HappyFive

6 hours ago, eppic said:

My wife is from Iloilo so I have been there many times.

I personally don't like Cebu City at all, although the beaches nearby can be beautiful.  The city itself is horrible in my opinion, but some would differ.

I have been to Dumaguete and it's nice, pleasant and charming, but a bit to small unless you really want to enjoy the leisurely life at home with little to do. It's also a bit isolated if you like to travel.

To be honest, if I were considering locations in the Philippines, I would add Davao to the list for consideration.  It's a nice, safe, more developed city.

We were actually in the process of moving from Bangkok to Bonifacio Global City (BGC) in Metro Manila just before the pandemic hit, but that has been put on hold indefinitely.

Good post. 

Iloilo. Thx for confirming what i thought. I'm not excited to visit again.

Cebu city: yes the West side city (around main colon area, aptly named) is awful.

But the island of mactan is different:

* Important airport on the island.

* Spread out development, island air quality higher.

* Possiblity of maintaining friends from all over, the chance of your friends coming to mactan anyway because of Cebu airport being there! 

* Also friends who live in Cebu city will occasionally seek refuge from pollution and visit mactan. 

*Tons of young bright minds move to Cebu from all over Visayas and Mindanao.

* If i lived in mactan i might never go into Cebu city Central.

Davao is a less stressful life. But would get boring. 

The Philippines is a tough sell overall. The rents are high vs Thailand or Bali and the quality is consistently low.

In Indonesia rumours of a $500 fine for anyone refusing a vaccine have been going round for months. 

Have there been any such threats in Thailand?

9 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

The part about how the locals aren't jumping for joy to mingle with foreigners is interesting. Is that good or bad? I think it depends on what you're looking for. Reminds me of something funny my driver from Cebu City said to me on the way to the ferry port to Bantayan Island. "You'll have a great time. The people are backwards and ignorant. They love all foreigners."

Well I did have a great time. I was even invited into people's homes to share some shockingly awful poverty cuisine... 

The same thing happened to me in Bantayan Island. I was with a friend on the beach when this cute lady walked past and we spoke... eventually I was invited to her parents home, with a floor of rubble. But I love experiences like that. It might be possible in Iloilo, but my experience was people were guarded and didn't want to risk being the center of gossip for being seen with a foreigner. I made friends with a dull gay student for a while, figured it might help me meet a girl... nope...

then I asked directions to girl and we went for a quick drink and didn't see her after that. 

Contrast with driving my moped to the far side of Bantayan Island and seeing all the school kids gather to watch me when i stopped for a coconut cake was pretty funny. 

In manila I met a lady from Bacolod. If I had known what I know now, I might have skipped iloilo and gone straight to her town. 

meanwhile my ex girlfriend was in manila moody at me for... exploring without her. LOL

can you tell i'm bored now? fduck this locdoqwn...

7 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Thailand. 

Yes of course would like to hear your take on Iloilo.

Also,

Tagaytay

Both are good places to live.

Tagaytay has worse shopping, and used to get invaded every weekend by day trippers from manila, making traffic much worse. Because of the location near the capital, Tagaytay people might be more dynamic in their thinking. 

Iloilo can be boring. But the good news: some good shopping, new malls, new wide roads. This might be the easiest large city in Ph. in terms to getting around (but you may need to take taxis or get a motorbike if you don't want to walk /wait for the jeepneys and trikes to turn up.). 

It's a city of fish farms. The air quality is one of the best. You could even live on the coast and still be near the city center. But locals have a more comfortable life and are less inclined to venture out looking for foreign friends, as they are in Manila or Cebu. There are also very few immigrants looking for work, from other provinces. Hotels are less competitive than other cities for this reason. Less new blood. Harder to meet a nice lady than Cebu. Most people are not used to seeing foreigners on the regular. 

Getting out: the airport is super strict about weight of your hand carry. it's the only airport i've ever been hustled for overweight bag. The gates entrance has strict weighing policy. Fckers. 

How are you going to get into the country? What's wrong with Thailand? (need a change?) I spent a long time in Ph. and I want to go back to Th. 

iloilo

On 7/11/2021 at 4:53 PM, Jingthing said:

I've been to Bohol and just wasn't feeling the vibe there. Baguio is kind of isolated.

 

There are some cooler temperature choices closer to Manila. 

 

Tagaytay (overlooking the volcano), Lipa City, some other areas in Batangas.  

what country are you in now? 

do you want my take on iloilo? i've been all over. 

every time I follow a podcast link it takes me to some annoying app that I have to download .... Later gets changed into a different app. 

What do you listen to podcasts on and what is the upside and what is the downside?

2 hours ago, bkksteve123 said:

Seems very cheap. Do you have a link?

 

In the Pattaya rea you can get an okay house with parking etc. for around 10k. A nicer house with a private pool will be 20-40k.

 

Location will play a big part.

I don't mind location as long as quiet, near a supermarket. 

In Hua Hin, a good size, new, detached house with parking is going for 5,500 baht/ month. Bargain .. would you live in Hua Hin?

My other question is about rent in chon buri (eg. Pattaya), examples please...

Ok so line and Google authenticator are on my list. Important stuff to backup & transfer.

A few years ago I was in Thailand making lots of contacts/friends in Line!

Years past, i got a new phone, line was deleted, and all of those Line contacts were only in the app ( not in my phone contacts).

It seems like a big flaw in the way I was using LINE.

Please enlighten me on how to prevent this happening in future.

4 hours ago, BritManToo said:

SInce COVID I buy almost everything online.

Pork steaks and Pepsi from the local BigC, Lotus, 7-11 ........ everything else online.

Hardly any need to leave the house any more, and generally cheaper than the local stores.

Brilliant. Do big C have a delivery system or do you order with another company who then connect with Big C?

22 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Lazada mainly, Cod.

Shopee for items unusually expensive on Lazada, CoD.

AliExpress for items illegal to sell in Thailand, and a few odd imports Thais don't seem to want, Debit Card.

 

They're all good, AliExpress is a bit slower.

You're a legend, thank you.

How did the stuff take to arrive from lazada? (i assume from Bangkok)

1 minute ago, BritManToo said:

Lazada mainly

How much is shipping to whatever city you ordered to? For whatever items you bought.

Where do you shop online?  what is good or bad about it?

What things did you buy?

Do they accept foreign cards?

Much appreciated.