Club Seven, Iligan City, Mindanao, The Philippines...

Afternoon,

Just quick update for people that are looking for a good boozer in Iligan City. The place where I have been going the last few days is Club Seven in Iligan City. It is just outside the town centre next to the Elena Tower Hotel.

They do reasonable food but the best part is the live bands. very night from 9 onwards they have bands playing. Some good, some extremely good... It is a sortof open stage and anyone who can sing and wants to can join the band and holler along.

Needless to say I just stayed at the bar and drank the cheap local beer. Not to be refused at 40 pence a pint.

The place is open on one side so yes, it does get warm at night as there is no airco but the booze keeps you cool there. They do beer deals as well. A bucket of 7 bottles of San Miguel for two quid, can't beat that. The service is excellent there and I have not seen any trouble there.

Everybody just seems to be out for a good time and tries to out sing each other, no fighting or anything like that, just a good time. So all in all a great place to while away a few hours.

Cheerio,
Alex.

In the Philippines...

Afternoon all,

OK, after my Jordan trip it was off again on short notice. I am now in the Philippines on Mindanao island. I arrived on tuesday after a horrible flight with the dutch tossers KLM/AirPuke. The usual shite, no upgrades available, crap food, no empty seats anywhere, an AV box right in the footwell of my seat, total crap as per usual...

I arrived on tuesday morning in Manila. I went straight to bed for a few hours as the jetlag was pretty bad, its 8 hours later there. Luckily my hotel, The Oxford Suites, was right in the middle of Makati City which is the nightlife centre. So in the evening I spend a few hours on a terrace ogling the local talent. Of which there was plenty about...

The next day I had an early flight to Cagayan on Mindanao. From there it was an hours drive through the jungle to Iligan City. This is a small city on the north coast of Mindanao. The work is pretty straightforward, just an upgrade of an old system. That is all progressing nicely. This should all be done by saturday. On sunday I fly back to Manila and then on to Davao. That is also on Mindanao but apparently it is quicker to fly two hours north and then 2 1/2 south again
to get to Davao. Taking the road takes way longer. So I have another 6 days to go and then its Xmas time. Finally the end of this hectic year. That will please the missus. My wife has been my rock through all this mad travel. Half the time I don't even know the hell where I am but she keeps the homefront going and she keeps me sane. (Jacks, I love you...)

I must say I do quite like the Philippines. It is a bit like Indonesia but it appears less poor. The food is nice. Then again I say that about all food that has loadsa chillies in it.

I tried to include some piccies but this company network I am on will not let me upload pictures so I will do that when I get back to blighty. The roads here are full of Jeepneys. Which are sortof public transport busses or big taxis. The main difference is that they are all decked out in the most fantastic paint schemes. They all have weird and wonderfull names and whatever they can chrome, they will have chromed, they look wicked... I will include some pictures when I get back.

OK, gotta go, I gotta do some work, tonight off to Club Seven which is a diner/gig venue where they have excellent bands on in the evening. Has to be done at 40 p a pint hahahahaha!

Take care,

Alex in Mindanao.

Jordan Again...

Afternoon all,

Just tried to post some pictures but as I am on a company intranet it keeps bombing me out.

Just finished the job at Jordan Cement. Got their second system up and running. The customer was well made up. We had a lot of trouble during the work. The day I arrived the company went on strike. This meant everyday having to come in through the picketlines. That was a new experience to say the least. All of the picketing people thought we were scabs working while they were off. Needless to say nobody listened to my argument that they hired ME to come there and not the other way around. To make a long story short we had to dodge the strike committee people wherever they were around but still managed to get it all done on time.

Again Mr Mohammad Mustafa and his men made the job very easy. They are well trained technicians that know what they are doing.

When Mr Ayed Dasan, our rep out in Jordan, ame to pick me up I told him that the last time his collegue drove us back and he set a record for the trip from Rashadiyah to Amman.

Needless to say that that was a red rag to a bull. From tht moment on the speedo didn't dip below 180km for the next three hours. And yes, he managed to break the record by about 5 minutes. Ayed, congratulations, you are now officially the craziest driver in Jordan!

Thanks to all that made the job there go well, always a pleasure to work out there,

Cheerio,
Alex.