Robbie in and around Tacloban

INTRODUCTION Yes I live in Tacloban and as mentioned in a previous blog I travelled to Manila to apply for my daughters Canadian Citizenship recently.. We decided lets also make it a bit of a getaway holiday as well. I would also like to supply a bit of additional information on what we experienced on our stay in Global City. Getting a Taxi at Terminal 3 arrivals Manila I have travelled to Manila many times and foreigners are a target for taxi drivers. Yes taxi drivers have to make a living but in addition they need to promote the country. When you come out of terminal 3 you will see many people trying to get you to take their taxi. When you come out look to right and you see two large taxi stands. The first one is a set price taxi fee that is advertised on a board. I use this service all the time when getting to my destination. It is better especially if there is traffic to get a set price During this trip I was walking to the fixed price taxi stand when I was appro

Introduction It is a personal choice for a foreigner to live in the Philippines or take your wife back to your home country. If you have child or children and decide to remain in the Philippines there is a gift you can give your child. The citizenship of your country. It does not sound like much but think about it. When they finish school and college or university they have an option. Your child may decide to stay in the Philippines or travel to their country of citizenship to work and start a new life. As it stands now Filipinos can work as OFWs but from what I have seen there are limits and the majority seem to go to the Middle East and other parts of Asia. I have only spoken to a few OFW and the salary they receive is not as high as they would receive in other Western Countries. In my case a bit of a mix up I was born in Canada. My father was Canadian and my mother Australian. Many years ago they decided to migrate to Australia and I finished high school, obtained a

Background I built a house in this barangay in the Dulag Area 4 years ago. A family were living on the land next store which was potentially up for sale. So the family were there and not too sure of their future. After typhoon Yolanda they received a grant for simple housing and my wife and I decided it would be ok for them to build this house at the back of our land. This family has five children now. The father works for Poppa on the rice land helping with planting, harvest and crop maintenance. So all works out quite well. So I have seen the children grow up in this 4 year period. The eldest son is Yan Yan a 12 year old boy. He offers to help around the house and go to the sari sari store if we need anything. So a good help. He as most children likes TV and when it is ok no problem with him watching TV. Yan Yan has never been to a shopping Mall at 12 Years of age Talking to my wife one evening it was mentioned Yan Yan had only been to Tacloban City and never been

UPDATE - FOREIGNER IN THE PHILIPPINES – CREATING A FUTURE FOR WIFE AND DAUGHTER We have started to develop the approximate 2 hectares of land I purchased for my wife and young daughter. The land was cleared by hand and ploughed twice. There is a guy in this village who contracts out ploughing at 500 peso/hour. So we have planted 1500 plants of string beans. As the plants start to grow they need stakes and need to be tied up. This is manual labor where bamboo is cut and stakes implanted. The rest of the vegetable land has another green vegetable planted Okra and some pumpkin. There is also approximately 4000 square meters planted with rice. 1200 STRING BEAN PLANTS IN SOME PUMKIN- GROWING QUICK Foreigner flying blind I am not sure what profit we will make from this venture as it is all a learning curve. Allot depends on the weather and as it is known we are in a typhoon area although the season is not quite here yet. When the crop is ready to harvest then I

EDUCATION IS SO IMPORTANT IN THE PHILIPPINES Parents in the Philippines try so hard to give their children the best education they can. There is one thing in the Philippines, the parents will try so hard to give their children a better life through education. In this Dulag Barangay (village) I see the children go to school every day. The children are well dressed and clean. Even being poor they go to tremendous lengths to do the best they can for their children. It is very expiring Before marriage it was always agreed with my wife I would give opportunity to her family the best I can and within my means. Some disappointment from a foreign spouse My wife has 3 brothers. One is a truck driver in Manila and happy doing that work. The second brother wanted to be a policeman but could not pass the entrance exam. We then paid for a security guard course and he is now also working in Manila. The youngest brother wanted to study welding and fabrication but dropped out in his thi

BONIFACIO GLOBAL CITY MANILA PHILIPPINES Bonifacio Global City is one of nicest areas to stay and visit in the Manila area. There is great shopping restaurants and other attractions. This is where you will find Philippine people living from the middle class to the rich. The area is very safe from personal experience. I speak to many foreigners, some living in the Philippines and others visiting as tourists. Many have never heard of this city which surprises me! You may here other names like BGC or the Fort. The area, years ago was part of the main Philippine Army Base Accommodation There are a number of hotels within BGC. I have only ever stayed at the  SEDA HOTEL which is very good with great service. Another option is to rent a condominium if you plan to stay in the area for a number of days. Another alternative is to stay just out of Global City. I needed to stay in the area for a month with my family so we rented a 2 bedroom condominium at Cypress Towers,