Moving Abroad Before the Collapse

[cognitive dissonance 73]

As someone who spent considerable time preparing for relocation during the 2010s let me share with you some insight that I believe may be helpful to anyone who is currently planning to move abroad before the collapse.

1. Consider and write down your reasons for wanting to move. (And revisit this list from time-to-time)

Consider your reasons of moving. How badly you want/need to move?
How strong are your ties to your current home country? Any family networks that means a lot to you...and crucially - any aging parents that may need your help? If the answer is yes, understandably you should not "burn your bridges". Try maintaining your ties to your former home country and your family, even if you eventually decide to move. (And factor in the additional costs into your budget).

2. Choose your new home country wisely
Forgive me for stating the obvious - but never rely on second-hand information. Always do your own research. And yes, you need to visit the place in person first, even before you even play with the idea of moving there. And no, your first visit won't be a "tourist trip" - you are there on a mission, not on holiday. Your job is to observe the things that matter, ask the right people, contact the right authorities for first-hand information.
Consider everything carefully - do you see yourself fitting into the society of your prospective new home country? Do you have any chance of ever acquiring citizenship there? Is dual citizenship allowed? What sort of future do you see for yourself and your future children?
Ultimately, however , your choice would depend on your personal circumstances and preferences. There is no one-size-fits-all answer here. Do what feels right for you.

(If you are American, you have the genuine option of moving WITHIN the US to a state/city that is more family friendly? You may wan tto consider that before considering moving abroad.)

How important certain things are for you? Is there anything in your current home country that you take for granted? You grew up in California, and are used to general civility ("Have a nice day!") and the "the customer is always right" motto being put in practice? Well, my brother, you won't get any of that in Eastern Europe or the Mediterranean (both seem to be popular among many forumers here) - so consider that.
Do you have any preference in terms of climate? Did you spent your childhood in Nevada? Well, the monsoon seasons in Vietnam would annoy the bejesus out of you. Or... you grow up in (south )Florida or South Carolina...but now you are choosing to move to Yekaterinburg to be with your Svetlana? Oh, boy...if the locals don't, the long, harsh Russian winters will surely make you depressed.

Consider lifestyle - what you are accustomed in the US and is reasonably affordable to you in the US ..is prohibitively expensive for most locals in developing countries. The meat in Cambodia, Burundi , Nicaragua or Moldova may be "organic" but it costs much more than the chicken you buy at Walmart or Target. (Yes, people -on average- eat less meet in those countries - not because they listened to Greta and are trying to save the planet - but simply they cannot afford it too often.)

Are you caring that little treat - Oreo cookies once a weak (like you always had since childhood) - and you are in Bangui, Central African Republic. You would think such "little luxury of life" would be affordable to you elsewhere, too. Not a problem, your friendly local Lebanese merchant, Mustafa's specialist store sells them." That will be $3.90, sir. Thank you for your custom, come back again soon." The point being, many things can be more expensive abroad.
Need to replace your smartphone/laptop that is essential for your online remote business - it will cost you a lot more almost anywhere abroad - compared to the US.

Do you have any long-term or chronic health problems? Do you have any susceptibility to any diseases? While I understand you are not trying to rely too much on Western medicine...but there are instances when it can save your life.
Or what if you just need any "basic" but urgent help? - Access to antibiotic to treat a serious bacterial infection, access to a dentists in an emergency.
In some countries (Thailand, the Philippines) this may be available at reasonably standards and reasonable prices. other countries (Kenya in Africa, most countries in central America) the standards of healthcare may be questionable ...and yet in others (most of central Asia, Cambodia, Laos, most African countries and some supposedly "European" countries such as Moldova) healthcare facilities (even the private ones) are basic or non-existent.







3. Consider the cost of relocation.
I cannot emphasize this enough - particularly since the beginning of last year (2022) when the cost of living has skyrocketed all over the world.
And this is the hardest part. Moving abroad requires some serious financial discipline. (Unless you are a billionaire - which probably doesn't apply to most of the readers here) The initial cost can be high. And the most ideal situation is where you have some "passive income" coming in from your old home country while you are already living in your new home country.
The initial costs of moving may still be quiet high. (And the initial costs of moving was the only thing that stopped me from relocation in the late 2010s).


4. I have considered several countries for relocation during the 2010s.
Some were already "hotspots" , yet still reasonably affordable at the time (now ridiculously expensive) - good examples being Thailand and Rwanda.
Also considered some more "unusual destinations" : Cambodia, Laos, the Solomon Islands, and several African countries - Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia and Eswatini/Swaziland.

Also considered some countries that were considered a "bit extreme" by many back then: El Salvador (long before Nayib Bukele came along), Haiti, the Central African Republic, Djibouti, Papua New Guinea etc.

(No, I did not consider Eastern Europe as I grew up there and would never return. Again, I don't expect you to understand. Like I said, we all have different realities, experiences and preferences).

Eventually I could not move abroad during the 2010s simply for financial reasons.

(My current plan is to move from the UK to the US - to a family-friendly state in the American Southwest or West).

5. If you have options, don't burn your bridges.
The US (as well as Canada, Australia and a few places in western Europe) still are (will be for a long time) good as "financial base", even if you and your family no longer live there full time. Think of it as the ideal "the best of both worlds" scenario.

 

[jaguarcat]

I'm sure most of you already know these things about Dubai, but it bears worth repeating what a depraved materialistic mirage and spiritual wasteland it is.

Dubai, the darling of the 2nd rate wannabe globalists and their money.

 

[jaguarcat]

I think in general it's a bad idea to move.

I agree with this. I had spent almost a lifetime in America which is not my native country, and now is a hostile country to my people and I realized that I tried to sell my soul for money. By moving, as I thought permanently, I had tried to sell everything that is true and good and even my entire self. Even my parents, who relocated, are now unrecognizeable people and I don't understand them, they acquired money but lost the most precious and important things that no money can buy. Luckily, it's not too late to return to my native roots, there is salvation.

Immigration elsewhere is a perpetually stressful process, even though it can add a lot of excitement to life, but other countries will never be real Home. One needs to be rooted among their own people, in own native community and try to improve it. It makes sense though, sometimes, to temporarily move somewhere to earn money - but not forgetting where your true home is (no money in the world can buy one familiar homeland).
I understand, though, that America is so insanely expensive now, and punishing towards those who don't want to be in the rat race, that I don't blame those born here who want to leave for better opportunities and to afford housing.

Collapse is always first and foremost personal and spiritual, worldly collapse is only a shadow of that (this is why Amish, Mennonites were able to deal with a lot of things well - but community is of utmost importance here). Community is hard to come by these days in America, but I had seen it still existing in the rural Midwest, South, idaho, Eastern Oregon, New England.

Sadly, Americans abroad away from few wealthy countries will often be seen as a source of money, this is another factor. To become truly close to a community of locals in a foreign country sacrifices would have to be great and continuous, including abandoning consumerism, and there is no guarantee it will ever work.

If we talk about real wordly collapse, also need to remember endless ones left behind who could be helped, if one has strength. Running for safety always means leaving someone behind. The real collapse is playing out in Palestine right now, would one from Palestine just run and give up the land to the enemies or stay and fight? I know of people who stayed in Donbass through the darkest times and fought all the way, even women with kids after having lost their husbands. There got to be a sense of own land and country.

 

[jaguarcat]

Just from walking around Taipei it becomes apparent that they have a fondness for western culture. It is also very sad to discover a tranny in their government.

Do you realise the irony of the two sentences...
Those who betray native culture will have a price to pay. The tranny in the government is a typical hallmark of ZOG installation.
Homeland and native culture aren't always pretty comfortable things. Like one's mother they can have dark moments, or even end up being a drug user or a bad person. But one can't get a new mother. For Taiwan, it will always be China and eventually they will reunite, no matter what other parts of the world wish.

 

[jaguarcat]

It really depends what kind of collapse you are expecting; an economic collapse? World war 3? Global nuclear war? etc. Regardless, if you are an obvious foreigner (either not knowing the language, culture, religion, or if you don't look like the locals) and if you don't have a very solid base of support in your community (i.e. you already have to be living there when SHTF, and have lots of friends and family there), then you are going to be marked for predation by whichever local gangs form. This problem exists both domestically and internationally (i.e. don't expect to move to a rural area after a major crisis has hit), but especially internationally. At least in the U.S. you know the culture, language, religion, and you have the right to own guns.

Exactly. But even being there in advance might not help. I say it as someone who lived in both worlds and I did live though societal collapse elsewhere. A foreigner will always be a foreigner, no matter what they do and for how many decades. And if it's a foreigner from a wealthy country in a poorer country, during collapse...exactly a target for gangs. One might not even be able to get onto the plane to escape back to the homeland, if things get real. Main thing, though, one should not abandon home country and community. Best things in life are always somewhere close, unnoticed.

In most countries, one is going to prison for armed self defence, by the way.
Specifically about Latin America, there is a good book "100 things to consider before moving or retiring in Equador". It's right on and applies to most countries in the world, actually.

If one insists on moving, I say these days pick the place with best missile defence systems!

 

[jaguarcat]

By the way, check taxes in the place of interest. And check what you are getting for these taxes. For example, since Serbia had been mentioned here, they have huge social taxes and are aggressive about collecting them as of recently. Big social taxes are common in any EU location too, but in the actual EU one might at least get much better medical options and social safety net (hardly a collapse scenario, I know). Check property tax and how much land can be owned.
Check laws, natural disasters.

In Serbia, for example, vaccinations are mandatory things. Tetanus boosters for adults are mandatory. They might not be enforcing it hard but something to think about. A guy who shot a apartment intruder, protecting his wife, in Belgrade, went to prison for a very long time, it was a landmark case that sent a message about armed self defence. Then Kosovo. Serbia has peace only while it submits to NATO boot. If it were to rise again there would be war. Watch Serbian movie "The Wounds". That's how it used to be not long ago. Serbia has heavy earthquake zones and lots of brick houses built without anti-earthquake techniques. Lots of places got depleted uranium coverage from war, one got to study maps. I'm not sure what's the land mine situation.

 

[DeWoken]

Serbia has heavy earthquake zones and lots of brick houses built without anti-earthquake techniques.

Wow, that seems a bit short-sighted! An opportunity appears - for some country to step in and show them how it's done.

I'm another guy thinking about relocation options, considering I don't have much family where I'm at anyways. What are the downsides to Russia exactly, language hard to learn, cold winters?

 

[jaguarcat]

Today, I had read the words of Russian defector, an actor who was earlier popular in Russia.
He run when the war started, even though no one tried to draft him, and was publucly badmouthing his country and the war after that.

Now, mentally broken and disillusioned, in a foreign country, he said these words, finally the truth came out of his mouth: "there is nowhere to run in this world"

 

[Sandalwood Peak]

I need to get something off my chest, I hope you guys don’t mind. I just spend close to 4 weeks in the Philippines and I honestly can’t come to terms with how I feel. I’m not sure if I’m the problem, or better yet loser in this case, or people just lie about this place. The bottom line is I absolutely hated the country, I actually wanted to leave on day one. I’ll try to make this short.

Expectations: Asians, super friendly, speak English, catholic, conservative, top of the line women, tropical paradise.

My Experiences:

1. Atrocious infrastructure and slum cities. One main road going everywhere, terrible traffic, very hard to understand where to go and how to get there. Hundreds of private companies operating their own transport services that you have to be a local to grasp. Very poor infrastructure for tourists and anyone working with tourists seemed like they wanted to help their fellow Filipinos out; fellow taxis, vendors, etc rather than help you have a seamless experience. The bus stops for random people to get on and sell food and drinks for example.
2. Insane amount of taxis, Tuk Tuks, motorbike taxis, and their bum friends working on referrals. First day I was getting surrounded by men everywhere I went because I had luggage. This was absolutely everywhere I went unless you go to the finance district. All the tourists with a brain were renting scooters and I’m confident it’s not because they wanted to drive. They also blatantly overcharge, a lot, tourists unless you know the rates and willing to stand your ground. Some “young men” quoted me 50 usd to take me across town to the beach in a car. I did not approach them, I was dropped off at a port entrance and got surrounded as they pushed my driver out of the way for heavily implying I should walk in immediately, my driver overcharged me as well. They will also demand money/“tip” for anything, god forbid some randoms help you with something and they will definitely try.
3. Filipino men absolutely everywhere on the streets, either bumming around or trying to earn a dollar. I seen guys getting tips for helping a vehicle back onto the street. The men in particular looked Hispanic mostly, would stare at you, and overall looked hateful and sketchy. You feel like a zoo animal out and about. This is everywhere, believe me I tried to find a friendly location.
4. I went to quite a few places and tourists/expats secluded themselves. Unless you go to a particular beach, hotel or bar it was very hard to find other westerners. Even in BGC, you just see Filipinos and random Asians.
5. Every single “attraction” has basically random locals and kids surrounding it charging for parking, private tours, entrance fee, whatever.
6. Culture of begging. Beggars everywhere, especially kids. Kids would yell out “hey give me money” as I drove by on a scooter. Who’s teaching them this?
7. The women don’t look or act conservative at all. Tattoos, cellphones, kids in tow, teens doing “sexy” dances. Strangely enough I even felt they were a lot nicer to the retirees because of the simping potential. Crazy stories from old men that make the whole place sound like a brothel, people hooking them up with daughters and friends, getting robbed by said women. You can definitely get a girlfriend but I would say just her being part of this culture is a red flag on its own.
8. The only people who were “friendly” were the kids who strangely enough seem way too happy in general, constantly laughing and smiling, not sure why.
9. The women were kind of in the background. Compared to other places, if you’re going to cold approach anywhere, you’re going to have a big audience of Filipino men. Unless you go to designated malls or bars, the whole country pigeonholes you.
10. The things that are cheap are cheap for obvious reasons otherwise nothing is cheap.
11. Their idea of a beach is a small one that is in the middle of nowhere, with every square inch covered by resorts, restaurants and random people selling stuff. It’s the definition of a tourist trap, you literally can’t do nothing else.

I honestly don’t understand how this is considered the traditional waifu factory. In my opinion it would be torture to live there, deal with her family and probably torture to bring her back to the west.

Anyone willing to comment?

 

[PurpleUrkel]

^^^
Great report. I've never been, but I felt like I was right there with you. I guess I can scratch that one off the list. South Dakota here I come.

 

[Steady Hands]

I need to get something off my chest, I hope you guys don’t mind. I just spend close to 4 weeks in the Philippines and I honestly can’t come to terms with how I feel. I’m not sure if I’m the problem, or better yet loser in this case, or people just lie about this place. The bottom line is I absolutely hated the country, I actually wanted to leave on day one. I’ll try to make this short.

Expectations: Asians, super friendly, speak English, catholic, conservative, top of the line women, tropical paradise.

My Experiences:

1. Atrocious infrastructure and slum cities. One main road going everywhere, terrible traffic, very hard to understand where to go and how to get there. Hundreds of private companies operating their own transport services that you have to be a local to grasp. Very poor infrastructure for tourists and anyone working with tourists seemed like they wanted to help their fellow Filipinos out; fellow taxis, vendors, etc rather than help you have a seamless experience. The bus stops for random people to get on and sell food and drinks for example.
2. Insane amount of taxis, Tuk Tuks, motorbike taxis, and their bum friends working on referrals. First day I was getting surrounded by men everywhere I went because I had luggage. This was absolutely everywhere I went unless you go to the finance district. All the tourists with a brain were renting scooters and I’m confident it’s not because they wanted to drive. They also blatantly overcharge, a lot, tourists unless you know the rates and willing to stand your ground. Some “young men” quoted me 50 usd to take me across town to the beach in a car. I did not approach them, I was dropped off at a port entrance and got surrounded as they pushed my driver out of the way for heavily implying I should walk in immediately, my driver overcharged me as well. They will also demand money/“tip” for anything, god forbid some randoms help you with something and they will definitely try.
3. Filipino men absolutely everywhere on the streets, either bumming around or trying to earn a dollar. I seen guys getting tips for helping a vehicle back onto the street. The men in particular looked Hispanic mostly, would stare at you, and overall looked hateful and sketchy. You feel like a zoo animal out and about. This is everywhere, believe me I tried to find a friendly location.
4. I went to quite a few places and tourists/expats secluded themselves. Unless you go to a particular beach, hotel or bar it was very hard to find other westerners. Even in BGC, you just see Filipinos and random Asians.
5. Every single “attraction” has basically random locals and kids surrounding it charging for parking, private tours, entrance fee, whatever.
6. Culture of begging. Beggars everywhere, especially kids. Kids would yell out “hey give me money” as I drove by on a scooter. Who’s teaching them this?
7. The women don’t look or act conservative at all. Tattoos, cellphones, kids in tow, teens doing “sexy” dances. Strangely enough I even felt they were a lot nicer to the retirees because of the simping potential. Crazy stories from old men that make the whole place sound like a brothel, people hooking them up with daughters and friends, getting robbed by said women. You can definitely get a girlfriend but I would say just her being part of this culture is a red flag on its own.
8. The only people who were “friendly” were the kids who strangely enough seem way too happy in general, constantly laughing and smiling, not sure why.
9. The women were kind of in the background. Compared to other places, if you’re going to cold approach anywhere, you’re going to have a big audience of Filipino men. Unless you go to designated malls or bars, the whole country pigeonholes you.
10. The things that are cheap are cheap for obvious reasons otherwise nothing is cheap.
11. Their idea of a beach is a small one that is in the middle of nowhere, with every square inch covered by resorts, restaurants and random people selling stuff. It’s the definition of a tourist trap, you literally can’t do nothing else.

I honestly don’t understand how this is considered the traditional waifu factory. In my opinion it would be torture to live there, deal with her family and probably torture to bring her back to the west.

Anyone willing to comment?

Solid post. It reads as being very real and reflects some of my own experience.

The tone is certainly biased towards the negative. Nonetheless, I consider it as a must read for anyone considering the Phils as a destination for wife hunting, digital nomad life or longer term retirement.

The Philippines was the most overhyped destination on RVF due to two general categories of myth-spreaders:
(a) young men low on ethics and high on horniness, and even higher on lazyness, with a keen ability to inflate their stories to make themselves seem like living legends,
(b) older, absolutely clueless middle-aged men who continually justified their overinvestment in someone they just messaged online across continents, and would then accept all kinds of financial abuse and emotional manipulation from local single mums because the guy had no other options.

^ Both groups tended to neglect any downsides of their broader experiences such as air pollution, traffic jams, food poisoning etc.

It seems like the hype lives on given the stated list of expectations. Indeed, no country on earth can fulfil such fantasies. So I think to be fair, with all the video walk-throughs available on youtube etc, it should have been possible to grasp a more realistic picture of the horrible infrastructure prior to arriving.

That said, this is not written in any way to discount your real experience, which cannot be felt by research alone. And I encourage you to continue sharing your real life experiences and raw, unfiltered reflections. Thanks for posting.

 

[OrthoSerb]

This is a very interesting video of a colony started in Paraguay by an Austrian. I have zero interest in relocating to South America but there's lots of interesting tips and ideas that can be picked up from this project.

 

[jaguarcat]

I'm skeptical of the whole White people in non White countries thing

This is a very interesting video of a colony started in Paraguay by an Austrian. I have zero interest in relocating to South America but there's lots of interesting tips and ideas that can be picked up from this project.

Just going to say it straight...One can buy land in Paraguay and own it outright, can buy much better quality land, large parcels, have own farm there, whatever type of house they want without paying a monthly cut to a dude who got in trouble for selling crystal laundry balls in Florida and taking someone's orders on how to live and build, living on a tiny lot, overpaying and house money being tied inside the restrictive commune with potential to not be able to sell, even. I checked info on that place earlier and that dude gives me creeps. They were asking for one's bank info, account balances from anyone interesed back in 2021-2022, all I needed to know. (one should never send personal bank info overseas to random people) One really would need to check in whose name the land title in the place like that would be, too, and hire a lawyer for that. This is more of an option for boomers from Germany who want to built a copy of EU life in Paraguay. I fail to see the difference between controlling EU government and some controlling commune environment, with some mini king on top, latter might be even worse.

 

[RedLagoon]

I'm skeptical of the whole White people in non White countries thing



Just going to say it straight...One can buy land in Paraguay and own it outright, can buy much better quality land, large parcels, have own farm there, whatever type of house they want without paying a monthly cut to a dude who got in trouble for selling crystal laundry balls in Florida and taking someone's orders on how to live and build, living on a tiny lot, overpaying and house money being tied inside the restrictive commune with potential to not be able to sell, even. I checked info on that place earlier and that dude gives me creeps. They were asking for one's bank info, account balances from anyone interesed back in 2021-2022, all I needed to know. (one should never send personal bank info overseas to random people) One really would need to check in whose name the land title in the place like that would be, too, and hire a lawyer for that. This is more of an option for boomers from Germany who want to built a copy of EU life in Paraguay. I fail to see the difference between controlling EU government and some controlling commune environment, with some mini king on top, latter might be even worse.

We should all move back home, I get your rhetoric.

 

[LaAguilaNegra]

I need to get something off my chest, I hope you guys don’t mind. I just spend close to 4 weeks in the Philippines and I honestly can’t come to terms with how I feel. I’m not sure if I’m the problem, or better yet loser in this case, or people just lie about this place. The bottom line is I absolutely hated the country, I actually wanted to leave on day one. I’ll try to make this short.

Expectations: Asians, super friendly, speak English, catholic, conservative, top of the line women, tropical paradise.

My Experiences:

1. Atrocious infrastructure and slum cities. One main road going everywhere, terrible traffic, very hard to understand where to go and how to get there. Hundreds of private companies operating their own transport services that you have to be a local to grasp. Very poor infrastructure for tourists and anyone working with tourists seemed like they wanted to help their fellow Filipinos out; fellow taxis, vendors, etc rather than help you have a seamless experience. The bus stops for random people to get on and sell food and drinks for example.
2. Insane amount of taxis, Tuk Tuks, motorbike taxis, and their bum friends working on referrals. First day I was getting surrounded by men everywhere I went because I had luggage. This was absolutely everywhere I went unless you go to the finance district. All the tourists with a brain were renting scooters and I’m confident it’s not because they wanted to drive. They also blatantly overcharge, a lot, tourists unless you know the rates and willing to stand your ground. Some “young men” quoted me 50 usd to take me across town to the beach in a car. I did not approach them, I was dropped off at a port entrance and got surrounded as they pushed my driver out of the way for heavily implying I should walk in immediately, my driver overcharged me as well. They will also demand money/“tip” for anything, god forbid some randoms help you with something and they will definitely try.
3. Filipino men absolutely everywhere on the streets, either bumming around or trying to earn a dollar. I seen guys getting tips for helping a vehicle back onto the street. The men in particular looked Hispanic mostly, would stare at you, and overall looked hateful and sketchy. You feel like a zoo animal out and about. This is everywhere, believe me I tried to find a friendly location.
4. I went to quite a few places and tourists/expats secluded themselves. Unless you go to a particular beach, hotel or bar it was very hard to find other westerners. Even in BGC, you just see Filipinos and random Asians.
5. Every single “attraction” has basically random locals and kids surrounding it charging for parking, private tours, entrance fee, whatever.
6. Culture of begging. Beggars everywhere, especially kids. Kids would yell out “hey give me money” as I drove by on a scooter. Who’s teaching them this?
7. The women don’t look or act conservative at all. Tattoos, cellphones, kids in tow, teens doing “sexy” dances. Strangely enough I even felt they were a lot nicer to the retirees because of the simping potential. Crazy stories from old men that make the whole place sound like a brothel, people hooking them up with daughters and friends, getting robbed by said women. You can definitely get a girlfriend but I would say just her being part of this culture is a red flag on its own.
8. The only people who were “friendly” were the kids who strangely enough seem way too happy in general, constantly laughing and smiling, not sure why.
9. The women were kind of in the background. Compared to other places, if you’re going to cold approach anywhere, you’re going to have a big audience of Filipino men. Unless you go to designated malls or bars, the whole country pigeonholes you.
10. The things that are cheap are cheap for obvious reasons otherwise nothing is cheap.
11. Their idea of a beach is a small one that is in the middle of nowhere, with every square inch covered by resorts, restaurants and random people selling stuff. It’s the definition of a tourist trap, you literally can’t do nothing else.

I honestly don’t understand how this is considered the traditional waifu factory. In my opinion it would be torture to live there, deal with her family and probably torture to bring her back to the west.

Anyone willing to comment?

Great write up. You forgot the faggots and trannies though - they are disgusting to the nth degree and have completely broken loose due to lack of any societal response.

 

[OrthoSerb]

I'm skeptical of the whole White people in non White countries thing

So am I. One reason why I said I have zero interest in this particular project is because I don't want to put down roots outside of my ancestral homeland. I also have other requirements such as an active Liturgical life.

Just going to say it straight...One can buy land in Paraguay and own it outright, can buy much better quality land, large parcels, have own farm there, whatever type of house they want without paying a monthly cut to a dude who got in trouble for selling crystal laundry balls in Florida and taking someone's orders on how to live and build, living on a tiny lot, overpaying and house money being tied inside the restrictive commune with potential to not be able to sell, even. I checked info on that place earlier and that dude gives me creeps. They were asking for one's bank info, account balances from anyone interesed back in 2021-2022, all I needed to know. (one should never send personal bank info overseas to random people) One really would need to check in whose name the land title in the place like that would be, too, and hire a lawyer for that. This is more of an option for boomers from Germany who want to built a copy of EU life in Paraguay. I fail to see the difference between controlling EU government and some controlling commune environment, with some mini king on top, latter might be even worse.

I'll also say it straight - you've added nothing useful in your post and missed the point entirely. If this particular individual has some dodgy past then feel free to post a link rather than alluding to crystal laundry balls as if that's the final word on the matter (I have no idea what you're talking about). But beyond that, his past is largely irrelevant to the fact that he clearly has organisational capability. We can learn from that without having to worry about crystal laundry balls. Anyone that has tried to start a homestead or an intentional community will know how multi-faceted and challenging that is. To say that anyone can just go and buy land in a foreign country and single-handedly solve all the problems relating to building, security, irrigation, energy, a sustainable income, schooling etc makes a mockery of reality. There are many projects like this sprouting up, the point is not to idealise any one of them, but to be aware of both their successes and failures. Simply dismissing everything and saying someone can move to Paraguay and do everything on their own has zero-value to anyone.

 

[Northern Pilgrim]

I need to get something off my chest, I hope you guys don’t mind. I just spend close to 4 weeks in the Philippines and I honestly can’t come to terms with how I feel. I’m not sure if I’m the problem, or better yet loser in this case, or people just lie about this place. The bottom line is I absolutely hated the country, I actually wanted to leave on day one. I’ll try to make this short.

Expectations: Asians, super friendly, speak English, catholic, conservative, top of the line women, tropical paradise.

My Experiences:

1. Atrocious infrastructure and slum cities. One main road going everywhere, terrible traffic, very hard to understand where to go and how to get there. Hundreds of private companies operating their own transport services that you have to be a local to grasp. Very poor infrastructure for tourists and anyone working with tourists seemed like they wanted to help their fellow Filipinos out; fellow taxis, vendors, etc rather than help you have a seamless experience. The bus stops for random people to get on and sell food and drinks for example.
2. Insane amount of taxis, Tuk Tuks, motorbike taxis, and their bum friends working on referrals. First day I was getting surrounded by men everywhere I went because I had luggage. This was absolutely everywhere I went unless you go to the finance district. All the tourists with a brain were renting scooters and I’m confident it’s not because they wanted to drive. They also blatantly overcharge, a lot, tourists unless you know the rates and willing to stand your ground. Some “young men” quoted me 50 usd to take me across town to the beach in a car. I did not approach them, I was dropped off at a port entrance and got surrounded as they pushed my driver out of the way for heavily implying I should walk in immediately, my driver overcharged me as well. They will also demand money/“tip” for anything, god forbid some randoms help you with something and they will definitely try.
3. Filipino men absolutely everywhere on the streets, either bumming around or trying to earn a dollar. I seen guys getting tips for helping a vehicle back onto the street. The men in particular looked Hispanic mostly, would stare at you, and overall looked hateful and sketchy. You feel like a zoo animal out and about. This is everywhere, believe me I tried to find a friendly location.
4. I went to quite a few places and tourists/expats secluded themselves. Unless you go to a particular beach, hotel or bar it was very hard to find other westerners. Even in BGC, you just see Filipinos and random Asians.
5. Every single “attraction” has basically random locals and kids surrounding it charging for parking, private tours, entrance fee, whatever.
6. Culture of begging. Beggars everywhere, especially kids. Kids would yell out “hey give me money” as I drove by on a scooter. Who’s teaching them this?
7. The women don’t look or act conservative at all. Tattoos, cellphones, kids in tow, teens doing “sexy” dances. Strangely enough I even felt they were a lot nicer to the retirees because of the simping potential. Crazy stories from old men that make the whole place sound like a brothel, people hooking them up with daughters and friends, getting robbed by said women. You can definitely get a girlfriend but I would say just her being part of this culture is a red flag on its own.
8. The only people who were “friendly” were the kids who strangely enough seem way too happy in general, constantly laughing and smiling, not sure why.
9. The women were kind of in the background. Compared to other places, if you’re going to cold approach anywhere, you’re going to have a big audience of Filipino men. Unless you go to designated malls or bars, the whole country pigeonholes you.
10. The things that are cheap are cheap for obvious reasons otherwise nothing is cheap.
11. Their idea of a beach is a small one that is in the middle of nowhere, with every square inch covered by resorts, restaurants and random people selling stuff. It’s the definition of a tourist trap, you literally can’t do nothing else.

I honestly don’t understand how this is considered the traditional waifu factory. In my opinion it would be torture to live there, deal with her family and probably torture to bring her back to the west.

Anyone willing to comment?

Good post. Spent some time there myself. Definitely sounds accurate, especially if you didn't have a local friend to guide/show you around. Begging/entitlement culture is definitely a huge issue. Much better if you are out with a group of locals than if you are solo in a tourist area.

Were you in mostly city or rural areas? Did you attend church while in country? A lot more 'conservative' or at least traditional women there than if out roaming the streets or in the shopping malls...

Would be interesting to know what areas you spent the most time in, there are definitely really nice areas and then really seedy places, sometimes just across the fence or street.
Feel free to PM me if you don't want to share specifics here.

...
(Edited for spelling)

 

[Northern Pilgrim]

Great write up. You forgot the faggots and trannies though - they are disgusting to the nth degree and have completely broken loose due to lack of any societal response.

True. Last year the US embassy was the only government building flying a rainbow flag so there's that...

Although this year the pro-alphabet soup bill was not able to pass in Congress. Also a drag performer was declared persona non grata in several cities because of a very blasphemous tiktok video. So maybe not quite as bad there as USA but it's probably only a few years behind.

 

[LaAguilaNegra]

True. Last year the US embassy was the only government building flying a rainbow flag so there's that...

Although this year the pro-alphabet soup bill was not able to pass in Congress. Also a drag performer was declared persona non grata in several cities because of a very blasphemous tiktok video. So maybe not quite as bad there as USA but it's probably only a few years behind.

It's not about rainbowflags or US policies. Trannies and faggots were normalized in Filipino society long before fag 'marriage' was even legal in the US.

I am not Filipino bytheway, I want to make that absolutely crystal clear.

 

[TrainedLogosmotion]

I need to get something off my chest, I hope you guys don’t mind. I just spend close to 4 weeks in the Philippines and I honestly can’t come to terms with how I feel. I’m not sure if I’m the problem, or better yet loser in this case, or people just lie about this place. The bottom line is I absolutely hated the country, I actually wanted to leave on day one. I’ll try to make this short.

Expectations: Asians, super friendly, speak English, catholic, conservative, top of the line women, tropical paradise.

My Experiences:

1. Atrocious infrastructure and slum cities. One main road going everywhere, terrible traffic, very hard to understand where to go and how to get there. Hundreds of private companies operating their own transport services that you have to be a local to grasp. Very poor infrastructure for tourists and anyone working with tourists seemed like they wanted to help their fellow Filipinos out; fellow taxis, vendors, etc rather than help you have a seamless experience. The bus stops for random people to get on and sell food and drinks for example.
2. Insane amount of taxis, Tuk Tuks, motorbike taxis, and their bum friends working on referrals. First day I was getting surrounded by men everywhere I went because I had luggage. This was absolutely everywhere I went unless you go to the finance district. All the tourists with a brain were renting scooters and I’m confident it’s not because they wanted to drive. They also blatantly overcharge, a lot, tourists unless you know the rates and willing to stand your ground. Some “young men” quoted me 50 usd to take me across town to the beach in a car. I did not approach them, I was dropped off at a port entrance and got surrounded as they pushed my driver out of the way for heavily implying I should walk in immediately, my driver overcharged me as well. They will also demand money/“tip” for anything, god forbid some randoms help you with something and they will definitely try.
3. Filipino men absolutely everywhere on the streets, either bumming around or trying to earn a dollar. I seen guys getting tips for helping a vehicle back onto the street. The men in particular looked Hispanic mostly, would stare at you, and overall looked hateful and sketchy. You feel like a zoo animal out and about. This is everywhere, believe me I tried to find a friendly location.
4. I went to quite a few places and tourists/expats secluded themselves. Unless you go to a particular beach, hotel or bar it was very hard to find other westerners. Even in BGC, you just see Filipinos and random Asians.
5. Every single “attraction” has basically random locals and kids surrounding it charging for parking, private tours, entrance fee, whatever.
6. Culture of begging. Beggars everywhere, especially kids. Kids would yell out “hey give me money” as I drove by on a scooter. Who’s teaching them this?
7. The women don’t look or act conservative at all. Tattoos, cellphones, kids in tow, teens doing “sexy” dances. Strangely enough I even felt they were a lot nicer to the retirees because of the simping potential. Crazy stories from old men that make the whole place sound like a brothel, people hooking them up with daughters and friends, getting robbed by said women. You can definitely get a girlfriend but I would say just her being part of this culture is a red flag on its own.
8. The only people who were “friendly” were the kids who strangely enough seem way too happy in general, constantly laughing and smiling, not sure why.
9. The women were kind of in the background. Compared to other places, if you’re going to cold approach anywhere, you’re going to have a big audience of Filipino men. Unless you go to designated malls or bars, the whole country pigeonholes you.
10. The things that are cheap are cheap for obvious reasons otherwise nothing is cheap.
11. Their idea of a beach is a small one that is in the middle of nowhere, with every square inch covered by resorts, restaurants and random people selling stuff. It’s the definition of a tourist trap, you literally can’t do nothing else.

I honestly don’t understand how this is considered the traditional waifu factory. In my opinion it would be torture to live there, deal with her family and probably torture to bring her back to the west.

Anyone willing to comment?

Man, brutal. As another poster said, definitely following the flies vs. the bees here, but you do speak the truth in many ways.

I am sorry if what I said to you may have been misleading. I spent 6 months there. I had my own wheels so I didn't rely on local transport. I stayed on the small island of Panglao and avoided the crap food and other big city woes.

The errors I made were obvious. I needed to make a better connection with the local community so I wasn't isolated. Hyperfocusung on wife hunting or game isn't fruitful in the long run. I wasted a lot of times sinning with bars, partying, Tinder, etc.

Looking back, I should have got involved with a church. The issue for me is that there aren't a lot of Orthodox churches there, except for rare ones like the Greek one in Paranquay, which is basically Manila so is going to have many of the drawbacks you mention. I've read about some Russian missions but I cannot find where they are located exactly.

My questions to you are: what cities were you in? Did you go to church at all or make effort to commune with locals?

And let me just say I'm not trying to say "you just didn't do it right". It's certainly plausible to me that it's just not a good fit for you, but we all make mistakes also and no one has the perfect plan. I admit myself that I could have done a much better job while I was there.

And I wrote about this on the previous forum, but the covid hysteria in Philippines was absolutely horrible. Huge hive mind clown show. It was full on 1984 there. One of the worst lockdowns on the planet. This is what drove me away and will probably keep me from going back.

The only way I'd move back is if I could be a part of an Orthodox community in a rural island region and be married with kids, extended family, lots of local connections, etc. That way if things went south because of another psyop of war or whatever, I'd at least have my people to turn to rather than being another cog.