Think I must live in a no horse town as we don't have a supermarket.

Not too bad though, nearest one is fifteen minutes up the road and we have a major city an hour away.

Wifes family mostly in the next barangay about 1km away, always welcoming and helpful, very rarely ask for anything and understand if we have to refuse. Still can't do anything for myself when we go there, if I try to move a chair or get up to get a beer one of the in laws, or nieces/nephews makes me sit down adn does it for me.

I know the feeling. Whenever we visited my family it was exactly the same. Beers would come out.. and always made to feel welcome. Then one of the family would drive us back that 1 km or so in their trike.

It's all down to attitude. How can one possibly integrate with a family and understand each other living far away?

As we all know, Filipinos are very family oriented. It's a culture that is not fully understood and is looked upon with suspicion by foreigners. Understanding the culture is a vital part of integration.

I understand my wife's family they don't care about her only that she has a foreign husband and we are all rich don't get me wrong I would still be supporting them BUT they lied and deceived us even to the point of threatening to.kidnap my wife's daughter who we had to leave in the Philippines while we sorted out her adoption.so as we say in the UK they can go.do one.

Get a 13(a) visa here and you are termed an immigrant. So at the BI someone once decided you were to integrate, as immigrants the world over usually try or have to do. But here it's quite easy not to. You can not bother with the language, mix exclusively with other Expats except house helps etc But when it comes to family you probably do need to make some effort but how far it goes is usually up to you. Do you accompany your wife to church, even if you're not a believer? Some of her friends or neighbours ask you to join an overnight drinking session. Do you try to attend for a few hours even if all you're used to is evening drinking? You will not be pressurized to join in all these things, after all you have the money, but you may feel obligated.

Situations vary a lot but one generalization is well founded. Filipino families are much larger and spread wider to include distant and even non relations. Despite going abroad and the pull of Manila many siblings will stay local. If you come from the average 2.2 UK family it may be difficult to experience all those people popping in and out of a family house at no notice with great regularity if you are living permanently close by parents. Amusing on a short visit but not regularly. If the numbers get up to 9 at home or local plus all their "extendeds" as they did with me, you start to mix people up.

Had just one or two critical comments on lack of Tagalog in many years here. I think it's really an attractive feature of the Philippines that integration is not forced. But yes, understanding of the culture here is a must on its own to get along and there's always more to learn.

I have read most of the posts on this thread.I agree with the cultural aspects and the relative issue. My wife has a extensive family however many now live abroad and the others are located many hours away. We hardly see them so it’s a pleasure if they do visit us.
The thread starter gives the reason for wanting to retire here is that he is fed up with the way the UK has changed. I would question if this is a valid reason. The UK like many other countries has changed, not necessarily for the worse.
The Philippines is not a tropical paradise, there are plus points, but also negative points. It’s very easy to think that the Philippines offers many advantages, particularly if you have not lived here for a prolonged period. I could write a book on the negative issues, health care, total inefficiency, poor workmanship, etc.etc.
The OP states he has a pension of 110k a month which is far more than required to live a comfortable lifestyle here. But that amount also would be enough ( assuming you are rent and mortgage free) to live in the UK. The added benefit in the UK is that health care is free, and even if you do not have enough money from your pension benefits are a available to make up shortfalls.
We have been living in the Philippines 5 years.The main reason we came here is my wife’s family ( I have only one brother in the UK) and we purchased a house here 15 years ago so everything was in place. I would add that we still have a house in the UK ( rented out) so would have no problem settling back there if needed.
My main observation on living here is that it is ( in my case) imperative that you have something constructive to occupy your time. Failure to occupy your time meaningful could lead to severe boredom, and possibly loneliness.
To conclude anyone wishing to retire here really needs to consider the reasons why they they choose the Philippines and explore the pros and cons before making hasty or emotional decisions.

I would add to my previous post, even though I retired here early (62) our lives continue to to conform to exactly how our routine in the UK was. We work Monday to Friday (gardening, car cleaning, house building project etc).My wife bakes, cooks, cleans etc.I do read 2 UK newspapers daily in the morning. Saturday is shopping day, and Sunday is a rest day or neighbor visits. I never sit or watch TV in the house during the day. We watch TV in the evening after dinner.
Due to work in the UK I did not have sufficient time to undertake daily exercise. I now cycle 2- 3 hours daily ( unless something crops up which limits my time) to keep fit and control my weight, it’s also relaxing and takes my mind of other things.
We take our annual ( before COVID) holidays outside the Philippines and have travelled to the UK, Bali, Greece, Germany, Montenegro,and Hong Kong, Normally we vacate the Philippines for 4-6 weeks.
Without having such a routine I doubt very much I would have continued to live in the Philippines.

I agree with all of the above in sentiment, but would add one further major consideration: the income gap between the Philippines and say, the OECD average has been closing rapidly, though still with a long way to go. COVD will distort that for a couple of years, but not fundamentally interrupt the trend.

So an expat pensioner retiree who doesn't own their home (presumably via a pinay spouse), might well see their increasing living expenses rapidly outpacing any (first-world) inflation-protection inherent in their pension. Over a decade or more, that could add up.

That's a suburb of a one-horse town...

Inflation is high in most countries, however the Philippines is even higher. A year ago it was 61.7php/£1 , now it 70php/£. The US$ is now over 50php. Great for most foreigners, however because most goods are imported to the Philippines prices will climb rapidly.

I would say tbe Philippines is not a cheap country anymore. If you shopped exclusively supermarkets I would say the Philippines is more expensive. Electricity and gas are more expensive, the only major cheapness I would say is fuel and accommodation.

Yes correct. Food is definitely cheaper in the UK. Medicine is expensive here. Anything imported is expensive. Cigarettes are cheap, spirits are cheap. Beer is cheaper in supermarkets in the UK. Council tax here is cheap, but you don’t get anything for it. Car insurance is cheap ( compulsory type) fully comp is more expensive than the UK. Housing is still relatively cheap but going up in price. Clothing is cheaper in the UK…..the tat that the likes of Primark sell………a lot originates from the Philippines. White goods are more expensive than the UK……non branded. Toll roads here can be expensive.
The Philippines is not cheap anymore.

Labour is considerably cheaper in the Philippines……but …….

Yes labour is cheap but as they say you only get what you pay for.

Depends where you buy your food and what you buy. Yes supermarkets are expensive but we only use them for things we can't buy locally.

Local market and itinerant vendors are much cheaper than the UK.

Fortunately my wife spend a long time in the UK and can cook all types of cuisine, Filipino, English, French, Italian, Indian, Indonesian, Japanese, Chinese etc. Most of it from locally bought ingredients. We make our own bread and yoghurt. Bread here is far too sweet and the supermarket never has enough yoghurt to keep us going from one vist to the next (monthly visits), plus it works out much cheaper.

Seasonal fruit and veg, if the local market doesn't have something you planned on, get something else, you just need to be flexible. Once you get to know the vendors they will keep things for you if you ask.

We have itinerant vendors almost every day selling fish, eggs, fruit, veg. Occasionally, the Barangay takes orders for pork, (think they have a deal somewhere) and we usually ask for and get the tenderloin. Have ordered and had delivered compost for the garden, (same day delivery), charcoal for the barbecue, give him a call we have it within the hour. If they quote a price that is too high, we decline the offer, they are usually back within thirty minutes with a realistic price.

Philippines can be cheap for food, you just need to know what and where to buy. You need to shop around and put things into perspective. Mangoes here are currently £1.50 per kilo, with five to seven mangoes per kilo. For the same quality in the UK they are £3.00 each, so minimum £15.00 per kilo. If you want strawberries, then good luck.

Agree some things can be expensive but it tends to be one off purchases rather than every day life, as you say, things like white goods, and medicine as well as electricity. Gas is very cheap, we spend Php 1000 every six weeks, and that is using a five burner range cooker every day. Yes imported goods are often extortionate but still works out cheaper than going back to UK to buy them, example, Rega Planar 1 record turntable is £180 in the UK but £300 in the Philippines. Don't buy one every day and couldn't get a return flight for the £120 difference.

Decided it's not worth buying a car, wouldn't buy used, (never a service history), insurance is very expensive and we can get a cab to the city, stay overnight, and then get a cab home once a month for the price of one years insurance.

Shop where the locals do and you can find great bargains.

As far as clothes are concerned, been here two years and not had to buy any yet, but unless things have changed dramatically in the last few years then definitely cheaper than UK unless you want original designer brands. Last clothes I bought in Philippines were some Lee jeans which were a third of the price of the UK, and they are not fakes.

Shop local, eat local. You know it makes sense.

Yes, supermarkets are somewhat more expensive than shopping around. That's the case everywhere. But if you want to just do a weekly shop, avoid the heat and crowds in markets, don't live anywhere with itinerant sellers and aren't too choosy about what you eat, avoid the international section and often the fruit, supermarkets here are fine and a trolley load seems to be a lot cheaper than the UK.

You sacrifice some freshness and a lot of products are sweet. I suppose to aid preservation initially when people lacked refs, then they got hooked. Making your own bread could help reduce your waistline but you will be getting a lot of sugar and salt elsewhere from the great majority of canned and packet products. So much so your body gets used to it. Just taste the difference between a local Pork n Beans and British baked beans eg Tesco, subject to the reductions imposed there. Without the pork, which is good, but now not sweet enough for me.