Inspector Posted April 3, 2011 Posted April 3, 2011 This is an simple personal preference, a combination of needs and likes...some people are country boys and others city slickers, while others prefer to have a little of both worlds.Personally, if anybody really cares...I enjoy both worlds, but if I had to choose one over the other it would be the city, with vacations to beaches or country. Put me on a beautiful beach with views and after a year I'm the professor on Gilligan's Island and trying to get off it....despite Mary Ann and Ginger.Mary Ann btw for me, so country girls will survive when it comes to a relationship with me. :lol: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Married Kano Posted April 3, 2011 Posted April 3, 2011 Have been chatting with Joy as to where to live. Like most I'm into a simple life...had enough crap elsewhere. Mentioned to her about living in the province ...for cost reasons also...she's not keen on the idea. Fears, for example, the distance from major hospitals in case of emergency like me having a heart attack and dying before reaching a hospital.Any thoughts from those living in either locations? I think its a toss-up. Manila has some of the best doctors but also has polution like crazy and going out and about causes undue stress. For living in a province I would not suggest a far removed area in the jungles naturally. The idea for good living is to have the best of both worlds I think. We live close to Angeles City, two hours north of Manila. Many good hospitals and doctors available. Angeles University Hospital to name just one. For housing there are many fine, secure subdivisions or country living whichever you prefer. But no matter where you live in the country ambulance service is simply not relyable and none would have advanced life support. To my way of thinking Angeles area has everything that Manila does but without the huge crowds and endless traffic. Many good restaurants and large shopping malls also. Gene... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ekimswish Posted April 3, 2011 Posted April 3, 2011 You know, small cities aren't half bad. Using Tacloban as an example, not a suggestion, It's small enough that you can walk around most of it, local motorcycle taxis are about 7~15 pesos, it's close to the water, has a few nice bars to hang out at, and one large shopping mall. That's a city I could really get used to, and I'm sure there are a million more like it, and better, across the Philippines. So the city or countryside debate doesn't need to be between boondocks and Cebu alone. You could probably throw a hundred smaller, but comfortable, cities into the middle of it and find a winner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art2ro Posted April 3, 2011 Posted April 3, 2011 Come on now, admit it! I bet ya too, it also depends a lot on one's finances where one decides to live! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roy2cebu Posted April 3, 2011 Author Posted April 3, 2011 Excellent point... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ekimswish Posted April 3, 2011 Posted April 3, 2011 Come on now, admit it! I bet ya too, it also depends a lot on one's finances where one decides to live! Sure.... If you had more money, you could hire professional chefs, doctors, and "friends" to hang out at your beach-side mansion in the province, lol. What I've learned living in Asia is that it's not the size of the city's population that counts, but how densely they live. Look at Macau. What makes Asia great is having stores, restaurants, and pubs all around you, within walking distance of your house. Having day markets and night markets out on the street is great. To me, the perfect city is one you can walk around in an hour or two, more or less, but have a million options packed into that space. Honestly though, I can't say whether I'd want that suburban life even if I could afford it. I never grew up like that, and to this day, I've never freely experienced it. TGIF and Pizza Hut are as upscale as I get, and that's only a few times a year. When I do go, it's always the same thing..... a really big burger or a Hawaiian pizza. What more could I ask for? I've always seen the suburbs - especially the Asian version - as the opposite of what I want. I like being in the middle of the madness... The suburbs take you so far away from it. Fifteen minutes travel time is too much now. I need things within a hundred meters of my door. If money weren't an issue, I have no idea what I'd do. It's pretty safe to guess my wife would push us into the burbs though... lol.... so yes Art..... you win :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art2ro Posted April 3, 2011 Posted April 3, 2011 (edited) I'm not knocking people's lifestyle, but just explaining my views and opinions of what people must do in order to make do with what they have money wise. I can remember when I was only 7 yrs old and my older brother 9 with our Mom, lived in a quonset hut when we first arrived in Oakland, Ca. from the Philippines! Our father was only a cook in the U.S. Navy and that was in 1955 when military pay was pretty small and to prove it, when our father retired from the Navy in 1961, his pension was only $75.00 a month! The pictures of the quonset huts below aren't the actual huts we lived in for 2 yrs, but pretty darn similar! And when I retired from Civil Service in 1997 at age 49, we immediately retired to the Philippines, because my pension at that time would have not been enough to live on in California! We first lived in the province of Zambales in a small house, luckily with piped in water from a deep well and it was pitch black at night, scary with the NPAs all around! Just after 10 months later, we moved into our home town of Olongapo City in a fairly decent 2bdrm apartment owned and ran by my first cousin for P7,000 a month, that was in 1999. We lived directly behind a night club, with load live music until 2 am! In 2001, we moved into our newly built home in Sta. Rosa, Laguna from an inheritance my Mom left me after her passing! We've been here ever since! So you see, it was a slow progression of events in our lives and with my other 2 pensions kicking in just 2 yrs ago, it has made our lives a lot more comfortable and worry free financially until our old age! I'm now 62 and my wife 47, we have no children, but a lot of nieces and nephews from my wife's side of the family and they don't live with us! Her 7 yr old niece and 8 yr old nephew from Zambales are here with us now on their school Spring break! They're well behaved kids! Life is what we all make it to be! Edited April 3, 2011 by Art2ro 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inspector Posted April 3, 2011 Posted April 3, 2011 Great post Art! Nice to hear of those who never forgot their roots and worked hard for everything they have.:( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ekimswish Posted April 4, 2011 Posted April 4, 2011 Yeah, nice post Art. It's actually cool to see that the easy life you have now wasn't automatic, and even in your case took time and patience, and a progression of events. Hopefully, by the time I'm older, I'll have the financial freedom to really choose where i want to live, and then find out for sure. As for now, a quonset hut would be nice, lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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