| Author: | W H Johnson | ISBN: | 9781476388670 |
| Publisher: | W H Johnson | Publication: | April 16, 2012 |
| Imprint: | Smashwords Edition | Language: | English |
| Author: | W H Johnson |
| ISBN: | 9781476388670 |
| Publisher: | W H Johnson |
| Publication: | April 16, 2012 |
| Imprint: | Smashwords Edition |
| Language: | English |
'Three years ago I'd never have given a thought to visiting the Philippines. It wouldn't have appeared in even my top hundred places to visit. Come to that, I'd never thought of re-marrying.'
So begins his travelogue, A VIRGIN IN THE PHILIPPINES, more a diary than a guide book, describing Johnnie's marriage to a Filipina (by the way, he tells us that they met through neither a dating agency nor ebay!) and his visits to the country. Lest there should be any doubt, the author says, 'I am the virgin in question though only in a figurative sense. In fact I'm 80++ years of age Englishman and I don't feel a day over 75!'
The book is an account of the greenest green of the rice fields; of nightmarish criss-crossing traffic, managed it would seem by some master choreographer; of traditional family reunions; of Johnnie's being refused entry to a Subic Bay hotel room on moral grounds along with his 65-year-old nephew-by-marriage; of advertising hoardings the size of tennis courts; of the eventual sale, after much peasant dealing, of one of his wife's rice fields; of his self-election as Life President of the Husbands' Escape Committee; of life in a country town; of being inveigled into having a tooth extracted; of visits to the family mausoleum; of the most charming and pleasant people you'd ever meet and that's just for starters. Johnnie Johnson loves the Philippines, the place and the people and it shows in his writing.
'Three years ago I'd never have given a thought to visiting the Philippines. It wouldn't have appeared in even my top hundred places to visit. Come to that, I'd never thought of re-marrying.'
So begins his travelogue, A VIRGIN IN THE PHILIPPINES, more a diary than a guide book, describing Johnnie's marriage to a Filipina (by the way, he tells us that they met through neither a dating agency nor ebay!) and his visits to the country. Lest there should be any doubt, the author says, 'I am the virgin in question though only in a figurative sense. In fact I'm 80++ years of age Englishman and I don't feel a day over 75!'
The book is an account of the greenest green of the rice fields; of nightmarish criss-crossing traffic, managed it would seem by some master choreographer; of traditional family reunions; of Johnnie's being refused entry to a Subic Bay hotel room on moral grounds along with his 65-year-old nephew-by-marriage; of advertising hoardings the size of tennis courts; of the eventual sale, after much peasant dealing, of one of his wife's rice fields; of his self-election as Life President of the Husbands' Escape Committee; of life in a country town; of being inveigled into having a tooth extracted; of visits to the family mausoleum; of the most charming and pleasant people you'd ever meet and that's just for starters. Johnnie Johnson loves the Philippines, the place and the people and it shows in his writing.
