As mentioned earlier in this thread...
Part 2 - Thoughts on retirement
Our recent four week trip to Philippines was primarily a chance for me to see a bit more of the Philippines, warts and all. But the trip also had a secondary purpose - help answer a question that I'd been wrestling with for quite a while - could I retire there?
The Dream
1) Cost
Philippines is cheaper than the UK, therefore any pension would go further, and I could perhaps retire a lot sooner than if I wanted to retire in the UK.
2) Change
A chance to do something different and have a different way of life.
3) Climate
Phils is a lot warmer than UK.
4) Outdoor activities/natural beauty
The islands can be very beautiful with clear seas, coral reefs, and white beaches. Phils is a paradise for divers and snorkelers.
5) Travel
The Philippines is a fantastic base from which to explore South East Asia.
The Reality
1) Pollution
I didn't seem to be able to get away from breathing in diesel and petrol fumes. Pollution in Manila is a nightmare. The smog hangs over the city. Very unhealthy. There is a lot of pollution out on the islands, mainly from scooters, trucks, cars and trikes.
2) Noise
You also can't seem to get away from noise. There always seems to be something: loud music, dogs, karaoke, motorbikes, trikes.
3) Climate
While the climate is Philippines can be great (think clear blue skies) there can be a dark side to it - specifically typhoons. I have been in a typhoon (Basyang) and it was not a pleasant experience.
4) Food
It's weird, but for a country where food is high on everyone's agenda, I found the food generally to be not very good. I think I would most likely end up buying ingredients in the supermarket and then preparing and cooking my own food. This is in stark contrast to Thailand where eating out is one of the notable pleasures of the place. While in the city you can find decent food by a process of trial and error, it is harder to find decent places to eat in the provinces. There were many times when I simply went hungry because the food just wasn't edible (think reheated, crawling with flies, prepared in extremely unhygienic conditions). I lost nearly a stone in 4 weeks (probably a good thing!). A side note on hygiene - even in the posher malls of Manila I saw a lot of filipinos using the loo (1 and 2) and not washing their hands! Let's hope they don't work in restaurants.
5) What to do with yourself?
In the cities there are many things to do beyond the ivory tower of the apartment block. But you will have to contend with hellish traffic and pollution to get anywhere. When I couldn't bring myself to face the traffic/pollution I would gravitate towards the apartment pool swim and then read. This is wonderful initially but gets boring after the first week.
Out on the islands it is perhaps less challenging to get around, but the flip side of this is on the islands there's far less to do than in the city. Once you've done the notable sights the urge to take a dip in yet another hot spring or snorkel yet another pristine coral reef just doesn't inspire!
It's no secret that some expats who move to Phils end up couch potatoes and/or alcoholics. Believe me I totally understand that. When you run out of things to do, or the hassle of dealing with city traffic doesn't feel worth it any more, it can be very tempting to purchase a big TV, a cable package, a six pack, and then just veg out in front of the telly.
6) Family and friends
It's funny how many expats in Philippines will avoid their wife's family due to the constant requests for financial support. They will then park themselves off in an area far away. While this reduces financial requests it can result in isolation.
Expats can be quite stand-offish in my experience and they sometimes have good reason for this. Often expats will isolate themselves deliberately due to the aforementioned financial requests, but also because they fear scams perpetrated by locals or even expats.
I must admit our forays "into town" resulted in reactions ranging from the harmless (staring) to in-your-face begging for money - sometimes in an aggressive manner. All part of the "warts and all" experience - we had wanted to see the reality of life in Philippines.
I think it is possible to get too isolated in the Philippines - even in Manila. The thought of living in one of those apartment complexes into my 70s and 80s scares the hell out of me. While we do have friends in Manila I would miss the connection of the family and friends we have back in the UK. The option of a more remote location, such as Romblon or Camiguin, leads to the possibility of a quieter life, but with more isolation and less to do. I would probably end up in a house off the beaten track spending my days reading, watching TV and surfing the web - all things I can do back in the UK, or in fact from anywhere in the world.
Being away from family and friends can result in loneliness and isolation. The saving grace is that many filipinos are friendly and welcoming. No doubt new friends would be made, but in the back of your mind you are probably going to be wondering when the request for a "loan" is going to hit you. The motivations of filipinos, while often genuine and heart-felt can sometimes have a dark side, as we found on several occasions. For example, we got on really well with one individual, who we met while traveling. Then one evening the conversation started with a reference to Japanese gold and I realized straight away the clear intention was to get me to pay for this gold to be excavated! An obvious scam that I wasn't falling for. While one doesn't want to be overly paranoid, it always pays to err on the side of caution.
7) Costs
Finding good accommodation for low cost in key to affordable living in the Philippines. Especially in Manila costs for accommodation can quickly spiral. It takes some decent insider knowledge to find locations that are both affordable and decent. We had mixed results. AirBnB is unrivalled for finding great quality, affordable *short term* accommodation, but people on the ground with local knowledge are best placed for finding long term accommodation.
Generally Philippines is cheaper for most things. Services such as massage, dental treatment, medical care, pharmacies and so on are generally excellent and very affordable. For example, I paid £16 for a thorough dental clean. This would cost around £45 in UK. I paid £11 for a one hour Balinese massage and it's the best £11 I've ever spent. I'm not sure how much this would cost in UK, but possibly around £65.
Clothes, taxis, flights, food, drink and eating out are generally cheaper in Philippines, compared to UK.
Misc
Some aspects that I thought would be problematic, such as visas, turn out to be almost a non-entity. I think one of the reasons I thought this is because both Thailand and Malaysia put all kinds of visa obstacles in the way. The situation in the Philippines is a breath of fresh air in this respect - none of this having to leave the country every 90 days as in Thailand, or the huge financial hurdles of Malaysia's MM2H. In this respect Philippines has an attractive range of visa options such as the SRRV or simply in-country extensions - long may they continue!
On the flip side things that I hadn't anticipated as a problem turned out to be somewhat problematic. For example, the pollution is a lot worse than I remember from 2011.
Another problem that I have mentioned elsewhere - those darn dogs. As someone who loves a long walk, I found the dogs roaming around made this quite problematic. Those dogs with puppies hidden somewhere nearby can be especially aggressive due to their protective instinct. I strongly advise everyone to have the rabies vaccination before traveling to Philippines.
Learning the lingo. As most people speak English this would appear to be a solved problem compared to somewhere like Thailand where it's much more necessary to be able to speak Thai - at least beyond the tourist traps. However, I've changed my mind on this one. I would be compelled to learn Tagalog at the very least (and possibly a dialect depending on where I located). I got tired of people talking about me and I could not understand what they were saying. As my partner is filipina locals would often (but not always) default to tagalog, and so I would not have a clue what was going on! I ran into this problem in Thailand back in 2003, and learned to at least understand the gist of what was being said, even though I could not speak the language. This proved incredibly useful such as the time (about a year before I met my current partner in 2006) I had a Thai g/f in UK, who used to quite happily chat on the phone in Thai to her boyfriend in Thailand while out with me! Of course I had never let on that I'd been to Thailand and could pick up the gist of what was being said!
Conclusions
The decision, for me, on whether to retire to Philippines or not has proved to be less clear cut than I had imagined it would be.
While Philippines checks a number of boxes (my pension would go further in Philippines than in UK) there are some deep questions to be answered. Would we end up isolated and lonely? Would we run out of things to do? Would the terrible traffic situation and pollution prove too much to bear and lead to living a "siege mentality" in an ivory tower? Would we always feel like a walking target for scams or other unwanted attention leading to paranoia?
I would like to say I came to a definite conclusion on the retirement question but I'm afraid I did not.
I have not written off retirement to the Philippines, but there are certain things I think would be necessary:
1) A base in a city. Pollution rules out Manila, but perhaps Ilo Ilo would be a better option. You have all the activities and liveliness of a city, without the dreadful pollution and traffic of Manila. I dare say Ilo Ilo will one day resemble Manila or Cebu in that respect, but it will take some years yet.
2) Escape to the islands. From your city base escape to the islands via a cheap flight, but do it in small doses. I think two or three days once every month or two would allow for a scuba/snorkel fix, a bit of chill time, a few beers and a short escape from the bustling city. I personally would not be tempted to try and live somewhere like Romblon or Camiguin full-time, although there are some expats happily doing it.
3) A clear source of income. This goes without saying. While I was thinking £500 a month would be enough, I am reassessing that and feel £1000 a month would be the minimum to allow a decent apartment in the city, dining out, travel and so on. Some are going to say that looks like a lot, and some will already spend twice that.
4) Transport. Getting around in a small city like Ilo Ilo is relatively easy with taxis and Grab. Out in the sticks renting a scooter is probably the way to go. Having used trikes extensively I have no wish to do so in the future! Obviously riding around on a scooter exposes you to some of the world's worst driving! Wear a helmet!
5) Part-time. I would probably only try to live in Philippines 3 months of the year, at least initially. This is partly because I believe living in the Philippines, and staying sane, really does require you to fully acclimatise and that takes time.
6) I would keep a base in UK. I'm not sure I would want to be in the Philippines in my 70s and 80s. Not because there's anything wrong with it, just I'm not sure it's what I would want. I do have a huge amount of respect for the wonderful way Philippines treats its senior citizens - the 20% off everything for over 65s is an incredible perk and shows how much respect for the elderly Philippines has. I would rather be out in the Philippines than a nursing home in the UK to be sure.
Final words
Philippines does have a lot going for it, but it's necessary to bear in mind it's still a developing country and plagued by a number of critical problems - massive inequality, pollution, and congestion just to highlight a few items. Visiting for a holiday is a far different proposition to living there. For many the attraction of a young filipina wife overrides all considerations, and I can understand that! My own situation is slightly different in that I met my filipina in UK and we've been living here together for 11 years now. So, will I retire to Philippines? - bottom line - not yet!
p.s. these are my own thoughts - standard disclaimer - your mileage may vary!
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I quoted this long post to keep it alive and reference it. It is great.
Rarely do I see such a balanced, intelligent, heart-felt description of a personal experience.
People either talk about how the Philippines is basically the cheapest nation in the world, filled with perfect wives, zero crime, everyone lives on a tropical beach drinking free beer. Ha ha. Or the other side. People have been there and been disillusioned and hurt and have nothing but bad to say.
I feel really bad for foreigners that come to the Philippines, honest ones, that end up hurt in heart and body, and broke, or broken. They need to be warned. It is a rough, dangerous, 3rd word nation. But it can be fun. There is nothing more fun than going to work hanging on for dear life on a makeshift tricycle. That is actually how I coined the "more fun" catchphrase. But I promise, I did not intend it to become the national slogan! lol
There are only a few points I want to counter-point.
Cheaper
If you live like you do in the west, it is going to be more expensive. Basic things like electricity, furniture, and food that is not fish and rice, are really expensive. Housing is expensive to purchase, and you can't own land.
English
I always here that most Filipinos speak English. But I rarely meet people in the Philippines that can speak it at all. People that speak the best English? Girls, from online chat, and scammers, used to making money off foreigners. I rarely encounter English speakers. And I work in American call centers! Ha ha! But more English speakers in the Philippines than Thailand would be accurate.
That is it. Everything else was great. I really appreciate your honest assessment.
There are so many "expat" forums I have been on that I swear are run by DoT operatives pretending to be foreigners.