newlifeinphilippines wrote:sea_dragon wrote:At this rate this whole forum should be called 'Happier in the Philippines' rather than 'Happier Abroad'.
Like who? Winston, me, and a mess of others have left. Mr. S can't wait to get out, Falcon is now in Indonesia, Kboy is in Korea, a few others are in Thailand or china. Ghost tried it there but left after a 3 week attempt. Pete and outwest and publicduende are all in america right now in some capacity. The only one i see happier in phil is Will N Dowd who is a monger who is starting to tire of the scene after a few months and Marcosveitala who is only 20 years old and only been there for 2 months and probably will pack his bags and go back to europe once he realizes living in poverty as a white man aint fun. The only one I can think of who may fit in this category in the long term right now is Rock . Thats it LOL
You make an interesting point. I seem to voluntarily end up living in cities many westerners find hard to endure - Taipei and Makati. It would be more interesting if some fellow HAs stayed here too. Mr. S lives way out in a more suburban area which can be 2-3 hours from the center areas of Metro Manila on any day but Sunday. And he's bogged down with work and family responsibilities.
Oh, and you forgot to mention Taco and Starchild by the way, they both abandoned ship as well.
I think many Filipinos are a delight. And my taste in women is the antithesis of what most western guys seem to go for - educated, tall, curvy, and fair vs. simple, short, skinny and native. I'm talking right now to a highly educated Filipina who's 5'9", mixed with both white and Chinese blood, speaks fluent Korean and excellent English and Spanish, and from a very well-off family owning a chain of medical supply stores. She's very talented, pretty, and serious about her Protestant faith too. But according to you and certain others, girls like her should have no interest in foreigners like me. My personal observations suggest that there are at least plenty of exceptions to that belief. In most if not all other countries, such girls would probably not even consider us.
Metro Manila also has a thriving professional class of girls who are not from multi-millionaire families but are still very well educated, some even from the top schools where many of the richest send their kids as well. There's a decent chance that some of the girls you meet from this group will be one of more of following - attractive/very attractive, refined and elegant, intellectual, charismatic, charming, great conversationalists, very intelligent.
Even among the less fortunate classes can you find some sweet gems, girls and families who are kind and generous. Sometimes such poorer girls can be attractive or occasionally have some white or NE Asian blood.
It seems the tendency for most foreigners (or at least HAers) who give Philippines a try is to either dip their tow in a bit and monger for a short period before getting fed up or else find a girl here and take her back home ASAP. Very few seem content to stay here, with or without a gf/wife. But I'm the exception...as long as I can take fairly frequent breaks via travels to other countries.
As that exception, I've identified opportunities which most western visitors seem to miss. Most of these guys just want it fast and easy - point and click. Or they look around at what they see on the surface and are sickened by it.
Just like other HA destinations, it will be very different things to different people. The more I live and travel, the more I come to realize that truth seems to be a very relative and mercurial concept. Objective reality is very hard to pin down.