Mogs Trip. Part 1. Just landed this morning

[The Mog Finally Returns]

Hey guys. Whew. Just landed this morning. It had been 6 years. Been alone three years since my wife left. I guess as a preamble to the report Ill confide in my mind set. I guess I had been overcompensating for being alone. I had far, far too many girls to try to call and visit in 2 1/2 weeks and to that end I didnt come close. But as you'll see, it came together OK in the end. Initially, Manila seemed a little less polluted than before; maybe its that I came so late in winter, or Ive gotten accustomed to it. Still, the first thing I did when I got home was make a blueberry smoothie with soy milk. Lots of toxins in my body to flush out. Landed in Manila, and spent a half hour finding my hotels van. I stayed at Swagman Hotels, I like them because they are right on Roxas Blvd across from the US Embassy, email them and they will pick you up at the airport. Took me forever to find their driver though, but I met a guy there also staying at Swagman Hotel from my city of Minneapolis who I spent part of trip with so that was very cool. Looks like a new airport since last time, no less confusing and crowded. Pretty intimidating for a first timer -- I remember my first time.
So, we got booked in and my new friend and I promptly showered and hit the bars. Now its all become a blur, even though I just got back. I guess my main intention was to take a vacation, visit some of my new friends, a few old ones, and just basically relax and have fun. Seems things have gotten a bit more expensive with the VAT tax: at least in Manila. My new friend was there more for "entertainment"...He took home a girl that first night, barfined her, I just got semi-drunk and bought a few girls a few drinks and called it a night. We loaded up on the hotels free breakfast buffet, and hit the malls. Spent another night partying at the clubs and then he went to Angeles, but I wanted to meet up with some of my new friends in Manila. I mentioned I was determined to go to Boracay for my first time and it wasnt hard to talk him into meeting me there.
Next day I went to the Manila shooters club in Ermita right round the corner from the hotel. Wasnt really planning on it but ended up blasting away on a fully automatic Uzi. Im not a gun freak, ive shot before, but it was a pretty cool experiience. Went to Boracay, nice thing about that hotel is they have an in-house travel agency on the second floor. About 3300 pesos, maybe $60, for my ticket. Stayed at the Boracay Regency, expensive but very nice. Dinner at a candlee lit table on the beach at night, waves lapping the shores, breeze blowing, Lapu-Lapu with sweet sour and a San Miguel. Pretty nice. My friend arrived the next day carting along a girl from Angeles. We rented some scooters- well, he had a scooter, I paid an extra 50 pesos for the nice Honda 200 dirt bike, and we rode to the top of Mt Lujo. Amazing. We had to tip a few locals to show us the way. There you can walk up to a platform overlooking all of Boracay. The guy at the top said they very rarely see Americans up there, mostly Chinese and Korean. Search it out, its amazing. Rising through the narrow streets of Boracay was insane. They also rent little two-men go karts and ATVs, saw lot of Japanese couples convoying to the top in those also. The dirt bike was a blast. It was almost new, about $10 US an hr. You can rent em along the beach. Their vendors are annoying. Every 6 ft one of them tries to push their hokey sunglasses and fake rolexes on you. Did talk one kid down to 750 pesos (about $15) for a fairly decent two-tone Submariner Rolex fake. He finally bit after two days of rejecting him lol.

[The Mog Finally Returns]

Part 2; Boracay rocks. The sand, the palm trees, the breezes. After three days you are bored stiff. Its a great place for a honeymoon. We were gonna try the parasailing, Jetski maybe fun too, also the have boat tours around the island. After that it was time to get out of there. Unfortunately, never completed my other destinations and spent the whole trip in Metro Manila. Rode the MRT a lot, great way to get around cheap. One of my chat friends works at the SM North Edsa, and the MRT goes right to it (last stop). She took me to a comedy club, Club Zirkoh which was pretty cool. If you dont mind listening to gay comics speaking in tagalog LOL. The Smart Buddy sim worked great, and also Smart high speed internet on my Nokia N95 cell phone worked nice there for staying in touch. I think I spent 75% of my time texting people. There was some problems meeting some people who I originally came to visit, and that delayed things as far as going to other locations in the Philippines which kind of sucked, because the traffic, crowds and pollution were starting to wear on me; Christmas time too remember. But after 7 trips there, I really came away with a special appreciation for the culture; even for all its downfalls, its a very cool place with very cool people, and in my mind the most beautiful women in the world. I feel like a movie star when Im there. Its easy to get a big head. I met some girls at a couple of clubs in Makati. Theres where things get complicated. Its funny, the questions...after awhile they are always the same. Whats you name, where u from, where you staying, are you single, do you have kids. It amazing but most girls already have a kid or two by 22. Bar girls anyway. Which brings to my point. What was I looking for? Obviously, they have the looks. The girls I came to meet did somewhat also. I guess I have a lot of thinking to do. In the end I finally met the nice girl, but very shy, very petite, pretty stunning in her own way. I really got to see some of the underbelly of Manila. Where people really live, what they eat, how they live..stuff the average tourist probably wont encounter. Im a little overwhelmed in retrospect -- my views of all the issues..
the jobs, the money, the difficulty in making a relationship work...became more evident...I have a new appreciation for what I have here, and I feel different. This trip really had a profound effect on me. In the end, I never had a chance to visit several of the girls in other cities, but made a few new friends in Manila.
I guess I have some more soul searching to do. Sorry for the crummy report.
(Snowman if ur out there holla, I wanted get in touch with ya again)

[snowman]

Hey how are ya?? Sounds like ya had a vacation anyway, sorry to hear it wasnt as promising as planned. Wish i could go back now, need a vacation myself. My wife and twins are going back in a couple of weeks and they are staying for a month, probably get to do alot of ice fishing and beer drinking when theyre gone Id send ya my phone # but i cant send messages so if you can drop me yours.. later

[Dave H]

Hey Mog,

I found your trip report very interesting! I wish it would have turned out better for you, but at least you made it to Boracay.

Dave

[The Mog Finally Returns]

Hey Snowman and Dave. Nice to be back on the board. Sorry if my report gave you guys the wrong idea -- I was just being a bit introspective. I had the most fun on that trip that Ive ever had in my life! Coming back home I had a new appreciation for how good I really have it. I think we tend to get into ruts with our lives, our jobs etc. and a trip to the other side of the world helps bring things back into alignment. Im really into learning Tagalog now, when I went there people really dug the fact that I knew a little. Im going to take my spanish books, from the basic introductory stuff and replace it with tagalog, because the progression will really help get me some basic conversation skills down for my next trips. Im happier than I ever had been in my life. Quite a few girls there are very interested in me. The problem Im trying to grasp is taking on someone that already has one or two kids since Ive never had my own. I mean, then if you want to add one or two of your own that gets kind of crazy not to mention expensive -- but if you are unbelievably attracted to the girls, both physically and mentally...I guess im open for opinions on that one. Had a great time in Manila, rode the MRT everyday. That really is a great way to get around for cheap. I cant wait to go back. Im definitely going to bring a laptop this time, maybe get one of those new mini-laptops. If anyone else is interested in basic tagalog there is a website TagalogLang that seems pretty good for basic stuff. I have some software somewhere I am going to try to find. Snowman, Ill try to send you a message. Im planning on going back to the Phils soon. That place is absolutely amazing...

[Dave H]

Hey Mog,

I wanted to learn Bisaya (Cebueno), but I think Tagalog will prove much more useful. Thanks for the website info.

Dave

[bcc_1_2]

Mog,

I hear you on the kid thing. I'm at the age where I only am interested in women without kids. If that's a major deal for you I'd eliminate those women from your search before you get to close. There is a ton of information about how expensive a kid can be. Talk with your banker or financial advisor about what it costs to set up college saving accounts for each kid and you can search online for estimates of what it costs to raise a kid. Plus might you be sending some money home to the in-laws?

Marrying a women with 2 kids and then having 2 more kids of your own (plus sending money home to the relatives) seems awful expensive.