Enjoying the Philippines, Staying Present

hey what is up everybody we'll give it a little bit to let people come in hey how's it going looks like we got somebody who's joined in welcome welcome just here in dumag Getti um I'm going to be going to bed early tonight because I have a bunch of stuff to do for YouTube tomorrow um yeah I'll be meeting up with Mike and interviewing him he'll be interviewing me as well um yeah that's uh you that's a big thing on the plate for tomorrow have plans to chat with Paul on Saturday that should go well um feel free to chime in with any questions or thoughts had a job interview late last night I'm not sure how that went we'll see um I think the recruiter will reach out to me if uh they're next steps or if there are not next steps have another job interview next week so we'll see how they go um yeah I've just been enjoying my time here oh welcome maau streets you know I'm not sure I'll have to put pop that in the translator um oh good afternoon yeah great to see you welcome welcome to the stream it's um I'm not sure what time it is if you're on the same time zone maau uh it's about 7:15 p.m.

here in the Philippines the sun just went down maybe an hour and a half hour hour and a half ago uh I took an afternoon nap I've just been really sleepy for whatever reason the last the last week um so I slept like 9 hours last night I woke up at like 10:00 this morning and then had an afternoon nap hopefully that won't stop me from getting to sleep at a decent time tonight I like to go I'm already yawning I like to go to sleep around 10 p.m.

so probably about two and a half hours from now I'd like to be in bed got the alarm set for early in the morning I'll hop on uh jeepney and go to town and then hop on trike and uh head to the location to uh meet Mike and we'll knock out an interview I've got some questions for him that I've compiled that I think should be helpful um but yeah that's you know that's mostly it um the weather's you know the weather's been off and on kind of hot some days or cooler some days are hotter I did get to go swimming the other day which was pretty nice I went and uh you know swam at the beach uh here in beong that was really nice oh it's good I guess it's good I'm still sleepy I was worried after I took my nap this afternoon that it might uh I might be wired and you know wide awake and not um not able to go to sleep early tonight so that's a good sign uh maau says anything interesting you experiencing dag Getti you'd want to share sure um great question Macau uh you know I've been able to meet with a lot of people on the boulevard you you all are probably familiar with the Boulevard it's like uh you know there's a lot of vloggers do their interviews down there it's um you know it's right in front of the kind of the I would say it's like one of the nicer parts of the city or maybe the more foreign catering parts of the city they've got a lot of nice coffee shops down there I hung out in tomtom's coffee yesterday for I was there for like probably five hours just working on some um working on some editing also just watching some videos um also doing some job applications online um they have really great smoothies a little bit pricey but the quality is really good I would say it's like not quite as high as American prices maybe like half the American price I paid about $4 for a smoothie um but the taste is really good you know they I went with a blueberry smoothie um so that was nice uh what else else um been to d a couple of times I found a really nice pizza place in D and then also you know it's just a nice place to go walking because you can see the water from the uh the highway uh what else has been yeah I mean just meeting meeting foreigners on the boulevard has been really interesting um I've gotten to meet several different guys that all have interesting stories and you know I'm always trying to find out what brought you here to doag Getti um you know what it's a very specific place right I mean you're you're flying to the Philippines in the middle of the Pacific Ocean uh and then you're flying to a specific area of the Philippines and so you really have to go out of your way to get here it's not like a place I think people get to by accident um and they've had a lot to share with me about their experience es like it's been a great sort of uh you know it's provided a great tutorial in a lot of ways because I came here five years ago and I enjoyed my time but I didn't really interact with foreigners at all um on my last trip a little bit a little bit in cigan Island hey Michael good to see you welcome welcome uh you know so I didn't interact with foreigners last time and this time it's been mostly interacting with foreigners some Filipino people has as well but um interacting with a lot of different foreigners which has been great to learn a lot of things that I just wouldn't learn right I mean there's there's the Filipino perspective which is extremely important um and at one time you know I was the type that I thought I don't want to interact with foreigners I just want to interact with Filipino people but now that I've gotten better at being a judge of character and meeting different foreigners then they're really able to catch me up and um you know help me get all kinds of sight into living here long term uh one guy I hung out with several times on the boulevard he's been here for almost three years so he has a lot to impart he's from North Carolina and I'm from Tennessee so we also have a lot in common as far as being from neighboring states back home and I think you know culturally there's some interesting Synergy there I wasn't expecting to meet people from the southern us for whatever reason I just didn't expect to meet so many people from where I'm from uh so that's been really nice to have those experiences um how are you doing Michael how's it going in uh in your area maau Street says enjoying the food and dag yeah I mean you know it's the food here is solid I had some fish and chips yesterday um that was really tasty the uh today I had more Fried Chicken crispy King Krispy King is just easy it's like within walking distance of where I'm staying um the fried chicken is decent you know it's uh you know it's crisp it's definitely they live up to the name crispy King right um and what else uh yeah yeah Michael absolutely um yeah it's it's so nice you know it's like I it's been a surprise to meet so many people from where we're from uh and it's it's a pleasant surprise right because like you know sometimes you wonder how much do I have in common with other Americans other than we're from the United States it's a really big country uh so to be able to meet people who you know we have shared experiences we've been to probably some of the same music venues um we've been you know we've eaten some of the similar Cuisine uh we're probably uh familiar with the same sports teams like it's just a really it's a comforting feeling when you're so far away from home right I mean here we are on the opposite side of the planet we're about as far as you can get from the US and um you know I think I'm probably think we're what like 12 hours ahead of Central Time Zone here so we're like the opposite direct opposite side of the planet and uh it's just been really nice to be able to uh to interact with people that have similar backgrounds and and also uh hanging out with Paul and Mike like both of them had lived in California which I had that experience so uh it's you know it's definitely there's a stronger connection there than I would have anticipated right because some people are saying oh well you know us is a big country like what do you have in common with other Americans but I found it to be great you know we've all had our yeah absolutely Michael I absolutely agree yes it is comforting to know I can chat with people with similarities 100% right I mean there's definitely some people over here with an IT background um and then also of course the you tubers right like they're they're not it professionals but they're definitely heavily Reliant upon uh information technology to be able to deliver to their audiences it's uh yeah it's definitely it's a Cool vibe here for sure it's um I wasn't sure if I'd like toag Getti or not but I do like it a lot now if I were to settle here in the Philippines long term could I live in dumag Getti I'm not sure if I could um there's a few reasons for that uh one I feel like I'm more oriented toward bigger cities it's just where I lived growing up and where I've lived as an adult um it's not a big City Vibe here uh you know it's definitely I can see why it caters to retired people right guys who are looking to just chill out relax uh not be in hustling Grind Mode not be um you know not be trying to build a business um it's also somewhat saturated with vloggers you know just to be transparent I mean there's a lot of bloggers here there's of course there's Mike there's Paul Foreigner in the Philippines one of the individuals I met um there's sizzy Kelly she's based here um who else is B Filipina p is based here so that's five right off the top of my head um but it seems like everybody's got a vog here there's just so many different bloggers here so if you're trying to cover the area I personally feel like there's limit there's a there's limited new ground there's there's you're gonna run out of content to some extent now I think the guys with more established audiences the guys that are catering to uh retirees they're always have content to cover right because there's always going to be a stream of guys who hit retirement age who are financially independent um that will that will land here uh but I I think as far as young younger vloggers like you know you make it up to D you make it down to DN Valencia I made it made it up to Valencia last weekend uh once you make it over to sikor siulan once you've kind of seen the area um you know most the attractions are the natural attractions and so I feel like if you're trying to do new stuff on a consist on a consistent basis a little bit of uh it could be a little bit of a challenge right um I would too like you know it's something I I'm going to contradict myself here I thought dating would be fine here I'm finding out you know it is somewhat saturated right there's tons of foreigners here it's also not the biggest city like uh you know in SIU you've got millions of people in Manila you've caught millions of people here I think it's like a few hundred thousand people in the metro area and and so I think it's more of a place that if you're dating if you found a significant other and you want to bring them to somewhere that's an enjoyable place place to live then uh you know then I think that this is this is the spot for that uh Michael that's a great question have you ever tried More Southern lzone areas like Cavite orever plan to I would like to uh Michael longterm my goal is to see most of the country I don't know if I'll make it to Cavit on this trip it kind of depends on uh you know it depends on just if I get the if I get a job offer back home and got to go then I'll have to delay seeing more of the country until my next trip I do plan to come back here again um you know so that's something that may happen on my next trip right where next trip I land in Manila and then I focus on lzone because um this is my second trip to the Bayan region um or Bas region uh I have tentative plans to go to minda now uh in a few weeks so in a few weeks I'm looking at taking a fery to dapon and then I'll take a bus to Kagan deoro and then either take a bus into Malai or uh ride with my buddy right so it depends on what day I land if he's already up in the mountains Mal Bai then of course I'm not GNA ask him to come back down the mountain pick me up and take me back up so I'll just hop in a a bus and go up there I'd like to spend a month in Malai balai um and why don't I pull up a map here that's what I'm missing here we can share the screen let's see here yeah so I'm I'm here in dumag and so my tentative plan is to uh take a ferry and you basically take the ferry I think it's about a 4-Hour ride and you land in dppy and I haven't been to duton um so that'll be interesting I'm not sure I think the earliest Ferry runs at midnight and the last one runs at 2 pm so you've got like a 14h hour window there uh I'm tempted to go for the midnight one because Landing there at 400 a.

and then taking the bus means I'll be able to get to Mal Bai um during daylight hours and that's I find that just to be helpful in the Philippines to try to travel more uh or ar do your arrival during daylight hours because if you're not familiar with the area it's just easier to see easier to navigate if you run out of data you need to buy load for your phone uh it's easier to do during daylight hours but yeah it's uh it'll be interesting so yeah so kind of tentative plans there's two plans if I go to Malai this is what I'll be doing if I go to SIU I'll also share that it's going to be a little bit it's going to look different from this plan um so Landon Pon I'll take a bus and we can just see here um okay I don't know why that's wacky um yeah so that's not as bad eight hours but I guess it could be delayed more so then I I'd take uh you know I'd take the the bus we'd go through Depot well there's I guess this is a little bit different um so yeah go through here come down through oam through eligon stoping kagay and Deo I think there's a transfer Point I've been to the bus terminal in kagay and deoro uh and then transfer and then go up through the mountains here and into Malai Bai and it's a cooler City weatherwise so that's something I'm really looking forward to if I do go this route um it's uh yeah it should be interesting um but yeah Michael great question you know I think lzone is interesting I want to give lzone the um the attention it deserves right I mean I think with lzone there's a lot to see um it is the new capital region right so you've got a lot of conveniences up there uh of course you uh you've got proximity to Manila um you've got bangis which bangis is interesting to me um hey Alex your demeanor is brighter than your last stop yeah yeah for sure um you know it's been it's been tough right like I'm you know I'm tentatively planning my return and that's always an unhappy circumstance um it's unfortunately it's you know these days it's never fun to go back to United States each time I've had to do that in the past it hasn't been super Pleasant it is just part of not being you know financially independent um I know that I'll get there um coincidentally I'm doing better financially than I was when I got here right so like I managed to moderate my spending so much and then I also had growth in my investments that I'm doing better on paper than I was a year ago now I don't know how much of that is impacted by inflation obviously prices have continued to go up in the last year not looking forward to paying those ridiculous American prices but um yeah you know I'm just trying to sort out my opportunities and select my next opportunity back home if I don't get an offer I'll probably go back in January um because I have a I have confidence that I could find something that's not ideal right not in software sales but um you know it's uh yeah I just need to just need to add to the cash pile um sorry about that maau streets thank you for the heads up on that um Michael mentioned the screen is kind of going black it may be my connection my connection uh here maybe uh maybe struggling a little bit um it's probably a peak internet usage hour right so everybody's off work and they're at home and so probably everybody's online and uh yeah I could imagine it's it's definitely there's a heavy load being placed right now on the uh it systems uh Chris Chris says planning a trip to yog Carta in a few weeks enjoy Christopher I hope you have a wonderful time in yog yakarta I'm looking forward to hearing more about your experiences in yoga I think it's just a you know it's going to be a really interesting cultural experience you'll probably learn a lot um I'm sure you know you can you can learn a lot online but being there in person seeing the um you know seeing the sites in person is a whole another level and I'm sure they'll you'll have you encounter wonderful locals who have a lot to share about their um their city and it's a sizable City too you know something I've learned about Indonesia partly through you Chris is uh it's really populated right like there's a ton of people there so um for those who may may not be as into small towns like I think you know yoga is like three or four million people it's it's a pretty sizable City so it'll be interesting to hear about your experiences there for sure um let's get caught up here um if you want so maau great question if you want to stay longterm if you stay long-term in the Philippines what three reasons why you'll do that and where in the Philippines uh that's a great question so for me if I stay long-term in the Philippines one would be having a significant other here um if I end up in a committed relationship with a uh a woman here then naturally I'd want to stay here I uh so that's the number one reason significant other two would be the English I have you know it's definitely been really good for my mental health to be here and speaking English with people being able to talk to so many people um on one hand I think I'm introverted on the other hand it's like I don't know how much of that is just being in the US where you know it's just people aren't super social like they used to be you know I I think the people here are still very very social like the other night uh last weekend had an amazing time went out to this it's like a a same competition they had among different local high schools I ended up meeting the principal of one of the high schools um and then he's trying to set me up with one of his vice principles it was hilarious it really was hilarious um and you know talking to different people I mean it was just meeting one person after another I just would talk to so many different people and they're so friendly here like the people here are so friendly so kind and warm and welcoming curious um and I'm I could be kind of a private person but I'd ask some questions about them and their lives and show also a lot of enthusiasm for the Philippines because I do have a lot of love for this country I think it's just a really special country with amazing people um so yeah one uh relationships to English the third would be um ease of visas right I mean it's just very easy for Americans to sort out a visa to stay here long term you get the sense that they want you to stay uh and so you know having that confidence of knowing hey I could stay here for up to three years um you know if I get married at some point then that I I pivot to the what's called a 13A Visa um you know so knowing that there's that longevity that it's a long-term kind of a place it's not something where oh I've been here a year and oh who knows what's gonna no no I mean there's there's Americans that have been living here for many many years um so yeah knowing that Americans are welcome knowing that I can sort out a Visa and not be kind of there's some level of nervousness right I mean you want to make sure you're um you you follow all the processes to get your visa done you don't want to let that lapse I you know I think it's very important to follow all the proper rules regulations the visa requirements as a foreigner it's not something I take lightly um the privilege to stay here long term but yeah great question Macau streets uh Christopher says says Christopher says taking the luxury train I will grab some photos and share during the trip one ful yeah I'm I'm excited to see what that experience is like I thought you'd have to fly so the fact that you could take a luxury train is even better I'm sure that's going to be a really nice experience for you um if you ever want to talk about stock options or high yield dividends ping me definitely Michael I'll definitely reach out to you uh that's something that you know once I've got like some kind of regular income back home it's something I need to get more into because I'm I'm part of the way there right I'm not at zero I'm not in the position where I'm trying to build you know some well totally from scratch or totally from zero uh but I'm not where I need to be right and so I need to sort out like the grind right to grind to where I need to be because once I hit my financial Independence number then I can come over here and not ever worry about going back home and um that'll be a great feeling on that day and it'll also be confusing right to like not have that same sense of urgency and rushing that I feel like I'm in now to some extent like I'm trying to rush toward Financial Independence because I mean life in the states ain't getting any cheaper um you know wages have definitely been negatively impacted by the uh downturn in Tech um meanwhile you know like I said expenses rant higher than ever but yeah great question Michael for sure great thank you so much for for offering and yeah we'll have to get together at some point in Chan about it um if you go to lzone I'd recommend bagio and tayai yeah that's a great idea maau streets uh why don't we zoom up there um to gu Tai oh yeah it's beautiful wow that's incredible looks like they're building a hotel here I love the fog too I think that's fog it's uh yeah it's gorgeous up there um I am talking to a woman in SEO so I wanted to mention that and I'll that'll be kind of the next topic of this live stream we'll go for another 30 minutes I think I'm going to try to cut these down to an hour uh for the near future because I think I just get kind of worn out Beyond an hour and to keep the quality up and it's uh yeah I think they're just better at an hour for right now anyway I also got a ton of different things going on so um Michael says I plan a visit to gu Tai and bangas yeah I hope you have a wonderful time in to Tai and Batangas Michael I think both are great right um so Michael what asks what are your main it proficiencies I'm curious about your history and experiences yeah so um let's see here we'll zoom out so I'm more on the sales side Michael um I did my first it job was a help desk job uh that was okay you know I it was just a seasonal role uh for retailer um Kirklands if I'm not sure if you're familiar with Kirklands but I was you know I worked there for a season um yeah so uh so I mostly most of my experience Michael is on the sales side so actually like selling uh IT services so I started off in at a company and I'm not going to name them out of respect I liked them by the way um a lot but that was more in helping them with contract renewal so I was an account manager and this is a it digital Ops platform also Michael I'm happy to PM you these separately offline I just out of respect for them I I um it's been so long since I worked at that retailer I didn't mind mentioning them but some of my more recent experience I I uh prefer not to share it on stream but happy to PM you separately um but yeah I was an account manager there so not I was in a non-technical role so helping them to uh you know maintain those relationships with customers helping the customers to get their accounts renewed upgrading their packages um increasing their license counts uh getting those contracts signed to prevent lapses and service and then I pivoted toward more of the hardcore what I call hardcore sales at a fintech company where I was actually doing a lot of uh cold calling cold emailing uh trying to get meetings set right trying uh trying to set appointments for our fintex solution um so not not in the sense of like working with SQL or uh interacting with databases but actually doing more the business side of the uh of the company um so I call it it because it's you know working for tech companies but uh not in a what I would call nontechnical role um but you know like I also looked into going back for my masters in it I just you know the my concern about going back to school is like it just kind of pushes me moving over here down the line several more years I would like to be moved over here in three or four years um as opposed to six or seven I know I should be patient I know all of you guys have done your time like i' I've talked to Mike and Paul about this as well is like you know to to move over here in your 30s pretty big ask I mean that's it's still pretty early um but at the same time it to me it's like it's not about the journey it really is about the destination like the Philippines is an incredible country I'm so much happier here I feel so much more fulfilled here um I look forward to getting out and interacting with people so yeah um Journey with our Miracle Prem welcome uh Journey uh this is my first time having you on the stream I think I've seen you on a few other streams before but uh yeah welcome to the stream thank you so much for joining I it looks like you may have a channel I'm definitely happy to check it out when I get some um get some time B is a great Island to retire we have a lot to do here we have pangla with its white sand beaches yeah uh pangla is high on my list um so when I was in SIU last time I actually dated a woman from B and she was telling me all about it how wonderful it is how beautiful it is is she only relocated to SIU for uh for work right so she's working in a call center um but every you know on the holidays she would uh take a ferry from SIU back to ble and to spend time with her family and she always had a lot of positive things to say about uh behle I think it's like why don't we pull that up actually I'll I'll come down here to um whole pangla we can pull that up yeah I mean it looks like something out of a movie it's just um it's stunning like it's that's absolutely gorgeous and you know you you're making a solid case Journey for me to come check out behle at some point maybe if I go up to SIU for a month I could do like a weekend trip out to B like I said I'm talking to a woman in um seu s a witch um yeah I'll get back to her after the stream but yeah I mean it's you know that's one of those beautiful things about SIU is that if you want to I do apologize by the way guys if you hear uh some dog noise in the background I went to try to check it out but I think it may be a neighbor um but uh it's um yeah it's super beautiful I mean this looks like you know something out of a movie it's it's really incredible a lot of nice places to go swimming um yeah Michael I'll definitely be sure to PM you because I wouldn't mind transferring to more technical side but it's like I know that I have the shirts for that I know you mentioned the AWS shirt another friend of mine has mentioned getting a sales for a shirt I think my personality is more suited toward more technical roles I just don't have the technical skill set yet I did make it to a junior level in computer science which I feel like shows some technical aptitude but um gez man that talk is having a rough time um so there's an older blogger named Barry that lives not far from me and he invited me my girl to come stay a couple days with him and his wife they're going to show us some cool places yeah I think you're gonna have a wonderful time Michael it's I feel like you can't go wrong here in the Philippines there's so many nice places to see there's you know some people make the point oh they're they're all you know the islands look similar I don't feel that way personally I think they all look interesting and unique I think a better a better way to kind of separate them is like Big City versus Small Town versus uh more like Resort or vacation area like Manila and SIU big cities right if you're a big city person they're perfect for that you've got the highrises you've got the skyscrapers the modern shopping malls um you've got uh you know you've got a lot of different activities there as far as like big city uh you know things to do and then the small towns you got more of a laid-back Vibe you get to know people talk to people a bit more and then the resorts it's like all about the beaches right the beaches and the mountains so I think there's a lot of variety here and um I'm glad to hear that that you've got uh some hosts Michael that are gonna help show you around and um yeah I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time he lives in Alonso so why don't I pull up Alfonso oh okay oh wow I love the fake snow I got confused for a moment Michael I'm thinking oh is this really the Philippines because you know we never we never see snow here but um it's yeah this looks stunning and I I love the Christmas spirit I mean I think Christmas is going to be starting next month here in the Philippines and it will go on until uh January that's a really you know something I love about [Music] here um good uh yeah the bananas are delicious here too I mean are so fresh and sweet um the My host family here um she the lady um Anita she boiled some and so I got to taste the boiled versus the fresh I think I like the boiled a little bit better it's the texture is different it's a little bit uh it's just a different flavor but I I definitely enjoy the boiled a lot the fresh is good too I mean you can't go wrong but the boil I think is my preference uh GMM welcome welcome good evening from Bangkok eating dinner almost 700 p.m.

are you enjoying the Philippines yeah GMM it was a great decision to come here I've had so many opportunities to socialize uh you know to meet different people um been talking up a storm just getting to know different people and socializing it's been a lot of fun what are you having for dinner in Bangkok JMM uh joury says yeah we are building our second little house here at buav Vista behle it's right across from seu City yeah and see that's I think that's where you have the best of both worlds journey is that let's back up here um let's go down here you can um you know you can easily get to to SEO city right so if you're ever wanting the Big City Vibe you can easily go there you can do your shopping you can uh probably have I mean I've heard there's a plenty of international cuisine in behle but you know if there's something you want that you don't have there you can go up to sio you can experience that you get that vibrancy you could probably I'm sure you got some friends in seu city as well it seems like everybody's got friends in SIU everybody I talk to anyway has friends in SIU and then you go back to your Tropical Paradise right SIU is tropical but uh you know certainly it's more of a a business city right it's a city people go to do business and PE place where people would go for Health Care uh a little bit different vibe than the I like them all right I like them all um you're so you're in Northwest B okay so that makes it even easier I mean if you're you know you're over here it's probably a faster fa right now I'm not sure if you go to tby Lauren uh you know if you come down here to tby Lauren to uh take the ferry I'm not sure if the you you can take the fairy direct from some of these other cities but yeah great options there GMM now in the Philippines you have a chance [Music] to practice driving a scooter or just go to a really small town and pay a guy to teach you yeah I mean you know some my friends here have been pushing me to ride a scooter and it's like I need to learn like this is I I want to learn but I you know I don't want to do trial and error just like the turns are what get me I I'm fine accelerating decelerating it's knowing how to turn safely is is a big part of what I want to get you know down some some of my friends have said oh if you can ride a bicycle you know you're fine but like uh I I still would like to learn so that's what I'll do I think that's a good point is just pay somebody to teach me take some time with me and show me how to ride safely um I think it's worth the time investment I think it's worth the money investment to um because you know it's potentially very dangerous I mean I hear and see about it all the time people getting in accidents and getting hurt uh you know riding because they don't know what they're doing they're not accustomed to it and so that's a good call I just need to find maybe you know what GMM actually you just uh let me motorbike lessons okay cool yeah I'm gonna uh I'm gonna I'm gonna go to this driving school there I found a a Driving School here I'm gonna go down there and ask them ask them to just you know teach me um because yeah that that way I can be safe about it Le from professionals and it'll be all around better uh the big bananas that people like in the west are the most tasteless absolutely agree JMM they taste like I don't know they just don't taste like anything I think partly because they're they have to use preservatives and they're also not fresh right they're coming from the Caribbean or you know that's where you know I think that's where they're coming from and so by the time they get there you know you're just you're getting a subpar product and you're paying a premium for them I mean here you just pull them out of trees right uh but there you know they've gone up to like probably 45 cents a pound or something so they're not exactly cheap like they used to be I mean I I remember when I was a kid you could get them for like 19 cents a pound or 29 cents a pound and ah they don't really taste like anything but they also don't really cost anything but why pay a lot for something that just doesn't taste like anything um the bananas in Thailand were really good I used to get those sometimes in shangai GMM from the local farmers market and uh yeah they're kind of plain tains like kind of the small ones really good stuff there uh the smaller bananas here are much better yeah I agree Michael they have definitely have a better better taste speaking of which I need to have some terrone at some point terrone is I remember terrone from my last trip here uh they're almost like these banana filed egg rolls they put caramel on top and uh they're really really tasty I saw a place at the mall here and MTI at Robinson's that offers those and uh yeah I'd like to go I'd like to go try that uh GMM says holy basil Sur fry with pork and a fried r Pat kpal Mo 70 bot yeah you know that's something that Thailand does really well some of the best cuisine in the world I love that holy basil stir fry I used to get that a lot for breakfast in Bangkok I'd walk by the Thailand like I guess it was Thailand girl scouts or whatever and so to help raise money for their organization the scout master I don't know what you'd call her the leader uh she'd like set up a table outside and she'd be selling the uh Pat Kow with fried egg and I think she I mean it was a I don't know how they were making much money it was like 40 bot or something like that I mean it was very very economical but I'd go and pick that up and toss it in my backpack they'd serve it to you in this kind of this plastic tray and I'd toss it in my backpack take it back to my apartment and I'd have that for breakfast and then I'd uh that'd be after a workout so I'd go to the gym I was a member of Fitness at the time and do my workout and then pick that up and go back and eat that sometimes I grab a coffee as well for 7-Eleven but great way to start the day can't go wrong with that you can Journey says you can catch a fairy to SIU from GFE one hour oh that's so fast yeah you can't beat that one hour uh I mean that's you know there's people that commute longer for work so to get to SIU in an hour you've got you got an amazing location there journey I mean to be to have the the beach vibe to have the relaxed uh setting but then also be an hour away from SIU I'm sure there's people who live in SIU that take longer than one hour to get to work um I know the the woman I'm talking to she happens to live close to her uh but I'm sure there are other people who who do have to do more of a super commute so yeah I think your location is very very special I could see why why you would decide to uh live there and I'm sure you know your significant other is part of that she may be from that area but uh in that case her family chose very well um Barry not Berry very good um Journey says should try the fried bananas on a stick got it yeah I'll definitely keep an eye out for those um and then Michael says banana C my favorite is the mango Steen fruit mango Stein is my favorite fruit too Journey mango Stein it's like the perfect blend of sour and sweet I like it better even than the longan and the um what's the other one there's longan and then there's another one in that family of fruits uh rambutan so I like it better than the longan and better than the rambutan it's just got the texture is like softer I think yeah mangostin is my favorite fruit I used to get it all the time in Thailand I mean the prices for in thail land or I'd say half the price of here and so it's something I could have I mean I used to specifically go to the fruit market in Bangkok and I would uh I'd sometimes buy like three kilos and just eat just take it back to my apartment go through three kilos I had a vendor that was really consistent as far as quality goes and uh I yeah mango is one of my favorite fruits sometimes I get durian as well if I was feeling like a high roller and I'd eat the mango steene and the durri because the mangotin is considered what they call a cooling fruit and the durian is like a heating fruit and so you get this interesting kind of effect where you're you maintain your temperature as opposed to if you just eat the durian you feel kind of hot and if you just eat the mango steam well just eating the mango scene's fine because you're in a hot tropical environment so you know that's nice but um yeah yeah um yeah Michael you gotta try mangostin sometime it's like uh let's see here I could pull up an image of it so this is mango Stein I I just kind of squeeze them and tear them and then you get this white fruit some vendors you know for whatever reason their quality is a little bit less consistent uh I haven't had any here by the way but in Thailand or in Vietnam and you open it up and it's kind of rotten unfortunately but you know some vendors I've had are awesome and the entire bag is good uh but yeah it's got this soft white flesh be careful because the uh purple part can be staining Michael so you won't want to wear like a white shirt or a light colored shirt when you're having this but it's amazing I mean it's uh it's just so tasty I could just eat kilo after kilo of these um and just yeah and and never get in the next day in the next day it's something I just can't get tired of it's uh it's rare in that regard um yeah mango is amazing I think I think mango is actually the national fruit of the Philippines and the mango here is delicious one of the best desserts I've ever had in my life was at the mall SM City Mall in SIU in the Reclamation area and it was this like mango like it had mango in it it had like whipped cream it had cake I think it was like a 100 pesos or something like that one of the best desserts I've ever had anywhere in the world it was oh it was amazing I still think about that dessert and if I make it back up to SIU I'm gonna be going back to ASM City to try to get it again the mango is perfectly ripe sweet and juicy flavorful that brilliant yellow orange color it's uh yeah it's amazing and I've been talking to my friends from India too and they're like oh wow we have that in India and so there's just this nice connection that you feel to um yeah to to other friends um star apple have I TR let me pull up Star Apple that sounds familiar star apple is this is this guava I don't know if I've tried this one Michael this one looks really good good though I like the colors um the colors of the fruit in this part of the world are just so vibrant I see no I have seen it um what do they call that they call I think I think they call it starfruit I've occasionally seen it in the west but you'll pay like $10 equivalent for just one of these fruits so not something I'm able to to justify spending on but over here you know it's um it's much more accessible I've seen these I saw these in Vietnam occasionally I'd see one on the ground of course I'm not going to pick it up and eat it but I'd see it on the ground sometimes maybe a vendor had one fall off their truck uh it what does it taste like what is the story Apple tastes like Michael um GMM says downside with Philippines if they don't grow it locally it has to be transported with a ferry that makes the prices higher certainly I mean uh definitely you know that's that's definitely a reality GMM is that if the product is not produced locally then we do um you know we do have to pay a a premium for it um never tried star apple we look for them in the night market near me yeah keep an eye out for it you know I don't know if I ever saw it in Thailand GMM but it may have just been I wasn't uh you know I wasn't going to big enough market oh very sweet and soft nothing like an apple okay I want to try that my because that sounds amazing it's something that if I I see it here and D you know I'm going down to the city tomorrow I'm so I'm staying in bakong so I'm actually staying outside of the city I'm going down to the city tomorrow I'll go to the fruit market and I'll ask around for it because that sounds really good very sweet and soft I like soft fruits um yeah I like soft fruits a lot and I think that's something that you like about mango Ste Michael is it's very very soft and and tender it's got the sweet and the sour flavors it's uh there's nothing like it it's in Thailand they call it the queen of uh the queen of all fruits so and durian with durian durian is the king of fruits and then mangostin is the queen of fruits not sure what to compare it to all right yeah I'll I'll definitely keep an eye I like um I like dragon fruit a lot why don't we pull up dragon fruit here I haven't yet tried it here I've seen a few vendors for it but I I'm a fan of dragon fruit it's it's got a mild flavor but I find it to be really nice for hydrating so like if I'm a little bit dehydrated and I'm drinking water I find it's also nice to mix it up and have some of this dragon fruit it's uh you know it's another one of those things that I got to try here because back home it's just so pricey that it's just really not accessible it's also not fresh back home I mean they've got to transport it such a far distance I did try it in San I did have one in San Francisco and that was a nice reminder of this part of the world but uh yeah dragon fruit is incredible love testing new things nobody remembers a wimp yeah I mean this is a great part of the world to uh you know to try new things it's just so different than uh where we're from and um yeah you can just have so many so many interesting fruits for sure um star apples are good we have a big tree oh that's got to be amazing you can go and have it anytime you want Journey you could just pick it out and uh and chop it up and have it fresh like as fresh as it gets right you can't you can't beat having a tree in your yard like uh you're not even having to buy it at the market and and wait until you get home uh you have it right there at your kitchen table or um your dining room table like Ah that's so nice that that sounds like an incredible place that you've got that you are surrounded by these wonderful fruit trees I'm sure you've got some other fruit trees as well probably some coconut trees there and it's a nice visual too just to see uh just to be surrounded by life you know is is so um I think that's why partly why South East Asia is so appealing is that in the west we have these kind of rough Winters and it seems like everything shuts down right uh you don't have that here like you've got a kind of a winter kind of but it's still not really a winter the weather just cools off a bit it doesn't get super cold though so everything keeps growing and stuff grows super fast here as well GMM says smoothie with dragon fruit and watermelon equals five star I haven't tried that combination um yeah I have I haven't had the combination in a smoothie but I have had that combination just like uh at my k at my condo table when I lived in changai uh I had a great watermelon vendor was like 40 bot for like a sizable watermelon and then the dragon fruit was I think it was like 40 bot a kilo or 50 it was pretty reasonable so I'd buy both and chop them up and then have them together at my kitchen table it was a really uh really nice combination GMM says if you're unsure just ask the vendor or the fruit Auntie to show you how to eat that's a good yeah that's absolutely a great way a great way to enjoy things here is just asking people because they're excited about it right like like they're excited about their product they know people love it they know it makes people's day it's such a simple joy in life to have the fresh fruits that we have here in Southeast Asia there it's a big part of what I love about this part of the world is you have all these what I call Simple Pleasures you're not you know you're not thinking oh man I need to go the only thing that'll make me happy is a A bansin or a fancy sports car it's like a simple piece of fruit can really rejuvenate invigorate your day put a smile on your face um it's something that's nice to share too right uh very easy to share fruit you just need to cut it up um yeah yeah journey I mean I think that's incredible you've got a big tree in your yard um I yeah it's it's such a special part of the world here that we're so fortunate to be able to spend time in and it lends itself too to living in the moment right being in the present enjoying the present moment um that's another big part of living over here that I love is that you know we are more often living in the moment we are more often thinking about the simple things in life the things that uh you know it's not necessarily easy to move to a different country and in doing so and and undertaking these challenges we create a lot of meaning in our lives and uh and enjoying the fruit is a celebration of that meaning right the amount of hard work that that tree did to produce that piece of fruit uh you know Mother Nature reigning a lot to stimulate the tree to grow because these fruits are like really water intensive right so if you're in a you're used to a dry climate like I'm uh I've lived in Colorado and in California very dry States you just don't have the year round fruit that you have here right you've got like in Colorado you've got like a peach season you got apricots um of course California's got a lot but that a lot of that is more related to their um you know them modifying the environment there like through irrigation here that's not needed like stuff just grows in people's yards and it's beautiful to look at like I like just riding around and do meetti and seeing all the palm trees the coconut trees it's uh it's just such a visually stunning place like the region in general Thailand is very similar like a very visually appealing place it's very um it's intellectually simulating too I feel like it stimulates my mind and uh yeah I really enjoy being in this part of the world but um does anybody have any last thoughts or questions we're coming up on an hour now so I think I'm G to wind the stream down it's been uh you know it's been a great time catching up with everybody Welcome as well to to the channel journey I think you're a a new subscriber much appreciated for your H viewership and you're sharing about your life in behle uh I'm I'm definitely will try to drop you well one I'll check out your channel but two I'll try to drop you a line if I make it out that way I'd love to uh you know link up at some point maybe get a cup of coffee kuya Sid there are many dragon fruits in the Philippines um yeah lots of wagon fruit here I've seen a ton at the fruit market GMM moving condos tomorrow by the way did find a nice bigger one-bedroom with a pool and gym in on nude area 310 per month I wonder if I can even rent a tent in any Western Country for that yeah probably not GMM you're probably living in a car for that I had a similar conversation with Mike about that where he's talking about uh his rent and I'm like yeah probably be uh you know probably be in a in know rough rough digs for for those kinds of prices in the west Michael says I'm having have nothing to but always great chatting with you and listen to your story on your path yeah thank you so much Michael I appreciate your Insight seeing somebody from where I'm from achieving this kind of lifestyle is inspiring to me it pushes me to continue to work hard try to grind it out I know it's attainable for me I've seen it in action and you're part of that story Michael uh it's a great place for a kid to grow up we brought our daughter that must be your miracle premie I you know she's so fortunate to be growing up in such a wholesome environment I see the Philippines as being uh a very wholesome country a very a family oriented country a very relationship oriented country it's uh I could go on and on about how much I love the culture I'll probably do a stream about that at some point maybe even a video about it at some point but uh it's been just it's been such a welcoming and wonderful place here um but yeah Kya said good Philippines dragon fruit well thank you so much everybody I'm going to go ahead and wrap this up I hope everybody has a great weekend if I don't catch you this weekend and um yeah we'll see you soon everyone bye-bye