Trip report Jan/Feb 2025 - Cebu & beyond - Research if an elderly gay retiree can live comfortably in Cebu

[Marc in Calif]

10 minutes ago, bkkmfj2648 said:

12 minutes ago, bkkmfj2648 said:

As this specific Cebu Olango post was very long and very special - that 1 mistake slipped through. 

Please do not shorten your future reports. They are special gems no matter how long!

[bkkmfj2648]

Day 52 (18 February 2025)

 

Eat breakfast with Mr. B. and then he leaves to go back to Cebu city, as he needs to work today.

Mr. B. shares with me the details of his journey as an alternative way to get back to Cebu city using the existing transportation system.  He takes the 10:30 am Ceres Bus bound for IT Park from the Mactan Newtown transportation station for 26 pesos (~ $0.45 USD)  – as he will exit at the Pacific Mall in Mandaue city at 11:15am, where he will transfer to a jeepney (standing room only) bound for SM Cebu City, which only costs 15 pesos (~ $0.26 USD).  He exits at the stop before the Mabolo church where he transfers for a jeepney (bahtbus), which costs 13 pesos (~ $0.22 USD), back to his hotel boarding house at 12 noon.  Total cost was 26 + 15 + 13 = 54 pesos (~ $0.93 USD) with a the total elapsed time of approximately 90 minutes.

I spend a lot of time today writing a long letter to my Thai boyfriend (as I had frozen conversations with him on 15 February) which basically outlined that if he does not modify his financial discipline that I will leave him out of my need for self-preservation.  As I want this message to be razor sharp clear – I first use Google translate and then I reverse translate what Google wrote via the OpenAI app.  I see that it still needs some modifications in English in order for my message to be more clear and less ambiguous.  I then put this revised message into Google translate and then reverse translate using instead the Grok AI tool and I see that it is almost perfect.  Again, I tweak my letter some more by trying to use more latin based words and more British words, and in the end I get to a result that I feel comfortable enough to send to him in the LINE app both in the Thai language and in English.

In addition to the above laborious work, I attached 2 idiomatic proverbs to my message that took me a very long time to find their Thai equivalents.  I share them here in case it would aid any of you when trying to communicate with your Thai loved ones.

I go to lunch at the Mactan Newtown Alfresco open air food court.

Return to my room to work on some of these trip report updates as I am again once behind.

Thai boyfriend wakes up and we have more than 1 intense conversation and things are somewhat better – but as my mother always told me when she was alive, “Watch what people do and NOT what they say – because actions take much more energy than empty words.”  He hates when I remind him of what my mother says – as I would imagine that to change away from the carefree habits of being an ex-money boy are not easy.

Afterwards, I decide that I need some stress relief and I fire up the Heesay app and I see that Jeff is online.  I cautiously write to him in his original Heesay profile (as I am not sure if it is still hijacked) and I understand that it is really him as we exchange phone numbers and we move the conversation over to WhatsApp.

We agree to meet at 7pm and I go outside of my OPR condo complex and eventually Jeff arrives, and he looks as sexy as before.  We check in with the security guards and they take his ID and issue him a visitor’s badge. 

We go up to my room and he explains to me about the incident that happened on Saturday 15 February where an imposter appeared at my OPR condo complex instead of Jeff.  Apparently, he told me that this was his “friend” who grabbed his phone away from him and decided to present himself to me that night.  Hmm, sounds kind of like a lovers quarrel ??  Anyway I had told that other guy to go away as I was pissed off by this unrequested substitution. 

So, we get naked and Jeff gives me an even better massage than the first time and the after’s were truly even more erotic and sensual than the previous encounter.  Each of us gets the other one off in a nice slow way with an intense output at the end. 🤪😜🍆💦

We both take showers and I walk Jeff downstairs to the security team so that he can retrieve his ID and return his guest badge.  As I had not yet eaten my dinner, I walk with Jeff down the Newtown Blvd. and we part ways when I arrive at my usual eating place, the An’dale Eats food cart.

Nice happy ending to a rather stressful day.

 

Day 52 (18 February 2025) concluded.

 

[bkkmfj2648]

 

Day 53 (19 February 2025) = Cockfighting

 

I am woken up early by what sounds like a protest outside on the street outside of the township walls.  I open the curtains and I step out onto the balcony and I see a large crowd gathering in front of the below structures (see below photo) and there is a lot of excitement, yelling and screaming.  I need my phone to zoom in very closely and it looks like it is the MC (Master of Ceremonies) who is riling up the crowd into a frenzy at 8:30am in the morning.

I send the above photo to both Mr. B. and my Thai boyfriend and Mr. B. confirms that this is the occasional barangay (village) cockfighting, which is allowed on certain days of the month.

Is this the Philippines answer to the Roman Empires, “Panem et Circenses” ??  To keep social order ?

https://winedharma.com/en/blog-en/panem-et-circenses-the-role-of-the-colosseum-in-ancient-romes-social-order/

What is amazing is that this cockfighting went on all day late into the night.  How many cocks had to die to satisfy the crowd ?

Later after my Thai boyfriend wakes up he tells me that these local village cockfights also occur in Thailand.  I have never seen them in Thailand and I surely don't want to see one up and close here in the Philippines - just the shrieks of agony (that I can hear) coming from the roosters sends chills down my spine.

I work on the BIG trip report update for our trip to Olango.

I go to lunch at my usual Mactan Newtown Alfresco open air food court.  Today the weather is crappy – windy, chilly, and rain on and off throughout the day.

So, I hunker back to my room to finally finish the Olango update and post it to this forum.  I also respond to some queries that this trip report has generated.

There is a lull in the rain and I run over to the An’Dale Eats food truck and I eat outside but it is quite too chilly with the wind.  So, I eat quickly and return to my room.

Chat with my Thai boyfriend and he is excited to go to Rayong with his friends to see the below mentioned Mor Lam concert.

He sends me pictures and video streams via LINE and I eventually fall asleep knowing that my maximum capacity to enjoy a Mor Lam concert with them is about 2 hours long before they need to organize a car to send gramps (me) home for his warm milk and cookies and then off to bed.

 

No massages or extra-curricular activities or cockfighting in my condo room today.

 

Day 53 (19 February 2025) concluded.