Latest / bit of a Rambler / 096 Ramble On

Transcript

096 Ramble On · bit of a Rambler

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hello. My name is Kai, and I am a bit
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: of a rambler. I like to travel, learn and tell stories,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: and let's ramble on. There is a lot to talk
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: about because I didn't have a ton of time to
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: record while I was in Bacollod, the Philippines for I
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: don't know, two weeks, maybe a little under two weeks.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: But there was a lot going on because it was
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: my friend's wedding and I hadn't been. I haven't been.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: I hadn't been to the Philippines in over a decade.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: It's been a long time because I did not have
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: a super fun time in Cebu the first time I went,
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: or Sebu or Cebu. Everybody says the accent differently in
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: the Philippines. For a lot of city like bacall It
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: it seems like it's Bacollod, and a lot of the
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: words have the emphasis on the second syllable. But Filipino
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: people said to me, oh, it's actually Cibu, and I
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: was like, oh, okay. And then someone told me, oh,
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: Sabu Sibu and I was like, oh saboo okay subou
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: So I'm not going to get these pronunciations right. A
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: ton of people spoke English in the Philippines, and I
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: was going to be there less than two weeks. I'd
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: mostly be around English speaking people anyway, because my friends
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: getting married were English teachers, one from China, one from
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: the Philippines. And yeah, just so many people spoke English
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: that I didn't study the Filipino languages. Also, I think
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: there's like a bajillion Filipino languages, so I was I
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: gave up. Basically, I was studying Japanese the entire time
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: I was there so that I would be able to
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: use Japanese in Japan, which just got here. I need
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: more Japanese. I'll have to study a lot more, but
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: it is helpful. Like I I am talking a little
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: bit to people, which is nice. But let's get back
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: to the Philippines. Because since it had been so long
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: and I didn't really have a good time in Sebu.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: It was way too hot to live at all, and
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: that was the same as Bacolod. But the rest of
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: the stuff I would say, and Bacollod was a little
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: more comfortable. I liked the malls more in Bacolod than
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: in Sebu. Bacolog just looked more up to date. I
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: guess I should say, like the tiles weren't as cracked everywhere,
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: and the streets were a little a little more put together.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: The streets were pretty broken in Bacolid, but they had
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: a large like malls that you could walk to and
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: around in, and everything looked pretty modern inside. They do
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: have other Honestly, Bacalod was pretty similar to Saboo. It
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: looks pretty broken down. The hotel that I was staying
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: that my friends incredibly nicely reserved for me because they
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: were like, hey, you flew all the way around the
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: world to come to our wedding, so we got to
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: a hotel room. How nice is that they picked me
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: up from the airport in Bacalad. I guess I should
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: start a little earlier hunt. Jeez, there's so much to
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: talk about that's happened. Recently. I got Wikipedia back on
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: my phone, which is really cool. The newest app for
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: some reason doesn't work, but all of the old versions
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: of it work, And I just tested like twenty different
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: of the older versions, the archived versions of the app,
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: and one of them works great. So I have Wikipedia
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: Simple Wikipedia, which is like half the size and goes
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: faster because Wikipedia is huge, so it takes a few
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: seconds to load. Sometimes with the app and wiki Voyage,
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: which is really nice to be able to use when
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: I'm flying into a country, just look up the country
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: and tells me how to get into the city, to see,
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: what to do, what to eat. The flights to the
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: Philippines were kind of a mess because one of my flights,
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: one of my flights, oh, one of my flights was
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: thirty minutes late, and then the flight I was supposed
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: to catch moved up thirty minutes, so I had like
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: a two hour window, and then all of a sudden,
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: I had a fifty minute window, and I was uh oh,
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: and I ran and I had to ask the guy
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: at the counter and nobody. I didn't see anyone wearing
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: a tag or anything. And I was looking around for
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: a menu, and then I saw someone standing behind a
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: counter and I asked him and he said, just find
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: a security guard. And I was like, I don't see
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: any and he said they wear a blue tag and
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: I was like okay, because he said he couldn't help
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: me the guy behind the counter and I started running
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: around and I saw someone with the security tag and
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: I told them, hey, one plane was thirty minutes late.
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: The other's thirty minutes early. I got to get to
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: the gate like now basically, and he said, okay, just
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: go to the Filipino passport line. So I skipped the huge,
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: crazy line that all the foreigners have to wait in
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: and got to go through the Filipino line because my
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: plane was almost going to start boarding, and the border
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: agent let me through, which was nice, and I then
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: I had to go to a different terminal, which was crazy.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: And this guy wearing a badge it said airport on it,
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: and he looked like the other airport people, and he
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: was like, oh, that shuttle's going to take a while.
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: Like use one of our airport taxis. They're a little expensive,
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: but you'll be able to get to your terminal on time.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: Because this is crazy. The Filipino Manila Airport has very
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: distinct terminals that are kilometers away from each other, like
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: a few kilometers away from each other driving and you
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: can't really walk to them feasibly, which is pretty rare
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: and as you can imagine, very inconvenient. So you have
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: to get a shuttle bus from terminal to terminal. And
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: this guy was like, if you only have whatever forty
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: five minutes, you're not going to get there on time.
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: Just get one of these taxis. It'll take you there
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: and you'll get there on time. And I had, yeah,
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: like forty five minutes before the plane departed. So I said, okay,
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: just take me to the taxi, even though I never do.
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: And I asked him, you are an airport employee, right,
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: and he showed me his badge and he was like, yes,
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: I work for the airport. There is a free shuttle.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: It just takes so long and the traffic is so crazy.
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: Just look out here and then look up there. We
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: get to use that free track up there where there's
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: no traffic. And I was like, okay, but that was weird.
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: There is just a lot of red flags because he
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: wanted me to take this taxi and he was really
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: trying to sell me on it. Anytime someone was trying
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: to sell you something, something's wrong, basically in my head.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: And he brought me to the second guy and he
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: explained the situation to him in Filipino, I assume. And
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: the second guy started walking with me to a bunch
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: of taxis and he was like, no, it'll be very
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: fast in English. We just get their way faster. And
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: I asked him I was like, do you work for
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: the taxi company and he said no, no, I work
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: for the airport. And I was like, well, how much
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: is this going to cost? And it was going to
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: cost almost four thousand pesos, which is sixty eight US dollars.
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: And I was like, whoa, there's something incorrect. You guys
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: are not just airport employees. If you're trying to make
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: me pay sixty eight US dollars for anything in a
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: country where an U ride for an hour is like
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: four dollars, it was. So I stopped and I said, what,
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: that's impossible. He said yeah, it's just expensive because you
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: have to get to the terminal so quickly. And I
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: was like, nope, that's not right. I will miss my flight.
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: My airport will cover the insurance. Something is wrong here.
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: And I told that to the guy and I turned
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: around and walked back, and there was the free shuttle
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: bus like one hundred meters away, and it was beeping
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: like it was gonna take off soon. So I ran
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: toward it, just physically ran toward with my pack on
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: and told them like, hey, I gotta go terminal two.
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: My flight's taking off in forty minutes. And the guy
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: let me on the shuttle bus it took off. I
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: got to the shuttle like ten minutes later, tops, so
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: I still had thirty minutes left. And it was free
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: because it's a free service provided by Manila because they
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: know how insanely inconvenient their airport terminals are located. So
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: I was now at the correct terminal. I told the
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: people I got to check in. Now. I likely already
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: had my ticket, I think, because there were three flights,
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: and on the second flight they gave me the two
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: flights for the same airline, which airlines should do, but
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: my japan One didn't, which is crazy to me. So
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: I gave them my ticket. I went through security in
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: like ah ten minutes or something. I don't know, but
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: I got to my gate. It couldn't have been twenty
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: minutes before leaving, but maybe it was right at like
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: when people were already boarding, because I got there. I
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: wait in line for one minute, I got on the
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: plane with the remaining few people in line, got on
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: the plane, and I was sitting there and so I
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: just made it. And I don't know if those taxi
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: people would have gotten me there in time or what.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: It was just so crappy that they did that. But
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: sometimes people try and scam you, especially if you're in
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: a rush. They know that you are not paying as
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: close attention as you might otherwise because you have to
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: get something done, and so they'll try and sell you
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: services you don't need, like a special taxi to take
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: to the terminals, even though at the Manila Airport the
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: terminal shuttle bus are great. I had to use it
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: again on the way out of the Philippines and I
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: actually went to the wrong terminals and there and back
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: and it only took me twenty five minutes. Maybe tops
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: it's a very efficient system considering how inconvenient their airport is.
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: You can get between terminals very easy using the free
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: shuttle at the Manila Airport. So I made it to Bocallid,
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: and I was very happy to get there on time
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: because my friend told me while I was in Manila
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: that he had made an arrangement with his wife's well
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: soon to be wife's friends to come pick me up
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: from the airport, and that was really nice. I didn't
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: want to be laid and mess up the plans, and
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: I certainly didn't want to be laid and mess up
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: my plans, so I was happy I got to be
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: call it on time, and they were waiting right out front.
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: It is a tiny airport, not the tiniest I've ever
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: been to, but getting close. But call it, which is
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: surprising because I didn't know it was. It seems like
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: a larger city than would Warranton Airport of that size.
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: It's basically just an arrival's terminal and departures terminal. Arrivals
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: on the first floor, departures on the second floor, and
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: that's it. It's just one building. I got out and
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: I saw my friends immediately. Sean bounded out of the
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: van and gave me a hug. He looked very excited,
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: and Annie came out and gave me a hug as well.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: That is the groom and bride to be and threw
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: me into really a van, I mean really threw me in.
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: Threw me into a van, like that's the van you're picture,
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: you're picturing the right kind of van. It was just
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: a paneled, kidnappery looking van. But their friend owned it
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: and they picked me up and I thought that was
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: very nice. And they drove me into the city from
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: the airport and we talked and shared stories about the
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: last couple of years since I had seen them in
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: Thailand last where we ate great ribs and drink mohidos
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: all day. They both seemed very excited about the wedding,
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: but very casual, because Asia's casual. It's much more chill
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: in general. There's not as many schedules to follow, and
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: I like that, especially down in Southeast Asia and so
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: here I was back in Southeast Asia, and I felt
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: that in Indonesia also. It is nice, Like I really
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: liked living among the people in Indonesia, but it's still
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: a highly conservative Muslim country, so there are schedules and
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: cultural things you're supposed to worry about. While in the
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: Philippines there's like nothing you're supposed to worry about everything.
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: You just walk around and have a beer and a
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: burger and go to the malls and whatever. It's just
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: a very relaxed atmosphere in general. So that was the
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: nicest part of flying into Pacalad. I was like back
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: into zero worries about culture or being different at all,
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: and hanging out with my friends again that I hadn't
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: seen in so long. That was so much fun. And
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: Annie asked me how I liked the Philippines and how
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: I had liked it before, and I was like, uh oh,
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: because I didn't have a very fun time in Sabu.
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: It was just a big city, but it was a
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: really empty big city, and a lot of the buildings
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: were old and everything was cracked, and there were tons
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: of people asking for money all the time, and already
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: people Bakala didn't seem that different, like a lot of
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: people were asking for money in the hotel that I
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: was going to be staying at was quite old and
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: run down, but the city itself felt more lively in
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: Bacolod than Sebu ever had. Sebu either felt dead or
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: it felt frantic, and Bacala just felt like a South
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: of East Asian city, like there were a lot of people,
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: but nobody was worried about doing anything in Sabu. When
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: I finally did find just a mall, that was the
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: only thing I could find to do in Sabu, a mall,
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: Like I didn't even find any parks, which was pretty wild.
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: Bacalag did have a nice park that I could go
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: running at, So yeah, I told her. I was like,
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: Sabo was kind of just a big city. I'm not
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: a huge fan of big cities, and Annie, who hadn't
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: been back to the Philippines in a while she'd been
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: living abroad in China teaching English, said, Okay, yeah, I
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: got to tell you, I'm pretty shocked at how behind
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: the Philippines is in development. I thought that it was
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: not too different from China. And she's been living in
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: China for I don't know a while now, I'll say
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: a decade ish, I don't know, a long time, so
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: maybe ten years ago, it didn't look that different from
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: what she remembered of the Philippines. But she said when
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: she went back to the Philippines this year after having
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: been in China, her eyes were kind of opened and
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: she was kind of shocked at how few modern amenities
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: the Philippines had compared to China where she was living.
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: Which is like, especially she's married to a Chinese person. Okay,
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: so my friends are already technically legally married in China,
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: but they didn't have a ceremony done, and so this
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: was going to be the wedding ceremony. And I'm not
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: sure they might have actually legally got married in the
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: Philippines too, but I'm pretty sure they just had a
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: ceremony but with a real pastor and all their family
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: and friends, they hadn't They both didn't want a wedding.
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: That's why they just did the civil procedure in China
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: so they could be legally married, but they didn't have
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: to pay for a giant wedding or do all this
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: work and get everybody together because they were in a
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: different country and Sean didn't have a bunch of people
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: to go to his wedding and Annie has a billion
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: people because she's Filipino and they have huge families, so
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: it was just too much trouble at the time. But
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: apparently the story is they both really like the TV
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: show Shameless, which I've started to watch to connect to
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: them again because they Yeah, they both loved that show
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: with William H. Macy and Emmy Rossam and Jeremy Allen
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: White as a kid, which is funny to see. And
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: there was a wedding in that show somewhere, which is
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: very funny and out of character for that show. And
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: they were both watching it and Sean turned to Annie
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: it had been a few years since they were legally married,
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: and he was like, hey, you want to have a wedding,
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: And Annie said, yeah, basically, and so they agreed to
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: have a wedding, and that's how this wedding that I
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: was going to in the Philippines happened because of Shameless
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: and they were like, yeah, let's have a wedding for
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: Annie's family and yeah, and they did, and there's so
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: much to talk about with just the wedding. Oh my gosh.
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: We started watching Detroit Ter's and we had fun time
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: watching a couple of those shows. Turns out the internet
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: in the Philippines is not super fast and so that
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: was a problem, but I could use my laptop and
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: it was okay, and then we were able to watch
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: the two shows. And Annie, I think was getting it
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: more than Sean, who's like from China, but the Philippines
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: they grow up with English, Sean's. I don't know whose
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: English is better. They both have extremely they both have
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: near fluent English. But I think Annie is able to
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: grasp the cultural context easier and Detroitter's is all about
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: like funny US cultural context jokes, so I think she
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: appreciated a little more. She was laughing at all the
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: funniest moments and it was so much fun to show
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: this to other people. And Sean was laughing too. He
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: just didn't get all of the subtleties I think of
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: the cultural jokes, but that show is so funny that
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: he was still laughing the whole time anyway. And it
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: was so great to share this TV show that I
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: love with friends that I love, and it was just
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: really fun. We hung out in my hotel room that
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: they had got me watching this TV show and then
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: just telling stories and catching up and having some beer.
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: It was my first day outside of Indonesia, so beer
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: was easy and everywhere to get and cheap is hack again,
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: so we got a few beers. And Sean and I
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: had been drinking buddies in Beijing when we got to
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: know each other from the English school, so we didn't
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: go crazy, but we each had a few beers and
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: Annie even had some. I poured her out a little
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: into a cup. She doesn't drink a lot. But it
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: was a fun party seeing everybody again. And when we
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: were on pouquette and we met in Thailand, Annie had
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: plenty to drink, so we weren't making her drink against
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: her will. Those were just really good mohidos, and this
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: was not as good. This was San Miguel light, which
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: was ah, it was fine. Of all the beers there,
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: I think the pale Pilsen is my favorite one, the
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: pilsner beer that San Miguel makes. They don't have a
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: huge selection, and the Pilsner's good enough for a regular
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: beer that is cheap and ubiquitous. And it was really
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: fun drinking, telling stories, watching Detroiter's with my friends, and
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: just hanging out again for the first time in two years.
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: It had been so long. Oh and when Annie asked
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: me what I thought of the Philippines, I explained I
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: wasn't a huge fan of Sabu because I was just
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: in this suburban neighborhood, and then when I went into
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: the city, it just seemed like a large, hot city
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: without any part, without much really. And Annie was like, Okay,
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: I have to be honest, I'm shocked at how behind
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: the Philippines is. I can't believe, like Bacalad, which I
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: think is where she's from. She said she was surprised.
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: They didn't have sidewalks half the time, and the sidewalks
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: were broken a lot. There weren't a lot of modern
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: technology or stores. All the vehicles were held together with string.
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: It was a very it was a much I think
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: there was a lot more poverty now that she had
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: been to China and she had been benefiting from that
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: rich that wealth. It's the ecosystem that's a pretty that's
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: a rich country. That might be the richest country in
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: the world right now, China. And then she goes back
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: to the Philippines after having lived in China for so long,
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: she was pretty shocked at all the poverty and broken
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: infrastructure back in the Philippines. Then she explained that to me,
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: and I said, I'm so glad you said that. I didn't.
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: I don't want to talk bad about the Philippines, especially
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: this is only my first night back after ten years,
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: and I haven't even got to explore the city, but
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: it does. This city also kind of seems pretty broken down,
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: like I remember Sebusi and then Annie talked about how
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: shocked she was and how broken down they'd been there
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: for I think a week before. I hadn't she was.
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: She said, she was like really shocked at how broken
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: down everything was still in Bacalid after having you know,
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: lived in China and things developing so quickly. Or and Thailand.
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: Thailand is also you know, a southeast Asian country very
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: close to the Philippines, but she and Shango there all
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: the time and love living there for a month or
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: two weeks at a time because that doesn't feel left
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: behind at all. Thailand also feels like a very modern
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: Many Thai cities feel like very modern places when you
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: get there, and the bustle is a fun, lively, bustly city.
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: It's not just people asking for money on the street
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: or people with broken down three wheeled vehicles at asking
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: to take you for a ride somewhere, which Bacalled sort
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: of felt like. But the people in Bacauld were all
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: so cool and I had a great time the entire
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: time I was in baculld because I got to meet
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: a ton of Annie's family and I got to hang
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: out with my buddy Sean, who I've known for He
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: brought this up. I didn't realize almost fourteen years. I
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: met him only a year into Beijing something like that,
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: So yeah, a decade and a half. Totally crazy. Blew
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: my mind when he said that, and then we did
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: the math and I was like, wow, yeah, I've known
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: you for a long time. My friend and I got
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: to talk about all the rest of that, but there's
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: so much to talk about. I just want to talk
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: about getting to the Philippines, seeing my friends for the
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: first time, and I'll go over more of my adventures
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: in the Philippines soon enough. Going to the wedding, really,
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: that's the biggest thing, going to the wedding, and then
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: I guess boudoats I have to talk about that because
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: I don't remember that at all for my first time,
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: but I must have seen it. Anyway, there's more to
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: talk about. I will talk to you soon. Thank you
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: so much for listening. My name is Kay. You can
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: talk to me at bit of a Rambler at gmail
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: dot com or bit of a Rambler on Lemy and
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: Blue Sky. Talk to you soon.