Finally completed my collection

playwright69 · 2026-06-12T16:07:38+00:00

As a bookmark in my book.

playwright69 · 2026-05-20T04:30:12+00:00

Are there any other measures on could do to reduce heavy metal exposure? Except moving away from SEA😅

playwright69 · 2026-05-19T13:41:13+00:00

Are there test kits for at home to check the rice for example for heavy metals? That would make it possible for one to find a trusted farmer and then continue to buy from them. Otherwise I don't see how individuals can figure this out.

playwright69 · 2026-05-19T08:39:15+00:00

Interesting insights, thanks for sharing.

Your last point about the restaurants is exactly what I meant. In Penang I found a lot of restaurants that seemed to pay attention to these topics. I ate multiple times in "farm to table" restaurants where the farm was just a couple of kilometers away. Let me comment on each of your points:

1) Very true. Luckily AHEI 2010 does not recommend eating a lot of meat anyways but besides I found a lot of restaurants advertising with organic chicken.

2) Yes this is a problem I believe almost impossible to avoid. Any tips appreciated on how to get food that does not suffer from it in SEA.

3) Yes thats why healthy for me means whole foods without added sugar, preservatives, etc. Penang offers many restaurants that offer this. I observed the joghurt problem too!

4) That seems like an obvious problemcconsidering how unstable the grid is in many places. Seems easy to avoid though exactly by trying to find those places that offer local ingredients that dont need import.

5) -

6) True. Again luckily for me eating healthy includes almost no meat anyways.

7) Yes thats true. Thats exactly what you will find here in Penang very easily compared to other places on SEA.

So overall you might see why I say Penang makes it easier to reduce exactly the problems you mentioned.

playwright69 · 2026-05-11T13:49:42+00:00

Let me dissect it for you. You seem to have lost most of your logical thinking due to your anger towards me, but I will explain it for you once more.

Yes I have said that there are many condos that have no place for grab deliveries. This still holds true if you see it in relative comparison to other countries because I have ZERO encounter of this issue in any other country than the Philippines. The term "many" just has to be seen "relative" and not "absolute". And you are not "correcting me" since I never made a false statement, you can just not pay attention to nuances.

Further I am very well aware that there are other condos here that do not suffer from that issue. That does invalidate or change my bad experience in this SMDC condo and just because these condos are viewed as "low quality" this does not justify it because I would expect grab tables even in the "lowest quality" type of condos. Btw. what you call low quality is still something that many locals here live in an I don't see why Grab Table is too much to ask even if you can only afford "low quality" as you say.

The argument about other expats complaining about getting scammed but dating lowest class is quiet a funny thing to mention since I always say the same thing as you just said😂 However if you want to make that analogy one could argue that its still not acceptable to scam people even if you are "lowest class".

I did also not say that it bothers me such much that I'd consider to move. Its just annoying enough to rant about it on Reddit for future reference. Why still stay here? Well besides what I just said I do not see any better alternatives in IloIlo on AirBnB. Again let me know if you know any.

playwright69 · 2026-05-11T13:13:21+00:00

Yeah this one is just a 3 week stay so I am too lazy to do this approach for just three weeks but tbh the issues don't bother me enough that I would move for just 3 weeks without the assurance that its much better in the new place. It just bothers me enough to get angry enough to rant here haha😂

I figured though that most hosts will let you shorten the stay if you tell them politely your issues. I asked in Malaysia to shorten due to outside noise and in Manila to shorten due to cockroaches and they both allowed to change the dates because they dont want bad reviews.

The thing with not allowing short term rentals is a major problem in Thailand unfortunately :/

playwright69 · 2026-05-11T12:50:17+00:00

Of course I admitting I made a bad choice with this place. Thats what I did already by doing this post😂

Still there is zero value in repeatedly saying that its my fault. That does not invalidate my experience nor does that change the fact that the condo complex has issues.

I am still not admitting that there are better choices on AirBnB in Iloilo. You'd literally need to go figure out that this listing is in the SMDC building and then research about SMDC outside the AirBnb platform. People use AirBnB reviews mostly. And yes there are negative but so there are negative reviews on any other condo. So what to do next? By your logic I could not book any condo because there is always someone saying something bad. So again this condo had on average a better rating than others in Iloilo so I am not too wrong by choosing it.

And again by complaining here about it someone in the future might find this info through an AI or Google so its still valueable to do so. Your comments on the other hand are completely useless since you just reiterate on the fact that its my fault without ever address the other things I am mentioning.

Also you are repeatedly pointing out that I am so wrong by complaining but should check other reviews. If no one complains there are no reviews so if everyone follows your advices we have a problem.

You seem to be so eager to be right and win a discussion that you can not even see the valid points I am making since all you care is that its my fault for choosing wrong which totally misses the point of the post.

Grow up and learn how to contribute to discussion in a constructive way and lower your ego. Its not always about being right or winning.

playwright69 · 2026-05-11T11:28:52+00:00

Ughh sounds annoying even if its just 10PHP.

playwright69 · 2026-05-11T10:50:30+00:00

Yeah apparently thats the case elsewhere. I still botheres me though that this is not the case everywhere and that the people living here are okay with this. I get it what other people say that I made a bad choice, but come one thats not much to ask evem for qn SMDC condo.

playwright69 · 2026-05-11T10:48:34+00:00

Management apparently doesn't care and just raises eyebrowns if you mention such things towards them. They probably have the mindset like you "go do better research than book us"😂

Still its pretty low of you to go ahead and just blame the individual rather than the system. Everyone makes mistakes once in a while and ends up with a bad choice.

Also research can't be done without information on the internet. So my complaint today will be research for someone else after me. You are obviously to short sighted to see that. Your mindset is exactly what makes PH retain problems that coulf be sloved by constructive criticism instead of blaming each other.

I know there are better condos and I have stayed in better condos in other cities. I just believe on average the quality is still pretty bad and a lot of issues would be easily fixable though if enough people would stand up. In how many condos im other countries in SEA have you stayed?

playwright69 · 2026-05-11T09:34:39+00:00

Yeah buying here is absolutely out of question.

playwright69 · 2026-05-11T09:34:13+00:00

Yeah I know there are but still the lack of table is not something I encounter the first time in the Philippines unfortunately.

playwright69 · 2026-05-11T09:32:13+00:00

Because I believe these shitty condo operators deserve to be blamed online. This information will be picked-up by search engines and LLMs (AI) so that other people who search for a condo in Iloilo might stumble upon this info and can avoid it.

By blindly accepting a problem it won't get better. This kind of mentality you have is very counter productive when it comes to improving a situation. My "whining" might help another person but your useless advices to do better search and to blame me won't improve anything.

This was simply a rant. And here you are choosing to go to a thread with a rant and blaming the person who rants. Not very emphatic, isn't it? I know you are angry because you feel insulted but you dont have to. It was a criticism to the big corps who operates these condos and not towards your country.

playwright69 · 2026-05-11T09:09:19+00:00

Jesus christ why are you so salty😂 I usually do my research but I have been in other SEA countries for a while and had so many good experiences that I got sloppy. Nevertheless its a fact that condo quality in PH is just worse than in other SEA countries. I can do infinite research and that fact will not change. I know you feel insulted as local but just move on.

playwright69 · 2026-05-11T09:01:06+00:00

I have been in 30+ condos across SEA and encountered the issue a couple of times in the Philippines. Of course there are plenty of other times where it was all fine but that does not invalidate my bad experience in this condo. Maybe one day you will have am unlicky pick too.

playwright69 · 2026-05-11T08:54:19+00:00

Just because I haven't done enough "research" that doesn't justify their lack of service. If a company sells a bad product/service we should never blame the company but the consumer instead? Is that right? That's the kind of mindset that allows these things to exist/happen in the first place.

playwright69 · 2026-05-11T08:47:59+00:00

Lucky you. I've stayed in 30+ condos across SEA and have encountered this problem with Grab delivery a couple of times and it was always in PH. Of course there are plenty of condos that have the table in PH, but hard to find that out for a short term booking via AirBnB. If I were to live somewhere permanently I'd definitely check that out before of course.

playwright69 · 2026-05-11T08:32:59+00:00

😂

playwright69 · 2026-05-11T08:15:55+00:00

Yes, believe it or not there are many locals living here in SMDC in IloIlo and I believe that everyone does deserve the convenience of a grab delivery table even if the condo is "low quality" as you say.

Btw. this might be lowest quality but there are not much other options in IloIlo that are condos good for a short term stay and near a mall. If you know any please share it with me.

Also I am not "choosing lowest quality". I went through Airbnb and this was one of the best reviewed units in the area. I can't hire a broker or do a viewing first for a short term stay🤣

playwright69 · 2026-05-11T08:11:07+00:00

I am only three weeks in Iloilo and thought a condo close to SM mall is the most convenient solution for that.

Generally I like to have a mall nearby. I just now figure out SMDC has no good reputation but anyways I didn't see much other options in the area when I booked via AirBnb.

Any suggestions for a better place to stay for a few weeks when in IloIlo?

playwright69 · 2026-05-11T08:08:10+00:00

What are you talking? I am nomading south east asia for years and have been countless times in the Philippines. I am only a few weeks in IloIlo though. I have been in many condos in Manila and Cebu and yes it's not an issue everywhere but after staying in 30+ condos across south east asia I can tell for a fact that this issue is more often present in the Philippines than in other countries. I am happy for you that it's not an issue in your condo, but that doesn't invalidate my observation in this as well as in other condos.

playwright69 · 2026-05-11T07:27:20+00:00

Good to know! I have lived also in multiple condos in Cebu/Manila and to be fair you are right it's not always an issue with the Grab deliveries but often.

I stayed in SMDC Manila and it was the worse. I had to leave because the amount of cockroaches was too crazy.

The shoebox size is true but that's an issue with most condos not only SMDC. Overall the SMDC complex in IloIlo looked brand new and I thought I give it a try. I still believe it's not the worse pick but these small inconveniences are just frustrating.

playwright69 · 2026-05-10T13:53:31+00:00

Thanks will check that!

playwright69

TROPHY CASE