sunnydays

We have retired in the Philippines and love it, warm weather, lovely people, very economical to live and English spoken.
Sell your 3 bed semi and bring your pension here, its index linked too! Have your own house built for 50K pounds, hire a maid for 40 pounds a month and a driver if need be for the same amount……buy a new car !
Rid yourself of those ever increasing house bills and cold dreary weather that keeps you marooned in your house.
…….and why don’t we see more older single ladies here, no shortage of men to choose from, and malls are full of clothes shops at low prices compared to the UK.
TIGHTS ….never again
Some ladies may baulk at the high temperatures but there are areas of cooler climate to live such as Tagaytay, about an hour from Manila.
One important item to mention is a hobby or interest to pursue whilst here, we see a foreigner build a magnificent house with all the trimmings and then after 3 years or so return to their own country because of boredom.
Golf …..buy in Canyon woods, a popular and up market development with clubhouse and other amenities.
Teachers……help out voluntarily at the many tutorial groups or larger institutions.
A big decision to make to retire in places such as the Philippines specially for ladies but why not rent your house out for a while and rent?
Ladies could form a group to travel together and pool ideas.
Worth considering ??????

tropicofcancer

Not a lot to add to Sunnydays thread, except to say that the heat is not oppressive in anyway. I live in the Visayas, where the climate varies little over the year.
The people are indeed warm, and friendly. Always happy and smiling!
Okay you pay for medical treatment, but it is first class, and no waiting about! In Cebu the big ones are Cebu Doctors, and Chong Hua. I like Chong Hua, but I believe more foreigners opt for Cebu Doctors! You have your operation when it suits you!

bakedbean

Maybe they like being single?

dragonbird

Hi, I'm also going to be a Lady Retiree in Cebu in a few months, and would welcome any advice, in particular good parts of the city/surroundings to live (I'll be looking for apartment, probably city rather than beach, good security, allows pets)

The weather should be fine for me, as I'll be moving from Singapore, but I think I'm going to have quite a lot of culture shock. (No, I haven't been before, but I won't be burning bridges when I do come over)

sunnydays

Good for you Dragonbird, and of course rent first to get the feel of the place.

sunnydays

As regards "culture shock" it depends on where you live and your friends.

Choose an upmarket resort complex or condominium and shop in the SM malls or similar and there shouldn't be any surprises.

We rented in a modern house on the edge of a large compound where the pigs were killed every Saturday morning, despite modern trappings the residents displayed some shocking personal habits. They say that this is the Philippine tradition but its just an excuse for bad social graces. To see young mothers hand feeding with fingers their 10 year old children is not tradition.
y .y y.
...get off my bandwagon quick!!

dragonbird

The pig farm isn't the sort of thing you check for when going through the adverts, I guess. I've heard the chickens can be quite noisy too

Can you recommend which districts would be good in Cebu? I've seen recommendations for Guadaloupe and Sun Valley. Also for Carmen, outside the city, but I'm not so sure about that.

And what's the water supply like? Is it drinkable? Any problems in urban areas?

sunnydays

Hi,
There is a British expat site on Yahoo groups that should yield info of the Cebu area, we are in Batangas.
Tap water is okay generally all over the Philippines, even from dubious looking sinks!! but like anywhere from your home town, take the water in small amounts for a couple of days and let your system adapt.
I drank the local tap water in Kenya for 4 years and had no probs, unlike the office staff who used bottled water and then went down with tummy trouble after a local drink with ice cubes from the taps.

Good luck with your search

dragonbird

Thanks for the tip on the Yahoo group - I've just joined