been to davao for like 3 nights.. cool place... super cheap compared to manila.............. almost no white tourists... all in a hotel call marco polo.... its nice place with nice scenary.. very relax and chill

Didn't have a chance to check out the cardroom but here is my initial impression of Davao (just a copy/paste with minor edits since I wrote this on another site):

And here's my take on the cost of living in comparison to Manila:

quality of girls on the street and easy to find?

ive heard its not a great place for that sort of thing

Don't think so from what I've read, but hey this is Phil's and you will be able to find something no doubt. Seems to be a lot of girls on dia and not a lot of foreigners going there, simple Maths tell me it won't be an issue......

On stand by for the next flight outta here

Chick from Davao I met on DAI..

no idea about hookers in Davao, but girls do tend to be better looking from what I've seen of her friends in Davao... had a lot of fun with her, but in the end, a very selfish girl who didn't pass "The Door Test"

Good looking chicks. I bet she's is still a begging little **** tho

hey guys. a few questions regarding living in Manila

about renting. any sites on the inet u would recommend? or is it best as always to go look for yourself? any agencies you would recommend? how about the deposit standards there? how much are u estimated to pay in advance? possibilites to get it back actually?

I already saw some banking advice earlier posted in this thread about "kabayan savings account". this should be the best option?


which internet provider would you recommend? same thing would be with a mobile one. are these contracts easy to make? ie. no work permits required etc?

hey guys a few of us investigating philippines and thailand for a poker house in the new year.

could any of you guys give a comparison of the following things not necessarily in order of importance.

internet speed/stability
weather
cost of living
nightlife
sports, gyms, things to do
food
ability to meet non hooker girls
scenery (how nice is the place)

also the specific areas that have been mentioned are phuket, chiang mai and cebu. so if anyone has any other suggestions or specific info on places then that would be much appreciated

Unless you absolutely need live poker in your life then Thailand over phils all day long. but if you could afford it, it would be good to do a short tour in each country first and see for yourselves which you would feel more comfortable living in.

Only spent a couple weeks in Thailand, did PI for a few months. This was 2010/2011.

internet speed/stability-- Not great in the Philippines. I averaged a disconnect a day on top notch PLDT. If you want decent internet you need to set up a 1 year contract and get installation. It took me and my roommate a couple weeks to get set-up. I can't speak for Thailand.

weather - Pretty similar. Good in both countries so long as its not rainy season.

cost of living - Relatively, they are close. I'd guess that Thailand (excluding Bangkok) is cheaper than Cebu. Bangkok is def the most expensive.

nightlife - I had a great time in both countries. It depends what your into. Thailand has way more expats/expat bars. I had more interesting adventures in PI.

sports, gyms, things to do - tons of gyms/things to do in both countries. Really subjective question, it depends what your into.. I'd assume Thailand is better for team sports just because of the sheer number of expats.

food - The food in PI is terrible. The food in Thailand is amazing. This is the biggest difference between the two countries.

ability to meet non hooker girls - ability to meet non-hooker girls is extremely easy in PI (no language barrier). It's still easy in Thailand. Basically, you don't need any game in Asia. Overall, the girls are better in the Philippines.

scenery (how nice is the place) - Really depends where you stay. chiang mai > phuket > cebu for scenery. Both countries have beautiful areas.

If its your first visit to Asia, I'd recommend Thailand.

If Thailand had spoken english like the phils i think it would ruin the place. I cant stand the way flips speak. Personally the high level of English and ad to that the nail on chalkboard tone they speak in is a big turn off for me.

the PI is getting ridiculously expensive along with crimes

the tone they speak in makes my heart melt

lol wow. horses for courses its something we'll never agree on thats for sure prolly cus u are america.

Some day I will do a big write-up of Philippines vs Thailand (or Manila vs Bangkok), but for now I'll just say go to Thailand.

thanks for all replies big help

anyone got recommendations on a neighboring country to pick up a laptop in with good prices? i hear hong kong has decent prices for laptops. really sucks looking for a laptop in PH when the same models on newegg are $300+ cheaper for the same model and dealing with customs for online orders of electronics is hell.

HK for sure, also the cheapest country to fly to if you book a bit in advance due to all the maids there. Shouldn't cost you more than 150$ round trip from Manila and a couple other cities.

Check out http://price.com.hk/ to get an idea about prices there.

http://www.fortress.com.hk/ is one of the biggest retailers but prices from small dealers that have access to china imports (check price.com.hk) are usually cheaper.

Posted about this before, but I order my electronics and hard-to-get items from the US and have them shipped over via courier service so that I don't have to deal with customs.

It's $6.50/lb + $5 handling fee for air freight and it takes about a week to get the item. Worth looking into if you've got a credit card, and works out to be a lot cheaper than flying somewhere to buy a laptop.

Also, in my experience, HK is not the cheapest country to fly into. I've flown to Kota Kinabalu (Malaysia) for about $20 each way - cheapest I've found for a throwaway flight or doing a visa run. Cebu Pacific also runs international flight promos every week for less than $100 roundtrip.

would like to know the courier service and do you have them ship directly or do you have friends or family ship it to you?

Both (usually direct, but sometimes had my cousin ship).

I've used Johnny Air Cargo (air freight and sea freight) and Pobox.ph (sea freight only). Sea freight takes much longer (>1 month) but makes a lot more sense for heavy/bulky items or items that you don't need right away.

I know there's also My Shopping Box and Manilaforwarder and probably some others, but haven't used them as I've been pretty happy with Johnny Air.

If you're in Manila, check out Laptopkid.com. They're still overpriced, but they're way cheaper than the retail places. But if you have time, you should probably just get JohnnyAirCargo like Paul said.

What is this All Saints day everything is shut!!!


http://www.adaphobic.com/philippines...rks-encounter/

Going to check out these whale sharks next weekend anyone used any of the resorts down that way? There doesnt seem to be many online

Catholic holidays ftw! No work tomorrow...getting drunk tonight!