Definitely not more than 50.

Paul B.
geo8o2
Randall (lurker)
mnlgrind
Vinny (lurker)
Joey (lurker)
Tony (French guy)
PItom
JayPez
HomeyG30
fanapathy
slimbob
Tyrese Sebastian
theRealOmahaKid
spangle
sooraw
checkminraise
2+2er to be unnamed
Seattleallstar
FightRight (?)
gumaaa (?)

Not sure if I'm forgetting any. So around 15-20ish 2+2ers in the Philippines.
yoyo, Slider, alex23, OMGitsCheddar and bob2007 all used to live in Manila at some point.

I've been hearing great things about ICON and have a half dozen girls asking me to take them there. Dying to check it out.

Kobikicho in Legaspi Village. Pricey but worth it. Kuretake in Rockwell for better value.

lol ice skating FTW!

Ozamiz is safe but a headache. You would need to hire a car in advance as it's truly a provincial town and has no taxis whatsoever.

The place where I went (Dolphin Island) claims it is a "dolphin sanctuary for rescued dolphins." The dolphins are in a large cage. Don't go if you're a PETA member.

1. I searched and found this: Makati Aqua Sports Arena. Olympic size (50 meters) swimming pool, P50 entrance fee for Makati residents.

2. List of my favorite restaurants (most are in Makati and the Fort). My favorite Chinese restaurants are Eat Well (Fort) and Suzhou (Malate).
You can search ourawesomeplanet.com for more food suggestions.

That's awesome. I wish I had the work ethic to do that. Would be interesting imo.

I'm pretty sure I'm staying long-term. For what I value in a city (English speaking, dollar going far, attractive girls, weather, food, convenient for my lifestyle) Manila has been the best so far. I've been traveling all around Asia and searching for a better alternative but so far no other city has triumphed. Will take suggestions though.

To all: I'm coming back! Booking my ticket next week!

Whats the weather like throughout the year in manila? cebu?

Hot, sunny, and humid. There's a short rainy season though. Cebu is actually nicer than manila in many ways and I would probably live there if I knew people there, but since that isn't the case it's Manila for me.

Think I'm the only 2+2 member I know of in Cebu that lurks/posts semi-regularly but if you guys are ever down here you can hit me up (didnt get in touch with you when you were here alex23 think I just discovered this thread at that point), I've been living in Cebu for over a year and had been visiting for 1-2 years before deciding to get a place and stay here. Weather is going to be similar to most other tropical regions, its been real humid of late with some rain but still get a mix of warm sunny days good for hitting the beach. If anyone is out in cebu Id be down to tell you some good spots to check out and eat at but I dont play at the casino's so I wouldn't know much about the poker scene around here.

It can be a lot more peaceful than the Manila city vibe so I do like it alot here, there is an active girlie bar scene altho its probably smaller than the Manila/Angeles level of operations but again I have put my degen ways on hold while I focus on other things so I couldn't tell you first hand about the quality of bars only what I've observed and heard from others.

Oh yea there are TONS of koreans out here, the % of korean foreigners to other nationality's is alot higher than n the other parts of the PI I have observed. It is nice tho, I do see alot of very beautiful mixed filipina's here and am still amazed by how many stunners I see almost everyday at some of the colleges. Surprisingly I dont see many americans here, most of the white people I met/have seen here are Euro's/Aussies. The people here are still really friendly towards foreigners tho and you can still travel around the region a little and get people who are genuinely shocked and happy to meet you since it's rare for some of the locals to be able to interact with a foreigner.

What's the internet like in Cebu? Is it easy to find apartments with reliable broadband internet?

Don't know specifically the answer to this question, but I was there for a three day period and stayed at a hotel which was using pldt and it was excellent.

I pay around 70$ a month for 3mb from PLDT for almost a year and it is very solid. Every so often I have to reset my modem which is pretty minor but for the most part PLDT in my area has been very good. In the Philippines i think it can be area dependent, some internet providers are a lot better in certain parts of the PI than others.

Thanks Fightright...so there's no problem with getting internet good enough to multitable on stars/FT etc in Cebu?

I'm also interested in hearing about internet in Boracay or any other beachy areas of the PI.

Pretty much any other information I can find by googling, but internet that never drops out is something that only Poker players really care about.

With a few areas as exceptions, globe and pldt are generally reliable and fine for playing poker, and most of the other ISPs are terrible for it. However if you get a multi-wan router and two ISPs even using sky and another terrible ISP you should be fine. Cebu is awesome. Gorgeous city, although if you want great beaches I think there are better places like Palawan (less touristy) and Boracay. Cebu does have the advantage of being a real city and having a beach next to it though. If you check out Cebu I would check out city lights gardens.

Yo guys.

I am looking for knowledge about renting in Malate or Pasay.
What price range are we looking at for a decent furnished studio/1BR? What's a good building?
If you know a decent broker, pm me.

I need to move close to either Hyatt or RW. I'm playing the autostraddle games there - they are awesome, period. Right now I'm looking at 20-25hours of transport a month and like 7K. Which is close to a waste.

I love Fort for all it's worth but I don't need it right now.
Bucket is on me if u can help, ty

Edit: I'll make this 2 parts. What fines am I looking at for ignoring passport renewals, anyone have experience with this?

Just chiming in for the lurkers. Took my first trip to the Philippines the last two weeks. Manila area and Boracay. I have traveled to probably 15 countries in my life and never was I so popular with the local women as I was in the Philippines. I was at SM Mall of Asia for ~4 hours WITH my Chinese GF and I was given two numbers unsolicited and openly cat-called by a few more groups of women. I'm 26, tall and white, not fat, but not a model or anything. I felt like God.

Also, I could (and prob will) expand to a full TR on my 9 days in Boracay but the most important point is that you shouldn't go without a woman. It's not a place to pick up women unless you're fluent in Korean or really really lucky.

why is being fluent in korean helpful for picking up filipino chicks

It doesn't work too well on them admittedly. As for the seemingly never ending supply of Koreans vacationing on Boracay... you'll find more success there...

what is RW?

What games are hyatt and rw spreading now?
Havent been there in a while, they only spread 50/100 when i have been there so never bothered going back

On any given night, RW will have a 50/100/200 or you can initiate it at a table where people are deep. Hyatt doesn't have higher than 50/100 as often, but those games are either a) super deep or b) super crazy. Getting an autostraddle started is pretty easy though.
Getting a 200/400 or higher isn't easy. I heard some rumors about Pan Pacific having a 1/2/4 semi regularly. However, for those games -- Metro has 1/2/5 close to every night and 2/5/1k late in the weekends. Ish.

RW=resorts world

Hey everyone,

How hard would it be to find a 4 bedroom house/villa to rent (6month), near the beach, with good internet connection in the phillipines ?
It would obviously need to be safe and not too far away from a city.

If you have any idea where to look it would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

Gentlemen.

I'm a long-time pseudo-lurker, and while I've been checking this thread from time to time, I haven't posted in it other than to rag on our buddy OMGitsCHEDDAR and his "Ferrogomo" belt. I haven't been giving this thread the attention it deserves, and it's about time I helped answer questions.

Ask me anything you'd ask a 23-year-old local, but be warned that I may be bad at answering questions that fall under "big kid" topics such as residency, visas, banking for foreigners, and the like. Paul should be an expert on those questions, as he's pretty much half-Filipino already.

Cheers!

As Alex mentioned earlier in the thread, a lot of people come here and hate it because they end up staying in a less "foreigner-friendly" area. As a general rule you should be fine as long as you don't stray too far from Makati or Quezon City. Getting a driver is a great idea, and it's not particularly expensive either. You can hire one for well under $200/month, although arrangements as to living quarters/transportation/food typically vary.

Hmm. This is probably just a personal bias, but I would recommend against moving to those areas. Makati/Quezon City ftw imo. That part of town just feels so detached from the rest of the capital, and there aren't that many places of interest in that area besides Mall of Asia and Resorts World (and the red light district, if you were so inclined).

Then again, that area seems to be developing (again?) quite nicely, and it certainly isn't lacking in anything.

Hi everyone,

I'm heading over to the Philippines in Nov and hope to stay there for 3+ months to start with (if I like it).

I my plan is to start checking out Makati first but I would like to get some recommendations of other places to live in the Philippines.

I'm looking for a place with a few of the following:
- Good clubbing/bar culture
- Good environment to pick-up local non-hooker girls.
- Relatively safe
- Friendly towards foreigners (I'm a blond white dude)
- Not "too touristy"
- Nice beaches

Solid internet connection is not a must, I just need some kind of connection for work. (I won't be playing poker)

Yeah I know those areas are far from the nuts but it would be a different experience for like a few months, plus being close to the casino would be nice - I'm thinking of playing longer live sessions 5 days a week or so for a while. I also must say chilling in the non-touristy areas in Malate is something very different from nitting it up in more posh sections.

Talking from own experience as I've been here for over 2 months now and started there, Makati is a good place to start out for sure when you're new to the country. There are many advantages to it and you won't get ****ed over by people on the streets that much.
You'll probably be looking for a place near i.e Greenbelt, Rockwell or Fort as those are all areas that are very safe and have a lot of neat stuff and things to do at night.

IMO, if you only hang out in Makati and the high end areas it might give you sort of a tunnel-vision and boredom though. I've been way too much in the middle of luxury and what not, makes me want to experience something different and for sure travel a lot more in the country and learn more about the culture.

Cebu sounds like a definite must for your plan but I'll leave that to those who have been around a lot.

I don't know what to make of this as I haven't figured out all of my more definable values in life. I can definitely see myself doing it, but unlikely, because I have issues sticking to one place or thing.
Say if I misclicked and someone got pregnant or whatever, I would probably move to a peaceful village here more or less permanent instantly.
If I got sentenced to live here the rest of my life, I wouldn't be that disappointed. If there's one country I could choose from to put down roots, this would be it. But I wouldn't want to settle down in Manila almost for sure.

Agreed. I don't remember who first brought this up, I think it was cheddar. He said that Makati was funny in that it's such a nice and developed city, but if you walk or drive ten minutes out, you immediately see that it's a terrible indicator of what the rest of the country's like and how we're doing economically. Living elsewhere for a few months should def be a good experience.

I'm interested in going to Cebu City in the near future. Anyone that's been there that can answer these questions, it's much appreciated!

- Is the cost of living similar to Manila? What should one prepare to put down on food and transportation? (reason I ask it looks pretty touristy, and generally that means increased costs).

- Nightlife. Is it similar to other areas in the Asia Pacific?

- Internet. Is there stable internet there if living in an apartment building/condo?

- Recommendations. Anything you think I must ABSOLUTELY check out?