Local girl having breakfast.

Woke up early before the sun was up and joined a few friends for a sunrise on the beach. We met up at my condo and took a taxi south to Talisay City, one of the cities that make up Metro Cebu. My friends wanted to introduce me to a more local lifestyle than the condo lifestyle that I’ve grown quite used to.

Posing after my morning jog.

We arrived at the beach before 5 am and it was still dark. It was my usual jogging time, so I headed up and down the beach for my regular jog while my friends sat and listened to the waves breaking on the beach. There were already a few people stirring about – fishermen in their little canoes, a few early beach combers, and a number of beach vendors preparing meals for sale.

It was a pleasant jog up and down the beach as the day slowly began to break over the beach. As the light grew stronger, it became clear to me that this was not a resort beach community. Homes in the distance looked like a mix of middle class and shanty type homes. For a moment, I thought that I could live in one of the shanty homes as long as it was on the beach. It seemed so relaxed and carefree.

Local fisherman at work.

As the sun came up, a few of the fishermen were coming in on their little outrigger canoes. Their catch wasn’t quite what I expected. It seemed that their nets were pulling in very tiny fish, which I suppose ended up being salted and dried. Nevertheless, it was probably a living for many of them and I took off my ‘environmentalist’ hat for the day.

We went to a small beach vendor’s stall for breakfast. The beach vendor had what amounted to a small outdoor ’restaurant’ that consisted of a couple of tables. I was actually pleasantly surprised by the food because it reminded me quite a bit of food in Hawaii. For breakfast we had barbecued octopus, sweet potatoes, pickled seaweed, and rice. If I closed my eyes, I could have been back home for all I could tell … the smell of the sea, the waves breaking on the beach, the sweet taste of the octopus … all reminded me of my old life in Hawaii.

Breakfast of barbecued octopus, sweet potatoes, pickled seaweed and rice.

Except there was one big difference. I didn’t have to march myself off to work and submit myself to all sorts of pressure and basically wish for the day to end. Today, I closed my eyes and chewed on the octopus, savored the pickled seaweed, and casually ate the sweet potatoes. I lit up a cigarette and went for another walk along the beach – this time with the sun lighting the beach and snapped a host of pictures for my growing album of life in the Philippines.

Good friends, great but simple food, a cigarette, the sound of the surf. I don’t know when life has been any better for me. I think people greatly underrate what retirement can really be like. I can’t remember being so alive. I’m just sorry that I hadn’t done it sooner.

Hills overlooking Cebu City.

Part of the philosophy that I’ve developed for living abroad is to make the transition a smooth one … holding on to a little bit of the old while adjusting to a new life. My first few days in Manila made that transition an easy one. I was never far from a familiar landmark for eating or shopping so my first few days was grounded in a new culture, but with plenty of American features (e.g. California Pizza, TGIF, McDonald’s, etc.) to hold my hand.

In my first week in Cebu City, the city of choice for my initial retirement destination, I spent the first couple of days touring the city. Instead of going solo, I hired a car and driver at the hotel and planned my journey. I also began to integrate myself into the new culture with little things such as purchasing a cell phone and wireless services for my laptop. While this may seem simple, it took a bit of effort on my part because these services were set up differently from the USA. I must have been amusing to the salespeople – a grown adult who does not know what a SIM card is, but everyone was very helpful at the Smartbro Wireless store.

My first trip was to the mountains overlooking the city. It was a very nice drive and reminded me of the mountains back home. The air was cleaner than down in the city and it was cooler. It did seem though that the properties in the mountains were for a wealthier group and although I did like what I saw very much, it may have to be for some time later in the future (maybe after I win the lotto). The view from Tops was very nice and gave me a good overview of the entire city (and there is an interesting Taoist Temple to do some sightseeing at on the way up).

From the mountains, the driver took me back down into the city driving through various neighborhoods, past the major malls, and areas of a lot of economic development. We drove on to Mactan Island, with stops to see Magellan’s Cross and Fort San Pedro. It was quite surprising for me to see the busloads of Korean students swarming the Fort. It seems that even in these difficult economic times, tourism seems to be thriving.

We drove on to Mactan Island, making the usual tourist stops … this time to Lapu-Lapu’s monument. Then onto some of the condominiums and developments in the area. A lot seemed to be happening on Mactan. I was given a very nice tour at one of the condo resorts, but they were mostly timeshare units and priced for the well-heeled tourist. But it was an impressive resort with several international restaurants, a health clinic, water slides and even a pool that generated waves – clearly a very upscale resort. The rooms were very elegant, but of course I was looking for something a little more modest. I think my driver thought I was a rich businessman and kept showing me very upscale places.

Fortunately, the salesgirl at the car rental counter connected me with a realtor who agreed to help me find a unit. I described to the realtor what my budget was going to be for rentals and she did her homework that night. The next day, we visited several units in the price range that I had mentioned. We worked our way up from the low end of my budget range to the upper end until I began to feel comfortable with the properties.

My new bachelor's pad ... a nice 1 bedroom condo.

I finally settled on a one bedroom condo unit that had security, a nice central location within walking distance for me to the major malls. One of my major requirements was a reasonably sized kitchen because I like to do a lot of my own cooking. The next day, the realtor took me to the developer’s office where I signed the lease and made my deposit. It was very nice to have the realtor assisting me throughout the process. The lease was five pages long, but written in excellent English and was far more understandable than leases that I had signed in the USA.

Although I already have a savings account at a Philippines bank, the realtor also offered to help me obtain a checking account, phone, laundry and other services that I might need once I move into the unit. Having the realtor around was a very big plus for me. Although I am sure that she is viewing me as a potential customer for a future property purchase, she proved invaluable in helping me navigate the rental market. I suggested to her that she ought to make this an additional part of her business – helping retirees not only obtain a rental unit, but also to make the transition into a new retirement destination. She just smiled … and I guessed that she had already figured that out for herself.

View of Cebu City from my new home.

Summary: all in all, my transition has been going very, very smoothly. It was useful to make connections with a Filipino professional who helped me in many of the legal aspects in this transition. For any future Cebu City retirees, just email me if you’re interested and I’ll put you in contact with her. I could have selected a much larger townhouse or home a little bit further outside of the city for the same price, but for my first year here, decided that convenience was a more important living abroad consideration.

What do I think of Cebu City? Well, it’s a large city in a developing country and still has a way to go in terms of building infrastructure. But it seems to be making the right decisions. I can see the growth of high tech industries and call centers, the development of resort properties targeting the Asian market, the modern malls – yet with a touch of the old Philippines still intact with local markets and vendors. The economy is diversifying and should be more resistant to a world market that has its ups and downs. It seems like an ideal place for investment in property should I decide that Cebu City will be my permanent home.

In contrast, I just left “paradise” in Hawaii. I retired just before the state announced salary cuts which would have affected my pension adversely, where the state was struggling to survive and was raising taxes every which way it could ($7.50 for a pack of cigarettes – yikes), where tourism was in a slump, and where the state had been very unsuccessful at diversifying the economy.

The Philippines is not perfect. It has its share of problems with economic development, corruption, crime, and poverty like any other country on the planet. But my first impressions are that it is moving forward and building a solid economic base for the future. It is something that I think my home state in Hawaii has failed to do. I think that before my time is up on this planet, I will see this city and many others in Asia begin to surpass many of the cities in the United States as best places to retire and live.