Where To Retire In Southeast Asia – Ebook

Want to retire in Southeast Asia but undecided on which country? Single guy (but not for long?) This ebook is for you. It talks about the visa situation, women, infrastructure, value for money, food and lifestyle in the SE Asian countries I’ve lived in so far – Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.

This 70 year old retired millionaire married Thai porn star Nong Nat

For my loyal blog readers, below is a free chapter. The rest is on Amazon. If you don’t have a Kindle there’s an Amazon app to read ebooks on PC or mobile.

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Where To Retire In Southeast Asia As A Single Guy

Chapter 3: Retiring in the Philippines

I have spent more time in the Philippines then anywhere else by a wide margin but will try and remain unbiased. Actually one of my favorite parts of living there is the easy visa and that doesn’t matter for someone that can get a retirement visa (at 35 years old or above).

That said there are still a lot of positives about the Philippines and it is quite similar to Indonesia, particularly with the girls. As an older gentleman you will have no problem getting much younger women.

Seeing older guys with younger women is extremely common. Many will gladly move in with you and share your bed in no time at all. You probably get asked to give her some money for her family from time to time but it won’t cost to much.

Filipinas are very sweet and kind girls and they really want to make their man happy. All you have to do is be nice to her and she will want to be nice to you. The hookers in the Philippines are known for giving the best ‘girl friend experience’ and of course the non hookers are even better at that.

There are so many girls on that dating sites in the Philippines (even more than in Indonesia) and a lot of them actually prefer older guys to younger ones because they feel like you are more reliable. They just want someone to take care of them and if you can do that they will take care of you as well.

Then there are the hookers and while there aren’t the great sex clubs like in Jakarta and the girly bars are overpriced there is a great freelancer scene in the Philippines. Heck many of the girls online are freelancers as well.

The lines between a hooker and a non hooker are very blurry in the Philippines. They are commonly referred to as gray area girls and they are pretty much part time pros, when the need for money comes around it suddenly becomes for sale.

Even women with nice jobs that you would never expect may one day offer it up for some money. It really is an interesting place, the people there have no shame as far as putting a hand out and asking for money and many of the girls will ‘pay you back’ in any way they can.

There are quite a few places where you could settle down in the Philippines and only you know which is best for you. First off personally I would cross Manila off your list. I don’t even like it as a younger guy, I could never imagine putting up with that crazy congested metropolis in my retirement.

Maybe you think differently, but I want a peaceful retirement and Manila is far from peaceful. Angeles City is one of the great sex tourism destinations in the world and is a far more laid back place then Manila.

It is also only 90 minutes away so you can head to Manila if you ever need, but there is a new and very nice (for SEA) hospital in Angeles. There are plenty of retired like minded guys like yourself already living in Angeles and always will be.

It is a pretty small town, at least the areas you would go, and with so many tourists there you will find a lot of western food just about all of it for $5 a meal or less. While in general I would not rate the food great in the Philippines there are some good reliable restaurants in Angeles with a lot of variety.

The cost of living there is great as you can get a centrally located apartment for under $400 a month and trikes will drive you anywhere for a dollar or two. There are many girly bars which I am not a fan of but many guys like to go there have a drink and stare at the girls.

To take a girl home it would cost maybe $60-$75 from most bars but if you live there you will build up contacts and be able to get ‘sneak outs’ which means the girl will come over before or after work without the bar knowing.

These will cost maybe $20 or less and you will have lots of numbers in your phone as time goes on. Outside of the bars there really isn’t much else to do other then roam the SM mall where there is a movie theater. But if you just want an easy and relaxing place to live with lots of available girls then Angeles fills that.

Another option would be Cebu which is the 2nd biggest city in Phils. Finding a girlfriend will be no problem here and you would want to use online dating definitely. The hooker scene isn’t as good in Cebu but you will find enough freelancers or those ‘gray area girls’ I was talking about earlier.

Davao City has even less of a freelancer scene and if you get a girlfriend there you will kind of have to lead her on into thinking you want marriage at some point before she puts out. Maybe you are looking for something serious and if so Davao would be good.

Then there are the beach towns like Bohol, Boracay, and Palawan. Going there to find girls might be a bit harder (though there are decent freelancer scenes at Bohol and Boracay) so you may want to meet a girlfriend in another city first and then move to the beach town.

They also will likely be pretty touristy and if you stay right in the touristy areas they will be overpriced. And the internet also won’t be as good in the beach towns.

Overall the main positive of retiring in the Philippines would be the people in my opinion. They are very friendly and speak the best English. Many of the girls will have no problems being with an older man and some even prefer it.

The cost of living is good as long as you don’t try to rent an apartment in the Makati area of Manila. There is generally enough western food around in any city you go to and if you don’t know where to eat you can always head to a mall and have decent options.

However there are quite a few negatives with retiring in the Philippines as well. While the people are nice and friendly they are not very reliable and when you need to get stuff done this can be a big annoyance.

Everyone is always late to everything and they call it ‘Filipino Time.’ This is kind of standard around Asia but even worse in Phils. They also have a care free attitude which is cool most of the time until something serious goes down and you can’t get the help you need.

Going to the bank or a doctor can be a maddening experience. I once had a doctor not show up to work til an hour after my appointment and then was told I would have to wait for the office staff to finish their bible study before I could see the doctor. Not joking… I walked out shaking my head.

Girls are flaky as can be so dating can be frustrating. The infrastructure isn’t great and the internet is one of the worst in SEA. The landlines can be OK but the mobile data is awful.

It is a bit grimier and dirtier then some of the other places. Nowhere in SEA is exactly a clean place but PI is probably the dirtiest, either it or Cambodia. If you are a perfectionist I don’t think you would like the Philippines, but if you can handle some imperfections you might be like me and find it the best.

I could ramble about the Philippines all day and have on my blog. I would say it is another one of the countries you definitely should see for yourself before you settle down.

If you want anything from restaurant tips to how to deal with Pinays read my blog which I update all the time. I like the Philippines a lot but realize it might not be for everyone.

If you want the latest up to date info on the Philippines retirement visa you can check out this link. They change things from time to time so definitely check before you make the move: http://www.pra.gov.ph/main/srrv_program?page=1.

At the moment you can get a retirement visa at 35 years of age with $20,000 in the bank, or $10,000 if you’re aged 50 and over. Since tourist visas are so easy in the Philippines though, many older expats simply continue to use them, rather than the retirement visa itself. Unlike Thailand you don’t run into problems living on tourist visas long term.

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There’s another 5,300 words in the full ebook! Thanks for reading.