Best Posts in Forum: New Member Introductions

I'm an American, retired and living in Dumaguete. I'm a veteran of the US Navy, with a brief 6 years of service as an ETR, with honorable discharge as PO1/E6. After the Navy, I worked as industrial process control technician for 21 years. Being divorced with a pension and 401-K to small survive in USA, I retired here in the Philippines in 2016. Four years later, I'm now married to a beautiful Filipina and have a large Pilipino family that has happily adopted me as one of their own.

 

Hey everyone. The name's Brian (another one) here on the FAR side of Siaton. We (the wife and me) come from Ft. Worth Texas, which is the polite side of Dallas for those noy familiar with the area.
Arrived Oct 2018 and ain't mad about being linda stuck. I do miss Wal Mart Home Depot (the real one) QT, Raceteack, and Whataburger.
I've been a fan of the sight since some guy mentioned it over coffee. It is good to onoe oyher's have the same thoughts I do.
I look forward to contributing my unsolicited advise but may be a bit late. Out here in the boondocks NOBODY offers Wi-fi so it is based on phone data connection.
That said, howdy ya'll

 

Hello everybody,

I am 53 years old, a retired former IT specialist from germany. Together with my live-in-partner and our six week old son we are staying in Bacong. You can find me/us on Dgte public market, Robinsons and Lee Plaza :-) After some time of lurking I find this forum very useful for all kinds of information one living here is in need for.
Please excuse the current level of my knowledge of english language, it hopefully improves month by month.

Regards, Solid_Pan

 

Hello to everyone on the forum. I’ve been coming to Dumaguete every 12 to 18 months since meeting my wife in England in 1993 but finally made the jump and moved here in Dec 2016 (living out Sibulan/Ajong way). Been visiting the forum for a couple of months (yeah lurking I know!) but needed to say what a mine of information it’s been and how it’s proven invaluable for a couple of issues we’ve had since arriving, I served for 22 years in the RAF and then “worked” for the US Navy for 12 years when they had a presence in and around London (COMNAVACTUK), Hopefully I’ll be able to contribute in some small way in the future and I’m sure I’ll be making use of everybody’s knowledge here again

 

Partner and I retired here 5 yrs ago. Came here a year early and spent a month exploring in 2015. I have SRRV (deposit required cut by 85% with a DD214), over 50, which you probably are if you joined navy in '80. Got rid of 90% of our crap back there, don't miss any of it. KEEP the kitchen utensils. Don't store nuttin, donate, sell, garage sale, even if you don't stay, no point in hauling around, suits, sport coats, ties, unnecessary, get a polo barong... Kept our financial program back there, move money here to dollar account by wire, many different ways (we do USAA). Shift to peso account when needed or when good exchange... Easier that way, more liquidity back there, funds direct deposit there. DO estimate expenses, probably 1/2 to 1/3 of Long Beach, certainly better than bay area, which we fled. You can estimate during ur exploratory month (do not skip this, essential).

Health Insurance important, i was government, so have Fed program, like gold. Only for big emergencies, doctor appointments are $10 USD. Ended up buying cheap lot up the mountain, building small house. You could lease land and own a house, WAIT a few years, we've been renting for 5.. Make sure you have good lawyers here, we have two, one is a bull dog to scare anybody that wants to scam you. Local folks are wonderful people and friends. And, about Dumaguete, never criticize, cuz EVERYONE you meet is either a cousin of, related somehow, does business with, or went to school with, everyone else. Constantly blowing our minds, never lived in this small a town..

If any of the following drive you nuts, the place will make you cranky, just smile and deal with it or go elsewhere <grin>.
"sorry sir, out of stock." They will never say, "we don't carry it."
slightly nutty and slow drivers, traffic's a b*tch and not getting better. No such thing as "driver's ed."
somewhat lack of attention to detail by workers.
If they doesn't know the answer to your question, they might make something up.
People do NOT like to confront an uncomfortable situation, will ignore the problem until it goes away or blows up.
Cursing actually makes people uncomfortable. Great respect for elders, no such thing as "retirement home," have seen many 20 and 30 yr olds give grandma "mano." "Lola and Lolo" are very important.

I'm not concerned with vaccination, even at 77, although i wish we had it. 95% people wear masks, active cases less than 200 in a one million population, if you believe the government. We'll get the shot eventually. I'd rather be here without a vaccine than in looney land back there trying to get an appointment. Those people are crazy.....

 

Welcome to the Forum. I retired here almost 5 years ago at 55 and have mainly positive experiences. Certainly I love coming home anytime I visit Manila or Cebu - because of the laid back style of life here but it is not for everyone and I think has a lot to do with the relationship you are in, or looking for. I think Duma is far better suited to a quieter, coupled lifestyle. As to personal safety, I have never felt threatened - as I felt many times from my original home - but I stay clear of any business dealings and focus my romantic attention on my partner. I think this is true anywhere in the world, but particularly the Philippines and that is to lose your aggression, and become more sociable than you were in your original country. I have made lots of acquaintances and a bunch of good friends, where because of our retired and privileged position of relative costs can enjoy outings much more easily than we could in our homes. Unlike living in a metropolis where you can take taxi's easily, I think you will need to get transport here. I started with a big SUV and quickly moved to a motorbike, which I had never ridden before coming here and now totally love (except when it starts pouring with rain). Whilst PatO is absolutely correct about the restaurants and shopping, you can find your favourite restaurants and coffee shops and travel to the big cities every so often to get a fix of better quality and quantity - personally on balance I am satisfied with what I experience locally.

Good luck with your decision and ask the members any specific questions you may have - mostly you will get good and informative answers.

 

Michael,

First, let me say congratulations in the service to your country!

My wife and I moved to the Dumaguete area in late September last year so I can share some of my experiences and suggestions.

Unless you have been here, or to the location you plan to retire, I would recommend going to a hotel or other temporary accomodation so you can get a little familiar with the area, housing, malls, etc. Before moving I did a lot of research and checking the forums and thought I kind of knew the area but actually arriving here for the initial week or two was far more instructive. We took trikes to visit the area and look at rentals; very helpful! The principal trike driver we used was one whom another foreigner had used. Trike drivers can be a good source of information on rentals but they may have poor understanding of many Westerner desires and expectations for housing; what may be a great place to a trike driver struggling to make ends meet may look quite different to a newly arrived foreigner!!

You need to be flexible in that even nice looking rentals may be up to Western housing standards. For example, most bathrooms and kitchens we saw when looking. This all depends on what is acceptable and not acceptable for you.

You may find an acceptable house but may find surprises from the neighbors and surrounding area. Examples may include blaring music, barking dogs, burning trash, open sewers and sewer smell, outside traffic, chickens crowing (right word??) at most hours; usually you will have two or more of these at the same place. Since internet is on of your priorities then you need to make sure what the internet situation FOR THAT HOUSE before signing a lease and moving in. We did not do that and thought we could get one provider but was about 100 meters past what they could serve. We went with Globe DSL and have been generally satisfied with the service with a few exceptions.

Suggest you give yourself a year ot two trial period to see if you really, really, want to stay here long term. After this period of time ask yourself if this is the place you really want to be permanently? My wife and I have been here for six months and we will probably return to the United States in February. I think we could stay long term, but we miss our family, friends and church and will likely return.

Some people adapt well and are very happy here. Others start out excited and with time find their attitude changing and become angry and bitter. How you ultimately react to real like living here will be the ultimate judge whether you will be happy here: to the good and bad, the exciting and depressing, the beautiful and tragic, the "out of stock, sir," "mam-sir," "for a while," the impressive number of steps for getting basic services, and so forth. There is much to say in favor of living here including low cost of living, wonderful people, warm climate beautiful scenery and the opportunity for new and exciting experiences.

Since this is becoming too long I would finally recommend you check with this forum and other contacts about available housing about 1 week before leaving. Once you arrive here ask the locals and the expats and you should find something acceptable to you in no time! Suggest you negociate for a short lease, say six months instead of a long lease. At the end of the lease you will know the area so much better and can do a smarter housing search.

Best wishes!

Gary

 

Yes, this forum will guide you greatly. It takes a while to get to know the complex city layout and thus the location of stores you may need - and where to find certain items. So fire away and people here will help you.

 

You may want to introduce yourself on the new members section, so the members know enough about you so they can help you in your search. Where you are moving from is important because it will frame you expectations. Seem like you have done some research already by the questions you have asked. That is a good start, you first two question focus on the major problems here.

I will start with question #1. Electricity 24/7, I read somewhere that Dumaguete is the city of Brownout? Is this true?
Yes, very true if you want 24/7 electricity do not move to the Philippines. One time when I had a brownout in a house I just moved to, my landlady came by shortly after the power went out. I told her with a troubled look : "I have no electricity", her answer was not calming me. She replied: "How many days?" That was not the reply I was expecting, and foretold my future electrical problems.

The reality is there are brown outs here, on a somewhat regular basis. The farther you get away from a City Center the longer they seem to last. You learn to live with them. You may want to rent a place with generator, so you do not have major electrical issues. You do not say where you are moving from, but you may want to take some electrical precautions regarding the power: 1) if you are bring 110 V appliances then you may want to buy/bring red electrical tape to wrap around the sockets so you do not accidentally plug them into the 220 V standard here. 2) you may want to bring/buy here an automatic voltage regulator, because you can use your 110 V appliances and also protect your most valuable appliance because the electrical supplied here is not a constant voltage. a continuous low voltage will diminish the life of an appliance almost as much as a power surge. 3) Bring some surge protectors for some of you sensitive equipment. Electronic equipment does not react nicely to power surges when the brown out end or electrical storms (Lightening) .

Constant Internet is another problem. The service varies on location and provider. There are few members on the forum that make their living off the internet so they can advise you better than I. Before moving in I would suggest you ask those in the immediate vicinity how their internet works here. Do not anticipate a trouble free internet service.There are really only two service provides here and the seem to screw us pretty consistently with a smirk on the faces: (You welcome sir") Most times when the power goes off, then the internet goes off too... so you have a double wamy many times.

It would be easy to make suggestions on your rental search if you gave more information: What is affordable to you? (there are places of live from 10,000 P to 30,000 P a month available, knowing you budget range will speed up the process.) Type of rental: Apartment, single family, compound group? How many bedrooms? Amenties: Pool, covered parking area, enclosed yard. What you want to be close by: downtown, resto-bars, beaches, mountain/natural areas and how long you plan to stay. There are a few "transitional rentals" that are short term and supply you with everything you need down to silverware, which make moving in easy, of coarse they are a little more expensive (I know one studio that even includes a motorcycle but cost 30,000 P a month). The more information you give about what you want the faster and easier it will be for everyone. I am sure you will find a few here willing to help. Good Luck

 

Hello All,

New to this forum and looking forward to finally moving to the Philippines. Just wanted to say hello and get to know people.