Living in the Philippines

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stevewool
Posted
Posted
11 minutes ago, MikeB said:

Was she there during Ondoy? I have friends in Marikina, stayed there many times. At one time it was one of the more desirable areas around Manila. Then came Ondoy in 2009 and another bad one a couple years later. That area is very susceptible to flooding, especially Provident Village where my friends lives. The quiet street outside their homes became a raging river during Ondoy, water up to the roofs on 2 story houses. The other one wasn't as bad but still an unbelievable mess. He lost virtually everything the 1st time but the house had insurance, the succeeding times he couldn't get insurance. That's the one big thing I would consider about Marikina. 

Emma was staying in Cavite when Ondoy happened, the house was flooded and a right mess, the father in law had to move out to across the road to a multistory  factory for safety.

After a few days she did managed t get back to Marikina to help her father clean all the mess, we had just become partners me an Emma and i was worried about what she was going through , but in her eyes it was just a matter of fact, what she told me was that so many dams further up had opened there flood gates all at once rather then a little at a time.

Since then the house has been knocked down and rebuilt a few feet higher then it was and adding a extra floor there is always a place to go just incase something ever happened again.

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kalibojerry
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Posted

Yes i was alone I had a very dear friend that had moved to the Philippines a year before we were in the same boat had trouble with the families we got messed up with in Thailand , and my friend talked me into coming to the Philippines best move I ever made I settled in where he was living and have been here almost five years now so far no problems knock on wood

 

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mogo51
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Posted

When i first started coming to the Philippines, single and went to Angeles. Quickly realised it was not a place I wanted to stay fulltime.

When I came back with my wife, we did a trip all up and down Luzon (except south).  The reason for that was her home town is in Nth Luzon.  We went to Dumaguete and that was a place that impressed me also, as did Iloilo but Duma more so.  

My first thoughts were to go there and my wife was ok with it, but finally confessed she felt it made it difficult for her to keep in contactd and see her family.  During our Luzon trekking Bauang was the place that was also high on our 'like list'.  I was far enough away from family for me, but close enough for her to go and see them.  

You have to make compromises sometimes and it was only fair to her, so here we are and enjoying life here.

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Clermont
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My first taste of the PI was in 1971 during the Vietnam conflict, the ship traveled around all the Asian countries, but the PI stood out for me, I don't know whether it was the amount of trouble I got into every time the ship anchored in Manila harbour or whether it was the female company that befriended me and the rest of the world. Cebu was a particularly memorable port, I'd been on the grog all day and I'd won this fair maids heart with a handful of Peso's and told her she could come to Australia with me on MY ship, I was the Captain. All arranged I got her up the gangplank and I went into the paint locker for a week, (out of country jail, ) for trying to smuggle personnel on board, and I never heard from her again, sad. There are more stories associated with our six months up in them waters and I had a permanent bunk in the paint locker, thank God I was a cook or I might have starved. But like most of us that have been over there, their is that magical mystery of the PI that lingers and it's like a magnet that draws you back. I think that the bug has not only bitten me, but by my reading, I think it has nibbled on a few of your hearts as well. 

:hi: sailor.

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Queenie O.
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Because of my past experience with Cebu, and being that I married a Cebuano and that Cebu had been my favorite area of many areas I'd experienced, we settled there. My husband had moved to the States where we married after my two year Peace Corps assignment.  We used to go back as often as we could, and would always stay at my in-laws house during those visits. Because we had lived quite a while in the States, I understood and accepted that my husband expected to reunite and enjoy his future years near his family here in the province.  We built a house long distance in 2007, on land that my husband had received from his parents, (every sibling had received a small parcel of land) which created a  kind of a small family compound.  In visits following those years, we didn't really like the feeling of being in the family's "pocket" and couldn't really imagine living that close to them when we finally settled there. In 2013 we sought out some land along the sea and found a seller, so again long distance we built our second house along the sea in the next town about 15 minutes drive from our other house. That's where we live full time now.

It doesn't seem that that short distance would make much difference, but the privacy and short distance makes for a great sanctuary and escape from family oftentimes. If we wish to entertain or enjoy family gatherings in small doses, we go back there,  and it works out great. My husband will go back and forth more often than I do, but that  little distance seems to keep family and other people shy or more reluctant to just "drop in" here without a reason or invite. 

My husband loves the rural life, but even nearby Bogo City would be more stimulating for me. :smile:  Otherwise I'm pretty happy here where we are.

Edited by Queenie O.
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