General Info

[Random99]

I'm looking for a change of scenery and not looking to go to a beach type-place. Will be working 80% of the time via computer. Any suggestions?

[Wicked Roger]

If anything, I feel safer now. If you're a drug dealer, your days are numbered.

DU30 ran and won on that very clear message, with the strong support of the country.

Criminals know to keep a low profile, and many have surrendered because they realize leadership at the top is dead serious.

What you said is what many say but for some (a small minority on the board) the view is 180 degrees different from you.

Yet for some who are scared silly maybe there is a more subtle issue at play as you sort of suggest.

[SergeantRay]

Been to the Phils several times but not since Duturte new shoot any one laws went into effect. Is it safe to go there now? Keep hearing any one can walk up and shoot you. I really want to go but if it's that dangerous I'll just go to Thailand or Jakarta.

Filipinos have always had a very tough attitude toward criminals, particularly [CodeWord127] and killers. There was the case of the heavily armed gang that was hitting up banks and armored cars. Philippine cops take this very seriously, and are not looking to make arrests in these circumstances. In an intense shootout, several members of the gang were killed--overkilled, actually. One of the crew was wounded in the leg. The cops weren't in a hurry to get him treatment, so the leg had to be amputated. When he was on trial they never provided him with a wheelchair--he had to be carried around in a wooden chair.

If anything, I feel safer now. If you're a drug dealer, your days are numbered. And if you were to kill a tourist, God hep you. President Duterte and his right hand man, "Bato," (alias, Rock), have sent a very clear message that crime will not be tolerated. DU30 ran and won on that very clear message, with the strong support of the country.

Criminals know to keep a low profile, and many have surrendered because they realize leadership at the top is dead serious.

[SergeantRay]

Most of the shootings takes place in squatter areas of lets say Manilas barangays and shit. If you walked in those areas pre, during or post DU30 you would most likely end up in a box anyway. Foreigners aren't reported whacked to my knowledge so far. But since I presume you will stay in touristic / sextistic areas of pines you will (most likely) be fine as long as you don't use, store or sell drugs. Happy pooing.

Agreed. These shootings are in lower class neighborhoods well away from tourists. An example would be Barangay Ermita, adjoining Carbon Market.

I have a Filipino martial arts teacher in a neighborhood where he works as a tanod (like a neighborhood watch). He told me of drug users coming into the area from elsewhere to do drugs. This was the same place where Jaguar, the notorious druglord lived and did business. This neighborhood, Duljo / Fatima, is definitely off the tourist track--you'd have to look for it to find it, and there's nothing there to interest tourists.

No drug pusher ever gets shot at Ayala or SM Mall, on the beaches of Mactan, at the Fuente, etc.

[Wicked Roger]

Been to the Phils several times but not since Duturte new shoot any one laws went into effect. Is it safe to go there now? Keep hearing any one can walk up and shoot you. I really want to go but if it's that dangerous I'll just go to Thailand or Jakarta.

If you think it is unsafe then it must be as nes't pas? Life as usual and people all happy that duggies are being killed it seems, so unless you wander around the bad areas don't.

And you ask a lot of questions in your 30 odd FRs even when you have visited here many times before as you have family here you said so surely they would know? Have a view? Just wondering as last time you were worried about being blacklisted etc.

Confusing me.

[Member #4558]

Been to the Phils several times but not since Duturte new shoot any one laws went into effect. Is it safe to go there now? Keep hearing any one can walk up and shoot you. I really want to go but if it's that dangerous I'll just go to Thailand or Jakarta.

Most of the shootings takes place in squatter areas of lets say Manilas barangays and shit. If you walked in those areas pre, during or post DU30 you would most likely end up in a box anyway. Foreigners aren't reported whacked to my knowledge so far. But since I presume you will stay in touristic / sextistic areas of pines you will (most likely) be fine as long as you don't use, store or sell drugs. Happy pooing.

[Member #4698]

Anything to do in Manila when not jet lagged?

BD, as I am sure you are well aware, there is lots to do in Manila when you are feeling good. The question relevant to the conversation is; what to do in Manila when one is jet lagged and can't sleep. Off the top of my head I can suggest Burgos Bars up until closing time (3 am), LA Cafe (all night), and City of Dreams gambling complex (all night) for food, and possible early morning FL pickup. I am sure there are other possibilities. Any suggestions?

[MrWoolyBooly]

Been to the Phils several times but not since Duturte new shoot any one laws went into effect. Is it safe to go there now? Keep hearing any one can walk up and shoot you. I really want to go but if it's that dangerous I'll just go to Thailand or Jakarta.

I was there for 2-3 weeks last month. Nobody walked up and shot me, same as previous trips. YMMV.

[W20415]

Been to the Phils several times but not since Duturte new shoot any one laws went into effect. Is it safe to go there now? Keep hearing any one can walk up and shoot you. I really want to go but if it's that dangerous I'll just go to Thailand or Jakarta.

[Golfinho]

..played tennis for a few hours...

Hahaha, yeah. Otherwise, flying frequently enough will inure you to the worst of jet-lag.

[Chocha Monger]

Phones made by Blu, a USA Company, were transmitting their owners' personal data to a computer server in China. It's not clear how the data was being used, though security experts say it could have been accessible by the Chinese government.

While the issue was discovered in phones sold by Blu, it could affect models from other manufacturers, and potentially millions of phones worldwide that all use software supplied by the same company, Shanghai Adups Technology Co.

The news story will evolve in the days ahead, but here's what you need to know now if you have or might have an affected phone.

Essentially, a researcher at a security firm called Kryptowire, located outside of Washington the. See, wanted an inexpensive work phone for an overseas trip, and purchased a Blu R1 HD. Without expecting to find a problem, he and his colleagues experimented with the phone, looking at what kind of data it was transmitting, and where that data was going.

The phone makes an encrypted copy of your text messages, including metadata such as the phone numbers you're communicating with. Then, every 72 hours it uploads the data to a server in China.

Kryptowire discovered that the firmware can be set to sift through text messages for specific phone numbers, names, or other key words, capturing and transmitting only that information. The researchers say their phone wasn't picking out specific text messages when they examined it.

Dan Guido, CEO of the cyber-security firm Trail of Bits, speculates that the some personal data could end up in government hands: "You might be in a rude awakening if you go through customs at a Chinese airport," he says. "From the Chinese censors' point of view, this is not a bug. It's a feature. "

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/techno...id=mailsignout

[BrainDrain]

Anything to do in Manila when not jet lagged?

[Wicked Roger]

No routine. The older I get, the worse my jetlag is. I have friends who have never experienced jetlag. Amazing.

As some of you know I fly a lot sometimes more than 200000 miles a year in aircraft to which friends think I use them to commute to work LOL.

As Westie knows I don't suffer from jet lag (maybe am lucky) but my 'trick' (if it is one) is not use medicines but to 'force' my body clock into the time zone that I am to arrive in.

So say I am flying from Manila to NYC I know the time in NYC when I depart the Philippines. I then stay awake, sleep whatever as though am in NYC. I sleep when my watch tells me it is bed time in USA not wherever I am.

This can be awkward at times if transits are long and take practice but I find this work.

Recently did a 28 hour stretch on 3 planes arrived at 5 pm, went to bed 9. 30 pm and woke 6 am. Went for a swim, shops, played tennis for a few hours, dinner with friends and was feeling great and then was in bed 11 pm the next day. No jet lag. And I had a nice cutie with me also LOL.

Now as we all know in mongering YMMV and the same for this. Each person is different and some techniques work better than others as we all have different rhythms etc- for me this does and I have been doing this travel schedule over 20 years now.

[Member #4698]

Regardless the direction (now), the first week of my arrival there is no movement on the daily schedule towards normalizing -- for about 6 days running, I will go to sleep around noon-2 pm, and awake fresh around 9-11 pm (wide awake at night, no relief without ambien). I always try to plan my arrival back in the States to allow me one extra week of vacation before returning for trabajo.

The Jet Lag you describe is really uncomfortable. I hate those sleepless nights and being tired in the afternoons. I discovered a natural painless solution one trip to SEA when I arrived without my medication in Hong Kong. I transferred that afternoon to Macau. Later that same night I could not sleep. It was horrible. So after a couple of hours of tossing and turning, I put on my clothes and went out. It was after 3 am. First I hit my favorite Sauna and had a neck massage, then thigh massage (HJ), and later full service. I left the Sauna around 5 am tired, but feeling pretty good. Next, I wandered over to the Wynn Casino Hotel. The place was still busy with inveterate Chinese gamblers. I walked around the casino and eventually I went to the Wynn's Red 8 Restaurant where I ate a mouth watering BBQ Duck with spicy wonton soup. I left the Wynn around 6 am as the sun was coming up and took it relatively easy until I passed out in my hotel room around 2 pm. The next night it was the same thing. I couldn't fall asleep at an appropriate time, but rather than toss and turn I went out again at 3:30 am and hit a different Sauna. Later around 5 am I had an amazing noodle soup with spicy pork belly on the side at the Grand Lisboa noodle restaurant. I left the Grand Lisboa again as the sun was coming up. There is something about the sun that awakens one and I wandered around Macau until noon. This time I took a nap around 4 pm, woke up at 8 pm and repeated the 2 previous nights activities more or less.

My point is that slowly over time I noticed my body was acclimating to the new time zone and I could fall asleep naturally at an appropriate hour so I no longer felt tired and prone to falling asleep in the late afternoons. I believe the reason I felt no jet lag pain or discomfort on that trip was because I went with the flow and did not try to force a time change on my body. And significantly because I was in Macau, a city that does not sleep and where there is always something interesting to do at any hour so psychologically I didn't care if I was up at 4 or 5am and could not sleep. I spent 5 nights in Macau that trip. By the time I flew on to BKK, I was pretty much over the jet lag. When I arrived in BKK I was falling asleep without any medication at around 2:30 am and I was no longer walking around in the afternoon like a zombie. Getting over jet lag, naturally, takes time. Not trying to force myself to sleep when sleep was not possible and finding something worthwhile to do late at night and in the early predawn hours was very important and it made the jet lag tolerable and even a minor thing. I hope this helps.

[WestCoast1]

Jet lag is a medical condition. So I have my doctor in the USA prescribe 10 MG Ambien for my long transpacific flights to ensure I get 4 or 5 hours sleep en route before arrival in SEA. Once in Manila or BKK I pre schedule a nice little reunion with one of my favorite girls. After she leaves I try to stay up to 1 am. Then to avoid a night of tossing and turning and no sleep, I take another 10 MG Ambien. Result: I am out like a light and I wake up early in the morning the next day around 7 am feeling good, raring to go. NO JET LAG! I can then sleep normally without pharmaceutical aid the rest of the trip. I repeat the process on the return flight with the same level of success. By the way GE is correct, the effects of Jet Lag can be far worse on the return flight if not treated.

I have tried this method, of trying to ambien-ing myself to sleep around midnight (both when arriving in phils, and then arriving back again at home), for several nights running. It works per-se, in that in knocks me out for about 5-6 hours, and I awake relatively refreshed at 7 am. But by noon-2 pm I am wiped out, can't keep my eyes open, and I go right back to sleep. My sleep rhythm has been thrown off completely by adjusting to the previous time zone.

A decade ago, GE's suggested 1 day per time zone difference was about spot on. Hence a 15 (or 16, depending Daylight Savings Time) hours difference from phils to the US west coast, took me about 10 days to adjust when going to phils, and 14 or 15 days to adjust when going to the US. Older now, and that's now 14 or 15 days to adjust when arriving in phils, and 20 days to adjust when arriving back in the US. Regardless the direction (now), the first week of my arrival there is no movement on the daily schedule towards normalizing -- for about 6 days running, I will go to sleep around noon-2 pm, and awake fresh around 9-11 pm (wide awake at night, no relief without ambien). I always try to plan my arrival back in the States to allow me one extra week of vacation before returning for trabajo.