Avoids Cheating

Mobilemac from has written 6 comments

Hi Andy,

Sounds like youre having a nice time in Philippines - my favorite Asian country.
Nice people and great beaches.


I am now attending THE annual National Hobo Convention at remote Britt, Iowa. Surprisingly large attendance, with many genuine train-hopping hobos providing entertainment. Around the traditional hobo campfire: free food, free music, free beer:

http://www.hobo.com/convention.htm
August 6 to 9 - two more days left, you might want to tell your old friends in nearby Indiana to drive over.

At the big stage, this years King of Hobos asked if any special announcements or questions from the audience. Anybody youre looking for, etc.
I put our a call for you, Andy, as we thought you might attend the Hobo Convention:

King of Hobos: We have a question here from Mobile Mac - is Andy the Hobo here today?
Long pause, no answer.
He repeated: ANDY the HOBO....
Some scattered laughter, but no one recognized the name.
Hobo King looked back at me, looking a little puzzled. - and upset.
Somebody shouted, Never heard of him - Wheres he from?
I told Hobo King what to say, so he shouted into the microphone:
ANDY the HObo from IndiANNA !!
Still no answer from crowd. They looked puzzled.

Confused, the Hobo King made one last try, adding a bit of humor:
ANDY the HOBO from INDIANA, YOUR MOM IS LOOKING FOR YOU !!
That got a good round of laughs from the hobo crowd.

Anyway, I tried. And at least your name got mentioned at THE Hobo Convention, Britt, Iowa. Nice place.

Glad to read youre at Pagudpud.
I once had a girlfriend from nearby Laoag, thats a good place too.

Asiabill from has written 260 comments

The two times we went to Pagudpud we drove and I remember checking out a few palces before finding one for P1000. The TIP in a seldom visited location like Pagudpud and for that matter almost all the coastal resort areas in Luzon is for YOU the guest to TELL the caretaker, manager, resort staff that you need a P1000 room or you need a P700 room PERIOD. Dont forget whatEVER the published room rates are in the Philippines its always possible to pay from 1/3 to 1/2 especially if its low season like now AND quite often the owners NOT there so the staff are stealing or rather need money for themselves as their salaries might be irregular.

Tip 2, Never walk around checking out places to stay with your backpack or luggage otherwise youre THREE TIMES LESS LIKELY to be granted a discount simple human nature and poker player psychology because the resort staff thinks youre pay their ed rate rather than lug around the weight. So if 2 or more people are traveling then one person stay with the baggage / backpacks and the other hike around looking at places to stay and bargaining. It helps alot when seeking a discount if you are staying from 5 to 10 days and willing to pay for the whole stay in advance.

GOOD LUCK! Thailands always been a great place to travel but the Philippines will ALWAYS be HOME.

When looking for cheap places to stay in the Philippines when in more remote towns or provinces, you might try talking to student nurses who may be in the area. They travel from the colleges of nursing in the larger cities to the remote towns to do clinical rotations. The student nurses have a budget of about 150p per DAY!! They are very adept at finding cheap eats, safe transient houses or dorms to stay at.

The student nurses always travel in small groups and usually will wear the duty uniform proscribed by each college when they report to their community for duty. It is not hard to spot a few nurses in uniform walking to their duty post. Most of their duty may be up to 4 days at a time in a remote area and they will travel up to 12 hours each way to get to the clinic or community for their duty.

Finally, it is a safe bet that many of the student nurses are from those remote areas they are serving. Ask them (in english!! They must complete nursing studies as taught in English). Ask them about the hotels, hostels, transient homes in the area you want to visit.

JD

Gadget from has written 1,020 comments

Student nurses, I would also recommend this as a way of finding nice girls.

Thanks Jd,
Andy and Thai Girl now in Laoag City, one of the Bus Hubs of North Luzon, as best I can figure, Baguio and Laoag City are where you try to reach.
http://www.hobohideout.com/philippines/laoag-city

Andy

oh brother a thai girlfriend...
ugh

Gadget from has written 1,020 comments

Northridge Resort called us, this was very nice of them, we are in Laoag. They was worried we coming today as I told them. They said very windy and the Hotel has no power, the weather here in Philippine is rainy and threatening typhoons. August 9, 2009. Andy of HoboTraveler.com

Hiya Farmboy!
Good Googa Mooga! ..Took me a while to catch up on your escapades. Seems to me youre about knee deep in worry warts.
If I may farmboy... for all your schemes...you still stand out like a punk American. Especially in the P.I.
Get a haircut, throw some USMC jargon around...better yet ,find a cover associated with the USMC. I can pretty much promise you will meet up with folks speaking english hollering...USMC number 1, Japanese number 2.
For all your traveling advise, you dont say a whole lot about such things as how Christian Americans died for the countries you visit. They surely remember, if you remind them this day and age.
Angels and prayers farmboy.

Hiya Farmboy!
Good Googa Mooga! ..Took me a while to catch up on your escapades. Seems to me youre about knee deep in worry warts.
If I may farmboy... for all your schemes...you still stand out like a punk American. Especially in the P.I.
Get a haircut, throw some USMC jargon around...better yet ,find a cover associated with the USMC. I can pretty much promise you will meet up with folks speaking english hollering...USMC number 1, Japanese number 2.
For all your traveling advise, you dont say a whole lot about such things as how Christian Americans died for the countries you visit. They surely remember, if you remind them this day and age.
Angels and prayers farmboy.

Hiya Farmboy!
Good Googa Mooga! ..Took me a while to catch up on your escapades. Seems to me youre about knee deep in worry warts.
If I may farmboy... for all your schemes...you still stand out like a punk American. Especially in the P.I.
Get a haircut, throw some USMC jargon around...better yet ,find a cover associated with the USMC. I can pretty much promise you will meet up with folks speaking english hollering...USMC number 1, Japanese number 2.
For all your traveling advise, you dont say a whole lot about such things as how Christian Americans died for the countries you visit. They surely remember, if you remind them this day and age.
Angels and prayers farmboy.

hoz from has written 62 comments

Sorry Ive been away from a computer the past two weeks. Im glad to see you are exploring northern Luzon, but I cant understand why you have a Thai GF in tow.

Why not sample local cuisine?

Gadget from has written 1,020 comments

Hoz, does Max Restaurant serve Filipino food, we went in their for breakfast and was confused by the menu. Gai has eaten Philippine food three times in Vigan because she wants vegetables and rice. However, there is no names on the food, it is not easy to learn the names of foods or get explanations.

I guess we could find some names on the internet, then go search for it.
Andy

Page Turner from has written 99 comments

OLD FASHINED COOK Good to know you have not been blown away or hurt in typhoon. Let yourself be surprised at what comes out on your plate as long as it is fit for human consumption. Need your strength to travel with a fiesty woman.

Cheap rooms Philippines.

I usually ask a maid at a hotel that does decent job cleaning if I could stay at her house and pay her for a room instead of paying the Rich Hotel Owner

Usually she says It not so nice maybe you not like...

I say , you clean so well it must be clean and that is all I want.

She says, Yes very clean. I dont know is 400 pesos OK for you or 300 hundred if you not like too much ? your own room. I will go with my auntie until you leave.

I say lets check it out .......It usually is very basic but a lot of fun. She shacks up with Auntie or sister and I get a room for 5- 8 bucks plus 4-5 tour guides in the house makes for a good day.

Hidden Costs

Yes it cost another 5 bucks entertaining the younger siblings with a walk around their kingdom and Halo-Halo for all (Sickly sweet insulin dependent Philipino Ice Cream)

but what a blast ! New friends for life and the option of staying a week or more for 300 pesos a night.

Cant imagine in my wildest dreams hitching a ride through liberal California and asking a maid at the hotel If I can crash at her place for 10 bucks then take the family kids for ice cream and a tour....with (Parental supervision of course)

I would be locked up or at a minimum questioned and told to leave and be on THE LIST!

Try it Andy. Ask a Maid if you can stay with her because she is such a good maid and have the time of your life.. The whole family will act as body guards and will assign one member to sit with your computer and valuables (A 40 peso tip for the one who sits all day with your lifeline) and they often have internet ! slow but free.

I like this method works 80 of the time and have a long list of friends to come back too.

And it really averages out. You stay at a super nice place and get sweet sleep and then average it with the maids home. with the money saved you can go back to the 4 star for a excellent rest and go on your way.

MAX

Gadget from has written 1,020 comments

Max, that is great idea, I will try it, truly an inspiration. Couch surfing would allow me to live free, however maybe I do not like the person. With your strategy I would already like the cleaning person and it would be fun.
Andy

I was browsing some sites looking for a nice and cheap place to stay in PagudPud. I end up on your blog. I hope you don't mind I read the entire thread, I enjoyed reading your post and even got facinated with the strategies that you suggested in finding a nice place as well as the things that needs to be done so as locals wont get "cheated"

It is true that there are some locals that would offer a high price for transportation and food, where in fact the price that they have offered is often times more than 100 times the usual. I agree with you that you need to ask people around so as to get an actually idea on how much food and transportation would actually cost and where you could you could eat good food without paying too much.

It is a good thing that there is internet and we can surf for information that will help us and our journy. I agree with you on the publish rates, room rates can go down 50 to 75 (depending on the season) when you negotiate directly or personally with the owner.

I never been to Ilocos/Pagudpud but we are scheduled to go there by the end of October. I hope we will enjoy our vacation as much as you did.

Thanks for the insights!! -)