Ah, I am still in a bad mood after the annulment news.
1) The one thing that is cheap in the Philippines is manual labour. This has a knock on effect on things that are produced in the country. Anything that has to be imported or relies on natural resources is about as expensive as in the West. Property is not cheap, at least not in or near the cities.
3) How do you pay for health services? Do you sign up with a private health insurance in the Phils, or do some UK services pay for medical services in the Phils? I imagine that a private health insurance for a retiree would be VERY expensive.
4) Modern transportation? In the Phils? Now this article is just taking the p*ss.
Well, ok, London rush hours are not better than Manila rush hours, but at least there's the tube and a half decent train network.
Transportation in the Phils can be very, very awkward. In GenSan taxis are not always available and the vast majority of tricycles have very low roofs - not meant for adult European males. My head and back still hurt from just remembering!
I had bad experiences with internet connectivity, btw. Is there a reliable provider - good bandwidth, reliable connection, no DNS issues?
Oh, did I forget to mention regular brown outs in Davao? This seemed to have improved during the last visit, but before each afternoon there was a 2 hour or so brownout. No ice-cream, not meat to be left in the fridge…
5) Ecotourism in the Phils is next to impossible for a European, as the flight to and from destroys the eco balance.
6, 7, 8) You get that in the UK as well, often to higher standards than in the Phils.
To me the positives are 2) 9) 10, and 1) with the above caveat. At this stage for me there are too many negatives to wish to retire in the Phils - poverty and corruption are way too big to ignore for me Mind you, my retirement is about a quarter century away.
