Been to the Phillipines?

“im thinking about going to the phillipines for a week during christmas time. any suggestions to see/do? or any other countries in that neck of the woods that would be nice in december?”

“What about new zealand?”

“thought about that. ticket would be awfully pricy”

“hell, im just as close to the u.s. as i am to kiwi-land
last edited: 8/09/07 6:20:36 AM”

“Yeah.....go to Bali...”

“Never been to the Phillipines, but American Samoa is kind of cool! I lived there as a kid.”

“is american samoa the same as western samoa?”

“I spent 3 months at Subic Bay Naval Base in 1990. The P.I. are an interesting, place of great beauty. I was there before the typhoon and the volcano really put a hurt on the country.

Diving and snorkeling are amazing!

Great food. Pancit, adobo and lumpia.

The people in general are very friendly to the US, except for the communists and radical Muslin, but the are few in number and focused in certain areas. Pay attention to travel warnings.

Be careful if you are there New Years. People really like fireworks and to shoot guns off.

Corrigidor is very interesting.

Pagsanhan (sp?) falls is pretty. You have to hire a boat guy and boat and they haul you up stream to the falls.

Bagio was nice, not sure after the volcano.

That is about all I saw off base. I got there 3 days after the big coup attempt on Cori Aquino. We could't travel much until my third month. I spent most of my active free time snorkeling on a recreational island at the base.

I believe you will be there the beginning of malaria season. Be sure to check where you will be and whether prophyaxis is recommended. The cities are generally ok, its only rural and undeveloped areas that are a problem.
last edited: 8/09/07 6:27:11 AM”

“CB, a guy on the other side, burntfoot, has visited the Phillipines recently, spent time there with his online gf/fiancee. Bet he could give some ideas. Name is burntfoot, now back in CO. And they are getting married there in Oct.

If you DARE post on the OT! ;-P”

“CB, I think that Western Samoa is now an independent state, whereas American Samoa is a US territory. They are both part of the Samoan island chain.”

“Crash,

My daughter went to Thailand last Christmas you can read her blog on www.bugbitten.com/Salio.

Good luck,

Doug”

“Bagio was not affected by the volcano. It's well north of the volcano. It was a military rest and recuperation base in the 1960s.

Vigan on the northern coast of Luzon is an old Spanish influenced town and supposedly a nice place to visit.

San Miguel beer is good.”

“anywhere with good surf? i dont wanna board it, i just wanna play in it”

“A town named Dagupan on Lingayen Gulf was another tourist attraction for GIs when I was there in the early 60s.”

“some of the best beaches are in Bali...Kuta Beach about 10 minute drive from Denpasar...the waves there run long and smooth...great place to learn to surf or just hang out and play in the waves....”

“RE San Miguel. The legend in the Navy was that the exported beer contained formaldehyde for preservation, that the good stuff was kept in the P.I.”

“You got girlfirend vietnam? Me love you long time!”

“The domestic San Miguel (Sammy Goo) was what was rumored to have formaldehyde. The export stuff is not a lot different from out domestic brews.

The domestic San Miguel varied in just about every measure from case to case and bottle to bottle. Some was extremely high alcohol content and some was green beer.

Plus, in my day there were little prizes that were sometimes found in the bottles - cigarette butts, dead mice ... nice stuff like that.”

““You got girlfirend vietnam? Me love you long time!”
Wounded Knee

My favorite was a little kid pimping for Mom: "You want my mudder? She virgin, no chit!"”

“I was there from '71-'75 (ammo ship USN) Lot's of monkeys. Plenty jungle. You go. :-)”

“Never been there, but my grandfather won an all expense paid trip there a few years back...”

“My daughter & her husband stopped in Thailand on the way home from S Korea, and said it was WONDERFUL!!!!!!”

“Never been to P-H-I-L-I-P-E-N-E-S, but I can spell it! :)”

“you cant even do that!

man, im all about the snorkeling! sounds hella good times!”