Quote:
Originally Posted by brassmonkey
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Reminds me of my first day in the Philippines, back when I was 18 in the Navy.
The Vietnam war had recently ended, and I was stationed at a shore-based staff command in Japan, when we were flown down to the Philippines to do an inspection of the returning fleet, so we arrived a few days before the aircraft carrier group pulled in.
What that meant is that thousands of hookers were arriving in Olongapo and Subic City from all over the region, a few days before the fleet arrived, so it was a sailor's holiday with the hooker-to-sailor ratio way in our favor.
When you left the base through the main gate at Cubi Point, you had to cross a bridge over the appropriately named "Shit River" (kids would dive from small boats into the river to retrieve coins tossed from the bridge by sailors).
So anyway, I'm walking out the main gate, and soon afterwards numerous club hustlers and bar girls are making their pitches. Then a few kids come up and start walking and trying to talk with me. Two kids each grab a hand as if to hold it while we are walking, and I think that is real sweet for about 5-10 seconds, when a bigger kid comes running around the corner, puts his head down and plows into my stomach, and as soon as he did, one kid started ripping my wristwatch off my wrist (scratching the shit out of my wrist, and breaking the band), while the other's hands went straight for my wallet.
Another sailor saw what happened and he cold-cocked one of the kids (which kind of shocked me), and the other kids scattered. One of many lessons I was to learn over the years I spent in the PI and other locales in Asia (I lived in Asia for over 5 years, and more than 10 years if you add in Hawaii, where I lived during much of my youth).
Quite an eye opening experience 3rd world experience for a young kid.
ADG