Mabuhay! Greetings from the Philippines

A NEW BEGINNING ...

Hello there, or as we say in the Philippines, Mabuhay! My name is Barry, an American, and have been living in the Philippines for the past two years. I am retired and plan to permanently reside in this beautiful country. I am able to stay here on a Special Resident Retiree Visa (SRRV). My life has changed considerably, having planned for my retirement, I did not anticipate that I would be remarrying after many, many years of divorce. But as luck would have it, I met a beautiful Filipina and fell in love.

PARADISE ON A BUDGET ...

My wife and I live in Metro Manila. We recently purchased a condo in a very large condo community in Cainta, Rizal. --View Video Clip-- Here there are most of the conveniences of the U.S., but at a much lower cost. The goal of this website is to give our friends and family back in the U.S. a taste of our life here, and also give those who might be thinking of retiring to a foreign land some insights as to the benefits, and, yes, the problems too.
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PLACES TO VISIT
The Philippines is a very interesting country to visit because of its history, natural beauty and diversity. Metro Manila Cebu City Davao City

A LITTLE HISTORY & MAPS
For lovers of world history, the Philippines offers a wealth of events. From Spanish, Japanese, and American rule to eventual independence, its history spans over 400 years. --More-- --Detailed Maps--

PHILIPPINE FACTS
Here is a page of useful facts for anyone planning to visit the Philippines. Today's Peso to U.S. Dollar exchange rate. --More--

JEWS IN THE PHILIPPINES
Often thought of as a Catholic country, Philippine Jews have played an interesting role in its history. --More--

WHY RETIRE IN THE PHILIPPINES?
Considering retirement? For many Americans, retirement time is just around the corner. The prospect of trying to live on a pension, in old age is a daunting one. --More--

PHILIPPINE COST OF LIVING
The Philippines has most of the things we are used to in the U.S., but at a much lower cost. This chart will give you an idea of the price of items we might normally purchase. --More--

PHILIPPINE TOUR VIDEOS
We have embedded several YouTube.com videos to give you an idea of the diversity and beauty of this country. Manila/Baguio Cebu Palawan Boracay Davao

HAVE MORE QUESTIONS?
Knowing you might want to know more, we have partnered with Amazon.com to offer a diverse library of books on Philippine history, travel, culture, cooking, living and a lot more. --Philippine Library--

PHILIPPINE BLOGS AND WEBSITES
Whether you are looking for information to aid in a retirement relocation decision, or are looking for great Philippine vacation ideas, there are plenty of resources on the internet. Some of our favorite blogs and websites are recognized as the best. --Links Page--

PHILIPPINE HEADLINES
A good way to learn about a country's culture is to read their newspapers. What is making news today? It is often much different than seen in the West. We have a daily news feed from the Philippine Daily Inquirer. --More--

RETIRE ON US$1,000 A MONTH?

The question we get asked most frequently is what does it cost to live in the Philippines? This really has many answers. It will depend on the lifestyle you want to have and the part of the country in which you would like to reside. Living in Metro Manila is more expensive than living in the provinces. Living in a small town is cheaper than living in a larger city. Many expats choose to live in very remote areas of the country, and blend in with the locals.

I chose to live in a more suburban setting, with most of the conveniences I am used to close by. Our cost of living chart details what you can expect to pay for the items you would normally buy. Yes, most expats are able to live comfortably on much less than US$1,000 a month ... less than PhP47,000!

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SOMETHING NEW ...

My wife and I would like to invite you to participate in two new features on our site, Mabuhay! Gallery and Mabuhay! Forum. With over 2,000 visitors to this site each month, it is evolving from a personal website into a community. Anyone with an interest in living in the Philippines, or just visiting here is welcome.

Check out Mabuhay! Gallery Check out Mabuhay! Forum

WE ARE JUST BACK FROM CEBU CITY

One of the benefits of living in the Philippines is being able to travel inexpensively to many interesting and uniquely beautiful places. We recently returned from Cebu City, the capital of Cebu Province and one of the most developed areas in the country. It is also home to a very large community of expats from the U.S., Great Britain, and Australia.

While I had been to Cebu previously, I had never stayed in the city, only in beach resorts. Cebu City is a booming place, and deserves its good reputation. I found it to be cleaner than Manila, more organized, with even the drivers following the law more strictly. The airport is not large, but not small either. There are three large malls in the city, and needless to say, we did visit them all.

Getting around is easy. Taxis are plentiful and inexpensive. Jeepneys are available for all of the major attractions, but I would not recommend them unless you have someone who speaks Tagalog with you. We rode them extensively, and even Elma, my Filipina wife, could not always get correct information on which one to take. Unlike Manila, each jeepney route is numbered, but jeepney hawkers don't always tell you the truth about which one goes where.

We tried to use our list on our "Places to Visit in Cebu" page as a guide during our visit. There are so many interesting places to see and things to do, that we barely got half way down the list, even in five days.

We stayed at an inexpensive Bed & Breakfast, Casa Escaño, which surprised us with its quality and location. We wholeheartedly recommend staying there. It is within walking distance of the Capitol building and several other "must see" attractions. The food in the restaurant is excellent and at a reasonable cost. No wonder it attracts so many local business people for breakfast and lunch.
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WHY MABUHAY! FORUM IS ONLINE
We get a lot of questions from visitors who are considering retiring to or at least visiting the Philippines. It is some times overwhelming as I am retired and want to take it easy, and my wife, Elma, is busy at work all day. For this reason, we have started Mabuhay! Forum. It is a forum where those with questions regarding life in the Philippines can connect with those who are knowledgeable and either live here now or have lived here. As an added incentive to post your questions (or give a response to one), we are offering a FREE copy of the ebook "Getting Around the Philippines Safely." This 24-page ebook in .PDF format, gives you detailed information on the modes of transportation in the Philippines, and how to use them safely as a foreigner. To receive your copy, just register on Mabuhay! Forum and make at least one posting, either a question, or a response to someone elses question. We will forward your copy of the ebook to the email address you use in your forum registration. This offer is valid only during the month of November, 2009.

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I mention that one of the benefits of living in the Philippines is being able to travel within the region inexpensively. For someone retired and on a fixed income this is important. To give you an example, the round trip airline tickets from Manila to Cebu cost us a little over US$100 for two people. A five day stay at the B&B (which I would rate as three to four star) was about US$90, and it included an American style breakfast. We budgeted PhP1000 (about US$20) for food and expenses each day. So, for less than US$300, Elma and I had a great five-day getaway.

As you can see we took pictures. We have posted a new album of our Cebu City pictures on Mabuhay! Gallery. Take a look. We are sure you will agree that Cebu City is an interesting and beautiful place to visit.

By the way, we did notice many expats who were obviously living there. Many were in small groups chatting at the malls we visited, and were apparent at the historical attractions as tourists also. We are aware of a large American and British expat community around Cebu Doctors University Hospital on Osmeña Boulevard.