Hello from the Philippines!

[ukasianexplorer]

I am a British guy (61) who has been living in the Philippines (Dumaguete and currently Davao) for the past year. I got married here just 5 months ago and am amazed at my good luck. Not everyone is so lucky, I have met many people whose choice of partner has subsequently made their lives a nightmare. It's just commonsense really, but guys seem to leave their brains in the UK (or USA) when they fly in here!

I spent the year prior to coming to the Philippines, living in Paphos, Cyprus. Cyprus IS a beautiful place, but the climate is surprisingly cold for about 5 months of the year, Dec-April. That was a big (nasty) surprise for me. It is also very expensive to live there now because the Cypriots have destroyed their own economy and their only answer to falling sales is to increase prices! Add the depreciation of the pound against the euro and it's no longer viable to live there. I can hardly believe how much my life has changed since 2 years ago, when I hadn't even made my 1st trip to the Philippines. Cyprus already feels like a place I lived in LONG ago ...

Life here in the 3rd World is so different. Many people here wake every morning asking "how will I feed my family today"? Deep poverty, poor education, expectation to fail, large families (reinforced by anti-birth control nonsense preached from the pulpit) are the main culprits of course. Life is relatively cheap (in every sense) and if you come to live here you will need to make VERY BIG adjustments to your expectations - even in the major cities. There are big compensations of course, but don't expect a Caribbean paradise with cheap prices, this is not the developed world - by a very big margin.

Adrian

[stevewool]

hi there , and welcome , sounds like a nice life you have found again, good luck, many many people have dreams that never happen but then again some do , iwould love to one day retire back to the phils but for now i must work hard and save for that dream to happen , i am more then halfway there with having emma by my side so just a little more time and i too will be living my new life over there :xxgrinning--00xx3:

[RickyR]

A friend of mine is planning to move to Davao from Cebu, how are you finding the comparison between the two?
I live in Cebu, Davao or elsewhere in the Philippines isn't an option due to schooling for my children.

[Les_lady888]

hi there ukasianexplorer! Welcome to the forum and to Davao as well! :Hellooo:

How long have you been in Davao? I'm currently in Davao too.

[triple5]

Welcome Adrian :Hellooo: I found Davao had pretty much everything i needed, it's actually more developed than where I am now in the UK. I presume you've had the pleasure of a few nice trips to Samal and Talikud :xxgrinning--00xx3:

[rani]

welcome to the forum explorer :Wave:

you are in a place where i wished to live several years back as i found davao a clean city where i can also get fresh tuna and yummy fruits :Hellooo:

[jimeve]

Hello Adrian, welcome to the forum, where in Dumaguete was you staying ? I go there every year, got many friends there. :xxgrinning--00xx3:

[Arthur Little]

Interesting story, Adrian ... :welcomex:. I note you're in the same age bracket as myself ... are you still working? Like YOU, I'm lucky enough to be married to a Filipina ... Myrna, my wife, being a former schoolteacher from Davao del Norte Province - although she came to Scotland in March 2009.

[ukasianexplorer]

A friend of mine is planning to move to Davao from Cebu, how are you finding the comparison between the two?
I live in Cebu, Davao or elsewhere in the Philippines isn't an option due to schooling for my children.

Hi Ricky, that's a very good question. I will will try to answer that concisely, without being overly negative. Davao is much cleaner than Cebu, is MUCH safer from a crime point of view, the taxi drivers are honest, beggars are rarely to be seen and the traffic is a little less suicidal (only a little though). Both cities have great malls and a huge choice of pretty much everything. I think the cost of living in both is very similar, so on the high end for the RP.

Davao is a big ugly commercial city, tourism has had no impact on amenities like bars and restaurants with any kind of a view. We have only found one waterfront bar of reasonable quality and the view over brown sand to murky sea (no WAY I would swim in there!) is nothing special. There are plenty of western style bars & restaurants in the city and a fairly large expat population lives here. Samal Island is immediately opposite and just a 10 min ferry ride away. There are white sand beaches there and the water is suitable for swimming. However the lack of a bridge means that, unlike Mactan, getting back and forth is a bit of a chore and there are no medical facilities there, so living on the island is for the fit and healthy types. Having a medical problem while staying on the island after the last ferry leaves at 6pm could leave you in a tricky position. I doubt that there are any good schools over there.

There are several upscale housing subdivisions in Davao - the very noticeable difference with similar ones found in Cebu, is that here most houses do not have steel bars on windows! Streets are quite wide and all seems quiet and orderly. break-ins are rare. I have never seen that in any of the other cities I have visited in the RP. The mayor here has a reputation for taking no **** from criminals and they have been dealt with swiftly and severely - they seem to have got the message by now!

Because of typhoons I ruled Luzon "out of bounds", also the east coast of the Visayas. I visited Bacolod, Tagbilaran, Dumaguete, Puerto Princesa and Cagayan de Oro and evaluated them all for living long term. There are pros and cons with all of them, I guess it depends on each individual's criteria. Having no kids to worry about does mean we are free to move around and Davao will not be a long term place for us. Too many un-ticked boxes for me. While Cebu DOES have some nice up-scale bars with views across the water or hills, I just don't feel safe there and the taxi drivers are dishonest - I would not dream of driving a car in Cebu.

So, that's my quick sketch and only my opinion of course, others may disagree.

Cheers
Adrian

[ukasianexplorer]

hi there ukasianexplorer! Welcome to the forum and to Davao as well! :Hellooo:

How long have you been in Davao? I'm currently in Davao too.

We arrived here on 1st June. Have rented a nice bungalow in Bajada. We have made many friends, mainly through the Friends of Mindanao expat group ... have you heard of them?

Adrian

[ukasianexplorer]

Edited as per instructed!!

[ukasianexplorer]

I may have posted a fairly detailed reply to RickyR TWICE. That is because when I posted the first one I figured it somehow got lost. Now I posted a 2nd (shorter) version I see that all messages go to a moderator first. Could you delete the 2nd post and just publish the first one?

Thanks
Adrian

[ukasianexplorer]

Hello Adrian, welcome to the forum, where in Dumaguete was you staying ? I go there every year, got many friends there. :xxgrinning--00xx3:

We lived on Noreco Road, Mangnao. It's only 5 mins by trike to the new Robinsons Mall. We will return there in a year or so, my wife will go back to school for a couple of years.

[ukasianexplorer]

Interesting story, Adrian ... :welcomex:. I note you're in the same age bracket as myself ... are you still working? Like YOU, I'm lucky enough to be married to a Filipina ... Myrna, my wife, being a former schoolteacher from Davao del Norte Province - although she came to Scotland in March 2009.

Hi Arthur, I lived in Glasgow for 8 years and traveled all over Scotland. It's a damned cold place for a Filipina though! Too cold for me now for sure :-) I am a website designer, so can work from anywhere there is an internet connection.

[ukasianexplorer]

Interesting story, Adrian ... :welcomex:. I note you're in the same age bracket as myself ... are you still working? Like YOU, I'm lucky enough to be married to a Filipina ... Myrna, my wife, being a former schoolteacher from Davao del Norte Province - although she came to Scotland in March 2009.

Hi Arthur, I lived in Glasgow for 8 years and traveled all over Scotland. It's a damned cold place for a Filipina though! Too cold for me now for sure :-) I am a website designer, so can work from anywhere there is an internet connection.

[fred]

I am a website designer, so can work from anywhere there is an internet connection.

So that's why you didnt choose to stay in Tagbilaran!!
We are living on Panglao island which is practically an internet dead zone. :doh

[mindanao]

:Hellooo:this is mindanao, new on this site. DAvao is best compared to other cities and am glad that ukasianexplorer finds the place comfortable to live with. There's an international rotary club here composed of expats and they are involved in lots of projects. Was able to join there mangove project at sanipaan ( vanishing island) off samal island.

[ukasianexplorer]

So that's why you didnt choose to stay in Tagbilaran!!
We are living on Panglao island which is practically an internet dead zone. :doh

Hi Fred, when staying at Alona Beach I did find my Smartbro USB modem worked just fine. So I am not sure what your problem may be. Panglao does have some gorgeous spots and we went there on honeymoon just 5 months ago. I am not sure if I am allowed to post photo links, but will try ... http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2303&id=100001150969716&l=e73bd32e83.

We preferred Anda as a beach location, way out on the eastern tip of Bohol, away from the touristy Panglao area.

Actually the main reason I decided against Tagbilaran, which has 3 modern malls and bearable traffic, is that we could not find formal housing sub-divisions. Expats live in nice houses but are surrounded by the usual chaos of life in a barrio, roosters, dog barking, loud music day and night. I put up with that for 6 months in Dumaguete and will not volunteer for it again. I choose not to 'adapt down' to 3 world standards when living at home. Many foreigners DO put up with all that, and good luck to them - it just doesn't suit me. We are all different.

Cheers
Adrian