Easter in the Philippines

Life in the Philippines
Easter in the Philippines

Easter in the Philippines is a very serious occasion for this Catholic country, with a four day holiday commencing with Maundy Thursday through to Easter Sunday. Virtually all major shops are closed on Good Friday and many smaller ones over the whole period.

There are many church services and special events such as the Linabo 3003 Steps on the outskirts of Dipolog City which is quite popular among the locals especially during the Holy Week.

You would find hundreds of devotees faithfully climbing the 3,003 steps to commemorate the suffering of Christ. To go to Mt. Linabo Park, you can first get a ride to the drop-off area. It will take you about 15 minutes from the outskirts of Dipolog City to reach the drop-off point. The Many tourists prefer to take the "habal-habal", a motorbike with sidecar to carry people. The fare ranges somewhere between 20 to 50 pesos.

The hike to the peak will take an hour. Many people start out excited, however, by the time they reached the Fourth Station of the Cross, they'd be drenched in sweat. So, make sure that you are capable of finishing the hike before you go to the Linabo 3003 Steps.

Make sure that you are wearing light clothes and the right footwear. Avoid heavy backpacks if possible. You will find a small convenience store at the base of the mountain. Make sure you have food and drinks to take along with you.

Till the next time David Ogden

Life in the Philippines

Life in the Philippines
Healthcare in the Philippines

I never knew how lucky people in the UK are with free healthcare, yet they still complain. Having been sheltered for many year, in the last year I and my family have used private hospitals for minor ailments and had to pay quite reasonable prices for consultations and medicines. However at the weekend Jay broke his arm falling from his bike and was admitted to Dipolog Medical Centre. This was an all new experience especially as we do not have medical insurance.

The elbow required surgery so I got a rough estimate of 25,000 PHP for the surgeon, but was not told of all the ancillary fees which ended up amounting to 70,000 PHP, all of which have to be paid before leaving hospital. This can have a dramatic effect on most peoples cash flow and even if one has local insurance you still have a portion to pay.

I would have preferred to have known the higher figure prior to admission, so as to be able to check out alternatives, as although the surgery was urgent it was not an emergency.

Yes insurance is on my to-do list and at least now I have a real case to use in order to insure my family with a company which provides the best policy to seat my needs.

The hospital experience itself was also an eye opener, having opted for a general ward ended up in a 3 bed ward with no other patients. Posted visiting times seemed to be ignored and in fact family members were there 24/7. The equipment was adequate and surgical staff knowledgeable, some questions about ancillary nursing staff.

Once I have gathered some more information on Insurance I will post it here.

Till the next time David Ogden

Watch UK TV Anywhere

Life in the Philippines
TV in the Philippines

TV in the Philippines generally is based on American style programs and it is rare to find a service which offers programs from the BBC let alone sport such as Rugby, although now the Philippines are taking up Rugby sevens and Rugby league perhaps there will be more coverage, otherwise you have to put up with Baseball, Basketball, Snooker and of course football.

TV reception is often interrupted by bad weather, tropical rainstorms and high winds, so I have been looking for alternatives. now I did come across one piece of software which allowed viewing of TV programs from around the world, but this only offered recorded programs ,so was something of a rip off, however last week I found a company which offered UK TV programs from the BBC and ITV.

I subscribed to the program and found it seemed to work well over my broadband connection, having been a fan of Doctor Who since it was first introduced many years ago I was pleased to see it was still running and was able to watch one of the latest episodes. I also caught up on UK breakfast time news and a rugby game. All in all I was quite impressed. I did suffer a little spooling delay when watching the rugby game but that was because my partner was also downloading something from the Internet at the same time.

So if there are any Expats out there missing out of programs from home they should check out Expats Telly I recommend it

Till the next time David Ogden

BBC TV in Philippines

Original Article @ Dipolog house and Lot for Sale

Dipolog house and lot for sale
UK TV in Philippines

There has been one thing that I have really been missing in the Philippines and that is UK TV, whilst in Malaysia there was access to a couple of channels and Star sports screened Rugby, plus there was an Australian channel, but her we have to put up with American channels, which are no match for the Likes of BBC.

I have now discovered it is possible to watch BBC via your computer this sounds like a great idea. The cost is less than 10 Euro (570PHP). I am already planning on purchasing a large screen for my computer later in the year, so this could serve a duel purpose.

I am at present using a PLDT DSL connection at 3Mbps, so this should be more than adequate to receive the service.

The only thing that I will need to be careful of is not to become a slave to the TV, however as the Philippines is 8 hours ahead of the UK the timing difference will temper what is available to watch.

Dipolog house and lot for sale
Sell my House

Dipolog House and Lot For Sale

Original Article @ Dipolog house and Lot for Sale

Dipolog house and lot for sale
Still the work is not complete

It seems unbelievable our Dipolog house is still not finished, we made a big mistake of paying upfront, and I firmly advise anyone who plans to have a house built for them in the Philippines demands stage payments, so that the contract only gets paid when each stage is completed. I should have walked away from Mediatrix homes in Dipolog city and built a house elsewhere.

I have been providing a weekly list of outstanding items which include moving light switches to outside of bathrooms, installing hot water to sink in dirty kitchen, supply drain in shared bathroom upstairs, and repairs to ridge tiles which were not correctly installed.

The good news is that the power shower in the shared bathroom now works correctly, but that took 3 weeks to be installed even after supplier advised us it was in stock, somehow I think the contractor has a cash flow problem.

Garden landscaping has been completed by a private contractor and once the front gates are installed this weekend that will be complete.

We had our first electricity bill yesterday and guess what it came in at half the amount that the local electricity company estimated, because we do not use all the lights and air con that has been installed. So now I will request that the electricity company return half our deposit.

The next issue to be tackled is the community pool. residents have been waiting two years for this ands it was supposed to be completed last year. now school holidays are starting next week and pool is like a green duck pond. I used it once some weeks ago, but suspect that they do not know how to keep it clean.

Dipolog house and lot for sale
Sell my House

Dipolog House and Lot For Sale

Original Article @ Dipolog house and Lot for Sale

Dipolog house and lot for sale
Still the work is not complete

One month after moving into our Dipolog house and lot work has still not been completed.

So what is the good news, well we now have hot water after insisting that the hot water tank be placed in the roof area, not only is the water hot but water pressure has been improved. The Glass in the Bar cabinets has been installed

Electrical work outstanding is dimmer switch in master bedroom and relocation of bathroom switches to outside rooms as a safety issue.

One major issue has been a foul smell in the upstairs bathroom and the plumber has has been unable to find the source which also affects the downstairs powder room, the n answer from Mediatrix was to install extractor fans. So I ended up opening up one of the floor drains to prove to the plumber that the smell was coming from the septic tank. He said that was impossible as there was a water trap in the line, so I got him to put his ear to the drain and asked if he could hear dripping water, he replied yes, so therefor the water trap was not working, and I suspect that the trap on the upstairs drain has the same fault.

Glass panels on stairway are still to be installed and many of the windows gaps still need sealing.

Garden landscaping is taking shape and in fact will be completed before house. Garden walls are taking shape, and gates are on order

Landscaping and walls are being carried out by Alex who has a team working daily and seems to be a reliable contractor with some good contacts, we have atonally requested a quotation and design and builds a built in oven housing.

This coming weekend marks my birthday and we are holding a combined House blessing and house warming party so we are keeping our fingers crossed that issues will have been resolved.

Dipolog house and lot for sale
Sell my House

Dipolog house and Lot For Sale

Original Article @ Dipolog house and Lot for Sale

Dipolog house and lot for sale
The final Leg

It has been some time since my last post and it seems we are now in the home straight but missed the target of hand over ant end of January, surprise surprise.

downpipes have been fitted to guttering and plumped into drains. This has greatly reduced the noise during heavy rains, in fact often we do not know its raining apart from the fact that a nearby business premises has a tin roof. Kitchen cabinets have handles and wardrobes have doors.

So that is the good news, water pressure still dogs the issues taking a power shower and, but shower screens have been fitted. Still no hot water after nearly a month. Glass yet to be installed on kitchen cupboards, bar and in Family room. Electrical work outstanding is dimmer switch in master bedroom and relocation of bathroom switches to outside rooms as a safety issue.

Garden landscaping is taking shape and in fact will be completed before house. Still awaiting quotations for garden walls and gates which means dogs have to be tied up all day.

Great Internet connection speed but power outages might be an issues, it seems in Philippines municipal water and power cannot be relied upon.

I had an Australian contact me via Skype for assistance and advise about building a new house near the beach. He is also concerned about electrical issues

Dipolog house and lot for sale
Sell my House