Initially, when I got here to Makati I was told I need driver. And its true - expats need one. Especially if you have a family and need everyone to get around.
Sending ones young children on Jeepneys is just not going to work.
Well I started looking for what I should pay a driver in Metro Manila when I got here on all the online forums and by asking around.
All the online forums are misleading and the information is very old. The prices are out due to inflation and some very bad misuse of desparate people.
Most forums were saying that you can get a driver for 7000 php - This is just not realistic - especially if its a sleep out or if the guy is married and has kids. Its to little on many levels - dont expect hiim to value the job, behave well or be loyal/honest to you.
Some local people pay that type of little money, but then their driver is a cousin or someone from the sticks who has no education and is happy to be on that. What you must realize is that that type of driver will be very young and immature and not what you want driving your loved ones around.
Who knows how he will drive when you are not in the car!!
After being misled by the old online information I adjusted to a better higher pay grade. I still feel guilty about it anyway.
I pay my driver 15000 php per month plus 2000k for food money.
This is to cover getting me to work Monday to Fridays and also the time in between and getting me home. So coding day he is there 6am and other days it varies according to my schedule.
If I dont need him I tell him to stay home - just to give him "some" benifit. Its not kind to just have someone sitting around all day.
I know that some people pay for a pool cleaner and a gardener. So if you want you can get your driver to do all three, but you should pay him that money saved!
He will also have a lot of free time, so its good to talk up front that he is not just a driver but expected to run errands, get stuff delivered, get appliances fixed. If he is good he can act as you butler and assistant. I bonus him on this if he has saved me time and money.
His hours are from morning to about 7pm.
After 7pm I pay him 100php per hour (the deal is 60php, but I discretionary moved it to 100 without telling him he just gets more)
If its weekends or after hours, and we go away I let him buy food out the kitty money and pay about 1000 per day (it’s neg) – cant pay him on a 24 hour basis.
If its a couple of days I make him an offer wrt cash for it and let him decide.
Luckily my driver s super honest.
I provide accommodation costs obv if we go away with him etc. He is normally happy to get out and see Luzon etc and make some extra weekend cash.
He also sleeps out as he has a small house about 30 minutes south of me. We like out privacy.
Sometimes he sleeps over if its late – (we have a small drivers room which he has kitted out)
Anyway good luck with your driver hunt and remember to pay them a living wage!
note: I really feel that we should be trying to bring wages in line with decent standards. What's a few extra thousand pesos? A family meal, three big trips to starbucks?
Thursday, October 16, 2014
Saturday, September 13, 2014
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
Exporting a pet out of the Philippinnes
If you need to export a dog or cat to south Africa - you will need to send blood cooled to South Africa for tests 30 days before export - google the sa side - you can phone them theya re helpful
Australia wont take pets from the Philippines. You have to ship them to another country for six months and then export them to Australia from there. Make sure that country is on the Australian acceptable countries.
1) you need a import permit from the country on the other side
2) you need a export permit from the gov dept here in Philippines
Its hard to find a pet exporters in Manila online
using google turned up no good results.
do a search here
http://www.ipata.org/for-pet-owners/find-a-pet-shipper/
Go to the airlines themselves/.
Australia wont take pets from the Philippines. You have to ship them to another country for six months and then export them to Australia from there. Make sure that country is on the Australian acceptable countries.
1) you need a import permit from the country on the other side
2) you need a export permit from the gov dept here in Philippines
Its hard to find a pet exporters in Manila online
using google turned up no good results.
do a search here
http://www.ipata.org/for-pet-owners/find-a-pet-shipper/
Go to the airlines themselves/.
Monday, September 8, 2014
Immigrating to Sydney: Why do immigrants leave Australia?
Awesome reading about why immigrants who move to Australia become disillusioned and leave Australia, some within six months.
eye opening stuff
Immigrating to Sydney: Why do immigrants leave Australia?:
Hi, I thought I'd take a look at why people leave Sydney, Australia to go back home, be that to the UK, South Africa or anywhere....
eye opening stuff
Immigrating to Sydney: Why do immigrants leave Australia?:
Hi, I thought I'd take a look at why people leave Sydney, Australia to go back home, be that to the UK, South Africa or anywhere....
Thursday, September 4, 2014
Immigrating to Sydney: Is Australia safe
Immigrating to Sydney: Is Australia safe: Is it safe in Australia? This is a really loaded question! It depends on who you ask? Everyone has a different view point. It depends o...
live work immigrate study Australia forum
How I got my visa, Life, Lumps and spirit, Hate your new country? Your not alone! A good Furniture Rental company in Sydney,Why do immigrants leave Australia?, Sydney - Scotland island - hidden gem, Malls in Sydney, Living in St Ives, Arriving in Sydney, Driving through Sydney - first day, How expensive is Sydney
live work immigrate study Australia forum
How I got my visa, Life, Lumps and spirit, Hate your new country? Your not alone! A good Furniture Rental company in Sydney,Why do immigrants leave Australia?, Sydney - Scotland island - hidden gem, Malls in Sydney, Living in St Ives, Arriving in Sydney, Driving through Sydney - first day, How expensive is Sydney
Monday, September 1, 2014
Car bomb found at Philippines' main airport: authorities
Car bomb found at Philippines' main airport: authorities
Go to your forum here How I got my visa, Life, Lumps and spirit, Hate your new country? Your not alone! A good Furniture Rental company in Sydney,Why do immigrants leave Australia?, Sydney - Scotland island - hidden gem, Malls in Sydney, Living in St Ives, Arriving in Sydney, Driving through Sydney - first day, How expensive is Sydney
Go to your forum here How I got my visa, Life, Lumps and spirit, Hate your new country? Your not alone! A good Furniture Rental company in Sydney,Why do immigrants leave Australia?, Sydney - Scotland island - hidden gem, Malls in Sydney, Living in St Ives, Arriving in Sydney, Driving through Sydney - first day, How expensive is Sydney
Sunday, July 27, 2014
Living in the Philippines - a summary of typical servicing attitude from mysky cable.
Well, after the typhoon all our Internet wiring was down. Trees had fallen over onto the lines.
I telephoned sky cable and they came out to replace the wires.
They replaced the wires but, they did not bother to fasten or tighten the wires. they did do is to leave the wires hanging across the road. The bottom most parts of the cable were hanging about 1.5 m meters from the road.
So not only was this a danger to the traffic, it was just a matter of time for a vehicle to break the line.
You should have removed the old wiring
You should have removed the old wiring from the previous time
When you put up the new wiring, you should have fastened it tightly to make sure that it stayed at a good height above the road.
I cannot see how the Philippines can be taken seriously internationally if this third world type of service is carried out to customers.
I telephoned sky cable and they came out to replace the wires.
They replaced the wires but, they did not bother to fasten or tighten the wires. they did do is to leave the wires hanging across the road. The bottom most parts of the cable were hanging about 1.5 m meters from the road.
So not only was this a danger to the traffic, it was just a matter of time for a vehicle to break the line.
Thank you so much sky cable for fixing my service in such a terrible terrible manner.
You should have removed the old wiring
You should have removed the old wiring from the previous time
When you put up the new wiring, you should have fastened it tightly to make sure that it stayed at a good height above the road.
I cannot see how the Philippines can be taken seriously internationally if this third world type of service is carried out to customers.
Saturday, July 12, 2014
Philippines - Muntinlupa - Sky(mysky) on 24 mg now shapes and restricts the broadband speed
Well. I thought I would do a little update.
After fighting with Sky broadband for four months over their terrible broken broadband in Muntinlupa, I have finally got a service that does not disconnect 30 times a day! So I was happy. Or at least I thought I was.
I decided to download a large 1.6 file via torrents last night and - you guessed it -
they are shaping the download speed to between 0 to 20 kb/s!
Downloading a 1.4gb movie now takes a week!
Effectively I can no longer download files.
Sky, have you stopped torrents?
Do you really have the bandwidth?
This is the year 2014 - your internet service should be world class as is HK, why not make an effort and get it working. No wonder PLDT still have the market share....!
Thanks Sky broadband, you are broken yet again!
Your service advertises non restricted download usage - yet another deceitful advertisement.
After fighting with Sky broadband for four months over their terrible broken broadband in Muntinlupa, I have finally got a service that does not disconnect 30 times a day! So I was happy. Or at least I thought I was.
I decided to download a large 1.6 file via torrents last night and - you guessed it -
they are shaping the download speed to between 0 to 20 kb/s!
Downloading a 1.4gb movie now takes a week!
Effectively I can no longer download files.
Sky, have you stopped torrents?
Do you really have the bandwidth?
This is the year 2014 - your internet service should be world class as is HK, why not make an effort and get it working. No wonder PLDT still have the market share....!
Thanks Sky broadband, you are broken yet again!
Your service advertises non restricted download usage - yet another deceitful advertisement.
Monday, May 26, 2014
Philippines , Muntinlupa my SKY broadband - review
Well after another night of disconnecting internet I phoned sky again,
after explaining the situation yet again for 5 minutes he asks me helpfully (not)
"so are you having internet problems"
"are you in front of your modem sir"
gaaaaaahhahahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
click
do they even listen ? NO
I don't think Sky have technicians in the call centre. They just follow a standard procedure, no empowerment, no ownerships
Do they even have internet at home themselves?
I guess not.....
after explaining the situation yet again for 5 minutes he asks me helpfully (not)
"so are you having internet problems"
"are you in front of your modem sir"
gaaaaaahhahahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
click
do they even listen ? NO
I don't think Sky have technicians in the call centre. They just follow a standard procedure, no empowerment, no ownerships
Do they even have internet at home themselves?
I guess not.....
Friday, May 23, 2014
What is the traffic like in the philippines
There is only one highway in the whole of the Philippines.
the rest are roads where your top speed will be 60 or less. If you use your mobile phone gps it wil tell you it takes 2 hours to 200 km. In reality it will take 4 hours.
traveling 279 km the other day from 100 islands to manila to 5 hours - and that was a Sunday!
Many times I have travelled to the beach and the roads are missing pieces - ie it becomes dirt road randomly.
From Batangas going east the coast is about 40km of dirt road.
the nearest swimmable beaches from manila is about 200km.
Buses will cut you off all the time. You must just give way.
Getting a drivers license is laughable. No one gets any form of training. Some people send their maids or teen kids to get a drivers license.
The perfect analogy is to imagine how people walk in a busy town centre - all over the place.
now give them all licenses cars and let them loose. They drive like they walk. not many accidents, but everything is slow and chaotic.
Expats get a driver and tinted windows - its sager - know one knows there is an expat in the car.
I have seen roads cover in floods when it rains.
Once I came back from a coastal drive and there were power lines lying across the road. Nothing to do but drive them over. one of the poles had fallen over.
If you drive to the beaches - circa 2 hours - there will be no garages within 50km, no pharmacies - no shops as westerners know it.
all two lane roads are three or four lanes. any commute two and from work is one to two hours.
There are some nice beaches south east of Manila but its a long trek every weekend and the way is very rural and each town is filled with people and traffic.
the rest are roads where your top speed will be 60 or less. If you use your mobile phone gps it wil tell you it takes 2 hours to 200 km. In reality it will take 4 hours.
traveling 279 km the other day from 100 islands to manila to 5 hours - and that was a Sunday!
Many times I have travelled to the beach and the roads are missing pieces - ie it becomes dirt road randomly.
From Batangas going east the coast is about 40km of dirt road.
the nearest swimmable beaches from manila is about 200km.
Buses will cut you off all the time. You must just give way.
Getting a drivers license is laughable. No one gets any form of training. Some people send their maids or teen kids to get a drivers license.
The perfect analogy is to imagine how people walk in a busy town centre - all over the place.
now give them all licenses cars and let them loose. They drive like they walk. not many accidents, but everything is slow and chaotic.
Expats get a driver and tinted windows - its sager - know one knows there is an expat in the car.
I have seen roads cover in floods when it rains.
Once I came back from a coastal drive and there were power lines lying across the road. Nothing to do but drive them over. one of the poles had fallen over.
If you drive to the beaches - circa 2 hours - there will be no garages within 50km, no pharmacies - no shops as westerners know it.
all two lane roads are three or four lanes. any commute two and from work is one to two hours.
There are some nice beaches south east of Manila but its a long trek every weekend and the way is very rural and each town is filled with people and traffic.
Philipinnes - Why serious online internet gamers should not use SKY internet - cable broadband
My internet service from sky philipinnes keeps disconnecting.
Any instance, dungeon, match, scrim you play in wow, dota, starcraft, counterstrike and any other will not work as you will keep being disconnected.
You cannot use Skype- it keeps disconnecting
Dear Philippines SKY - my review of your cable internet broadband is that it sucks.
I want my money back!
Any instance, dungeon, match, scrim you play in wow, dota, starcraft, counterstrike and any other will not work as you will keep being disconnected.
You cannot use Skype- it keeps disconnecting
Dear Philippines SKY - my review of your cable internet broadband is that it sucks.
I want my money back!
Why you should NOT sign up for Philippines MySky internet cable broadband
Update - after months I have found many other users who are having disconnecting problems with their sky cable service.
One guy has bought the 50mb solution and has the same modem, - disconnects all day.
and they cannot fix it
Guess what SKY - business people and serious internet users cannot use your service!!
One guy has bought the 50mb solution and has the same modem, - disconnects all day.
and they cannot fix it
Guess what SKY - business people and serious internet users cannot use your service!!
Sky broadband Manila - Metro Manila - Review - as at May 23 2014
I am so disappointed with Sky broadband. I cannot believe the ineptitude and absolute lack of training and expertize.
I have had the 12mb and 16mb the 24mb version and it does not work.
For the last four months my broadband has disconnected about 30 times a day.
They have come out about 20 times. given me some VIP guy that supposed to manage my case, but all he does id follow a ticketing system on his computer.
I have looked up the cisco router model and it seems to be a 3 year old model that at the time in 2011 was giving ISP's in America a terrible time.
Why Sky Cable Broadband are you providing three year old technology - are you broke? How are you going to attract high end customers by taking shortcuts.
We have tried replacing all the cables, the power, the mode has been replaced THREE times, the same service guys get sent out over and over again - sheepishly.
We have sent in screenshots of the disconnections, the tech guys have sat t my computer and seen the disconnects and after FOUR months they cannot fix it.
they keep telling me its fixed and please monitor. Looks the call center just follow a standard set of questions.
DO not use mysky cable broadband for your internet connection. They are using outdated technology and are not able to fix the problem.
Instead of slowly breaking it down and managing the problem, they just raise job order after job order. The cable contractors are smiling as they just keep being sent out to do the same thing over and over again.
Talk about the worst service ever.
I have had the 12mb and 16mb the 24mb version and it does not work.
For the last four months my broadband has disconnected about 30 times a day.
They have come out about 20 times. given me some VIP guy that supposed to manage my case, but all he does id follow a ticketing system on his computer.
I have looked up the cisco router model and it seems to be a 3 year old model that at the time in 2011 was giving ISP's in America a terrible time.
Why Sky Cable Broadband are you providing three year old technology - are you broke? How are you going to attract high end customers by taking shortcuts.
We have tried replacing all the cables, the power, the mode has been replaced THREE times, the same service guys get sent out over and over again - sheepishly.
We have sent in screenshots of the disconnections, the tech guys have sat t my computer and seen the disconnects and after FOUR months they cannot fix it.
they keep telling me its fixed and please monitor. Looks the call center just follow a standard set of questions.
DO not use mysky cable broadband for your internet connection. They are using outdated technology and are not able to fix the problem.
Instead of slowly breaking it down and managing the problem, they just raise job order after job order. The cable contractors are smiling as they just keep being sent out to do the same thing over and over again.
Talk about the worst service ever.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)