Second visit

[bastonjock]

Getting back on track with my visit , lol , I don't drink beer, anyhow , I'm taking the next step to philipines living , I'm buying a small condo in davao , I must admit,  I'm condoed out at the moment I've spent the last week more or less running around davao and samal looking at condos

There are some high end projects getting off the ground in this neck of the woods,  I'm hoping to buy a beach front condo at some point in the near future

[Rooster]

4 minutes ago, bastonjock said:

 I'm hoping to buy a beach front condo at some point in the near future

I lived in a Beach Front Condo Beach Front House many years ago. It was awesome however my electronic devices eventually got destroyed, old VHS tapes, clothes in the closet moldy. 

[hk blues]

14 hours ago, fillipino_wannabe said:

Not if you buy one at a time but who does that. Fosters is 18 cans for 12 pound in Tesco, 66p per can or about 46 pesos for 440ml. SML is about 35 pesos for 330ml here. When there's a decent offer you'll get 18 cans for more like 8-10 pounds.

It's not like for like though, is it?  I don't buy my beer by the case here, but I f I did I could buy it much cheaper than 34 pesos for a SMLx 330ml.  And that's not getting in to buying in bars - here I can buy a 330ml SML in a bar for 60 pesos - where can I buy a bottle of beer in a bar in the UK for less than a quid? Then, the issue of quality comes up - we are talking premium beers here (SML/Pilsner) as opposed to Fosters and Skol! 

A recent survey I read had Manilla as the 2nd cheapest place to buy a beer in the world.  From  my experience, i'm not surprised at that.

Anyhow, I do miss my lager!

[hk blues]

15 hours ago, Gary D said:

Asda are doing 4 tins for 90 pence, that's 5.1p per 100ml

Just throw them down the toilet and cut out the middleman!

[bastonjock]

im finding the discussion about beer quite funny , I am teetotal and have been for 24 years , I have no idea how much booze costs these days .

Anyhow , back on subject lol , I returned to the UK after three weeks in Davao , I met a woman from gensan on my arrival , we did the tourist trips to the crockodile park and the malls etc , that one was an experienced holiday girlfriend , she had posted a photo of her that was from at least 10 years ago , that and other stuff helped me to decide to send her home . I had other options , a girl from Samar and a girl from Cebu ,the girl from samar was too young , I do not feel comfortable when there is an age gap of almost 40 years , on top of that she had a great plan of how I would hire a car and take her and her family on holiday to the chocolate hills for a week all at my expence , she also wanted me to have a baby with her , I was polite and declined her kind offer . I sat in a hotel in Davao , at this point I was aware that the foreigner PESOnality as it has been put to me gave me bird pulling power that I had never experienced before , the young ladies in the mall asked me if I had a girlfriend and also the therapist in the massage parlour made enquireys . I went on DIA to see if there were any mature ladies available and I sent a message to G , we met up later at the mall , we started a friendship and she straight away began looking after my interests , I had been quoted 27000 for a condo for two weeks , she said to leave negotiation to her and the result was a 7000 peso saving . She was not the most pretty lady whom I had met but I felt that she was very trustworthy , her postion as a middle to senior manager in the government was evidence that she had no criminal past etc as we got to know each other , I learned that she was involved in charitable stuff , her pet project is to bring education to street children ,she is the governor of a school. 

We went to a beach on samal and she asked if she could bring her kids for a treat , so off to the beach we went , 3000 pesos on food and drinks , the kids had a great time and so did we , I was taken aback when her daughter asked her if she had slept with me ,but heyho its a different culture , we made up a story that we had been talking online for about a year that seemed to satisfy the daughter . It felt good to bring a day of happiness to a bunch of kids , somehow there were 8 of them a few friends had tagged along hehe. On the Sunday , I went to church ,its been a while for me but before I met her mom who is a pastor we had to go to church , I met mum ,dad, and a lovely little girl who was her mums great granddaughter , I took them to a restaurant of their choice , I was pleased to note that they picked an inexpensive one and made sure that we got the appropriate discounts . Her mother invited us back to their farm , and I toured the array of fruit trees and ate the obligatory Durian ,her mother at 71 years of age posseses a very sharp mind ,she has two degrees and a PHD ,her dad was a quiet guy. On the Monday I met her co workers and picked up the tab for a pizza , I later made several site vists with her as her primary job is as the safety officer for the water board in charge of up to 120 souls , that was interesting.

I also wanted to find out more about property and stuff on this trip , we visited several condos around Davao , again G looked after my interests , I was getting Kanu prices quoted and could not get them to come down from 3.2 mill , so I let her do the talking , the condo that I was staying in became available so she got it down from 3.3 mil to 2.7 mill , so im now in the process of buying a condo , im soo glad that G is an intelligent woman , I could not have worked out their system , I met chris a guy who is studying for the bar , he took care of the legal paperwork , a nice bloke I liked him , if I had used an attorney I would have cost 300k but chris got it down to 100k for legal expenses . Im looking at the condo as somewhere to stay when I return and to generate a bit of cash , im doing the money transfer next week and already its been rented out ,so things are looking good , only time will tell if ive done the right thing . G is in the condo as I type along with a janitor scrubbing the place spotlessly clean and dealing with the clients , it was all a bit quick but ,ive saved 600k on a condo 

Im planning to return in December , im starting to wind things up this end , I need to sell some capital assets and get rid of the ususual garage sale type stuff ,but im hoping to be semi retired in the phils by 2019 , if I feel confident enough ill try to find a cheap property in the boonies , I prefer countryside to the city ,but ive definitely made my first major step to living in the phils , ill probably do 3 months UK , 9 months phils , im to young for a pension and do not want to erode my savings , I could live off of my private pension but I want to keep that as a reserve , I can do contract work in the uk and earn enough in 3 months to support a decent lifestyle in the phils

I got lucky , I met a trustworthy woman , she has her own house , earns a lot more than your average philipino and she used that word that I had never heard from a philipino before , she said we  "share" the expence of living in the philipines .

Heres a couple of mug shots of us having fun at EDEN center mount apo

[Old55]

Well done!!!

[Dave Hounddriver]

1 hour ago, bastonjock said:

I got lucky

Yes, and no.  You did an excellent job of avoiding the traps that many foreigners fall into and waited and watched for the right one to come along and then you acted.  Is that luck?  Perhaps.  On this forum, we call it doing your due diligence and you surely did.  Congrats.  Well done.

[Jack Peterson]

1 hour ago, bastonjock said:

I got lucky , I met a trustworthy woman ,

 I do hope that never changes   

[Jake]

1 hour ago, bastonjock said:

I got lucky , I met a trustworthy woman , she has her own house , earns a lot more than your average philipino and she used that word that I had never heard from a philipino before , she said we  "share" the expence of living in the philipines .

 

Even though we haven't met yet, I can see your Scottish heart glowing again.  Let me see......you started your journey over 4.5 years ago, by joining this wonderful forum, in which we shared in our laughter and our sadness.  But most of all, we shared the love stories that brought tears of joy in our heart.

May your journey start every morning with a magnificent sunrise!  Well done, my friend.  Respectfully Jake   

[marine6357]

Well done I wish you more good fortune in the future. I hope my luck is as good as yours on my visit in September.