NEW Bacolod airport open

[up2u]

Seems the airport is open at last , over the last couple of days planes have been coming in over my house on their way to the new location a few kms away

[garbonzo]

Hi up2u. Where you at in Bacolod? We've got a lot over near Talisay, Town & Country Cambridge subdivision....Under the flight path with my luck LOL...

I hear the Mayor is having a major tampo tantrum...(he wanted to keep BOTH airports open LOL - what was he thinking?)...and has boycotted the opening and gone silent....Anyway, that airport looks great, nice and modern and big...wonder if it'll operate as good as it looks..

[up2u]

IM in Bata they just miss us they seem to be flying over that derelict msion , out there in the cane fields, not seen the new airport yet , would be great if they could get a couple of international flights , aparently its equiped for that

[garbonzo]

I've read it can handle international flights...if they extend the runway another 500 meters. Apparently that was the original plan, but it was 'temporarily' shelved so they could open it this decade. Now talking about 2010 for full international status.

You're not far away, but off to the side from the flight path...I think. Our area looks almost directly under it....

I've found this interesting....people have added all kinds of information re landmarks, shopping, houses, subdivisions, etc in Bacolod on the Google Earth overlay. You can navigate around and find all kinds of places...

Barangay Bata, Bacolod City

[up2u]

yes i looked up my house on that , its a good site, we have not been here long we came from Thailand, and are going to stay for a while and take a look around phils

[garbonzo]

So how does Bacolod/Philippines compare to Thailand? I worked up north near Khon Kien (hope I spelled it right - it's been so long) many years ago. It was very basic but still had a good time there...probably still gouge marks on the Nam Phong airstrip from when they had to drag me onto the plane out...

Been back a few times and can never stop liking Thailand..my wife and I both love it....but you'd have some recent expat living comparisions that would be interesting...

[up2u]

Originally Posted by garbonzo

So how does Bacolod/Philippines compare to Thailand? I worked up north near Khon Kien (hope I spelled it right - it's been so long) many years ago. It was very basic but still had a good time there...probably still gouge marks on the Nam Phong airstrip from when they had to drag me onto the plane out...

Been back a few times and can never stop liking Thailand..my wife and I both love it....but you'd have some recent expat living comparisions that would be interesting...

I lived in Pattaya, which does not really compare to Bacolod, they are totally different cities. Bacolod is not a tourist town, which is good in some ways, and bad in others. Some things like food and electronics are way more expensive here, other things like rents are far cheaper, so I think expenses work out to be about the same.
I think that people in the Philippines, are nowhere near as laid-back as the Thais, and generally live here is a little more stressful. I don't think we will stay in this town. I think we will move on to a more tourist type area, but that will not be for while yet.
Out of the two I think to be honest, I prefer Thailand, but there is a big problem there with immigration, they make it so difficult. And so obvious that they don't want foreigners living in Thailand. This is a relatively new thing, they are continuously changing immigration laws, in an effort to drive out foreigners. The Philippines on the other hand, makes it very easy, and is very obvious that both officials and regular people actually want foreigners to be here. So, that is why the philippines wins out in the end, for me.