March 1st 2015 iloilo city- walking around the town

I see these job advertisements around. This one is just in a lousy hardware store. They want a young "single" girl who isn't too short and has to have a 4 year business schooling behind her for this dead end job.I am surprised at the end of this advertisement if they put "Having a nice set of boobs and a tight ass would definitely be an asset in your favour!".

Walking around in 3rd world countries definitely gives you gratitude for where you live. You see so manypeople that their rough life just shows on their faces. You see people 

with disabilities everywhere. 

I walked past a blind woman who had a cup out so I reached into my big pile of pesos and basically filler her cup up half way lol. I think she was totally surprised as I hear a “Oh! Thank you!”. 

Another guy I see has both arms amputated to the elbow and one leg amputated to the knee as he basically does a type of crawl as he has only one full leg. I thought he was coming up to me for money but he hobbled right past me. It was only walking around for 20 minutes when I have to him where I guess his usual spot is with his cup out. I gave him a handful of pesos as well. 

 As I walked by a vendor selling nuts I looked at him with a look of recognition but I knew I haven't seen him since I have been here and then it was a few seconds later that I remember seeing him on a youtube video with an american who lives here in iloilo city who doesn't regular videos on the city.

March 1st 2015 iloilo city- Day 3

 I have seen my name on a few stores here in the Philippines. I have seen "Kevins store" and "Kevin and Ians store" and now this. Apparently their are some filipinos named Kevin.

That's right folks, the new Jesus shirts are now in!

I went into the SM mall in iloilo and they had Taekwondo tournaments going on with contestants from these 10 countries.

Philippines verses Mongolia.

Some of the trees I see around here where roots come down from the branches.

Just walking around and saw this building.

 At the bottom of the Ong Bun Pension House business card it says "More comfort and value, for your money" and I have to agree 100% with that as this place compared to Highway21 is HALF the price but twice the comfort! Nice sized room and the A/C works well and the bed sheets are more comfortable.

Last night I went out to find a restaurant to eat at and found one and had 3 pieces of crispy chicken and rice. It is a place where they serve unlimited rice as a guy with a bucket of rice comes around with an ice cream scooper and gives you more rice if you want. I had 3 filipino women sit beside me with their 2 little daughters. One of them must have been 3 years old and just the cutest little girl. As they sat down I could hear them laughing and as I looked over, the cute little girl was staring at me like she has never seen a white person before and I had to laugh. They told the girl to wave at me and she is just 3 feet away from me and starts waving at me and I wave back. Throughout my meal I could see that she was watching me intently the whole time and wouldn't take her eyes off me. Later she fell down and was starting to cry until she looked at me again and forget about crying as she continued to stare. As I left, they told the girl to wave again and I waved back saying Good bye.

So this morning I head down the street a couple blocks to a Jollibee restaurant. I order 2 pancake sandwiches and 2 coffees and she tells me they are out of bacon and sausage and if Egg and Cheese Pancake sandwich is ok and I say fine. Then she asks me again what drinks I wanted and I told her I would like 2 coffees please and she then informs me that they are out of coffee as well. This is twice in a row now for Jollibees and I said ok no thank you and left. This is bad management when a franchise like Jollibees is constantly running out of things so I have now banned them for one month. I always vote with my dollars and will not support that place with my money for a little while. I went to McDonalds up the road and got everything I wanted (So there is no coffee shortage in town). I have only had McDonalds tell me there was no sugar twice and that I can live with. I am sure my banning them for awhile will not put them out of business because most filipinos put up with this and consider it normal. That is too bad as I was getting emotionally attached to their pancake sandwiches.

I think tomorrow I am going to grab the bus to Roxas city for a couple days before heading to Boracay on Wednesday March 4th.

February 27th 2015 iloilo city- Visa Extension at the Bureau of Immigration

I don't know if you remember this photo when I first arrived from Bacolod city to iloilo city. I took a picture of this building across the harbour from our port. I need to find the Bureau of Immigration in order to extend my visa before March 3rd and found out this building is where the Bureau of Immigration is.

Using google I found the address of the Bureau of Immigration and then punched it into google maps and was able to pull up what the building looked like and when I saw it on google maps I remembered it was the one I took the photo of (above).

This is stepping into the main entry way of the Bureau of Immigration. For a government building it doesn't look too professional with all that stuff piled up all over the place.

They have helpful signs like this that tell you the process. Quite easy.

The first thing I had to do was fill out this visa extension application with just the basic information like my name, country, birth date, etc...

How the visas in the Philippines work is this 1) upon entry into the Philippines they stamp your passport with an entry visa that is good for 30 days from the day of arrival. I arrived on Feb 1st and my entry visa expires on March 3rd 2) With my entry visa expiring I went into the iloilo city Bureau of Immigration and for 3030 pesos ($82 cdn) I got an extra 29 days added to my March 3rd deadline which now gives me to April 1st 3) Before April 1st I will be in Mindanao somewhere and will have to find a Bureau of Immigration again and this time I will have to apply for a ACR I-card (Alien Certificate of Registration card) which gives you an extension of 59 days and every 59 days after that you renew again at the Bureau of Immigration. So 30days + 29 days + 59 days= 118 days which is way more than I need on my next renewal date of April 1st.

Cost for the 59 day extension after the first application where you get an ACR I-card.

On my way back to my hotel I saw this posting on a telephone pole. Seeing all the people working for peanuts around the Philippines I would be all over this opportunity. Good jobs here are between 8,000-12,000 pesos per month and this one is 45,642 pesos + over time pay. 10% of the Philippine population are OFWs (Overseas filipino workers).

On Guimaras Island I googled the Bureau of Immigration for iloilo city as my entry visa was expiring soon and I needed to renew it. With google and google maps I found the building and knew roughly where it was so once I got settled into my hotel I headed over there and the whole process took 1 hour from the time I showed up to the time I left.

I took a waiting number as well as a visa extension application form (See photo above) and filled it out in 5 minutes and then went into the waiting room. As I waited I saw mostly asians in there but one white guy who looked like he was in his late 40s and he was missing both arms!! Just to small hands protruded out of his shoulders and he had an attractive filipina gf. A white guy in a wheel chair would be like elvis presley around here lol!

The immigration guy called me up and took my passport and application form and scanned it quickly and then said "3,030 pesos please" at which I paid him. He takes the application and photo copies it and comes back and asks me for an additional 4 pesos for the fax. Only in a 3rd world country do you have to pay for government faxes. He then told me to wait outside for them to process it which I did. As I waited outside I saw an older white guy (early 60s) arrive with his filipina wife and their infant baby.

30 minutes later the immigration woman came out and said something to me that I didn't recognize at all like she was speaking her own language and then the security guards called me by name so she was calling for me but must have been pronouncing my name completely wrong and she gave me my receipt and a Bureau of Immigration certificate approving me of my 29 day extension. It really is just a money grab. I read the certification with has my name, birth date and country on it stating that I DO NOT APPEAR in this Bureaus hold departure, black list, watch list, and/or intelligence derogatory records as of February 27th. Sounds like BIG BROTHER isn't looking for me.

February 27th 2015 Guimaras Island back to iloilo city & ONG BUN PENSION HOUSE

The toilet at my new hut this morning didn't have any water in it to flush (or even a flusher knob) so I filled up a bucket and poured it into the back of the sink and then pulled the plug to flush when this giant cockroach jumped out and almost touched my hand. Very lovely!

Outside pool tables at the Raymen Beach Resort.

Outside grills at the Raymen Beach Resort where people can cook their own food outside.

On my way back from Jordan harbour on Guimaras Island to iloilo city.

This is the lovely ONG BUN PENSION HOUSE. It looks much better on the inside.

This is the reception desk at the Ong Bun pension house. Apparently they know how to TAKE a reservation but they are just not good at HOLDING the reservation. I said "Hi my name is Kevin and I have a reservation here for the standard room with A/C for 350 pesos per night" and she said "Oh yes here is your reservation note on our desk. The guest in that room is going to stay longer so you can't get the 350 peso a night room but we have a 495 peso room available?". I said "No you don't understand, I made a RESERVATION meaning the person in that room gets booted to the 495 peso room for not making the reservation and paying up and NOT me". She said "I am sorry sir but that guest has decided to stay longer" and I said "Do you even know what a reservation is?". She was trying to be nice and said she might have a room for 435 pesos and I said "fine I will take it then". 

 

Here is the 435 peso ($11.75 cdn) room with A/C. I had read comments from filipinos online about the Ong Bun pension house saying the reception always tells them the cheap rooms were already booked and trying to get them into the 720+ peso rooms as just a scam. I am wondering if they are right.

So I did one last swim at Raymen Beach Resorts before grabbing a trike (300 pesos ($8 cdn) 35 minute ride) to Jordan wharf for my pumpboat ride back to iloilo city.

Go to the Ong Bun Pension House and they had my reservation but said my room was still occupied by the same person. I told them then kick that person out as I have a reservation for that particular room and that person does NOT! Any they put me into a 435 peso room.

February 26th 2015 Guimaras Island- Day 6 Raymen Beach Resort

This is the new hut I was transferred to this morning. It is a little better than the other one and no creatures in the attic!

Well I haven't done much since I last posted a few days ago. Just doing the beach thing. I have been at the beach so long that I am probably going to be "beached out" by the time I get to Boracay on March 4th. Sometimes I go for a swim at night as they keep a fog light on that lights up the whole beach at night.

I asked for brewed coffee the other day and I didn't see the waiter turn on the coffee machine so after 5-10 minutes of waiting I asked him if I could have my coffee now (as sometimes they wait until your breakfast is ready and serve it with your food). So I watch him from a distance and see him reach for the INSTANT COFFEE (a big NO NO with me) and gets a cup and hot water and brings it over to me and I tell him I asked for BREWED COFFEE and not INSTANT COFFEE and say there is a BIG DIFFERENCE between them with us western folks. He then informs me that they ran out of ground coffee and doesn't know when they will have new stock.

So since then they have been out of BREWED COFFEE for a couple days now. Very disappointing! Running out of stock is very common in the Philippines. Things runs very differently here. Filipinos don't seem to care and just accept this as normal.

Been having most of the resort to myself most of the week but now come the weekend it will be getting busy again. I will be checking out of the Raymen Beach Resort before 12 noon tomorrow and head back to iloilo city (Pronounced "EE LOW EE LOW") as I need to extend my visa as it is only good for 30 days upon entry into the Philippines (Feb 1st to March 3rd) and Michel from the Netherlands that I met on the bus from Cebu city to Dumaguete told me I should be able to get a 59 day extension for 3900 pesos ($105 cdn) at the Bureau of Immigration and that would take me to my departure date of April 28th.

I still kept hearing something moving around on my paper ceiling in the hut and thought it was too big to be a rat and more like a small dog up there. I went outside and stepped on something to look up into the attic but couldn't see much as it was a little too dark. I had to move out of my hut today as it got booked and moved over to the hut next door (The executive hut) and I asked the cleaners what is moving around up in my hut attic and they said it was probably a cat as there are a lot of stray cats around here. That completely made sense. I am feeling kind of bad that I gave it the big UPPER CUT punch through the paper ceiling.

Here is the website to Raymen Beach Resort where I am staying on Guimaras Island http://raymenresort.com/

And I did a google search for "cheap budget hotels iloilo" and found this one
http://www.ongbun.com/pensionhouse-iloilo/
The prices start as low as 150 pesos ($4 cdn) but I decided to SPLURGE and got the 350 peso ($10 cdn) room with A/C. It is amazing what you can find with google searches. Any business that doesn't have an internet presence is losing potential customers.
The Highway21 hotel in iloilo charged me 800 pesos ($21.50 cdn) per night and the air conditioning didn't even work and they charged 120 pesos ($3 cdn) for a little bit of laundry and I know laundry is normally cheap here. A little bit of a MARK UP going on there.

Well I emailed the ONG BUN hotel and they TOOK the reservation but lets see if they can KEEP the reservation as I show up at 2pm at check in time.

February 24th 2015 Guimaras Island Day 4- Neuva Valencia

Took a quick trike ride to the nearest town Neuva Valencia.

Couldn't help noticing the chicken feet for sale for eating.

This is my order. Some pork on the left, 3 shishkabobs of chicken, and one chicken foot. She kept saying "Are you sure you want the chicken. Most people say they can't eat it". I said as long as it is chicken I should be fine. It was super tough to eat. Almost like the muscles of the chicken.

I certainly don't recommend the chicken foot as there was NOTHING on it. Just a thin layer of cooked skin. By the time I threw it away it was still pretty much the same as this picture.

A couple turkeys and a goose. This dog was sleeping when I snuck up and took the picture and then he jumped to attention and starting barking like crazy.

Instead of taking a trike back to the beach I decided to walk and it took me 40 minutes to get back to the resort.

February 24th 2015 Guimaras Island- Day 4 Beaches and Mangoes!

It is nice to have the whole beach to yourself on weekdays here. I booked 3 more days at Raymen Resorts and will head back to Iloilo on Friday morning.

The poor mans resort right here. Nipa hut central.

Walking along the beach I found this huge jellyfish the size of a football. Being the nice guy I am I put it back into the ocean. OK I didn't "put" it back but I kicked it back into the ocean but it was the THOUGHT that counted!

Having a craving for Vitamin C I headed out and got some more of Guimaras's sweetest Mangoes!

I like to peel my mangoes like a banana before eating them.

Oh yeah! Nice juicy and sweet mangoes!

With mango all over my face I didn't know what to do as I didn't have any napkins until I remembered TEA TOWEL LADY and the tea towel she sold me. I guess that blue tea towel DID have a PURPOSE!!

This morning I woke up and had my coffee and breakfast and headed out for a quick swim at the beach. After an hour I was developing a headache so went back to my nipa hut and had some advil. As I lay on my bed I was wondering what I needed to eat to feel better. After a couple minutes I realized I needed VITAMIN C!! and MANGOES immediately popped into my mind so I headed out in search of the best priced Mangoes. 

The resort sells them for 130 pesos per kg and the first place outside of the resort sells them for 120 pesos per kg so I walked 40 feet to the last stall (They got cheaper as I passed every mango stall) and they were selling mangoes for 90 pesos per kg so I bought 2kgs worth (7 mangoes) and a bag of chips. Of course I can do the math in my head of all the groceries I buy and knew they would come to 213 pesos but regardless of simple math she pulls out a piece of paper and pencil and starts doing the math and I see her carrying the "1" up to the next column and comes to the grand total of 303 pesos!! I told her it was 213 pesos and that I would require 7 pesos back as change as I said "90 + 90 + 33= 213 pesos". We take simple math as grade 1 and very basic but even when I went in to pay for 3 more nights at 700 pesos a night I said "That is 2100 pesos" but she didnt trust my math and pulled out a calculator and punched in 700 X 3.

It is 1:30pm right now so I am going to head to the nearest town which is a few kilometers away and check it out. I am booked until Friday morning at Raymen Resorts and will be then heading back to Iloilo as I need to go to the Bureau of Immigration and extend my visa on Sunday (if they are open) or Monday before heading onto Roxas for a day or two and then to Boracay on March 4th.

February 24th 2015 Guimaras Island Day 4 Video

This is the little stretch of beach that is shared by 4 resorts.

February 23rd 2015 Guimaras Island Day 3 RAYMEN RESORT

Got to have my coffee in the morning! To the left is my garlic rice which I have twice a day! It fills you up and is much better than plain rice.

Got my sunscreen on. That is right baby! Time now to hit the beach and strut my stuff!!! LOL!

Apparently my cheap nipa hut had big fat rats in the attic. By the sounds of them crawling around on the paper ceiling they must have weighed 5-10lbs.

Weekends are busy at the resort but apparently weekdays are rather dead at the resort as filpinos go back to their jobs and schooling.

This resort was fully booked over the weekend but a ghost town on the weekdays. I only saw one old white guy at this place today (Monday).

In the road there are big cuts into the dirt where you can see the roots of the trees above.

On Monday morning I woke up to not much noise unlike the day before. As I walked about the resort there was NO ONE here. It seems this place is a hot spot for weekends only, as filipinos get away from work and school to enjoy the beaches on Guimaras island on weekends and now are gone! 

This morning I heard something scurrying about in the attic of my Nipa hut. I originally thought it was a filipino in the attic of my nipa hut but it must have weighed 5lbs+ judging by the weight I saw on my papered ceiling. I can only assume it was a big rat so once it stopped in one place I stood on my bed and gave it a huge "upper cut" of a punch on the spot it stood where it must have flown a foot into the air and then it scurried off to the other side of the nipa hut. I tried to get into the attic of the nipa hut but it was too dark and I couldn't see. 

I pretty much had the whole beach to myself except for a few white tourists on the beach between the 4 resorts sharing the beach. 

I still have a couple weeks before going to Boracay so will probably spend a few more nights here and a couple in iloilo city again before heading to Roxas and then Boracay beach for March 4th.

February 22nd 2015 Guimaras Island- Day 2 Raymen Resort

This morning as I left the Monastery, my trike driver got 1 liter of gas.

A beached whale washed up ashore?

There is 3-4 resorts which hog this 100 meter stretch of a sandy beach. Each resort has a net with floating balls for the swimming perimeter. I was wondering why it was all netted. To keep sharks from entering where the people swim?? haha.

Another resort accommodations going up. It is Sunday today and saw no construction workers so it is probably there one day off.

Up the road 1km is another resort going in. These resorts are definitely little money makers because there are only a few of them and they are packed with people.

As I walked down this other road I was hearing a strange sound and thought it was a young kid but it was this goat. I guess a young goat is a KID!! There were a few of them on the side of the road just grazing.

As I continued down this road I knew I was getting close to the beach where there were no resorts yet.

Not really a sandy beach but a little harbour where boats were anchored at.

My PAD on the beach! Economy class on cheapskates row.

My Room with a fan.

Bathroom.

In the morning I packed my bag at the Monastery at around 11am after I had breakfast. I noticed they let their chickens run loose on the grounds and could tell I was eating FREE RANGE EGGS as the yolks were orange. Very good! Of course I was trying to check out and there was no one around again! There was a filipino woman also looking for someone at this monastery and then finally I ran into the father and told him I wanted to pay up and leave. As he was calculating what I owe at his desk I heard him say "ok you had the room 350 pesos and you had 2 dinners that is 250 pesos and um... that will be 420 pesos". I didn't understand his math but I didn't argue with the father and gave him 420 pesos. Maybe math wasn't his strongest subject haha.

I grabbed a trike outside the Monastery and had to haggle 50 pesos off his asking price and off we went. I got to RAYMEN RESORTS where I had a reservation for today but it was 11:30am and still a little early as check in time is 2pm so I left my bag with them and went for a walk around.

At 2pm I got back and checked into my room which was in a little nipa hut on the beach. There were a lot of filipinos at this place and they had big grills that people could cook their own food outside and I noticed the smoke was all going towards my nipa hut room. No wonder I got a deal on that room! So once I settled in I headed to the beach and swam for a couple hours. It was so nice. I have been in the Philippines for 22 days and this is the first time I have been to a sandy beach! It was nice to relax and enjoy the nice temperature of the water. 

I am going to book a couple more nights here as I like it and they do have wifi (Monastery had no wifi or internet connection). They also have brewed coffee so I am right at home here. As I lounged in the ocean I was thinking if I could get use to doing this all the time. I think I could.