Life
In A Hammock
Living In The East Asian Tropics ~ By Bon
Viveur
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I
love the Tropics, especially Asia and Oceania. My first tropical experience
was Thailand, holidaying away from a well-paid expat job in the Middle
East. First I went to Thailand and later the Philippines.
After the harshness
of the deserts and the dry mountains of Saudi Arabia, the greenery almost
brought tears to my eyes. I found the temperatures mild, 24 to 27 C, compared
to the 40 to 50 degrees C of Middle Eastern summers.
And the people!
No. No hostile dark frowns. Smiles all around; women passing gracefully
by on the street and in the churches. I was hooked after my first
visit. It took a few years more and a yearlong stay in Japan for the idea
to stay permanently in the Far East to take hold of me. A Far Eastern friend
of the female persuasion had much to do with it, I must confess.
Because of
the widespread use of English in the Philippines, where most of the newspapers
are in English, this country with its 7000 islands and party-loving people,
caught my attention. Its praises had been sung to me by my Filipino doctors
and nurses during my stay in the Middle East; and from what I had been
told by my Filipino friends in the Middle East, the best place to live
in the Philippines was the Island of Cebu.
My first trip
to Cebu was in 1980s with a woman who I liked very much, we stayed on a
small island near Cebu - actually the island we stayed on was a bird sanctuary.
During this first visit we snorkeled around the beautiful reefs, spent
the days in the hammock together under coconut trees; we went diving for
sea urchins and dined on freshly caught fish.
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An
overview of Orchid Park.
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When I next
saw the place I had stayed in on my first visit, the typhoon of 1990 had
left only the foundations of our Nipa and bamboo cottage. It had been very
near the sea and had been destroyed during the typhoon. Still it was and
is a great and romantic place (I actually got myself married there later
on--I must tell you the story of the tipsy priest), it is still a place
I want to come back to for many more years. Our marriage witnesses on the
Island were 99 and 100 years old.
How did I come
to decide to give the Philippines a go for long-term residence?
It was a property
in Consolacion that fired my imagination.
At first I
was love struck enough to consider a piece of land in a village far from
the City, I wanted to build a cottage on the beach and call it cloud 9.
I kept that in mind as an option, but I started to look closer to the city
and, especially, closer to the airport. I was fortunate in my timing. The
Marcos regime was nearing its end. The man was sick in body and mind at
that time. Aquino had been assassinated. Confidence was at
an all-time low.
Vendors wanted
to negotiate. I didn't mind making a biggish investment, as long as I knew
I was getting value. Luck had it that a good-sized property in Consolacion
was quietly on the market. I knew about this via my wife.
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The
easiest way to buy property in the Philippines is to give it to your Filipina
wife. Trust. Loyalty. Commitment. Family. These words still have meaning
in the Philippines. They are the part of the Philippines that works.
The downside
of the Philippines is of course the corruption, graft, and nepotism – all
of these things have meaning too. They are what make the country a challenge
for an "amerikano" (all white people are " 'kano's") and Filipinos alike.
In this respect, living in the Philippines is a learning experience, especially
about yourself. The poor people from the villages are generally honest
and can be a pleasure to deal with, especially if you learn to speak Binisaya.
(the language spoken in the Visaya's ).
Like all Malay
people, they can be touchy. Treat them with calm and respect and they will
do everything for you. Show anger or rudeness and they will shy away from
you. Abuse them and you may get killed. Justice does not work very well
if you don't have money, so there is a lot of DIY. You hear about house-helpers
killing a cruel Chinese employer from time to time. The city’s middle class
speaks English and the language of instruction in the schools is English
– at least in Cebu. In Manila, this is not the case and consequently English
is not as well spoken in the capital. One reason why English is so widely
spoken in Cebu is because of the focus on developing software – most software
developers must speak English and Cebu is a leader in software development.
The Philippines
is still a very religious country; it is a catholic country; in that respect
it is unique in Asia - East Timor being the only other country in Asia
to be predominantly catholic. The catholic religion in the Philippines
is a curious and unique blend of Spanish Catholicism, native animism, Chinese
beliefs and Cultism. Cultism is becoming more and more prevalent in the
news, with some cult leaders holding themselves above the law. Even if
you are not religious, give a local church a try anyway. Like in Polynesia,
you cannot know what moves the society if you do not know church-life. |
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For girls,
church is not only the place to pray for a good husband, but also the place
to show yourself off to prospective husbands. It’s a little bit like Bali
with all the unmarried girls sitting dressed-up at temple entrances waiting
to be noticed. If you want to talk with a potentially permanent lady friend,
meet her during or after church. This is a much more solid option than
meeting a Philippine woman in one of the numerous bars. A Cyber café
(of which there about 500) might be another good option, but you may have
to compete with Cyber chat-partners.
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come back to the property I fell in love with. It was just perfect; it
fit my dream of a huge tropical garden: 10,000 sq. meters on a hill overlooking
the highway, but not too close; not far from the city and close to the
airport.
I live in a
municipality of about 30,000 people; small enough to make friends with
the mayor. I have a wall all around my property for privacy and security.
My house is huge, with huge rooms: like the houses I was used to in the
Middle East. There is a gatehouse on the property for one or two families.
I still have space to build as much as I want: first thing I built was
an original round pool and an airy Japanese Rest House and a lot of paved
space to park cars, and a 3-phase Power and an independent water supply
with its own bore and water tower. Here are some pictures of it www.imachination.com/orchidpark
The original
owner of the property was Spanish: he was from a Spanish-colonial family
and had built the house using large slabs of glazed brick from the inside
of glass ovens. The architecture is strong and wide (25x25m), based on
unique stone blocks, ready for the occasional typhoons that hit this far
south. When I walked into the house I loved the cool dark huge interior
right away.
I must tell
you about the strangest thing that happened at the moment we signed the
deal. There was a loud thunderclap that came out of the clear sky; must
have been a meteorite. As an omen it was not bad. We were able to bring
in a Mercedes from Europe, we survived the fall of the Marcos regime and
brought two lovely children into the world, they are growing up in the
most protected and loving environment imaginable: a private tropical garden
with a warm pool and lots of children and helpers from nearby families
– these are people who have plenty of time for each other. We planted the
whole garden with around 400 trees and plants and orchids. We brought in
Hawaiian blue grass for the lawns around the house; the rest of the garden
was grazed for us by two deer-like Balinese cows and their calves. In this
way we also had compost for the young trees. Citrus trees (calamansi) do
well in the limestone soil that is prevalent here. We found some citrus
trees already planted when we bought the property and then had most of
the land planted with them before our larger trees grew bigger. In the
beginning, we grew all sorts of crops between the trees: peanuts, corn
and even tobacco. The Spanish owner had tried his hand at grapes. Between
the calamansi trees we had planted camunggai (drumstick trees). Fast growing
and with edible leaves, ideal for fish-soup. Around these trees is the
place where we have grown our orchids. |
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The
car park at the front of Orchid Park.
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With the first
sprays of orchid flowers hanging in awesome splendor from the camunggai
trees we decided to name our place Orchid Park. We stayed in this Paradise
for 8 years. Life in the hammock and the pool, the Economist every
week, and satellite TV: In this world but not of this world. If you can
afford it, a mid-life break of such proportions could be the best decision
you ever make, especially if you want to raise a new family.
P.S. Orchid
Park is now leased (until July, 2003) to an all-girl costume jewelry manufacturing
company, employing about 120 girls.
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