The information here is an offshoot, part of a bigger picture of the Philippines and life in Cebu. Offering assistance and information for Filipinos (OFWs) going out the country and also Expats and holiday makers going into the Philippines. There is much information which is word of mouth which drastically paints a picture of terrorism and kidnappings, mail order brides, prostitution within the Philippines. Although they all exist the scale is a lot less than you would find in many western societies. The other flip of the coin is OFWs expecting and also expected to be earning vast quantities of money but in reality the cost of living is also much higher outside the Philippines. So we try to give the real picture. Any advice can be requested directly from myself or found on www.tropicalpenpals.com or if not ill find out for you!
Have a great day.
Matt.
Hi Matt, firstly well done on the blog. Its nice to see someone giving a fair assesment of the philippines and its people.
I came across your blog whilst trying to find out about prices of wind turbines in the Phil’s. My wife originates from a small island off Bohol called Hingotanan, about 1hour banca trip from Talibon. As you can imagine there is no power (other than generator) there at the moment and water supplies are stocks of rain water collected during the typhoon season.
I was considering trying to source either wind or solar power units for the house of the parents-in-law and was wondering if you have any info on supliers/costs etc or any more general advice.
many thanks in advance (Salamat)
Stuart
The big thing people dont realise is that the people in the Philippines are well educated and used to making do with limited resources. Truth is a very expensive turbine or solar panel can be made at home. With plans ill drop you an email Stuart tomorrow with some contacts. Aswell as Biodigesters as no doubt people on the island have livestock? This will give them gas they can use for gas lamps or cooking.
Hi Matt,
Thanks for the reply and sorry for leaving this message in what appears to be the wrong place. Hope the Dengue is doing ok… or rather you are doing ok and the dengue isnt…. Sounds quite similar to Malaria (which i have had the pleasure of several times).
Yes you are absolutely right about the ingenuity of the Filipino people. Our mine survived for the first few years by turning scrapped machines and a few spare parts into a viable operation. So i have a great respect for all of my Filipino friends here. With regards to the e-mail im afraid it appears that it didn’t get through or otherwise got lost in a wadge of spam that accumulated while my wife and i were in between the UK/ Philippines and work. If its not too much trouble would you re-send the info??? I would be much obliged to you.
As far as container living goes, i have done it for a while and they do make good accommodation, but planning a nice airy space will be essential if you don’t want the expense of an air-con. A false roof may also be a good idea to help keep the thing cool and as many containers have wooden floor boards removing these and putting in a concrete floor may help reduce the potential for termites etc… although i guess you would all ready know all this. Another good thing is that if you get two or three and are prepared to put them in a U shape and build a couple of walls/ roof you can end up with a very large communal area in the center with the containers as rooms leading off…. the possibilities can be as many as your imagination…..
Good luck and regards
Stuart
Hi stuart ill do better ill add a list of sites down the right hand side. This blog gets quite busy and would like to encourage people to do the same aswell as hopefully people give some feedback on projects theyve done and the quality of information as i want to try and get people to prove these things do work
Regarding container houses im scratching my head at the moment im looking at purchasing 6 units at the moment but ive got poor access to my lot. The following issues :-
Road is steep and its a mud track any suggestions are more than welcome!!