Life in "The Province" - One Month In

[BrettGC]

Some of you already know that just over a month ago MfFaW (Minister for Finance and War – wife) and I moved from Dumaguete to Guihulngan in Negros Oriental. It's located 3 hours drive north of Dumaguete (on a good day) and about 1 hour south of San Carlos just across the border in Negros Occidental. Bacolod is actually the closest “major city” as the crow flies but it's a slightly longer drive drive than Dumaguete due to the mountainous terrain getting there. It's actually quicker to get to Cebu City via fast ferry (Guihulngan - Toledo) and then drive the rest of the way than the drive to Dumaguete.

According to the last census, its population is just over 100,000. I know that seems large but that population is spread over about 390km² with a probably about 15,000 living in and around Guihulngan proper.

The weather is similar to Dumaguete on paper but I'm finding it a little cooler, probably due to the fact we can see the ocean from where we live now and have a nice breeze most of the time. I'm not sure if I've adapted to the weather as even on the warmest nights the fan is enough for me. I've never been a fan of AC anyway, we do have a wall unit in our room which is handy for those afternoon naps in the heat of the day.

 

Shopping

With regards to shopping – Pure Gold, Prince, basic speciality shops that you'd expect. Pure Gold is most of our groceries done, I was actually pleasantly surprised, they sell some decent beef products as well - shock. Prince is a smaller version of Gaisano or Hypermart/Lee – groceries, home wares, furniture all rolled into one. Selection is limited but it'll be handy in a pinch. Two really good hardware stores – mainly building supplies i.e. wood, plumbing pipes, paint etc and they still sell nails, screws etc by weight! For fixtures and fittings like ceiling fans, toilets etc it's off to Citi in San Carlos. We head up to San Carlos every couple of weeks to top up the groceries (Gaisano and City Mall) and buy stuff for renovation from Citi. The plan is a trip to Dumaguete monthly for the things we can't get here or San Carlos.  Oh, and a Du Ex Sam which is very handy.  

 

Restaurants

Forget it, there's 7 or 8 but so far they've all been sub-par even for a more remote area. One or two border on “ok”, but they're just ok. Having said that, there's an excellent pizza shop and a small resto that does the best manok inasal and lechon I've ever had.

 

Noise

Music, dogs, kids, roosters, pigs – I don't mind them to the point of it all becoming white noise. I love the cacophony compared to the quiet sterility of “the west”. I'm going against the grain on this one I know, but each to their own.

 

Privacy

What privacy? I love having the family around, there's 4 generations living within sight plus extended family in the area, we have a bit of a floating population here; you're never quite sure who's going to be around the house and lot at any given moment, particularly the kids, both family and their friends. MiL and wife's youngest brother both live with us, and I get on great with both of them.

On the upside, the added 2^nd floor is our retreat with a living room and bedroom with a bathroom about to be installed. Any of the local visitors tend to give it a wide berth... I reckon Wifey may have read them the riot act on that front.

 

House

We're about 5 minutes drive from the centre of town in the barangay of Tinuyunan Beach. It's interesting navigating our mid-sized car (Toyota Rush) down the barangay road but easy after a couple of goes at it. AM (Angry Midget – wife) had quite the discussion with the guy down the road who's blocked the verge with his pot plants (no not ganja plants – potted plants). His rationale is he concreted the verge, so it's his. Momma's off to see El Capitano next week about it. A couple of our Filipino neighbours are going to accompany her and back her up. Apparently this guy is the neighbourhood recalcitrant and there's a raft of other complaints against him... There's one everywhere.... No, I'm not holding my breath on this one.

AM bought originally bought the lot and built the house during the early 2000's. The lot was one of those under the Marcos Sr scheme to give Filipinos access to their own land so the title document is “interesting”. But it says her name at the top, so apparently we're good there(?).

The house itself was originally a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom single storey. Several years ago we renovated it to 2 storey, 4 bedroom, 2 bath with upstairs as our “get away” area. Neither of us were present for that and it was a shit-show. We re-finished downstairs last year with AM present, we're redoing upstairs now, including the roof. We're both present this time. This is how bad it can be: The roof was brand new powder coated blue over galvanising but the idiot distributor stamped his business logo on every sheet through the protective coating resulting in corrosion through the entire structure now <enter long line of sailor expletives here>.

Bucket showers for now, no shower head yet but that's next on the list. Oh, and a flushing toilet would be nice, have a pan with no cistern so again with the buckets.

 

Telecommunications

After a little hump at the start, we have excellent fibre from Fil Products by any country's standards. On the surface they seem a little expensive but when you factor 90 TV channels included in their service they're actually relatively cheap.

We have both Smart and Globe sims, service is atrocious until we walk 40 metres up the road and it's full strength. Not a biggy really, we do most of our communicating via Facebook Messenger, Skype or Zoom anyway.

No landline.  Don't see the need for it. 

 

Power

Only had 1 scheduled (10 hours) and 2 short losses of power since we've been here, so better than Junob so far. We'll see how that goes long term. We're with NORECO I here rather than NORECO II and the per kilowatt rate is slightly lower. No idea of the bill yet, haven't been here for an entire billing period but given the size of the house and there's more people living in it, I expect it to be around the same or slightly more. Our last bill in Junob was 1600PHP for the month – yep it rained a lot so the temperature was down a little resulting in less AC.. Either that or was acclimating already.

 

Water

Water mains with no pump so we're at the mercy of how many neighbours are using it at the same time. We have plans for a tank with a pump in the very near future.  There was a well on the property but apparently the water was disgusting so it's gone. 

 

Food

Generally speaking, I like Filipino food so we eat mainly local but spice it up and make it healthier, brown rice instead of white, cut the fat off and turn it into chicheron, add herbs and spices etc. Lets face it, PI, with some notable exceptions, has some of the most bland and boring food in SE Asia. Don't get me wrong, there are some delicious Filipino dishes out there, but not a lot IMO, compared to Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the like.

Basically it's a Filipino diet with occasional western meal. I was bought up on meat and 3 boiled to death veggies, so I don't miss that in the least.

The kitchen is massive, and takes up half the lower floor of the house so a lot of room to make it what we want. At the moment we're making do with a gas two burner but a decent oven, microwave etc is on list.

Momma still likes to cook over an open fire so we set the kitchen up with a fire and chimney for her. It may save me money on the smoker I've been eyeing off if I can just work out how to seal it.

 

Keeping Busy

Supervising the renovation and sourcing building supplies are my daily thing right now. We've been lucky this time around and found an excellent cabinet maker/carpenter and he's doing to most of the work assisted by brother-in-law. The first renovation several years back was nothing short of shoddy. I'll do a separate post on that at another time.

We walk the dog for about 45mins to an hour a day – I mean fast walk/run. I fast walk, Wifey runs (she's a fitness nut). It starts off flat but we're slowly working our way further up the mountain every day so it's a real workout.

Other than that, there's an excellent tackle/bait/spear fishing shop locally so I'll be spending some money in there. Spear fishing is a thing of mine, not the greatest fan of fishing with a rod, I prefer a more pro-active approach. One our nephews loves spear fishing and knows some great spots if what he brings home on the weekends is anything to go by.

 

Other Westerners

Not really missing them in general, but I am missing some specific mates I made in Dumaguete, same as I miss a couple of my mates in Australia – but don't ever tell them I told you that. Having said that, I've become friendly with the Pom down the road and a Belgium I met having coffee so have a chat to them every now and then – they're actually the only two in town I've spotted. Apparently pre-covid there was a few more but they all cut and run and have yet to return, so I'm still somewhat of a curiosity. My wife is well educated and travelled – probably visited and lived in more countries than me – we watch most international and domestic news services together, so no lack of discussion on that front. Something else I've been doing for years, even before it came into vogue with COVID, is jumping into Zoom with some mates every Friday night for beers, banter and catching up. Some of the guys are all over the world, most still in Australia, but it's a great release for me.

 

Whey Did We Move Here?

Momma is getting old and I want to supervise the renovation. Neither of us are fans of city life in either of our home countries so this is a good fit for us. It's only been just after a month but loving it so far. I was bought up in regional Australia in some pretty remote areas at times, so it's similar to that except I have internet now. Yes it does have it's downsides but the positives for me, far outweigh the negatives.

I love living in a community, I always have. I mean community in the true sense of the word. Everyone in the neighbourhood knows each other. Yes it does have a downside as well, but again, it can be an advantage too.

It should be remembered that “this aint' my first rodeo” “going native”. 10 years ago I spent 5 months living in a reasonably remote area outside of Butuan. Prior to that I literally wandered around India for about 6 months and I could go weeks without seeing a western face, with no more than a hole in the ground for a crapper. I loved it then, and compared to those experiences, this is the lap of luxury.

Who knows how I'll feel in a couple of years? I certainly don't but I do get that the life we're living now isn't for everyone, but it is for us for now.

[jimeve]

17 minutes ago, BrettGC said:

Who knows how I'll feel in a couple of years? I certainly don't but I do get that the life we're living now isn't for everyone, but it is for us for now.

Thanks Bret, good read. All the best for the future hope everthing goes well for you.

Jim.

[Balisidar]

Nice read Brett!  Hope everything continues to go well for you.  How well is the house made in regards to typhoons?

[Mike J]

2 hours ago, BrettGC said:

Bacolod is actually the closest “major city” as the crow flies but it's a slightly longer drive drive than Dumaguete due to the mountainous terrain getting there.

I have driven over the mountain from San Carlos to Bacolod.  Very steep and sharp curves.  Once was enough, went back to San Carlos via the northern route.

[BrettGC]

24 minutes ago, Balisidar said:

Nice read Brett!  Hope everything continues to go well for you.  How well is the house made in regards to typhoons?

Thanks mate.  It's actually pretty solid with regards to that.  It is an issue here highlighted in December when the Typhoon that did so much damage in Cebu went straight over the top of it and the only damage was one of the screen doors and some holes in the eaves.  It has good bones thankfully.  

21 minutes ago, Mike J said:

I have driven over the mountain from San Carlos to Bacolod.  Very steep and sharp curves.  Once was enough, went back to San Carlos via the northern route.

I have no ambition to give it a try mate.  The "National Highway" is enough for me 

[Old55]

Thanks for sharing Brett. 

 

[JJReyes]

Terrific reporting.  It gives me a good idea about living in the provinces.

[Jake]

I can see you out there Brett with your custom made spear gun, snorkel gear and a large cooler full of San Magoo.  In no time flat, the whole village will be speaking with an Australian accent.  Well done Shipmate!  

[RBM]

Nice Brett, have spent some time your area as lived 5 years in San Carlos was an Aussie whom owned a small scuba shop on the Northern boundary to the town, not sure he still there.

Wonder if you have a bike, we used to ride inland up to Isabella a lot, at that time was mostly rough and quite a challenge, fabulous scenery. Most of the locals were scared for us saying full of NPA how ever we were shown nothing but respect and kindness.

Would not be the show that fits me long term, enjoy my creature comforts to much but its great your having a ball there, love to know how the spear fishing goes. 

 

[BrettGC]

2 hours ago, RBM said:

Nice Brett, have spent some time your area as lived 5 years in San Carlos was an Aussie whom owned a small scuba shop on the Northern boundary to the town, not sure he still there.

Wonder if you have a bike, we used to ride inland up to Isabella a lot, at that time was mostly rough and quite a challenge, fabulous scenery. Most of the locals were scared for us saying full of NPA how ever we were shown nothing but respect and kindness.

Would not be the show that fits me long term, enjoy my creature comforts to much but its great your having a ball there, love to know how the spear fishing goes. 

 

Next time we're up there I'll have a look for the scuba shop - I need to buy everything again.  I free dive when spear fishing, I like to give them a fighting chance , also out of habit as it's illegal to spear fish with cylinders in Australia.  

Not into cycling but we've been thinking about it.  We have a car that can accommodate bike racks.  Wifey is a fitness nut so  she'd love it.  We're after some sort of trail/road hybrid but neither of us has any experience so any advice would be welcome.  Don't want to spend a fortune.  

NPA was an issue pretty close to where we are now but they've been quiet here for a couple of years.  I wonder if wearing my Che Quevara t-shirt would get me out of trouble... 

The creature comforts are coming, it's just taking time.  Hopefully in 3-4 months we'll have a home any westerner would be happy to live in facility-wise, if not location.