Are there any Dopers in the Philippines? It’d be cool to have a Dopefest here. I’ve attended 2, one in San Francisco CA in 2023 where there were 10 Dopers and 2 spouses, and one last year in San Antonio TX where there were 6 Dopers and 1 spouse. Is anyone here in the Philippines?
Hello from Manila! I landed last night and will be here for a month long vacation. I’m here for a family reunion led by my mom who grew up here. I was born here, and was 3yo when the folks hauled us off to the US. I’m the oldest of 5, with the first 3 of us being born in the Philippines.
After getting past recent health scares for both me and my wife, my family started talking about this trip. Let’s do it!, we said. We should go!, we said. So here we are. My mom and brother and my son are here now, and in the coming days there will eventually be 11 of us here.
This trip is really for my mom. She is 86 and she wants to visit the places where she grew up, and to see family and friends she hasn’t seen in years. At her age (86) this is sort of a last hurrah for her. I’m excited that she wanted to travel! In the last year of planning and discussing this trip, my repeated mantra to her was, No Falling! Your mission, mom, should you decide to accept, is to not fall and hurt yourself this year. She mostly succeeded. She fell recently, and she thinks she may have a broken rib. She’s in a little discomfort, but it’s not too bad. She’s here, she made it!
Speaking of broken ribs, I have one of those too. A month ago I had a tipover on my new motorcycle. It was not an accident, but literally a tipover — while stopped in a field it tipped over on some softball-sized rocks and I landed on those. One got me directly on rib #6 on my left side. The ribs hurt for a few weeks but were getting better, but then in San Francisco last week at a gas station I had another tipover — the bike, it’s tall and heavy (BMW R1200GS Adventure, if you’re familiar), and it was leaning a bit too far. I would have held it and corrected it, but the rib pain flared up and it was too much, and down again I went. The ribs hurt like hell and I went to urgent care, and the CT showed the fracture. Oh well. I’ve shared about my recent return to motorcycling over in @Johnny_L.A’s thread here ➜ The Great Ongoing Motorcycle Thread ■ .
So anyway, we are here! Hello from Manila, Philippines. Has anyone been here recently? Any recommendations for things to do, places to go, or people to see?