We Found A Seafood Oasis! A Secret To Many Locals

In This Video We Found A Seafood Oasis! A Secret To Many Locals, thanks to a subscriber we were taken to a seafood hub outside Iloilo City Philippines. About Us, Two years ago we made a plan we Sold Everything & Now Living In The Philippines On A Budget in 2022, we had paid our debts, sold everything and made a budget. Its been a crazy journey from Cambodia to Albania then here in Boracay, check out why we moved to the Philippines and specifically why Boracay Island.

The Years Between

The Years Between (1946) is a British film directed by Compton Bennett and starring Michael Redgrave, Valerie Hobson and Flora Robson in an adaptation of the 1945 play The Years Between by Daphne du Maurier. It was shot at the Riverside Studios.

"Evocative details about family, friends, writers and landscapes make Lynn Cohen's Between the Years vibrant and moving. Her landscapes are filled with memories that balance between nostalgia and revelation, as we journey with the poet through the cycle of searching, finding, losing, and recovering. Loss and aging dance with youth and fulfillment, creating poems of lyrical intensity and surprise. Look for "Affairs are not for the Faint Hearted," "Gretchen," "Colossus," and "City of Glass." Lynn's poems remind us that an epic unfolds between birth and death."

New Year's Day is the pause between the past and the future -- after the grand retrospectives of Hanukkah and Christmas but before the resolutions and predictions kick in. This is one of the few moments in the year when we are almost forced to contemplate the strange propulsion of time that carries us along through life. You can choose your own metaphor. Do the years feel like combers rolling onto the beach, one after the other? Do you feel as if you're swimming downstream with the current of a mighty river? Or does this winter-shift from one year to the next feel like a portage through dark woods between two lakes?

From time to time most of us aspire to episodes of timelessness, if that isn't a contradiction in terms. Parents look at their children, or we look at our parents, and there is a horrifying thrill in how rapidly they change, a thrill that makes us want to stop time, as much for ourselves as for them. There are days so beautiful, so productive, so happy that we would like to fix them in our minds for good as the prototype of all days -- while knowing that what makes those days so memorable is also the fact that they slide past as if by their own momentum. But the momentum is ours, too. It's tempting to believe on New Year's Day that we are standing still while the world rushes on, as if we were passengers in one of Einstein's thought experiments. But who is to say that we aren't the ones rushing onward, and the world is trying desperately to keep up? Time's arrow is embedded in the very nature of this universe, and it's a good thing, too, because otherwise everything would be so disorganized.

Many times we are really in too much of a hurry while feeling uncomfortable if we notice how time flies. Yes, my late grandmother was right, when she said: The older you become, the faster time passes by. My late mother told us the same. Yes, I am 69 now. I can only strongly agree with her.

When I was still a teenager, I was longing to be an adult already. Later, I enjoyed listening to my late grandmother (born 1898!) stories such as "Once upon a time" or "When I was young" from her life yesterday's life... .

After a couple of years, especially while observing that time really flies like a racket to the moon, I also have the same question in mind: Are the present hours and days less valuable?

Of course, each day has its own set of happiness and trials. But it also holds very high possibilities of how we take the initiative to do or to move something, if ...! Yes, the luring term IF lets us look into the future  with an overblown "glistening" eye: IF I will finish my studies - IF my children become adults - IF I might become rich and win in the lottery, yes IF! And then?

Christmas is gone, if you might read this. The next turn of the year is just around the corner. For most of us it's time to come to our senses. The future prospects smile at us already. What might the New Year bring us? Is life in the future easier, nicer, more charming and more fulfilled compared to the present or the almost finished 2022? The thoughts fill me with horror, because tragicomic future visions can easily blur away our present day.

A possible topsy-turvy world of a golden youth tries to let us forget that also the past has had its shares of disappointments, pains, tears, darkness, tricky as well as desperate days... yes, lost days, irretrievable time... .We dream our impossible dreams from last year, this 2022 to the future and vice versa. We forget that between yesterday and tomorrow is our valuable presence. Well, now well then - if we know how to fulfill this period.

I will be taking a short break from many tasks and appointments. I will be trusting in God, because He takes care of me and my future.  Don't allow the daily hectic and stress of this season kill your senses.

Bright prospects in tourism sector seen in 2023

Published December 29, 2022, 12:02 AM

by Manila Bulletin

If the number of arrivals in our airports last Christmas Day is an indication, then we would see an uptrend in the tourism sector in 2023. This bodes well for an industry which was very much affected during the pandemic, as flights, events, conferences, etc. were all cancelled. This led to the closure – temporary or otherwise – of tourism establishments such as hotels, resorts, events venues, and even allied businesses such as restaurants, bars, car rental firms, events companies, security agencies, etc. The tourism industry casts a wide net that its impact is far-reaching and consequential to the lives and livelihood of many Filipinos.

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) said that almost 30,000 travelers, including Filipino passengers, arrived in the country on Christmas Day. This figure is way much higher than in previous years, partly credited to the relaxed restrictions for those entering the country. At the end of this month, the BI projects 3.2 to 3.5 million passengers using the airport terminals.

With these positive trends not only in domestic tourism, but more so for worldwide tourism, there is wisdom in preparation. For starters, there is a need for more world-class airports. This has been mentioned by the President in his speeches. It would, however, take some years before this becomes a reality. 

In the absence of such infrastructure, there are many programs of the government, led by the Department of Tourism (DOT), to attract more tourists.  In fact, the DOT has revealed that it is targeting 4.8 million foreign tourists in 2023 – double than the 2022 arrival numbers, which is currently pegged at around 2.5 million.

“We look at it with optimism in a sense that our goal is to exceed our conservative projections in the same way that we have been able to exceed it this year,” said DOT Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco. “We feel that we would be able to exceed our pre-pandemic numbers way earlier than the 2025 year that was told to us when we assumed office with the improved policies under the Marcos administration.”

The DOT had initially projected 1.7 million tourist arrivals this year, but the actual count recorded 2.46 million as of Dec. 19, 2022.  The tourism chief hopes that the year will close with 2.5 million visitor arrivals, which accounts to close to 30 percent of the industry’s pre-pandemic arrivals data when the Philippines recorded 8.3 million arrivals in 2019. This is a far cry from the 164,000 recorded in 2021.

The DOT has also revealed its priority goals for next year, which include stronger collaboration between national government agencies and LGUs in developing the country’s tourism portfolio, and exemplifying the Filipino Brand of Service Excellence (FBSE). This will highlight the training of 100,000 tourism workers, the highest record set by far for the industry. 

Among the new tourism programs include the “Philippine Travel Experience,” which would give tourists a window to discover the country’s tourism gems; and the “Bisita, Be My Guest Program,” where the DOT will give away condo units, cars, and other prizes for returning Filipinos who can bring home acquaintances, friends, and family members to the country.

With all these in the pipeline, there is no way to go but up for the tourism industry. It is high time as it has experienced its lowest morale during the pandemic. We ought to give our all-out support and become the unofficial “tourism ambassadors” in our own little way because in the end, no one will help Filipinos but fellow Filipinos.

2.6-M tourist arrivals seen by DOT in 2023

by Betheena Unite

The government aims at least 2.6-million international tourist arrivals next year, Malacañang said.

TOURISTS enjoy the sunset at world-famous Boracay Island in Malay town, Aklan province. (Tara Yap)

“For next year, the DOT (Department of Tourism) said it targets 2.6 million international tourist arrivals in a low scenario, and 6.4 million in a high scenario,” the Palace said in a statement on Wednesday, Dec. 28. 

According to the department’s report to President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., some 2.4-million foreign tourists flocked to the country this year.

The tourism department also spelled out its plans and programs for 2023, with its major thrust focusing on connectivity, convenience, and e(Quality).

These initiatives are under the DOT’s Seven-Point Agenda aimed at improving tourism infrastructure, establishing cohesive digitalization and connectivity, enhancing the country’s overall tourism experience and equalizing product development.

To improve connectivity, the department said it will support local government-initiated tourism infrastructure, open up Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA) properties to development through public-private partnerships (PPPs), develop Cruise Tourism involving at least 136 ports of call in over 40 islands, conduct regional travel fairs, develop tourism circuits and continue convergence with tourism-enhancing government agencies.

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The DOT is also looking to improve convenience by establishing tourism information desks and tourist rest areas, enhancing the Filipino brand of service excellence, and improving the accreditation standards to ensure the competitiveness of the Philippine tourism sector.

Under its e(Quality) initiative, the DOT will enhance the Philippine Tourism Brand campaign, finalize and approve the National Tourism Development Plan 2023-2028, launch the Philippine Experience Program and develop Overwintering packages.

The tourism department also plans to open Mindanao for tourism and promote Halal tourism, conduct Philippine national job fairs, and expand the tourism opportunity markets.

Philippines must be ‘very cautious’ over travelers from China —minister

 

By

 Reuters

 -

 December 29, 2022 - 9:11 AM Undated photo showing foreigners having their passports checked by the Philippines' immigration officers in an airport. (The STAR/Rudy Santos)

MANILA — The Philippines should be “very cautious” when receiving inbound travelers from China, which is grappling with a sharp rise in COVID case numbers, the Philippine transportation minister said on Wednesday.

The Southeast Asian country could impose measures like testing requirements on visitors from China, but not an outright ban, Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista told reporters.

— Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales; Editing by Martin Petty

Global alarm grows over China's Covid surge

By Agence France-Presse

December 29, 2022

Beijing: The United States is the latest in a growing number of countries to impose restrictions on visitors from China after Beijing abruptly removed a major impediment to overseas travel despite surging Covid cases at home.

Hospitals across China have been overwhelmed by an explosion of Covid cases following Beijing's decision to lift strict rules that had largely kept the virus at bay but tanked its economy and sparked widespread protests.

On Monday, the country said it would bring an end to mandatory quarantine on arrival -- prompting many jubilant Chinese citizens to make plans to travel abroad.

In response, the United States and a number of other countries announced they would require negative Covid tests for all travelers from mainland China.

"The recent rapid increase in Covid-19 transmission in China increases the potential for new variants emerging," a senior US health official told reporters in a phone briefing.

Beijing has provided only limited data about circulating variants in China to global databases, the official said, and its testing and reporting on new cases has also diminished.

The US move came after Italy, Japan, India and Malaysia announced their own measures in a bid to protect against importing new Covid variants from China.

Beijing has hit out against "hyping, smearing and political manipulation" by the Western media concerning its Covid response.

"Currently China's epidemic situation is all predictable and under control," foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a briefing Wednesday.

China still does not allow foreign visitors, however, with the issuance of visas for overseas tourists and students still suspended.

But the lifting of mandatory quarantines sparked a surge in interest in overseas travel by Chinese citizens, who have been largely confined to their country since Beijing pulled down the drawbridge in March 2020.

Italy Wednesday said it would make coronavirus tests for all visitors from China mandatory.

The measure was "essential to ensure the surveillance and identification of any variants of the virus in order to protect the Italian population", health minister Orazio Schillaci said.

France's president, too, said it had "requested appropriate measures to protect" its citizens, with Paris noting it was closely monitoring "the evolution of the situation in China."

The European Commission is set to meet Thursday to discuss "possible measures for a coordinated approach" by EU states to the explosion of Covid cases in China.

Bodies piling up

On the frontlines of China's Covid wave, hospitals are battling surging cases that have hit the elderly and vulnerable hardest.

In Tianjin, around 140 kilometers (90 miles) southeast of the capital Beijing, Agence France-Press visited two hospital wards overwhelmed by patients sick with the virus.

Doctors are being asked to work even if they are infected, one said.

FP saw more than two dozen mostly elderly patients lying on gurneys in public areas of the emergency department, and at least one dead person being wheeled out of a ward.

"It's a four-hour wait to see a doctor," staff could be heard telling an elderly man who said he had Covid.

"There are 300 people in front of you."

China's National Health Commission last week said that it would no longer release an official daily Covid death toll.