Beautiful but Painful

I went to Bantayan Island with “Honky Joe” an expat currently visiting the Philippines.  I shouldn’t have spent the dollars but that temptation thing got me again.  Like I said in a previous post, the Philippines are the land of temptation.

Joe came through Bogo City and mentioned he was going to Bantayan Island and I just couldn’t resist.  It also gave me a chance to use my underwater camera.

As we were returning to shore, Jessie spotted this creature waiting to give one of us a bad day.  It was the first time I have spotted one of these but we went out a good deal further as the tide had gone out before we got our lazy butts out of bed.

Actually, I got a great nights rest for the first time in a while.  I keep waking up to early but going back to sleep.  I woke up at 5:20 that morning and started to get up to go take some sunrise pictures, but I decided the sun will rise another day.  LOL

I spent probably three hours in the Visayan sea over two days and got a sunburn on top of my head.  Talk about adding insult to injury!  I guess one knows he’s loosing his hair the first time he gets sun burned on his scalp!  And the insult is obvious, accepting my hair is almost a memory.

We stayed at Tristan’s Resort which is right on the Bay of  Santa Fe.  Its the off season and our room was only P800.  They have these buttery breaded pork chops that have to be experienced.   I’ll be writing a full review on Bantayan Island Tours but I have not started the article yet so I don’t know when it will be published.

As always, you can also follow my adventures in the Philippines at HeyJoe.Ph.  If you have had the opportunity to visit Bantayan Island, please tell us where you stayed and how things went for you.

If you have not been to Bantayan Island, get yourself over there before the rest of the world finds it.  Right now, its likely you’ll have the beach and the water to your self.  That can’t last forever.

Where will I live? Can't say!

OK, so this week, the “Where I Live” week here on LiP, I’ve talked about where I have lived previously, where I live now and where we had planned to live.  The future, though, is not clear yet on where we really will live.  One thing is for certain, unless something major changes in our lives, and that is that we will live in the Philippines.

So, what are the considerations at this point?  Let’s have a look:

1. Samal Island. Yes, we are still keeping an eye on Samal.  I was pretty clear yesterday that Samal has not been ruled out.  We already own a very nice piece of land there, in fact I’d call it a premium piece of land.  It has a beautiful view, and we both love the place a lot.  So, there is still a decent chance that we will decide to live there after all.  It’s still a good possibility!
2. Buda. Buda, or that general area is a place that is on the Davao City-Bukidnon border.  We are talking like a 90 minute drive from the City.  Of course, as the City continues to grow, that 90 minutes keeps shrinking, who knows how close it will be to town a few years from now?  Feyma and I have talked about buying like a hectare out in the Buda area and having a small ranch with a couple of horses, maybe a few cattle that we would use for our own beef, pigs and such. Grow some vegetables there too.  A really rural lifestyle, but still not that far from the City.  Probably we would go to the City like once per month or so.  We have several very good friends who live in the Buda area, within about 30 minutes of each other.  I feel like we could have a pretty nice lifestyle there, and enjoy ourselves a lot.  Having the mini-ranch could be nice if we have grandkids who might enjoy riding the horse, playing with the other animals and such.  We wouldn’t want anything fancy, just something that we would be comfortable in.  The weather can get quite cool up in Buda.  There have been times when we were there and I felt that I wished I had a jacket to wear!  I don’t even own a jacket!  Ha ha…  So, Buda is on the list of possible future homes for us.
3. Southern Davao City. We have considered the possibility of buying a house or building a house somewhere in the southern part of the City, maybe in Central Park, or somewhere in the Matina area or south of there.  However, again, traffic is a major consideration in that area, so perhaps it’s not a good idea.  We used to live in Matina for a few months, and the traffic was a downside already, and that was in 2002, so I am certain that it is much worse now.  However, we feel that the traffic is not as bad there as it here in the heart of the City, and also we really like Central Park, it’s a quiet neighborhood, and also well kept.  So, it is at least on the list.
4. Cebu. Well, I haven’t discussed this with Feyma very extensively, but I will put it on the list anyway.  If I don’t respond to your comments, or if you don’t hear from me, that means that Feyma was not too happy by having this on the list!  Ha ha.. No, I know that Feyma has an open mind, and we have had a bit of discussion that I might want to move to Cebu sometime in the future.  Notice I said “I might want” not “We might want” because I have not convinced her yet.  I like Cebu, though.  There are some advantages there, but if we did move there, I doubt that we would want to live in the City, probably we would choose to live either north of or south of the City, maybe 30 minutes out of town or so.  We like quiet, as you know by reading my recent articles.  For me, a major attraction of living in Cebu is the language.  Being able to use my Bisaya in such an environment is something I find very attractive and inviting.  Also, there are a lot of conveniences and availability of almost any kind of products in and around Cebu.

So, you may be wondering… “why doesn’t Bob keep living where he is now?”  That’s a good question.  The real answer is that we are renting the house where we live now.  When we are ready to settle down and the kids have grown up, we would prefer to build a place (or buy if we find the right place) and live out the rest of our years there.  Notice that 3 of the 4 places I listed are in or near Davao City.  As I have said clearly this week, and before, we love Davao, and we always will.  But, you also have to consider all the options when you are starting to make plans for your final place where you will spend the rest of your days, or plan to.  So, that is what this series of articles is all about for me.  It also happens to give you an insight into what I am thinking about, and my reasoning.  Not that what I am thinking is all that important, but if you plan to live in the Philippines, then it is an advantage to hear what a long time resident has on his mind, or at least I think it is.

So, for me, this wraps up my part of the “Where I live” series on LiP.  There will still be a couple more articles in the series before it wraps up, but this is the last one that you’ll get from me.  I hope that you enjoyed my thinking, and that it brought you some information that might be helpful for you.

Where I Live, I'm not Entirely Sure…

Bogo City, a “city” with an identity crisis.  Is it a city or is it a town?  Two years ago, Bogo Town became Bogo City.  A special law had to be passed though as Bogo and several other municipalities were converted to cities even though they didn’t meet the income requirement of P100 million.  Bogo City is at only P50 million.  Once the exemption was granted for these cities, Bogo held a vote and the residents overwhelmingly voted to convert to a city and that was it, Bogo was now Bogo City. The vote was something like 97% in favor.

Bogo City Politics

In the Philippines, there is a pot of money that gets divided between all the cities in the country.  So, the other cities were now getting a smaller cut.  You can imagine how well that went over with the other cities.  The cities that did meet the requirements filed suit.  They held the law exempting the cities was unconstitutional.  The Supreme Court of the Philippines agreed.

The losing cities filed for reconsideration twice.  Both times the cities lost but with a close 4-5  vote, I think that was the way the vote came out.  There was only a difference of one.  The cities were talking about filing again but I read an article that indicated the Philippine Supreme Court would not entertain another reconsideration request.

The biggest impact for me is that Bogo City was planning on using the extra funds to develop a diving location just outside the city.  The mayor has said that is in jeopardy.  I don’t dive now, but I plan on joining the San Remigio Beach Club and take lessons there.  It will probably be another year before I can do that, if I can pass the physical.   I’m sure I  can find a doctor to make that happen but I don’t want to do that if it is really dangerous for me.

Bogo is Still a City?

Bogo is not accepting this very well.  Last month, it came time to celebrate the city obtaining its charter.  Last year there was a massive celebration on the first year anniversary.  I wondered if they would have another celebration this year.  It was scaled back a bit.  The fireworks were nowhere the same level they were last year, but that might have been because of the decreased funding.

Still they did hold the celebration and there was a banner in the town plaza that proclaimed the “Bogo is Still A City.”  Its hard to get hard news about the city.  There is no local paper, at least not one that is in English.  I don’t think there is one in Cebuano either.  Bogo has a lot of papers here though and a lot in Cebuano.  I would like to start one myself but I can’t do that without the help of local people and they don’t seem to be willing to risk that!  Too easy to make someone angry and that could go badly.

Bogo still a city though? Jessie said that perhaps the mayor is having a hard time accepting that Bogo is no longer a city.

Since the mayor says its still a city, I will call it a city too.  I’m sure they will eventually get it back.  Cities are required to have income of P100 million but Bogo has only P50 million so it has a way to go.  I wonder if everyone paid their taxes, they might reach that now.

Official Vigilante Group in Bogo?

We have a multi-cab  (a small truck like a Ford Ranger in the USA) that is marked as the Bogo Anti Crime Task Force that makes itself well known.  Seems like a great idea.  It usually has quite a few men in the back of it.  From time to time one can see it racing to some place in Bogo with the red lights flashing.

A few months back, I read an article where some authority, I think the Ombudsman for the Visayas but it might have been the PNP Chief, issued an order that demanded the Bogo City police chief provide closer supervision of the group.  The article indicated it was a vigilante group but at the same time it was put together under multi-agency funding.  The Philippine National Police was one of the funding agencies.  Perhaps that was limited to buying the truck.  It wasn’t very clear.  Not enough details in the article.

The article stated that there were accusations of the planting of evidence and harassment of those opposing some of the in power officials in Bogo.   It was also claimed that the group included wanted felons and convicted felons and the use of improper firearms or unregistered firearms.   The police chief was ordered to arrest those individuals!

Since that article, we have a new police chief, I don’t know why we have a new one or if it was related to that.  I don’t know what happened but there are fewer men associated with the task force now.  They were always friendly to me.  I always waved or spoke when I passed them on the street.

Since I’ve lived here, I’ve seen only a few instances of crime.  One involved a jail break from the PNP jail here.  One of those prisoners was killed on recapture in Daan Bantayan town just north of Bogo.  The other one was someone broke into a home of an older woman while she was in her home.  He was captured, the little old lady chased him down the street while yelling for help.

Someone did kill my first monkey which I reported to the police just in case there was more trouble.  I know I sure had to fight the urge to cause trouble if I could have found out who did it.  I think now though it was probably a kid.

Just last month, someone stole the brass fixtures from my front porch.  They broke it right out of the masonry.  Not a big deal but I was afraid they might come back and steal the cage that houses my monkey.  The broke out only a small piece of it and our neighbors said they would be back to get the rest.  Our land lady came by, took the rest out and had someone repair it the next morning.  I was on alert for a few days but we had no more issues.

That’s the kind of crime we mostly have in Bogo.  I know of nothing serious here in the year and a couple of months that I’ve lived here.  You can even walk down the street using  your cell phone.  Something you’d be crazy to do in Cebu City.  This Bogo City anti-crime task force is a curious thing..

The Lighter Side Of Bogo

Careful Mr. American how you pronounce that.  If you pronounce it like an American, you may be telling someone they are stupid.  One pronunciation means dull.    I had that happen at a bus terminal.  They were about to get angry with me until he figured out what I was trying to say!

The Cleanest and The Greenest

Bogo City has earned the distinction of being the cleanest and greenest city or town in the Philippines.  It has earned this distinction three years in a row!

Bogo is located in Northern Cebu along the Bay of Bogo.  Much of the city runs along the waters edge.  One of the nicest things I ever saw here was a guy sitting on the sea wall, playing his guitar with a group of banca (boats)  in the background.

Last week I wrote about the Wharf on Bogo Bay and I can’t write about Bogo without talking about the wharf.  This picture screams Bogo to me.  Friendly happy Filipino.

I take a lot of pictures down in that area.  I just can’t help it, its such a beautiful place.  I didn’t think the picture above would come out well as they were quite close.  It turned out to be one of the best.  Just a quick snap shot.

The Catholic Church, Saint Vincent Ferrer Parish sits  in the heart of Bogo City, I can see it from my bedroom window and I can hear its bells ringing at 3:30am.    It doesn’t bother me, it rarely wakes me up.  Sometimes I know I’ve stayed up to late when I hear the bells calling people to worship.  To worship for Mass Of The Rooster.

Bogo has a diverse religious scene.  I live next door to a baptist church.  There are three more protestant churches very close to me.  Down by Bogo City Hall there are several more churches.  There are two Jehovah Witness Kingdom Halls in the area, one just around the corner from my home.

My favorite scene in Bogo is that of Jessie sitting on the dock of the bay with me.  Trying to get her to smile for a camera is hard.  So I just keep trying.

St. Vincent Ferrer Festival

The major festival in Bogo is the Saint Vincent Ferrer Festival.  It runs the entire month of May but most of the activity is the 27th and the last day.  Due to bad luck and timing, I’ve been unable to participate very much in that.  It is a huge event though.  A month before the event, my seamstress stopped taking new orders!  She was too swamped with orders for costumes for the festival.

There are several other smaller festivals during the year.  There seems to always be a barangay or barrio festival going on each week of the year.  That’s probably not completely accurate but it does seem that way.

Bogo City Night Life

Most of the night life also happens down at the wharf..  There is a disco, several videoke bars and my favorite, the BBQ by the bay.  On the other side of town, near the public market they have opened a second BBQ.  It too is near the bay but at the beginning of the bay.  There is also an area that  some refer to as “The Sin Strip.”  More videoke bars with lots of girls looking to entertain you.

We followed this gathering up with a trip to the disco.  I have not gone there in quite sometime but I’m thinking about going tonight.

There is far more to say about Bogo than really fits into a single article.  I had a hard time choosing pictures.  There’s so many to choose from and so many words to write.

One thing I really like about Bogo is that it is so close to Bantayan Island and Malapascua Island.  Outside of the smog and congestion and rush of Cebu City yet close enough to get to Cebu City via the buses and if you have your own private transportation, you can get there faster.  As many of you know I’m a big fan of Bantayan Island, sometimes I think I should stop writing about it as it being a secret is a huge part of its attraction.  I have not been to Malapascua as it is geared more to diving than beaches.  It is however consider one of the best diving locations in the world.  Many come just to see the shy Thresher Shark.

The only down side I can think about Bogo City is that shopping is limited.  As a guy that pretty much despises walking around a mall looking at things I can’t buy, that isn’t an issue at all for me.  Its not uncommon for me to avoid Cebu City for four months at a time.

Sometimes I think of moving to a mountain town as the temperatures are much cooler.  Baguio has become expensive and is the rainiest city in the Philippines.  Valencia has a lower cost of living but is a hot spot for dengue.

I could live here forever.

Bogo seems to offer the life style I enjoy.  Laid back and I find it easy to entertain myself especially with a camera in hand.  Jessie was against moving here until we visited Bogo and then she fell in love with the place.  That love deepened on our first visit to the Bay of Bogo.  As we were waiting at the BBQ she said “I could live here forever.”

I love to hear from you so please comment!

Rusty

For More on Bogo City with Pictures try Living In Cebu

Cities of the Philippines

We often talk on this site about various cities in the Philippines.  Davao often is a topic, because several LiP writers live in Davao.  Other places like Manila, Cebu, General Santos and others are also regularly mentioned.  But, what is a City in the first place? How do these Cities compare to each other?  How about a few statistics about these places?  Today, let’s have an overview of what a City is in the Philippines, how big these various cities are, etc.

What constitutes a City?

Well, in the Philippines, there are specific criteria for what places are considered Cities.  Beyond that, there are also different types and classifications of cities as well.

Philippine Cities consist of several levels.  The smallest element of a City is the Barangay, sort of what westerns might call a neighborhood.  Next, a number of Barangays put together from a District.  For example, in Davao, Districts would include Bajada, Matina, Lanang, etc.  The next level above the District is the entire City itself.  So, for example, I live in Barangay 10A, Poblacion District, Davao City.

City Governments are composed of a Mayor, a Vice Mayor, City Council (Sangguniang Panlungsod) and a Judicial system.

There are actually several different types of Cities:

• Highly Urbanized Cities:  Minimum of 200,000 Population, and an income of at least P50 Million.  The Philippines has 33 Highly Urbanized Cities, of which 16 are in Metro Manila.
• Independent Component Cities:  Cities which are not included as part of the Province that surrounds them.  For example, Cotabato City lies in the midst of Shariff Kabinsuang Province.  However, Cotabato City is not part of the Province, nor part of any Province.  It is an independent City.  Imagine if the City where you live was not part of the State that you lived in!  Like, for example, if New York City was not considered part of the State of New York.  This is an Independent Component City.
• Component Cities:  Component Cities are Cities that are still included as part of the Province that they occupy.  For example,  Tagum City is still considered part of the Province of Davao del Norte.

As I said, Highly Urbanized Cities must have an income of at least P50 Million.  However, Highly Urbanized Cities are further classified, based on the Income:

• 1st Class Cities:  Income of P300M or more.
• 2nd Class Cities:  P240M up to P300M
• 3rd Class Cities:  P180M to P240M
• 4th Class: P120M to P180M
• 5th Class: P60M to P120M
• 6th Class: Under P50M

Currently, there is a case ongoing in the Courts where some former towns were turned into Cities, but they do not meet the Income Requirements to be Cities.  The Supreme Court has ruled that these Cities must revert back to being towns again.  However, the decision is not yet final, as it must go through reconsideration still.  So, these Cities are kind of in limbo right now.

The Top 10 Largest Cities (Population wise) in the Philippines are:

1. Quezon - more than 2.5 Million Residents (Part of Metro Manila)
2. Manila - more than 1.6 Million Residents (Part of Metro Manila)
3. Caloocan – more than 1.3 Million Residents (Part of Metro Manila)
4. Davao - more than 1.3 Million Residents (Part of Metro Davao)
5. Cebu - around 800,000 Residents (Part of Metro Cebu)
6. Zamboanga - around 800,000 Residents
7. Antipolo - more than 600,000 Residents
8. Pasig - more than 600,000 Residents (Part of Metro Manila)
9. Taguig - more than 600,000 Residents (Part of Metro Manila)
10. Valenzuela - more than 500,000 Residents (Part of Metro Manila)

In addition to Cities, there are twelve Metropolitan Areas in the Philippines.  A Metropolitan Area is a larger group of Cities and Towns that compose a larger area.  Metropolitan Areas in the Philippines are:

1. Metro Manila – Population more than 11 Million
2. Metro Cebu – Population of more than 2.3 Million
3. Metro Davao – Population of more than 2 Million
4. Metro Cagayan de Oro – Population of more than 1.1 Million
5. Metro Angeles – Population of more than 900,000
6. Metro Iloilo – Guimaras – Population of more than 750,000
7. Metro Bacolod – Population of more than 700,000
8. Metro Naga – Population of more than 650,000
9. BLIST (Baguio, La Trinidad, Itogon, Sablan, Tuba) – Population of more than 500,000
10. Metro Batangas – Population of more than 400,000
11. CAMADA (Calasiao, Mangaldan, Dagupan) – Population of more than 300,000
12. Metro Olongopo – Population of more than 300,000

So, this is a look at Cities and Metro Areas of the Philippines.  I hope this helps put some of discussions on the site into perspective.

A Bridge of Love

“If I’ll be an expat living in the Philippines I should go to Tacloban City again!” I remember me saying that several times. now I am here since almost eleven years – but I haven’t been there yet.

There are really a lot of wonderful places and sights all over the Philippines. One of them (for me) has been the San Juanico Bridge in Tacloban City, which is considered as one of the longest bridges in the Philippines. It is 2.5 kilometer long and connects the two provinces of Leyte and Samar. If you look at it, you will notice that the bridge is shaped in letter “L” from the side of Leyte and the letter “S” from the middle towards the other end which is Samar.

Indeed, the San Juanico Bridge connects the hearts of all loving people of Leyte and Samar, as I learned during my first and only trip going there in the midst 1980s.

To the WARAY-WARAY speaking natives of Leyte and Samar and to the Filipino people in general, the San Juanico bridge stands and stood as a symbol of progress and foresight, and the bridge itself is a study in poetry, a saga of lofty might and a breath-taking beauty.

Unfortunately the photos I took in 1987 can’t be used for this post. I am sure, some of the LIP readers have been there also. I still plan to go back there one day.

Much has been written about the bridge. However San Juanico is dubbed as the “Bridge of Love” by the former President Ferdinand Marcos, who, during the ground-breaking ceremony, on the birthday of his wife Imelda Marcos of Leyte, told guests that the structure about to rise would be his most important gift to Imelda. Hence the San Juanico Bridge also stands as “the symbol of love of the former first couple of the Philippines”.

What is your favorite place or sight in the Philippines and why? I am really curious to know about it.

Let's talk!

I’ve gotten a lot of response to my articles over the past couple of weeks, related to my recent visit to Cebu City.  The response has been both through comments on the site, and also e-mails sent to me privately from people who have read the articles.  It seems that these type of articles have hit on something that there is a demand for.  Because of that, I’ve made a decision.

Seeing the level of acceptance and interest in seeing comparisons of different cities and regions of the Philippines, I have decided that I am going to start traveling regularly, and using those travels to bring more of this type of information to LiP readers. It is very obvious to me that there is a great deal of demand for the kind of information that I have featured over the past couple of weeks.  Through communications with readers, I have also realized that there is demand for other information that can be gathered on such trips.  For instance, people have e-mailed me asking things like:

How much is it to rent a house in Cebu?

And other such questions.  Because of this, I have decided to come up with a list of information that I intend to gather in each location I visit.  If there is certain information that you feel would be helpful to you about various places in the Philippines, please leave a comment letting me know what questions I can answer for you.  Also, what cities or provinces do you have an interest in?

Now, I also have to consider, and want you as a reader to consider that doing a project like this is not something that will be inexpensive.  It has great costs in terms of cash outlay and also in terms of my time.  Because of the cost factor, I must consider two things:

1. Ways to monetize the collection of such information.
2. Ways to minimize the cost.

What do I mean when I say “ways to monetize?”  Well, I mean ways to bring in a little money through the effort, at least enough to pay for the costs involved.  There are many ways to do this, all of which I have in mind.  At this point, I need to consider which monetization methods would be best.  Firstly, which will successfully pay for the project, and secondly, which will be best for me and for the readers.  One method that I feel might have merit is to publish general information about the areas I visit here on the LiP site, and then selling more detailed specific information in the form of books.  This way, people can get general information for free, but those who have a real interest in researching the possibility of living in the place can spend a reasonable amount of money to get the information that they would benefit from.

When I mention that perhaps I would sell detailed information in the format of a book, what I have in mind is that I would put together a complete guide for each city.  For example, let’s say that I visited Cebu.  I would have a book that would include specific information about living there.  How much do things cost there?  What amenities are available there?  What can you do there?  Are there many other expats living there?  A whole list of specific answers to your questions.  This guide book would sell for perhaps $20 or so.  Or, since I will be visiting many different cities and provinces, maybe you could get 4 guides to different places for $49, 8 different guides for $79 and so on.  So, the more different guides you would purchase, the cheaper they are per guide.  Now, remember, general information about each place would be available for free on the site, anybody can read those.  But, for detailed information, you would be able to buy that.

Next consideration is how to minimize the cost of the project.  My idea here can actually accomplish two things.  What I am thinking of is trying, as much as possible, to find people who live in the places I visit who would be willing to host me at their house for a day or two when I visit.  For example, if I were going to go to Baguio, perhaps I could announce it a few weeks in advance here on LiP and ask if there is anybody who can host me for a night or two.  By doing that, it cuts out hotel costs, and also I feel that by staying with people who actually live in the area, I would get a better feel of how it is to live in the area, a more natural feeling than a hotel stay.  So, this could have a dual edged benefit: better information, and lower cost of traveling.

So, what do you think?  Firstly, is this something that would interest you in reading LiP?  Would the information be interesting and valuable to you?  Secondly, what information would you be looking for?  Thirdly, if I did a detailed report on a place, what things are available there, what the costs were, a collection of photos of the area and such, would you be willing to spend maybe $20 or so for such detailed information?  Fourth, which areas are you interested in?  Fifth, if you live in the Philippines, would you be willing to host me for a night or two?

Thanks to everybody who can help me out with these questions, and help me decide on what direction to go with this idea.  Without your help, I may not be going in the right direction that the readers would want to see.  With your help, I can target the things that are important to readers of the site.

Let’s talk!

Nice dinner meeting in Cebu

While I was on my way back from Bogo, Cebu to Cebu City last week, I got a text message from Feyma.  She told me that a friend of ours had contacted her.  Our friend’s name is Yam.  I’m not going to use any last names, because I am not sure that she wants her last name published here.  But, anyway, Yam’s boyfriend, Kevin is a regular reader of LiP (Hi Kevin!), and he saw that I was going to be in Cebu, so he called Yam and told her.  Actually, Kevin and Yam thought that both Feyma and I would be visiting, but it was just me.

Anyway, Feyma told me that Yam wanted to get together while I was in town, so I talked to Yam on the phone, and we set up a meeting time to see each other that afternoon.  Yam actually came and picked me up at my hotel, and she had plans!  Yam told me that since I was always writing about good restaurants in Davao, she wanted me to try a favorite restaurant of hers in Cebu, a place called “Casa Verde” which was actually quite near to Yam’s office, which was also near to my hotel (small world!).

So, Yam took me on a short drive to Casa Verde (located on Ranudo Extension in Cebu City, not far from Fuente Osmena).  She told me that Casa Verde was famous for thier Baby Back ribs, so with a little arm twisting, she convinced me to have the baby back ribs.   At Yam’s instance we also shared a great Salad as well.  Honestly, Baby Back Ribs are a favorite of mine, so it didn’t take too much arm twisting.  I had actually suggested that we share an order of ribs, because it was an early dinner, but Yam insisted that we should each get an order, so I didn’t fight with her.

Casa Verde Restaurant in Cebu City

As Yam had said, the ribs were absolutely delicious.  In my opinion, the best ribs in Davao are at Ranchero Grill, and these ribs at Casa Verde were at least equal, and the price was very cheap too.  I don’t recall the exact price, but it was well under P200 per order.

Yam and I had a great talk over our dinner.  Because I had come to Cebu to practice my Bisaya skills, Yam insisted that we speak in Bisaya, which we did for a while.  I guess we switched back and forth between Bisaya and English through the meal, and I just hope that Yam could understand my Bisaya OK.  She seemed to understand me alright, though.

Feyma and I first met Yam last year when she traveled to Davao to attend my Virtual Earner Seminar that I held last year.  It was nice to see her again, and hear about what she has been up to over the past year.  Of course, we spent a lot of time talking about Kevin too, since he is our mutual connection.  Don’t worry, Kevin, Yam didn’t have too many bad things to say about you!  Just kidding….

So, if you are in Cebu and looking for a nice place to eat, I recommend Casa Verde!  I would imagine that any taxi driver should know the place, as it is fairly well known, I think.  You can do a lot worse than Casa Verde if you are looking for a good meal, and the price was right too.

I must say, though, I was kind of upset with Yam, though, on one issue.  She would not allow me to pay for the dinner, which I fully intended to do.  What a great hostess!  Thank you very much for a great meal, Yam, and for some wonderful discussion.  I really enjoyed it a lot.

My Recommendations in Cebu City

While I am on the subject of recommending places in Cebu, let me make a few more recommendations:

• Pacific Pensionne House – I stayed here two nights while I was in Cebu City.  My room was very inexpensive, just P650/night.  The room was clean, and everything worked fine.  Air Conditioning, Cable TV, shower, private bathroom, etc.  Everything you would expect.  Not fancy, but comfortable as a place to sleep.  I will certainly be staying there myself again if I am in Cebu City.  Great central location too, near to Fuente Osmena.  If you decide to stay there, tell them that “Mindanao Bob” sent you!  I don’t get anything for it, but would like to build up a little repoire with them.
• Ayala Mall – if you are in Cebu City and want to see a first class shopping experience, Ayala Mall is the best.
• SM Cebu – Another great mall is SM in Cebu.  Newly enlarged and renovated, you will find the place to be amazing.
• TGI Fridays – In Ayala Mall, if it’s been a while since you’ve had American food, this place is great!
• Nagano Pension House – If you go to Bogo, up north, this is a nice place to stay.  Expect to pay P900 or more per night.  When I visited, they did not have any of the P900 rooms, I paid the next higher rate, P1300 per night.  It is clean, nice, and the staff is very helpful.

One thing that also surprised me in Cebu was the number of people who knew who I was from my websites!  Around Mindanao, and especially Davao, I meet people nearly every day who know me from my sites, but I did not expect that to happen in Cebu, since my sites tend to focus on the Southern Philippines, but really every single day that I was in Cebu I ran into people who recognized me and mentioned to me that they read my websites and follow me online.  So, I’ll give a shoutout to all of those people, and thank you for being interested in my sites!

Well, this article will wrap up nearly 2 weeks of articles about Cebu City.  I had a great time visiting the place.  Thanks to all the people of Cebu who made my visit a wonderful experience.  Thanks to Rusty and Jessie for hosting me for a day.  Thanks to Yam for a great dinner and great company.  Thanks to all the nameless people along the way who made it a pleasurable experience, and those who helped me out when I needed a little assistance along the way too.

LiP Fellowship

I had a number of reasons for visiting Cebu last week.  I had a job to do for a friend with a house in Lapu Lapu City.  I had been wanting to visit Cebu for immersion language practice in the home of the Bisayan language.  I was ready for a trip away from Mindanao after about 5 years without leaving the Island.  Another reason was that I wanted to meet Rusty Ferguson.  Rusty is an American Expat who lives in Bogo, Cebu, and has been living there for more than a year now.  Last year, around August or September, as I recall, I found Rusty’s websites, and I found the guy interesting.  In late September, or early October I invited Rusty to be a contributor here on LiP, and I have enjoyed reading his writing too.

Meeting Rusty Ferguson

But, I had never met Rusty in person.  We talked on the phone once or twice when I had started thinking of paying him a visit.  From reading Rusty’s blogs, and his writings here on LiP, I felt hat Rusty and I had a fair amount in common, and thought it would be interesting to meet him in person.  So, taking the bus up to Bogo to see Rusty was one of the highlights of my trip.

I arrived in the Bogo Metropolitan Area around 10:30 am on Wednesday morning.  Rusty had been up late the night before, and I think he was still resting a bit by the time I arrived in Bogo, but he was able to get up and go meet me at the Bus Terminal.  It was kind of funny, because Rusty is a big guy like I am, and he took the tricycle to the bus terminal to pick me up.  There are no taxis in Bogo, so the tricycle is the way to go.  As a matter of fact, I don’t even really recall seeing any Jeepneys there, although maybe I am so used to them that they didn’t even register.  Anyway, Rusty had crammed himself into the back seat of the tricycle, and I managed to squeeze into the front seat.  I guess with the two of us, that tricycle probably carried as big of a load as it ever has!

Where to stay in Bogo

We first went and I checked in at the Nagano Pension House in Bogo.  It was certainly an adequate place.  I got some good exercise there, because I was on the 4th floor, and there was no elevator.  I think I climbed those 4 flights of stairs about a dozen times!  The room was a bit expensive, in my opinion, at P1300/night, but there is not too much competition in Bogo, so I am not complaining.  It was a nice enough place to stay, and it is a very short distance from Rusty’s place.

When we got to Rusty’s house, I got to meet Rusty’s girlfriend, Jessie.  Jessie is really a nice lady, and it is so obvious to me that Rusty and Jessie really do love each other a lot.  Jessie takes good care of Rusty, and I know that he is very grateful for that too.  I was also pretty impressed that Jessie is quite a smart lady too, reminded me of Feyma in many ways.  I look forward to the day when Feyma can meet Rusty and Jessie too.

At Rusty and Jessie’s place, we got to check out Juliet, Rusty’s Philippine Monkey, and I also checked out Rusty’s computer setup.  Enjoyed some Coke Light too, which I needed after the long bus ride from Cebu City to Bogo!

Bogo Pizza Pub

After spending a couple of hours at Rusty & Jessie’s house, we decided to head out for lunch at the Bogo Pizza Pub.  Had a nice lunch with what had become good friends.  We ordered a large Pizza, plus Rusty and I each had a Hungarian Sausage, and Jessie had a Halo Halo as well.  A few drinks along the way, and some nice conversation made for a great afternoon.  One thing I noticed in Bogo, as we sat in the window of the Pizza Pub was that every girl that walked by the place looked at Rusty and I, and it was as if we were NBA All Stars!  Some girls walked by 4 or 5 times during our meal, and had a good look on every pass.  I am used to getting stares from the Filipinas here, but in Bogo, they took it to an altogether new level.

Rusty and I talked about just about any subject under the sun.  Everything from living in the Philippines to US Politics.  As Rusty said on his blog, I think we found out that politically we were closer to agreeing with each other than either of us thought we were.  For me, whether somebody is of the same political opinion as I am, or totally opposite, if they are an intelligent person, I enjoy the discussion.  And, indeed, Rusty is an intelligent guy!  He’s a little mis-informed on some topics, but intelligent nonetheless!  Just kidding, Rusty.

Getting Exercise in Bogo

In the late afternoon/early evening hours we took another walk (we had walked to the Pizza Pub earlier), this time down to the Bay area.  It was a really long walk.  Along the way, I stopped and talked to people, to get more Bisaya practice.  As with my walks in Davao, I particularly enjoyed talking with groups of kids along the way.  The kids of the Philippines are always a lot of fun to talk to and tease a little, and the kids of Bogo were no different than here in Davao.  When they hear that you can speak Bisaya, they get pretty excited, and after we would talk, they would usually run after us for a while.

At the Bay, we sat down and talked more, and listened as the waves pounded the pier.  It was already dark by that time, and there was lightning to be seen in the distance, which was kind of nice.  The skies were clear in Bogo, though, so we didn’t worry about getting wet.

In all, Rusty, Jessie and I walked about 4 miles around Bogo, so we got plenty of exercise!  I probably walked nearly a mile more than that in Cebu City before headed north, so I was tired by the time night time rolled around!

Tomorrow, I have some big news to share with you, so don’t miss my article tomorrow!

Bogo Bound

Last week, I arrived in Cebu City on Tuesday.  On Wednesday I had plans to head north to Bogo. I had never been north of Cebu City before (on the northern part of the Island of Cebu, I mean), so it was a trip I was looking forward to.  Anytime I get to see a new area of the Philippines for the first time, it is a special thing for me.  I’ve lived here over 9 years now, and there are still a lot of areas where I am still exploring and getting to know the country better.  I have visited Cebu City a number of times, and headed pretty far south of the City, but this was my first chance to head to the north.

Cebu Roller Coaster

Over the years, I have heard from several expat friends living in various areas of Cebu how bad the bus drivers were there.  I mean, they are not bad drivers, but they drive in a totally crazy way.  Very fast, and very wild.  Well, I am pretty familiar with the buses in Mindanao, and I figured that the Cebu buses were operated in much the same manner.  Oh, how wrong I was!  My friend, Rusty, had told me that the buses were the “Cebu Roller Coaster” or some term similar to that.  He was right on target too.

I started out the morning by catching a taxi from the Pacific Pensionne House where I was staying in the City. I was kind of caught off guard when the taxi driver started talking to me as if he knew me already (speaking in Bisaya to me from the start), and he knew that I was going to Bogo and everything.  Hmm… very strange!  How could it be?  Well, I soon found out that he thought that I was somebody else.  There is another expat living in Cebu, that I suppose looks a little similar to me, he speaks Bisaya, and he goes to Bogo pretty regularly.  Unfortunately, he has kind of a bad reputation, though, from some of his antics.  After my experience with this taxi driver, I soon discovered that a LOT of people thought that I was this other fellow.  Just what I needed.  Anyway, the taxi driver took me to the Cebu North Bus Terminal, and I caught a bus to Bogo.

After having been told how wild the bus drivers were, I probably made a mistake by choosing the bus that I did.  But, the next bus ready to leave was a bus from a bus line called “Rough Riders” and indeed, they lived up to their name!  The first half of the trip, once we got out of town and on to the highway north, if I looked forward through the windshield of the bus, I literally was scared to death, seeing the way the driver was driving!  Any of you who have visited me and gone anywhere with me know that I drive pretty aggressively, and it scares some people the way I drive.  However, I drive like a grandma from Pasadena in comparison to this bus ride.  Even if there was oncoming traffic, the driver would pull over to pass – the guy coming in the other lane would just have to pull off the road, too bad for him.  When he was following traffic, he would literally ride the tail of the front vehicle with only about one foot of space between the two vehicles!

With this kind of driving, I sent a text message to Rusty in Bogo, and told him I was scared to death.  Rusty replied to my text:

Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you, don’t look out the window and see the traffic.  you can’t do anything about it anyway!

Oh, my, how comforting!  So, Rough Rider was an interesting bus drive.  It took about 2 1/2 hours to reach Bogo, with some very scenic views along the way (when I dared to look out the windows!).

A farm bus?

Riding on the bus with me were a whole lot of guys with their fighting cocks.  For the most part, they would have their fighting cocks in boxes, but you would often hear the cocks crowing along the way.  What an interesting ride!  One fellow got on the bus in Danao, Cebu, with a chicken (I think it’s a female, or maybe just a young cock) that was not in a box.  Rusty told me that he had never seen somebody have a bird that was not in a box, so it was rare to see this.

While riding the bus, I noticed a bumper sticker on the wall of the bus advertising “Balitang Bisdak.”  Balita is “news” and Bisdak is kind of a cute made-up word that means “Bisayang Dako” or somebody who really speaks Bisaya.  So, Balitang Bisdak is the Bisaya News, I believe it is a TV program on the GMA network in Cebu.  Being a Bisaya speaker myself, I got a kick out of this bumper sticker.  And, riding the bus gave me plenty of opportunity to speak Bisaya with other passengers.  The people were so friendly and helpful.  I noticed how they would kind of  “look out for me” since I was a foreigner, and the fact that I could speak Bisaya kind of made me their friend, and they made sure to take special care of me and made sure that I had a nice trip.  I met a girl from Bantayan Island who was sitting next to me on the bus.  She was always pointing out things along the way to me, telling me what town we were in, pointing out any landmarks along the way, etc.  Very friendly.  I got a little laugh, because as we started getting near to my destination of Bogo, she asked if I was already married (maybe she was looking?) and I told her that I was.  She was a cute girl of maybe 25 years old or so.  She told me that she was a teacher, and seemed to be bright and intelligent.  I told her that I thought she was already married, because she was wearing a wedding ring, but she told me that it was her mother’s ring, and she was still single.  She asked if I had any friends that I could introduce her to.  ha ha… so typical here in the Philippines.  Nice girl, though.  Anybody interested?

On the way back to Cebu, I rode on a larger bus line, Ceres.  They had a big fancy, rather new bus, compared to the rather old worn out bus that I rode north on.

Gun on the bus!

One thing that was kind of interesting on the trip back to Cebu, about 30 minutes into the ride, the driver pulled over to pick up some passengers.  It was a family of 2 or 3 kids, a lady and her husband.  The people looked to me like they were probably farmers.  I was kind of surprised to see that the man was carrying a rifle with him!  It was an old rifle, and all rusty.  Looked like it had seen it’s better days.  I’m not even sure that it would still fire a bullet, and I sure don’t know why the fellow was carrying the gun with him on the bus.  Feyma told me that he might be NPA, but I am not really sure about that.   He seemed like a nice guy.  I really wanted to take his picture, but I was hesitant to do so.  You don’t want to get a man with a gun angry at you, after all!  A little ways down the road I heard the man and his wife talking and it was obvious to me that they would be getting off the bus pretty soon, so I took a chance.  I turned and asked the man (in Bisaya of course) if it would be OK if I took his photo.  He smiled and said “Walay problema” (no problem).  So, I snapped it.  By the way, the ride south was a little calmer than the ride north.  The driver was a little more relaxed, I think.

Don’t forget to check back tomorrow, when I’ll be writing about my visit to Bogo, meeting with Rusty and my day there.  See you then?

Seeing more of Cebu City

OK, for my article yesterday, I wrote somewhat glowingly about Cebu City, to the point where I even said that maybe someday down the road I could even end up living in Cebu.  While I won’t change that statement, I have seen more of the city now, and my opinion has shifted to some extent.  You see, I wrote that article on Tuesday, after only a half day in the City.  Now, I am writing this article on Thursday evening, and I’ve spent more time in Cebu, and seen a wider part of the City now, so it is natural that I am more informed about the place, and have changed my opinion to at least some degree.

Yesterday, I went to Bogo, in Northern Cebu Province.  I met Rusty Ferguson there, and I will be writing more about that experience in a later article, most likely next week.  But, traveling to Bogo first brought me through more of Cebu City, and then took me through the northern part of the Island.  When I wrote my article for yesterday, I had basically only visited the area of Ayala, the Reclamation area of Cebu City, and the area of Fuente Osmena.  Except for Fuenta, the areas I have been to were really kind of the showcase of Cebu City, particularly Ayala, and the surrounding area.  There can be no doubt that places like Ayala and the Reclamation area are parts of town that are very clean, well kept, nice and new buildings and such, and thus, they greatly reminded me of living in the States.  The other parts of the City that I’ve visited now, are nothing like that.One thing I noticed today, when riding the bus back to Cebu City is that there is a terrible problem with Graffiti in Cebu City.  Based on the looks of it, it would appear to be gang related graffiti, and it is everywhere you look.  It makes me wonder what kind of gang activity there is in Cebu.  In Davao, we have some graffiti, but not too bad, and certainly not anywhere near the level of Cebu graffiti.  I also saw a lot of places around the City with plenty of trash along the streets, generally dirty and unkept.  There is some of this in Davao, but not too bad compared to what I saw today.There is no denying, though, that when it comes to availability of “stuff” – Cebu has Davao beat, hands down.  Today, I visited the SM Mall here in Cebu.  I have been to SM many times, but it has been at least 7 years since the last time I was at SM Cebu.  My lord, it has grown!  They have added on to the mall (maybe more than once in that number of years).  I was absolutely shocked at the mall that I saw there.  The older area of the mall, while having been refurbished somewhat, still looked like SM.  It had the SM look and feel that all of the SM Malls tend to have around the Philippines.  The new area, though, is super upscale.  Very fancy.  I mean, this was much nicer than any of the malls that I had ever been to in the States (I have not been to the States for 9+ years, so I am sure that malls there have upgraded too, though).  This place was high tech, and also beautiful.  I went into part of the mall that houses mostly computer stores, and it looked like you were walking through some kind of futuristic Star Trek set.  There was one new area that was almost exclusively upscale restaurants.  There were beautiful restaurants featuring Japanese, Chinese, Filipino foods and others.  There was Starbucks.  I looked at the menus there too, and the prices were reasonable.  I was quite impressed.  The size of the SM Mall here in Cebu is huge also.  I eyed it, and estimated, I would guess that the SM Mall here is around 8 times the size of SM City Davao.  Now, let me say, though, there are 4 new malls either under construction or in the planning stages for Davao, and we may see this kind of quality there in the next couple of years, I can’t say for certain.  I don’t expect anything to reach this kind of size, though.

One thing that I expected to see in Cebu was huge traffic problems.  Surprisingly to me, I have not seen that.  My impression based on what I have experienced in the past 3 days is that traffic is worse in Davao than Cebu.  Cebu is more metropolitan, with more people concentrated into the city.  Davao is more spread out and open.  So, why is traffic better in Cebu?  I am not an expert, but I would attribute it to Cebu City’s extensive use of “flyovers” which raise traffic over the top of major intersections.  Unless you are going to make a turn at that particular intersection, you get to avoid that traffic altogether by traveling over the top of the intersection.  Davao has nothing like this.  Cebu has had this since sometime in the mid-90’s, and I see a lot more flyovers now than back in 2001/2002 when I was here last.  I believe that this system has made a huge impact on traffic problems, and kept congestion to the minumum here in Cebu.So, as you may expect, like any other place in the world, Cebu has pluses and minuses.  There are upsides to Cebu, and there are downsides too.

Well, I am heading back to Davao today.  By the time that most of you read this, I will be home already.  I will be thinking more about Cebu, and how it compares to Davao, and may write more about this topic in the future.  I certainly intend to make more visits to Cebu, and to bring Feyma along on future jaunts too.  I have at least a couple more articles about this trip in mind, and after I am home and have better computer access, I’ll be posting some pictures from the trip.

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