Greetings from South East Asia!


 
Joe Colby

Joe Colby

New member
Hi Everyone!

My name is Joe Colby, and I am glad I found this place!

I retired here in the Philippines with my wife in 2023. I am a christian, father of three grown children, and a Marine Corps veteran! I most recently lived in Florida until I retired and then made the move here. I was born and raised in New England (CT & MA) and my corporate career had me live in GA, WA, CA, and FL. When I was in the service I lived in Japan for a year and fell in love with Asia, the people & culture and always knew I would be back someday.

Since my permanent move in 2023, I have been looking to get my "grilling" on here but the choice of grills here is pretty poor in quality. I had a real nice Kamado grill in the US but that was not something I could ship here…reasonably! So I ordered and shipped my Weber "Blue" Master-Touch and I finally got it so I am excited to put it to use! I'll share and contribute…and I know I will have some questions. I added a picture from our first cook here with chicken thighs, sorry for the blurry picture but you get the idea :) Glad to be here!

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Welcome Joe! I wish you happiness in your new life in the Philippines and hope you and your wife always remain safe. Happy grilling!
 
Welcome Joe 👍.
Hey what’s it like being an expat in the Philippines?
Is it like Florida weather?
Does the dollar go 4 times as far?
Healthcare ok?
Thanks.
 
AndyK said:
Welcome Joe 👍.
Hey what’s it like being an expat in the Philippines?
Is it like Florida weather?
Does the dollar go 4 times as far?
Healthcare ok?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Hi Andy!
Love being here! You are treated great here as a foreigner.
Kinda like Florida but the sun is more intense, the Philippines are on the same longitude as Costa Rica
You get way more for your money here, yes it's gone up a bit since Covid but isn't that true of everywhere.
I bought a house here that's very similar to a well built western house for $100K, where I lived in Florida (Sarasota & Naples) & California (Pacifica & Dublin) this house would easily be over $1M+. Electronics, good US quality tools, and good quality Grills are more expensive here. You can get Amazon here, just NOT next day delivery so you can get pretty much what you need, especially if you're near a bigger city.
Healthcare is more than OK, in most places. Definitely way cheaper. I would NOT come here if you have a history of major medical issues, but there are guys here who need good US style healthcare and they say they are fine. If you're near a bigger city, there a great hospitals for foreigners. Healthcare is easily 5 times cheaper than the US.
You can live here by yourself easily for $1.5 to $2K per ALL IN (rent, cellphone, internet, utilities, dining out, food, transportation). It's pretty much the same for Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and hundreds of other places here in SE Asia.

For a retiree WITH 1.5K MINIMUN every month, that quality of retirement is fantastic.
 
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