What's it Like in Your Neck of the Woods?

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Snowy79
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Posted

I currently live in Sabang, Puerto Galera.  There's a great ex pat community here although Sabang is a bit seedy and the local passtime is talking about others and airing their personal dramas in public.

The area is pretty nice, lots of secluded bays and mountains, waterfalls etc.  Public services are abysmal though. The road looks like it's been carpet bombed, regular brown outs and reduced to no water at times. Some of the local areas have had no public water for over 2 months. It is handy for transportation with regular boats to Batangas where you can head onto Boracay etc or fly by sea plane to Manila and a few other destinations in 45 mins.

If it wasn't for some great ex pats the area would just be a low level Angeles City, bar girls and tacky clubs.

An average day for me is getting up at 5:30am to help sort out my partners daughter for school then take my partner to school anytime from 9am to 10am as she's doing teacher training. I ride the carpet bombed road about 8 times per day doing the school shuttles, shopping or visiting mates. I like to get 100 lenghts of the pool in and the odd run/jog.

This weekend I move out of Sabang to a nearby village of Suli which is more mountainous with stunning jungle views and still near the beach.  It's more rural but only 10 minutes to civilisation. A large house with a few balconies to sit out on and plenty of fruits in the garden. I'll be getting a couple of dogs for company and still doing the school shuttle but it'll be a pleasure driving on a decent road for a change.  Every Tuesday I'm involved in a pool league where we meet up at different watering holes for a few games and some nice food. There's some great hidden away restaurants nearby.

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GeoffH
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Posted (edited)

We have a house in a subdivision that is about 15 minutes by car from Cagauan De Oro.  It is in a valley surrounded by green forested hills on both sides so it has some of that rural barangay feel to it.  Our house is close to the back of the built up area so it's quiet without a lot of passing traffic and a lot of the houses in this stage are larger 2 or 3 story, but there is still that mix of house types that characterizes many barangays in the Philipines.  Past the front of the subdivision is the highway with some shops and just down the road is a small mall.  Or we can go into CDO where there are bigger malls and one of the main hospitals is on this side of CDO.  We also have a condo in the city but the house has more space and I like not being right in the city.  Some of the family live in Ozamiz and some in CDO and some in the Visayas.

I own 2 properties in Australia, one of which is commercial (the other is my house) with a long lease and our Victorian state government in Australia have punitive land taxes for non resident land owners (even if they are citizens).  In order to avoid a big land tax bill I have to spend 6 months of each year in Australia.  I have been travelling back and forth every 3 months (right now I'm in CDO).

When I sell the commercial property I'll stay here full time and just go back for visits.  Hopefully that is sooner rather than later.

Edited by GeoffH
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Foreigner
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I live in an apartment, located in a middle-class, non-gated, all Filipino neighborhood (except for me… ha ha), in Batangas province. 

It’s walking distance from my apartment to the town, but nobody calls it the “town.’’ They refer to it as the “market.”  Right now, it’s raining almost constantly and the roof is leaking, but the landlord (an OFW) is very slow with repairs.  His rep says that it will be fixed when the rain stops. LOL.  I’m now looking at houses for rent in gated subdivisions in Batangas City or Lipa but so far, no luck.

Each and every morning, I wake up to the shrill shouts of a Taho vendor, hawking his product, as he makes his rounds. In the Afternoons, during merienda time, the Bitso Bitso vendor makes his rounds, as he alternates between shouting “Bitso Bitso” and honking a small hand-held horn.

Once (and sometimes twice) each week, a basura collector repeatedly shouts “Hi Po” to let me know that he’s here.  Amazing how there’s no doorbells at my apartment house, but I always know when someone wants to see (or talk) to me.

Every so often, missionaries from an American-based church come knocking. I have nothing against organized religion but I’m not one to join any, so I usually tell them (as politely as possible) that I’m just not interested.  They get a shocked look on their faces and leave.

I guess that these things are not really unique, since many other Expats experience the very same things.

 

 

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northtoalaska
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My thanks to everyone who has posted. I've been to the RP 3 times over past 6 years. Each time I wonder if I could move there on a permanent or semi-permanent basis. Coming from Alaska the heat gets to me, but that is what A/C is for. 

Reading descriptions like those above help a great deal in my "what if..." plans. 

Speaking of which, I'll return to the RP for trip #4 this coming winter, so now my "what if.." has expanded into real time.

Cheers.

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earthdome
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On 7/30/2018 at 1:39 AM, northtoalaska said:

Coming from Alaska the heat gets to me, but that is what A/C is for. 

If you live at elevation the climate can be quite moderate. That is the one thing I liked the best when I lived in Baguio.

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Jollygoodfellow
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On 7/30/2018 at 2:39 PM, northtoalaska said:

My thanks to everyone who has posted. I've been to the RP 3 times over past 6 years. Each time I wonder if I could move there on a permanent or semi-permanent basis. Coming from Alaska the heat gets to me, but that is what A/C is for. 

I think the longer you are here the less it will bother you. You can arrange your life for cooler times of the day or night to make it easier on yourself. 

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