Iloilo

Saturday I was in Iloilo for one night with my girlfriend. We stayed in Smallville 21 near the discos and went out for some drinks. Both of us were pretty amazed at the small part of the city we got to see. Before our ferry we stopped by one of the shopping centers closer to the city center as well and we're both very impressed with how clean the area was an how nice the people there were. She doesn't speak ilongo so she was just as lost in the sauce as I was and couldn't talk too much to the locals about anything.

I only saw one foreigner while we were out at the bars but he was pretty drunk and I couldn't really get any good information out of him, although he did take us around to some of the other bars. Every bar I went to gave me a "welcome to Iloilo" drink after i told them it was my first time there. My girlfriend said the local men didn't shamelessly hit on her like they did in every other city we were in for the last week. (which was Borocay, Caticlan, Kalibo, Bacolod and Kabankalan) The people there left a very good impression on me and I'm certainly going back to investigate the city further as I know one night cannot be enough to judge a city. I also know that no city can really be that great. I think maybe I was overly impressed because of my massive disappointment in Borocay.

I've looked for a forum for the city but have found no such thing. I want more information on the city, specifically from foreigners. Anyone here have more information on this city?

 

Btw, when i was there I did not have one beggar/street vender/taxi driver who came and bugged me and tried to rip me off. I wasn't even off the boat in Bacolod before the beggars and taxi drivers were mugging me. At the bus station in Bacolod one guy tried to convince my girlfriend she should leave me and go with him (a disgusting homeless looking guy) while I was standing right next to her. She has been around me too long as she told him to "f* off" and almost started a fight.

I felt as if I had went to a properly planned western city straight into the third world when I got off the boat in Bacolod. Maybe I just had too much alcohol this week.

 

Well glad to know I'm not losing my mind. After I'm done with this bar management crap on the 20th I'll be heading over there for a couple days to investigate further. Seemed like a place I'd be interested in moving to. The guy I spoke to said (a couple times with the drunk circle talk) the rent will run 6-10k for a 2 bedroom apartment there.

 

Goes to the website but says "not found". Searched Iloilo on the site and found a few blogs that confirmed pretty much what I have said here. Looking for more information regarding rent, food, general living expenses. I was planning on using my GI Bill here but am seriously reconsidering that now. Information on colleges would be cool too.