Arnan de Gans

Living in the Philippines

I am currently living in the Philippines and travel around the country regularly. I’ve left my plain and unfulfilling life in Europe behind and moved to the Philippines in late 2015. Doing away with what’s expected of me. In the Philippines I move to a new place to explore from time to time – Until I find the perfect place. Follow me on Facebook to see what I am up to!

Since moving to this country and not settling down for a while I've turned into a bit of a minimalist. I don’t have a lot of stuff anymore. Everything I own fits in a few bags and on my motorbike. This works very liberating. The few possessions I have are much more valuable and are more carefully weighed if I should have them. But also my life got more minimalistic. I found new things to do and learned to leave behind a lot of things and habits. My life is much simpler now, but at the same time brought a whole new set of challenges.

Random stuff about me

Winter makes me sad. I like video games, but rarely play any. Lego is cool. I have a laptop. Flip-flops are hip. Europe is a prison. I used to like internet things. Most of my belongings fit in two bags. Pineapple is awesome. I love driving my motorbike. I'm a shy romantic. A sloppy perfectionist if that’s a thing. Banana shakes are yummy.

My motorbike

I drive a Kawasaki Versys-x 300 all over the country. It's a medium sized bike, but it works very well for my purposes. On average I drive about 1500-1800km (~1100 miles) per month. Most of it is random day trips to anywhere. My decision making for such trips is as simple as "today I'm going to this point". Sometimes I even end up at my desired location... But usually I'm distracted by other landmarks along the way. Which only means I have to try again some other time.

My stuff

Pretty much all of the things I travel around with. Mostly clothes, good for about a week. I have a basic set of tools for emergency repairs and maintenance. I own a laptop and a bunch of accessories for the few gadgets I have. A spare pair of shoes, flip flops and my helmet. All-in-all everything fits on my motorbike, and isn't all that cumbersome. Which is of-course very important for light travel.

Travelmode

I'm exploring the Philippines on my motorbike. Drybag on the back. Me carrying a backpack. And just following the road to the next interesting looking place. Where I'll then probably stay for a while, exploring everything I want to see and discover. There is no set out plan other than a general direction and some cities or areas I want to check out. Planning doesn't go much deeper than about 1 to 2 weeks at a time while travelling. This is not my current motorbike, I didn't really travel with the Versys-X yet.

Current location

Currently I'm in Dumaguete City on Negros Island. I rent a house there together with my girlfriend Jovelyn. We're close to the city, but away from most of its noise. Which is really great! Internet is good. The food not too expensive. There aren't many decent beaches here. But the mountains are plentifull and fun to explore.

So many views

One of my favorite views is on Siquijor Island, way up in the mountains near Larena. There are many nice views to be had in the Philippines. But for now I prefer this one. You can see most of the south side of the island from here. I love great scenic views. Then to see if I can recognize landmarks and figure out how to get to them.