Part 3
Part 1
Part 2
Weather
The weather here, one of the reasons I moved here, is better than in NY. It's hot here and sometimes it gets quite humid but I usually stay in my airconditioned room or ride in an airconditioned taxi or spend time in an airconditioned mall, so it's usually not a problem. I'd much rather have hot weather than cold weather.
I remember some days it was so cold, I would waste an hour getting out of my warm bed and into the shower. It was so brutal having to walk to the bathroom, wait for the water to heat up, and dry myself off in the bitter cold. I'm so glad that I don't have to do that anymore.
Trade-offs
There's a lot of stuff wrong here. The poverty sucks, the education system sucks, the government sucks, the traffic sucks, etc. But what many people don't realize is the sad reality that some of these problems are allowing them (myself included) to live in luxury.
I'll try to elaborate on this in the future as it's pretty complicated, but I'll just say now that I'm okay with the trade-off: I don't mind tolerating a few inconveniences to continue living comfortably here. Some people can't tolerate the problems and they leave.
With that said, I should say Manila is not for everyone.
Poker Skills are Useful
I think living here requires certain personality traits: anyone thinking about living here should be patient, resourceful, motivated, and have good reads. Basically have all the traits of a good poker player.
Personally I've needed:
-patience with people and for when things take a while to get done.
-resourcefulness to find stuff I need (condo to rent, great food, girls, etc.)
-motivation to get things done here, and a LOT of motivation to meet girls.
-good reads to figure out who's trying to take advantage of you (for foreigners, this is probably the most important trait to have).
Luckily I played a decent amount of live poker before starting to travel, and after spending enough time with people trying to take my money, it wasn't too hard adjusting to life here.
$1500
For those of you curious about expenses: up until last month, I was spending about $1500 a month not including travel.
The breakdown:
$650 Rent
$400 Food & stuff for my apartment
$100 Utilities
$80 Internet and cable TV
$20 Phone load
$50 Gym membership
$40 Taxis
$50 Visa extensions, on average
$50 Massages
$100 On girls and going out
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$1540 total
About the same every month, more or less. As I mentioned before, I live a very comfortable life.
I know many retired expats live here quite well on a $1000 pension. In the States that would be peanuts but here they have cheap food, booze, cigarettes, massages, and can have a new girlfriend every week. For some that is paradise.
I think theoretically speaking I could live on $200-250 per month if necessary. I might try it some day just to challenge myself.
Retiring in the Philippines
As I mentioned in a previous post, I've traveled all around Asia looking for the best place to live. Well, since I can't find a better place than Manila I'll probably retire here, hopefully 2-3 years from now.
People ask me, "wouldn't you get bored?" Like I said in Part 1, there's a lot to do in Manila, a lot of skills I want to acquire (freediving, Muay Thai, BJJ, boxing, golf, tennis) and a lot of skills I want to improve (swimming, scuba diving, fitness in general). Between those and going on trips, seeing new places, and meeting new people, I don't think I would get bored.