I have been lazy and busy for over 2 months since I left NZ and haven’t updated the blog.  I spent a couple of weeks in Bali when I left NZ and then came to the Philippines where I am now.  I had a few days in Manila and have also had a week in Cebu and a week in Palawan, but apart from that, I’ve been in Siargao.

It’s an island off the northern tip of Mindanao in the Philippines.  It is pretty remote and quite hard to get to but it has a lot of great surf spots and tourism is really expanding here.  The islanders and the Filipinos in general are really happy and friendly people.  They are way happier as a nation than any people in any country I have ever been to.  They all speak English and their English is like us or the Americans.  They use and understand the language in a  way that a French or German person who speaks English doesn’t.  Filipinos live in a developing country but have the same outlook and culture as we do in the UK.  They are unique in Asia as they are 95% catholic and their education system and culture is based on the same things as the west.  They have a growing middle class that has the same values as ours and aspire to the same things as in the UK.

I have a 1 bedroom house which is pretty chilled out with a hammock on the veranda and nice living room.  I am 40 metres from the beach and have coconut trees in the garden.  When I want a coconut, I ask someone to climb the tree and get one for me and pay them a little money.   I hire a motorbike with a surfboard rack on the side and get around on that.  There are just enough places to go out and eat at and just enough things to do and the amount of places opening is increasing fast at the moment.   I have verbally agreed to buy a small plot of land by the road and want to start a laundry, as there isn’t one. Everyone here gets their clothes hand washed by locals and they don’t always come up clean and because they rub the clothes together, they wear out.   I am also negotiating another plot for a coffee shop/bakery as there isn’t a proper one of these either.  Things are in the early stages, but hopefully they’ll proceed.  I was in the 2nd city of Cebu a couple of weeks ago and made contact with some coffee machine and coffee suppliers, so I am lining things up.

I’ve also been looking at land for my sister Louise, as she says she wants to build a house here and we might do it together.  We’ve been in touch a lot and she was arriving with m brother in law Ian today, but she’s been delayed in Manila because of business and will now arrived the the end of next week.  I’ll show her around the island and she can work out if she likes it.  I think it might be a bit too quiet for her full time, but the house would be an investment and somewhere she can come to.