First Impressions

Beer: The local brew is San Miguel Pale Pilsen. It
comes with a Gothic looking label and costs between
30-50p a bottle [hurrah!]. Interestingly the canned
version has a photo printed on the back of two
underage & sozzled girls giggling, blearily clutching
beers in one hand and the table in the other. Since I
can't read the text, I am not sure if this is a advert
or a warning [grin]. The front of the label, however
is in English and San Miguel is described as being the
"only beer that nurtures true Filipino friendships" so
that's nice.

Tourism: Not that much of it [so far] and they are
very relaxed about it. They are only touts I've ever
met who gladly take 'No' for an answer and then wish
you a Happy New Year. [There IS however a lot of sex
tourism - but this subject deserves a blog all of it's
own - almost every... no scrap that, every white bloke
over the age of 40 has a piece of 18-yr old Filipina
totty on his arm.]

Beach Sellers: This is a whole new world of beach
trading [smile] - I should explain - this is a
profession I take great interest in since I was once a
necklace & hair wrap [remember them?] seller in Corfu.
I am used to beach traders selling jewellery, sarongs,
drinks, etc - the usual stuff. This afternoon, whilst
chilling on the beach, I was offered: a guitar, a
billiard cue, a metal pan scourer and [my favourite] a
2m x 50cm brass picture showing a battle of unknown
origin. Am I missing something?!

I have this lovely image in my head of 'Janet & John'
on the beach and all-of-a-sudden John jumps up and
says
"Goddammit I forgot my billiard cue! Now where can I
get one in a hurry?"

Diving: I've done three dives so far - 2 average, one
fab. Earlier today I saw three White-Tip Reef Sharks!
[two babies, one 5 footer] Yummy! But there's loads of
stuff I've never seen before: fabulous corals
[specially soft corals], multi-coloured basket stars,
neon starfish, groovy flat worms, hairy crabs [big
grin]... but not that many fish! Although I did see a
giant barracuda this morning [about as big as me] he
was cool and posed nicely!

BUT: I fell! Boo! Was coming out of my room, early
morning and I [foolishly] attempted to come down the
wet, shiney, painted steps in my flip-flops - what a
muppet!

Whoosh...

I was lucky, after a bounce or two [grin] I slipped
off the side of the steps and landed in the mud rather
than on the concrete below. So I have some alarming
bruises, a slightly damaged ego [fortunately my ego
bounces better than the rest of me], a nasty cut on my
shin [where I hit the concrete] and a silly walk
[smile].

I got a telling off from one of the girls who works
here - I retreated back to my room [for a little cry]
and she followed me up to see if I was ok. She wagged
her finger at me [she's about 15] and said
"Very smooth" pointing at the steps, "very slippy"
pointing at my flip-flops, "you no wear - you fall!"
I know!" said I, indignantly
"Aaaah" she said "you cry" and she gave me a pat.

Since then all the girls have been fussing over me as
if I was an invalid... and an idiot [sigh] - I
probably deserve it.