Relocating from Thailand to the Philippines: Expat shares their story

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Philippines and Thailand, both great places with so much to offer.  I have a house in Ban Nong Kung in Nong Khai province which although it is in another Thai ladies name is still mine because when I bought it, I put it in the name of a sister of a friend so consequently when the relationship came to an end, I retained the house.  I was out of the country at the time and after paying the usual parting gift I was then blackmailed to get my furniture and effects back as they were held for ransom.

 

Having made the payment, I have remained good friends with the ex and her family. I have made some really great friends in Thailand, both Falang and Thai.

 

I love Thailand and the Thai food, I love the provincial life, not a city dweller but I love to travel and enjoy all the sights and activities on offer at the big cities and tourist destinations.  I have travelled extensively in Thailand mostly by motorbike and by train when arriving as I usually get a visa in Penang and then train to Bangkok and after the day in Bangkok, on the sleeper about 8 PM for Nong Khai.

 

The village where I live is full of friends who welcome me and my new partner whenever we get the opportunity to come over.  We have a PCX and a CBR 500 to go riding around and visit the local spots and go into town for supermarket shopping at Big C.

We also have friends in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai and it is a beautiful ride to visit them with a stop at Loei on the way.

 

I chose not to make Thailand my forever home due to the perceived mindset that I was a walking wallet and the Buddhist attitudes that seemed out of step with my attitudes to relationships, people and how we should treat each other.

 

Thailand is a beautiful country, the food is the best in the world but I couldn’t see me living the rest of my life there.  The second biggest stumbling block for me was the Thai Immigration and the police.

 

It has got appreciably worse since I pulled the plug and decided to return to the Philippines where I had been transiting when working in China.

 

We all have different thoughts and feelings about what is good and bad in any country we have visited.

 

I felt much more comfortable in the Philippines and I have been in a relationship for eight years this year with a lady who had two children and a failed marriage when we met.

 

I had been staying in Paranaque Manila when I had stayed for a week or two while touring, as I said, I am not a big city lover and I went for a few side trips but I wanted to travel to the provinces so when I arrived back here I bought a 150cc very used Scooter . 

 

It was some time ago and things were pretty relaxed, I managed to get my Aussie licence converted to a Philippines one but I was told to come back in three months to pick up the card.  I was not used to things like that but I am now, ha ha.

 

I rode down to the port at Batangas and after satisfying a few officials that scooter was indeed mine, I boarded a RORO for the trip to Mindoro, the ferries in the Philippines are usually very good, well the larger ones anyway, some of the smaller less regulated services are a bit dodgy but can be a lot more fun.  I went on one of these and the crew carried my scooter shoulder high through chest high water to get it aboard.

 

I arrived at the port of Calipan and set out to ride to Puerto Gilera which is a dive center and tourist area.

I did a few dives and stayed at a hotel for a few days.  Quite a nice spot but one thing you will notice in the Philippines is that accommodation is expensive in relation to the facilities unlike Thailand.

 

From there I rode to the port of Roxas and again boarded a RORO, this tome bound for the Island of Panay and the Port of Caticlan, the entry to the tourist Island of Boracay which at one stage must have been the most beautiful beach on the planet.  It has been cleaned up a bit now I believe but the water was full of long strands of Algae which in the warm tropical shallow water was feeding on the nutrients flowing out with the ground water from the millions of septic tanks, yuck.

 

The place was full of insistent touts trying to sell you all sorts of rubbish or tours, everything on Boracay was expensive and crowded.

 

I stayed for a few days and decided to move on. Back to Caticlan to pick up the scooter at the expensive long term parking and rode off down the West coast of the island which was very scenic and beautiful.

 

I continued down the coast to the town of Antique and stayed the night and looked around, quite a nice little town.

Next day, I continued along the coast, riding out to the very tip of the South West coast, quite spectacular scenery and a delightful ride.  I continued that day and arrived at the port city of Iloilo.

 

I booked into a hotel for a few days and rode around quite a bit checking out the town and its surrounds.  Next, I took the RORO to the Island of Negros, arriving at the port city of Bacolod.

 

Bacolod is the principal city of the province of Negros Occidental which is where I live, quite a long way South on the coast in a delightful little fishing village which I will not name because I like it just the way it is.  Whilst Bacolod is the principal city of Negros Occidental, it is administered from Iloilo on the Island from where I had just come.  The other half of the island is the province of Negros Oriental whose principal city is Dumaguete, foreigner’s paradise.  It has long been considered a great place to retire.

Certainly there is everything that the falang would like, including good bread.  The local bread tastes like cake, so I have had to learn to bake my own sourdough bread.

 

It also is administered from the city of Cebu on the next Island of Cebu.

 

After the Geography lesson, I continued my ride down the West coast of Negros Occidental overnighting in a couple of cheaper hotels/resorts until I arrived in the City of Sipalay and checked into a very cheap hotel, called pension houses.  I was ready to travel to the Island of Siquijor to do some diving but as I had contracted a cold I decided to stay a few days and hopefully shake it off.

 

The scooter had developed a few issues so I thought I would seek out a mechanic and get it fixed.

At the mechanics shop, there were a couple of bikes in front of me so I was patiently waiting as he worked his way through them.

Just as he got started on the bike before me, two ladies turned up and despite him working on another bike, started talking to him in Illongo and I am sure they were trying to push in.  I was having none of that and as he continued chatting to them whilst working, I tried to distract them with conversation.  

 

One of them spoke quite good English but the other one could understand some but not talk very much.   I decided that as it was lunch time, I would distract them by taking them to lunch apart from the fact that I was a bit interested in the one who was doing all the talking.  Having suggested this, they took me to an excellent and not too expensive restaurant where they assisted me in ordering a delightful meal.

 

During the meal I found out they were sisters and the one who spoke good English was married to a Canadian.

 

Having finished our meal we went back to the mechanic who was unable to tell me exactly what he had done, took some money and later I discovered the fault was exactly the same, not unusual anywhere in Asia.  At this stage they asked me if I would like to come home for a home cooked meal??  Well I was certainly up for that and I subsequently was pursued until I agreed to a relationship and here I am. 

 

Why did I come and why am I still here?

 

The climate is similar to Thailand but without the blistering hot breezeless days of summer in Isaan.

 

I love the monsoon and living in a house 30 meters from the ocean on a nice sandy beach of a fishing village , the cheapest booze in Asia (I think) , so I believe I am living the life ???

 

The visa and immigration thing over here is so much nicer, as a tourist you can enter and renew your tourist visa one month first, two months next and then six monthly until three year at which time you need an exit visa and leave the Philippines but you can then return on the next flight and the clock starts again. 

 

I cant speak for others but I have found all the immigration people and processes so simple and they are polite and helpful, a great difference to Thailand with its combative system.

 

[garyk]

Nice article and spot on about Thailand.

[BritManToo]

On 6/23/2021 at 9:43 PM, Jonathan Fairfield said:

During the meal I found out they were sisters and the one who spoke good English was married to a Canadian.

............... and I subsequently was pursued until I agreed to a relationship and here I am. 

What happened to her Canadian husband?