sunnydays

Hi Chris,
My wife works with the poor children of the nearby Baranghy assisting an Australian couple. These children are sweet faced but their parents just gamble what money they earn at rubbish collection etc. Its a desperate life for these folk and Mila worries about the short walk to the area where they live. One of the reasons we chose the San luis house was for its location in the centre of the village, no need for barred windows, everyone can see whats going on and we have had no problems so far. Shout loud enough and the neighbours come running
Its a worry Chris this security problem and it only has to happen once!
I would stick to protected subdivision to be sure, or find a spot within other people (if you can stick it) Their are some nice upmarket resort places but they are costly and with a marina. Most of the sea areas around the Philippines are over fished and you need to go out long ways to get anything decent. Our bay is busy at night with the lights of fishing boats and its amazing that there is any Tuna left.
Moving to San Pablo takes us near to lakes but the best place will be lake Calirya where where we will make weekend trips. A good looking golf complex with lots for sale on the banks ......but NPA activity will put us off building there. Rent a place is sound advice and buy a black lab

Equaliser

Hi Jumamoja,

I'm pleased to see this thread is ongoing and I'm interested to learn how you got on and your decision/s...Certainly it is a bit of a lottery and as has been mentioned on here, renting before investing "anything" in the PI or anywhere else for that matter IMHO (but more so for the Philippines) is the best advice.
You mentioned you are not looking for a Filipina wife and I note from one of your previous postings that you are married to a Ukrainian? I hope your Mrs likes it there...My cousin is married to a Ukranian; super lady and really takes good care of herself and him..Following my UK divorce and other experiences with western ladies I swore never to get spliced again, bad luck I suppose but a common story.. that was until I met my wife of now 18 yrs originally from the PI. Best decision I ever made,, I'm the Boss (haha) but only because she said I could be LOL...As you can see on here, everyone has their own ideas of what paradise is and for me it's all a matter of compromise..Having spent a great deal of time in SE Asia both living and working, while not writing off the PI, Malaysia is the place that stands out in my mind as actually welcoming foreigners without fleecing them (see MM2H programme) and the food!!!
Other forums mention the PI as being more suited to Americans while Malaysia is more for the Brit'...Actually have Tesco's there LOL, but as another poster said this is about "Retiring to the Philippines" It may be prudent to bear in mind that a large percentage of Ex-Pats return to their country of origin when the dream has either ended or through ill health when familiar surroundings and home culture become important...Enjoy the experience, you never know until you try!,,and if things don't go well, do what the Filipino's do, smile, laugh it off and always keep yer hand on yer wallet!

chris24

Hi again. The plight of some of the kids can be a real tear jerker, can't it. I have often thought about trying to do something, but where to begin? This could be a thread all on it's own, I generally don't give money, but if I am going to buy food I usually get some extra for the kids, at least they will eat that day.
About the security issue, til I get my cash I am living in Alabang with the mrs. No problems here, although she worries a lot. Actually, I think she worries more about me running off with one of her mates. I am looking forward to being a bit more settled in my own place, and be able to get out more. Nothing much to do here except go shopping, everywhere is a journey and you don't need me to tell you what that can be like.
Like the dog idea, I miss not having a dog around the place, a proper dog, not like the ones you see everywhere here. My last dog was a black lab, kept one of her pups too, but I swore I would never have another as it was too painful when I had them put down, but they both lived to 16 years so not bad really.

Equaliser

Hi Chris,

I know where you are coming from regarding dogs..I love em' but travel too much, it wouldn't be fair on the pooch..When I lived in Citi-Italia, a gated sub-division nr. Cavite, lots of neighbours had some really evil scary looking beasts straining on their chains or leashes to get at you as you walked past..It certainly takes a different mind set..a lot of the ex-pats I know actually have a gun/s in the house. Crikey, you can have someone bumped off for a pittance...My driver who used to transport me to work in Manila had a gas pipe and a 45 automatic under the seat of his car as a matter of course...

sunnydays

Retiring to a warm climate in the Philippines and finding a loving new wife to finish off your days is idealic, away from the cold, expensive UK climate. BUT there are some pitfalls. The Philippines exists on the influx of hard currency from overseas workers and the foreigner is no exception. Almost all the wives of UK chaps we’ve met come from the poor areas where every peso is counted. Some fellows get off quite easy whilst others have not. An acquaintance who helped us find a rented house built a lovely bungalow amongst his wife’s family homes (wooden shed types) and they began helping out financially as the needs arose. Following a discovery that the school book loan was used for a beer party, they stopped the loans and now no one speaks to them from the family. Imagine living day to day like this in an inhospitality zone and they’ll never be able to move.
Another chap nearby lives with his wife’s family whilst his wife works in the UK and remits money home. His initial family investments and loans have left him penniless and he just sits and lives on his wife’s “titbits”. Rumour has it the wife does have another man in the UK.
Another chap we know not far away lives with his wife’s family in a large bungalow in the centre of town. The wife’s middle-aged brother required hospitalization with a lung problem that cost 15, thou pounds. This brother is jobless as are his family who continue to increase and visit for help (read pesos).
The Filipino tradition is to preserve life no matter the cost and if you join the family you cough up, material possessions are sold to pay for large hospital bills. A story from another Brit who was paying for Dialysis on his 85 year old mother-in-law had to stop this when his investments dropped in value. Naturally she died soon after and he is blamed for the lady’s death !!
You come here with the funds from your 3 bed semi and the monthly pension that should provide you with a good life but the wrong choice can ruin you. A liver transplant can be 25 thou pounds, imagine getting the bill for that. Your retirement lump sum begins to shrink and when you need to put the house into the bank and use you hard earned pension to pay off the installments, well, not quite the way you had it planned did you.
It is imperative that you check out you new girlfriends family before popping the question and then decide whether to go ahead.
Let’s mention a few words about another danger here, BOREDOM. Three years goes by, beautiful wife and home plus swimming pool, new SUV, Satellite TV…..what next?
Having a few foreigners nearby doesn’t necessarily mean friends. You get on ok with the chap but the wives have different backgrounds or you don’t enjoy the chaps company but your wife like his wife! In the last 4 years we’ve met many couples but only one couple we get on very well with. Trying to mix with upmarket Filipinos has its downfall because these wives have nothing in common with your wife who admits that she feels uncomfortable in the company ……. Helps with the clearing up and jokes with their maid!
Huge amounts of patience are required in relationships with a Filipina who doesn’t always understand the meaning of what you’ve said “over and over again”. Another Brit visits us to have a sensible meaningful conversation because it’s impossible with his wife who meets every other requirement. Another chap goes to a foreigners get together every month to enjoy a boozeup otherwise “I’d go mad” he says.
The important thing to do is rent for a couple of years here before plunging, use the proceeds from your furnished rented UK property that you can zip back too if the need arises.
We’ve been within half a mile away from 2 shootings, one from a jealous business partner and the other where a British guy upset his wife, threw out her mother and family and joined a Filipino drinking party. A bullet threw his head whilst driving sent him crashing into a roadside property, nothing in any media!!
I love it here and would not have it any other way but I do feel sorry for others caught in what seems like the “Honey trap”. A wonderful place the Philippines.

PS We had a Black lab, originally wanted a dog to call Harry after seeing a beatifull one of a friends but we fell for a little bitch and called her Harriet. From my first devorce the wife kept her but she was put down with cancer after 16years I was very upset. We could take her walks without a lead, leave her outside a shop, all sorts, but her trouble was the river, had a hard job keeping her out of it

Equaliser

Right on the button!

sunnydays

Every year the cities and Baranguys hold their Fiestas, wow what a spectacle, parades, stalls and activities. Each large family compound will cook food and invite friends plus even offer a sing on the Karaoke. San Luis this weekend will be crowded, pigs will be slaughtered and huge woks will fill backyards. From the rear balcony of our rented house in Lemery we were wakened every Saturday morning with the squealing of a pig being killed, supposedly the more humane way of killing the pig with a cut of the artery in the neck but it doesn’t sound like it. Apparently they need the animal to be alive for a few minutes to drain the blood which they use for a Filipino dish. Some of the children gather round to watch. Same thing with goats also. It amazes me that these animals don’t put on any weight, they eat all day but stay bony!! So, the fiesta day begins with a parade of colourful people, balloons, trumpets etc. early before the sun gets hot. Streets become crowded with small groups of entertainers, the usual one of fire-eating gays will be heard banging their drums and handing out crumpled envelopes for donations. 20 pesos is ok but us foreigners are expected to put in over 100. Lunch at the family compounds begins at 11, we’ve been invited to the sari store owners across the street, Rachel and Brian’s further place down the street and the nice lady’s house from the electricity office. The tables are full of food and relatives in back kitchens making fillips. A good way to meet the local people. The evening draws closer and the Municipal area is packed with amusement stalls, candyfloss, and loud disco music (thump – thump).
San Pablo being a city has parades of children in uniforms made from coconut, plus acrobats and dancers that last for a few hours. The city centre is closed off and bandstands of music groups go at it for three days! You need to watch your valuables at these fiestas, foreigners are naturally targeted and the best strategy is simply not to carry anything important or safety pin things in front pockets. I have a pair of shorts with a zipped low front pocket that I keep loose notes in.
Life goes on as usual in the private gated subdivision. We have no gate to the property neither do we lock the car. The armed security guards salute you from their motorbikes as you check the seedlings in the greenhouse, the blue kingfisher sits in the Mango tree hoping for a chance at the goldfish as they fuss on the surface for the pelleted feed. In the far distance a cockerel sounds, a bright yellow Oriel sings nearby, but otherwise it’s very quiet. Mila does some washing, its washed, dried, ironed and back on the shelf before mid afternoon. One day she’ll have me in the machine! Remember those UK winter days, radiators adorned with “smalls,” stiff frosty sheets, driers grinding away whizzing the electric meter disc. My monthly electric bill here is about 1200 pesos ( 17pounds), water 280 pesos ( 4pounds). VERY REASONABLE ?

chris24

Welcome to the Philippines!!!!! Sounds like a familiar tale. I met a guy in Palawan, a Belgian. Who gave me some sound advice. If you are going to marry a Filipina, find an orphan, or live a plane ride away from her family. If they ask for money for this one to go to college or this one to become a doctor, say, Yes, I'll pay, just give me the bills when he is qualified. That way they will make sure he passes and studies and keep the expenses down. At the time I was with my first wife of 25 years, also a filipina, now on number two, so I know a lot of the pitfalls. Another friend who came on holiday here once calls this the land of the chickenburger. We were in a Max's restaurant one time, and I ordered mushroom soup and a bread roll, this was causing some confusion so I picked up the menu and pointed, Waiter said 'Ah, chickenburger?' No I said pointing at the menu, mushroom soup and bread roll!, after some more confusion I thought it was all sorted out, until the food came, I had mushroom soup bread roll - and chickenburger. To this day I still don't know why. So when things go wrong here I always say 'chickenburgers again' and laugh it off. I tried to learn the lingo, but even after 25 years I still can't make my mouth make the right noises. Never figured out how if I say a word without the right accent or the accent on the wrong part of the word they don't understand it, still, I like it here and don't intend to go back to the UK except for the occasional visit, or if I need the NHS. P.S. Can anyone tell me if there is a sense of humour here, haven't found it very much in evidence.

Equaliser

Hi Chis, Sense of humour, that's a laugh in itself. When I lived there the locals laughed at everything and anything and what used to crease me up most of all was when I would "try" to tell a joke; they would start cracking up way before the punch line !...In Manila my wife could see that after a really kaki long day in my office I would get vocally irate with beggars, it's not unknown for babies to be hired or borrowed for display for sympathy with the outstretched hand; she taught me two little words that to this day have never failed me "Walang Pera", say it seriously and it works like magic and certainly more effective than Effoff....Even in a nice office you took your own toilet paper to the "Comfort Room"..The cleaners would replenish but it disappeared as if by magic...The small things can be touching..Chatting with my bank Manager in Allied bank Manila I casually asked oner of his assistants for a tissue (had a bit of a cold), she promptly ran around to some of the counter staff and returned with a couple of sheets of bog roll,,I hoped that nobody had to forgoe a dump because of my snuffles, now that did crack up the staff (no pun intended).
Re-the animals not putting on weight, worms come into the equation, look very closely at ze little piggies "Lechon" lol, but I did actually see a worm wriggling out of a dogs arse but then he wasn't for the Barbie, not then anyways.,,In my wifes province Pampanga pooch is a favoured dish "Aso Adobo" although to this day she swears she has never eaten the stuff..I think I may have unknowingly though!,,but as a German butcher once said to me, you should never ask what goes in to a Sausage!

chris24

Funny isn't it, dog is practically a national dish, but no-one will admit to eating it. I don't have any problem with it myself, I have eaten all kinds of stuff myself while in the army, we had a cat I seem to remember, had just spent 2 days trying to snare wildlife or catch a fish, then along comes this moggy!! I know what you mean about bog paper, always keep some in the car! The only thing that I ever really turned my nose up was in Belgium. Can't remember if it was Christmas or Easter, but the meal was rabbit, nothing against eating rabbit, but it was whole including the head sitting up on the plate looking at me, minus skin and cooked (of course)

Equaliser

Hey Chris, As long as it didn't say "Whats Up Doc! lol

My lad (17) didn't catch a moggie but managed to snare and sort out a rabbit on Army field exercises in Brecon Beacons..Was just in Winchester last Friday @ his Passing Out Parade, he's off to Catterick on Sunday for 12 weeks... Ruff..

Englishmum

Non-UK residents aren't eligible to use the NHS, even if they are British. The only exception is for emergencies eg. heart attack, broken leg. You can't use it if you think you may have cancer for example. It's to discourage 'health tourism'.

Yes, they do check. The NHS records for myself and family are now in a 'dormant file' at some NHS records centre, as we left the UK some years ago.

chris24

Hi Englishmum, Yes I wasn't thinking of popping back every time I cut my fin. This forum has a way of getting me to say things I usually keep to myselfger. but I already had cancer of the oesophagus and had half my stomach removed, it's likely to rear it's ugly head again some time in the future. But I don't intend to dwell on it. I have some pills back home hidden away for when that time comes, didn't want to try and get them through customs. Anyway thats the deal, can't think why I just said all that. This forum has a way of getting me to say things I usually keep to myself. I'll shut up now, See ya

hgl

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2 Years gone by since your last post. As I am myself looking to retire from cold Europe to somewhere much nicer I wonder if Plawan still appeals??

Equaliser

Hi HGL, A visit to Palawan is on my wish list..Have researched it on the Internet.
There's lot's of good invaluable insight on these postings. My initial feelings? wherever one goes in PI, before even thinking about "buying" property you owe it to yourself to live in the proposed area first and very important, check out the legal issues of "ownership" lots of stories about that one!..PI is "BIG" with a kaleidoscope of differing cultures and dialects..There "is class distinction" depending upon which province one comes from...If your wife is Filipino, as someone implied here it can be a big mistake to give way to the temptation or inducements of living close to family..I think the previous Orphan comment is not without it's merits, however, having said that, who can predict with whom one falls in love. Westerners no matter how impoverished they may be are always considered as loaded and in many instances have ATM tattooed on their foreheads; no amount of explaining to a local will convince otherwise,,Oh, you'll get the encouraging polite assenting nod of the head, as if your explanation about your outgoings back home being horrendous is understood, but IMHO it is not really absorbed and falls on deaf ears...My Wife's family are very sweet, however, if we were to return to PI to live, for our own sanity and financial considerations we would look for a place a goodly distance away. ,,OK so it means making new acquaintances, but at least there is less danger of for lack of a better word "entrapment".
Plse' keep us posted as to your findings..