PhilFAQS

Visit To The Doctor — Updated

My post on visiting my so-called “third-world” car dealer recently turned out so well that I decided to document my last trip to see the doctor.  My primary care physician is an internal medicine/pulmonary specialist.  I started going to him because he’s been taking good care of Mita’s mom, who has diabetes and some other [...]

Just What Is Good Health Care in the Philippines?

An American retiree in the Philippines recently asked me a very interesting question about emergency services and medical care in general for retirees in the Philippines.  One thing you have to keep in mind, when planning on retiring here, is that in many cases there are no good answers.  You have to think this through [...]

Things To Consider Aside From Philippine Cost Of Living

Time and time again I meet people, or get emails from people, with questions about living in the Philippines.  Without a doubt, the most frequent question I hear … the favorite by at least 10 to 1 odds … is “How much does it cost to live there”?
You’ll also see, if you look on-line, something [...]

About That Philippine Job You Want — Part 2

Why do people spend 4-5 years at University, but they can’t get a job?
That’s what my friend Brendon say often on his website and in his great article on this subject (how to find a job) which I recommended to you a couple days ago.  You did read it, didn’t you?  If you [...]

Find Out About Tech in the Philippines

It’s always nice to watch friends grow and succeed.  One of the first Filipinos who ever spoke with me as a friend … long before I came to live in the Philippines was a fellow with the curious name of “Yuga” who operated a little blog centered around tech issues and what we call “gimmicks” [...]

About That Job in the Philippines You Want — Part 1

As we have said here many times before … jobs in the Philippines is a very important subject that this site gets found for by search engines …people, rally, people who (at least say they are) desperate for a job in the Philippines so they can live out their dreams.
I get inquires from these people [...]

Back From the Deep Freeze

Well on Wednesday am my dear wife and I arrived back in the Philippines after three weeks in Florida.  Broke, happy and COLD.  I’ve been to Florida in the winter before, I don’t know what could have possessed me to go there again in February … momentary insanity perhaps.
It was my first trip back to [...]

Is This Good News, Or Are They Missing Something?

My wife just pointed out this article from the Inquirer this morning: Read about the PRA and the SBMA joining forces on promoting retirement:

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT – Top officials of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority want to grab a share of the growing industry of retirement-tourism and turn this freeport into a haven for [...]

There’s Meat In Those Noodles

Regular readers might get the idea that I am pro-Chinese and anti-American when I point out things like the tremendous economic advantage we, the US, have given China by becoming their financial serfs for the next hundred years or so.
I am not pro-Chinese, but I feel I am reading the writing on the wall better [...]

You’re Reading This and Yet You Think You Aren’t Lucky?

So many people visit or write looking for that elusive “job for a foreigner” in the Philippines, or some other elusive ‘key’ that will unlock the door that is holding them back from moving to the Philippines, or getting out of debt and being able to ‘live large’ in the Philippines, or finding that all [...]

Can You Define That Expat Feeling?

One of the things that is always difficult for me is to come up with an answer to the question, ‘but why would you choose to live in the Philippines’.  This is especially hard for me when Filipino friends and family ask this, because it feels kind of snippy to answer them back with something [...]

Leaving the Philippines Again

About a year ago, I first published a post entitled Why I Left the Philippines.  It has had a lot of “reads” over the past year, and I updated and republished it a few months back.  A lot of people didn’t really read it, though, because I got calls and queries even from some relatives [...]

Business From End To Beginning

I just came across this idea in my files.  Earning money in the Philippines seems to be a bit like the weather.  Everyone seems to want to talk about it, but nobody wants to do anything about it.  This is right up the alley of a great many readers here, US, Filipino or any other [...]

What About School in the Philippines — Part 4

We had some interesting discussion a couple weeks ago about strategies for schooling children if you were to decide to live in the Philippines.
Most of the discussion sort of stopped at the high school (secondary) level.  But what about those with older children … baccalaureate or higher education here in the Philippines for foreigner or [...]