In one word “your rich!” yep you didn’t know it but that’s how locals see you. You have managed to travel thousands of miles to not have to work in a nice house so to them you have already achieved more than most will do in their lives. On top of that if your single your available and the problem with this is a constant barrage of women wanting to be your friend, girlfriend then wife..
Never be in a rush to get married or even have a relationship you will find often people are shoved into things before they even realise what is happening. Companionship is more important than beauty long term and that’s how you should look at life is just take your time and another thing is its cheaper to live here as one by a lot compared to two once you take the rent and food costs out of the picture. Especially if your more adventerous wanting to go diving etc. having to spend several hundred dollars per person upwards soon eats away at the bank so my advice is meet people and never commit to anything for at least six months. By that time you know the person well and if they are going to stick round longer than your life expectancy. Let’s face it a 20 year old girl doesn’t marry a 70 year old for much more than his pension and that’s the best way to look at it. There is no obligation by you to another without choice and being blunt with the fact your “happy to stay single” might work better for you long or short term.
Overpricing is common practice also for foreigners which I find a bit bizarre when people tell me “I have never been overcharged” at the same time I will query a few prices on things they bought at which point they say “I don’t mind someone earning a few extra pesos”. Truth is its stealing, exploitation, damaging to tourism and above all expensive when here long-term as things are a lot more serious than many people accept. An example of this is people “down sizing” on metal supports (re-bars) for construction trying to get away with making extra money by giving you supports not designed for your construction same goes for reducing concrete in mixes. So to tell me its “Ok” I would just say a fool is easily parted with his money but also it can be dangerous.
I often find people like market vendors are less likely to overcharge by the way, its more likely to be a company owner or someone like a real estate developer who will try to exploit a situation in often very big and obvious ways.
If you get into trouble its often the foreigner that is instantly blamed, for this I advise not driving if you can afford taxi’s or to take local buses do it. Running someone over gets expensive here and most people don’t look where they are going when crossing the roads. In a recent robbery attempt a foreigner was attacked by several people including one with a knife it resulted in the three robbers as well as the person involved having several injuries. The robbers went to the Police station and were demanding P5,000 for damages for injuries they received when they attacked the foreigner. At which point the Foreigner involved produced the knife that he was attacked with complete with the persons name engraved on it at which point the three assailants ran from the Police station. The mad thing is that this sort of thing is common and also that the Police even took the matter seriously as simply they seen the foreigner had money so could afford to give some money to the Filipino’s and not the fact these people were robbers.
Generally the population is friendly and I would advise that most things depend on where you live and the type of lifestyle you have to how people treat you. If your a pensioner living a humble lifestyle nobody is going to bother you and your more likely to just be someone people will sit and have a beer with. But on the other hand if wealthy and show wealth many people locally see that your an easy target and that you can afford to be robbed and not always serious crimes. As you will find staff will steal food when your out or items around the house go missing. A friend of mine helps a local girl by giving her some work yet she will steal any loose coins or P20 notes she finds around the house when people aren’t looking. For me I wouldn’t think twice on throwing her out for being a thief and make it very public why as respect is something many people don’t have here although they do understand shame.
Originally posted 2011-02-11 00:30:01. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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Thanks.
Dave