Aggregator site of some of Davao's best blogs
Okay, so, my current tourist visa was expiring. The medical check-ups for Ateneo de Davao University ain’t happening yet, so it is preventing me from getting a student visa for the moment. So, I needed to update my visa.
I took a taxi to the Bureau of Immigration across from the Victoria Plaza mall. I was [...]
Filed under: Feature, immigration, travel | Comments Off
I’ve been living back here in the Philippines for almost 10 years now. I am thinking I still have lots of adjustments to do. As I said before its not easy to live back here.Really difficult, but its getting better over time. My first few months to 2 years here was really hell for me. [...]
Over the past couple of months, I’ve read many comments about having a place to live in The Philippines. Some folks see the wisdom in renting an apartment, condo or house as their residence. Others’ wisdom leans toward either buying or building their abode. Baket ko (Asawa ko) [my Wife] Emy and I are among the [...]
It was a lot of fun going through the list of names. Rose and I really enjoyed it. There were many excellent suggestions, and some of the reasons were quite amusing, compelling, silly – all great fun. Several names made the short list. I liked Mac, Scooter and Blizzard. Rose liked Rascal (Raskal haha) and [...]
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Renting is something that I highly recommend for the first few years that you live in the Philippines. Truth is, renting makes economic sense no matter how long you live here, because rental costs in the Philippines are relatively low compared to the cost of owning a home. This is not the case in much [...]
Filed under: Bob Martin, Feature, business | Comments Off
Do you remember when you turned 50? If you’re not there yet, stop reading now, I don’t want you to panic about it. I remember mine quite well; I woke up early one morning at my company’s contract hotel in San Diego CA. When I checked the time I also noted that it was also [...]
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I am a believer that expats have a moral obligation to learn as much about the country in which they live as they possibly can. The Philippines, like any other nation, has a rich history that dates back thousands of years. Long before the Spanish conquest of these islands, people lived here, thrived, and developed [...]
Perhaps I’m feeling an extra amount of pride because of the winter Olympics that are going on in my home city, province and country, but I often wonder about the thoughts of people who make the decision to adopt a new home country. Are they replacing one country for another? My feeling is I’d treat [...]
These days, living in Mindanao is a bit tougher than it was just a few months ago. Frankly, the Island is on the verge of being powerless… in other words, without electricity. I wrote a couple weeks ago how Mindanao was on the verge of having to resort to rotating brownouts, and it came to [...]
Filed under: Bob Martin, Davao, Feature, Mindanao, business | Comments Off
Back in June 2007 I started writing here on Live in the Philippines Web Magazine, wow the time has shot past, and I was in a reflective mode so I looked over some of those old stories that have really been part of my life over the last few years, living in the Philippines.
From my [...]
If there is one thing that is certain in the Philippines it is the necessity to feast at every opportunity whether it be a Birthday, Wedding, Baptism, Graduation, New Business, whatever the event the food is a very important part of the celebration!
When we first opened Cambridge Farm Hotel in 1992 there were not many [...]
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Haha. I just felt a small earthquake as I typed this. Anyways, 2 topics:
Topic One-
February the 28th was me and my sweetheart’s 1st anniversary. While people were worrying about tsunamis (because of the earthquake in Chile), I was out ordering a bouquet. They didn’t have red roses, so I got a dozen pink roses. It [...]
Filed under: Feature, Transportation | Comments Off
In my ten years in the Philippines, I have lived in five different houses. I’ve mostly lived in rather large houses, since I have a large family. We did live in one house that was quite small, but it was only for about 6 months or less, because we could not find a larger house [...]
Filed under: Bob Martin, Feature, housing | Comments Off
Just thinking about the Vancouver 2010 Olympics now made me think my first time ever watching the Olympics live broadcast on TV (see, here in the RP back in the days its broadcast but few days late and not the whole thing too) that was in the year 1992, the Olympic Games were held in [...]
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Women surround me! Young, middle-aged and old; they’re all diamonds – from “glimmering gems” to “gems in the rough.” I can’t help but observe their abundance.
No, I’m not making these observations from a nightclub or other entertainment “hot spot.” After all, I don’t have Baket ko’s (Asawa ko’s) [my Wife’s] permission to visit such establishments.
Besides, [...]
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Today, I am happy to announce that we have a Guest Article from my friend, Gary Ames. I have only met Gary one time in person, but I do consider him to be a friend. In 2008, Gary was in Davao with his wife, Rose, and they took time to have coffee with Feyma and [...]
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A lot of Americans who plan to move to the Philippines and live here for good tell me the same thing – “I want to live in an American style house.“ I think it is kind of natural to feel that way, given the fact that mostly have lived in the USA for their entire [...]
Filed under: Bob Martin, Feature | Comments Off
When it was time to renew my auto registration last year in June, I took my car for its “Drug Test” (Smog Test) and it passed. I winced when they inserted the probe.
I next went to LTO (Land Transportation Office) and received my new Stickers. The following Sunday I had lunch and some cold SMB’s [...]
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I am on the receiving end of tampo today. It is not real pleasant around the Miele household this afternoon. For those who do not know what tampo is, when you marry a Filipina, you will quickly learn the meaning of this word, and it is best not to forget it, for your own sanity [...]
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To anybody who doesn’t actually live there, the statement: “I’m traveling to Mindanao” invokes responses like “are you crazy?”, “it isn’t safe there” and “go to Cebu instead”.
A couple years ago I was visiting the Philippines and had intended to fly down to Davao. I knew from reading Bob’s various blogs and asking him directly [...]
As anybody who follows any news at all knows by now, there was a major earthquake in Chile on Saturday. The magnitude was 8.8 on the Richter Scale. Remember the January earthquake in Haiti? It was a 7.0 magnitude. Do you know what the difference between the two is? I knew it was a big [...]
Filed under: Bob Martin, Davao, Feature, Health, Mindanao, Safety | Comments Off
Franchisors sometimes control the Franchisee’s business premises by leasing or subleasing the premises to the Franchisee or requiring the Franchisee to sign a collateral assignment to the Franchisor of the lease for his business premises. Control of the Franchisee’s business premises gives the Franchisor more effective control of the Franchisee and his business. The premises [...]
As you drive out of General Santos City westward on the Beach Road you cannot help but notice the specific area which begins just after the Airport Junction and continues along to the Fish Port Complex because once you reach the area you cannot fail to notice the wonderful fresh smell of cooking or cooked fish! This area [...]
Remember back in your schooldays when science books, or, reading books would have words in bold or italics? Usually those were there for you to see the end of chapter vocab, or, to flip to the back of the book to look it up in the glossary. To find those bold or italicized words and [...]
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As I mentioned in an article earlier this week, my birthday was last weekend. I woke up early on Saturday morning and had a number of plans for the day, and was in a happy mood. It was my birthday, after all, so why wouldn’t I be happy. Well, I suppose that if I considered [...]
Filed under: Bob Martin, Davao, Feature, business, shopping | Comments Off
