Robbie in and around Tacloban

San Juanico Bridge When visiting Tacloban there is one attraction that is highly recommended. The San Juanico Bridge is not very far from down town Tacloban. Travel time to the bridge is around 10 to 15 minutes. You can travel by private vehicle, jeepney or multicab. All public transport costs in this part of the Philippines are quite reasonable The San Juanico Bridge links Leyte and Samar across the San Juanico Straight. The bridge connects Tacloban city on the Leyte side to the township of Santa Rita on the Samar side. If you were planning to travel from Tacloban to Manila by road this is the way you go. The San Juanico Bridge is part of the Pan- Philippine Highway. The views are very picturesque but I would describe as quite stunning. San Juanico Bridge traveling from Samar to Tacloban Travelling from Tacloban to Samar Stunning Views from the San Juanico Bridge Information and history The San Juanico Bridge is 2.16 Km in length or in imperial 1.4miles The br...

This blog is about Tacloban and surrounding areas. I am an Australian living in a barangay (village) in the Dulag Leyte area. I have been living in this Barangay for six years and know many of the local Filipino people living here. I am not rich but try and help whenever I can. Most people in this Barangay are poor but happy. Some are farmers, farm laborers or work in Dulag or Tacloban. Filipino people are proud and that pride is shown when Manny Pacquiao takes the world stage. This time Manny fights Jeff Horn of Australia to defend his World Welter Weight title in Brisbane Australia. I purchase the pay for view and set up our flat screen TV in the car port.   All Filipino people in this and other barangays were welcome to watch the fight at my house. It is not much but a gesture to allow the locals to see the fight live. It is not the same to watch a fight after you know the result   LOCALS FROM OUR BARANGAY COME TO SEE THE FIGHT ...

JANA’S RESORT When Filipinos and foreigners visit Tacloban and they have seen most of the sites they may be looking for a day with a difference. Especially now with the warm weather a nice swimming pool is very tempting. Foreigners and Filipinos may desire to stay in this type of resort if you like a quiet area There is a new resort about 38 km from Tacloban City in the Dulag area. The name is JANA’S RESORT. I visited this resort recently with family and friends. The staff were very friendly and helpful and we had a great day. THE ENTRANCE IS QUITE IMPRESSIVE I live in this area but closer to Tacloban To my best knowledge there is no resort of this type between Tacloban City and Dulag. There are a few pension houses on the way but nothing like this. ADULT AND KIDDIES SWIMMING POOL I did not meet the owner but I made enquiries with an on duty supervisor as I thought some readers of my blog maybe interested. What intrigue me about Jana’s Resort is the accommodat...

INTRODUCTION Yes I live in Tacloban and as mentioned in a previous blog I travelled to Manila to apply for my daughters Canadian Citizenship recently.. We decided lets also make it a bit of a getaway holiday as well. I would also like to supply a bit of additional information on what we experienced on our stay in Global City. Getting a Taxi at Terminal 3 arrivals Manila I have travelled to Manila many times and foreigners are a target for taxi drivers. Yes taxi drivers have to make a living but in addition they need to promote the country. When you come out of terminal 3 you will see many people trying to get you to take their taxi. When you come out look to right and you see two large taxi stands. The first one is a set price taxi fee that is advertised on a board. I use this service all the time when getting to my destination. It is better especially if there is traffic to get a set price During this trip I was walking to the fixed price taxi stand when I was appro...

Introduction It is a personal choice for a foreigner to live in the Philippines or take your wife back to your home country. If you have child or children and decide to remain in the Philippines there is a gift you can give your child. The citizenship of your country. It does not sound like much but think about it. When they finish school and college or university they have an option. Your child may decide to stay in the Philippines or travel to their country of citizenship to work and start a new life. As it stands now Filipinos can work as OFWs but from what I have seen there are limits and the majority seem to go to the Middle East and other parts of Asia. I have only spoken to a few OFW and the salary they receive is not as high as they would receive in other Western Countries. In my case a bit of a mix up I was born in Canada. My father was Canadian and my mother Australian. Many years ago they decided to migrate to Australia and I finished high school, obtained a...

Background I built a house in this barangay in the Dulag Area 4 years ago. A family were living on the land next store which was potentially up for sale. So the family were there and not too sure of their future. After typhoon Yolanda they received a grant for simple housing and my wife and I decided it would be ok for them to build this house at the back of our land. This family has five children now. The father works for Poppa on the rice land helping with planting, harvest and crop maintenance. So all works out quite well. So I have seen the children grow up in this 4 year period. The eldest son is Yan Yan a 12 year old boy. He offers to help around the house and go to the sari sari store if we need anything. So a good help. He as most children likes TV and when it is ok no problem with him watching TV. Yan Yan has never been to a shopping Mall at 12 Years of age Talking to my wife one evening it was mentioned Yan Yan had only been to Tacloban City and never been ...

UPDATE - FOREIGNER IN THE PHILIPPINES – CREATING A FUTURE FOR WIFE AND DAUGHTER We have started to develop the approximate 2 hectares of land I purchased for my wife and young daughter. The land was cleared by hand and ploughed twice. There is a guy in this village who contracts out ploughing at 500 peso/hour. So we have planted 1500 plants of string beans. As the plants start to grow they need stakes and need to be tied up. This is manual labor where bamboo is cut and stakes implanted. The rest of the vegetable land has another green vegetable planted Okra and some pumpkin. There is also approximately 4000 square meters planted with rice. 1200 STRING BEAN PLANTS IN SOME PUMKIN- GROWING QUICK Foreigner flying blind I am not sure what profit we will make from this venture as it is all a learning curve. Allot depends on the weather and as it is known we are in a typhoon area although the season is not quite here yet. When the crop is ready to harvest then I ...