Category: Arnan

Posts and tidbits about my life, my travels and experiences. I’ll post my videos here. Perhaps I’ll even share a personal revelation at some point.

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Going to Mount Mayon while it’s erupting

Over the last few weeks I’ve been travelling around the Philippines again. Currently I’m on Luzon, near Naga city. We’re driving our motorcycles all over the place. We originally planned to go via Masbate Island to reach Cebu Island.

However, news of Mount Mayon and it’s “imminent and violent eruptions” kept coming in. So we decided to change course for this probably once in a lifetime experience. We drove to Legaspi City via the up-wind route, avoiding the major ash and dust clouds spewing to the east.

The city is right next to the volcano, just outside the actual danger zone which was evacuated several weeks ago. This basically meant we had a good view of the goings on.

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My quest for a refreshing drink

Today I felt like going for a drive but I was also thirsty… Often I then drive to a random place to find said drink. This time my adventure took me way out in the bushes to some super poor town. Foreigners, let alone tourists, rarely go to places like this.

This sometimes leads to many suspicious looks from the natives. But often times they seem happy to see someone else than their neighbour for a change. And in those events I feel like I’m the star of a parade, waving and smiling at everyone.

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Driving to Calapan after Urduja

Storm Urduja was a bad one, half the province got flooded apparently. And as usual the Philippines was wholly unprepared or simply didn’t care too much. People sought higher grounds until the floods subsided. Or were just wandering around trying to go about their day.

Around the Baco area, near Calapan City, a bunch of rivers flooded most farmlands, towns and everything in between. Some areas were more than waist deep. Luckily not over the road, which was only covered in about 30cm deep water at the worst point.
Still, the whole of Baco town was flooded in some places with a strong current.

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Figuring stuff out…

As you probably read last month, I’ve moved to the Philippines earlier this month. I’ve been here for a few weeks now and I like it. The country is pretty laid-back, at-least in Puerto Galera, Mindoro. Not so much in Calapan, a nearby City. Earlier today I announced to the hotel I’m in that I’ll be staying another month.

Moving to a new place also means a lot of figuring out needs to be done. New routines, new workflows. Discovering stuff you thought you’d prepare for but didn’t.

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Announcement: I’m moving to the Philippines!

At the end of the month I’m moving to the Philippines. A few of you probably figured this already. I’ve launched a new site a few months ago which was part of the advert examples for a while. On there I’ll be blogging my experiences and stuff relevant to this new phase in my life.

End of the month

At the end of the month I’ll be travelling and trying to avoid Jetlag. I’ll be wandering through Manila to find my way in a strange new place. Probably with dodgy internet until I arrive at my destination on Mindoro in early October.

This means that between September 28th and October 5th I may not respond to email, forum posts, chat or tweets. If at all possible I will try to answer emails and possibly forum posts every few days. But I’m not sure if I’ll be able to.

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Stop calling me from India or Pakistan

That’s right – In fact, don’t call me at all. If you’re not Dutch and don’t have a question related to the use of products and/or services I’m not interested.

Even more so, don’t call me on my private cell OR on a phone that is not operated by AJdG Solutions. AJdG Solutions has no phone. And that’s for a reason.

I’m sick and tired of people calling me from New Delphi, or where-ever the hell they are, with advertising opportunities or bullshit about me needing mobile apps. I’m not interested in your skills as a developer and I don’t care that you only cost $10/hr. I also don’t give a rats ass about your call center and I don’t need a online secretary either. Go away! Stay away!