What do you love about living in the Philippines?

[hk blues]

2 hours ago, scott h said:

This is an easy one. I will love anyplace where I can retire at the age of 55 and my standard of living goes from solid middle class to middle upper class just by getting off the airplane. Are there things here that bug me? Yep, but I can put up with a lot of crap  for the quality of life I can afford here 

Pretty much the same for me - it's much cheaper than my home country.  That comes at a price, of course, but it's a sacrifice i'm willing to make.  

[BC57]

20 hours ago, boyee said:

On this forum I read a lot of guys complaining about many of the things that are irritating about living in the Philippines compared to their western home country.  I think this is normal to vent your frustrations however I must believe that because you are still living in this beautiful country there must be more wonderful things that keep you there.  I'd like to know what those things are.

I'll go first.  I am not a fan of super loud singing or blasting car horns but I absolutely love to wake up to a cock crowing, a few motorbikes speeding by and the sound of someone yelling Taho from the distance.  Don't get that back at home and it just reminds me of the Philippines.  

I love the food!  Filipino food most of all but all kinds of food seems to taste better in the Philippines.  I especially love street food.

I love to see kids playing in the streets with a smile on their face.  Kids with home made sidewalk games instead of peering into their phones.  

What do you love about the Philippines that you just don't have in your homeland?

 

The stress free lifestyle that I enjoy here can't be replaced by living in the US. Nor could I retire at 61 in the US and stay there with the cost of most things. We built a 3bdr 2 bath house on a 400 sq meter lot in the PH before moving here permanently. No mortgage or rent, yahoo! I couldn't have built a house in the US or bought a lot. For the most part people here are friendlier and they treat me great. I like the large family gatherings which are always enjoyable. With the exception of a few barking dogs our area is quiet. It's on a dirt road which is a dead end so we don't get a lot a traffic which is great. My mother-in-law's home is on one of the busiest streets in the city. So much noise and exhaust, yuck. Cable/satellite tv is so much cheaper here than compared to the US. Now as for the government agencies, wow, they need some better technology and process things a lot faster. Less paper is a good thing. Less redundancy would be even better. They are so far behind most of the world in technology and processes, not sure why. Police force doesn't have enough on staff to properly police the city to do enforcements, etc......... Oh, one thing that I dislike the most is all of the loose dogs, my God. They need to change that. We have a dog here but he is never off of our property and never will be.

[Jack Peterson]

It is what it is! Me? I am as happy as      

[Jack D]

On 11/9/2019 at 12:00 AM, boyee said:

What do you love about the Philippines that you just don't have in your homeland?

 

I love the videoke machines!

Many members hate them, but I love them! They're not available in the USA.

They're strictly a Filipino thing, and I'm not happy with the junk that they sell in the USA.

[GeoffH]

2 hours ago, Jack D said:

I love the videoke machines!

Many members hate them, but I love them! They're not available in the USA.

 

I have to confess that I have grown to enjoy them as well (whether people enjoy my singing or not is another question) 

[Tukaram (Tim)]

On 11/9/2019 at 3:07 PM, Tommy T. said:

Freedom? Hmmm... I can't agree with Marvin totally about his comments considering all the checkpoints I go through on usually a daily basis along with bag checks.

Got to agree with that. Lot more hassles by authorities here, than back in Texas. But overall I really like it here.  A bit too humid, but you get used to it... after 3 or 4 years ha ha. 

Mainly I am here for the cost of living. My wife and I live comfortably on less than $1,000 (USD) a month.  I know a lot of guys doing the same. I also know some that easily spend $4,000 a month.  It is all good.  Mostly I like being retired, and young enough to enjoy it.  A lot will depend on where you live here. When I first got here to Iloilo the shopping was pretty difficult.  Over the years they added a lot more stores, and a lot more foreigner friendly goods. It is much better now. Everywhere I go there are friendly people inviting me to drink, or just chat, with them.  I quite enjoy that. My YouTube channel is incredibly small by YT standards, but I am locally known, so that makes it even more fun (but I get invited to drink whether they know me or not).  Going on small interisland trips is easy and cheap.  We love doing little 2 or 3 day mini vacations. We have done 3 trips in the last 3 weeks!   

[Reboot]

On 11/9/2019 at 1:48 AM, Marvin Boggs said:

All the complaints that frustrate me about the philippines, tend to have the same root cause as the things I love about the Philippines.  

1. - the govt here is too poor and disorganized to have created a 24/7 police state like we have in the US.  Most of my fellow expats on here may disagree with that assertion, but i stand by it.  I love freedom.  In PH I don't have to put up with facial recognition cameras, spy drones, or my car sending a data stream to the govt.  They probably don't have the resources to store my phone calls, messages, and text data either, although I have no way to confirm. 

2. - I love the happy people in general, and I second your observation about kids and playing.  I attribute this to a foundational morality rooted in the Christian faith which has not evaporated yet; and a general lack of affluence that has kept materialsm to a minimum.  Filipinos are happy in the simple things of life, and I love that.

3. - I love the big extended family unit, which we have kind of lost in the US culture.  We are working on my wife's Filipino family tree, and there are 79 first cousins!  Holy guacamole!  In the US we have been career-minded and materialist for a couple generations already, perhaps to our detriment.

4. - I love the availability of locally grown food, and locally made products.  Sure, we have organic stuff in the US.  But in PH i can hear the pig squealing just a few doors down the block.  The chickens are still small and tasty.  The eggs have huge yolks.  When I want a mattress or a piece of furniture, I can just have one made.  If I really want to live cheaply, we can just knock together a bamboo hut.  

5. - Despite the prevalence of ladyboys here, I love the fact that filipina women expect their men to be men.  They don't mind being soft and feminine, and for the most part they expect a man to know what to do.  Its very traditional in that regard, and I love it. 

 

This is a great post.

[Mike J]

Love Love Love the kids here.  Where else could you go to church and have children come sit on your lap?  And when your lap is full they squeeze in on each side. 

[jimeve]

Got 3 (three) families visiting us this Christmas all my asawas sisters, brothers and their kids all at the same time. Should be fun, good job my tenant won't be here as he hates noise.

 

Well we won't be lonely this Christmas. Last year we had 14 of Eve's classmates on a reunion, that was fun (not). And just after that my nephew invited 8 guys who were strangers to us to stay overnight  WTF.

More fun in the Philippines 

 

 

[Arizona Kid]

On 11/10/2019 at 8:48 AM, scott h said:

This is an easy one. I will love anyplace where I can retire at the age of 55 and my standard of living goes from solid middle class to middle upper class just by getting off the airplane. Are there things here that bug me? Yep, but I can put up with a lot of crap  for the quality of life I can afford here 

Way to go. I retired here at age 50 in 2002. Lived very well on my military pension. Not rich but no complaints. When I reached the age of 62 I called the US Embassy in Manila to claim my social security benefits. Life is good here despite how much I complain about it.