tonyd 3mo

Any recommendations on coworking places with a great community and meetups etc in the Philippines?

cd 3mo

Maybe in siargao?

tomjamesdj 3mo

Honestly there isn’t much. A few coworking spaces in Manila, Cebu, Siargao. But I wouldn’t say strong communities or events. There is a digital nomads Siargao group now that do weekly meetups.

brianx 2mo

Is exit clearance only needed if you stay more than 6 months?

cd 2mo

Depends what visa/residency ur on

If standard tourist, no

mikeytravels 2mo

Has anyone applied for the digital nomad visa?

tomjamesdj 2mo

What’s that?

simjost 2mo

After just arriving we tried to figure out the cash withdrawal thing. Apparently every ATM charges p250 for foreign cards. Until now we didn't find an exception.

simjost 2mo

Did anyone try to take cash at a bank register with a passport, like it is possible in Thailand, to circumvent the ATM fee?

bloemhof 2mo

HSBC ATMs don’t charge a fee if you use a foreign-issued card. Not sure if it recently changed, or if this is the case for all HSBC ATMs, but it worked for me all the times in Manila and Cebu City last year. Also a high withdrawal limit compared to other banks. There are not that many HSBC ATMs though

tomjamesdj 2mo

Basically no aside from HSBC but sometimes it’s weird

simjost 2mo

I've read about that too. It's just difficult to find HSBC ATMs. So you have a trick for that?

simjost 2mo

The HSBC website says that there are ATM at all of their branches and a branch finder:
- https://www.hsbc.com.ph/ways-to-bank/branch-banking/
- https://www.hsbc.com.ph/branch-finder/

simjost 2mo

However, I couldn't find any information on locations of more ATMs of theirs in other locations.

simjost 2mo

Can confirm that taking 40000 PHP at HSBC bank was no issue. We used their website to find one of their rare branches.
The ATM was in the inside, so it's only accessible during opening hours.

dougfir 2mo

Is there still a travel tax to exit the Philippines?

tomjamesdj 2mo

For Filipinos, yeah

dougfir 2mo

D'oh. I just paid it online ahead of time on TIEZA website

tomjamesdj 2mo

You’re on a tourist visa and have been in the country less than a year?

dougfir 2mo

yes

anomad 2mo

Hello

anomad 2mo

What are the most famous beach places/cities in the Philippines?

Comparable to Kata Beach in Phuket for example

anomad 2mo

Like if I have to go in the Philippines and make a list of the most famous touristy places what would they be in your opinion?

anomad 2mo

I'm doing an excel table of places based on trustable weather data so I can quickly choose where to go when looking at a certain month of the year

anomad 2mo

Because apparently I can't understand the weather data on nomadslist or they are not accurate

tomjamesdj 2mo

I would stop trusting weather and forecast data like this in SE Asia, and focus on blogs that say “March, April, May are the best months”.

Because so many tropical places will show high precipitation and thunderstorms, when it’s actually sunny all day…

tomjamesdj 2mo

Boracay is tourism for beaches (and beach is better than Phuket).

But the island is really really full of tourists.

If you’re looking for super nice beaches, then the Philippines has way too many, but many are just remote places where you wouldn’t really go. Palawan island has tons, also Cebu (island), Bohol and more.

anomad 2mo

Why? I'm starting to understand that there is precipitation in inches and then days of rain per month, but a day of rain isn't a "day of rain".

But now I was starting to think I should take into account maybe the cloudiness also in some way, like how much is sunny in a given month, because probably that's even more important than the rain. Yeah, one would think that rain is associated with cloudiness.. but in these places where the rain is fast.. maybe not.

anomad 2mo

However I'm also nothing the things like "these are the best months", usually they are the same from what I can see in the rain data

tomjamesdj 2mo

During dry season in Phuket for example, it might say thunderstorms for two weeks, but you never see a drop of rain. It’s because the forecasts are a little messed up in tropical countries since they go off the humidity quite a lot. I don’t know why they can’t fix it but it’s quite annoying.

anomad 2mo

I only want touristy places because what I'm seeing after a few months of travelling is that the touristy places are usually better

anomad 2mo

In fact I only look for precipitation for month and days of rain per month

tomjamesdj 2mo

I literally always move about based off of how the weather‘s gonna be. I never wanna have another day in rain after growing up in the UK. In fact, last year, I think I only had 7-10 days in rain. And I can tell you with certainty that the best way to understand the weather is to read people‘s blog posts about it. And often trust AI to find this data out.

anomad 2mo

I don't watch the weather forecast

anomad 2mo

Yeah, also me after growing up in the north of italy LOL

tomjamesdj 2mo

Yeah, often it will be the same but still

tomjamesdj 2mo

Yeah, this is definitely one of the best measures

anomad 2mo

At least you have more money than an italian 😂 that's positive

anomad 2mo

Yeah there are two websites I look both for the rain data and they also say which months are better etc

anomad 2mo

But I don't have any data yet on philippines and malaysia

anomad 2mo

I've just been in a city: bangkok
my gf wanted to try to see kuala lumpur but i dont' want, it seems just concrete and clouds and rain

I like sun and sea, like I don't want to see no rain and the less concrete I see the more I'm happy

anomad 2mo

Maybe things like japan can be exceptions

anomad 2mo

But i only like old monuments and sea and sun.
Yeah being on some rooftop in bangkok was good but I don't give a f about seeing the best concrete art or achievement. For me it's concrete

anomad 2mo

I liked more seeing pagodas outside of bangkok than going on bangkok rooftop. But yeah they are two different experiences

I can like both
But for daily life, I like to be in a place with sea and sun, with the beach vibe

I deeply hate clouds and rain

anomad 2mo

So now I'm trying to note some info about Philippines and Malaysia places that can be like this

anomad 2mo

gjojfnrzpnbd you were saying: boracay. It's the most expensive right? Cebu, Palawan, Bohol. Do they have about the same seasons?

anomad 2mo

Where have you been in the philippines?

tomjamesdj 2mo

Hahaha. Well, most of the places in Philippines with beaches and sea have little concrete. The cities are not very nice nor close to a nice beaches.

tomjamesdj 2mo

Philippines:

Siargao
Bohol
Siquijor
El Nido
Coron
Moalboal

Malaysia

Langkawi
Perhentian
Tioman
Penang maybe

tomjamesdj 2mo

These are have about the same season yeah. Boracay is just an island full of noisy tourists. I’m not a fan. Slightly more expensive yeah. Amazing beach and sunset though. That’s why it’s famous.

tomjamesdj 2mo

Honestly, pretty much everywhere. You can check my profile. I have all of my trips there. Maybe 100-150 places in PH. All over the country.

anomad 2mo

I think it's at least double the price of phuket?

tomjamesdj 2mo

No, Phuket is fucked. Well, depends when you’re going? Phuket during this high season has become so expensive, almost like Europe

nickursu 2mo

Hello, recommend a coffeeshop to work from in Manila

chrisnatterer 2mo

which neighborhood? Makati or BGC?

nickursu 2mo

Okay I don't even know these, just 2 hours ago arrived here, I'm in a coffee shop MOD which has wifi and plugs, I recommend

brendanb 2mo

No helping some people lol

mikeytravels 2mo

How’s the internet speeds?

anomad 2mo

Best Philippines beaches with vacation/tourist vibes? Do you have some kind of list with ideal months to go visit?

zandy_rox 1mo

Is there a good app for staying in the know with general news in the Philippines? Or the standard googling will do…?

alexboedtker 12d

Whats the best simcard for hotspotting? Im planning on spending some time on malapascua and last time i was there (2018) the wifi was not very dependable. I was hoping i could circumvent it with a good simcard!

chrisnatterer 8d

There are two relevant networks, smart and globe. I use both. Sometimes smart has better reception, other times globe. GOMO uses globe and is very cheap per GB.

alexboedtker 7d

Amazing! Thanks for the tips!

jasjourney 5d

I just got back from Malapascua. I bought a Smart SIM card at the airport, but the internet on the island was pretty slow and unstable. It was still okay for texting, though. Luckily, I didn’t need to work while I was there, so it wasn’t a big deal.

simjost 5d

Did you see other have better luck with other providers like Globe or Ditto?

simjost 5d

And TNT uses Smart. The discount brand of theirs 😊

simjost 5d

We are pretty happy with smart for now. They seem to run a permanent promotion for unlimited data including calls and SMS.
Of course, it doesn't guarantee good reception.

intrepidtr 13h

Guys, is there a decent hospital in or near Manila for emergencies? I've just read the Google reviews and I'm shocked. Anyone has experiences?

calmeart 12h

For emergencies I am not sure, but this March, I went to St. Luke at BGC and Asian Hospital at Alabang, they were both fairly good hospitals

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