The most annoying thing for an expat in Metro Manila

The toilets! There is no papers in malls.

Toilets are filled with water. How do I explain this - they are not deep. they are half full of water.

If you pee it all comes out.

People avoid this by standing back, this ends up as pee on the floor.

So there is no way for a male to pee without splashing everywhere. On the bowl, on the floor and on the seat.

Oh well tough shit for the next guy.

so many times I see guys take a piss or shit and they done wash their hands, its so prevalent.

Hiring a maid / yaya in manila philippines

We just tried hiring a maid  through an agency.

What a waste of money!

Firstly, they don't have an office.

secondly, if you want to interview the maid you are offered a telephonic interview.

Really? how do you interview someone who is going to live in your house over the phone? This is potentially a very risky situation.

When asked if they could send the maid to our house for an interview,  we were told it would be 1000 pesos per maid - just for interviewing! so we said okay let's try it but please bring maids who fit our criteria.

!!? They brought two maids and one was not the right age and the other did not have the skills we asked for.

They will try to shove anyone down your throat.

They will fake medical documents or just pay someone to give the candidates a good bill of health You will be well advised to get your own health check and your own police check because nothing else counts.

You then pay exorbitant fees and the maid lasts a few days.

Good luck trying to get a replacement.

Your best bet is finding someone by recommendation.

 Even then you might be disappointed by the lack of hard work.

Update : after a few word of mouths, we found someone who works very hard, but cannot talk English. We are satisfied now as she turns up on time and works hard.

Every now and again we have to set a few rules straight - but on the whole a positive experience.

I must say, please pay your maids well, often they support children and grandchildren.

Paying someone 3000 to 8000 pesos a months is pretty much slave labor.

Don't listen to all the websites were they continually harp on about 3000 peso's - that's for teen labor or family nieces who are working for family.

those amounts are also very old school. If you have the money, make them happy - pay at least 12 - 20000 peso's and make someone's life better.


 

Metro manila philippines - renting a house

My experience of renting out a house in Ayala Alabang has been a little bit disappointing. 

The house owner has done as little as he can. Everything has been done cheaply.

Even though we have a contract it does not matter as the things he agreed to do have not been done properly. 

For instance he agreed to put ceiling fans in but, he placed them next to the original light so they do not work with the light switch.

So now we have the cheapest ceiling fans in the Philippines.

The chain on the ceiling fans are too short so we can't use them as they are not attached to the light switch.

This is a typical experience in the Philippines.

One of our sinks was leaking so he phoned the worst plumber. Because he called the cheapest plumber he had to call the same plumber in three times for the same job. Be careful with what you do when renting a house- make sure you go through the whole house with a fine tooth comb because if you don't ask for it you won't get it.

Do not assume the broken toilet seat will get fixed before you move in. If it's not highlighted it will be left as is.


Moving to Australia

Metro manila - payday traffic

Wow, traffic is bad today. It looks like everyone got paid for Xmas. There is nothing causing the traffic, no rain, wind or accident. Forty minutes so far and have not left Makati City. What must this be like when it's raining? Shii. The car commute from AyalA Alabang takes 30 minutes if I leave around 7am. The return journey at 5:30am is about 50 minutes. Going later takes even longer as there is even more traffic.

I use the toll highway called the skyway which is why my commute is short. Anything else is traffic like you cannot imagine. Especially is you are from Europe.

Toll fee from Ayala alabang to makati

Is 164 pesos each way. So if you have a driver its going to be four times that per day. That's 656 pesos per day (roughly ten pounds)  so 50 per week or 200 per month.
This excludes petrol.
This is 200 pesos a day or 15 pounds a week.  So I am looking at 300 POUNDS per month
So as you can see it's costly. Of course I have not included the cost of my driver. As expats cannot really drive here.

How big is Manila (Metro Manila)

I was surprized by the size. The initial area you drive through from the airport is quite crappy. Its poor and there are beggers and the odd crazy on the road. When you get to Makati though you find that its a large city filled with skyscrapers. Its odd though as there is a lot of poverty mixed in between. So as an expat you can live from first work to first world without feeling like you are completely losing out.

thats jut Makati. There are 16 cities all very big. Most of them are not very first world although there are a lot of first world pieces in each. Its very hard to explain. Education is everywhere- lots of companies offering courses in everything.

The road systems is large but there are not enough highways by far. So everythign is congested traffic wise.

Best bet - live south - use the skyway to get to work in Makati and back. then you beat the traffice.
Anywhere elese and it welcome to gridlock!!

There are so many malls in Makati and Ayala Alabang that its better for me here thant the UK.

Internet is backward. you can get get good speeds but if you want speed OUT of the country - ie downloading from uk the you get a trickle of speed. its horrible- 2 days to download a movie....
but downloading from withint the country - whoa - full throttle.

Why do expats come to Manila

Well, in short, the money is good. There are great tax breaks - who would turn down 15% tax and the companies provide houseing allowances. This is an opporutinty for some to save.

Its also an adventure. its vibrant in Manila, there seems to be a hubbub of activity. on the whole the people are friendly.

Makati itself and some of the surrounding areas are great for shopping. The malls here are bigger and better that the malls in the UK by FAR and there are 30 - 40 of them in the area alone. Try finding more thana a few OLD malls in the UK....

There are so many retaurants and the food is cheap. So combined with good salaries and cheaper food its a paradise - almost seems like a holiday.

You have to have a driver to get around - this kind of turns into a perk right? also Housekeepers are really cheap - the average sleep in maid salary being about £180 for a month. They dont even want Sundays off? Of course you should not take advantage as essentially they will do anything for a safe comfortable place to stay.

An honest taxi driver in Manila - need repeat trips?

Hi,

I have had the good fortune of finding an excellent, honest and helpful taxi driver. I decided to help him out on here as he has given me a lot of help.

He helped me buy a car, he checked the docs, accompanied me to the notary and the bank and tested the car for me. I paid him for his time and expertize - he did not ask for it.

He helped me find a driver - who was honest and reliable. Thanks again Emelio!!

I initially needed a way to commute up and down to Makati from Ayala Alabang. He charged me 600 pesos each way. And whenever he was off, he organized a replacement for me. Never late, always friendly.

I later found out he was quite famous as he had returned 3.4 million pesos in jewelry and money some woman left in his taxi and he refused a reward. The Filipino goverment heard about this and gave him a reward. - Bought him a taxi and guranteed all education paid for his kids up to college level.

Wow what a blessing for me!!

If anyone wants his number, just drop me a comment on this blog with your email and I will send it to you. Emelio lives south of muntinlupa and has been driving taxi for something like 30 years.

If your an expat and you dont want to hire a car and cheaffeur for a month - this a cheaper option as you can just pay for the morning and evening trips.

I do not get anything for this post. Its just a thankyou to a good guy who made my incoming journey to Manila a better one.