MikeLigalig.com

Based on this article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wimax

it appears to be the same as "4G" cellular service, and so we can reasonably assume, until being told otherwise, that it works using the same general cellular mechanism, but requires separate radios.  (You can see what a WiMax base station looks like in the article).

The more interesting question is where this is being deployed, which is where Globe's information is maddeningly vague.

D

Mike, I think many here are wise cynics who know that company claims amount to nothing if you're out in Bohol and wondering if your Internet is going to work .

So I would definitely like to join the chorus of people asking if anyone has tried the service in this area.

Globe's web site is no help.  They actually have a "Service Area" menu option that leads to this:

http://site.globe.com.ph/customer_support/faqs/self_help_globe_broadband?sid=S-S2dsuxpRcAACV9dpAAAACJe

The service appears to be available in "Selected Areas Nationwide".  I'm pretty sure that means Metro Manila is covered .

I hope I'm just being too cynical

Anyone know?

D

Does anyone know about Internet access solutions in Duero?

I know apparently you can get an EDGE class cellular type service but I'm wondering if there's any way to get something faster.

I have someone who wants to rent me a place on the water there and it seems virtually ideal, even in price, with the exception of this interesting detail ...

Thanks!

D

Well, if you think about it, an International Airport is just this:

- A fancy building
- A runway, which is just a long concrete slab that's capable of holding a plane, painted with appropriate patterns, and a whole bunch of lights.
- Screening systems where security guys open everyone's baggage.
- A place for Customs to open everyone's baggage - cost covered with fancy building.
- Baggage claim

With the volume of actual facilities on Bohol, I would think one runway would be sufficient.  You're only talking about a maximum of 1-2 international flights a day, right?

It's hard for me to imagine that you would need more than a $1 million building, a $1 million runway and a $1 million baggage handling system for an airport this simple.  I would think that $3 million over 10 years could be paid for by Bohol.  $80 million is really, really pushing it.

You do know about the new $650 million (ouch!) Manila airport terminal that has been sitting empty because nobody in Manila is willing to pay the bills for it, right?

See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninoy_Aquino_International_Airport#Terminal_3

D

Okay, now I'm a bit better informed thanks to this link:

http://www.bohol.ph/article124.html?sid=ba341e93152dc3758937969cb5ed91f4

An airport of that magnitude is clearly never going to be economic on Bohol and definitely should not be situated anywhere near Panglao.

Does it really take $80 million to make an international airport?  I would think you'd only need one international class runway and that shouldn't be all that expensive, no?

Buy the land for expansion but make the initial airport small and then it can grow as needed.

D

It seems more logical to put the airport in Tagbilaran where there is already noise and activity than to put it where we're advertising pristine beaches and quiet.  That's going to drive away the very tourists we want to attract.

When I lived in Los Angeles, I met a group of people who lived near LAX, and they reported that the noise is just plain horrible.  Of course this is with tens of thousands of takeoffs and landings a day, and I doubt Bohol will ever support such a volume.  Nonetheless, it's worth noting that living by a busy airport is no picnic.

I would think the wisest policy would be to build a new airport, should one be needed, on the fringe of Tagbilaran and then buy enough land surrounding it for anticipated future expansion.  Unless I really miss my bet, that would make far more sense and be a lot cheaper to boot.

D

I should say that I have never been to Bohol and so I might be all wet, and I hope all of you will correct me if I'm wrong.

But if I understand correctly, Panglao is the most beautiful part of the Bohol province, with its pristine white sand beaches, its lovely resorts and so on.

I gather the proposal is to confiscate some of this land, and turn it into an airport. 

Picture this scenerio: You are at one of Panglao's beautiful resorts, or perhaps you have purchased a house and lot there overlooking the sea.  All of a sudden you hear the whine of jet engines.  Your furniture shakes, your teacups rattle and you look up to see this massive jet coming right at you as it turns to land.

That sounds like precisely the scenerio I would wish to see if I wanted to ruin tourism on Panglao.  Nobody wants to be interrupted by jet noises and pollution when they are supposed to be enjoying a magnificently peaceful tropical setting.

Airports also require very large amounts of land, and international airports even more due to the bigger jets normally plying those routes.  Do we really want to sacrifice our most valuable land for an airport?

Have steps been taken to mitigate these impacts, or is this proposal just plain silly?  Understand, I think an International airport could be a good idea, but only if it's placed somewhere out of the direct line of sight and hearing of most residents.

How is the present airport in the capital?  Could it be expanded instead?

D

I don't know the people you are speaking of - perhaps I don't see them thanks to the language barrier.

most people who allege propaganda without supporting evidence are doing it because they have no good argument to use on you.  Most enlightened people will understand this, particularly in a friendly, enlightened environment like TB.

I have been involved with online fora for years, and I can say that the best thing to do to disruptive people is to ignore them.  Eventually, they get bored and go away.

hope that helps.
D

Happy weekend, friend!

enjoy Iowa!

D

I love the combination of the tropical environment and a low cost of loving.  I have projects I could run from anywhere in the world, so why not from a place of beauty?

And of course there is that Fimipina charm.  I net many, from the GROs of Angeles to professionals in Bacolod, it was very much in evidence.  I think that non-confrontational attitude blends very well with my rather laid back personality. 

I went to Manila, Angeles and Bscolod.  I liked Bacolod a lot but there didn't seem to be much connection to the water, which I really wanted.  So I figured I would try and find sone medium sized island like Negros but with more of a bea h environment.

I know I could pick Boracay, but it sounds like it might be too congested for by taste.  So Bohol looked very interesting.  And so far I have really lijed the Bohol people I've met both here and elsewhere.

Was that a good answer to your question?

D

PS I apologize for mistakes - i'm tapping this out on my iPhone.

Bambi, do you have information showing the Philippines getting warmer, and how much? 

I'd like to see links to it if so.

Thanks.

D

Politics is indeed everywhere, Frog70.  It's useful to try and understand what's going on.

James Taranto of opinionjournal.com (the WSJ's editorial page) points out that the Nobel committee wasn't terribly successful in predicting winners for peace in its previous nominees.  For example, they gave Yassar Arafat a Nobel, and then he almost single-handedly managed the peace process straight into the ground.

I can understand that, but giving $1.5 million to a Cuban dissident group sure would have been cool.  It would have embarassed the heck out of Castro, which I would have loved to see.  (You may remember from my other posts that I've been to Cuba and have some understanding of what they face.)

But people seem to have been persuaded about global warming, more due to slick propaganda than actual science, and that worries me a lot more than warming itself.  

Bambi, if you read the propaganda about global warming, they essentially say that we have to stop driving and stop heating our homes in the winter and cooling them in the summer, and maybe if we make all those sacrifices we won't destroy the planet.

What you don't hear is that people in China and India are industrializing, and they have ten times the people we do, and they are refusing to do their part to reduce global warming.

What this means is that global warming will happen, like it or not, and the best thing to do is figure out how to mitigate the consequences.  Thus my idea to move the polar ice caps to Dubai, where they will form giant lakes in the Global Warming Mansions Phase I-XXXII real estate development, instead of increasing sea levels.  That may sound silly but I don't think it's any more absurd than the idea of us discontinuing the burning of fossil fuels.

Now, intriguingly enough there is hope for people against global warming long-term.  People like the founders of Tesla Motors are creating electric cars that are more fun to drive than gas vehicles and have the same range.  And new nuclear power plants are being built in the US for the first time; nuclear energy has a far better safety record than coal, and it does not contribute to global warming.

So what does this mean to you and I?  Quietly working behind the scenes, solutions are being developed that will dramatically reduce the use of fossil fuels and that in turn will reduce global warming.  Will they work on time to prevent the globe for being too hot even for me and most Filipinos?  Will Pittsburgh become a tropical island?

Well, to be honest, I wish it would.

But I'm not counting on it.  Human ingenuity has been counted out many times during the course of history, but it's always come through.  So be of good cheer.  The apocalypse is unlikely, but if it happens, well, I will have some tropical Pittsburgh real estate to sell all you guys :-).

D

I've always wondered about global warming because I always felt that a warmer planet would be a better planet, overall.  According to a couple of different sources, the warming would impact mainly night and winter weather.  Most of us, presently living in the USA, would probably benefit from higher night and winter temperatures, while those in the tropical Philippines would notice virtually no change at all.

It seems to me that people who advocate making huge changes to stop global warming have not successfully made the case that global warming is bad.  Every time I read something about global warming, I see tricks, like articles mentioning higher summer temperatures without reminding us of higher winter temperatures.  In short, they leave out positive impacts of global warming and concentrate on the negatives.  I feel like I cannot trust people like them or Al Gore to tell me the undistorted truth.

I know there are other downsides, such as rising sea levels, which look more serious.  I have not yet gotten to the part of Lomborg's book that addresses these.  But I wonder if they could not mitigated instead of trying to halt what seems like an inevitable process.  For instance, why not relocate ice in the polar icecaps to the parched middle east?  That seems far less expensive than reducing oil consumption to near-zero levels, and it would even help a fairly large population.

The last couple of winters in Pittsburgh have been much milder than previous, and although I'd still rather join Boholians in their beautiful island than stay here, the overall warming trend has certainly improved life here.  So Al Gore and friends are asking us to take our tax dollars and spend them on making the temperature colder and winters more miserable?  I can't say that's a sacrifice I'm keen on making.  I'd rather let the warming trend that's improving my life continue, while paying to mitigate its impacts on other places.

Although I haven't finished it, Bjorn Lomborg's book "Cool It" is a fascinating reference on this subject, that explores the lengths Al Gore and his allies have gone to distort the truth.

I would much rather see the money from the Nobel go to the human rights crusaders mentioned in this  article.  They have to defy certain imprisonment or murder, instead of flying around the world on cushy corporate jets like Al Gore.  And to be honest I don't think the $800k or so Al Gore would get would make a lot of difference in his life, while the human rights advocates have nothing and it would really transform their lives.

If, of course, they could actually lay their hands on it.

Sigh.

D

Quote from: asianfairy on October 12, 2007, 04:17:58 PM
Hi David Dennis,

I tried to send you a PM but your inbox is already full.

We have a vacation house by the sea  in valencia which we rent out long term.
check: http://www.atafilipino.com/house/valencia.htm

Thanks!

I have wandered by; it looks very nice.  I love the view of the fish in the clear water!

I think there's something wrong with the private messages - the quota seems to have suddenly been set to 3 messages :-(.  I'm hoping Mike can take a look at that for us.

I will drop you a line via regular email.

Hope you're well.

Best
D

I'm sorry to hear about your baby and husband, Lumine.  I'm a new member who's here to find more out about Bohol and where I should stay when visiting.  I'm not from Bohol - I'm interested in a long term stay there.

Did you try and get Internet access while on Bohol?  Did any of it work well?

That seems to be the biggest problem I have for the trip I want to take early next year, so I'd love to hear any fresh information you might have from your vacation.

Thanks and welcome back!

D

Quote from: ms da binsi on October 10, 2007, 09:31:23 AM
Physics...

I enjoyed Economics and Psychology in school because they really helped me understand how the world works.

Unfortunately I really hated math because of all the memorization.  I'm abysmal at memorization and so math never inspired me.

Probably creative writing was my best subject - I wish English was more oriented towards that and less criticism of other people's work.

Even though my work is in computers, I'm probably a better writer than anything else I do.

D

PS To Ms Da Binsi - I wanted to drop you a line but your mailbox has been full for a while!  Hope you're OK since I haven't heard back from you in an age :-(.

Quote from: ms da binsi on October 11, 2007, 08:21:12 AM
cuba ruins was fabulous Dave...

i wish the restore any of the old building in the US...

i was wondering why cant...

they that there are more rooms to build new buildings...

Glad you liked my Cuba pictures!

In Cuba, the problem was socialism.  Nobody owns their homes; they are given to them by the government, and government officials can arbitrarily take them for their own.  So if you had a beautiful house by the water, and you fixed it up, it would be seized and inhabited by an official.  Thus the result, no maintenance performed on buildings.  The result, as documented in numerous books I read about Cuba, was buildings that would simply collapse at some random period, burying their tenants under them.  A heartbreaking story, but you can see the truth of it in my pictures.

Cuba's a great place to visit, but I certainly wouldn't want to live there.

I think the main reason for Detroit's ruins is that Detroit's population shrank and so there was less and less demand for buildings.  If demand goes down, you see empty and abandoned buildings, since there is nobody to inhabit them.

I was a little surprised that the beautiful old houses would have been abandoned.  If I lived in Detroit I would find one that wasn't too deteriorated and inhabit it myself.

When I first saw the Fabulous Ruins of Detroit, I lived in California, where there is virtually no such thing as an abandoned building - there is such a powerful demand for real estate that the only abandoned buildings I ever saw were those destroyed in Malibu landslides where the law disallowed rebuilding.  Such a lot would still be worth $100,000+ since there is a legal path through a maze of government agencies that might eventually allow rebuilding, and any house thus built would be worth $1,000,000 plus.  Malibu is not the world's cheapest place to live :-).

People overall have been moving to the sunbelt, and I think they are right to do this.  It's a lot more pleasant to live where the weather is nice and life is sweeter.  But it does make our older cities look grim.

D

Quote from: ms da binsi on October 10, 2007, 01:03:50 AM
i even collected some old stuff to fit the looks of our house... like our 1953 chevy truck in our garage...

Ah, when American cars and trucks actually were cool.  Good choice.

Have you ever seen the Fabulous Ruins of Detroit web site?  I think you might like it.

It's here:
http://detroityes.com/home.htm

When I visited Cuba, I even created the Fabulous Ruins of Cuba (with credit to the original, as you will see), which are just as heartbreaking:
http://cgi.amazing.com/cuba/fabulous-ruins/

D

Quote from: ms da binsi on October 09, 2007, 09:19:43 PM

plumbing... i do almost everything in the house...a am jane of all trades... (etcetera)

Congratulations!  You are indeed talented.

Of course it's the antique homes which have charm and character, so you should be happy.  The modern ones may have all the conveniences, but they are tragically lacking in soul.  Given enough money, you can give an old one conveniences, but you can't give a new one heart.

I personally love the 1950s/1960s modern homes, and I have a special weakness for architectural homes like John Lautner and Frank Lloyd Wright.

As for the question, the answer is pretty much everything.  I am a specialized creature.  I'm talented on the computer and I'm a good cook, writer, photographer and video editor.  But in terms of mechanical things, I'm pretty much hopeless.

But the thing I most hate is cleaning.   I am simply not capable of doing it myself.  I either need a wonderful wife who doesn't mind cleaning up after me or a wonderful wife and a live-in maid.

At least I'm honest about my failings :-).

D

Finding Nemo, because of its sheer beauty.  I just loved its portrayal of life under the ocean.  What was even more amazing was that, thanks to my experience with aquaria, I knew all of the creatures in it were only slightly exaggerated versions of genuine reef denizens!

The most influential move in my life was Annie Hall.  Annie and her boyfriend lived in New York, and Annie went out to California in search of fame and fortune.  The movie's portrayal of California was meant as negative and satirical but I could see only the wonderful lack of snow and cold.  To me anything was worth getting out of the chilly climate of my childhood.

I moved out to California a few years after I saw the movie.

Now I'm back in the frigid East again for business reasons, but I'm not happy :-(.

I see the Philippines as a wonderful tropical environment filled with friendly people.  Of course it has flaws of its own, but I'd do anything to get out of the chilly climate of my adulthood ...

D

Quote from: Mari on October 06, 2007, 03:59:27 AM
Pamakasyon namo oy!

I can't understand half the messages here thanks to not knowing the language, but I love the ship!  It's cute!

I hope it carries you back with joy!

D


mr dennis, it says go home to bohol for a holiday

I've been in touch with someone on a mailing list who's interested in renting me a beach house on Duero for US$20 a day (US$600 a month).  He's an American who is currently building a larger house and therefore now has a house surplus to his needs.

Does anyone have impressions of this area that they could share with me?  I'd like to know more about the area.  I'm wondering how rural it is (I know it's not in the big city) and what services are available - what would I need to go to the big city for and what could I get locally?

Is the price reasonable for a monthly rental or a bit high?  I'm wondering if I should negotiate to get a lower price or not.  My gut feeling is that it's cheap for one night, but a bit expensive as a monthly rate.  It's disappointing to me overall that it's been quite difficult to find any concrete evidence of rental prices.  The people who say houses should cost $100-200 a month are generally in the city, probably without access to the beach.  All the houses I've seen available are on the beach and $600.   So I'd love to see more guidance here.  I wouldn't mind paying less for a property that had a sweeping ocean view but wasn't on the water, if it could hold the cost down.  On the other hand, I know I'd just love to be on the water.  So I guess I want to know, does that $600-odd price have room in it for negotiation and if so about how much?

Of course maybe I shouldn't be so cheap.  The same trip to Florida, at rock-bottom prices, would be $3,000 a month or more.  I can't afford that, but it should give me some perspective.

One part of me says I should spend money and have more fun; the other part says I could spend more time in the Philippines and delay my return to miserable Pittsburgh, if I was able to pay less.

The place is a small compound with a one bedroom house, a separate one bedroom on the water and a Nipa hut.  I am only one person, but I'd be open to the potential of there being a Filipina who might charm me into having her come visit :-).

If other people are renting places, I'd like to hear from them too.  I expect the timeframe to be a month or two around January-February, possibly expanding to 4-6 months or even longer if I like the place.  My email is david@amazing.com if anyone wants to send pictures.

Thanks for any thoughts!

D

I just wanted to apologise - this was meant to be under the lighting solution for your home thread and somehow it wandered away because of a timeout problem since I'm using the Internet in a marginal reception area for my WiFi.  If this can be demoted to a reply, please go ahead and do it :-).

Thanks for understanding!

D

I don't know how available they are on Bohol, but to me 12 volt halogen lights are the most beautiful form of lighting made.  You can point them directly at a subject for intense light or bounce them against your ceiling for ambiance.  It really creates great effects.

Unfortunately, to dim them you need a special 12-volt style dimmer.  The normal 110 volt dimmers don't work (you will see a lot of flickering).  Put a couple of tracks on two separate dimmers and you have amazing flexibility to put beautiful effects in your home.

I've always hated compact fluorescent lights.  It's the weird shape and the fact that most of them have really ugly looking light that sours me on them.  There is also a movement to make them mandatory which really doesn't appeal to me.

They are more efficient than halogen, which are in turn more efficient than incandescent.  But if you want light to go where you want it, halogen works and CFLs don't.

D

I don't know how available they are on Bohol, but to me 12 volt halogen lights are the most beautiful form of lighting made.  You can point them directly at a subject for intense light or bounce them against your ceiling for ambiance.  It really creates great effects.

Unfortunately, to dim them you need a special 12-volt style dimmer.  The normal 110 volt dimmers don't work (you will see a lot of flickering).  Put a couple of tracks on two separate dimmers and you have amazing flexibility to put beautiful effects in your home.

I've always hated compact fluorescent lights.  It's the weird shape and the fact that most of them have really ugly looking light that sours me on them.  There is also a movement to make them mandatory which really doesn't appeal to me.

They are more efficient than halogen, which are in turn more efficient than incandescent.  But if you want light to go where you want it, halogen works and CFLs don't.

D

Surely with Bohol being one of the most beautiful places in the Philippines, a wonderful location could have  been found for a conference?

I looked up Baguio City and while the weather is cooler it seemed like getting there would be a big headache, not to mention costing a fortune compared to even the monthly income of the average Filipino.

That being said, though, we're talking about US$300.  How much is the budget of a typical Bohol barangay?  Is $300 per attending member a big enough proportion of it to matter? 

I think a lot of time people focus on petty absurdities while ignoring areas where millions of pesos, or even dollars, may have been misspent.  For instance, in another discussion thread a building was constructed that is now being partially demolished.  I'll bet that's costing many thousands of dollars, as opposed to hundreds.  I would rather have people go to all the conferences and attend all the sporting events they want, if it helps them avoid fiascos like that.

Thoughts?

D

I could have sworn President Ramos was known as a decent man and good leader, but that you put in strict term limits to avoid corruption, so he couldn't be re-elected :-(.

As far as I can tell, he was a smart man.

I have heard some people say - and I'd like to hear your views pro or con - that Marcos was a better leader overall than many of his successors, because he knew how to manage the corruption system and make most of it work.

D

Quote from: Bohol on July 18, 2007, 08:15:53 PM
My friendster inbox has been flooded with screaming "Pleasseeeeeeeeeeeee ASAP....this was in the news blah blah blah...." with prophetic urgency of "forward this and forward that blah...blah...and in return you'd be rewarded by Bill Gates and all the Who's Who of America with bags of U.S. dollars (why not Euro?) for forwarding the message..." This absolute non-sense is all the same with "Allen, Friendster Manager (kono) asking you to forward this and that blah blah blah"...

To answer your question, the basic script for most of those messages is so old that it predates the foundation of the Euro as a serious currency, and as a result the messages are all denominated in US dollars.

Besides, the US Dollar is probably still the most universally understood currency.  If you're sending messages to Internet users globally, people in the US aren't going to relate to the Euro but people in Europe are still likely to have an idea of what a dollar is.

That being said, it does seem odd that we wouldn't see amounts in Nigerian Naira, since so many of these scams are out of Nigeria.  US$1,000,000 is 127,170,000 Nigerian Naria, so surely any amount of USD is going to seem much more dramatic when converted to valid local currency!

D

Benelynne, unlike you and others, I have no connection with Bohol at all, other than an interest in considering it as a place to settle when I come to the Philippines.

When I visited your country a year and a half ago, I found that it seemed to be easier to form bonds of friendship between me and citizens of your country (of both sexes) than it was to do so with people in my own country.  The USA has a very cold, impersonal culture nowadays and to me it doesn't really feel like home in the same way the Philippines did.

So I was thinking about what area of the Philippines might be best.  I originally thought I would go to Bacolod, on Negros Occidental, because a good friend of mine lives there.  But unfortunately, due to circumstances having nothing to do with me, she soured on Internet friendship and so I am no longer in touch with her :-(.  So I had an idea of where I wanted to go - a medium sized, semi-urban place which nonetheless had nice beaches, a low cost of living and the possibility of my having my own small but cute beach house or overlooking ocean view house for a relatively small sum.

I did some more research.  Boracay seemed too crowded and expensive, but Bohol seemed like it might be just right - not horribly crowded, with at least one urbanized area of significant size.  And then people from Bohol started showing up on my amazing.com social networking site, and it turned out that I liked talking to them.

So I figured, well, Bohol might be a good place, but I know next to nothing about it.  So I started to do Bohol-related searches and came up with this site, among others.

So that's why I'm here.  And I like this environment because I can learn a lot about how the Philippines really works from all of you.  So now I'm interested in hearing your own experiences.

Did that help and make sense to you all?

D

I am very sorry to see that this happened, just as I was starting to enjoy our dialogue here together.

Unfortunately, the world of cyberspace has many vandals, because it is so easy to do, and equally easy to get away with.

Be of good cheer; you have many supporters and one detractor.  In the end, the love easily outweighs the hate.

I have run systems like this for years, and one of the things I have learned is not to lose hope and to look the vandals in the eye.  Don't show how mad you are; treat them with courtesy because it makes them madder than anything else you could do :-).

"I appreciate your efforts towards destroying my system because what doesn't kill us makes us stronger", etc.

I know it's painful and I am sorry about your pain and hope we have all learned and will grow from this experience.

D

Shouldn't it depend on how much the person involved really needs to hear the truth?

If someone needs the truth to make an important decision, it would be bad not to tell it.

But if it's something that is not important, and would hurt the feelings of the person being told, it might be better to remain silent.

D

Quote from: GEC348 on October 02, 2007, 12:55:36 PM

Heya Dennis,

I like this line of thought

Dennis, if ever you're in Bohol, I'd like to show some corruption to you, he he he.

Mike, has already corrupted me. He is such a bad, bad,  baaad boy.

Oh-oh!

I don't know whether to be flattered ... Or frightened!
So you are one of the members here who is on Bohol now?
I think that my main objective should be to understand things as they work today.  Then you can figure out the best way to change things, or if it's even possible.  It's very difficult to understand things without detailed information.  Remember, nobody is evil in their own story ...

D






[/quote]

This seems interesting because it doesn't address what I thought was the worst problem when there: The truly abysmal air pollution problem in Manila and elsewhere.

I don't see Filipinos accepting significant air pollution restrictions any time soon since they would have to accept first-world pricing for vehicles.  This is especially unfortunate due to that lamentable 100% tariff on vehicle imports.   

In view of the fact that there appear to be numerous on-water communities that use the ocean as a public sewage dump, I also wonder about those sanitation statistics.  I think it would be just about impossible to get realistic statistics from anywhere - people who can be realistically counted are likely to be those with sanitation.

I remember that around Bacolod it was thought that the ocean was where the slums were, largely because of this sewage question.  And when I went to Tagaytay and looked down to the ocean below, I saw a spectacular view but also suspiciously brown tinged water.

I have a feeling that report probably has statistics in it that do not reflect reality.  It would be interesting to see some of the details and how sanitation can be provided to people who probably could not afford it out of their meagre budgets.

It's one thing to force people in Malibu, California with million dollar homes to install $20,000 septic systems or $10,000 sewer hookups - it's another thing to impose high costs on people who make under US$100 a month.  I don't know if it can be done.

On a positive note, my American host for the first third of my Philippines trip groused about how lousy safety standards are, and how people drove cars like there was no tomorrow, and how they used tyres until the last milimetre of tread was gone and beyond ... but wierdly there seemed to be fewer catastrophic accidents than I see in the USA.  I suspect a lot of this is because the sluglike speeds of Philippine traffic tend to make accidents happen at much lower speeds, but I also wonder if our high safety standards here are overrated ...

(I hope those of you who read my posts have noticed by now that my perspective is that some things about the Philippines are great and others are appalling.  I enjoy the Philippines because I love the Filipino/a personality.  But one cannot be blind to shortcomings either, and I hope you don't mind I address them occasionally despite being an outsider.  I want to provoke discussion and thoughtfulness.)

D

Quote from: ms da binsi on October 02, 2007, 08:36:15 AM
...and what made you move there??? hmmm?

Economic disaster.  I lost my job and thanks to my lack of connections, could not find a new one fast enough to be able to afford to stay.  I had a friend in Pittsburgh with a job lined up for me and so here I am.

D

I've noticed that a lot of the wonderful people here that I've been talking to were born in Bohol or spent time in Bohol, but don't live in Bohol anymore.

After seeing that video that Lorenzo posted, showing his obvious love of the island and its stunning natural beauty, I would think almost anyone would do anything they could to stay instead of going to the inhospitable, freezing shores of the USA, with its bad food, ridiculous cost of living, etc.

If you don't mind, I'd like to hear a few of your stories.  What was life like in Bohol, and what made you take the long and difficult journey to another land?  Are you happy where you are now?  Do you have any regrets?  And do you plan to return to Bohol, and if so, when and how?

I'd also like to hear from those of you who are still in Bohol.  How have you survived the obstacles that you see in Philippine life?

Thank you very much in advance for your stories.  I've really enjoyed talking to all of you who have responded.

And, just as a gentle reminder, please respond in English, or offer some kind of translation of your Bisayan :-).

D

Quote from: ms da binsi on October 02, 2007, 08:18:20 AM
Guys what is Pittsburghese terms

Think of it as Pittsburgh's version of Bisayan.  It a language which contains additional words that makes Pittsburgh people feel at home.  Our friend Lorenzo's dictionary is, of course, accurate.

I guess language as social clique is more common than I had thought.

Since I am basically a cosmopolitan man of the world (one reason I don't fit well in provincial Pittsburgh), I don't like Pittsburghese.

But I do appreciate Lorenzo's use of the local dialect to identify himself as a member of the tribe, even though I'm not really a member of that tribe.

A disadvantage of being a cosmopolitan man of the world is that I have no roots and no real bonding with people.  I think this is something I am looking to discover in the Philippines because when I was there I felt much more connected with the local people than I ever did with Americans.

D

That looks pretty nice! Is it actually going down the river, or does it just float on the river?

How's the food and how much is it?

(You may have these answers in Bisayan but I don't understand them!  :-( ).

D

Quote from: ms da binsi on October 02, 2007, 07:58:06 AM
I believe you...

Where were you in LA?

I found a man from Michigan, that's why...
no regrets though, he kept me warm all the time,
even to those on humid days hahaha

We had been having nice 70's here few days ago, but today was gloamy and it rained a bit...

Woodland Hills, California in the San Fernando Valley.  I had a little house perched near the top of the hill, which is about my ideal way of living.  It would have been perfect if it was near the ocean but that would have been way too expensive.

I was lucky to get for $425,000.  It was the cheapest single family house in the area at the time I bought it. 

Now I'm associated with the haunted attraction I run with a partner.  If anyone here's in the Pittsburgh area you should check it out :-).

http://www.demonhouse.com/
http://www.amazing.com/communities/show/48

I actually discovered this forum on my iPhone yesterday during my breaks in acting as the Mad Scientist!

D

Quote from: Lorenzo on October 01, 2007, 02:27:36 PM
Oh really? Djit jet? Yinz doing good, right? hahahaha

Sir, i actually am currently 1 hour north of you. I'm a senior in Allegheny College in the town of Meadville, Pennsylvania. 30 minutes from Erie. hahahaha! Small world, mate.

Btw, what happened to our Steelers today???

Regards,
Bran

I have to figure out when I plan to visit and at that time it will be useful to have a contact or two about rental houses and the like.  I'd like to find something with a great ocean view, Internet access and access to the water, at a reasonable rate. 

I've been in Pittsburgh for two years.  I really hate those Pittsburghese terms since I think of them as a perversion of the type of English I normally like to speak.  But I appreciate the gesture in using them to show you can identify with the area :-).

I'm afraid I have never really felt at home here and so I'm always trying to figure out a cost-effective way to leave without spending the huge sums needed to live in places like South Florida, which climate-wise are far more appealing to me.

If you're ever near the Southern part of the Pittsburgh area, let me know and maybe we can do lunch.

Thanks for writing!

D

What was horrifying about this structure?

Does anyone have a picture of it?

What was it supposed to do?  Is Agora like a public market?

D

Quote from: ms da binsi on October 01, 2007, 11:11:19 PM
It was exciting for me to see the snow, sense i never had experienced it in LA and in my country... but i got tired of it after a while... i had to be home all the time because im still not so used to drive in the snow...
...
By the way do u know any place where we could get oysters in Phila??? we will be going back there in March, again

You should be here in the Pittsburgh area right now.  The weather's perfect - high 70s and a beautiful breeze that if I close my eyes reminds me of the ocean breeze you get on a Philippine island or in Florida.

What made you go from LA to Michigan?  I had to leave LA when I got laid off, due to the incredibly high cost of living there.  I really miss it, and to add insult to injury if I'd only held on to my house it would have appreciated by another $100k :-(.

D

Quote from: ms da binsi on October 01, 2007, 10:46:40 PM
hay kataas sa article...


ako ni i print akong dad-on sa akong library (CR)

kay maka concentrate to didto hahha 

Ah ... my first language lesson!

Hmmm ... something something article.  Maybe "Nice article"?

Can I print it? so I can read it in the CR [Bathroom]?

Am I anywhere close?

I've done a lot of research about this fellow and his companies, so I can fill you in a bit more.

I should probably mention that there is at least one "lie" in that article.

His "retirement" resembles another man's "full time employment" more than anything else.  You know, working six instead of seven days a week, coming to the office at 9 am instead of 6 am, etc.

I remember he once asked his son in front of reporters when he would find a wife.  The answer was "When you stop buying companies!"

His son runs Cebu Pacific Air, as far as I can tell very well, with passion and flair.

I think John G's company will be in good hands when he dies.

I do think it's interesting that most people perceive business tycoons as evil and unapproachable, and yet a genuinely appealing personality comes out in his speech.  I get the feeling that if I met him, I would like the guy.

The only personal experience I have, other than admiring his companies and management, was with a very nice Filipina I met when I visited your country.  She told me that life at Equitable PCI Bank, where she works, went straight downhill after Gokonwei's company sold out to his partner.  She would complain about working there before he sold the company, but after he sold it things got a lot worse for employees, fast.

This makes me think that he's a good and fair employer subject to the limitations of business life in the Philippines.  From what I understand, a lot of Filipino business life is cutthroat and every man for himself.  Being reasonable and fair may have been a hidden business advantage of his that makes employees loyal and the business run smoothly.  Certainly whatever he does works.

I just wish I could spell his name without looking it up ...

D

Ah, so many want to experience what they have not!  It's rather endearing, actually.

My mother was from Florida (a warm state) and my father from New Jersey (a cold state).  They settled in Massachusetts, also a cold state.  So I have lived half my life in cold climates and pretty much know what I think of them :-).  I'm afraid I must have Floridian blood in me since I really and truly hate the cold with a passion.  If you're used to a tropical climate, I would think cold and snow would be an absolute nightmare in practice, even if it's interesting to experience during a few days' visit.

D

There are bad eggs in America too.  You find them everywhere.

How does the level of corruption in the Philippines compare to the level in Thailand?

To answer the Philippines versus Thailand question, I mainly choose the Philippines because I like the fact that everyone speaks at least some English and so I'm not completely hopeless without learning the native tongue.  Also I have the impression that the women have the best balance of personality traits.

Of course I could be wrong, but I was enchanted by Filipinas during my trip :-).

D

Quote from: Bohol on September 20, 2007, 12:49:15 PM
Just think of this:

During the recent Philippine Councilors League-Bohol elections, the councilors (who are addressed as honorables) allowed themselves to be bought with hot cash. Councilors buying votes of fellow councilors. Honorables selling votes to honorables. The price was P2,000 plus per vote.

And the world is watching. The general public is gawking at them. Now we have perfect models for our children.

The hoipoloi has a perfect excuse why his or her vote is always on sale.

In the US, there is something called "pork".  Pork is money going to specific projects in your district.  If you are a California senator, for example, you have a list of projects.  A West Virginia senator has a list of their own projects.  They then swap votes - the California guy votes for the West Virginian's projects and vice versa.

As you can tell, then, this have very little to do with the merit of the projects and everything to do with hte desire of the various people for projects.  It's called "bringing home the bacon".

I think you can see that while the purchase and sale of votes is more blatant than this, it's still effectively what's going on, right in the US. 

In many respects, your system is superior to ours.  One quick example should prove the point.  You have a public transport system that actually works.  Jeepneys take people down major roads, and Trikes go from major roads to individual houses in a subdivision.  Jeepney fares are around 7.5 pesos and trikes around 5.  So if you have a trip where you take a trike to a Jeepney and it gets you to your destination, you are paying about P12.5 or about $ 0.30.

In the USA, busses are government monopolies.  They require that busses be a certain size and that they are driven by unionized drivers who get paid a lot.  The bus system in Pittsburgh has a fare of US$2.75 per trip, or approximately 10 times what it costs to provide the same service in the Philippines.  The bus companies lose huge amounts of money even at those fares and they are heavily subsidized by the government. So your typical bus ride actually costs from $4-5 to provide.

So you can see that the Jeepney system is far superior to the bus system in the US.  In the US, it's almost a necessity to have a car because the car is far cheaper to run and faster than the bus system is.  In the Philippines you get surprisingly similar transportation services to having a car while spending much less.

So there is the truth.  Some things America does are better, and worthy of emulation.  Some things done in the Philippines are better and they are worthy of emulation too.

I might add another thing.  The corruption in the Philippines makes personal relationships, and harmonious relationships between people, very, very important.  People in the US are far ruder and far less nice to others.  Certainly in the US I am almost never treated with the friendliness and courtesy I was in any Filipino store, however humble it might be.  I think the coruption makes the relationships better because they are more important than in the US.

If you throw away the corruption, you might lose some of the things that makes the Philippines a great place to live, too.

D

Quote from: Lorenzo on October 01, 2007, 01:54:04 PM
Good Evening Mr. Dennis,

Thank you for your interest in Bohol, Philippines and your yearning to understand the native dialect. If you would like to learn how to speak and read Bisaya, feel free to ask any of us in here, and I'm sure we'd gladly translate and help you learn.

So where do you hail from, Mr. Dennis? (If you don't mind me asking, that is).

With warm regards,

I hail from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a region that gets very gloomy and depressing during the season we call "winter".  In this "winter" the leaves drop from the trees and they become bare and gloomy.  The weather turns grim and something called "snow" sometimes falls down from the sky.  It becomes very cold, like the inside of your freezer.  Sometimes even colder.

I really, really, really hate this "winter".  It is not enjoyable.  Therefore, I wish to spend time elsewhere, like in the Philippines.  You should understand that if I wanted to get a house near the water or with a water view in a climate in the US without this "winter", I would spend around US$1,000,000, or 45 million pesos, for even the cheapest one. 

I don't have 45 million pesos :-(.

So you can see the Philippines has an enormous appeal since houses by the water cost far less than that to buy and proportionately far less to rent, too.  And the weather is almost always nice, without this awful "winter".

My basic idea is to develop a business based on online advertising based on the US and use the money to settle in the Philippines.  So you can see I'm not  trying to start a business in the Philippines, which I know is virtually impossible to do successfully.

Hope that was interesting.

D

Quote from: Bohol on October 01, 2007, 01:27:00 PM
This language is spoken by more than 30 million Filipinos in the Philippines and abroad (Australia's population is less than 25 million). But our government is Manila-based (sort of Washington-based) and officials don't care much about our Bisaya language.

From what I can see, Manila is proportionally like if New York City, Washington DC and Los Angeles were all smushed together into one enormous thing, and that enormous thing was very poorly planned and pollution left to spread out of control.  I kind of like the crazy unregulated feel but the traffic strikes me as something that would take a lifetime to master, and life is really too short for that.  Should the Philippines be run from Manila?  I really don't think so, personally.  I think decentralization should be encouraged.

So I am actually a little confused about this.  I know there is a Cebu Language, a Negros language and I assumed Bisayan was yet another language.  And yet I thought the population of the Philippines was about 80 million.  Is Bisayan simply the language of the Visayas, being Cebu, Negros, Bohol and a few smaller islands?  And if so why do they each have their own different names for the language?

D

With all due respect, allow me to offer a contrary view.

It seems interesting that this particular person would be so much hated by the people here.  All she did was say how much she hated flying Tourist Class with a lot of noisy people.  Travel can be a pretty miserable experience, and I can't really blame her for venting over it.  If she was trying to sleep in her puny seat, and people were conversing loudly all around her I can see how the experience might be an ordeal.  It would have been an ordeal whether those folks around her were OFWs or Americans or Martians.  Doesn't matter; they still behaved in a way that caused her discomfort.

Let's face it, nowadays the actual experience of travel isn't a lot of fun.  Being at your destination is fun, and seeing your loved ones is fun.  But getting on a plane, squished into a tiny seat, and trying to use your laptop when the seat in front of you leans back and threatens to break the case is not fun. 

From what I understand, you can solve this problem very easily by getting Cathay Pacific's First Class sleeper, at just $19,095.90 a seat [859,285.43 pesos at current exchange rate per Google].  (Yes, I checked.  You could have knocked me down with a leaf after seeing that fare.)  Many people might not consider this an economical option :-(. 

I would say that even many people who are considered wealthy in the USA, let alone the Philippines, might not consider this fare acceptable.  I know of some billionaires who would take one look at that fare and fly tourist.  That might even be why that nice John Gokongwei Jr, billionaire founder of J G Summit Holdings (Robinsons Land, Robinsons Malls, Robinsons Bank, Cebu Pacific, etc, etc, etc

• ) has his own airline now.
  
  So no, she shouldn't have been so rude to our poor friends, the overseas Filipino workers. They are, after all, just being friendly and trying to form some kind of group together so they still exist as Filipinos.  I can't blame them for being annoying to her and I can't blame her for being annoyed.  This is just what happens in society where people have conflicting feelings and goals.
  
  At the same time, for her opinions, which are after all, only opinions, to have so much power surprises me.  Wouldn't we be better off trying to understand the forces in the Philippines economy that are creating such huge pressures for Filipinos to leave their beloved country?  I would think the most hated character in the Philippines might be a composite of the people who do manage to make the economy perform as it has.
  
  The story of the OFW is the triumph of people triumphing over adversity and pain.  But at the same time it comes at a big price, as they are ripped apart from their beloved families and friends.  Surely the policies that make them worth more overseas than they are in their own country should be considered and reexamined, instead of wasting our time being mad at some silly columnist?
  
  D
  
  
• I mention him because whenever I noticed a business in the Philippines that seemed unusually well run, from the malls to the airlines, his company seemed to be behind it somewhere.
  
  
  
  

Thank you, Bohol and Ma.  I really appreciate your kind hospitality in a world where I am undeniably an outsider.

Ah, that's an interesting point!  So you basically want to see and hear your language to emphasize your connection with Bohol while here?  Very interesting, thanks for that further contribution.

I am on about a billion Expat Yahoo groups.  I'm here because I'm interested in talking to Filipinos and understand their own feelings and problems.  And of course learning more about your beautiful island specifically.

Of course the question still stands - what would be the best way to learn Bisaya, at least a subset that would make it possible for me to understand some of the postings and therefore become less of an outsider?

And are there translation programs on the web somewhere that would let me type in Bisayan messages and see them in even some fractured form of English?

Thanks!

D

PS I really like the "a new reply has come, you might want to look at it before sending off your message" feature.  Very cool and something I have not seen before.

If you know only English, what is the best way to understand the messages here?

Is there any automated translator for the languages used?

Why is it that people switch between English and this other language?  Why not just use English, since you all know it?

And what language is it, anyway?  Is it the Bohol-specific tongue or Tagalog/Filipino?   What would the best way for someone who is truly abysmal in languages other than English to learn it?

Many thanks, and I apologise in advance if this question is culturally offensive - it just makes you very difficult to understand, placing a barrier between us that I'd really not like to see.

Many thanks for your thoughts.

D

Quote from: Bohol on October 01, 2007, 09:32:54 AM
David,

How did you find Tubag Bohol?

This site is best viewed in Mozilla Firefox browser.

Believe it or not, it looks gorgeous on iPhone.  I was surprised and pleased to find there is even an iPhone users group in Manila, even though it is technically not allowed by any of your cellphone carriers.  Like any phone, typing messages is a little awkward, but that would be true of any phone.

On iPhone, your site looks basically identical to its look on Safari, which is very similar to FireFox.  I will try it on my Powerbook when I get home.

I found your site through a Google search for "bohol expat". I'm a web site creator myself, so I know the keywords are important to you, so I looked them up.

Hope that helps!

D

Quote from: Bambi on October 01, 2007, 08:54:32 AM


I guess, he is an American like Mr. Franklin or what you think?

You are correct - I am an American, living in Pittsburgh, PA, in the east coast of the United States.

When I was in the Philippines, I visited Manila, Angeles and Bacolod.  I liked Bacolod and found the people exceptionally warm and friendly, but I want to settle in a place with a nice ocean view that's not hugely overdeveloped but still had some urban amenities (shopping malls, etc).

Bohol seems like it could be a very good place for that, but I know very little about it and its people.  Thus my visit to this forum,  that looks like a very nice and friendly place.

By the way, please forgive funny errors here - I am tapping out these messages on my Apple iPhone and sometimes it makes the oddest corrections for me!

I thank your automated system for welcoming me most graciously to your community.  It shows a friendly spirit that I warmly appreciate.

I live in the US and have been attracted by the beauty of you beaches and land.  I am intrigued by the idea of spending at less my winters in the Philippines and simmering back in the US.

I am also interested in the possibility of romance which seems ever-present in your lovely country.

I look forward to making friends here and meeting some interesting folks.

David Dennis
Pittsburgh, PA