My friend's negative trip report from Angeles City

[E_Irizarry]

"He sounded so amateurish that he was literally wet behind the ears. LIve and learn..."

So no one offers to help him BEFORE?
Clue him in? Show him how to avoid the mistakes?
Why is this?
Winston claims he is 'a friend' but does not help him and throws him to the sharks? That is not what a friend does.

WTF is wrong with you guys?

You can help, but won't?

This has happened to several people on HA, including me.

This is a good indicator of some level of sociopathy on your part, and it is NOT good.

I live in RURAL CHINA, backwater, backwards, culture shock central and I had trouble navigating the RP. This means that most will, and the manly thing to do is to help out.

You guys are a group of sociopathic assholes. My assessment from February remains intact.

Man oh man. This had happened after the fact as I have just stated. If I had known beforehand, I would have schooled quickly.

[Winston]

Why would a first timer to the PH have any pesos on him? That doesn't make sense. What's the logic behind that law?

My GOD, you are a f***ing idiot.

Q: Why would a first timer to the PH have any pesos on him?
1) To pay the port exit fee if it wasn't on his ticket.
2) To pay the taxi driver to take him to his hotel.
3) To lower the risk of being robbed, mugged or ID-theft at the ATM, which does not exist at the exit of the MNL airport before you get to the taxi line.
4) To pay his hotel, food, bus ticket and other expenses without having to brave going to an ATM with his luggage nearby, making him a rip-off target to everyone.

Q: What's the logic behind that law?

You really are clueless after having lived in Asia for years, aren't you?
All countries have currency border controls. Including the USA.
How can you POSSIBLY live in the RP, or Asia, for so long and be this ignorant?

Winston, I am quite certain that your inability to date in the USA has more than a little to do with your selective idiocy that is displayed in replies, such as this thread. You are socially inept and blind to what many other people see, and you do not know this.

You go on and on about yourself and your 'enlightened opinions, we are all light, your 'intelligent observations' etc.', you live in Asia for YEARS, yet you are intellectually blind to obvious things that newcomers to (for example) the RP, a nation you have lived in for years, things that newbies spot in minutes or seconds.

How is it possible that you are so blind and I and the OP and others are not?

This is a legitimate question.

You pose as an authority, and you live in Asia, but your knowledge is totally ignorant of basic things that anyone who travels would and should know. Your inability to 'see' what the OP and I 'see' indicates some sort of selective stupidity, blindness, or mental block to some very obvious facts about reality.

This would clearly explain your inability to date in the USA and your social needs being met only by whores in Asia.

In short, you are a clueless nimrod who does not understand what is going on around him and no girl wants to date a clueless nimrod. A nimrod is a person regarded as silly, foolish, or stupid. An unintelligent person, an "idiot".

This explains a great deal.

f**k you liar. I simply asked how to get pesos before going to the PH. Why not change dollars to pesos at the airport when you arrive? That's what I did. No one needs pesos in advance.

You are the miserable idiot here globetrotter. You are one miserable mother f***er, inventing lies about me just to have an excuse to insult me. Why did you ever come back to this forum?

FYI, most girls do not think I'm an idiot. They think I'm some genius with deep insight. That's what they tell me. Intelligence doesn't make women attracted to you. If you had any experience with women, you'd know that. You seem to have none. All you do is complain and make false statements.

So no one offers to help him BEFORE?
Clue him in? Show him how to avoid the mistakes?
Why is this?
Winston claims he is 'a friend' but does not help him and throws him to the sharks? That is not what a friend does.

WTF is wrong with you guys?

You can help, but won't?

This has happened to several people on HA, including me.

This is a good indicator of some level of sociopathy on your part, and it is NOT good.

I live in RURAL CHINA, backwater, backwards, culture shock central and I had trouble navigating the RP. This means that most will, and the manly thing to do is to help out.

You guys are a group of sociopathic assholes. My assessment from February remains intact.

f**k you again. I DID help him with a lot of things before his trip. There was no way that I could anticipate all that. It never happened to me. So why would I have to warn about it? You aren't making sense you dumbass.

Plus he is a well experienced traveler and I thought such simple things would be a piece of cake for him. And he's highly intelligent, insightful and deep as well. I assumed that that would get him through anything.

[Jester]

10,000 peso max inbound and outbound

Any amount USD okay but you must declare if over 10,000 USD

my info is per internet not from experience
sorry dont have a link handy, i just keep a spreadsheet of business and banking in each country i'm nterested in

like if foreign atm cards work there, also can i can open a bank account and wire money in, can i have a paypal account, things like that

Where did you get that info? Why would a first timer to the PH have any pesos on him? That doesn't make sense. What's the logic behind that law? Zero. I've never heard of that law. Strange.

A lot of countries have exchange controls on their own currencies. They don't want Wall Street messing with the exchange rate, they want their own central bank to intervene.

Mexico, Argentina, Belize, and even Canada have limits on inflow, outflow or both. I don't track which ones control only their own currency, or dollars too. But I remember if you live in Chile and open a bank account you can't wire IN more than $3,000 USD a month. Aimed at avoiding inflation? I don't know. But not everyone wants our money!!

I'm sure there are many others.

[Jester]

FYI, you get the customs form to fill out on the plane. The flight attendant hands them to you. They do NOT say that you have to declare 10,000p, only 10,000 USD.

10,000 USD you do have to DECLARE.

Over 10,000 pesos is PROHIBITED.

Separate law, separate purpose. USD law is probably to prevent money laundering and is there to please the U.S. and the OECD. Control of one's own currency is common in countries with weak currencies.

I get all my info from googling, expat sites etc - not exactly expert legal opinion.

[Rock]

You are the miserable idiot here globetrotter. You are one miserable mother f***er, inventing lies about me just to have an excuse to insult me. Why did you ever come back to this forum?

Yea, I was wondering if he was Globetrotter for awhiile. Same IP?

If it is, living in rural China is clearly getting the best of him. He really seems to be losing it. He goes to rural China in middle age for first time, locates in some 4th tier city, does not speak Chinese, and thinks himself as some sort of expert on China after a couple years teaching English to kids and living on $150 per month. I still remember his currency diversification recommendation - sell USD and buy Chinese Yuan, HK dollars, and some other Asian currencies. HK dollars??? That's pegged to the US$ so it makes no sense. Its about like exchanging 10 hundred dollar bills for a one thousand dollar bill. The idiot also recommended forum members to smuggle money across the HK China border and 'secretly' open an account at a US bank in HK.

His attitude is like a post-menopausal American woman. He messed-up in PI too. I'm here right now and much of what he said was exaggerated or even not true.

Why did you ever let someone from that IP re-register under a different name.

[ladislav]

I don't understand what happened to you. It doesn't make any sense. There is no law that says you can't bring in 10,000p into the country. The customs form says that you need to declare your cash only if you have $10,000 USD on you in cash. But who carries that much in cash on them? Where does it say 10,000p? That's only $250 USD. Lots of guys carry over $250 on them. None of them report it to customs. So what you told me doesn't make sense and doesn't fit what I know. Did you misread something?

Where it says that? Read it here.

http://www.silent-gardens.com/img/Customs.png

How can a newby have it on him? Very simply- the Philippine peso is available at many exchange locations around the world and online.

[ph_visitor]

If you had any experience with women, you'd know that. You seem to have none. All you do is complain and make false statements.

I don't know any 'Glen Troutter' character...

You are an idiot and you are in denial. You spontaneously reject anything you do not agree with as 'false statements'; this is just sociopathy and dissembling to push your agenda.

If you had any experience with women

Well, let's see Winston. By the time you had your first gf, 1998, I had f***ed 75 women.

I DID help him with a lot of things before his trip. There was no way that I could anticipate all that. It never happened to me. So why would I have to warn about it? You aren't making sense you dumbass.

1) There certainly WAS a way you could anticipate his travails because
2) I and others have had the same experiences (that you dismiss as false statements) and posted them. If it happens over and over to multiple men, therefore it must be reality and you are in denial.
3) Just because it doesn't happen to you doesn't mean it doesn't happen to others.

Again, you simply ignore what you do not want to accept even if it is real.

This is sociopathy.

[ph_visitor]

HK dollars??? That's pegged to the US$ so it makes no sense.

If you think the US dollar will always be strong and that all currencies currently pegged to it will remain so, then you would be correct.

It is likely that when the USD goes south that the CNY and HKD will unpeg and will suddenly be stronger currencies.

[Rock]

HK dollars??? That's pegged to the US$ so it makes no sense.

If you think the US dollar will always be strong and that all currencies currently pegged to it will remain so, then you would be correct.

It is likely that when the USD goes south that the CNY and HKD will unpeg and will suddenly be stronger currencies.

1. HKD is directly pegged to USD, CNY is not.

2. USD has already gone south a lot over last decade and taken HKD with it. It makes no sense to invest in a USD proxy when your goal is to diversify away from it. More likely that HKD will not be unpegged but rather phased out and replaced by CNY or some derivative such as CNH.

[Winston]

You are the miserable idiot here globetrotter. You are one miserable mother f***er, inventing lies about me just to have an excuse to insult me. Why did you ever come back to this forum?

Yea, I was wondering if he was Globetrotter for awhiile. Same IP?

If it is, living in rural China is clearly getting the best of him. He really seems to be losing it. He goes to rural China in middle age for first time, locates in some 4th tier city, does not speak Chinese, and thinks himself as some sort of expert on China after a couple years teaching English to kids and living on $150 per month. I still remember his currency diversification recommendation - sell USD and buy Chinese Yuan, HK dollars, and some other Asian currencies. HK dollars??? That's pegged to the US$ so it makes no sense. Its about like exchanging 10 hundred dollar bills for a one thousand dollar bill. The idiot also recommended forum members to smuggle money across the HK China border and 'secretly' open an account at a US bank in HK.

His attitude is like a post-menopausal American woman. He messed-up in PI too. I'm here right now and much of what he said was exaggerated or even not true.

Why did you ever let someone from that IP re-register under a different name.

I wonder why Globetrotter is living in rural China if he's unhappy there and can't get a girlfriend. Why doesn't he try something else? It doesn't make sense. But he sounds like an unhappy man that wants to lash out his anger at others.

I did check his IP and it changes every time and doesn't match Globetrotter. But his posts and personality definitely match Globetrotter's and he doesn't deny it.

I don't understand why he had to come back under another user name. Why doesn't he just come back under his old user name? There's no logical reason to hide.

Globetrotter, dude, just use your original user name again. No need for another identity.

[Winston]

Here is the next update from my friend:

Hola Winston,

Thanks for getting back to me. Nextl time you fly to Phil, read your customs form more carefully. Line/question 2 of the customs declaration form asks you whether you are carrying over 10,000 Phil Pesos into the country. There follows a subsection asking, if you are carrying more than ten-thousapesos, whether you have official permission
of the National Bank to do so

I was in violation of the country's asinine law and had the misfortune of drawing a very corrupt custom's agent. I did not feel particularly happy with offering him a bribe of 2000 Pesos but I am not one to haggle in a 3rd world land with a petty bureaucrat who had the legal authority to deny me entry into the country or to confiscate the full extra 18,000 Pesos I was carrying. I disagree that high-handedness is called for in such settings. Many of these customs agents dislike Americans and see us as overbearing and domineering . I think my humble approach was the wisest.

As to the women, my luck continues to be very bad. Last night I spent over 2 hours wooing a girl and asked all the right questions, built rapport, etc., only to have her reverse herself when push came to shove and tell me she will barfine only to go bar hopping and never goes to men's hotel rooms.

Thanks for Ladislav's number. I will attempt to contact him and set up a meeting. I hope he can perhaps steer me to some connections such as friends of women he is already f***ing.

For some reason, I have not vibed well with the Pinay bargirls at all even though I have worked hard to adjust my attitude. It has been a very frustrating six days here so far.

The Chalet moved me to a room that seems to be cockroach free but I am not impressed by the hotel at all considering I could have better lodgings for half the price in Thailand.

Basically, I have not been able to crack the code here and a lot of games are played in this town. I probably should have gone elsewhere and had serial meetings with DIA girls and women I have met online via Cherry Blossoms. The much-vaunted Pinay GFE has eluded me and I am also a monger who likes variety and dislikes having to sweet talk flighty and duplicitous girls as my main source of mongering. I will take a much different approach on my next trip here. Angeles is a real shithole and I have felt my health decline since my arrival.

Thanks again and I will update you.

Winston,

Thanks for passing on the advice from Michael. It is sound and helpful. I also appreciate your providing me with Ladislav's number.

I seem to be suffering a spate of ill-fortune here and have now gotten sick and lost my voice. I have tried to text Ladislav because of this but for some reason my phone will no longer send any text messages to anyone and I have had many problems just trying to send emails. And, yes, it is a gigantic pain in the ass to type a lengthy email on this dinky IPhone keyboard.

For the moment I am voiceless, sick and alone and have resigned myself to my fate until I recover my voice. Fortunately, I am quite used to being alone given my life in America. On Sunday I will fly to Palawan to spend 8 days with a Pinay friend there. Maybe things will be better there or at least the environment much healthier. I still stand by my statement that Angeles is a real shithole with far too much noise, pollution and very irritating street hawkers. I have not had enough positive experiences here to alter this view and I don't think the city is a very good match for my mongering style, such as it is. I prefer a mongering scene with diverse options and have found Angeles to be very lacking in this regard. I do not have any DIA contacts to pursue here, btw; most of them are in Cebu, Manila or other provinces.

Btw, this guy is very wise and insightful and used to be a mental health counselor too, so he is an expert in psychology, and I assumed that he would be very street smart too. Some people just don't vibe with a certain culture. I know the feeling.

[Winston]

Check out this other negative trip report that Ladislav and I received by email. lol

Hi Ladislav, here's my situation: When I visited the Philippines in 2006, I made a new friend in Manila who offered to introduce me to a nice girl. So we went out to lunch with this "nice girl", and I found out that she was actually a prostitute and he was a pimp. Well, I told him I wasn't interested, and he said OK, but I still had to pay him and the girl for their trouble, or he would go to the police. So I paid him off. Of course he tried to get even more money from me, but I refused, and he wasn't too happy about that. After that incident, I spent two more weeks in the Philippines and was allowed to leave without any trouble.

I'm going back to the Philippines on April 23, and I was wondering if I could be in any trouble over this now? Could they even have an arrest warrant out for me? It seems unlikely, but I'd like to have your opinion.

2006 and he's worried that they might still be after him? lol. Gee this guy sounds really paranoid and easy to scare. He should have just told those scammers to F off and that HE would be the one to call the police and report them for extortion.

[lookin4happiness]

yeah that was seriously the wrong move to give those guys money.. You didnt f***ing do anything.. IF that ever happens tell those guys to f**k OFF for real...

[Winston]

He's in Palawan now. Here's his update:

Hey Winston,

Am having major problems with my cellphone here sending emails. It will send them prematurely before I have finished.

I am leaving Angeles tomorrow in the AM for Palawan where I will stay for 8 nights. I never could reach Ladislav but my American friend from Pattaya came through and took me out and showed me the ropes here so that my last 3 days in Angeles have been good. I appreciate your help and your giving me Rock's number. I have a little better feel for the city now and the bar system and ended up having some very positive experiences to offset the negative ones before. I am still trying to regain my health and voice and am taking medicine. My opinion of Angeles as an unhealthy city remains unchanged--by comparison to Pattaya the city seems very unhealthy and offers fewer mongering options. Still, the Pinay girlfriend experience, which I finally had, is pretty intoxicating. I will definitely return to the country but I will wander it as I often do in Thailand. I sense that finding a girlfriend here would not be hard if one spends enough time on the ground and makes connections. I am not sure about whether I want a GF in ANY country as I'm not much into sponsoring any lady from a distance.

Thanks for all of your efforts to help. It has been a roller coaster ride of highs and lows here-/but such is the nature of mongering alone in a new country. I have a lot more success in Thailand only because I have spent much time there and have already paid my dues and made many mistakes. I can also speak the language which is both a blessing and curse but does let the women there know that I know the score.

What about you? Does a trip to China still loom on the horizon? I will update you further in weeks to come.

[Winston]

Here is an update from my friend, who is in Thailand now.

Winston,

I am in Chiang Mai Thailand for last leg of my trip. Chiang Mai is a great city and I highly recommend a visit here. It has a small mongering scene compared to Pattaya, Bangkok or even Angeles but enough to keep me busy for a month. I am hoping to visit every massage parlor along Loy Kroh Road (the main strip for mongering) and do a report for online rating the parlors. Of course, there are also many beer bars so I will hit some of them but have to be careful not to get overly-involved with a Thai girl here as my Thai teacher lives here and requires a lot of my time. Chiang Mai also has tons of beautiful local "normal" women but they are more likely to date a man like you than like me, an old farang (foreigner). It is a very politically correct city with 25 veggie restaurants and many more that serve vegetarian cuisine due to high level of foreign bohemians who visit/live here.

As far as your essay, "Sad World of Zombies..."--is excellent work worthy of George Orwell. As I read it, I thought of Schopenhauer's quote about how the wise of the world have always said the same thing for generations and how the foolish have always ignored or vilified them. Socrates also came to mind because he was put to death by Athens for teaching the "truth" and there is a long history of men who have spoken out against the herd and been condemmed for it.

As for me, I have come to accept the way things are and that I am different and do not worry too much about what others think of me or how they behave. I was not always like this and 20 years ago this issue plagued me much more than it does now since I have gotten older.

I had left Angeles by the time your friend and advisor Rock would have been able to reach me but I was helped greatly by an American friend I knew there and finally had the fabled Phil GFE, which was wonderful. I still am of opinion that Angeles is a real shithole and is definitely not suited to my diet or health. I do have plans to return to Phil again however and explore more of the country.

I am typing this on my Thai teachers' computer which she has let me use in my hotel room so it is not so difficult as typing on my I-Phone. I see you are still posting info. about Chinese women so it appears you have set your sights on China. My advice would be to learn some basic Mandarin if you haven't already. Even though most of the women you are corresponding with speak English, you will gain more respect if you know some Mandarin. It is a fairly hard language but even having a vocabulary of 200 words and 10-20 phrases would take you far.

Good luck in your endeavors. When I return home and have rested I will send you a trip report chronicling my opinion/experiences in Phils and how they compare with Thailand. Naturally there is good and bad in both countries and both are worthy places to meet women.

You did ask before in an email why my mongering skills did not transfer from Thailand to Phils so easily. I have given that matter much thought and have come up with several reasons.

1. My American friend who ended up helping me told me I had a very serious look. I have this feeling that I do not look good when I smile so I keep a rather straight face and many mistake me for former military or police officer. I deliberately lightened this up in Phils. after my friend pointed this out to me. This is also off-putting in Thailand at the go-go's--but in many places here (in thailand) the girls are more aggressive and even though the Thai people like to have fun, serious-looking people are often seen in a positive light. I noticed in Phils. that the girls feel a lot more Catholic guilt about working the bars than in Thailand and want to pretend like they are developing a "relationship/friendship" with you. This requires more time and talk and a certain comfort level to be built. In Thailand this is not necessary and I can walk in most go-go's and just pick a girl from the stage and 99% of the time she will go with me.

2. I am a beer bar sort of monger and do much better when I have been shooting pool with the ladies and cracking jokes and having sanuk (fun) and they can see I am an okay guy. Angeles has few beer bars and so I was not able to work my usual routine here of just going to a beer bar and waiting for a lady to choose me.

Once I adjusted my attitude and affected a less serious look, my success rate in Angeles went up a great deal. I also was approached rather shyly by many "straight" Pinays in various places, making me think that finding a normal Pinay girlfriend is very possible if one wants one. That is less true here in Thailand unless one is young and good-looking or is prepared to cough up a lot of money. People always talk about the financial demands of Phil. women (and they are very annoying and demanding) but one can support a Pinay on maybe 200-300 USD a month. A Thai woman would laugh at that figure and the average support from a foreign boyfriend here is around 1000 US dollars a month.

Take care and I hope you are doing well. Keep me posted on your future travels and adventures.