehicular safety with special note to be made of :-

• working lights or more importantly the lack of them, both front and back
• overtaking on bends
• undertaking
• driving on the shoulder to undertake
• a total lack of lane discipline
• no or inappropriate use of indicators
• a total disregard of speed limits
• killer buses
• homicidal trucks
• suicidal motor cyclists
• bullying Foretuner and Monterey Sport drivers

Back in the UK, and some of this may have changed slightly since I last had anything to do with it, the process to get a licence is:-

• ·      Obtain application form online or from the Post Office.
• ·      Complete the form and have one of two photographs validated by a non-family member of standing in the community (this includes doctors, lawyers, company directors and bizarrely holders of licence to server intoxicating liquor i.e. pub landlords).
• ·      Post to form and appropriate payment to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency in Wales (DVLA).
• ·      Receive provisional (student) licence.
• ·      Undergo training on the highway until sufficiently proficient to drive and are considered ready for the test
• ·      Apply for test(s)
• ·      Undergo written test, which is computer based and involves knowledge of road rules, hazard identification and understanding of basic vehicle care.
• ·      Undergo practical test, which takes place on the public highway and requires a number of manoeuvres to be successfully executed.
• ·      Once both tests have been successfully completed, follow the same procedure as for the student licence, but include pass certificates and complete form for a full licence.
• ·      Receive full driving licence in the post……………..

By the way, apparently registering a vehicle is just as much fun as the driver licensing process and can take the same amount of time, this is something I am not looking forward to, I hope the dealership can manage this process for me when I buy my car in a few months.

Crammed a lot into 10 weeks....

A lot has happened in the 10 weeks since I arrived in my new home in the Philippines. I have observed the resourcefulness and also experienced some remarkable behaviours from Filipinos, mostly I am pleased to say good, including the warmth and friendliness for which the country is famous and I have come across some helpful officials in some of the local and national government too, although I have yet to attempt to get my local driving licence at the LTO.

As I have mentioned in earlier posts, I was brought up in the West, and my career was spent in R&D for 8 years and a further 16 years in a variety of technical management roles related to quality performance and manufacturing excellence, and latterly worked with colleagues to implement Lean practices i.e to reduce non-value add activities in all processes. As such I can become very impatient when I perceive that unnecessary blocks are being put in place or bureaucracy is slowing things down. I also have my own views on what is and what isn't good service provision and what should be a part of this when paying a premium. Anyway to the recent experiences:

•                I am very impressed with the way in which the Philippines, as a whole, has taken their environmental responsibilities. Don't get me wrong, there is a long way still to go and individuals have to take on a lot more personal responsibility, especially for littering and other trash disposal; however the other parts of the mantra are being quite well supported, although not in the same way as I am used to from the West

a.    Replace, as a result of the sheer number of plastic bags scattered about the country and especially clogging the waterways and drainage system, many of the regions have already implemented a blanket ban on the free issue of plastic carrier bags by shops with the exception for wet items (food such as meat and fish). Many of the shops have replaced plastic with paper, which is fine for most small purchases and then re-use packaging such as cartons to pack shopping in.

b.    Reduce there is not the same level of consumerism here as back in Europe, many things are sold in smaller packs, which does require more packaging, but you cant win them all…. This leads to people buying what they need, so there is less wastage.

c.     Re-use, see above for the cartons, also there are many small workshops where brake shoes and clutch plates can be re-lined and tyres can be re-vulcanised and there are many other examples too numerous to mention. I am also impressed with the number of uses to which Filipinos can put re-bar, which I guess is an easily obtained material to be used wherever metal bars are required.

d.    Recycle, this one is not a sophisticated as back in Europe where there are huge recycling centres, however glass Coke bottles still have a deposit charged on them, encouraging you to return them. Some locations segregate wastes into plastics, metals, bio-degradable and general waste, this was very noticeable in Boracay and Cebu and some parts of Manila and Laguna

I have however noticed the tendency, especially in the supermarkets to over package vegetables, some items are left for the customer to pick and chose, then have weighed, others, such as apples, oranges, potatoes and carrots are often pre-packaged in a plastic tray with cling-film or ceran wrap; I wish they would stop doing this.
On a separate note, could SM Supermarket in Santa Rosa please keep their milk cold, it is distressing to pour out lumpy milk onto one’s cornflakes of a morning having only bought the milk the day before. Keeping it near room temperature in a country such as this is not a good idea.

•                Getting married outside one's own home country is a bit of a challenge, I needed to obtain a Certificate of No-Impediment from the British Embassy 21 days after arriving, when I tried to make an appointment there was nothing available until just over a week before the wedding, the only problem was I needed to apply for the wedding licence too, and that had to be 10 to 14 days before the wedding. I wrote a plaintive email to the embassy and fortunately they found an earlier slot. The interview process took about an hour, but CNI obtained!!!
After this we had to get the licence and with the assistance of some very helpful officials at the Santa Rosa City Hall, we obtained this in time for the wedding, a huge thanks to everyone involved.

•                The amount of stuff needed for a wedding here is mind boggling, and that is not including the paperwork; candles, communion hosts, bibles, coins, lighters (for the candles) and so on and so forth. Kat and I spent a few hours chasing around to source these, not sure it should have been down to us, but that is another argument for another time.

•                A few friends came over from the UK for the wedding. On their first night here, we went out for a beer or two and something to eat, however two of them decided that this was too good an opportunity to miss and decided to stay out after the rest of us went back to the hotel. The next morning we discovered they had persuaded a tricycle driver to take them from Tagatay City to Alfonso, Cavite a distance of well over 10km at 3am. I was able to see the entry in the security officers’ log book relating to the arrival of 2 very drunk male guests at 3.30am, they were otherwise very friendly and polite. I just wish I had seen the two of them on the tricycle, it would have been priceless. Thanks to the tricycle driver for putting up with them.

•                The next night, we met up with Kat’s sisters for supper; well, this started in a most inauspicious way, the restaurant bar we chose was empty and it looked like the staff had gone home. After we managed to get some attention and the beer bucket left on the table, the food came out and was very good, the beer flowed and we started in on the Karaoke, I am now banned from singing any Tom Jones songs for life!!!
I transpired that we had chosen a particularly difficult place from which to get back to our hotel, and unlike the night before, there were no accommodating tricycle drivers around. We did however flag down a bus, which was going through Alfonso and much to the amusement of the local passengers, we clambered aboard to get back to Hillcreek Gardens. Thanks to the driver for stopping to pick up a bunch of slightly drunk foreigners from the side of the road.

•                The wedding itself was a roller coaster, the weather made an unwelcome appearance in the form of a thundery shower about 40 minutes before the ceremony was due to start, this delayed a whole bunch of photos being taken, mostly of the bride and pushed the whole thing back about an hour. We had already discussed a contingency if the weather did threaten the day, fortunately, this was not required as the rain cleared fairly quickly. Unlike in the UK where guests and members of the wedding party are pretty much left to themselves, our wedding planners organised things like a military operation, which was probably just as well since some of the adult party members kept wandering off to talk to old friends and colleagues, it was however perhaps a little too organised for me at times.

•                Boracay, well, what can I say, great beaches, good food and excellent weather for the most part, nice big tricycles (why can’t they all be this size everywhere else in the Philippines?).  The island reminds me of places in Egypt and to an extent Puerto Galera, all the glitz is on the beach and the few hundred metres back as you enter the main resort hotels, but the other parts of the island haven’t received quite as much TLC and probably don’t get visited by the majority of the tourists.
Whilst we were here I managed to break my spectacles, which were a designer pair with complex progressive focus lenses. I was resigned to the fact that I wouldn’t be able to replace them like for like and would no doubt need to buy a pair of reading glasses until I could get back to Laguna and have a full eye check. Imagine my surprise, when rather than trying to sell me a new pair of glasses, the lady optician offered to reshape my existing lenses to fit a new, relatively cheap but none the less attractive frame and all for the cost of the frame, no additional fee; bargain!! It transpired that the lenses were of a tough acrylic material and the job took nearly 4 hours rather than the anticipated 30 mins. Thank you Doctora, you saved my sanity as I am still using those frames as I write this.

•                We moved onto Cebu, which was also very nice, the 5* hotel was amazing, we could have spent the entire week on the campus there, only leaving for swimming in the sea. Keen on exploring one of the other major cities in the Philippines, Kat and I headed off to the SM Mall (where else) for a bit of shopping and to watch the new Star Trek movie at the IMAX theatre, great experience.

That’s pretty much it for the moment, I am still baffled by the attitude of drivers and motor cyclists when it comes to lights and as for the tyres on some trucks and jeepnies, totally bereft of tread, great for grip on dry roads, but useless on the wet ones we are starting to have as the rainy season approaches, doesn't make me feel any safer when driving.

Driving in the Philippines, my impressions from a very Western perspective.....

Kat has asked me to drive her around from home to her clinics and hospital visits over the past two weeks as well as the occasional trip to go shopping or for a night out. Here are a few thoughts (or at least my early impressions of driving in the Philippines)

1. Contrary to rumour, there are indeed driving rules which are meant to be followed by the drivers, somewhat sporadically, the enforcement of the rules is patchy too (but then again, this is true in most countries, I have spent most of my adult life breaking or bending the rules) however policemen here have guns, so best to do what they say.
2. The roads are, in general, in relatively good condition; sure the edges are often unmade with quite  deep drop offs, but they are mostly better than those back in Surrey, UK.
3. In a manner not dissimilar to that found in many countries with strong religious convictions, there is an almost fatalistic approach to embarking on a journey, the completion of which is in the hands of God; whilst not quite to the extent of the Muslim "inshallah!" it is not far off.
4. As there is only a limited train network, many people commute by use of shuttle buses, or as Kat refers to them "Killer Busses", these, as the name suggests, are scary beasts, normally driven at well over the posted speed limit for such vehicles and often erratically, changing lanes in order to get wherever they are going quickly. These busses are on the whole best avoided, especially on the highway network, where they seem to hunt in packs often boxing in smaller, slower vehicles. 
5. At many road junctions which do not have traffic lights there is no clear indication of which road has precedence, and even if "Full Stop" markings are visible on the road, these are frequently ignored. In some places Traffic Enforcement Officers direct the flow of traffic, mostly for the good; where there are no TEOs, one would expect the 4 way stop principal to be used, which may be the intention, however it is more likely to be the case of a vehicular form of chicken, with the bravest winning out.....
6. To be a driver here you need to be telepathic, pscychic, prescient or at the very least be on constant guard for the vehicles around you to manoeuvre with little or no warning, either that or join in the madness and go with the flow.
7. There are, what I refer to as, zebra crossings, they serve no function, pedestrians do not have right of way on these road markings, and in fact are probably safer crossing elsewhere.
8. The flashing of headlights has the opposite meaning to that to which I am accustomed, rather than "I have seen you, please go ahead, I shall give way or yield" here it means "I have seen that you intend a manoeuvre, don't even think about it as I am coming through!!!
9. Lane discipline is dreadful, well to be honest, there is none really. Drivers turn left from the far right lane and vice-versa, switching lanes and undertaking are commonplace. 
10. Anticipation and planning ahead are not widely practiced, kamikaze lunges to cross multiple lanes as an expressway exit approaches are the norm, similarly for fuel stations, turning left or right etc. 
11. Motor-tricycles and jeepneys follow their own set of rules and stop, start and change direction with no warning, often with the driver not bothering to check what else is happening around them. Pedestrians act in a similar manner.
12. Speed limits, mostly totally ignored
13. Don't even get me started on the parking (although off-street the bays are generally quite generous), there is another benefit, you can, and do, park almost anywhere..
14. Lights on vehicles are, it seems optional; or at least turning them on at night seems to be
• It does not save electricity, not really
• I will not be dazzled if you switch them on, honestly
• Hiding in the shadows is a bad idea, I can't see you
• Identifying oncoming vehicles by the fact they obscure the lights from vehicles behind them is far from easy, this way of detecting things may work well of astronomers, but is not good for me, ramping up my stress levels.
• Having tinted windows that are dark enough to be used as welding goggles doesn't really help, although they are cool during the day
• Tail lights and indicators are often of non-standard colours, I have seen orange,red, green and blue indicators and blue, white and green tail lights
15. Although jeepneys, motor tricycles and the like are often decorated with many lights (spots, fogs, fairy and LED strips) somewhat like the mirrors that were on a Mod's scooter from the late '60s or early '70s, these are mostly not used because of 14 above.

                        

It seems that I have joined the asylum and am, according to Kat, driving like a true Pinoy. Having experienced driving here, I can now drive anywhere, although I am not ready to take on Dehli or Cairo just yet.

My first few weeks in my new home

I arrived here in the Philippines around 3 weeks ago and have spent the intervening time with Kat getting sorted out and buying stuff for the house. The first major purchase was a refrigerator/freezer, which has now been installed in the kitchen. At the same time it was decided that we needed to get a bit more exercise than we are currently getting, so we have also bought a couple of  bicycles, which we collected earlier this week, our first bike ride is going to be this coming weekend.

Regarding the drive to get fit, there has been some suggestion that Kat and I could well be eating too much, especially rice and some fried foods. With this in mind I was talking with her about portion control and the need to measure the quantity of rice, I suggested either weighing it or using some form of volumetric measure (a cup) this was met with stony silence, clearly not a popular idea. I then offered to introduce some oatmeal to our diets, this was even less popular and even gave rise to teary eyes; I guess that Filipino oatmeal is not to be recommended.

Kat and I also had our pre-wedding photo shoot with some friends of Kat's from Purple Duck Photography http://purpleduckphoto.com/ at a resort hotel in Batangas. I have to confess, when we arrived I could only really see a few areas which would be good locations for taking pictures, however the locations chosen and the photos I have already seen were amazing, the creative flair of Inna, RJ and Choi spotted so many opportunities; I am looking forward to being able to share some of them in the near future.

As another part of my integration to like locally, Kat has asked me to help her getting around between clinics and hospitals by driving her in her car. I was initially quite nervous, having a little experience being driven here and having driven myself on previous business trips in countries where they drive on the right. She introduced me gently on a Sunday where there was less traffic on the roads; it was not as bad as I had anticipated, although caution is required for pedestrians, tricycle drivers and jeepneys, all of whom seem to stop and start and change direction with little or no warning....

I have also made some observations about my new country of residence and the inhabitants there of, I am aware that this might get me into a little trouble, but it is meant with affection and purely as an observation and not a criticism:-

• Filipinos are very hospitable, I have been welcomed into Kat's family and aslo by her friends, or at least those of them I have met. This is greatly encouraging and has made my transition much easier.
• There are a whole variety of truly amazing places to visit and sights to see, and that is only in Luzon (the main island where I am living), Busuanga, Mindoro Oriental Boracay and Negros Oriental. I am looking forward to exploring the remainder of the 7000 islands I haven't been to yet.
• Life here can be frustrating, certainly for a westerner, with many activities requiring forms to be completed in duplicate or worse, triplicate. Bureaucracy here has been developed into a fine art, but you just have to accept it and go with the flow, it will get done eventually.....
• The drivers here are insane, despite being a nation of easy going folk, put them behind the wheel of a vehicle and all that equanimity goes straight out of the window, any opportunity to get ahead will be taken, swapping lanes, driving down the wrong side of the road, jumping red lights, all sorts of craziness.....
• Similar to the driving, Filipinos are not great lovers of queues, many shops and offices have introduced a take a number system to maintain control of who gets served first.
• There are a number of European style bars dotted around Manila, Makati and Alabang, I am not sure whether this is a good thing or not, but I guess something I am familiar with may be worth a visit occasionally. Either way it has to be better than Karaoke TV bars, doesn't it??

There are likely to be further observations and tales of my new life over the subsequent months. Watch this space for updates.

A new life and a very worrying trend developing....

Well, I have only gone and done it.... I had my farewell drinks at the local pub near the end of March 2013, said goodbye to a lot of friends and completed the packing. On the 29th March, I boarded the Hong Kong bound flight from London Heathrow. I was fortunate that having travelled extensively for a previous job I was in possession of a lot of airmiles, which I used to purchase a one way First Class ticket, something that I could not justify for myself if I were to have purchased it with cash.

The seat was very comfortable, with plenty of leg room
and an added bonus of two windows, which I couldn't
see out of as they were too far forward, isn't life a
b*@#h at the front of the plane??

You can just see the window above, the blind is down
something allowed throughout the flight including
takeoff and landing.

The Cathay Pacific Business Class seat, not so big, but a nice size monitor

After a long flight, a traumatic transfer in Hong Kong from BA to Cathay, where I lost my unused Zeneca umbrella with a wooden handle, a rare beast which was liberated from a publicity store many years earlier (it got left behind at one of the check-in desks) I arrived in Manila late in the afternoon, Kat was waiting to greet me outside arrivals (the public are not allowed into the terminal to greet arriving passengers), it was really good to see her again, after all we hadn't been together for 18 months or so.

Night view out of our hotel window

After dumping my bags in a nearby hotel, we went out for a brief walk to a local bar to have a beer and chat about all the gossip and stuff. This was a great time to reacquaint ourselves with each other with no pressure, the bar had a band playing later in the evening, which made talking a bit difficult, so we went back to the hotel. 

The day time view

 The next day, we went shopping for a few essentials, wedding rings, made to measure suit for me and a couple of bicycles for us to get fit. The proximity of the hotel to SM Mall of Asia (MoA) made all this an absolute doddle. It was around this time that the temperature in April in Manila began to hit me, it was about 30 degrees C hotter here than back in Haslemere, Surrey. This by the way is an observation, not a complaint!!

Once the shopping was done, we met up with one of Kat's friends at the same bar as the night before, I had not had the privilege of meeting Armin before, so this was really good.

On the Monday we departed the hotel to drive down to Laguna and start our new life together in a small rented house in Bel Air a short distance from Santa Rosa Techno Park and close to a main arterial route running south from Manila (South Luxon EXpressway or SLEX). On the way we stopped off at Alabang to collect my new bank card and other bits for a proper Filipino bank account. We arrived at the house around lunch time to find Kat's parents had opened up and prepared us some lunch. After we had exchanged greetings, they left us to settle in.

Sadly shopping was far from over, Kat and I went off to a nearby mall to explore the options of refrigerators and washing machines now that we had the opportunity to measure up the available space. Budget constraints meant that we had to get the essentials first and worry about comfort later, so we got a frige first, leaving the air con and washing machine till later. Fortunately Kat had already purchased some items, a rice cooker, toaster oven, coffee machine and a turbo broiler, no I had never heard of it either.
The gates to the subdivision are guarded 24/7, just outside there is a Maccie D and 7-Eleven, just in case we run out of anything, which can include pancakes for breakfast....Also at the gate are innumerable "Tricycles" which function as short distance taxis, but more about these later, as that is a whole other story.

The last couple of weeks in the UK

So, here we are, I am now finished with work, the next few days are leave until I take my company car back on Monday next week. After that I am on leave again until I jump on the flight to Hong Kong on Friday 29th and I start my new life in the Philippines.
The last time I was in a similar situation was when I left Syngenta a little over 4 years ago after 26 year's employment. On that occasion I had mixed feelings too, but these were largely resentment having been made redundant for what I considered spurious reasons at the time. This time, I am sad to be leaving a job I have thoroughly enjoyed with ISOQAR, auditing and getting to visit a whole load of very interesting companies and more importantly some really interesting site visits, including the top of The Gherkin, half way up The Shard, the London Assay Office and on one occasion two lap-dancing bars around the M25.....

My new life will commence once I get over to the Philippines, arriving on the 30th March. Kat has been very  productive and has already rented a house for us, in one of the Laguna Bel Air sub-divisions. She has also bought some furniture, comprising a TV, a bed, dining table, couch and some bits for the kitchen. I am packing up and shipping out a bunch of stuff including some more TVs, my PS3 an 8 inch (200mm) telescope a whole load of kitchen tools (potato ricer, masher, slotted spoon, saucepans, stock pan, griddle pan, cutlery and a hand held blender) just gotta wait for it all to get cleared through customs.

I have made a commitment to myself and my friends that I shall endeavour to take at least one publish worthy photograph every day for the next 12 months once I arrive in the Philippines, this is something one of my soon to be cousins, Cherryl brought to my attention whilst she was in Hawaii a couple of years ago, so watch this space and I shall see what I can do, although I can't promise the photos will be interesting, the cameras I have should at least provide some quality images.......