Happier Abroad Forum Community

hammanta wrote:Awesome Trip report and pics. I must say there is something enticing about a brown skinned girl in a Hawaiian Sundress. I always make sure my girl wears one ; ) haha The Philippines is truly a beautiful and friendly place if you know where to look.

P.S. What type of camera do you use?

Thanks!

Most of my pics were taken with a Nikon D5100. The ocean ones were with a GoPro.

Nice pics Dave! Did you have any of the house you were talking about?

manly5000 wrote:Nice pics Dave! Did you have any of the house you were talking about?

Unfortunately he was getting ready to return temporarily to the UK while we were arriving in Alcoy. But I did see both some nice (and cheap) rental properties and found that house sale prices are very fluid. What do I mean by that? Don't pay the asking price that's for sure. Even with rentals, often the price is negotiable.

Alcoy:

I have been to Alcoy several times now and always enjoy it. With only 15,000 people it's a sleepy town. Restaurants and nightlife are slim but events in the town are many. We went to a pre-fiesta event with dance routines by local groups. Hundreds of people showed up.

The white sand beach is very nice as is the water. Yes there is some debris. both of the man made and natural variety, but the water is still inviting to swim and play in. Snorkeling and diving are popular off Tingko Beach. The beach is a bit crowded weekends but not during the weekday.

The people are very friendly. Yes, you will get stared at by children and adults, smiled at by girls, and people will call Hey Joe to you.

There are a fair number of expats there, mostly German. These Germans also own resorts, restaurants, dive shops, etc. I've met a few and they seemed quite nice.

The overlooking view from above the beach, whether you are in a home or resort is world class. You can see Bohol and Siquijor islands. The view is almost worth living there.

Outside of the wet market there is no shopping, although ground has been broken on a shopping center. To get anything more you have to go north to Dallaguette which is a bit more bustling. A mall is about to open there soon.

But really you are about 3 hours from Cebu City to the north and 2 hours to Dumaguete to the south.

It's definitely provincial life but a life many expats enjoy!

Wow, nice lady. Maybe I should have gone to the Phillies instead of China/Thailand.

Somebody was asking about costs. If you don't need aircon you can save a lot - I didn't use it much in Thailand or in China (where it was full of mould anyway).

If you can eat what the locals eat then you can save loads although food isn't that cheap anywhere these days. I happily ate Issan bar girl food in Thailand but I wasn't so keen on the local food in China.

Just don't skimp on emergency health cover - if you get something serious and you can't afford to fly home then you're stuffed basically.

Saw more pictures that you posted.

Really nice, really inspiring, thanks.

BTW the camera sure loves your lady... and vice versa.

Jester wrote:Saw more pictures that you posted.

Really nice, really inspiring, thanks.

BTW the camera sure loves your lady... and vice versa.

Like most (or all) Filipinas she loves pics. When she and her friends have lunch together, FB is filled with pics. Pretty standard in the PI. OTOH, when i post pics of her she is very critical of her own pics and very particular about what I should post. I just tell her the pic looks great and I am posting it

davewe wrote:

Jester wrote:Saw more pictures that you posted.

Really nice, really inspiring, thanks.

BTW the camera sure loves your lady... and vice versa.

Like most (or all) Filipinas she loves pics. When she and her friends have lunch together, FB is filled with pics. Pretty standard in the PI. OTOH, when i post pics of her she is very critical of her own pics and very particular about what I should post. I just tell her the pic looks great and I am posting it

Yeah tell her it's good for our morale!