Trip report Jan/Feb 2025 - Cebu & beyond - Research if an elderly gay retiree can live comfortably in Cebu

[12is12]

BKK, not to hijack ur thread - a note in parenthesis.

I belatedly read your post about Sinulog day, and I humbly submit potential visitors might get the wrong idea. 

The main event isn't the parade - obviously a worthy experience of its own, but the groups competition at the stadium where the parade ends.

For 1500 pesos ($26) u get 6 hours of SPECTACULAR world class dance and drums shows. 

I heartly recommend anyone planning to visit Cebu, to time it to the festival.

Attached are photos; vids of the dancings are too heavy/big to be uploaded.

[macaroni21]

@bkkmfj2648 One thing you don't seem to be checking out are the supermarkets. If I were planning on staying for months in a city, I would want an apartment with at least a small kitchen so I can prepare my own breakfasts or small meals if I don't feel like going out. A good supermarket stocked with the produce I would need would be essential. 

I have seen smaller Korean cities where the supermarkets don't have cheese, for example, or parts of American cities whose shops hardly stock fresh greens. Or Chinese cities where western style bread is unknown.

However you may not plan on having an apartment with a kitchen, so maybe the above is irrelevant.

[bkkmfj2648]

58 minutes ago, 12is12 said:

For 1500 pesos ($26) u get 6 hours of SPECTACULAR world class dance and drums shows.

Hi @12is12, many thanks for sharing with us all of your wonderful SINULOG photos - the quality of your photos are much superior to mine - as I was stuck with the throngs of spectators in the Osmenia Fuente circle.  For a while, we even had an annoying gay couple standing in front of us with those large feathered headdresses that blocked our view until the universe answered our prayers and one of the gay couple's headdress broke, and he could no longer wear it, thus giving us a view onto the parade again - until some of the elderly Filipina ladies decided to open their umbrellas because of the piercing sun, which again blocked our view.

@12is12 when you paid this 1500 pesos ($26) stadium viewing fee - did it include a seat?  if yes, was this seat shaded?

Unfortunately, I was not made aware of this stadium viewing option by either of my 2 Filipino friends.

[12is12]

Included a seat

Un numbered

All the seats are shaded

[bkkmfj2648]

25 minutes ago, macaroni21 said:

One thing you don't seem to be checking out are the supermarkets.

Good observation @macaroni21.  I did not give the supermarket access any priority or emphasis in this trip - as I am not a stay-at-home type of guy who cooks and prepares meals for myself.  I find it boring and the cost of food outside both here in the Philippines and back in Thailand is so cheap that I find it easier to just go outside and get it, or eat outside, or order it in via the Grab and/or FoodPanda app.

I will say that in both the CBP and IT Park neighborhoods there were plenty of nearby full-on supermarkets. But, I only used the 7-Eleven stores for 95% of my related food and/or supermarket purchases.  Also note that in an earlier segment of this trip report I discuss me going into the Metro Supermarket in the CBP Ayala mall - which is a super huge supermarket with a dedicated international section - which allowed me to buy certain body products that I was looking for.  Also, they have this BIG discount store here called, LANDERS, which is like Costco back in the USA.  But I did not venture there as I never even use the LANDERS equivalent back in Thailand.

https://www.landers.ph/

So, I apologize in advance to our forum readership who find supermarket choices to be a determining factor for a retirement destination decision.

[bkkmfj2648]

3 minutes ago, 12is12 said:

Included a seat

Is it easy to get these tickets?

Do you remember the process to get them ?

via internet?   

or via Philippine people here on the ground in Cebu ?

[floridarob]

So how are you enjoying the Philippines vs Jomtien.... I think with the number of expats and tourists in Thailand , the boys are more jaded 🤔 

[bkkmfj2648]

6 hours ago, floridarob said:

So how are you enjoying the Philippines vs Jomtien.... I think with the number of expats and tourists in Thailand , the boys are more jaded 🤔

To be honest - at first I did not like it here.  The poverty in your face and culture shock was somewhat over-bearing - but as with all new countries - you start to "normalize" and accept what you see with your own eyes as being what is accepted here.  My initial few days here were somewhat in a fear mode - as my vision of what is normal - being Thailand culture, Thai version of poverty, beggars, etc. was being altered - and when you get old - change is sometimes hard to deal with - so you need to challenge yourself to push forward.

Now I am in day 33 of my stay in the Philippines (CEBU) and I am liking it and I feel comfortable here with my new normal  of Philippine culture, their version of poverty and beggars, etc.

Tourism here in the Philippines is no where near the level it is in Thailand --> so consequently the people (boys) are much less jaded and are truly down to earth, naive, kind, and not yet jaded.  However, there is a stark difference between the Filipino guys who work in the trade versus those who do not --> where those who work in the trade as their primary source of income are very jaded and on par with the trade that is available in Pattaya.

Living in Pattaya your daily contact with the guys is that the majority are in the transactional camp

Whereas, here in Cebu, your daily contact with the guys is that it is very rare to find someone who is in the transactional camp - which is nice and refreshing.

Having said that, if you are addicted to transactional sex by living in Pattaya full time - it is hard to go somewhere where this is not the norm - especially when you feel horny.  In Pattaya it is all around you and easy to get - here you need to work harder to get it.  Different game with different norms and rules.

[bkkmfj2648]

Day 31 (28 January 2025).

Woke up very late with a slight hangover.  Ate breakfast in my room and then later on I had an argument with my boyfriend back in Thailand, as he presented me with an unexpected surprise monetary request regarding his sister up in Sukhothai.  I was irritated, because tomorrow = 29 January is the Chinese New Year and I had already arranged a surprise (he did not know about it) money transfer via my Wise account into his Thai bank account.  Consequently, I did not have any additional non-committed funds to:

• Surprise him for the Chinese New Year,
• and to also fund his sister’s education school related request.

--> It would be one or the other, and NOT both.

Wise is amazing, in that it allows me to transfer THB from my Belgium account within minutes into his Thai bank account.  As part of my staying outside of Thailand to avoid the 180 days tax resident issue – I have decided to not use my in-Thailand bank account during this period that I am out of Thailand.  My belief is that if the Thai government would challenge me about living in Thailand because they would see internal in-country bank transfers during my absence – I won’t have this possible issue to deal with and this is where Wise steps in to help me.  So, when he surprised me about something that his sister needs for her school – I became irritated – because I am painfully trying to teach him about finances, budgeting, and that money does not grow on trees.  So, I told him that his sister will have to wait until I can top-up my Wise Belgium account from New York – and that process via ACH within the USA is slow and can take up to 3 bank working days.

Why doesn’t the Thai educational system and Thai society teach Thais about finances and budgeting?  Why do they constantly believe that prayers and Buddha will provide for them?

Back to Wolflink for another amazing Wolf Stew late lunch.

I invited Mr. Lan to come to my room later to give me a massage, as this is my last night in my IT Park condo room and later in the week, Mr. Lan will transfer himself to Manila to try to regain his career in Philippine TV, as an actor – which he did prior to covid.  He showed me some of his films where he is torso nudo trying to seduce a woman – it is very hot and he definitely has many talents.

Mr. Lan comes to my room and makes me a soothing and wonderful massage.  As this is now our 3^rd meeting – everything is perfect.  He is a great guy.  He edges me perfectly while I edge him and our orgasms are almost synchronized.

Clean up myself and kiss Mr. Lan goodbye. Then later I chat with my Thai boyfriend – now I literally have a “cooler head” in both senses to talk to him calmly.  Whenever I get upset I am often referred to as the “Ba farang” (crazy foreigner), which then aggravates the situation – because it is not only my current Thai boyfriend and the past 1 year ago Thai boyfriend who say this – but it also includes all of their friends.  So, if you lose your cool about your finances, the Thais label you as Ba Farang – which I find to be quite annoying.

I guess this is just another example of the culture shock that we need to overcome when we willingly chose to abandon our home native country to live abroad as an expat / retiree.

 

Day 31 (28 January 2025) concluded.

[bkkmfj2648]

Day 32 (29 January 2025)

My brain woke me up at 3:30am – so that I could execute the Wise transfer to my boyfriend ( as it was now officially the day of the Chinese New Year ), as the Thais do love receiving those red envelopes. 

As it was only 2:30am in Thailand, my Thai boyfriend is still awake and is ecstatic that:

• I remembered him for the Chinese New Year,
• That I still followed through with this surprise even though we argued during the previous day.

Then he asks me the question – how can you send me this lovely Chinese New Year surprise and not help me with my sister’s educational needs?  So, I have to tell him that he put me in a difficult predicament when I only had available liquid funds in Thai baht outside of Thailand for one or the other and that I chose the Chinese New Year surprise over the needs of his sister.  He was very appreciative – but I could sense that he would have preferred that I took care of his sister instead of him – but I did not agree.

My brain finally allows me to go back to sleep with peace of mind.  Thank God!!

I wake up at 8am, eat breakfast, and pack my bags, as today is the BIG move from Cebu city (IT Park) to the Jomtien of Cebu, known as Mactan Newtown, over on nearby Mactan island.

Now in Part 3 of this trip at my AirBnB #3 at Mactan Newtown

I perform the required check-out activities at 11:50am with the owner of the IT Park AirBnB.  Cart my luggage and towel bag downstairs and request a car in the Grab app for Mactan Newtown.

Elapsed time was 45 minutes for a total cost of 709.67 pesos ( ~ $12.17 USD) arriving at 12:48pm.  I added a 100 peso tip as the driver was really good and he helped me to get my steamer trunk out of his trunk and up the few steps onto the marble walkway into my new chic condo building at the beach.

With this new AirBnB condo owner I asked for an early check-in of 1pm, but she could not get the cleaning from the previous person completed until 3pm.  So, I gave my new security team a 100 peso tip to store and watch my luggage for 2 hours while I walked around my new neighborhood and went to get lunch.

There is only 1 main street in this Mactan Newtown neighborhood as everything is new and there is still major construction going on as they expand this new mini-city complex.  I notice that the main street is full of Korean people and I am quite surprised as I did not see many Koreans back in Cebu city.  All of the restaurants are jammed packed – mainly with Koreans.  So, I walk to the main entrance into the Mactan Newtown complex where there is an open air food court, which is not packed.  It’s name is:  Mactan Alfresco.

https://www.facebook.com/MactanAlfresco/

I can report that there is a good assortment of food and beverage choices and I have a feeling that I will be eating here a lot in these next days.  I need to kill 2 hours so I eat very slowly.

Back to my condo and now the security team allows me to go up to the room.  The complex is huge and consists of 4 towers, where if you are not in the tower where the main entrance is, you need to take a special shuttle elevator up to floor 4, where the tennis court and pool are and then walk to your appropriate tower and use those elevators from level 4 to get up to your condo room floor.  Rather complex and requires lots of walking – but it is ok as this place is truly very nice.

The owner of this AirBnB also had an electronic key access system and to access the room you need to install an app on your phone.  I tried to do that back in IT Park but the app registration could not be completed for me because I could not switch the phone number country code from the default of +1 to +66 (or any other country code).  Consequently, the cleaning lady had to leave the door unlocked where the physical metal room key was on the kitchen table.  I love old-fashioned access – hallelujah!!  And I love physical metal keys.

I un pack and enjoy my balcony view that overlooks the Magellan Bay.

I take a nap and then I go to eat at this independent type of food truck that is on the main road but is located all by itself on the opposite side of the road where there is a small field.

https://www.facebook.com/andaleeats

I eat this wonderful box set meal = Cebu Chorizo Shawarma that was truly yummy.  It takes them a while to prepare your food – but it is well worth the wait.

I ask someone why there are soo many Koreans here in Mactan Newtown and they reply:

• It is the Chinese New Year - wow I felt so dumb,
• There is a BIG English language training center here,
• Koreans love these luxurious type of condos that are at the beach instead of being in the urban city

Afterwards, I go to the nearby 7-Eleven (which is full of Koreans) to stock up my refrigerator and I call it a night.

I wonder if I will be able to get some Korean action this trip ?  I had a great time 10 years ago in Seoul - so why not?

No massages or extra-curricular activities today.

 

Day 32 (29 January 2025) concluded in my new Jomtien like home:

[12is12]

BKK, I dont understand: why doesnt he use your NY gift in order to help his sister?

I humbly submit that no finance education by government can overcome finance education by generous farangs...

[bkkmfj2648]

42 minutes ago, 12is12 said:

I humbly submit that no finance education by government can overcome finance education by generous farangs...

Well, I am not experiencing this phenomena here in the Philippines.

Perhaps, it is something in the Thai water.

Lastly, my mother (God bless her soul up in heaven), ingrained in me that you always take care of the people that you love --> especially if they are less fortunate than you are.

When I was a child and my father abandoned us when I was only 5 years old with no financial support from him - it was up to my mother working as a poor waitress who took care of me and my brother.  She always told us, "you boys see that tip that the customer left on the table?".  We replied, "yes mamma". That tip allows me to buy you milk and bread because your father left us with no money.

So, as my mother left her 50+ year waitress inheritance to me, out of respect for my mother's soul, I will take care of the people that I love who are less fortunate than I am.

I can feel my mother smiling down on me thinking, I raised my son properly to be humble and not selfish and to remember the poorness and poverty that we came from.

 

This is the same reason as to why I will leave Thailand if this new Thai government will follow through with their proposed OECD pushed Global Tax Regime. I promised my mother before she died to protect her financial assets.  That also includes from the hands of this greedy Thai government.

Here in the Philippines they do NOT tax bank transfers into the Philippines that us retirees make into the country.  They still respect the Territorial Tax Regime that previously also Thailand respected.

Amen.

 

[macaroni21]

5 hours ago, bkkmfj2648 said:

I could not switch the phone number country code from the default of +1 to +66 (or any other country code).

I see this quite often, and in many countries. It's a problem of software design, but it's so basic an issue that it's amazing how unaware software engineers are that this is an issue.

The craziest was Turkish Airlines. It had that problem in all its self check-in terminals, demanding a Turkish country code and no other and in a mandatory field. And the same software was used at whichever airport around the world. Here's an international airline whose software designers didn't imagine that passengers might not have Turkish phone numbers?

Needless to say, the 5 or 6 self check-in terminals were hardly used. Meanwhile the human check-in counters had horrible queues.

I hope they have realised their mistake and corrected it by now.

 

[Olddaddy]

On 1/29/2025 at 1:17 AM, bkkmfj2648 said:

Day 27 (24 January 2025)

Today I have my FIRST experience getting my tourist visa extended at the main Cebu immigration office, as my initial 30 day tourist granted to me at the airport is set to expire.  Here is what I did:

1.       Watch this short 3 minute YouTube video of a guy who recently extended his tourist visa in Cebu:  

 

2.       Take Grab car (or any other suitable transportation to the GMall (aka Gaisano Malls)) and go to the 2^nd floor, and you will see the Bureau of Immigration (BI) office.  This BI office opens at 9am – even though the mall does not open until 10am.  You just tell the security guard that you need to enter the mall to go to immigration and they will let you in.  When you get off of the escalator you will see the BI office off in the distance – ignore the left side of the BI office – as that is the exit side and walk to the extreme right side so that you are in front of the Information Desk.  If you approach the office on the left side, you may encounter some opportunists (fixers), who want to help you for a fee, and will ask you to give them your passport.  I strongly suggest that you don’t do this.

3.       The Information Desk will give you an Extension of Temporary Visitor’s Visa form for you to complete over at one of the sit down areas that are nearby in the mall.  You will need your own pen.

If you want to see the form in advance, here is a direct link to the BI web page – valid as of 28-Jan-2025:  https://immigration.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/IRD04.QF_.004-CGAF-FOR-EXTENSION-OF-STAY-OF-TEMPORARY-VISITORS-VISA-1.pdf

Note that on the application form in the Contact Information section it asked for a Mobile Number in the Philippines, which I did not have, as I bought the Airalo eSIM, which is a data only plan without a phone number.  So, I left this part of the form blank and the immigration people did not make a fuss or even ask any questions.

Note that the form will also ask you if you desire “Express” service – click this check box if you want your updated tourist visa within a couple of hours instead of some days later.

1.       Return to the Information Counter and show the BI person your completed form and passport.  He will stamp the extension form if all is good and tell you to go to the Assessment Counter where they calculate how much you need to pay and they will also take your passport and extension form from you and put it into their work queue.

2.       With the receipt given to you by the Assessment Counter you then need to proceed to the Cashier window to pay the fees – see below for fee calculations.

3.       You now wait for your name to be called so that you can then go to the Releasing window to pickup your passport and sign a register book that you are claiming your passport.

Note that you will not receive an additional stamp in your passport but instead an important piece of paper, “Official Receipt”, which now has printed:  VISA VALID UNTIL :  XX XXX XXXX    KEEP this document in your passport in the same page as the tourist visa stamp that you received at the airport.  Note that this first extension only gives you an additional 29 days, whereas, the original entry tourist visa that you obtained at the airport gave you 30 days.

I performed all of the above steps and I was in and out of immigration in just 1 hour and 20 minutes – not bad for someone doing it all by themselves.  Back in Jomtien, this would be a nightmare and that is why I always use an agent in Thailand to streamline as much as is possible when I need to deal with Thai immigration.

So, I left the BI office as a happy camper.

Ate lunch again at the Ayala mall and then returned to my room.  Now I was feeling horny so I hired a sexy macho straight guy for a 2 hands massage.  I should have known that trouble was brewing when he would not remove his underwear.  His massage was excellent as well as his edging skills.  I was very happy.  But, he became angry when it came time to pay him, as we agreed to the standard 3.000 pesos and I showed him in the app our chat transcript.  He became even more angry and insisted that I pay him 7.000 pesos because I touched his nipples during the massage.  He raised his voice and then I raised my voice and I showed him my pants pockets which only had another 1,200 pesos in random banknotes that he begrudgingly accepted as I showed him the door.  No violence occurred – as I felt that it was definitely heading that way – but the good news is that they cannot enter the condo complex without giving up their National ID card – so I would have ran downstairs to security should the situation have escalated further.  What is weird is that during the massage this guy was chatting and laughing non stop and it felt like the beginnings of a new friendship.  I would have definitely rehired him as he was near excellent in his massage and edging skills.  So, I just don’t understand this Dr. Jeckell and Mr. Hyde bad transformative behavior. 

Any ideas ?

This is day 26 and only my 2^nd bad encounter out of around 13 encounters to date.

 

Day 27 (24 January 2025) concluded.

 

This is the second guy you have had trouble with 

I'm wondering if your making it clear what you want to do with them