Retired in the Philippines

Welcome Mike ,  settling here will throw up quite a few problems but hopefully people here on the forum will be able to help.

Well, after 5 years in another Asian country, Thailand, the adaptation is not that difficult. However in some respects such as the reliability of services, uninterrupted supply of medications, medical facilities, mail delivery from abroad. Thailand definitely outclasses the Philippines! Thanks! Have a nice week! Mike

Time to move back to a streamlined civilisation in Thailand?  It seems Muntinlupa as a backwater province (part of Manila proper with over 20 million residents doesn't cut the mustard)

Thailand is a far superior place to Muntinlupa or did we mean the Philippines? Horses for courses and don't forget many here including myself have spent plenty of time in Thailand and other countries in the the region.

Cheers, Steve.

Mike_the_Fritz wrote:

Hello,

my Filipino wife and I moved to Thailand when I retired in 2012 (aged 62).

After 5 years in Thailand we decided to move to my wife's home country,
and settled in Muntinlupa where a niece of my wife and her husband are
living.

Going  to Vietnam for the yearly visa run on Sunday.

I'll be 70 next year. Hope to make it to the next Rugby World Cup! LOL


Kind regards,

Mike the Fritz

Welcome!

Mike_the_Fritz wrote:

Well, after 5 years in another Asian country, Thailand, the adaptation is not that difficult. However in some respects such as the reliability of services, uninterrupted supply of medications, medical facilities, mail delivery from abroad. Thailand definitely outclasses the Philippines! Thanks! Have a nice week! Mike

Looks like Thailand in general is better not to mention their very good food. May we know why you left
Thailand for information purposes of this forum?

robal

bigpearl wrote:

Time to move back to a streamlined civilisation in Thailand?  It seems Muntinlupa as a backwater province (part of Manila proper with over 20 million residents doesn't cut the mustard)

Thailand is a far superior place to Muntinlupa or did we mean the Philippines? Horses for courses and don't forget many here including myself have spent plenty of time in Thailand and other countries in the the region.

Cheers, Steve.

I´ve known a long time existed a big prison complex in Muntinlupa. Does it still exist?

Hello,

thanks for your message.

One of the main reasons was the language problem,
e.g. Thai music videos -
you have no idea what the name of the singer/group is, and don't know the title of the
song either.

My wife is a Filipina, and we have a niece & husband living in the same barangay.

But I do miss Thailand. The Thais ARE friendlier, and the men are definitely less hotheaded
& aggressive! Buddhism has a stronger influence on the self-control of Thais than Catholicism on the
aggressive, macho behaviour of Filipinos!

Have a nice week!

Kind regards,
Mike the Fritz

Mike_the_Fritz wrote:

Hello,

thanks for your message.

One of the main reasons was the language problem,
e.g. Thai music videos -
you have no idea what the name of the singer/group is, and don't know the title of the
song either.

My wife is a Filipina, and we have a niece & husband living in the same barangay.

But I do miss Thailand. The Thais ARE friendlier, and the men are definitely less hotheaded
& aggressive! Buddhism has a stronger influence on the self-control of Thais than Catholicism on the
aggressive, macho behaviour of Filipinos!

Have a nice week!

Kind regards,
Mike the Fritz

The Spanish occupation of the Philippines for 333 years has a lot to do with the macho, aggressive or
mercurial temper. Genetics could also play a role as many Filipinos are mestizos or mixed Spanish/
Filipino.

robal

@Mike_the_Fritz:

One of the main reasons was the language problem,
e.g. Thai music videos -
you have no idea what the name of the singer/group is, and don't know the title of the
song either.

My wife is a Filipina, and we have a niece & husband living in the same barangay.

Thanks for responding to my question. I assume your wife´s name is Frida! 

"mail delivery from abroad" that's a big issue when you live here, when I was still in the UK, my then wife, now ex-wife sent a birthday card to he father and slipped a £20 note into it, needless to say it never arrived, but even worse for her, no letters or greetings cards she has sent here since that time have ever arrived. The postal system here is so corrupt and the only alrenatives DHL and FedEx etc are so expensive.

If your going to settle here in the Philippines then the further you get away from Metro Manila the better, I  have lots of friends here in Mindanao, in Cagayan De Oro, in Davao and out in the provinces in Mindanao. I also have friends whe live in Palawan, all of them are long term expats and I don't know one who would ever consider living anywhere near Metro Manila or Cebu which is is becoming just as bad as Manila. I have for a very long time considered that Manila is only good for one thing, fly in, fly out. It's just unfortunate that there are not that many international air carriers who land at Cebu or Davao, only Asian airlines like Cathay Pacific etc.

FindlayMacD wrote:

"mail delivery from abroad" that's a big issue when you live here, when I was still in the UK, my then wife, now ex-wife sent a birthday card to he father and slipped a £20 note into it, needless to say it never arrived, but even worse for her, no letters or greetings cards she has sent here since that time have ever arrived. The postal system here is so corrupt and the only alrenatives DHL and FedEx etc are so expensive.

They steam letters, open them and steal any of value inside... I wonder if vitamins coming from the US are also stolen.

As every where, the catholic Church has stuffed up an other country.  the church is a corrupt criminal organization hell bent on maintaining its own power not helping the people in any way.

Hello to all expats....is Cagayan De Oro & Butuan safe to live there.

All the best

I also want to know safe places for single expat to live outside of Luzon! Looking for any expats who are willing to meet and discuss the areas around where they live! I have been scammed coming here but would like to find the good filipinos I know exist! Any help would be appreciated! Please PM me with your advice please! Thanks guys!
Dennis

Irishcream wrote:

Hello to all expats....is Cagayan De Oro & Butuan safe to live there.

All the best

Hi, IrishCream,

I have visited Cagayan de Oro maybe 7 times in the past 20 years and have always found it to be very safe and friendly. Maybe because I was usually with filipino family, but not always. My wife and I are building a house there for our retirement, so we're counting on it being and remaining a safe place.

-- Rich