Quote from: roadart on July 13, 2025, 07:33:02 AMThanks for that writeup.  Like I said island life will probably not happen for me, because of she who must be obeyed,  but I will definitely take a spin through.    We are not ones looking to dine out as a general rule, we are both good cooks, but like in Thailand,  the cheap high flavor fresh food for a buck is hard to pass up.
Having been to African and Asian and central American  countries as well, I am familiar with the trash issue.  It is sad. Sort of like old Detroit  or the downtown LA were my old office was by little Tokyo/skid row.

Just as an aside.  I just found 12v a/c units for trucks and rvs. for less than the cost of 110v.  solar panels and a couple large li/fe batteries = no big elec bill.
Don't know the elec prices there but some of the 3rd world elec habits I've seen are frightening.

You bring up some really interesting things.

Eating out is definitley better elsewhere in SE Asia than the PH. But like you I'm not a big diner. I have been poor and I have had a lot of money. I have dined at world class restaurants in LA and other parts of the world. But fresh I grediants are available here for cheap daily. But your not going to find world class spices or ingredients if they don't come from here. But honestly my tastes are pretty simple. Lean meat, chicken, fish, vegetables and fruit. My gf cooks more great things than I will ever grow tired of. 

Not sure you knew this but I have lived in LA the last 30 years. And yes, it's changed a lot. Mostly for the worst IMHO. Nit that it was that great to begin with. It's very transient. And very appearance and bullshit dominated. Although downtown and little Tokyo is seeing an uptick. The entire city has been taken over by paid democratic voters from third world nations. Not that they are any worse than people at the opposite end of the spectrum. That have created such a massively fake environment. Nothing about LA is real or inviting or anything you'd want to base a life on. That's just my experience.

It's gotten much more violent and much much less tolerant. I owned a Private investigation firm. That specialized in vehicular and on foot surveillance. I followed people from all walks of life all over LA and Socal. And I never felt the need to carry a weapon. But that changed about ten years ago. I came from a multi cultural family. But I look white. And alot of the LA culture has made it popular to dislike people who appear white. That may sound racist or ridiculous. But it's the truth. Every problem in society is apparently to blame on one race. Regardless of your station in life. 

Alot of people have moved away. And it's almost like that's by design by whoever is in power there. It's just a very hostile place. But you might not notice it if you've ever lived in a generally peaceful place. Life should not be that hard for anyone. And it's hard for everyone that lives there. 

The AC units you bring up are interesting. The sweet spot really living here is in homesteading. You can stay in a world class hirise condo in a high-end neighbor in a couple big cities here. For like $500 a month rent. But living out in the province in some land off grid is the value here. Power, water and sewer are spotty at best. So everyone has some sort of back up power and water. 

Setting up a $7500 solar system pays for itself in two years of power bills. A well and rainwater catchment is essential. As is a septic tank and drain field. But that's something you'd do on any homestead in the US. And makes you completely self sufficient. Except here construction materials and labor and land are dirt cheap. I can build a homestead here that's completely off grid for 50k-75k. In the US that would cost easily 300k. Would include alot more yearly expenses involving the cold and upkeep. And the design quality and overall build is much better.  

The growing season here is year round. Fresh food is widely available and very cheap. Even cheaper if you grow and raise it yourself. Violent crime is almost unheard of. It's very safe. But theft and scams exist. Like anywhere else. 

The downside is quality of goods and services. It's a very protectionist capitalist society. Meaning a few main families make sure you can only buy their goods and services. So there is way less competition. Meaning lower quality goods and services. It's why the power and water sucks. It's why all sales are final at the mall. Lol. They actually open appliances, plug them in and prove they work. As once you pay they're yours. It's ridiculous. You can buy from Amazon and they'll actually send out a driver to pick up your returns. But shipping and import duties are prohibitive. 

So you have to keep your eye in what you get here. That you couldn't have in the US. And let go of a lot of tiger stuff. Lol. Alot of letting go. Lmao! Alot if "well that's the Phillipines!". So much shit makes no sense! 

Watsons pharmacy at the mall is a prime example. It's a modern pharmacy. Maybe 1000 SQ ft. But there are like 20+ employees milling about. Seemingly doing nothing but standing there. Alot if them are considered "product demonstrators". What they are demonstrating I have no idea! Then at the back is the pharmacy counter. There is one girl that you take your prescription too. And gets your meds from the back wall when you get to the head of line. There is no dropping off your prescription to pick it up later. But anyone that just wants to buy anything. A chapstick. Has to wait it in that same line. So you might spend 25 minutes waiting in line while this one girl fills every prescription by hand. And rings up every customers purchase. Whether it's a med or not. 

Meanwhile there are 20 employees clogging every damn aisle. You can barely walk around the store. And not one of them are doing anything. While 25 people are waiting in line for a half hour to pay for anything or get a prescription filled by that one girl in the back in the cash register doing everything! It's just crazy and makes no sense. 

I kind of think it's some sort of payoff for additional companies that want part of the "mall pharmacy payoff". I don't really know. It's just completely backwards.

Or like Google. The Phillipines has the highest record for single day number of texts. More texts than the US and an additional first world country combined. Everyone has internet and a phone. But maybe 5% of businesses add a free listing to Google or Google maps! And there are a dozen businesses on every damn block. God forbid you need a mattress or a brake job or a metal pot. If you don't know where those places are good luck finding them! Lmao! 

And no business is stocked. Restaurants don't have everything in the menu. Even international chains.

They do have a PH version of Amazon. But obviously one family in the PH owns it. Cause it's like the Temu Amazon! Lol! Some things are great quality and super cheap. But most of it is questionable at best. And few choices.

So ya. Build a homestead and be a diy-er. That's the sweet spot. You'll live like a king. If you can leave your consumerist habits at home.

Quote from: airballrad on July 13, 2025, 09:26:37 PMI did not know about HWN, but I do now! Unfortunately I am in a hole for Sarnet at the moment. The Sarasota repeater is down because FDOT pulled down the tower for road construction and the Sunshine Skyway repeater got taken out by Milton. Fortunately there are a lot of other local resources for me including the Big Stick (NI4CE).

HF has been a blast; I made contacts this weekend with stations in Slovenia and Italy. This evening I found a quiet slice of the 40m band and tuned in some distant web-based SDRs and heard my voice propagating to Belgium, the UK, and Michigan. This truly is an endless hobby.

Quote from: Braums on July 07, 2025, 10:08:56 AMCongrats on the new rig.  I've really enjoyed HF.  I'm assuming you've already found the Hurricane Watch Net and Sarnet?

Boggles the average person's mind that we hams can communicate vast distances with very minimal equipment.

I remember one summer night with my old truck, sitting in a back corner of the lot at the local gas station/convenience store that overlooked the main CSX line for the East coast and waiting for a train so I could report details about it to another ham in West Virginia who was a train nerd/spotter via VHF.  While I was waiting, I fired up one of the truck's HF rigs and got into a QSO with a nice gent in Siberia.  Right about that time, the sheriff's deputies started rolling in and parking all around me on a break for coffee and to talk with their lieutenant for night orders.  I was friends with many of them and one in particular came over to say hello.  He was former NYPD and knew my brother from his days on that force.  He waited while I finished the QSO and logged it on my laptop then asked. "Who was that you were talking to?  They sounded Russian."

Completely blew his mind when I said, "Yeah, he's Russian and in Siberia."

"You can talk to a Russian guy in Siberia on a little radio like that (Icom IC-706MKIIG with an auto tuner) and a CB whip (20M ham stick but he couldn't tell one from the other) clear as a bell, and I can't reach my HQ from the other side of the county with a radio that takes up half my trunk."  He walked away slowly shaking his head while I cracked up.  I didn't have the heart to tell him the guy had been trying to work Latin America long path, overshot and got me in Virginia on a 100 watts and a ham stick.  Longest contact I've made since.

I did not know about HWN, but I do now! Unfortunately I am in a hole for Sarnet at the moment. The Sarasota repeater is down because FDOT pulled down the tower for road construction and the Sunshine Skyway repeater got taken out by Milton. Fortunately there are a lot of other local resources for me including the Big Stick (NI4CE).

HF has been a blast; I made contacts this weekend with stations in Slovenia and Italy. This evening I found a quiet slice of the 40m band and tuned in some distant web-based SDRs and heard my voice propagating to Belgium, the UK, and Michigan. This truly is an endless hobby.

Quote from: Braums on July 07, 2025, 10:08:56 AMCongrats on the new rig.  I've really enjoyed HF.  I'm assuming you've already found the Hurricane Watch Net and Sarnet?

Ordered a new control panel and relay box to control the lights on the Jeep.  The old 6-circuit setup was just too small for my needs with the new Harbor Freight lights on the nudge bar that use three circuits.  I picked up a 12-circuit wireless control box during the last of the Prime Days for 15% off and a 10% off coupon on top of that, so I saved a decent chunk of coin.  Plus, I have a friend interested in buying the old unit from me, so I'll recoup a little of that cost as well.

Thanks for that writeup.   Like I said island life will probably not happen for me, because of she who must be obeyed,  but I will definitely take a spin through.    We are not ones looking to dine out as a general rule, we are both good cooks, but like in Thailand,  the cheap high flavor fresh food for a buck is hard to pass up.
Having been to African and Asian and central American  countries as well, I am familiar with the trash issue.  It is sad. Sort of like old Detroit  or the downtown LA were my old office was by little Tokyo/skid row.

Just as an aside.  I just found 12v a/c units for trucks and rvs. for less than the cost of 110v.  solar panels and a couple large li/fe batteries = no big elec bill.
Don't know the elec prices there but some of the 3rd world elec habits I've seen are frightening.

Quote from: roadart on July 11, 2025, 07:12:23 PMYou know, that was just wrong starting out with that first picture .  What is the proximity to Pinatubo?  I also often see that the phil islands seem to be the hurricane magnet on the other side of the world.

The down for me is the SO is not an island person.  Loves the beach but,  "WE MIGHT GET STRANDED THERE"

Maybe it will be checked out on the way back this year....the pics and your posting make it look good.  And the temp and humidity are lower than Thailand even though the latitude is about par.

Pinatubo is south nearer to Manilla. And closer to the other San Fernando. One is close to Manilla. And the one I am at is further north in the coast. 

There are storms here just about everyday. As it's rainy season. But they frequently come and go within an hour or two. Brilliant lightening storms off the coast, over the ocean, at night sometimes. Truly a spectacle. Hurricanes are a concern. But not like South Central US concern with like tornados. Bohol is a central located island. It's surrounded by other islands. So I think it has more protection than others. The typical cinder block house is rated for hurricanes. Reenforced with rebar. 

The island issue and being stranded is sort of mute. If your living on an island that's where you live. It's not like you were normally travelling from your island to a mainland. The island is large and your home. It doesn't feel like your trapped or anything. And there is no mainland you need to escape too. I'm sure in a disaster supplies are limited. But most live a self sufficient life anyway. As services are regularly stopped just from the quality. But your really talking only power. If you were in city water and sewer only. Then yes. But outside of the cities your in your own well and sewer anyway. And power regularly has brown outs even in the city. So most have some form of back up power. Or in my case I will always have a solar system and Starlink. As well as a private well/rainwater collection, and private septic tank. Your kind of forced to live off grid anyway. 

The upside is the weather actually. Your not contending with so much. As you would in most of the US. Because all the protections and energy sources needed for the cold are unnecessary. Keeping the weather out is the opposite. Having a lot of ventilation - open sliding wall windows, elevated roofs, etc helps with the heat. Clothes are a minimum. Stocking up firewood for the long winter or some other energy sources is not necessary. The most energy source required is refrigeration and AC. And can be easily handled by a solar or wind generator. And of course you'd always want a fuel run generator as backup. 

The drawbacks are the protectionist economy. Retailers are family owned and protect their status by making sure everything not from them is heavily taxed. Or hard to import. You can buy alot from Amazon or AliExpress. But it has higher shipping and customs duty fees. Even main stores at the mall have no return policies. They take everything out of the box and prove that it works. As once you pay it's yours. Which yes, is ridiculous. As Amazon or Lazada (the PH version of Amazon. But it's like Temu Amazon. Some good stuff. But a lot of poor quality crap.) will send a driver out to pick up your returns. You don't even have to take it anywhere. Goods from AliExpress ( and I think Amazon are not taxed if under $200) but larger purchases you are forced to go with a local retailer. Buying a car overseas is not possible. They protect the car dealers by making the import process cost twice as much as the car. If you can even get thru the red tape. 

This isn't to say you can't find products for a good solar system, rain collection, labor and construction supplies are very cheap. Building a homestead is way cheaper and accessible here than just about anywhere else. And with the good weather the requirements are far less. Growing season is year round. And meat, fish and chicken are super cheap.

The beauty is the nature and the people. The extremely cheap economy. You can live a much better quality of life on far less here. I can not afford to even homestead in the US. I can afford a really nice homestead here. You kind of have to ignore or give up your American "the customer is always right" mentality. There is Internet everywhere. But like no one uses Google. You can't look up all the local businesses in Google. People just don't participate in it. And there is no yellow pages to my knowledge. Someone you know knows it exists or you've seen it. Or you know someone to ask. Or your gonna be looking for it for a long time. Facebook marketplace is used a lot tho. But their use of the internet is limited. Even though almost everyone has it. And the PH set the record for most text msgs sent in a day. More than the US and another major country combined. They seem to still rely on word of mouth and local knowledge. 

They do have big box hardware stores. And suppliers of just about anything. Your just not gonna go online and compare products and pricing like you would in the US. But honestly everything is so cheap. That might be why people have not adapted to that here. I really don't know.

Alot of the business practices in the third world leave you scratching your head. You can buy a Toyota Hilux here. The best truck in history. But other simple goods like any better food ingredient for anything other than local cuisine your probably not gonna find. Some of the food here is really good. Grilled chicken, fish or meat is great and very cheap. Local dishes are incredible and very cheap. But don't expect McDonald's, pizza of any kind, or a burrito to taste like anything you'd want to buy twice. At least not in the province. Maybe in Manilla or Cebu. And supply is always short. Menus never have everything available. Even at international chains.

But that's not why I live here. I live here for the homemade homestead life. Where everything in that level is cheap, fresh and easily accessible. Everytiwn has a wet market. With that morning fresh vegetables, fruit, fish, chicken, meat anything gotten locally. And it's dirt cheap. If you can cook and preserve it's the best. Or don't mind eating clean grilled fish, meat or chicken with rice and vegetables. If you can stick to that it's a cheap way to eat clean. But 80% of items sold at restaurants also come fried or with a ton of sugar. Plain coffee besides an Americano is impossible to find. As is artificial sweetener unless you buy it in a store. Coffee shops will give you a percentage of sugar as much as you want. You order no sugar, 25%, 50%, etc  But you don't get to add your own. And don't expect Splenda or equal.

So cheap eats are available. But its really best for those wanting to homestead, cook at home, etc. But you can also live in Manilla or Cebu. In a new hirise glass condo building for $500 a month. And walk up and down the block for any western chain restaurant. Or any service you could possibly need. But that's not my style. Maybe if I get old and need to live down the street from a hospital. But that's a different life. More of a digital nomad. And your not really getting a Phillipines experience. Your just getting a very cheap big city. But that has its advantages for many.

The key slice of life here for me is either the ocean or the mountains in the province. Villages and towns are very dirty and noisy. No trash pick up in a lot of places. A ton of garbage near cities in the beach and just in the street. It's a third world nation. But you get out in the country with larger tracts of land. And locals more into the nature. It's better for me.

I'd been here and to other third world nations before. You really have to experience it to see if it's right for you. Generally if your an upright person looking for US quality of goods and services it's not for you. Maybe some of that in the few big cities. But it's gonna drive you mad when no one gives a shit that your a paying customer. Lol. It's just backwards in that way. Businesses would rather take you for an extra $5 than have repeat customers. They really have a different way of doing business. It's like the business is in power. They are in the driver's seat because they have something you want. Not the other way around - like I have a business and I need you the customer.

But then again you can get your laundry done for $2! And build a house for $1000. Or a decent house for no more than 35k USD. You can have a guy build custom cabinets or custom windows for next to nothing. But you can't buy too of the line ones from a manufacturer. (I don't know that for a fact. Just a vague example.) Cement work is too nitch. Everything from outdoor cement or cement counter tops custom made that look like something out of a design magazine. 

The advantages for someone who was going to otherwise homestead in the US are vast. You can really create a luxurious tropical homestead here for way less than in the US. It wouldn't be possible for me otherwise. Or at least I'd be living in a van on a 5 acre plot in Nowhere Arizona. Eating rice and beans.

But I'm not an expert on the Philippines. These are just my observations to date.

You know, that was just wrong starting out with that first picture .   What is the proximity to Pinatubo?  I also often see that the phil islands seem to be the hurricane magnet on the other side of the world.

The down for me is the SO is not an island person.  Loves the beach but,  "WE MIGHT GET STRANDED THERE"

Maybe it will be checked out on the way back this year....the pics and your posting make it look good.  And the temp and humidity are lower than Thailand even though the latitude is about par.

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Night time on the deck.

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The deck.

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Looking into my 2 bedroom apt. $500 a month. Not in a tourist town.

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Roughly the kind of house I'd like to have built. Land house less than 50k USD. But I want to be up in the mountains like in the rear of the pic. 

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Behind my rooftop apt on the beach.

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From the rooftop deck in front of my apt. Looking down the beach.

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Looking the opposite direction.

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Looking out at the ocean from rooftop deck.

Quote from: roadart on July 11, 2025, 07:54:17 AMthanks for the bump on moving.  I have been waiting, impatiently, for  the SO to retire for several years.  We have been spending the last several Januarys in Thailand, between Bangkok and Chang Mai. We /I had mentioned about moving somewhere after she is done.

 I was impressed with the cost of living there. As an example,  A meal of street food is between 1or 2 dollars, A good size house or apt $800.  A lot of friends don't cook at home at all.  Our friend, a native, has been trying to get us to commit, but also continuously warns about the heat/humidity problem. We use zoom for chats and when it is 95 degrees and similar humidity and you watch the sweat pour off it makes me question my sanity re: the move there. And 95* isn't the highest.

I like the firearms rules in the Philippines,  I will look at the summer weather.

And thanks for pointing out possible SS problems.  I had not heard that issue. 

There are no problems with ss. I looked into it. Only certain types of disability or something are restricted. But doable even then.

The firearms rules are screwed tho. Filipinos can own guns. And there is an entire region dedicated to making firearms. Ghost guns. But pretty decent copies. Foreigners can not tho. Your wife can. So I guess if you married you could have them via her ownership. But your not traveling to a range to shoot or anything. Although I did not look into whether it's illegal to shoot your "wife's gun". My female friend who is from here. Tells me many people own guns. And few follow the legal ownership guidelines. So I think ghost guns must be pretty prevalent. But violent crime is very limited. It is incredibly safe. They don't tolerate any types of street crime. And it rarely exists. Women can walk the streets in the worst neighborhoods in the middle of the night without fear.

But as far as taking my own guns with me. Not happening.

Rents here are substantially less. I've been looking at 2 and 3 bedroom homes, new or newer for around $350. On Panglou and mainland Bohol. It's pretty crazy. I'm moving from San Fernando LA Union in a week. To Bohol. A more central island where my friend is from. It's home to one of the 7 wonders of the world. The Chocolate Hills. It's surrounded by beautiful beaches and Panglou island. And the center is farm land and mountainous jungle. 

I'm going to find a long term rental. Either on the beach or up in the mountains. There are a couple areas I want to explore for more permenant property and either house or having one built. It's homesteading basically. Solar, well/rainwater and septic tank/drain field. Or possibly wind depending on proximity to ocean wind. Growing season is year round. And cattle, pigs, goats, chickens and other animal raising is common. I'm over the chickens tho. Every damn neighborhood (not that I plan on living in a neighborhood) sounds like a chicken farm at every hour. I don't notice it anymore. But it's still annoying. 

I'll post some pics.