Steve White.net

Collectively, I’ve spent at least a couple of years in the Philippines now, and I still forget to bring things I might need with me. There are lots of ordinary, every day things that you simply can’t buy here. Things that you would take for granted in the States. So here’s my attempt at a list. I’ll update it as I think of more things (feel free to add your own items via comment below).

1. Really good sunblock (I recommend No-Ad brand). If you can’t find No-Ad then buy whatever jumbo bottle of SPF 45 you can find at Costco. You can buy sunblock here, but the locals don’t bother with it; since it’s a “tourist-only” product you have to pay outrageous prices.
2. Same goes for burn relief (which you will probably need, even if you bring the sunblock). Pick up a jumbo bottle of Hawaiian Tropic Cool Aloe ICE Burn Relief Gel with Lidocaine. They sell the exact same thing here (for $20 USD) except WITHOUT the Lidocaine. So basically it’s pretty useless. I think all the “whatever-dash-caine” medications are illegal here — see #3 also.
3. A jumbo tube or three of Lanacane or something similar. When you get a bug bite (from, for instance, a mosquito) it swells up and gets red and itchy. Here they have plenty of biting insects but no product that I can find to relieve bite itches. I did find one product that claims to relieve itching but it had two problems — a) it came in a tube smaller than my pinky and cost $10 USD and b) it did absolutely nothing to relieve even the tiniest of insect bites. As I recall, Lanacane has benzocaine which really soothes itches.
4. Ambien and any other medication that actually works (are you sensing a theme here?). Other meds that are hard to get here would include any pain killer stronger than Tylenol (forget buying opioids, muscle relaxants, etc here). Bring them with you.
5. One thing you will NOT need is any form of antibiotics. All manner of ABs are sold over the counter here with no prescription needed.
6. Razors and shaving cream. They sell them here, but they just aren’t as good as what you get in the states, even if you buy the same brand name. Gillette Foamy cream is a pale ghost of it’s American cousin. Same with Mach3 blades.
7. Pocketknives. Yes, they have them here, but they are kinda rare. In the Philippines it’s illegal to carry a knife unless it’s for your job. So pack an extra Leatherman to have handy when you need it.
8. RainX windshield washer additive (or the original RainX). Here it rains a lot during certain times of year, and having RainX makes a big difference. NOTE: I’ve discovered that the RainX additive breaks down and fails if I leave my car here in the heat for too long. I left a bottle in my car’s trunk a few months ago and now when I add it to the washer fluid it does nothing at all. Bring a new bottle each trip. [Edit 29.Jul.08] I found original RainX at Ace Hardware in the SM Mall in Cebu City.
9. An iPod adapter for your car, assuming you have an iPod and buy a car here. The FM-transmitting adapters are utterly worthless, buy a wired FM Modulator instead. The stereo installation shops here can figure it out just fine (mine cost $12 USD to have professionally installed, and they did a good job). If you are wondering, I had the work done at CFG in Basement 2 underneath Ayala mall in Cebu City. I don’t think they have wired FM modulators for sale here, for some reason.
10. If you need condoms, buy them in the US. The ones they have here just won’t fit. ‘Nuff said.
11. If you eat beef, bring a few bags of beef jerky with you. Beef is kind of rare here (unless you are staying at posh hotels in the city all the time). A few small bags of jerky might help ease the craving. If you are going to be here a while, you have to switch to pork, chicken and fish.
12. Prenatal vitamins. You know, just in case. It’s another thing I don’t think they sell here, but even if they did I would stick with the US products for safety’s sake.

More later, if I can think of anything else.

Out here in the province people use dynamite for fishing (it’s easier than traditional methods and yields more fish). It’s illegal but it happens all the time. It’s bad for the ocean and it destroys living reefs.

Yesterday it also destroyed a local Daanbantayan family. A father and son were fishing with dynamite just a few hundred feet from where I was sitting, and a blast went off above the water, making it much louder than normal. Everyone in the village immediately knew that there was a problem and came running. The son was screaming “Agay!” (loose translation: “Ouch!”) and calling for help. The accidental discharge killed the father and took one of the son’s eyes.

It turns out that Amy and I are friends with other members of that family. The day before the accident we bought an ice cream shake for a younger daughter of the man that was killed. It was her birthday and I think she just turned 16.

It’s hard to be judgmental about the blast fishing that goes on here because for the most part, the fishermen are just doing what they need to do to feed their families. At least once a year someone is killed by their own dynamite, so the fishermen know the risks involved. If they had an alternative I’m pretty sure they would take it.

I’m out in the province now, and two weeks after typhoon Fengshen made a direct hit here on the north end of Cebu, not much is different. The electricity, telephone, wireless phone, and internet services are all going. A few trees came down but they’ve been cleaned up since the storm.

I made it to my house for the first time today and there was a big mess but no real damage. Just a bunch of branches, leaves, driftwood, coconut husks, etc cluttering up the yard. Fortunately we have plenty of ocean nearby (the house is beachfront) so it makes for an easy cleanup.

So I’m back in the RPI and there doesn’t seem to be any typhoon damage here in the city. I’ll report back in a few days from the province (the boondocks).

I recently picked up a cheap, used, first-generation iPhone to bring on my trip. I unlocked it of course so it will work with the local GSM SIM cards. Every time I make a phone call here everyone is flabbergasted by the touch screen. So far I’ve had three semi-legit offers to buy it for the same price I paid, and one very polite offer to steal the phone from me if only I would let the potential thief borrow the phone for a minute. That one I’m pretty sure was real so I declined.

Having never seen a touch screen before, everyone wants to give it a try, flip through my photo album, or type a text. It makes me wish I packed a box of individually-wrapped Clorox Wipes. Ah well, I’ve learned something for next time.