Adrian’s Intro
Hi, I’m Adrian, a 60 year old British guy, until recently living in Cyprus - but I relocated permanently to Dumaguete in the central Philippines late August 2009.
I am a website designer, working from home for the past dozen years or so. I liked the warm climate in Cyprus, but the cost of living there has gone up 25% over the past year or so, mainly due to rising prices since Cyprus adopted the Euro as its currency in Jan 2008 - and the falling value of the pound against the Euro over the past year has doubled the effect.
I visited the Philippines twice before my relocation and saw a little of Manila, plus Angeles City, Subic Bay and Cebu. I fear that go-go bars were my main focus, no museums or ancient monuments were visited! Such is the life a single man leads - when he can!
My wonderful trip to the Philippines was greatly assisted by the MessageBoard section of www.asianescapades.com (membership site). I was able to converse with many members on the AE site, who helped me fine-tune my strategies. I met up with some of these reprobates when visiting Angeles City and was able to thank them for their invaluable coaching help. Anyone considering similar adventures would learn a great deal from checking out the info on these sites first.
The name of this website comes from the use of the slang term sometimes used for Filipinos - ‘Flip Flops’. I don’t believe it’s at all derogatory and stands alongside terms like ‘Paddy’ and ‘Jock’ in British terms. I found them to be a very warm and welcoming people, always smiling, despite living in conditions we westerners would find simply unacceptable..
So, let’s get the show on the road … after 4 months of careful planning I was off to “pay 4 play” in the Philippines, initial route was Cyprus – Dubai – Manila – Cebu. You’ll get best value by following my journey in date order - reading the text is of course optional, but I think it adds lots of colour and perspective to the photos. Click here to start.
