Your 20 grand will be gone in no time at all once you get hooked up with those swarming women you talk about. They love shoes.
Many thanks!
A smaller start might be to go to the gym and get a personal trainer.
At least until your $20,000 is gone.
I would try somewhere closer. Possibly Carribean, Puerto Rico or Belize. I would do lots of research on lifestyle conditions, politics and any anti-American attitudes you may have to put up with. Learning the language would be a big plus wherever you go. Start learning it beforehand to give you a jump. Make sure you have an internet connection.
Don't know if they still have a stronghold, but Islamists had a big presence in the Phillipines a few years ago. Maybe you should ask the Burnhams. (I think that was the name of the missionary family who were held for months, and the husband finally killed brutally.)
Be careful of the Abu whatever. Islamic terrorists who kidnapped and beheaded a man from California.
And killed the husband of Gracie Martin, I think that is her name...
you have freepmail
They say that the USA is the BEST country to live in for a good reason.
Answer these and I will put you in contact (by email) with a couple of Americans who each have 3-7 years living in the Philippines.
The Phillipines, although the people are friendly, and for the most part Christian, and speak some English, is a dirt poor country. The food is good; they eat lots of rice,pork and fish. Dont expect US levels of customer service, prices, movies, music, radio or TV. Peso say so, (bribes) for most part, are what you need to get any paperwork done. If you act like you have money, you will be a target for fraud, pickpocketing, kidnapping and any number of scams, including transvestites wanting to get married.
Mindanao is off-limits due to Islamokazi's.
You say you wish to have a beach house; consider the flooding, tsunamis, typoons and make sure you pick the side of an island that is on the lee side away from where storms hit.
Luzon and some of the other islands have pine forests in the mountains, that's where I would stay.
There are lots of retired and US GI's that can live on their retirement there, as well as Aussie retirees.
The Islands are mostly rural or urban areas, with little of what we in the states would call suburbs.
For businesses - bars, tourist traps, cyber cafe's, Sari-Sari stores (mom+pop corner stores) are the easiest ways to start a business there. An export company would be the best moneymaker long term, there are lots of locally manufactured and crafted products.
If you like dairy products = milk, cheese, butter, ice cream - they are available but expensive; most of the poor do not have refrigeration.
The beer/soda is pretty good, it all comes from one company, and is inexpensive
Appliances are expensive there, as well as electronics and computers and telecom services.
AC Power is bad, with lots of brownouts.
Clothing is cheaper here in the dollar stores.
If you hook up/get married you will be expected to help out with the family, and Phillipinos are like hillbillies with a flat family tree, large families and relatives worldwide.
The banks are not as stable as here in the US; but they pay a much higher rate of interest on savings.
Have been married for 12 Years to a girl I met in the Phillipines while stationed there in the USAF. I got a fiance visa and brought her here to get married. She goes home when there is enough extra cash to send her back - every couple of years.
The Phillipines is like anywhere else, there are good and bad folks as well.
I would not trade the experience for anything.
My advice would be to take some time off and find an area you would like to stay before you go permanently. Then come back and ship your personal effects by "Balikbayan" Boxes - $100-200 for a cubic meter of goods by boat. The shipment by boat takes about 2-3 months.
Bring good rain gear.
If you want to do it, do it. Free life altering advice from strangers is worth just what you paid for it, NADA, NIEN, ZIP.
Your 20 grand will be gone in no time at all once you get hooked up with those swarming women you talk about. They love shoes.
You're not thinking clearly...
It's super cheap, too, and you can certainly do the beach house thing.
Why? Has a blindness epidemic overcome the Phillipines?
If one of the locals offers you something to eat called "balut," run as fast and as far as possible.
Interesting Concept, but, (isn't there always a but?) the guys I know who have married Philipinas the most sucessful brought her back here. This is one of the reasons they are interested in Americans. Everyone wants to come to the land of the big PX, and can you blame them because here is where it's have wound at.Some that tried to take advantage of the low COL have wound up supporting half the Phillipines, some one mentioned the LARGE families. I have lived in several countries, Germany, Venezuela and Saudi Arabia but never in the Phillipines. Every where I have been Americans are tolerated for the dollars they bring and 20K wont draw many flies. Best wishes on whatever you decide to do.
barbra ann
Reading your replies in this thread, it sounds like you've given this a lot of though and have already made the choice to jump into the deep end. Your idea sounds exciting and worth looking into even more if you are serious. If I were in your shoes, I'd first spend a few weeks in the Phillipines or whatever destination you are seeking prior to committing to a move. Good luck and have fun!
I love the people dearly.
Haven't been there. Knew many in Taipei.
As I understand it--and I have an ambassador friend there now--there's tons of corruption and other inequities in the society that's very hard to overcome.
Tons of poverty. Most of the wealth is held in a few extended families as I understand it.
And, . . . with tinfoil hat on--there's the likelihood at some point of some pretty devastating quakes.
Then there's the likelihood of China taking it over once the next great war starts.
Other than all that--I'd think it should be a great place to do what you want for a year or so. You might also consider Thailand--which I dearly love.
But the Christianity in the Philippines might be more supportive of what you are about in some sense. Hard to say.
Personally, IF God is saying go and do something, I'd go and do it. If He's not--this next 1-6 months may be a very hazardous time to make it through. I think we all need to be wherever God calls us to be.