Circumstances conspire to force a hard decision

Thanks. Well for us Mark it was only ever going to be a temp thing of maybe 3-4 years, that of course was dependent on the wife of course!! I think I always knew it was going to be long shot for us with what we wanted to accomplish but I'm fortunate to be able to afford (just) for us to be able to have given it a go. I think I would've regretted it if we'd not come here.

Regarding building I'm not that concerned actually. the province is on western Samar about 50 miles directly north of Tacloban. At present it is a double skin wood house on stilts with a metal roof. There was no storm surge as we are on the west of the island and only wind damage was (apparently) to some screen doors!! We are going to go next leave and take a surprise visit. I think the house did so well because its effectively a sieve, I'm more nervous about building a concrete block house truth to be told but we'll give it a go. Agree about the building materials status. I think that's a good idea about your house though, I feel you'd regret not having something to come back to on a temp / holiday basis and as you say itll go into the kids name anyway.

Thanks Tim, that's just the holiday feeling isn't though? Spend longer than 2 weeks anywhere and you get that. Truth be told I know quite a few blokes that live out here for years and are perfectly happy and would never think about going back to the uk / states etc. To be honest I think a lot of those guys become desensitised to a lot of whats going on around them and live in a bubble. With the age of the internet information is more widespread and so people are more aware of whats going on around them and so can see just how ineffective / corrupt certain aspects are out here as well as other countries. It all depends on how much you chose to let it bother you.

8 years ago I wish we'd made the move out here, the exchange rate was good, we could've got set up properly. Because of aspects in our personal life though it was actually good that we never did and as it happens its been a bit of a waste of time us coming now but that is with hindsight. Like Mark I've been disgusted with the handling of the recent disasters here and it does affect you when you are immersed in the life here probably more than you guys in the uk. Couple that with a higher cost of living, the long nose tax (which if you are aware of it doesn't really affect you because you can barter or walk away and take business elsewhere) and a few other things then things do get hard. Mainly though because it is a different country and culture. My guess is if Marks house had been built properly and his son didn't have that condition he's still probably be trying to give it a go even with the other factors mentioned.

Personally I'm glad we came because the rose tinted glasses have come off now and we are prepared better for the future if we ever decide to come back. Never say never, the exchange rate could improve over the next few years, don't know how things are going to turn out in the UK politically / economically and where would you honestly rather retire? UK or a warm sandy beach slowly killing yourself on ice cold beer and cheap rum? Even after everything that's happened out here to us and my generally negative attitude to life out here at present I'm still thinking about retiring here.

When I worked overseas for twenty years (solo) I visited some real down and out countries though it always has seemed to me that the poorer the country the happier the people were. I often found that once I'd been in a rough country for two or three months then I always said I could stay there forever as you do get used to a place good or bad and you learn to cope with whatever is thrown at you. Having said that I always had the back up of a large company behind me if the **** hit the fan which it did on a few occasions something you chaps don't have. Its always good to have that feeling that someone can get you out of the **** if need be.

I'm not putting retiring to the Philippines totally out of the picture, I will gather more information from people like your good self over time. My girlfriends family house is in a really good neighbourhood close enough to Manila and will still be there when I retire in maybe fifteen years time, I don't fancy the province that's for sure, I would like to be in a place where I could blend in better if that is at all possible.

As you have seen, things change in every country over time and not always for the best. I understand what you mean with the corruption there, I could tell a few stories about my personal experience there on that score but it would take me far too long to tell the tales.

Remember though, "nothing ventured nothing gained"

And whilst I remember, for you chaps in the UK interested in Colditz, tomorrow night at nine pm on Yesterday there is a good programme about it.

I think that living on a small income there will become more difficult as the country develops over the years which is bound to happen. I have noticed just like Mark and Stu that the prices keep going up and up there and the exchange rate remains not so favourable for us Brits.

I agree with you regarding Manila and earthquakes, its well documented that one could occur there at any time without prior warning. My loved ones house is only fifteen minutes drive from Aquino Airport but thankfully the city of Paranaque where she lives is not full of high rise buildings which would surely pose more of a danger should a quake hit.

The over population is surely a problem as the years go by, maybe the birth control we were talking about on another thread would help there.

The Chinese factor is a big one. They have already nipped into Vietnamese waters (Vietnamese continental shelf ) very recently and drilled a hole. And are now looking to drill another. Where next? They have been aquiring the deepwater expertise ( in Brazil ) in order to exploit deepwater prospects off the continental shelf in the South China Sea region, Malampaya off Palawan, being a good example of that.

And of course geological hazards being another one of a number of other lines of reasoning. It is felt that the Marikina faultline now has enough locked in potential to overcome the frictional forces at play at some point in the nearer future. Good program on BBC 4 on eartquakes the other night and the prediction of them.

For fully locked read fully cocked:

"Along the western side of the Philippine Sea plate lies the Philippine fault; a mega-fault caused by the oblique convergence between the Philippine Sea plate and the Sunda plate(part of the larger Eurasian plate). The fault extends for 1200km from the NW corner of Luzon down to the SE end of Mindanao (Figure 6; Yu et al. 2013). This left-lateral strike-slip fault has a long-term slip rate of 24-40mm/yr, but is currently fully locked. This poses dangerous threats to areas along the fault because it is unknown as to when the fault will slip and produce devastating consequences due to the highly populated areas of Luzon and Mandnao of 48.5 millionand 21.58 million people respectively. "

http://tectonicsofasia.weebly.com/philippine-sea-plate.html


Certainly the Aussie government have a slant on the matter:

http://www.smartraveller.gov.au/zw-cgi/view/Advice/Philippines

Too many Poles in the UK?

Interesting point you raise. A cheeky little question.

What is also intriguing is the idea that having made ones escape from the Chinese issue in the region, one could simply be trading that off with another expansionist concern in Eastern Europe ie leaving the Chinese behind and then saying hello to Vladimir Putin and his mob next door in the Ukraine. Out of the frying pan and into the fire, as they say. Or maybe more appropriately, out of the frying pan and into the freezer.

In part, yes it has, Oss. Hague downgraded the Embassy here and the Warden system has disappeared to be replaced by opt-in emailed news releases from London. Wardens used cellphone voice and text messages to keep in touch with those registered with them and it worked extremely well. If/when China starts to get really aggressive towards this country, one of its acts will surely be to sever the three main undersea cables that carry internet traffic, so Foreign Office emails won't get delivered but the country's internal cell system should remain working, for a while at least.

I very much doubt that the British Government will charter aircraft to rescue and get its citizens out of harm's way as it would have done in the "old days". In talking with other Expats, it could very well be that Britain would be one of very few countries - certainly in the first world - to adopt such a cavalier position towards its citizens. Americans, Canadians, Germans and Norwegians have somewhat higher expectations from their governments.

I'm also a bit concerned about the very real probability of the next administration being headed by Binay and Estrada which will surely see all the good works Aquino has done being cast aside and a return to even higher levels of institutionalised corruption, cronyism, nepotism and plunder.

Of a more immediate worry to us is the power situation here on Mindanao and the continuous blocking of all proposals to build new power stations by Manila-based environmentalists who are even opposed to the privatisation of the island's hydro and geothermal plants which are operating at reduced capacity due to a serious lack of investment. These environmentalists see nothing wrong in Mindanao's coal making its way to Manila Bay to keep their lights on and aircons running but object to Mindanao's coal being burnt by Mindanao plants; self-interest and hypocrisy. To put this into a personal context, we paid 20% more in cash terms in May than in April but because of power outages, consumed 25% less electricity. And we fully expect electricity to cost more month on month.

Fuel is currently nudging 59 Pesos a litre and is set to rise by a couple of Pesos in the near future; the cost of LPG has more than doubled over the last seven years.

The fee to see most doctors and lawyers actually hasn't risen by much, both charge around 500 Pesos per appointment. What Mae and I really do object to is having to pay 7,500 for one injection for my kids whilst a local's kid will get their's either free or for around 50-100 Pesos at a clinic. My sons are both Philippine citizens but skin colour counts here.

Good luck Mark - and my very best wishes for your son. I have visited Poland and found it to be a rather beautiful country - some stunning scenery in the countryside - plenty of zloty for your dollars (before the wall came down) - and beautiful, beautiful girls!! God knows why they all want to go to the UK.?!?!

Al.

It is quite likely that skin colour might count in Poland too....

Yes, it just demonstrates how careful folk should be before commiting themselves to retirement to the Philippines.

Thank you, Al!

Poland is a bit cold in winter, it seems a shame to leave the tropical sunshine behind.

Best of luck Mark, hope that everything works out fine for you.

Don't be shy John, come back and comment on some other threads

Taken from our balcony window by the wife this evening. It was like the Farnborough Airshow outside our window, with dirt track racing on the beach below.
Why go to Bondi when you can go to Bridlington?