[rhr]

Before you start, I would advise visiting the Trip report/datasheet by rcraig33hb who did a great job at writing a general description of the city! Go there to find out more about the layout, security and logistics of Davao, since my report will focus more on what you will and wont see when coming to here!
http://www.rooshvforum.network/thread-35378.html

Now that you've familiarized yourself with the city based on the thread above^, I'd like to mention that, in my opinion, you have to have BALLS OF FUCKING STEEL to come to a place like Davao!!!!!
The very fact that you've taken that plane to come here already squarely puts you into the "Alpha male" bracket and you are completely on your own! (you'll see why later!)
I'd also like to point out that your experience will vary vastly depeding on who you are, and where you are in life. My experience for example, turned out completely different than that of rcraig33hb, who I met at the Marco Polo on my first day of arrival and had an awesome time with!
This report is from the perspective of a white german who loves travel and adventures.

Section A: Logistics, getting around and savety

• The most important part, and key to enjoying Davao is the Driver!
  When I arrived at the airport, the first thing I did was hiring a driver from the Davao International Transport cooperative for 500php. Later on I paid him another 3,000php which, though it might sound expensive, turned out to be the single most important decision I made and was vital for my later success. I'll explain why below...
• As mentioned by others before, in this city taxi drivers generally DO NOT rip you off, although it might happen if you don't pay attention. However their english is oftern lacking! Also more on this later.
• What might surprise some of you, something that I haven't seen mentioned anywhere is the complete un-walkability of this city! Coming from a european perspective, having lived in various large western, as well as eastern, european cities, I was used to walk anywhere needed. To the gym, store, friend, clubs etc. Walking is 100% impossible in Davao!!! This came as a shock, especially since I was looking at google maps before my arrival to find the best place to stay in terms of logistics. A 5 min walk to Abreeza Mall according to google? Impossible.
• The concept of sidewalk is completely foreign in the Philippines. Not just in Manila, but everywhere. You are completely dependent on taxis or jeepneys (if you dare!) and even the simple act of crossing the street to the other side turned into a fantastic adventure of life and death. The traffic, as others have amply complained about, is insane. Constant honking, 8+ vehicles sharing four lanes etc. And even though they tend to stop correctly at traffic lights, there are only about 3 of them in the whole city. So if you want to cross the street, you have to literally walk between the cars, while holding up your hand to show them to stop! I wondered how there are no constant accidents all the time...
• On the plus side I must point out that this city felt very safe! Not for a single nano-second did I ever feel threatened or unsave! Even when I was walking home in the middle of the night, through the slums, completely drunk, through dangerous traffic, with mobile phone in my hand for GPS, in a completely foreign place as the only white guy - Never felt in danger or anything, not once!
  This is in stark contrast with (especially western) European cities, where you, justified or not, constantly feel a looming sense of danger or unease! Europe seems to be a significantly more violent place, but this is topic of another discussion.
• The water quality is surprisingly good, even better than in most east-european cities. We used the water for everything, washing, cooking and even drinking after a quick boil. I never felt sick and am still alive after drinking.
• On that note, I never got any illness while staying in the Phils and after a few days, my digestion has perfectly adjusted itself to the new environment. No problems there.
• Brownouts: In a true 3rd-world-esque style, no Davao guide would be complete without mentioning the regular (daily) brownouts. These happen mostly midday, when it gets too hot and the turbines have to be shut down. (Don't ask me for details about this, I'm just repeating what others have told me!) Even though all malls and public places have emergency generators, this turned into a problem when I was trying to access an ATM which had lost connection thanks to the outage and I couldn't withdraw cash. Be prepared for this!
  

Section B: People & Places

• Marco Polo Hotel:
  Five stars, one of the most expensive places in Davao. You can see the pool in the vid. Learn more about it from rcraig's thread.
• Jun'N Dell Apartelle:
  
  This place is spartan to say the least! For ~1,000php a night, the price is good, and the room is cleaned regularely. But do not expect to find stuff like in a holtel like for example towels, toilet paper, extra sheets etc. It is really just a room with a bed, an old TV with 3 channels, some plastic furniture, 3 cups and an electric heater.
  With that being said, I would highly recommend staying at Jun'n Del for at least a week or two! This is not about the rooms, it is about the people you meet!
  Jun'n Del is a lively place where you quickly make new friends to hang out with, which is vital particularely in those first few days when you just arrived!
  You will see all kinds of nationalities when staying here, though mostly Japanese and Koreans. But you will also sometimes meet europeans. Again, recommended!
• Speaking about friends, the Philippines is an extremely friendly and open minded country. Unlike in Europe, it is very easy to get to know people and, especially as a world traveler, there will be a lot of stories to exchange. One problem though you will keep running into is a lack of english proficiency! Despite the fact that English is one of the official languages of the country, and is tought early on, a lot of times I had trouble comunicating with the people. If you have a driver/girl around to talk to the people this might be less of an issue, but as mentoned above, if the taxi drivers don't understand you, you'll run into problems.
• As others have observed before, philipinos love to relax!! They can take a nap anywhere - on a bike, while being baked in a car, in the middle of the street etc.
• On the other hand, philipinos are also some of the hardest working people I have ever seen! And this comes from a German! You will regularely see them work in the middle of the day, in burning heat, or in the middle of the dangerous traffic! I felt like some of these guys were risking their lives on a daily basis!
• Life happens in the Malls.
  This is a mall obsessed country like no other place I've seen. The malls are gigantic, modern and filled with people. Most of the times they hang out there because they are air coditioned. There are a lot of events happening, as well as places to eat for all kinds of budgets, at the malls. I will talk more about the malls below.
  

Section C: girls

• On some blogs and posts here you come across the idea of picking up girls in the malls. This is one of those points where I ask myself if these people have ever really visited Davao or the Philippines because picking up at malls is almost completely impossible! I'd estimate that there is a less than 1/1000 of a chance of this "working."
  Not only are malls hectic environments with people constantly in motion, but what you will encounter are mostly groups. You would have to open to all of them at once!
  Back in Europe I used a move where I would tell a girl that I had to "quickly drop off some stuff at my place." Since everything is close-by we could just walk and there was never any kind of suspicion. In Davao however a move like that is utterly impossible!
  The very fact that you have to grab a taxi every time you leave a building and tell them where you want to go, completely eliminates the effect of spontanity of such a move. You simply can not pull this off here. Which seamlessly leads me to my next point:
• Taxi drivers: the biggest cock blocks and biggest cock enablers at the same time! On one hand your dependence on taxis is like a giant amboss on your legs. You have no chance of simply freely enjoy the city, you always have to get them to move from one place to the next - as mentioned before, this is not Europe where you stroll the streets, sit down at a cafe or walk down the river banks in the evening. Such a thing, unfortunately, doesn't exist here.
  On the other hand a good driver might open up the city for you! He knows all the places, can give you advice and tipps and tricks on how to deal with stuff and - as it happened for me once - arrange a date with a prospect!
  Since, as I said before, english is sometimes severly lacking, having your driver speak to girls and arrange meetings turned out to be a FANTASTIC way of getting things going!
• The key to Davao however is pipelining! I used mostly fc and tagged. fc are nazi and require a pic of your face or otherwise reject your picture. This was a major drawback since a good portion of my style relies on body language. I have some good poses which would have worked well, but they were all rejected. There was no such problem with tagged however, tagged does not have a good/useful search option so, again, your options are limited.
  Ignore idiotic "game" advice of not-smiling-in-your-picture because smiles are "submissive"! Once I replaced a pic with one where I was smiling, my response rate went up 10-fold.
  Besides that I don't think I have to say a lot about pipelining, there is already enough info out there, but just to give you a sense of what is going on, are some examples of what happened to me:
  -after logging in for just 30 min, I got dozens of messages, more than I could possible hope to respond to!
  -giving me their phone number in the very first message without asking
  -messaging me literally with "I'm looking for a boyfriend or huband" (I'm not shitting you!!!!)
  -even after a month of not logging in, I STILL get messages
  -some girls even THANKED ME for giving them the privilege to talk to me!!!
• Numbers are worthless. You can get a new Globe or Smart sim card for 40php in a vending machine. Lots of girls have multiple #s which they might dispose of, or they simply give you an old one. Again unlike in Europe where getting a # is a major accomplishment, here it means very little.
• And finally this last point might stir up some controversy, but I still like to point it out:
  If you are a "Pickup Artist" please DON'T come to Davao!! This is simply not the right place for you. I don't mean to critize PUAs or turn this post into some kind of political debate. What I am saying is, if your goal is just simply scoring a high notch count, then there are other places in the world which are far more suitable for that!
  Girls in Davao are almost without exception genuine, sweet and caring. If you want to be some kind of asshole, pulling chicks every night, then dumping them the next morning, not paying for their meals etc; then there is a perfect place for that: It's called the WESTERN WORLD. Please go there.
  
  Over here I did some things that go completly against any "game"-advice and would have destroyed any chance with any girl in Europe. Amongst other things I/we:
  - brought one a swim suit
  - visited the family of one
  - felt each others heart beat
  - simply left one alone while I had a smoke (no drama!)
  - played cards and little kids games
  - had one cry in my arms
  - Took one to an empty japanese restaurant. We were the only customers, no music and one of the waiters was constantly staring at us.*
  
  ^none of this had any negative consequences!
  Unlike in Europe where I would have blown my chances 10 times over, here you have room to make mistakes.
  

Section D: Bonus Points if you did one of the following
( your score / total ) My score is highlighted in green
- Eat pig mascara ( 100 / 100 )
- Eat duck egg ( - / 100 )
- ride a jeepney ( - / 50 )
- ride a motorcycle ( 250 / 250 )
- ride a motorcycle while filming ( 1000 / 1000 )
- ride a bus in Manila ( 50 / 50 )
- visit the market for locals ( 50 / 50 )
- have the guts to actually visit the family of one of your girls ( 5000 / 5000 )

Final score: 6450 / 6600 - not bad, maybe more next time...

Section E: Extra + Mistakes to avoid

• Looking back, there is only one mistake I made: With flights around the country as cheap as they are, I should have stayed in Manila the whole time, while booking flights to the cities and the provinces. This became obvious as I had "prospects" lined up around the county, yet I was stuck in Davao. Listening to friendly "advice" to "skip Manila" and "Manila is a shithole" etc. had a negative consequences for me because (1) Manila is extreamly convinient and (2) I just happen to love this city! Next time I will definitely look for a place to stay in Manila for longer term, while exploring the rest of the country (any advice here?)
• Davao pronunciation - some people say Davao other say Davao with the weight on either the first or second A. When asking people about this, I got all kinds of responses, but never disagreement! They just continued pronouncing it the way they liked seemingly never noticing the differences...
• Spot-the-Whiteguy game Whites are so rare that you will be stared on no matter where you go! At one point me and my girl started to play the spot-the-white-guy game! We just approached every white person we saw (all 10 of them!) and started talking! This resulted in some interesting conversations, but all of them - WITHOUT EXCEPTION - were old/retired!! I wouldn't be surprised if I was the single white person below the age of 35 in the entire city of ~1,6 million!!
• And one last important point:
  I wish it wasn't necessary to write this here, but unfortunately after actually visiting Davao/Philippines it has come to my attention that there is some deliberate MISINFORMATION spread by certain people (I wont name names!) here on this forum, as well as on some select blogs/websites. These people make up stories (to sell?) about their (amongst other things) unbelievable adventures of banging 5+ chicks a day etc... To give you a clear example of some of the misinfo: there was one blog that mentioned that visas run for 21 days. in reality it is 30 days! This is not a minor issue, because my entire travel plans would have been completely different if I hadn't come across this misinfo!!!
  If these people had ever visited the Philippines, they would have known this, instead they were pulling some out-dated info from some website and since they've never actually been there, they didn't know that it was out of date!!
  This is just one of the many examples of the lies and misinfo spread around, so just to be sure if somebody is not posting picture or (better) video of them actually visiting the place they are talking about, consider it false info! You've been warned!
  

******************************
Finally I'd like to thank the following members:
rcraig33hb (was great hanging out with you bro! hope to meet again some time!)
Cr33pin
Spaniard88

I'd also like to mention that I will be BACK IN DAVAO fromJune 12th to at least JUNE 30!!! If you wanna meet up, CONTACT ME!!!! I'll be happy to show you around!!

Bonus:

Construction work:

As rcraig33hb mentioned, there will be a lot of stares! To get a sense of how crazy it is, just watch this vid (and please excuse my shitty laughter ):

Visiting Vanishing Island:

AAANNDD last but not least: Some fun iwith luggage!!!

It was a lot of work compiling this report, so thank you for reading and please give me a good rep!

Greetings,
rhr


*This was a catastrophic mistake!!! The place was completly deserted and creepy! Under any other circumstances this would have blown my chances. I tried to salvage the night by going to a mall nearby where there were lots of people around and eat some ice cream to relax the situation. Luckily I STILL got the bang that night! Be very careful what places you enter!!!!!!!

[solo]

(05-31-2014 01:51 PM)rhr Wrote:  

[*]And finally this last point might stir up some controversy, but I still like to point it out:
If you are a "Pickup Artist" please DON'T come to Davao!! This is simply not the right place for you. I don't mean to critize PUAs or turn this post into some kind of political debate. What I am saying is, if your goal is just simply scoring a high notch count, then there are other places in the world which are far more suitable for that!
Girls in Davao are almost without exception genuine, sweet and caring. If you want to be some kind of asshole, pulling chicks every night, then dumping them the next morning, not paying for their meals etc; then there is a perfect place for that: It's called the WESTERN WORLD. Please go there.

I agree with this point. I (rightfully) talk a lot of shit about Western girls so when I meet a sweet and good one I don't want to be cold or mean to her.

(05-31-2014 01:51 PM)rhr Wrote:  

Over here I did some things that go completly against any "game"-advice and would have destroyed any chance with any girl in Europe. Amongst other things I/we:
- brought one a swim suit
- visited the family of one
- felt each others heart beat
- simply left one alone while I had a smoke (no drama!)
- played cards and little kids games
- had one cry in my arms
- Took one to an empty japanese restaurant. We were the only customers, no music and one of the waiters was constantly staring at us.*

^none of this had any negative consequences!
Unlike in Europe where I would have blown my chances 10 times over, here you have room to make mistakes.
[/list]

I recognize this from my own trips. As others have pointed out game the way most guys refer to it is largely a Western phenomenon caused by Western culture and is mostly unnecessary and sometime downright harmful in much of the rest of the world. Negs and whatnot just fly over the girls' heads, they don't understand it.

[Espresso]

OP - Lots of good insights and practical info, adding nicely to what has previously been posted.

I have to say though, your report comes across a little troll-ish. I don't know if it's your excessive use of exclamation marks, or the arbitrary scoring system, or the 'suicidal bike ride' video, or the thing about 'consider it false info'.
Also, asking for rep is poor form. If people want to do so, trust them to make their own judgement about it. Asking would probably make it less likely to happen in fact.

I don't mean to come across harsh in any way, just some feedback.

P.S. did anybody stare at you while you were there?

[Kangaroo]

Strange data sheet.

[RawGod]

Everyone has their own perspective. Thanks for your point of view, rhr!

[Enigma]

(05-31-2014 01:51 PM)rhr Wrote:  

Section A: Logistics, getting around and savety

• The most important part, and key to enjoying Davao is the Driver!

I wouldn't say this is important at all, and seems like a waste of money. There are cabs and tricycles everywhere. You rarely have to wait more than 30 seconds for one. If not, you can just text one of the local cab companies and they'll send someone.

Quote:

[*]What might surprise some of you, something that I haven't seen mentioned anywhere is the complete un-walkability of this city! Coming from a european perspective, having lived in various large western, as well as eastern, european cities, I was used to walk anywhere needed. To the gym, store, friend, clubs etc. Walking is 100% impossible in Davao!!! This came as a shock, especially since I was looking at google maps before my arrival to find the best place to stay in terms of logistics. A 5 min walk to Abreeza Mall according to google? Impossible.

It doesn't even have close to the walkability of a urban American city, but it's definitely not "100% impossible". One of the members you shouted out (Cr33pin) has even talked about walking to Abreeza every day from Jun N' Dell, which is just under a mile along the busiest highway in the city. Inconvenient in the heat, definitely, but certainly not impossible.

Quote:

[*]The water quality is surprisingly good, even better than in most east-european cities. We used the water for everything, washing, cooking and even drinking after a quick boil. I never felt sick and am still alive after drinking. [*]Brownouts: In a true 3rd-world-esque style, no Davao guide would be complete without mentioning the regular (daily) brownouts. These happen mostly midday, when it gets too hot and the turbines have to be shut down. (Don't ask me for details about this, I'm just repeating what others have told me!) Even though all malls and public places have emergency generators, this turned into a problem when I was trying to access an ATM which had lost connection thanks to the outage and I couldn't withdraw cash. Be prepared for this!

This depends on where you stay. The condos have underground plumbing, meaning no brown outs and good water quality. Even then, it's not worthy of drinking.

Jun n' Dell's has hose spickets for faucets and the water comes out extremely dirty unless you set it to high pressure or let it run for a minute. I had headaches and the shits every single day when I first moved there, and that was just from cooking. I can't compare it to EE, as I've never been, but I definitely don't drink from the tap here.

Also, brown outs aren't daily unless maybe you're living in the provinces.

Quote:

[*]On some blogs and posts here you come across the idea of picking up girls in the malls. This is one of those points where I ask myself if these people have ever really visited Davao or the Philippines because picking up at malls is almost completely impossible! I'd estimate that there is a less than 1/1000 of a chance of this "working."
Not only are malls hectic environments with people constantly in motion, but what you will encounter are mostly groups. You would have to open to all of them at once!

This is not true. I'm lazy as fuck about day game because online is so effective, but it's definitely not impossible and several respected members here have had success with it as well. Especially not with the girls that work there. Obviously don't go when it's absolutely packed -- when the girls are so embarrassed to be not only talking to a foreigner, but having everyone within 20 feet staring at the two of you -- and expect to pull some chick from her group of friends for an instadate. Most data I've read here has highlighted that fact though, and the importance of simply giving them your number or taking theirs quickly, rather than pushing what is an extremely awkward social interaction for her.

Quote:

Back in Europe I used a move where I would tell a girl that I had to "quickly drop off some stuff at my place." Since everything is close-by we could just walk and there was never any kind of suspicion. In Davao however a move like that is utterly impossible!
The very fact that you have to grab a taxi every time you leave a building and tell them where you want to go, completely eliminates the effect of spontanity of such a move. You simply can not pull this off here. Which seamlessly leads me to my next point:

You met these girls online? That move has worked 9/10 times for me. Many times after only a brief coffee date. I had one girl out of many who refused to come up, and that was because she didn't look like her pics when I met her and I just bulldozed through without setting the ground work.

Could have something to do with where you were staying, as there is definitely a difference between staying in a new condo and Jun N' Dell, which isn't as nice and there is always a group of people outside watching you come and go.

Quote:

[*]Numbers are worthless. You can get a new Globe or Smart sim card for 40php in a vending machine. Lots of girls have multiple #s which they might dispose of, or they simply give you an old one. Again unlike in Europe where getting a # is a major accomplishment, here it means very little.

I'm not trying to shit on your post, but you're trying to point out the "lies" of Davao while speaking in extreme hyperbole which simply isn't true.

Some girls do have multiple numbers, but the main issue is that they simply don't have load on their phone. Even then, to call numbers worthless, when they're easy to get and at the very most 50% (it's definitely much lower than this) will be duds, is a huge reach.

I'm not sure if you're expecting a perfect conversion rate on numbers, but they're usually good -- especially if you don't take the first nonresponse as an ignore, since they girl is probably just out of credit at the moment and forgetful.

Quote:

[*]And finally this last point might stir up some controversy, but I still like to point it out:
If you are a "Pickup Artist" please DON'T come to Davao!! This is simply not the right place for you. I don't mean to critize PUAs or turn this post into some kind of political debate. What I am saying is, if your goal is just simply scoring a high notch count, then there are other places in the world which are far more suitable for that!
Girls in Davao are almost without exception genuine, sweet and caring. If you want to be some kind of asshole, pulling chicks every night, then dumping them the next morning, not paying for their meals etc; then there is a perfect place for that: It's called the WESTERN WORLD. Please go there.

I don't necessarily disagree with this, but there are tons of semi-pros and scandalous women online, which is where you seemed to have most of your success. Also, most of the "good girls" I've met don't want you buying them things when you first meet anyways.

Quote:

I wish it wasn't necessary to write this here, but unfortunately after actually visiting Davao/Philippines it has come to my attention that there is some deliberate MISINFORMATION spread by certain people (I wont name names!) here on this forum, as well as on some select blogs/websites. These people make up stories (to sell?) about their (amongst other things) unbelievable adventures of banging 5+ chicks a day etc... To give you a clear example of some of the misinfo: there was one blog that mentioned that visas run for 21 days. in reality it is 30 days! This is not a minor issue, because my entire travel plans would have been completely different if I hadn't come across this misinfo!!!
If these people had ever visited the Philippines, they would have known this, instead they were pulling some out-dated info from some website and since they've never actually been there, they didn't know that it was out of date!!

Yeah, bud, the laws change pretty regularly here. Most blogs I've read on the Phils specifically mention this. Even then, a month's extension is like $60. Not exactly enough to change her travel plans over when you were willing to pay that much to some random taxi driver.

Quote:

This is just one of the many examples of the lies and misinfo spread around, so just to be sure if somebody is not posting picture or (better) video of them actually visiting the place they are talking about, consider it false info! You've been warned!
[/list]

This would invalidate nearly every single piece of data posted on this entire forum.

[rhr]

(05-31-2014 02:48 PM)solo Wrote:  

I recognize this from my own trips. As others have pointed out game the way most guys refer to it is largely a Western phenomenon caused by Western culture and is mostly unnecessary and sometime downright harmful in much of the rest of the world. Negs and whatnot just fly over the girls' heads, they don't understand it.

Thank you for your reply.
It's always good to see I'm not alone with this here. And yes, you are right, "negs" not only "fly over their heads", sometimes they turn out really hurtful. I even ended up hurting some girls with a neg I thought was "funny."
In these cases you can really see the damage that the western concept of "game" can do in a place like this.

(05-31-2014 03:03 PM)Espresso Wrote:  

Also, asking for rep is poor form. If people want to do so, trust them to make their own judgement about it. Asking would probably make it less likely to happen in fact.

I'm sorry. It was just a lot of work writing this. I thought I could do it in 30min. But that turned into 2.5+ hours. I don't want to edit that post now so I guess I just leave it in.

(05-31-2014 04:46 PM)Enigma Wrote:  

I don't necessarily disagree with this, but there are tons of semi-pros and scandalous women online, which is where you seemed to have most of your success.

I see where you are trying to go with this but no, I have not had a single girl asking me for money or anything like that. One even got offended when I offered to pay for a ride home!
And paying for a meal at Jollybees for her is not different than what you would expect in Europe too.

Quote:

Quote:

This is just one of the many examples of the lies and misinfo spread around, so just to be sure if somebody is not posting picture or (better) video of them actually visiting the place they are talking about, consider it false info! You've been warned!

This would invalidate nearly every single piece of data posted on this entire forum.

This is not the direction I want this thread to go. Please let's just stick to Davao here.
The question of whether a data-sheet is real, 50% or 100% fake should be addressed in a different topic since it has little to do with Davao. It was just drawn to my attention after comparing what I read with the reality under my feet. Let's just leave it at that!
.

[Christian McQueen]

"If you are a "Pickup Artist" please DON'T come to Davao!! This is simply not the right place for you. I don't mean to critize PUAs or turn this post into some kind of political debate. What I am saying is, if your goal is just simply scoring a high notch count, then there are other places in the world which are far more suitable for that!
Girls in Davao are almost without exception genuine, sweet and caring. If you want to be some kind of asshole, pulling chicks every night, then dumping them the next morning, not paying for their meals etc; then there is a perfect place for that: It's called the WESTERN WORLD. Please go there."



So we know the drinking water is good and you need a driver.

Care to share in DETAIL the girls you did hookup with?

This reads like a girl wrote it.

[Enigma]

(05-31-2014 05:13 PM)rhr Wrote:  

This is not the direction I want this thread to go. Please let's just stick to Davao here.
The question of whether a data-sheet is real, 50% or 100% fake should be addressed in a different topic since it has little to do with Davao. It was just drawn to my attention after comparing what I read with the reality under my feet. Let's just leave it at that!
.

Bro, I've been living in Davao for 4 months and almost everything in your post is untrue. You said, what, 3 different things were "100% impossible" which I have done over and over again...? Not to mention numbers being worthless and a personal driver being necessary.

If you're going to come out swinging, especially as a new member, you're going to have to expect that people are going to point out the inaccuracies in your own claims.

Pics and videos are rarely posted on this forum, including for Davao. Don't expect anyone to agree with you on that one.

[jimukr104]

Quote:

Quote:
Back in Europe I used a move where I would tell a girl that I had to "quickly drop off some stuff at my place." Since everything is close-by we could just walk and there was never any kind of suspicion. In Davao however a move like that is utterly impossible!
The very fact that you have to grab a taxi every time you leave a building and tell them where you want to go, completely eliminates the effect of spontanity of such a move. You simply can not pull this off here. Which seamlessly leads me to my next point:

You met these girls online? That move has worked 9/10 times for me. I had one girl out of many who refused to come up, and that was because she didn't look like her pics when I met her and I just threw a hail mary.

Could have something to do with where you were staying, as there is definitely a difference between staying in a new condo and Jun N' Dell, which isn't as nice and there is always a group of people outside watching you come and

Good report. I Only know about Philippines from second hand experiences but I get the feeling OP's logistics weren't Game solid. Too much talk about driving around etc. That might be why his report is different than other's experiences.

I suspect many guys get a apt near the mall or some central location where they can walk girls over from venue to home. Having to drive around in Cars and motorbikes from every date/meeting to flat seems waste of logistics.

[Enigma]

(05-31-2014 05:21 PM)jimukr104 Wrote:  

Good report. I Only know about Philippines from second hand experiences but I get the feeling OP's logistics weren't Game solid. Too much talk about driving around etc. That might be why his report is different than other's experiences.

I suspect many guys get a apt near the mall or some central location where they can walk girls over from venue to home. Having to drive around in Cars and motorbikes from every date/meeting to flat seems waste of logistics.

It's not that his logistics are bad. Jun N' Dell is directly between the two nicest malls in Davao, less than a mile from each. I've mentioned before that I don't think the logistics are the "best" in Davao, but they're certainly pretty good.

There are a few coffee shops and restaurants right at the head of the neighborhood, maybe a 5 minute walk down empty streets, but the taxis are really a non issue.

These girls are used to taking cabs, jeepneys, and tricycles everywhere, so if she's refusing to take one with you, there's another issue at play.

Like I said, it could be that Jun N' Dell is not particularly nice and there are always a group of locals standing out front shooting the shit. So if the girl has any inkling that you're a player, she will be worried about losing face when she's just another girl coming over to your place.

Or maybe the OP wasn't using "stopping by" his place as simply a segway to bounce to another spot? I always did this in the process of changing venues, "I just need to grab my debit card/check my e-mail/drop off these leftovers on the way, it will just take a second".

[Vacancier Permanent]

That's a decent sheet despite some hyperbolic points which may only reflect your own personal experience but which have been mentioned time and time again here by respected members.

I'm welcoming and reading any post/data about Davao with great interest as that's a city I will be visiting and spending a lot of time in in the near future.

The guy on the pic and video is that you? You coud pass more for a Filipino than a German.

Day gaming in malls is best done by just going out with a bunch of papers with your name and number on it and giving them to girls you fancy. You'd be surprised how many will text you to meet later. Try it on your next trip there...

What I enjoyed more about your post are the videos of showing what it is like there. Gave a good look at what to expect. I wish there were more guys posting videos of them going around and interacting with the locals. No need to show your mug just show the scene that's more than enough.

The 21 day visa was the rule when I was there the two times I traveled there. Maybe this has changed? Can the more veteran and experienced/frequent Phils traveling guys confirm that?
It's not th guys are posting false or misleading info, everyone posts about their experience t the time of their trip. Sure, rules and regulations are bound to change so I'd go easy on accusing guys of spreading false or misleading info.

All in all, a decent sheet, just watch your tone and go easy with the allegations.

[rhr]

(05-31-2014 05:21 PM)jimukr104 Wrote:  

(...) I get the feeling OP's logistics weren't Game solid. (...)

Having to drive around in Cars and motorbikes from every date/meeting to flat seems waste of logistics.

You are absolutely right!

This, in particular, is why I suspect that certain info (not necessarily in datasheets) about Davao here and elsewhere is fake/false. Simply because they FAILED to address this major issue!

You just never hear about this...

[rhr]

@Vacancier

Thanks for your reply. I'm always glad if I can help someone. But judging by the responses you see here and as I mentioned: You will have to travel there and see for yourself. Everybody is going to have a different experience. I, personally, had such a great time that I will return in less than 3 weeks!

And no, that's obviously not me haha! I'd rather not post a pic of me publicly here, but I can send you a pm if you wish.

Have a great time in Davao!

[RawGod]

(05-31-2014 05:36 PM)rhr Wrote:  

(05-31-2014 05:21 PM)jimukr104 Wrote:  

(...) I get the feeling OP's logistics weren't Game solid. (...)

Having to drive around in Cars and motorbikes from every date/meeting to flat seems waste of logistics.

You are absolutely right!

This, in particular, is why I suspect that certain info (not necessarily in datasheets) about Davao here and elsewhere is fake/false. Simply because they FAILED to address this major issue!

You just never hear about this...

I think it's more that people who have been to SEA take it for granted that there are no sidewalks, roads are chaotic and everyone takes taxis or other forms of public transport. But sure when you go there for the first time expecting to stroll pleasantly around the city, it can be a shock.

[Enigma]

(05-31-2014 05:52 PM)RawGod Wrote:  

I think it's more that people who have been to SEA take it for granted that there are no sidewalks, roads are chaotic and everyone takes taxis or other forms of public transport. But sure when you go there for the first time expecting to stroll pleasantly around the city, it can be a shock.

Plus the fact that the majority of this board is American, and has been driving and taking cabs everywhere for their entire life.

Even second-tier US cities don't have the things this guy is expecting from a second-tier city in the Philippines.

[username]

+1 Like for the interesting datasheet. The motorcycle video was funny.

-I noticed with pipelineing that Davao girls appear more attractive than Manila and Cebu, is this my imagination or true?
-I will be in the Philippines for 30 days and was thinking 10 Manila, 10 Cebu, and 10 Davao, good idea or not?

[WanderingSoul]

Which forum members and website are you saying is full of shit?

If you're going to call someone out, at least have the balls to name them. It's pretty obvious who you mean, so just say it.

[pants]

These videos really remind me what a gigantic shit-hole most Philippines cities are. The nature how ever is another story.

I asked a cab driver if he knew where I could rent a bike. He told me he owned one, and I could rent his if I wanted to.

Driver is not important at all in Davao in my opinion. There are jeeps going along the main road at all times, so it should not be an issue, however its more fun to go with motorbike.

[rhr]

(05-31-2014 06:43 PM)username Wrote:  

+1 Like for the interesting datasheet. The motorcycle video was funny.

-I noticed with pipelineing that Davao girls appear more attractive than Manila and Cebu, is this my imagination or true?
-I will be in the Philippines for 30 days and was thinking 10 Manila, 10 Cebu, and 10 Davao, good idea or not?

You really can not generalize. You will find cuties in all three of those places and I would recommend visiting all of them.
I haven't been to cebu yet, but plan on going there too some time in the future. If you read my post you will see that I booked to stay in Davao the full time I was in the Phils which, I believe, was a mistake.
What I, personally, should have done is to stick with Manila, and then pick flights to various places that interest me. That way I could have had much more flexibility.
Of course, your plans might be different than that and I would definitely recommend visiting all three of those places.

(05-31-2014 08:44 PM)RioNomad Wrote:  

Which forum members and website are you saying is full of shit?

If you're going to call someone out, at least have the balls to name them. It's pretty obvious who you mean, so just say it.

I really don't want to turn this into a flame war - although I guess it was kinda inevitable...

Without demand for evidence that people who give info, or write sheets, are actually visiting the places they write about, you will unfortunately sooner - or later - run into those who think it's funny to write fake ones, or "spice up" the experience they had in any of those places.
I encountered this before, where there was a place mentioned in a large(er) east Europen city that, in reality, had been shut down for years. Not a big deal. However with Davao some misinformation (by far not all of it!!) was so striking, that it had to be pointed out. Most of the time it is not the things that are being said in those posts (although you do see a lot of exaggeration where you know it can not possible be true...), but the things that are omitted!
Quick example: In Davao blackouts are such a striking feature, why aren't they mentioned anywhere? And if you think it is not that important, then why write a sheet in the first place?

There is no need to fight about this though: A simple picture (or vid) of you standing in any of the places you talk about (although not a 100% guarantee) can provide a lot of reassurance that you are not just making stuff up for 5 seconds of "interwebs" fame, but have actually something to back up you claims.
It's really simple..

Peace out!

[Enigma]

(05-31-2014 11:12 PM)rhr Wrote:  

Quick example: In Davao blackouts are such a striking feature, why aren't they mentioned anywhere? And if you think it is not that important, then why write a sheet in the first place?

Because they're not a striking feature? They're pretty rare most months, and the string of them in late April-ish through early May was due to the city's recent expansion. Also, the condos and hotels in town almost all have generators or stable electricity.

You're expecting people to break down every single minute aspect of a city based on a short period there, and explain all possible scenarios while also predicting the future.

Yet you didn't even mention anything about places to go, how you picked up girls (other than some game denialist bs), good restaurants, etc. And everything you did say is blatantly wrong. Your "datasheet" is filled with more misinformation than possibly any post on this entire forum.

Classic sleeper troll.

Quote:

There is no need to fight about this though: A simple picture (or vid) of you standing in any of the places you talk about (although not a 100% guarantee) can provide a lot of reassurance that you are not just making stuff up for 5 seconds of "interwebs" fame, but have actually something to back up you claims.
It's really simple..

Peace out!

Sure thing, buddy. We'll all take pictures of everywhere we go so the two-year member with 50 posts believes our stories

[ballybally]

This thread is full of bullshit. I am here for just like 3 weeks and I've already done stuff you labeled as "impossible" multiple times.

#1 - Picking up girls in malls 1 in a 1000 ? srsly ? First day that I went to Gaisano Mall I was opened by a group of 17-20yr old girls. I only tried opening sets myself a few times and most of the time it's HUGE success. If they don't immediately hook it's only because they are so shy and you need to plow for a few minutes so they get comfortable.

Apart from walking sets you can open hired guns, vast majority will want to meetup again if you are decent looking (even those with boyfriends).

#2 - wtf do you keep going on about taxi drivers and unwalkable streets? I am from EU and this is my first time in 3rd world country and I manage to get to most places on foot just fine. If not then the taxi motorcycle or whatever is it called will do wonders for short distances. I was at 3 hotels (inc. Marco Polo) at completely different locations before I found apartment and seriously never had problems with this. Yeah there are no sidewalks but you see where Filipinos walk and you do this magic trick called: COPY WHAT OTHER HUMANS ARE DOING.

You made me laugh with taxi drivers and cockblocking ... Yeah, that's only gonna happen if you are a little pussy and even then just being white makes you so much higher value that getting amogd by taxi driver seems close to impossible here.

(05-31-2014 01:51 PM)rhr Wrote:  

If you are a "Pickup Artist" please DON'T come to Davao!! This is simply not the right place for you. I don't mean to critize PUAs or turn this post into some kind of political debate. What I am saying is, if your goal is just simply scoring a high notch count, then there are other places in the world which are far more suitable for that!
Girls in Davao are almost without exception genuine, sweet and caring. If you want to be some kind of asshole, pulling chicks every night, then dumping them the next morning, not paying for their meals etc; then there is a perfect place for that: It's called the WESTERN WORLD. Please go there.

You are a fool. Girls here are just like everywhere else, they might actually be worse here because they are so eager for better life that they will be with you even if you repulse them *ehm* old men with smoking 20yr olds *ehm*. I've spoke with guys that lived here for 15-25 years and I've got a feeling they would laugh at your post so hard they would get heart attack.



Just let me know the names of the girls you picked on FC and I can prove to you just how sweet, innocent and loyal these girls really are I've already pulled almost completely sober girls with serious boyfriends on 1st date which is almost impossible in the west. >>Girls here will drop you the second better deal comes around<<(wisdom from older guy from here)

The only REAL problem with Davao(and PI in general) is how ugly the average girls are. I am not that picky but getting 8.5 here could be considered small miracle. There are plenty of bangable 6s and you can get your fair share of 7s but anything higher is hard simply because there are so few of them(and best looking ones usually already have rich/powerful boyfriends/husbands)

While I won't be going around making little videos for you, here is some result from daygame(mall) guess I've been lucky with 1 in 1000 chances and all:

http://i.imgur.com/cMaoCsX.jpg

My 2nd virgin here, starting to get sick of them.

**Though I am here for a very short amount of time so I could be wrong, but I see that guys that are here longer like Enigma already tore your post apart.

[Chaos]

OP: I read your post with an open mind because people can have a very different experience from a place, but you're not giving me a easy time to believe you.

Throwing punches to the left and right and calling out respectable members for writing bullshit who've been vouched for by several people in real life. Like Rio said, now it's the time to step forward and namedrop these persons and websites.

You say you don't want to start a flame war? Well, did you think about that when you wrote this post? Spreading disinformation on this forum is not tolerated and members are quick to step in and call out anyone who is writing suspicious posts.

You are saying that we shouldn't believe anyone who haven't posted picture of himself in that place.

Quote:

" A simple picture (or vid) of you standing in any of the places you talk about (although not a 100% guarantee) can provide a lot of reassurance that you are not just making stuff up for 5 seconds of "interwebs" fame, but have actually something to back up you claims.
It's really simple..

Yes, it's really simple.
Time to back up your own claims and namedrop these members who are writing bullshit, just so we can "reassure ourselves that you are not making stuff up"

Until then I call this post as bullshit.

[WanderingSoul]

Ban.

[rhr]

(06-01-2014 02:44 AM)Chaos Wrote:  

calling out respectable members for writing bullshit

???