Live in the Philippines

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What is it like living in a Philippine neighborhood?

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I like to go for a walk just about every morning.  Sometimes I go for another walk in the afternoon as well.  Today, I decided to take my camera along on my morning walk and snap some pictures around the neighborhood.  I didn’t really know what I would do with the pictures, but as I thought about it, I decided that it would be nice to write a blog article about what a Philippine neighborhood is like, and show my neighborhood a bit.

So, I went out walking at about 7am, only a 30 minute walk or so.  So, I didn’t get too far away from the house, but enough walking to be good for me.  Let me show you around my neighborhood a bit.

I live in a fairly upper class neighborhood by Philippine standards.  Twenty or thirty years ago this was an upper class neighborhood.  Now, it is probably an upper-middle class neighborhood.  There are newer and nicer subdivisions in Davao City where I live, but years back, this was the nicest.  Today, the nicest subdivisions are gated communities.  I lived in a gated community for a year, but didn’t like it.  To us, it just was not “Philippine living”.  It was too sanitized, too vanilla, if you know what I mean.

My first view when I left the house

My 1st an Owner Jeepf
My 1st an Owner Jeepf

When I first left out of my gate, I saw this jeep parked along the roadside.  This type of jeep is called an “Owner Jeep”.  It is a “homemade” vehicle.  It is not always made by the owner, but it is also not made in some factory somewhere.  It is built generally by an individual.  Maybe a shade tree mechanic, or a hobbyist.  What year is it?  Owner Jeeps don’t have years, because they are a combination of parts from all kinds of vehicles.

Anyway, my neighbor owns this jeep.  He is a retired judge.  Nice man, although I don’t know him well.  He goes out walking his dog every day, and I try to say hi to him and exchange a few words each day.  I hope to be better friends with him in the future, but he seems to be a fairly quiet and private person.

Back Road

This is a sort of back road in the subdivision.  It is a dead end road on one end, so that means that the road is not heavily traveled.  Keep in mind that you can click on any of these pictures to get a larger view!

It is shady where I stood and took the photo, but you can certainly see that it is a sunny morning already!  The days start early here.  Usually the sun is up and it is light out by about 5 am or 5:30 at the latest.  By 7am, when I started walking today, it is already getting hot.

You can see the red/maroon car parked along the roadside ahead, that car is always there every time I go out walking!  One time I did see somebody sitting in the car and the engine is running, so I believe that it is taken out on the road, it just happens that the car owner is always home (maybe still sleeping) whenever I walk in the morning!

Sari Sari Store

The picture at the right shows a Sari Sari store.  The Sari Sari store is very common in the Philippines.  It is kind of a tiny convenience store.  You can’t go inside most Sari Sari Stores, you just go up to the window and ask for what you need, they will bring it to you.  Prices at Sari Sari stores are a bit higher than at a large Grocery Store.  The Sari Sari owner likely buys his stock at the Grocery Store, but usually they can get a slightly lower price than the general public on their purchases.

This Sari Sari store is still closed.  Most Sari Sari stores open very early, but this one is not ready for business yet!

Dirt Road

Although I live in a nice neighborhood, we still have a few dirt roads around the neighborhood.  Not too many, but as you see at the right, there are a few.

This particular dirt road is kind of an interesting area, which I will explain further shortly.

This road takes you from a very residential part of the neighborhood over to a more commercial area in the neighborhood.  A place where there is a University and also a number of shops, restaurants and such that serve the students at the University.

Lots of trees around the neighborhood, I really like the peace and tranquility in this neighborhood.  I have lived in other neighborhoods around town that were not nearly so peaceful.

Hanging Garbage

The garbage truck will be coming today, and you can see bags of garbage hanging from people’s fences!  Why?  Well, they hang it like this to keep dogs from getting it and making a mess.  When the Garbage Truck comes by, they will take these bags off of the fence and put them in the truck.  The neighborhood will be all clean again.

Usually. the city garbage collectors come 5 days per week, and the service is free!  They have a very modern and large garbage truck, very impressive.

Philippines or India?

Along the dirt road that I showed earlier, there is an Indian Sikh Temple!  There is a fairly significant population of Indian people living in the Philippines, including many in Davao City.  There are also some Indian grocery stores in this area, one of which is shown above.

Philippine Women’s College – PWC

Really, PWC should be called PWU, because it is Philippine Women’s University, but people still call it by the old name.  If you mentioned PWU to somebody they probably would not know what you were talking about!  But, mention PWC and everybody knows what that is!  In the photos above you can see the University itself, and also a shop near the University.  There are a fairly large number of businesses around PWC supporting the students’ needs.

The Ubiquitous Philippine Tricycle

Wherever you are in the Philippines, you just can be far from seeing a tricycle!  The tricycle in the photo at the right is a motorized tricycle, but you can also see plenty of pedal trikes built on bicycles.  I kind of enjoy tricycles, and often find that tricycle drivers are some of the nicest people you will meet!  They will generally do anything they can to assist you in whatever way is needed.  I have developed some close friendships with tricycle drivers in my neighborhood.

Notice in the picture (click for a larger view) also that there is a very tall antenna shown.  I am not sure what that antenna is used for, but having it in the middle of a residential area is interesting.  I wonder what it is used for?

And finally…

As I approach my house again, I see Tetay Store!  Tetay is the Sari Sari store that we go to if we need something and it is not a big enough thing for a trip to the grocery store!  Tetay is probably one of the longest and best established Sari Sari stores in our part of the neighborhood.  The people there are friendly and they treat us well.  We are regular customers, so they always take good care of us, which is nice.  Within walking distance from our house there are probably 15 or 20 Sari Sari stores, so they have to work hard to keep the business of their Sukis.  Oh, what is a Suki?  Well, it is a regular customer!

I hope you enjoyed seeing and hearing about my neighborhood in Davao City, Philippines.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. One might expand a little on the suki. You may or may not hear the term very often, but as Bob says, in it’s simplest form it’s a regular customer. It can be more than that. As well as being a regular customer, a relationship between the vendor and customer can be much more than that. They may invite each other to certain family events such as weddings or graduations. Once a suki relationship has been established, customers may continue to return even if a nearby vendor is underselling. Often a suki customer will be informed if a special order has been placed or received in his behalf. It can be a very personal relationship.

  2. Bob,

    Thanks for taking us out on a walk with you. The Tetay Store is the land marker I’d use when I was first learning how to get to your home. You truly have a beautiful home and it sits very nicely secluded in the midst of a beautiful neighborhood. Every time I approach your house it looks like a fortress!

    The garbage thing was a head-scratcher for me when I first moved here. I didn’t know where to put it! I think it was your wife that told me to hang it in a tree across from my house! I had to say, “What”? Just to make sure I heard her right. haha

    So that’s where I put my garbage every Tuesday night – in the tree! Thanks for the sharing of your neighborhood and the pics. It was an enjoyable piece to read!

    Take care!

    Bill

    • Thank you for your nice comments, Bill! Thank you also for swinging by the site and reading my article! I’m glad you liked it. I wrote this a while back, but just opened it up for public viewing. 🙂

      Yeah, the “where to put the garbage” thing is a bit foreign to our thinking! No doubt there.

  3. Thank you for sharing Bob, have learned much from this, especially the Garbage disposal
    Hope to see MORE of these types of articles in the future since they are very relevant to future visitors to the PI
    Thanks again my friend.

    • Hello Heinz – Thank you for swinging by the site and reading the article! I’m glad that you found it useful! Have a great day, my friend!

    • Hi John – there are some expat meetings in Davao. I am not the person to give info on those, though, because I don’t participate and can’t give you accurate information. Sorry.

  5. GREAT article, makes me home sick for my Philippine home in Savannah Iloilo. My favorite time of day is early morning (about 6) sitting outside having my coffee waiting for fresh rolls to be delivered by a guy on a motor bike. then a nice walk or bike ride around the neighborhood. When I get back home the eggs are delivered by another guy on a motor bike. Then it’s time for breakfast. It’s just more fun in the Philippines.

    • Hi, it seems like you know the REAL life in the Philippines. I am a Canadian citizen with 2 young kids and Filipino husband. We are thinking of moving to Santa Rosa, Laguna. Irrelevant to the location my only question to you is: is it absolutely necessary for me to be living in a gated community (Nuvali, Crown Asia Valenza, etc.) or is it totally fine to purchase a much larger house with a much larger lot for less money in non-gated or what they call not so exclusive subdivision? Safety and the real need of 24/7 security is my concern. I know I would prefer living out of the gated community.

      • Hi Lenka – I have lived in the Philippines for 17 years. I have lived in both gated and non-gated communities. I really have found that I do not care for gated-community living. I like living in a “regular” neighborhood. I see no problems with buying in a non gated community.

  9. Your sari-sari’s look much nicer than most here 🙂 Ours are mostly “squatter” style roadside nipa sari-sari’s. More provincial I suppose.

  12. Very nice Bob. My neighborhood in Gingoog is not as open. We are packed in like sardines kinda and our lot has houses touching our house on 3 sides but the front is open with a very small yard. Hence the walk on patio roof top. I can get away from it all up there in our waiting shed where it is quiet and I have the 3rd floor to myself with aircon for the rest of the time. It’s going to be an adventure for sure.

  17. Yes but then I do the same here in Gingoog City. Some of my walks though last for a couple of hrs. Love to walk here even in the heat. So much to see and it is quiet, so it is a good time to think, and some times dream about the what ifs and the what mays.

  18. Hi Bob:

    Good article with some useful information. Also it is nice to see what a little bit of Davao looks like. Hope you will do more of these of other interesting places in Davao.

  19. I plan on walking down to the pier every morning Luke before breakfast. Just like Carl above there are the people we have come to know that stop by with different things for sale in the morning. The fish lady comes to mind. Her husband goes out in his boat very early and the fish is always very fresh. I really love it there and can’t wait to be there for good. Friday is my last day of work and I am retired at 55. Philippines here I come!

  20. It is an adjustment every time I come home to my family getting use to. Takes me a few days to relax come out of my shell then when I get back to the US I miss the neighborhood kids calling me Uncle Bruce, sitting outside in the evening with all my friends, all the food etc.

  22. Hi Terry Allen – Same in my neighborhood, we have lots of vendors selling different things, bustling around the neighborhood in the morning. It’s kind of fun.

  29. I have not heard of SDA. Our kids go to Ateneo, which is one of the best schools in the Philippines. The price does not change for foreigners, it is the same for everybody.

  30. Seventh day Adventist. I don’t think mine goes up either but that is the wife talking. When she speaks I listen. It has served me well over the years there. If she says it’s to late to go into town then it’s to late. LOL

      • Yes. The ranch is in pretty open country. But down below is the sleepy little barangay, and not far away, the town. Very easy for me to take a walk in an environment very similar to yours.

        Some time ago I did put up a Facebook photo album of the sights in town. A lot of folks thought that when we went to the Philippines, we just hiked off into the wilderness. Lol.

        Take care,
        Pete

  33. Hi Bob

    Nice article Bob.

    I live in the “vanilla” place that you mentioned. For now it serves a purpose as it is nice and quiet. When I am abroad I tend to work in busy cities or near ship yards there is perpetual noise and it is nice for me to take a break from that when I go back to the PI. However, I could not retire there as it would drive me crazy in the longer term.

    As for the Indian store, I’d appreciate an address as I love cooking Indian food and some of the ingredients are not too easy to find in the usual supermarkets. Also, I love Basmati rice and hopefully they would sell it there. If you could E-mail the address I would be very grateful.

    Cheers

    AJ UK

  34. Another good article Bob. I guess you could be describing life in the suburbs as it is in most small cities in the Philippines. I guess the lay-back life style is one of the reasons we choose to live here. Of course it is not for everyone. We like to travel down to Davao for a couple of weeks every year. We find the city quite different to Manila or Cebu. I have been told by the locals the crime rate in Davao is low compared to most other cities in the Philippines.

    • Hi Jack. Thanks for your comment. Yes, the crime rate in Davao is very low, thanks to our very strict mayor here. I think that in many respects Davao is a very unique place in the Philippines.

  35. Good morning from Finland! We have here forests and lakes everywhere around for our daily walks! As told above I also did Find Davao different than Manila or Cebu. It is very nice that the area of Davao is not so high build but large! It leaves a lot of space and air around which is very nice as you don`t blow up with the feeling houses falling down on you as in many other cities! While in the Philippines we live in a small gated subdivision where we can go around half mile at a one turn, but it is very peaceful without any cars disturbing. Miss that already but more to walk on a neighborhood to meet the kids in their everyday life and some small talking with cebuano, hands and smile!
    About that antenna you mentioned. Just my thinking but it seems to my eyes an antenna for signals of GSM phones or so. If it seems to be so, you are very lucky to have a good signal in your subdivision. Hope it is! 🙂

    • Hi Leo – Nice comment, thank you. I think you are right about that tower, most likely for cellphone signal, but there may be other types of services using the tower as well. 🙂 We do indeed have a good cell signal. 🙂

  36. Roger – I do not give out information about my exact location publicly on the Internet. I have had a couple of incidents of people making threats against my family, even my children. Surprisingly it was other foreigners who did this!

    • Hi Bob,

      Was it too early to get a pic of the Taho vendor ? I like that dude 🙂

      I never knew someone made threats against you and your family. What a tool ! I’ve been stopping by from time to time since you started this magazine,and always thought of you as a an honest and solid guy who really cares about people.Ingat Kayo

      • Hi Bobby – Yes, somebody made some serious threats against my family, particularly my children. An American who lived here in the Philippines. He is an ass… I had to call the PNP and get them involved. That was the most serious incident, and there have been a couple others too, but not as serious. All involving foreigners… sad…

        Thank you.

  37. The SDA school is good here but then there are several here that are also, I think the Christ the King and the GICC are about the best in Gingoog City. At least that is what I have been told.

  38. Hi Bob,

    I enjoyed walking with you through your neighborhood. One of the things I love about visiting Bohol is early morning walks like you mentioned about 7 am through my wife’s old neighborhood which is a nice poor neighborhood. I think pretty much everyone is awake by 7 am unless they stayed up late drinking the night before. I agree with your policy of not giving out your exact location and I am not at all surprised that the only threats have come from foreigners. I think it would be difficult to hide your presence from Filipinos unless you locked yourself in your house and even then I think as Paul T says the bamboo telegraph would get the word out that a foreigner lives in the house. I would not want to live anywhere that I felt I needed to hide, but I think some feel they need to hide or avoid contact. Anyway I enjoyed reading your article and looking at your pictures!

    • Hi Jay – Thanks! I am glad that you enjoyed reading the article and viewing the pics! I also enjoyed writing it! I started writing it, and it really fell into place and I felt good about this article after writing it. I am glad that it has received a positive reaction so far!

  39. I think Christ the king is a college and have also been told it’s the best in our town. My pension is enough to send them anywhere but I have to watch my penny’s!

  41. Bob,
    We live in a secure subdivision with a mixture of foreigners and Filipinos, but it has a feel of a typical neighborhood with a few sari sari stores scattered within it. But they do not allow the all night karaoke music and other loud noises, but we do occasionally hear the all night parties from outside the subdivision.

    • Hi PapaDuck – Here in Davao, karaoke is not legal after 9pm, nor is any other loud sounds, and it is strictly enforced. I am thankful that we don’t have loud sounds here to keep us awake. We used to, but it has been years since they put that law in.

  42. Yes it is. And I checked with my wife and she told me it is one of the top 3. When you get here you and your wife can sit down and talk about the top schools pro and con. My Mother and Father in Laws are teachers here as is my brother in law and wife. After you have information then it is easy to pick

  43. Hi Bob,

    As I said earlier I enjoyed reading and vicariously walking through your neighborhood. I find it interesting what people feel is safe and unsafe.You mentioned that the neighborhood you live in and walk through is upper middle class. I felt you mentioned this just to be descriptive, but I was wondering if you would feel comfortable walking around an average Filipino neighborhood? I am just curious and would like to read your thoughts.

    • Absolutely, Jay! In fact, within walking distance from our neighborhood there is a poor neighborhood. Squatters. Dirt poor. I walk through there regularly, and I know many of the people there, they are my friends. Whenever I walk there, many of the people talk to me and are very friendly. I am very comfortable there. So, yes, I am comfortable walking in average Filipino neighborhoods, poor neighborhoods, really anywhere in Davao.

      • Hi Bob,

        Thanks for the response! I thought that was how you felt and I did not get the impression from reading the article that it was about is it safe to walk around the neighborhood in the Philippines, but some of the comments seem to be along those lines.

        On the garbage in the fence, I was surprised that you had garbage collection. At Mama’s house in Bohol they burn what they do not reuse in a pit. I was thinking that was the way it was done everywhere in the Philippines, but then I have heard of people living in the garbage heaps in Manila scavenging.They must have garbage service there or else how would all the garbage get there? I am guessing in big cities there is garbage service, I am not sure about Tagbilaran City in Bohol.

        • Hi Jay – yes, I think there is garbage service in the major cities. I think that Davao City has excellent garbage service. Like I said in the article, we have garbage pickup just about every day of the week here in my neighborhood, and we don’t have to pay anything for it. It is a city service that it taken from the city budget. New modern trucks come around with a crew of 5 or 6 guys picking up the trash. It is as good as the garbage service that I have seen anywhere I ever lived in the States! 😉