Originally posted by dwyt84
we actually have four seasons...
wet, hot, very wet, very hot and the extreme's are like no other hahahahabut tom and friends are leaving for WSOP sometime july - aug think and that's when the very wet season comes in.
this year we had the the record of hottest day broken 4 times in one summer in cebu. just so you know
I like hot 
Survival Guide - Some Tips for travellers to the Philippines
To help ease the inevitable (INEVITABLE!) culture shock that u guys are gonna get here, ive tried to compile couple of tips/things to expect for you. ♦ i dont want it to be a super long post so i might do it in chunks as i think of more stuff. To the others who live/have been been here, feel free to add. the more, the merrier!
i live in quezon city so dont know norms for cebu. it shouldnt be too far. the opinions posted here are mine may not hold true for every person in the world!
think i'll start with clothes...
1. The weather is hot. Bring clothes that are lightweight and breathable. it's not uncommon to find people walking around in shorts, round neck shirt or collared short sleeved shirt and slippers or sneakers (even in the mall). for going out at night, (or if you're shy about your white legs =D) you might want to wear jeans and a collared shirt. u dont need any thick winter jackets, scarves, or gloves (leave them behind!) but you might want to bring a light jacket for rains or if it gets a little cool at night.
2. umbrellas are a good idea. most ppl carry them around. keep one in the car at least. when its too sunny, they pop open. when its raining, they pop open as well.
3. pls dont wear speedos (banana-hammocks) to the beach. that's for the sadly misinformed beach noobs. and nobody needs to see that 
girls are in bikinis and guys are in board shorts. that's just the way it is.
SUNBLOCK if you dont want to end up a cooked lobster (in pain) after ur first 30 minutes. and i would have to firmly advise against a giant gold cross as well.
4. keep cool by drinking plenty of ice cold water (or beer). everybody knows, "a dehydrated poker player is a losing poker player". (ok fine, i made that up just now)
Electricity
- electrical outlets look like 2 parallel lines (sometimes 2 adjacent circles). mostly 220 volts. u will need a transformer for 110 appliances.
Language
- almost everybody speaks english. but if ur accent is too heavy, they might not understand. in which case, just repeat urself slowly and clearly. for taxi drivers, you could write down the name of your hotel. filipino is the national language. in cebu, they speak cebuano (a diffrent dialect).
Tips (Php is philippine peso which is atm roughly Php 44= 1 US$)
- in restaurants (even in fastfood) and such, dont pick up after urself. theres no need and ppl will think its strange. when ur done eating, just get up and go. tips are usually Php20 (= 0.50 US$. standard, no matter how much the bill is), Php50 (if u got extra pleased by the service), or Php100 (if ur a big group, or the bill is big). for boys who help you back out the parking or such, you can give a 5 peso coin.
Safety
- while its reasonably safe, it has to be said that you guys are err... white. and ppl will generally assume you are rich/famous. imagine being a movie star or lottery winner and getting hassled by fans. ppl will stare and some might try to get an autograph. haha. try not to get scammed or overcharged. just like being in any new city, be streetsmart (be aware of ur surroundings, keep ur wallet/celphone fr getting snatched, dont go into back alleys and such, dont go out with large wads of cash.) major establishments generally accept visa and mastercard. but obv not in small stalls and places far fr city
Communications
- get a local number by buying a prepaid sim card and putting it into your celphone. major networks are Smart, Globe, Suncellular. text messages are P1, and calls are pretty cheap too. those networks also offer usb wireless internet (you plug the usb into your laptop so you can have internet while lounging on the pool or beach or sth. i think they cost P20 for 15 min, just dont knw how fast those are.) check which has the best coverage in your area. you can load cash into your sim card fr practically anywhere.
Poker
- there are 4 live poker rooms in cebu. APT (asian poker tour) is actually gonna be there from jan 10-17 i think.
- warning! you cannot play on ipoker sites here. full tilt and stars and most of the others are ok.
- warning! mb doesnt allow gambling transactions. (but u can still withdraw cash fr mb to you, but not from poker site to mb). we cant register on neteller either but im not sure what happens if uv already got a registered account fr a diffrent country. we use click2pay or clickandbuy or credit card or bank transfer
if u want to contact me on skype or facebook (look for me among joenaes friends =D)
a pinoy here! 1st time to post at this forum!
this link was posted at http://pokermanila.com/index.php/topic,5437.msg88267/topicseen.html#new
good thing you guys chose cebu . . . but there is so much action in manila. . .
you can have a decent living with Php50k or more than $1000 in Philippines . . .
oh man if only you posted something b4 i went travelling in manila :(. a lot of those are pretty commonsense though and i luckily didn't run into any trouble.
Originally posted by chenny8888
oh man if only you posted something b4 i went travelling in manila :(. a lot of those are pretty commonsense though and i luckily didn't run into any trouble.
But the gold cross really looked wrong on a guy like you
tnx ivan. 
aw chenny, i guess u were in speedos then? hehe... srsly, u shldv told me. i wouldv gladly housed u and fed u at least.
jonas, i wouldnt be surprised if one of you misreads the post and actually thinks you need to come in that outfit... 
Hi there!
If anyone is still interested in setting up Cebu pokerhouse #2, drop me a pm or post here. I'm 24yo Slovak grinder, mostly rush nl100/nl200, and atm I'm considering taking a break from school and moving there for a year or two.
Hopefully everything goes well and we can throw some parties together
