Ladislav back in Manila

[ryanx]

Rock...I lived in Taichung for over four years but never got a chance to visit Kaohsiung. I visited Taipei and Hualien etc..but never got further south than Puli. I am thinking of making a nostalgic trip to Taiwan and think I will go straight to Kaohsiung. I might even consider teaching English again. How does Kaohsiung compare to Taichung and Taipei? Any hints for accommodation for perhaps up to three months? Cheers.

[Rock]

Rock...I lived in Taichung for over four years but never got a chance to visit Kaohsiung. I visited Taipei and Hualien etc..but never got further south than Puli. I am thinking of making a nostalgic trip to Taiwan and think I will go straight to Kaohsiung. I might even consider teaching English again. How does Kaohsiung compare to Taichung and Taipei? Any hints for accommodation for perhaps up to three months? Cheers.

1. Check out Airbnb and Travelmob for medium term accommodation in those cities.

2. The only Taiwan cities I've lived longer term in are Taipei City and Chungli. From what I've gathered, costs are pretty much the same except for accommodation. Rent (at least longer term) in Taipei City is gonna probably be 50% or more higher than Kaoshiung or Taichung. Taipei has best and overall most cost effective transport (very dense metro network and well organized bus system). In Taichung you may need to get a scooter if you don't like going everywhere in busses and taxis. Kaoshuing is kinda in between the two (less developed metro and bus system than Taipei but better than Taichung).

3. Weather is better in Kaoshiung and Taichung cus much fewer hours of annoying drizzle and rain plus warmer temps in winter months.

[Depswa7]

I'm figuring out why foreigners (aside from Koreans in their mini ghettos) tend not to stay here longer term unless they are budget retirees mainly into drinking beer or off-the-wall entrepreneurs capitalizing on some of the strange niches available here.

Lad hit the nail on the head when he mentioned that people here are still operate on a village mentality. This is really a hard place to live for someone who is not used to constant chaos, confusion, heat, noise, on and off 90s style Internet, patchy phone service, power outages, lack of flood control, unreliable bank service, etc. etc.

I stay in central Makati which is supposed to be one of the most urbanized parts in the country. But spend some time in Makati City Hall trying to accomplish the most seemingly straightforward types of tasks and you may just wanna jump out the window on a high floor. The simplest things are broken down into say 5-10 mini components which each involve a line and a different floor, and sometimes a multi day wait each. What I can accomplish say in say 3 days in Bangkok takes more like a month here. They have loud election fiestas early in the morning blocking the entrance, Catholic mass inside the main hall, elevators that are often out of service (or require a 15-20 minute wait) when you need to go up to floor 18, then 3 then 14, etc.

One of the best local banks here may be offline when you need to make an important transaction. Walk into Jollibees on Makati Ave, smell the putrid smoke filling the joint, walk up to 5 attendants with no customers who are busy fiddling around with some coins and don't acknowledge your presence till you say "excuse me please" and then they all look confused as if they forgot it's their role to take food orders. Take the MRT with a total of 8 trains serving tens of thousands a day (there once used to be over 40 trains) which you might have to wait in line 30-60 minutes just to board. Enjoy flying from arguably the most antiquated airports of any major metro area in E/SE Asia. The list goes on and on and on. Think the provinces are any better. Think again. They may have better traffic. But the noise is there (2 am roosters constantly crowing), fiestas, and awful smoke billowing from BBQs everywhere, plus much less reliable basics (power, Internet, phone).

A couple months ago, I met a Kenyan student who had also lived many years in Uganda. Both of those countries on paper are less developed and poorer than the Philippines. But he told me that most E. Africans would lose it very quickly if they had to put up with all the BS a person faces in everyday Filipino life. They would not tolerate waiting in long slow moving lines in the tropical heat without making big scenes, slow lack of common sense service, etc. Filipinos are perhaps among the most patient, tolerant, and controlled people on the planet.

The seemingly more painful, frustrating, annoyances and inconveniences have a positive flip side. I believe one reason why Philippines is perhaps less contaminated by certain aspects of modern global cultural when compared to most other HA countries we discuss a lot circa 2015 is all these frustrations work to keep mainstream foreigners at bay and slow down so-called progress. So things are changing here, most notably perhaps due to Internet and social media as Mr. S has pointed out. But since that stuff works so poorly here, it's still not as prevalent or easy to use as it is in other Asian countries, esp. if you go to the backwoods and boondocks. There are places for example in the hills of rural Davao that take 3 hours to access from the closest town by special truck or motorcycle or twice daily jeep. Some of the villages there only have very basic electric and the roads are all dirt. So during rainy periods, you can get stranded for days.

This may sound like a roast of the Philippines. I do need a break but cannot take it just yet for various reasons. In spite of everything, there is still a lot of fun to be had here.

I think some positive things would be transportation like buses, jeepneys and taxis are available at all hours. Also buses keep moving and not much of a wait time. On the bank side I've only tried BPI and have to admit
they aren't too bad. You can deposit a check from your US bank and 15 days later (weekends included) money will be in your account. Malls are top notch. Easy to get a date and most people are approachable/friendly.

Overall Philippines is fun just need to adapt.

[Depswa7]

I always had my reservations about living in the Philippines, but after reading Rock's post just above, I've decided that I'll never do it. I could never tolerate all the bulls hit.

PROS :

An abundance of quality women
Low cost of living
Warm weather
Nice places (beaches, mountains, etc)
Most people speak reasonable english
Friendly people, easy to make friends
You can live your life and people don't give a s hit
Westerners are looked up to (bonus)
Quirky, fun, interesting stuff always going on
Minimum beaurocracy (in some things)
People try to live and enjoy life

CONS :

Dirt and pollution
Poverty everywhere
Noise, traffic, too many people
Too hot and humid
Typhoons
Corruption
It's so fuc king far away and isolated
People can be abrupt and coarse
Scroungers, greedy, scammers
Childish, reckless people
Low intellect, common sense
Flexible morals / honesty
Poor infrastructure, getting things done
Low quality food and goods
Friendliness over helpfulness / honesty

It's not worth it. You have to be a certain type of person to be able to tolerate all that. I could probably adapt enough to be able to stand it in short amounts at a time (i.e. a month or two here and there), but honestly, for me the main appeal is the women, the low cost of living, and to an extent the overall friendliness and ease of making friends. If it wasn't for those things I'd have no interest in that country. All those cons added together is a huge price to pay. It would drive me mad, and I'd scream.

If there was a nearby nice place where they spoke english and it wasn't too expensive, where I could live permanently, and just visit the Philippines often for the things that I do like about it, I would consider that. But there's nowhere. Singapore is a bland police state, Hong Kong is loud, and Australia is scorching and full of australians and there are kangaroos literally everywhere (fact). There's nowhere. Fu ck it. They should move the Philippines to the Atlantic where it's closer to me. Or invent planes that can fly all around the world in 2 hours.

Guam and Malaysia are 3.5 hours flight from Philippines.

[Depswa7]

I tried the living in Philippines thing for two months last year and it made me realize it could never work. Even if I had a couple million in the bank, it would be a bad idea. (A bad idea for me, at least.) This is why I say it is so important to take a provisional trip to your assumed HA destination IF you think you want to live there long term. You could end up wasting years of your life preparing to move to a country that makes you miserable if you don't.

When I went there to live, I knew it would be short term more than likely, but I did consider finding a job and staying longer...somehow.

I had a nobya and rented a local apartment. It was two floors, and the price was good: 7000 pesos a month. So I rented it for two months. It was the cheapest accommodation I had ever had, and even though I could've gone cheaper I was more than satisfied. Had to make a few adjustments: AC only in the bedroom, so my nobya brought in some fans. No toilet seat, so we went out to buy one and I put it on.

I felt really closed in while living there and I didn't like to go out by myself. I don't think there was much danger, but it felt like it. (I lived in what essentially a shantytown - one of those garbage dump towns.) You didn't want to walk anywhere outside without sneakers on - I never understood how pinoys almost always had slippers (what they call flip-flops) on. One time I stepped on what I thought was a sharp rock and a week or two later I found a rusty pushpin lodged in my slipper. (Fortunately, I was up on my tetanus shot.)

My girlfriend worked late, so we usually did things on the weekends. If it was a work-night, she would either bring back pasalubong or we'd go to a little hamburger stand. (Good thing about Philippines, it always has a lot that feels familiar because it's Western.) On the weekends we'd go out to the only thing you can do for fun besides p4p in the Phils: the mall. More Western food. I gained weight while living there because of that plus not much walking.
One day we went to Tagaytay, which is gorgeous but can be too touristy in the high season.

Then one night I saw a giant gagumba (spider) outside my apartment. It was as big as my outstretched hand, and I have a fear of spiders. After a two or three hour panic attack, I knew I could never live in the Phils long term.

I left to stay in a hotel in Quezon city because of that, and because of how my relationship with my nobya had deteriorated. I had spent a lot of money in those two months, much of which was planned, but a lot that wasn't. The final straw was my nobya's brother stealing money (about $1000) from me. I left the country the next day.

Anyway, anyone who wants to live there, go try it out first. And beware.

Ghost sorry to hear about your bad experience. I feel your pain had a few issues myself. Surprising I've noticed lot's of over 70 expats living in AC versus Pattaya. Most seem to prefer Philippines because it's cheaper and
you can find nice apartments in gated communities cheaper than Thailand. It used to be the opposite but the Thai baht over the years has grown stronger and cost of living increases. The Philippines have increased
as well but not like some other SEA countires. Another place Cambodia on the cheap but from what I hear but it's not very user friendly.

Maybe you can re-group and give it another go. I had to do such a thing and it seemed to work.

[ladislav]

I am in AC now.

Just saw one of those over 70 expats- he looked like one of those zombies from "the Night of the Living Dead"- with three bar girls about 18 on his harm all chirping cheerily on the way somewhere for another night of passion. This place can't be beat. Makes you tolerate all the inconveniences described above.

Also, makes you question the sensibility of getting married here. The process is really complicated and involves so many trips to different places. Makes you wonder whether that expat was actually much wiser at living a much more vigorous life style with very few responsibilities vs. a marriage. I guess you really need to be in love to marry here.

[ladislav]

PS. The Philippines for me was, in the beginning, a change of scenery from Japan. From a robotic society populated by gray, unfeeling machines, and pale girls with a metallic look in their eyes, I suddenly found myself in a place that was alive-- with people who felt, who laughed, who loved. With girls who smiled at you and talked to you and went out with you.

Then, the Philippines became a change of scenery from Saudi. From not seeing a woman for months, and living under the Sharia, this place was again a bastion of freedom and pleasant chaos. Company was available in minutes, and you basically felt the freedom in the air.

After that, it was a change of scenery from the US. From a very uptight, pedantic and Protestant country with a law restricting every little thing in your life, and paranoid people who are scared of strangers, again you feel warmly embraced and included by a mass of relaxed humanity. You feel alive and like a human being again.

Now, it became a change of scenery from...Ukraine. This time it felt weird. Ukraine was kind of like the Philippines. Alive, and the people were really nice and friendly. At least when giving service, they would chat with you.

You felt part of the country. You could talk to strangers. On the train, you were not alone with no ice barrier- a fellow traveler shared my compartment and we instantly became friends and spent 3 hours telling jokes and sharing life experiences. What a nice guy he was!

But many things were better in UA than in the PH. The food was fabulous. The people dressed in latest fashions. The girls were in dresses and on high heels. Many were stunning. Taxi drivers were not ripping you off- they also knew every street in town.

The architecture was gorgeous- like Vienna, Buenos Aires or Paris in many places. It was way more multi-colored in all aspects. The people were almost all good looking. All seemed to know everything. You could ask them a question, and they knew the answer. Plus, I didn't stand out there as a foreigner that much. People would ask me for directions. The country is 99.9% white.

When in the Philippines, the plainness of the t-shirt, jeans- and flip-flop society hit me straight on. Very little architecture to speak of, too. Everything looks drab. The local food is inedible. I just went out with a very pretty girl, but again, she had a simple mind-- and I noticed that I was not as happy to date her as I would be years ago. In Kiev, I met a 22 law student girl -- a daughter of a priest. She knew Spanish and English fluently. Amazing!

And I stand out as a foreigner again. Takes time to get used to, but also, I am not as extatic or relieved here now as I would be if I had flown in from Riyadh or Cleveland.

UA is now back in my life full force. I guess I would have to spend time there regularly now.

[E Irizarry R&B Singer]

She told me that about 20 men have called her up and also, 5 foreign men actually invited her on a date here in the Philippines. She told me that among these 5 men, not even one acted as a gentleman. They all asked her to go with them for sex. One even started pawing her. In public ( but under the table).

Brings me to another detail:

The Philippines attracts a lot of foreign lowlives and people with no social skills. Also, because of nationalism in the West, very few decent, young and winner types would join Asian dating sites. So, the girls get contacted by a lot of lowbrows and losers. If the guys are in the Phils, again, these are already spoiled by sex with hookers plus, they often have no manners.

Conclusion: 1) check if it was the girls who had made the profile ( if you can). 2) if you are a decent person, you will have little competition.

They seem like stereotypical Angeles City / Pattaya mongering scum (NOT most of the members here)!

Some of us have been making fun of Winston for not having enough social skills or decency, but compared to those guys he's obviously not one of those lowlifes at all. He's really quite a funny and lovable person, and that's why many Filipinas do fall for him, and I guess also for you too Lad.

Thank you for capitalizing "NOT" in lieu of the word "most". LMAO! I dont' feel so offended anymore jajajajaajajaja

[E Irizarry R&B Singer]

Brings me to another detail:

The Philippines attracts a lot of foreign lowlives and people with no social skills. Also, because of nationalism in the West, very few decent, young and winner types would join Asian dating sites. So, the girls get contacted by a lot of lowbrows and losers. If the guys are in the Phils, again, these are already spoiled by sex with hookers plus, they often have no manners......

I wholeheartedly concur, and that's why the difference between those lowlives and my 2007-2008 mongering sojourn on Fields Ave is that I was very amicable with the women that I slutted it up. They couldn't say I was an asshole unless they tried to take advantage of me.

Au contraire, there was a time that I slept with two Pinays in AC, and we ordered breakfast the next day. In Tagalog, they ordered up thousands of PHP worth of food ($$ - denotes not much but enough to denote me as a sucker). The cook, without my permission, did it, and I had no frigging idea they ordered that much s.hi it in Tagalog (they both were carrying two big plastic grocery-bag sized orders of Pinoy food. And once the chicks got their food, they started walking out with the food they assumed that I was going to cover. They had no manners whatsoever, I snatched the food out of their hands and told them to "go fly a kite" for lack of better pejoratives. An hour later, I'd gotten a series of texts from them that they would go to the cops if I didn't fork up 20, 000 PHPs. I ignored the texts, and nada happpened to me. They tried that anti-gringo tactic on me #fail #epicfail

[E Irizarry R&B Singer]

I tried the living in Philippines thing for two months last year and it made me realize it could never work. Even if I had a couple million in the bank, it would be a bad idea. (A bad idea for me, at least.) This is why I say it is so important to take a provisional trip to your assumed HA destination IF you think you want to live there long term. You could end up wasting years of your life preparing to move to a country that makes you miserable if you don't.

When I went there to live, I knew it would be short term more than likely, but I did consider finding a job and staying longer...somehow.

I had a nobya and rented a local apartment. It was two floors, and the price was good: 7000 pesos a month. So I rented it for two months. It was the cheapest accommodation I had ever had, and even though I could've gone cheaper I was more than satisfied. Had to make a few adjustments: AC only in the bedroom, so my nobya brought in some fans. No toilet seat, so we went out to buy one and I put it on.

I felt really closed in while living there and I didn't like to go out by myself. I don't think there was much danger, but it felt like it. (I lived in what essentially a shantytown - one of those garbage dump towns.) You didn't want to walk anywhere outside without sneakers on - I never understood how pinoys almost always had slippers (what they call flip-flops) on. One time I stepped on what I thought was a sharp rock and a week or two later I found a rusty pushpin lodged in my slipper. (Fortunately, I was up on my tetanus shot.)

My girlfriend worked late, so we usually did things on the weekends. If it was a work-night, she would either bring back pasalubong or we'd go to a little hamburger stand. (Good thing about Philippines, it always has a lot that feels familiar because it's Western.) On the weekends we'd go out to the only thing you can do for fun besides p4p in the Phils: the mall. More Western food. I gained weight while living there because of that plus not much walking.
One day we went to Tagaytay, which is gorgeous but can be too touristy in the high season.

Then one night I saw a giant gagumba (spider) outside my apartment. It was as big as my outstretched hand, and I have a fear of spiders. After a two or three hour panic attack, I knew I could never live in the Phils long term.

I left to stay in a hotel in Quezon city because of that, and because of how my relationship with my nobya had deteriorated. I had spent a lot of money in those two months, much of which was planned, but a lot that wasn't. The final straw was my nobya's brother stealing money (about $1000) from me. I left the country the next day.

Anyway, anyone who wants to live there, go try it out first. And beware.

Beware? Try living in Mindinao where spiders are big and rampant like that. They are good animals if you leave them the f.uck alone and let them feast on your ticks, roaches, ants, & bedbugs. They are the anti-pest.

Better yet, try living in the outback in Australia, where are taipans and death adder snakes that can inject tablespoons of venom into you within literally a second from over 3-5 bites/second or with dingos that make pitbulls look like ninja assassins in training.

Nice cold water in showers (it's simply too humid and too hot to take hot showers in MIndinao). They believe in the "washbucket-accompanies-the-toilet-for-cleansing-your-ass" pails densified of heavy water (not 2-H-subscript 2-o). It's no wonder Pinays (Filipinas) have such pristine hygiene although they can barely afford toiletries hence why it's so damn cheap to get that stuff in RP.

Maybe AW can benefit from that system so they wouldn't have to shave their vulvas bald due to the lingering putrid funk of STDs like clymydia & trichomoniasis (burnt-plastic-meets-fish-vinegar smell) that the American showering system fails to mask and in that smell being retained in their pubic hair alas why they shave it bald.....Even Eurobrat agrees wtih me on that theory as to why most AW are gung-ho about shaving their p***y bald. That excuse of "it feels better without hair down there" is a deflection. #fragmented #run-on So?? lol

[globe-trotter]

Chanta76Do note a detail about such profiles- and I dare say it happens more often then you think:

Many online profiles of Filipinas were not created by them, but It is some friend or relative who would put them up. "I will put your picture on the Internet, and maybe you can meet a nice porener".

The response of the girl is usually that of indifference. "OK", she shrugs. Then, the picture goes up, and if the girl responds to you, it may not even be her checking the profile.

Again, it may be the brother or the father who really wants for the girl to meet a handsome and rich Americano. This often explains a rather tepid reception you get on the part of the girl when you visit her. She never really wanted to be there in the first place. She just allowed it with a shrug.

I guarantee you that these women would display a lot more enthusiasm if the guy who showed up on the date was young and good-looking. The "tepid" response is just a reflection of her lack of attraction towards the guy. It has nothing to do with who set her up on the date.

[Winston]

Johnny1975
Why not live in thailand then? It has amazing food and great infrastructure. The people have better manners and are more civilized too. The girls arent as sweet or warm, but you can find some good ones after a while, eventually.

Dont worry about language. Using your translator app on your phone can get you through most situations. Its a lot easier than you think. I got through russia for many months without speaking the language too. You just gotta be proactive. Ive seen people travel around china ok without speaking any chinese too.

[Johnny1975]

Johnny1975
Why not live in thailand then? It has amazing food and great infrastructure. The people have better manners and are more civilized too. The girls arent as sweet or warm, but you can find some good ones after a while, eventually.

Dont worry about language. Using your translator app on your phone can get you through most situations. Its a lot easier than you think. I got through russia for many months without speaking the language too. You just gotta be proactive. Ive seen people travel around china ok without speaking any chinese too.

Well, I wouldn't mind visiting Thailand, and in some ways it's tempting, but I couldn't live there, and here's why :


* The culture is too focused on money and status

* I don't want to live in a country where if I accidentally (or maybe deliberately) insult someone, I'll have 50 Thais jumping on me. Not that I go around insulting people, but sometimes one might say something in the middle of an argument, or you might simply have a heated disagreement. I like people who respond in a way that is proportional to what you did or said. I don't like volatile, crazy people no matter how much they smile. I like to know that I can speak my mind within reason without having to worry about overreactions

* Foreigners are tolerated, but not really appreciated. I could never fit in

* The culture is too different. I could never feel like it's home. It's too weird and exotic. Exotic is good, but if you don't feel a deep connection to a place, it can never be home, it will always feel like a theme park

And there's probably other stuff too that doesn't come to mind right now. It's a shame because it does have a lot of good things, but the bad outweighs it. The Philippines also has plenty of negatives but I do feel a connection that I find hard to let go of. And I get along well with filipinas.

For travelling, almost any place is fine, but for living in, I have to consider many things other than if it looks nice or whatever. I would be willing to learn the language until I'm at least 80% fluent (I've already started) and learn about the history. If I'm going to live somewhere I need to become as compatible as possible so I can fully function there.