Building a House: Settlement on the land has come through

A couple of weeks have passed since my first post about our house build, and the big news is that our land purchase has now been finalised.

We are building a house!

It's been five years since we moved to Perth, and we've finally decided to put down roots and build a house.

So here we are. After a bit of prompting from my wife, Liz, I've gone and revived this long forgotten blog, dusted off the keyboard, and cleaned off some cobwebs (in my head) to share this journey with you. Perhaps you have some tips to share, or your own build story, or maybe you too will learn something along the way.

Travel Blogs Directory

Welcome to my Travel Blog

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Hello and welcome to my Travel Blog Log! This page contains a links list to all my Travel Posts.  Please do share your own travel experiences here, it would be awesome to share travel stories with you all.

Zero deaths from typhoons in the Philippines

As the Philippines prepares for another typhoon, can we really say we've done everything we can to prevent another catastrophe? 
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It is the way of life in the Philippines - news of typhoons and flooding hardly bother Filipinos any more what with 8 or 9 tropical cyclones making landfall annually on average. But it seems to me we are like the boiling frog.  Every year another typhoon, another massive flooding, another few thousand men, women and children will die, and a few billion dollars worth of damage our economy will suffer through. It has become our new normal, only we think it has always been our normal...

5 simple ways overseas Pinoys can help Philippine Tourism

Are you an overseas Pinoy or an OFW?  I am too.  Whether you have moved abroad temporarily or permanently, I think we all have a very important role to play in promoting Philippine Tourism.

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The Philippines is a Tourism gold mine

I have always believed that the Philippines is a Tourism gold mine, but somehow our 4.7 Million tourists in 2013 pales in comparison to Indonesia's 8 Million and Malaysia's 25 Million.

El Nido Miniloc Island Resort, Palawan, Philippines

The Philippines offers fantastic beaches (in Boracay, Davao, Cebu, El Nido), unique land formations (Chocolate Hills, Hundred Islands), caves, an underground river, volcanoes (Taal, Pinatubo, Mayon), surf spots (Siargao), diving spots, mountain climbing, and those are just the natural wonders.  You can also go to places of historical significance, 16th to 18th century churches, the massive fiestas and festivals, and the even more massive shopping malls.  And we haven't even talked about the food, the services and the hospitality of the Filipinos.

Earthquake Baroque Paoay Church (18th Century)
Ilocos Norte, Philippines

Being OFWs and Pinoys outside of the Philippines, we should look at ourselves as tourism ambassadors.  Hey, I'm proud to share that I've managed to convince a couple of colleagues here in Australia to spend their honeymoon in El Nido, Palawan (where my wife and I had our 1st honeymoon as well) and they thoroughly enjoyed it.  They didn't even need much convincing - I showed them our photos from our Honeymoon, told them how great a time we had, and they were sold.  Well, it also helped that in 2013 Palawan was named by Travel and Leisure Magazine as the World's Best Island (and #2 was Boracay).

I encourage you to be a Philippine Tourism Ambassador.  Here are 5 simple ways we can all help the Philippines become the Tourism darling it deserves to be...

What do you think of the 2 Fil-Am teens on American Idol 2014?

First impressions have always been a huge factor on American Idol.  What do you think of the 2 Fil-Ams in the Top 20?  Will they get into the Top 10?
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I'm very happy to share that there are 2 Filipino-American contenders still in the running to be America's next Idol.  How far do you think they will go in this year's competition following Rush Week?

We have had Fil-Ams Camile Velasco, Jasmine Trias, Ramiele Malubay, Thia Megia and Jessica Sanchez take the Idol stage in the show's past decade.  None of them have been successful, unfortunately, in getting the top spot, but Jessica Sanchez came closest with a runner-up finish to Phillip Phillips.

Will 2014 be the year we get a Fil-Am American Idol? Here's what I think...