Good to have a discussion with someone over here, so we can compare our perspectives, which mostly seem to agree. Just a few clarifications I want to make.
2. typhoons (there's a storm every year, not just this year.)
2 is worrying.... I'd call that the tradeoff for cheaper property, where city properties in PH are about on par with rural property prices in the US. I'm not sure there's much way to deal with that outside of considering houses disposable.
Most of the wealthier people here have houses made from poured cement. The walls are a solid 6 inches thick. (Or more.) Those kinds of houses don't go down easily.
But then, a typhoon of the magnitude that hit recently destroyed everything. The main cities, the center, Metro Manila, Makati ... those were hardly affected.
As far as I know, the
solid concrete was not destroyed any where by the wind. Only the water surge destroyed some concrete in the low lying areas along the coastline. If you build your house out of solid concrete with a concrete roof, then put 3/4 marine plywood over your windows during a typhoon (as we do in New Orleans where I was born), and build on high ground away from any potential flash flooding, then your house will be always fine.
Mindanao rarely gets a typhoon, although we got Pablo last year which was a "once in 20 years" event.
The power outages in Mindanao in 2013 outside of Davao (which never has them) was so bad that I stopped going to my mountain house.
The current mayor of Davao is an old classmate of my dad. That mayor makes sure there is no petty crime in his city. Even the Ampatuans (the ones responsible for the massacre in Maguindanao) don't have any power in Davao, despite the vicinity.
How the crime situation is handled in Davao is up for debate. The criminals simply do not exist. Good place for you guys with long noses and fair skin color (because, yes, you look like dollars.)
I met members of the Davao Death Squad back before it became international and national news item. They used to openly carry their pistols and they explained to me that the local barangay officials will report on who is doing petty crime, especially drug users and pushers. Then those offenders will be warned 3 times over a period of weeks or months. Many end up in other cities around Mindanao if they can't reform themselves, because they will be killed if they stay in Davao past the 3rd warning if they have not reformed.
Recently a lady instructor from our gym was mugged and murdered in an alleyway by several drug addicts in downtown Davao. The offenders were caught, killed, and stacked back at the alleyway with a note, "criminals come to Davao to die".
However, Manila and the international press are now hounding Mayor Duturte and so now I no longer see dead boys along the curb. And by watching TV Patrol, it appears to me that big money from Manila is starting to move into Davao and he is beginning to lose control. I always expected this would happen eventually. Nevertheless for the time being Davao is one of the safest, yet we are paying for this with police and Task Force Davao (Army) checkpoints every where. I get tired of seeing machine guns and being watched always. I smile and I understand the necessity, but it feels to me as though this will backfire on those of us who want to survive the coming global hunt for capital (net worth tax and 71% tax recently announced by the IMF).
I am seriously thinking I need to move to some place more sparsely populated.
Duturte believes in a police state. I appreciate him and I understand him, but I don't think he understands how this can all go awry. And how the powers-that-be can misuse his police apparatus.
b. There is no grass field nor oval in a cold climate nearby where I can do my sports at the level I could in a non-tropical climate.
Have you tried Baguio? One bitcoiner is staying there. I've been there several times, but never stayed longer than a month. It's considered a Filipino vacation place to Filipinos who do not live there, because of the colder weather.
It's also about 4 hours away from the 3rd tallest mountain in the country, Mt. Pulag. If you like mountain climbing.
I lived there for a while. It is very up and down terrain and the flat portions of the small valley are already taken. I couldn't even find a functioning hot tub in that cold climate! The track oval was muddy.
Typical sad state of infrastructure in Philippines. It isn't important to the locals, thus it isn't a priority.
Also Baguio is becoming very polluted with vehicle exhaust fumes since it is an upland valley.
There are similar upland valleys (two I know of) here around Davao, but they are too far to day-trip and development, internet, electricity, theft remain a problem. Also the land rights are very problemmatic. Every foreigner I've know to build in the upland loses their investment to locals. Rich locals can sometimes manage it.
c. I can't buy many of things I want to buy, such as there are no gold and silver coin dealers. No ASIC sales. Can't buy Mexican food. Can't buy electronics I need such as inverter that isn't China made junk that breaks after 36 hours.
You'll have to import the stuff you really want. I get my stuff from Amazon, or other places, wait for a relative to come home, the box rides with them. Or you can have it shipped here for $40 a "balikbayan" box. Fill up the box first. My brother does that all the time for all his imported books and toys.
Also, there are specialized shops that sell high-end inverters. Those don't break, those are used by the local cell phone companies for their cell-sites. I managed to get one. What you want to be looking for are pure-sine wave inverters. Not the cheap square wave ones.
The local suppliers sell the China versions which were ripped off from Morningstar. I buy the originals:
http://windsun.comBut my balikbayan box still hasn't arrived after 2+ months. Also the balikbayan boxes are $55 - $75. I can't find $40 to Mindanao from Bellingham, WA where my mom is.
Readers note that although you are not charged import duties on things you hide in these boxes, this is illegal and your items could disappear or be taxed. And if you do it the legal way and declare and pay import taxes, then typically the taxes are 50 - 200% of the value of the item. This is why most stuff is sourced from China.
e. Before I could never get decent internet connection. I finally have one since Oct 26.
The bigger cities would have the better internets. PLDT and Globe have high speed links. Expensive though.
I had Globe in Cebu right next to the Insular Waterfront Hotel and it sucked. Was often offline.
I had Globe and Sky Cable internet (two lines) in Bago Aplaya, Davao over the years, and the lines were often offline. The Globe started to improve in 2012.
Recently I obtained Globe in the skyline area of Davao, and so far it is excellent.
I hear PLDT has the best quality because they own the only line going directly to western countries. Globe bounces around through Singapore and Japan, thus high latency and often down.
But PLDT is extremely difficult to get. You go on a waiting list.
g. Smoke pollution. Filipinos burn the trash in piles every day, so there is smoke all over in evenings.
That's prohibited within Metro Manila. Outside, or in the provinces, it happens.
The fires were burning on Roxas Blvd (Manila Bay) when I arrived in 1990. I guess Mayor Lim outlawed that.
It happens every where in the rest of the country and every afternoon.
Enjoy your clothes smelling like a barbacue daily. Although I am exaggerating and typically it isn't a serious problem for me. Yet some of my foreigner friends complain a lot.
i. People don't think.
And when they try to, they still look like they can't think.
Hahaha.
It doesn't matter how many times you give an instruction to a typical (not upper class) filipino in the provinces, they will still do it the way they grew up doing it.
For example, tell them not to stand on the toilet and not to wear their slippers in the bathroom ("CR" for comfort room), and you will pull your hair out because they will continue doing it. For filipinos, the bathroom door is always closed and it is supposed to be dirty and smell bad.
The cheapest most horrible beer in my opinion. Almost no hops, barley, all sugar.
A few have come up with all-hops beer. Look for it. Both San Miguel and Asia Brewery have it. One of them is called "Manila Beer" I think. I don't drink as much as I used to anymore, so I'm actually out of the loop. My dad has a friend who used to work as a brew master, tasting beer all day.
Yeah I noticed those special local brews in the SM mall grocery store recently.
I don't drink any more also, so haven't tried them.
But then no longer cheap. Still cheaper than the imported brews.
We have better beaches in Florida, and 100s of kilometers compared to the 10km strip in Boracay.
I'm not talking about Boracay. I'm talking about the other 7000 islands. Palawan. Coron. Batangas. Anilao. Then there are hundreds even I do not know about, they are just there, literally virgin beaches.
The last time I went to Boracay (and I live in this country okay) was more than 20 years ago. I've been to at least 200 hundred other places. I can't remember them all.
Boracay was probably the best beach, 20 years ago. I can't say the same now, about the beach itself. I'm not talking about the night life though, as that one has changed dramatically since.
I agree that Palawan and other far flung places are interesting and beautiful. But the travel is arduous just for some sand and sun. We have beautiful scenery in the western world and the infrastructure and travel is much more pleasant. I am reminded of the title of a book about traveling to Philippines for the girls,
A Long Way to Go for A Date.
Also Philippines will in the coming decades be overrun by Chinese and Koreans, thus it will no longer be as friendly to European and American men. These north east asians like exclusivity. Thus we white guys will not be welcomed in the establishments and resorts.
The allure of Boracay (and also Angeles City and Puerto Galera) is the nightlife. For me, the bar scene gets boring after a about a week or two. I long past my wild youthful days in Olongapo. If I go, I just enjoy taking in the scenery. These bar workers are the ladies who were not pretty enough to attract a rich husband. They look nice in bikinis in black lighting, but don't open your eyes in the morning and view their faces.
There are a few attractive ones, but then their attitudes are the reason they are not happily married.
Basic problem around these areas, is the people have been corrupted by money, even if they don't work in the bar.
You need to go
far from where any foreigners are, if you want to find the original Philippines.
Bank secrecy is already gone. The IRS has an agreement and can see all they want. FATCA compliance is coming.
Somehow, the ones who want to hide their money find a way to do it. Now, we're in the bitcoin forum, so ... ... ...
I
posted about this today.
So it is really about the people.
Yup! More than anything, it's the people.
I am happy to see we agree on this.
