Any comments, opinions or positions I express are mine and reflect my preferences, tastes, attitude, moral standards, etc.
I am a Canadian senior citizen who decided to come to the Philippines, more specifically to Angeles City, Pampanga in January 2007.
After a 30 year marriage that ended up in a costly divorce (1/2 of my 28 year government pension) I gave up on my well paying computer job at 59. Sound familiar?
I soon realized that living on a meager pension was next to impossible in Canada unless I stayed in a cheap dingy room, used my legs or a bicycle for transportation (really not a bad healthy idea), shared a washroom with other guys in my situation, bought clothes at Salvation Army and drank cheap alcohol. Oh ya let's not forget I have a vice, smoking cigarettes. That expense alone at almost $10.00 a pack in Canada would have me going bankrupt in no time. Ya ya ya I know smoking is bad for me but I have been smoking since the age of 16 when it was cool to do so. Today smoking is anti social but thank God it is common here in the Philippines. In the last 10 years I have had three heart attacks where smoking was a factor but I'm hard headed and have not quit yet, we all die some day, it is part of living after all and I enjoy it!
Before retiring and starting a new life as a man with limited financial resources I spent a lot of time searching the Internet for topics like cheapest places on earth to live. My research produced the following results in no specific order. I only mention those places that interested me most. There are many other countries in South America, Caribbeans, etc. but my choices were Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and the Philippines. Since the Dominican Republic was closest to Canada I spent my holidays there the last 3 years that I worked. I met many expatriates while visiting who educated me on living in the Dominican. I certainly liked the women there, the beaches and the Dominican atmosphere in general. Countries where poverty reigns warrant that you have eyes in the back of your head and know the local scams and criminal activity, but like any other country in the world if you remain vigilant you have a better chance to avoid problems. There are areas in Canada that you would not want to find yourself in at 3AM!
The Dominican as a place to live was very tempting. However I found that many expats I spoke to had a hell of a lot more cash than I did, were driving expensive SUVs and living in extraordinary mansions or at least very decent homes. I also discovered that finding an apartment with full time electricity was extremely difficult unless you are ready to pay premium rental costs equal or superior to Canadian rents in some cases. Nope this place was not for me, it is close to Canada, that was a great advantage for health reasons and to be closer to my three adult children but I felt that my limited resources would not be sufficient to live a "normal" life here. I have to say that I met expats in Dominican who survive with less cash than I receive. They live on farms or in cockroach infested shacks, use outside toilette, eat rice and beans everyday but I must admit some of them are very happy with their life and surroundings. However I could not picture myself without certain basic necessities and some luxuries even little ones.
By November 2006, just before retiring my priority was to find a cheap place to live other than the Dominican. At that time having been divorced for many years I also had an urge to party and fulfill fantasies that I had carried within me for many years. When I started looking at all the information about Angeles City, Philippines I could hardly believe all the articles and internet sites dealing with Angeles City nightlife and the potential excitement of being in a place like that. Not that I am a big party goer but I wanted to experience the Philippines as a potential place to stay so what the hell I had some extra money from retiring and decided let's go.
Now I was really excited, my first time overseas and I was heading towards the other end of the world. I was fortunate because two friends who had heard me talking about the Philippines decided they would also travel with me for a vacation in Angeles City.
From Canada it is an extremely long flight if you book the cheapest flights. I was going Ottawa to Detroit to Saint Paul then crossing Canada via the north to Japan. There are smoother more expensive flights. To make things worsts we had to stay overnight in St.Paul due to aircraft problems delaying us by almost 24 hours.
When we finally arrived in Manila we faced a problem. The driver that was supposed to meet us from our hotel in Angeles was no where to be found. Borrowing a cell phone from a nice gentleman we managed to reach the driver. He told us that we were 24 hours late and that he had been there the night before to pick us up. Strange we had contacted the hotel from St.Paul and informed them of our delay. Oh well time to go to the taxi stand and negotiate. At 2am we are on our way to Angeles. We arrived at the hotel just past 330am. Left our bags in the room and out we went exploring Fields. Many bars were closed but several were opened. The bars, the girls, it was party time for a full month. None of us could believe all the excitement in Angeles even after reading all about it on the Internet, it all sounded too good to be true but it's mostly all true.
After their vacation my friends returned to Canada and I decided that Angeles City was going to be my new home. I had many things to get used to here but I was willing to adapt because I could afford to live reasonably well with my limited pension. Almost 4 years have gone by and I'm still here. I have a common law wife now and we love each other deeply, live in a secure decent apartment and I am happy to be here. Coming here was probably the best decision in my life. Of course it's not always paradise but I enjoy the Philippines and most of all I can still have the little luxuries that I needed.
and that's it!
