Hello my fellow mongers and friends. It’s been well over three years since I last posted (maybe even 4 years). I’m impressed with how the board is doing and I can assume it's still one of the best monger web sites in the world. This post isn’t so much a trip report but more a recap of what I’ve been doing.

When I left the board I kept contact with some of you guys. In particular I continued to correspond and occasionally see my good friend Epimetheus here and there. I recall not too long ago I was in Pattaya on business. Yes, business. I was flying to and from a customer’s ship out of Utapao (about 45 minutes south of Pattaya). I called Epi out of the blue and met up with him for breakfast. He looked great and it tickled me to see him wearing the King’s colors. I finally had a chance to meet his girlfriend. She seemed a very nice gal yet a little quite. It was a pleasure seeing him again after about a year of two with the only means of communication between us being email or phone. Epi and I met again briefly a few months ago down in Tijuana. He was doing his usually med-run and we met up for dinner. It was great to chat about the old times as well as what we were doing now. The chica scene in Mexico doesn’t interest me anymore so our reunion was very brief. I plan on going back to Thailand in the next few months for business so I’m hoping to see him again.

Some of you may or may not remember Archie29621. Although his presence on this board was short-lived he and I have maintained our friendship throughout the years. He’s doing great and is married to a wonderful Filipina lady. I stop by to visit him from time to time when I’m in the Carolinas. Archie was very helpful in helping me figure out how to petition for a fiancé visa.

On that note – the primary reason I left the board was because I had gotten serious with a wonderful and beautiful Filipina lady. We met through a mutual friend and I maintained a long-distance relationship with her for well over a year. She is an educated lady with numerous businesses in Manila (Sucat) to include a pharmacy. Man, what a difference from a typical Filipina bargirl. She is articulate, funny, passionate, attentive, smart, as well as other traits necessary to make a marriage survive besides sex. Oh, and that’s pretty damn good as well. I was making many trips to Taiwan for business so I routed my flights to CKS via MNL in order to see her as much as I could. After about 18 months we decided to take it to the next level and I petitioned for her to come over on a K-1 fiancé visa. She’s been in the USA since Jan, 2005 and we’ve been happily married since March of the same year.

We recently returned from a 3 week trip to the Philippines. We even managed to make a short side-trip to AC to see old friends. I have a couple of buddies who retired to AC. We also wanted to see our good friends Guy and Roselle who promptly made room for us at the Pacific Breeze hotel. I did a little bar hopping but never really got into the scene. Of course that’s tough to do when your asawa is sitting next to you in a bar. She let me do my thing without her the next night but I opted to stay with her and relax in the room. The rest of the trip consisted of visiting family in Antipolo, Sucat, Cubao, and Ipil (her hometown in Surigao Del Norte, Mindanao). We did make it to Boracay and enjoyed it immensely. If you go there I recommend you buy a ticket only then find a hotel when you get there. You will find better deals and at nicer hotels than using a travel agent.

Lastly, we broke ground on a vacation home we’re building in Surigao. We had the parish priest bless our project and we hope to have the place finished in about 5 months. It’s going to be a nice home and is located about 100 meters from the beach. It's going to be a two-story, 3 bedrooms home with two CRs and a huge balcony. The land was essentially free. All we did was pay off the back-taxes (about $150). Her dad then gave us the land through a “Deed of Donation”. We’re probably looking at $30,000 total construction costs. This is actually very high by local standards but we expect to have to import many of the things we want inside the home. Those that have been to the Philippine besides the bar scenes know that imported products are quite expensive there – even more than the USA.

Anyway I can go on forever… Again, I’m alive and doing great. Life is great and complete. If you want to contact me you can PM Epimetheus and he will let me know how to reach you.

…(prog)

Prog,

Congratulations on the marriage and best of luck! Keep us updated on your construction project in the PI. I'm sure by the end you will be able to write a book.

EA

Nice to hear from you...you might not even remember me, but we met with Epi and I believe Daytime in 02 or 03 I think

Congratulations to you and thanks for letting us know what's been happening with you. We've never met but your writing in the past has been a real inspiration to me, giving a great example of the fun to be had in the Philippines. It gave me the courage to travel to Angeles City for a vacation, and I have been back there, and subsequently, to Thailand, many times since over the last 7 years. Thanks again for your great information and contiued happiness to you.

You are building a home in one of the most beautiful places in the Phils and one of the best surfing spots. Maybe you can make some money by renting the place out to people like me who enjoy the area and the great waves.

Good to hear from ya Prog...seems like just yesterday we had a West Coast AC mongers "meeting" at the Trophy Lounge and had a laptop playing in the middle of the bar showing girls dancing in the bars of AC. The former bargirls were not too pleased about it and got the owner to make us shut down the video...lol.

Glad you met the right lady. You must have put some good karma out there to find a Filipina who is honest and trustworty because it's tough to find, bargirl or not. I would love to find the same thing..Does she have a younger sister?

Hey bro

Good to hear from ya!! Yeah, that trip where we hooked up in Pattaya was a lot of fun. Here's hoping we can do it again soon...

You, my friend, are a GREAT wingman. Fun to roll with, offering lots of advice when it's most needed, able to adapt and move on. Helluva guy indeed!!

You were the first internet monger I (knowingly) met and soon became a great friend. Hell, I'm not sure I should praise or curse you for introducing me to mongering in Asia

I know many here debate on the current "state of affairs" in AC. What were your impressions compared to your, and our, first visits there?

She seemed a very nice gal yet a little quite

Like so many women from Asia she's quiet around strangers but once she knows you she'll NEVER shut up!! Consider yourself lucky my friend... lol

The rest of the trip consisted of visiting family in Antipolo, Sucat, Cubao, and Ipil

That sounds like a lot of cardboard luggage to me

Lastly, we broke ground on a vacation home we’re building in Surigao.

Glad to hear your house there is coming together. When it's complete I guess I'll need to make a trip to Surigao to check it out. At this rate I'll meet your wife in the Phils before I get to meet her here in the US!!

I'll try calling you this evening or tomorrow - need another med run and wouldn't mind meeting for dinner again

E

Hey Progman, it's good to see this post. I had wondered whatever happened to you. In fact, I had been thinking about starting a "Whatever happened to..." thread, focusing on some of the guys who were contributors and then disappeared. Besides you, people like StrikeEagle, McDijj, and AsianGirlsRock come to mind.

Good luck with the house!

Great idea for a thread.

How about Drewwho ??

I wonder how he and his Thai teerak are doing now?

Wow, I had forgotten about Drewwho. Yeah, whatever happened with that story? And WallStreet. Haven't seen a post from him for a long time.