Various quotes:

If it flies floats or fcuks RENT IT.

Dont deal with anything you can't leave in 30 seconds.

Why buy??? WHEN YOU CAN RENT!!!

You are worth more dead than alive.
_____________
Just kidding!!!

Seriously you'll find some ok places for rent at 10k or less if your not too picky about location. You can generally find something not too far out from a city and I would suggest doing this for awhile before jumping into any commitments. It's just not worth the hassle IMO unless you have solid ties here (family that you can trust with your life) and can get a good deal on a place in a decent location. I built for personal reasons and had the help of some locals and I'm STILL working on it.

@FightRight: Nice write up, thanks a lot. You experience is very similar to what the guys at coolthaihouse.com has. They also writes about security during construction that you either need to have workers there 24/7 or hire someone to guard the construction site during nighttime. What's your experience with this?

How did you sort your water supply? own well?

Which types of specialists did you hire during your project? architect? electrician? plumber?

And finally, if you want. How many m2 and how much was the construction all together (excluding buying the lot)? Would just like a ballpark figure for a simple house like yours.

I am familiar with the poker scene in Manila.

Anyone have any experience with Cebu? Do games higher than 1/2USD run on a daily basis? 24/7 or starting at 7-8pm?

Details appreciated

everyone is saying HSBC is the easiest account to open only needing a passport and address and no ACR card, i see they have the HSBC Advance account with a min balance requirement of 100k php, are there any PH banks we can open US dollar accounts at, without min balance requirements, that you dont need an acr card for that you can easily do bank wire deposits/withdrawals from stars at? i guess something equivalent to the free checking type accounts you can get here in the US?

I have a USD account at BPI which I opened only with my passport. The deposit there is $500 which have to be paid cash but those will be available for disposal after a few days so no worries.
The only down-side is that their online banking doesn't support international transfers yet so you have to visit a branch in order to wire from your account to abroad.

After 6 months you apply to become a preferred customer which will give you best possible exchange rates and no queuing at the branches. (requires a average balance of 500k over 6 months)

what conversion rate to you get withdrawing from your US $ BPI account to PHP?

We had a discussing regarding exchange rates 1-2 pages back.
For BPI:
If you are a preferred customer you get really good rates (you will have a hard time finding something better).
If you convert more than PHP 500k (without being a preferred customer), go to the branch and make the transfer between your PHP and USD account and don't give up before they have called the HQ to get the same rate as preferred customers get.

Avoid wire transfers with conversion and ATM withdrawals with conversion, these generally gives you a ****ty rate.

I have use 6 different banks in 5 different countries atm and imo BPI is one of the better. The only downside is the online banking which is a bit limited.

If your going to be here longer than 6 months your going to need an ACR card anyway it really isn't much of a hassle to get one.

Allied bank allows you to have a dollar account (or any major foreign currency) after you have had a regular account for 6 months. Don't think you need ACR card just two valid forms of picture ID.

In an hotel in Makati at the moment, and when I sit at a table on Stars, they tell me I'm trying to connect from the US and therefore I'm not allowed to play??? Has anybody experienced something like that?

People should check credit ratings of banks if they are looking at using local banks.

Is anyone out there taking out money from FTP to a Philippine bank? It seems like every option out there is takes at least a month... Does anyone know which banks have Visa debit cards that accept money from poker sites... Pretty frustrating trying to get the money out of FTP...

thanks for the info L4Freedom.

are you from the US? you cant play on stars until you verify you are living in PH with support first.

I'm not from the US. No big deal anyway since I'm leaving tomorrow, was just curious since I might come back and live here in a few months.

It really shouldn't be happening unless the hotel did something funky with the connection or you're using a proxy server/vpn of some sort.

Any good Tagalog classes, either face-to-face private or some language school in Makati/Ortigas area that anyone can recommend.
I'm willing to commit 5-10hours a week.

My Tagalog is very basic and I need a push

try sulit.com.ph its like craigslist for the US... you can find plenty of tutors there

rosetta stone ftw!

anyone had experience with how fast PLDT is at switching service to a new location? i plan on being in manila for 1-2 months before heading to cebu to find a place and wanted to go ahead and sign up for PLDT in manila so i dont have to try and grind on a smart bro card while im there, then i would switch PLDT to cebu address when i find a place down there. i've heard customer service is kinda iffy with some of the companies there and i dont wanna get set up in cebu and have to wait forever to get my PLDT transferred there.

Hi guys, will be visiting Manila real soon for 5 nights. Which district should I get my hotel at? Looking to do some nightlife stuff, bars, bachelor stuff, ktv?, and maybe even play some poker. What is there to do? Oh yeah, is it safe to be walking around 3am by myself?

Manila for 2 nights, Angeles City for 3 nights imo.

No idea about transfers of address with PLDT, but for me it took more than 2 weeks to get a new PLDT connection set up here in Cebu city, very frustrating and their costumer service is horrible. I'd go for a SUN wireless stick as backup, works better than smart bro from my experience, both in Metro Manila and in Cebu city. It's 700/month unlimited, 1MBS.

Depends a lot on your budget imo, Makati is the nicest area but the most expensive both when it comes to nightlife, girls and hotels. Ermita/Malate is a cheaper option in Manila, but might be a bit intimidating to walk around the streets there with beggars and stuff. Angeles city about 1.5-2 hrs drive from Manila is probably where you'll get the most value for money when it comes to both nightlife, girls and hotels. Poker can be found close to all those locations.

Philippines is pretty safe imo, I've been coming here for 5 years and never been robbed or had any serious problems, often walking drunk around past 3am, just stay to main streets with other people around and don't go into the slums, don't flash tons of cash and expensive watches and phones either obv

Are there any sit n go grinders living and playing in the Philippines or Thailand?
Is the internet fast and reliable enough to mass multitable? Around 25 tables at once.

Philippines is fast and reliable enough pretty much any where there is cable internet... if you want like 99.9% stay in the cities, when there is heavy rain there are brownouts in the provinces...