Dave Hounddriver

I have noticed some members seem to think these reasons are trivial. However you don't even mention the ants, termites, geckos, barking dogs, or pigs and chickens in the front yards of subdivisions. Did you mention the people on motorcycles running over pedestrians on the sidewalk, etc. Walking requires looking up for low hanging wires, down for holes in the sidewalk, left, right, ahead and behind for motorcycles. A search of this forum will find many members who complain, rant about so many "trivial" things in the Philippines. I believe each reason by itself may be trivial, but the sum total may be enough to drive a man to drink.

I can prove that most scientists believe we have global cooling. Check this out. But the same source says that scientists believed the earth's core was solid iron as early as 80 years ago. I wonder what they will think 80 years from now?

These are all good reasons. Some people have more tolerance to all these problems. I had more tolerance as a younger man (thinking with the small head and lots of beer in my stomach) but my tolerance decreases as I age and drink less beer

Yes, if I was going back in time. But this is a different time. I would surely look at other options before taking a leap of faith that the Philippines is some kind of paradise. Note that I am being very carefull not to suggest you don't do it. You won't know until you try. But don't burn any bridges for a couple of years. It may take that long for the euphoria to wear off.

Sounds like the pest control worked. And now you are here.

It means very little. If you are not married she cannot count on your income and you cannot be on the title. You should be able to see the impossibility of that. Perhaps incorporating and borrowing in the company name would work. Or a Filipino co-signer.

And everyone has one. Truth is we, humans, have to care for the planet whether we believe in human caused climate change or not. We had to cut back on emmisions to clean up smog in L.A. We had to stop rivers from dying like the Thames. We have to stop all the trash washing up on the beaches around the world. In short we have to clean up after ourselves so we have a nice environment to live in. When we control all the polution from coal plants and fossil fuel burning vehiles, (and eat all the farting cows etc), then the climate may get back to normal on its own.

When I asked my bank manager he said (paraphrasing as it was 3 years ago) . . If you are married and your name shows on the title as husband. And if the bank appraises the property for what you are paying for it. And if you put 50% down. Then the bank would mortgage the other 50% based on the inome of both husband and wife with a minumum mortgage amount of 1 million and a max of 5 million. Your situation will be different. It always is. But I write this to tell you it can almost be done.

The "rule of thumb" seems to be: Whoever occupies that spot first has the right of way. If they can get in front and you hit them from the side or behind then they will yell at you for not noticing they were there first. It is the same rule for when they pass on the left, or right, or shoulder and push in front. They got there first, they win. Its a funny system but works much of the time. Reminds me of a situation I was in a few years back, in Cebu. I was approaching a flyover in heavy traffic and a jeepney came up on the right and squeezed over to cut me off. He was beside me and managed to get his left side mirror in front of my right side mirror. Thus when I pulled ahead with the traffic flow my mirror hit his and pushed it back. He yelled at me through the window about he was there first. I yelled back it is illegal to pass on the right and he should get to the back of the line. Nothing came of it. He backed off and pulled in behind me. No harm, no foul. I have no idea how a cop or judge would rule on that. I usually give way when they are so aggressive but I was in a mood that day.

No need for a new topic at this time . . as I am not thinking of any specific place yet. Back to Canada to regroup, then look at options. Life is like dominos. Each move depends on how the previous domino falls.

I would agree with your rough estimate and add that another 50% of those who make it 5 years eventually move on for one reason or another. Its been 11 years for me and I am thinking Philippines has changed, I have changed and it is getting close to time to try somewhere else. I would not change anything about my 11 years here but, in my opinion, its not half the paradise it once was for a foreign retiree. Its still good though. If I was still 52 I would likely still come here. I just cannot see the practicality of the Philippines, (for me), for a man who is over 65 and wants to live a good life until, maybe, 95. You may ask why? Well I got my woman so the girls are not a draw. Wee Willy is getting to the point where it doesn't matter anyway, Health care in the Philippines is not that great. Most hospitals here think you are old at 70. Its hot. I used to love it but now it means sitting in my lazyboy with the A/C on. It ain't cheap any more. I can live on the same budget elsewhere. Good help is hard to find. Its cheap but you get what you pay for. Brownouts get old. Traffic gets me grumpy. Beer does not agree with my health as I age. So if the above does not apply to you then come to the Philippines and you will surely enjoy yourself.

It may be needed if you want to open a bank account here. Other than that I only use mine for ID and Bureau of Immigration purposes.

I am a bit late to this thread as it seemed to me to be stating the obvious but I saw something today that fits the topic. I was sitting on the right hand side of a Ceres bus, looking out the window, when a motorcycle passed on the right, as they always do. They are oblivious and care not about the dangers of doing that. I have seen many pics of motorcycles run over by a Ceres bus and people often point to the Ceres driver and say "going too fast again" but that is not the case. In today's incident, the motorcycle passing the bus on the right got to the point just in front of the rear wheels of the bus and his front tire blew out. Well he lost control and came within a camel toe hair of slipping under the wheels of the bus but managed to get his motorcycle under control. I looked back and saw he was OK. He happened to be right close to a tire repair shop. I swear those guys throw nails on the road to generate business.

Some truth in that. The lady at window 6 calls out the names of the visa renewals and totally ignores the ECC applicants. There were about half a dozen of us who got there about 8 am, filled out the forms, and waited, and waited, and waited, and asked frequently if any ECCs were done yet. It was 2 pm before they started to come out and we all had to go and ask. 6 hours for the fecking thing. Those who went at 11 am were also told to come back at 3 pm so it does not help to go early any more for an ECC. Still good for the tourist visa renewals though. Those applicants were in and out in approximately 2 hours. So I took pics that I could not be arsed to upload. One says "Cut off time to apply for ECC 1 PM" The other, on the opposit wall, says "Cut off time for ECC 3 PM". So I had to go and ask the guy behind the window which sign was correct. He said "Both". So I asked "If I want to tell me friends when they should come for an ECC what time shall I tell them". He said: "If you apply before 1 PM we try to do it today. If you apply before 3 PM you pick it up next business day . . at 3 PM" I said: "How long does it take to complete the process." He said "From 3 to 6 hours". (Mine took 6 hours). So I am pissed off about it but it is done now. If I had to do it again I would plan to arrive in Cebu by Noon, file the application, get a room, go back at 3 ish and wait for the dang thing then stay 1 night in Cebu. But that's me. As usual, your milage will vary PS If you are somewhere that you can get an ECC that is NOT Cebu BI at JMall then I suggest it will be better. I heard Mactan BI will do them but I have not tried it.

Been there, done that. He gave the system a cursory inspection and then told me: "We will try filling the freon first. If it leaks fast we will work on it but the cheap fix is to add the freon and monitor it." I am not sure if he added freon or if that was just the generic term for the gas he put in. I am sure that the cost was only $20 and that it is still working fine a year and a half later. Others have told me that car airconditioners are subjected to so much shaking around that it is easy to leak some gas over a long time. If all I have to do is add "freon" once a year then that works for me. Your mileage may vary.