Sun 17th May – After a fairly tiring trip away without much sleep, a catching up day
today with not much happening
Mon 18th May – It vanished into a haze of insignificance. Must have done something, but cannot remember?
Tue 19th May – The most memorable part of the day was Shiera cooking Fish & Chips.
She is a super cook and got it spot on, just the way I like it. No mushy peas
though, although you can buy them if you know where to go.
Wed 20th May – We had talked for a while about paying a visit to Alabang in
Muntinlupa, and the ‘Festival mall’. Only one reason for the visit and that is
to visit the ‘Union Jack’ shope and tavern. For british expats this is a
pilgrimage site for comfort foods and British atmosphere. Get there by Jeepney
(14 pesos) and FX van (45 pesos) from pala-pala. Within the same mall is the
other foreigner goody shop ‘Santi’s, but we have one of those nearby in
Olivarez, so not too bothered about that one. It felt like a nostalgia trip
walking through its door and within seconds spotting a shelf of HP brown sauce;
the very thing I had been looking for since I left the UK two years ago!
Branston pickle, Colman’s mustard, Cadbury’s cream eggs, Mint sauce. Canned
beers….John Smiths, Tangle Foot, Ruddles, Guinness, Old Speckled Hen, the list
goes on. In the kitchens they make meat pies the way the British like them, and
I was lucky to catch a chef walking into the shop with two trays of freshly
cooked pies ready for the shelf. Cheddar cheese, Wheetabix, Horlicks, British
favourite teas and coffees. There was hardly anything missing that a Brit could
want. The downside, and there had to be one…..the price! Wow…what a price. Some
items were ten times the UK price! Fearing that I would break my bank account
in a single visit, I had to restrain my spending to a few favoured goodies and
be satisfied that I had found somewhere to buy them at last, albeit nearly a
couple of hours journey from Silang.
Through the
shop and entering the Tavern, is like going into a typical British pub
environment. Serving Roast Lamb and mashed potatoes, Fish & chips from
imported potatoes, Chili con carne, Curries the way many Brits like them, it
was a relaxing place to spend lunch. Whilst there, David walked in, the famous
British guy who owns a chain of Hairdressing salons, including one in this
mall. Meals are served on a paper newspaper mat (The Daily News…Sunday,
December 25, 2007. Sunday Lifestyle section. 5 sections. Vol.3 No.15….Union
Jack Tavern: The Best Fish ‘n’ Chips in Town). The article uses that favourite
British word ‘Scrumptious’ to describe its food, a word you don’t hear anywhere
else. Apparently the place used to be called the ‘Athena Delicatessen’.
Recharged
after my pilgrimage, we went walkabout around the mall to look for some
bargains…and devour a couple of Cadbury’s cream eggs on the way…ahhhhh! Found a
store who were promoting massage chairs and spent what seemed like an hour
relaxing and getting pummeled all over. Those things are excellent. Ranging
from around 95,000 Pesos to 170,000 pesos, they are quite an investment, but we
got ours for free. Straight out of there and hey presto! A free massage service
out on one of the levels, using Thai oils. This place certainly knows how to
score a hit!
Shiera had a
friend who works in the HR department of the entertainment complex here, so we
went for a visit and got supplied with free tokens to use the facilities for a
while. Turned out to be a good decision to pay this place a visit.
Thur 21st May – Have no idea what we did today. It vanished, so must have drifted
through the day in a haze! I know, we ate all of the bad things that I hadn’t
had in a long time….sausage sandwiches with HP sauce on for breakfast…yummee!
Fri 22nd May – The aim was to have a sauna
today, but after checking out a couple of places the rates were crazy and so
decided against it. This didn’t matter,
as we visited a couple of nice coffee shops and an art gallery instead. This
region is famed for producing coffee, especially around the Amadeo area, which
is close to here. A kilo of local coffee is around 300 pesos. Got the coffee
machine on later and filled the house with fresh aroma…mmm…
Another
eating day. One of my favourite dishes of Curried Jackfruit and a deadly killer
desert of Buko salad. The Buko is ok, the fruit salad is ok, it’s the tin of
condensed milk and a carton of cream that goes in it that is the killer! Stop
counting those calories and just eat….heaven on a plate!
Sat 23rd May – Sabbath is here again, and so peace descends on R Square for another
Saturday. I wished that the dogs knew that. Every house here has dogs and they
continually trigger each other off into a cacophony of barking through the
night, to the point of annoyance. I hate having my sleep disturbed and they do
so every night. This is the only thing I don’t like about living here. I have to
use ear plugs, to minimize the noise. Also, everyone gets up at 6am or earlier
and go running or walking which triggers the dogs off barking again. Most
people’s routine will be to go to bed early and get up early. Being Sabbath, no work is allowed on the
estate, so the houses being built opposite fall into silence for a change.
Needed to get
out later and so went food shopping in Tagaytay then went on the hunt for some
live entertainment. Not as easy as you might expect here. Wall-to-wall
restaurants and heaving with people, but not much live entertainment. Many
places seemed dead with the bar staff sat around waiting for people to come in.
Ended up at Knuckles bar and a nice local band called ‘Illusions’.
Sun 24th May – Sunday market is here again and this time decided to get up early to
see what it was like. Normally only see it later in the day when most of the
activity has died down. Set the alarm for 5am and quick breakfast and a
tricycle into the market.
Alive and
kicking is one way to describe it. People arriving from all directions for bulk
buying. The fruit area is always a great place to start, with truck loads of
pineapples, bananas and coconut filling the roads. Buyers were filling their
Jeepneys and tricycles to overflowing. The meat market was the liveliest I have
ever seen it. Every type of meat and good quality too. I was only really there
for photographs and so they obliged with some nice poses. Vegetables is always
a great place to spend some time as it is fantastic quality and the diversity
of what is on offer is wonderful. As a treat for lunch we bought some Oysters.
At 40 pesos per kilo, they are ridiculously cheap compared to prices back west.
For the traders this is the peak time of the week, and when they will work
their hardest, employing helpers to cope with the volume of business. Forging
relationships with high paying customers, generally Korean, is the main aim of
the game. Maintaining that relationship is also important as losing one high
payer can spell disaster for a small business. Some businesses only appear on a
Sunday, and I wanted to try some ‘Duhat’; a red grape looking fruit which can
be sweet, but also a slightly dry after taste. Decided not to buy any after
sampling some from a lady that only appears today.
Lunch back at
home was a superb combination of Oysters dressed with Calamansi and Tabasco
sauce, accompanied by curried Jackfruit, Banana flower heart (with coconut milk
and Chili) and rice, followed by fresh Lychees, Pineapple and Banana, all
washed down with a handsome glass of red wine. Tasty and fit for a king!
After that
little lot, nothing else to do but to recover…..and do some dancing back at the
house in the evening.
Mon 25th May – My visa runs out on 2nd
June, at which point I will have been here for 6 months. Contacted the
immigration bureau in Manila to confirm my options. The crazy thing is that,
after 6 months of stay it gets ridiculously expensive to stay. I can stay for
upto 2 years on a tourist visa, extending in 2 month increments. The main
problem is that, If I leave at all to go travelling in another country, on return,
I go back to a standard 21 day tourist visa (or extend at the airport as usual
to the max of 59 days after paying the visa waiver fees). And then rep[eat the
2-monthly extensions upto 6 months again, and then leave again. The other
options they offer are firstly, to apply for a temporary residency, which can
only be applied for after marrying a Filipino, and then come and go as long as
I want when travelling with her. Secondly, is the Standard Retirement Visa,
where you have to deposit a large sum of money into a Philippines bank account
and take a medical. Still have to pay a high application fee for that one and can
only stay for a year and then have to reapply to renew it again following a
re-assessment of finances and medical health. There are other quirks of the
system, but basically the conclusion I have come to is that I have to leave on
or before the 2nd July. This doesn’t give much time to sort out a
flight somewhere nice. Java (Jakarta) is currently coming out as the favored
option, based on price and also being somewhere I haven’t been yet. Can get a
30 day visa on arrival and be able to tour to some nice places including Bali,
Lombok, Java itself and Komodo Island, plus wherever else fits in. Will keep
you posted on that one.
To make
matters worse today, I have the diarrhoea. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a
by-product of the tasty lunch of Oysters yesterday! Life on the run....gotta go….honestly!
