Hello and introduction from new member John

Norm, thank you very much, this kind of info is directly applicable to what I am trying to accomplish.
I want to grow my own veggies as much as possible, and pull whatever fish I can straight from the ocean.
Not sure I could do without electricity though....there is such a thing as *too quiet* for me!
I've already figured out that once I set foot in Dumaguete, my first task is a scooter rental (prefer one speed/automatic) and then drive around for a week steady just looking for the right place to throw anchor.
I looked a bit into Valencia, I like the idea of living in the hills. But for the moment its still my preference to find something a bit closer to the ocean.
Sounds like we have some similar ideals about the quiet life, I'm always interested to hear more of your knowledge and observations.

John

 

the issue of noise

I will address one of your concerns in two ways. Most noise is generated by motorcycle, except for the occasional Karaoke party, unless you live in the city. The best way to avoid motorcycle noise is to stay away from major highway, and streets. There are secondary streets that have paved that provide a quieter environment. The unpaved roads slow the traffic, but it seems like the many times the people living in the less developed areas have the smaller bikes (100 cc) bikes with little mufflering, trying to sound like 650 cc bikes. You do not have to go so far as to lose electrical service just to reduce the noise. Be aware that many times that electrical service is required for water to be pumped to your house. No electricity = no water, which can be a b*tch with brownouts that are common here now.

If you find a place you like, see if you can spend a night or two there, even it means sleeping on the floor. Certainly at minimum visit the location at night. You can tell very easily if the neighbors are noisy, or if you live in the center of a Cock fighting area with many roosters. The Roosters start crowing about 4:30 AM in here, waking other animals too.

I found Bacong, or Dauin to be a pretty nice environments if you prefer to be closer to the ocean than Valencia. Both areas are green areas and give great relief from air pollution. Valencia has cool temperatures which many claim is because of the altitude. I believe the vegetative tree cover is as important as factor in keep a place cool as the altitude. Valencia has lots of tree cover. So if you can find a heavily tree cover property near the beach you may have two of your criteria meet. Bacong is about 7 Km from the Robinson Mall, (12 minutes on MC) and Dauin is about 15 km. The farther south you go the faster the traffic moves because there are less trikes traveling at 20 km/hour. Consequently as the distance doubles the travel time does not necessarily double. Both places may be far enough from your lady's relative to discourage impromptu visits with requests for aid.

The best method is to try different places. Find a landlord that appreciates a foreigner, most do because the rent is paid on time. Do not expect to get your deposits back from a Filipino landlord, it rarely happens.

 

Good info Dave,

My girlfriend checked with her dad and sister, and we are invited to stay with them until we find a place. This is good news as the money I will save in rent can be used for scooter rental and maybe a hotel for a night in one of the areas you suggested (unless we can work staying in the vacant apartments we are considering). The areas she mentioned on her own were Sibulan and Bacong, and Dauin is not too far away from Dumaguete at all for our tastes. We are looking for tree covered as well. She is not picky at all, she says "I don't want the big house, just the very simple life." I asked her if she would live in a nipa hut and she said that would be fine as long as we could find one or build one that kept the bugs out. So it's a pleasure to have someone who is as easy to please as me.

Yes, we can drive through the neighborhoods that interest us several times over a night, I guess Friday nights and Saturday nights might be the best nights to get a good idea about noise and neighbor activity.

We love to walk, we walked a half hour to Angeles proper to catch a jeepney to our destination, we could have been there in ten minutes by jeepney from where we started....that is to say, inland a bit from the beach is not a problem.

I had never considered how paved road status might affect noise! Nor would I have thought to ask whether water was pumped in by electric pump. In any case, storing enough water for a few days should not be a problem.

Thank you very much Dave for the insights and suggestions,

John