We have moved to the provinces yesterday and Im enjoying our first 24 hours of family life we have rented a room with a German/Fils couple who I met on another local forum Its called Sweet Home Balamban and for me resembles small guest house accomodation like you would find in Thailand but with a few extras There are 4 small single room studios of varying sizes ours is about 30 sq mt with western toilet cold shower it is furnished simply but has a good fridge freezer cable tv and includes wi-fi better than my vodaphone dongle in the uk We are starting to customise it with a few additions of our own spent about 900 piso today on buckets kettle a water dispencer etc Today we went to the wet market 5 piso trycycle ride I could walk it and had bukko (11 piso ) and looked at the Ocean and Negrows in the distance ,Jhean says it reminds her of her early years in Mindanao and she heard no gossip even though we were the only Fils / UK couple in town fresh air unlike Cebu City the fan is proving to be enough to keep cool Its a stunning drive of about 1 hour 20 mins over the trans highway and we payed a new taxi 1500 as we had a fair bit of luggage and a small child although v hire vans ply this route I will update as we use them for occasional shopping trips back to the city The rent is 7000 ish a month plus electric and water and this link will take you to there website and pics of the room although its a bit more confusing than the first website they had http://www.my-dragon.eu/new/menu.php?sel=pictures_room_3&lang=en
mmmh, Balamban, my hometown... After Keith's post of course a lot of additions could be made. The main one was that we met. LOL and he introduced me into the forum world which got me out a bit of my usual boredom. Living in a 60.000 people town here isn't all exiting as people may think. But it has lots of advantages then the Big cities or 'tourist" areas where most expats are herding together. 1.) less pollution 2.) generally cheaper in almost everything 3.) more relaxed population 4.) healthier lifestyle in general 5.) More and intense relationships with the locals. (and some expats too) and many more. Worth to think about for the future expats who plan to move over into the Philippines. Important is for me, that a City is within reach (Balamban is about 1 hour from Cebu City) That the local infrastructure is good and the folks have enough jobs to sustain an honest living. in Balamban we have a shipyard which directly employs about 8000 people. meaning, Full employment for every family. It also sustains my 'fine dining" business. Could not do that anywhere else. negative aspect : no real beach here, no diving or other 'touristy' activities. to be continued ...
LOL, i guess Eisbein (virtually translated = Ice Leg) is a rather uncommon phenomen in the tropics. But since you started to mention it, i have a restaurant here and serve the latter too (Wiener Schnitzel) Eisbein is a too heavy to digest food for here, Would require a 24hr. Aircondition environment and thats not really worth it. the local cuisine though serves a deep fried variety of this, called "Crispy Pata". Mostly preferred as a 'Pulutan" to groups drinking beer together.
as promised, the continuations of Balamban. the vivid traveller is mostly confronted with "where to stay" in the provinces. Now due to the large shipyard, Balamban is an excemption. They have a lot of possibilities to stay in good quality, overnight or even long time, as some people choose to live rather here than in a Hotel in the city. Ok, so Balamban has a lot of lodging to offer for the traveller : Here is my list, i tried to be objective. You can find much more about it when you google a little. All of those establishments have, TV, A/C, refrigerator. # 1 is the Sailors Cabin, run by a German since over 15 years, price range from 600 to 1000 but offers full apartment style lodging, not just rooms. A home away from home so to say. #2 is Pedros Place,(keith angel mentioned it also in a prior post) also run by a German, he got 4 brand new rooms, prices even lower, but more on the Pension house style. #3 is the more centrally located "Knights Cafe", only a few years old, it a more hotel like amenities for 800 Peso. #4 is the Costa Roca resort or better known as Binghay Marine Park. It is by the sea and can be romantic to sit at night between the mangroves, but almost all people complain about bad service, lack of cleaning and run down facilities. Prices are pretty high, 2000 and above. Sorry, i try to be neutral but i don't want to hear complaints that i presented it falsely it either. #5 Malvar Pension House, GY/Malvar Building in Buanoy, Balamban. New small Aircon rooms with negotiable prices between 500 and 1000 php. Mainly Shipyard Visitors stay there overnight. The new "Kings Lechon" Pinoy Restaurant and "The Stranded Shipscook" Intl. Restaurant have outlets on the bottom of the building where one can watch the Evening life in comfort. Villa Escondido next door has Disco now on weekends. There are numerous other pensions and apartelle buidling, but those are not catering to the short time visitor. to be continued
My landlady is currently willing for !0000 a month to let 2 bed fullyfurnished apartments thats 330 a day plus power im curently using 2000 a month and 100 water internet wi fi but pretty slow 500 a month extra The sea was great today and two minuits walk
Balamban now has a Disco, quite funny actually... I was there a few times and had a blast of laughter, as apparently the owners/operator is open towards the gay community, which at later hours comes wearing all kinds of evening dresses and outfits. Really entertaining ! ( No worries, they leave one alone and its still a "straight" disco ) Liveband is good, sometimes they have "guestbands" from cebu City. Highlights also the customer participation, often lead by no less thenthe Vice Mayor of a neighboring town and the Baranguay captain, who is always present there. (Which guarantees safety and free of nasty elements of society) All in all very nice indeed. Who say's the province is boring...? https://www.facebook.com/escadas.restobar
he seems ok, build a new bamboo house in front. I was there once, eating is fine and reasonable. he plans to open KTV also, something i rather advised him to refrain from. Ashe lives residential in an "ok' neighborhood. He himsefl had a bike accident and trouble with his leg now. I gave him some adress and recommenadtion letter for a TOP Orthopedic doc in cebu from my NGO frinds, dont know if he follows my advises. Thats all from the news front here. The rest i am sure Evea and your wifey chitchat all over facebook. LOL.
More news from Boomtown 'Balamban" -the latest headcount was90.000people,thats a 50% increase since the lastone and ther Mayor now plans to apply for "City",which will most probably be granted. Also they have added a few new "Resto Pubs" and another Discoteque ( seems to boom). Asan added Tourist attraction the new 'Wild West Park", with Horse backridingfor 300phph/hr, ATV offroadfun for 1000 p/hour, a small race track for car drifting (!),andsome fish pondswhere one can "fish" his own fish and have it prepared... or simply choose one from the menu. In the mountains they are buidling a giant (don't know what,sort of adventure)Park with huge lodging houses for hundreds of people. I've heard they will have target shooting, climbing, the popular "airgun shooting" and manyother attractions. next Year finished maybe. All i can say in the last year is "WOW",booming like hell. (I also opened a new business (Nbr.3 now), a small Imbiss with 6 tables , catering and takeout is the main purpose, its right at the shipyards gate and i guess, with 15.000 peoplecoming in and out daily i can have the "odd" customer. Just opened today actually.. ) My hope is,that this is happening in many places in the Philippines ( The "boom" i mean ), but lately i only been to "Metro" Cebu City outside of Balamban ( it booms there too definitely )
hello!!! I am an owner for an apartment for rent located closely to FBM and West Cebu Industrial Park Barangay Arpli ,Balamban,Cebu. The apartment name is ' MAGDALENE APARTMENT' located in Abellana Village Arpili,Balamban ,Cebu.The apartment is a new two - storey building with 6 units fully furnished . The apartment have units with ( 2 bedrooms) and (1 bedrooms) separate kitchen furnished and equipped,dinning room , living room , bathroom with shower heater,toilet and laundry area. The apartment is equipped with internet Wifi and cable TV and also equipped with plates,pillows, bed sheets,blankets and has garage free. Apartment will be refreshed just before you will enter. If You are inrested: edited out email and phone number - Kuya
This is not the Cebu local.. If you want to let people know you have an apartment - fine. But please don't leave email and contact numbers for it. If people are interested they can send you a private message.
Guenther, Thanks for your well written and interesting post. (as always) BTW, good luck with your new venture
