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The neighbor is a total flirt, but she's playing hard to get

Are there any banks here where, once you open an account, you don't have to go into the bank to move money to your debit card? I have a passbook account with PNB where my pension comes in by direct deposit?

Need advice: Boracay or Panglao

I'm a young Westerner leaving Manila after a year (I'm over it) and looking to live on the islands for a while, do some diving, and find a place where my Western-raised Filipina wife, who doesn't swim, won't get bored. She thinks Boracay would be better because she likes walking on the beach, and to me it also looks far more beautiful and easier to get around. Panglao looks like it has better dive spots, but by comparison not much infrastructure or decent housing. Which would be more enjoyable?

5 signs he's a loser back home

1. Calls his online girlfriend 'my Filipina'

2. Thinks he's successful because his home currency has strong purchasing power in the Philippines, even though that same money barely lets him scrape by back home

3. Unattractive back home, but his ego makes him feel like some heartthrob celebrity in a third-world country

4. Likes women who are pretty but uneducated because he wants to live 'stress-free'

5. The only photos he has are ones taken 20 years ago

Gotham is safe tonight.

Three crunches and let's call it a day

How to earn a wild animal's trust

This might seem simple, but I can't figure it out. We'll be spending a few months in the Philippines. How do you check your US bank accounts online? When we went last year, I couldn't get into our local bank account. I could use my cards, but I couldn't check my balances. A bigger online bank still requires two-factor authentication, like a text. We'll be using a temporary Philippine phone while our US phone service is turned off. So how do we actually log into the account? Thank you.

Salt nicotine disposables

This might be a long shot, but has anyone had any luck finding salt nicotine disposable vapes in the Philippines? Specifically around Angeles City/Pampanga?

All my searches only turn up those crappy relix freebase ones with so much menthol they give you a headache. I'm looking for a Geek Bar or something similar.

Side note: apparently the president's son owns relix? And that's all you can find in shops. Pretty funny.

US to Philippines flights: the exit ticket question

I'm flying from the US to the Philippines soon. I know that officially you need an onward/exit ticket, and on top of that it's supposed to depart within 30 days. It's been quite a while since I last flew from the US to the Philippines. For those of you who've done it recently, were they strict about checking exit tickets? In particular, did they care whether it was within 30 days?

(I've been to the Philippines countless times, but I mostly flew in from Thailand or Vietnam, where it wasn't as strict.)

What's the best way to send documents from the Philippines to the US

Is there a limit on balikbayan boxes?

I'm moving back to the Philippines in a few months and plan to use balikbayan boxes to send a lot of our household stuff and a big pile of books (basically my whole personal library), especially since I don't have anything bulky to ship (I'll just buy new furniture).

My question: has anyone here sent a large number of boxes over a few months? Any tips for getting hassled less at customs? Should I, for example, use different shippers and send to different addresses (like different relatives)? I'm shipping from the East Coast, and I'm estimating around 20 large/jumbo boxes.

The only thing I could find on this was a comment from 2 years ago by someone who said they shipped 30+ boxes in 6 months. But I'm wondering if that was the exception or the norm. Thanks!🙏

Did You Know? Limay, Bataan

Did you know that the ONLY operating refinery in the entire Philippines 🇵🇭 is in Limay, Bataan?

Its capacity is 180,000 barrels of crude oil a day.

It produces gasoline, diesel, LPG, jet fuel, kerosene, and petrochemicals….. and supposedly supplies 40% of the Philippines' total fuel needs.

Not exactly a robust energy program.
Having just one refinery is an embarrassment.

He's really into bananas

Chubby mermen are hugely popular with mermaids, because being chubby means they're excellent hunters.

Bank account without an ARC card. I met an expat who said he got a bank account without an ACR card. He suggested I go to the local RCBC branch to open one. So I did, and less than an hour later I walked out with a passbook and a debit Mastercard. I only showed my passport and gave my Philippine phone number. Sorry if this is common knowledge, but most of what I've seen says you usually need your ACR to open a bank account. Maybe this helps someone who doesn't want to wait 59 days for a bank account. The expat I met opened his in Cebu and I opened mine at the Lagro branch in Quezon City. So it may be RCBC's policy not to require an ACR.

Only speaking English / retiring in the Philippines

Hi, I'm in the middle of looking for a place to retire.

So I've been trying out different places. So far I've tried Colombia, Vietnam, Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia. By trying out, I mean going for 2 to 4 weeks and living as much like a local, rather than a tourist, as I can.

So far Indonesia has been my favorite. Until I found out what the tax implications were for a UK citizen.

I plan to retire early within the next 5 years.

I know life can be hugely different from one city to the next within the same country. But I usually start with the capital, and if I liked the first visit, I branch out to other areas on later visits.

So I've been researching Manila for the past few weeks, with a view to visiting around January or February '27.

I'm NOT looking for a cheap retirement. I'm looking for somewhere that feels like home, where I can build the next chapter of my life.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated. Thank you.

One of these days, I'll get you

Coldplay concert reenactment

Scary balloon chaos