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Hello World! Welcome to My Island Life Blog
Join Us for our Adventures, Island Life, How to Retire in the Philippines


I retired early, we SOLD everything and moved to a tropical island, and we think we found the closest thing to paradise.


MyIslandLifeBlog.com & www.IslandLifeIsAwesome.com 

Why can't I find a 'Bathroom' in public places? What is a 'C.R.'?

11/29/2017

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Most tourists when traveling to the Philippines want to know:
  • Which way to the beach?
  • What time is 'Happy Hour'?
  • Where's is the next Party?
But no-one thinks to ask, 'Where is the nearest Public Bathroom/Toilet?'... until it's to late.

I mean, all of us are going to need to use it.


Imagine...
Imagine your body tells you that you need a toilet in the next 30 seconds but your hotel room is 30 minutes away. Hmmm? This is a conundrum. Therefore, knowing the location of the nearest toilet might be the most important piece of information of your Philippines vacation. Because not knowing could be a lesson in public humiliation.

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No Public 'Bathrooms' in the Philippines?!?
Why aren't there any public bathrooms in the Philippines? Many Filipinos take the term 'bathroom' to mean an area where you will bathe. Instead of bathrooms in the Philippines, we have C.R.s. 

What's a C.R.? 

Here in the Philippines, the bathroom is referred to as the Comfort Room or the CR for short. Using the CR in the Philippines is a very different experience than in the States. Most toilets do not have a seat and are merely a toilet bowl on the floor.

So now you have found the CR. Whew! Ok... I see the toilet  I see a bucket with what looks like a scooper in it. But where is the toilet paper? 

In the Philippines, the Filipino public CRs use what is called the tabo instead of toilet paper to clean the backside area.  

So... What is a Tabo?
A 
tabo is a small bucket, easily held with one hand. It usually has a long handle for easy grip. Most homes in Philippines have no shower and must use a tabo/kabu to bathe. Lucky you. Now you get to bathe your back side using a tabo, and hopefully not getting you clothes completely soaked. Ugh!

Business Complete!... but now I definitely need to wash my hands. 

Hmmm... Where's the soap?
This is common in the public CRs too. More often than not... You will discover no soap to wash your hands after your Tabo experience. What's a person to do? (I'll answer this shortly). 

As you walk out of the CR, you will find an attendant waiting for money. Yes, it costs money to use the Public CR. So be prepared to pay for this unique Filipino experience. 

Solutions to make this experience less traumatic:
  1. Where is the CR? (Saw-on CR?)
  2. Bring or buy toilet tissue (not toilet paper) before you go into the CR.
  3. Bring towlettes & hand-wash with you. Small sachetes can purchased from a local pharmacy.
  4. Have several 5 peso coins in your pocket. Currently it is 5 pesos for 'number 1' or 10 pesos for 'number 2'. My wife says if you are in there longer than what could be a simple 'number 1' then you are going to get charged for the 'number 2'. ​

I hope what I learned will benefit you on your future travels to the Philippines. Please share with someone who will appreciate this story. 
Tags: what is a CR? traveling in the Philippines. Visiting the philippines. Vacation in the philippines. Philippines public toilet. written by James G Pasden Greg Pasden
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Our Date out in Manila - Cost of Living in the Philippines

11/29/2017

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Cost of Living - Date Night & the Cost of a Date
Going on a date is can be expensive to affordable, depending on what you have planned. Many of my friends, family and colleagues tell me horror stories about how expensive a simple date can be in the USA. Yes, incomes are higher in the USA, but so are the costs. To illustrate this, I wanted to add a segment to our website about the 'Cost of Living' and what we are paying for our daily and monthly expenses. Maybe this will help many of you who are considering vacations, get aways, retirement, or that special day with the person you love the most.

This weekend, I took Rose out for a date in Manila - the nation's capital. We had to do some business in Manila, so while we were in town, I wanted to treat my lovely wife to a special day. So I asked her if she would enjoy a date that Friday. 'Of course! What will we do?'
'You'll see. I have a full day planned after you complete your meeting in the morning'

What our date included?
Obviously we had to fly from our home on Tablas Island to Manila, and we booked our stay in the Shell Residence condominium. (The cost of the flight and our stay in the condo should not really be included in the cost of the date  but I want to share it with you so you can see how affordable it is to live in the Philippines).

Our date included lunch, a movie (Justice League), a walk holding each other's hand, dinner with wine and at a table by the bay to watch the sunset, Friday evening fireworks  by the bay, and sharing 3 scoops of ice-cream in a French cafe. 

What is the cost for our nice date in Manila?
  • Airfare (round trip) for 2 - US$197 for both of us
  • Condo for 1 night - US$49 (use the AirBnB coupon to your right)
  • Lunch for 2 in a Turkish cafe - US$9
  • Movie for 2 - $11.50
  • Dinner by the ocean with wine and fresh sea food - US$24 (with a discount card)
  • Ice Cream - 3 scoops (mint chocolate chip, cappuccino, hazelnut) - US$1.80
  • Walking hand-in-hand & enjoying the fireworks - no charge. 
​
When you exclude the cost of the airfare and the condo, the cost of our day was only US$47 (remember, this is in the nation's capital city). For what we got to enjoy, I think this is a bargain, and I plan on treating Rose like this often. 

Side Note - We found the cost to stay in a condo to be much better than in many of the hotels. We do suggest that when you use AirBnB for your next stay that you select places that have good reviews, and they are near points of interest (we use the reviews and the map feature to help us select the condos and homes we stay in). AirBnB is 1 of our sponsors. Give AirBnB a try.
tags: philippines, manila, tablas island, cost of living in the philippines, our date in manila, our date in the Philippines, philippines activities,  written by Greg Pasden James G. Pasden
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How I got my Bank Account Hacked & How to Avoid It

11/22/2017

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AnchorFree Hotspot Shield Elite VPN

How I got my Bank Account Hacked 
Have I ever mentioned that I despise hackers? If not, then let me go on record and say that I despise hackers. Why? Well, I got hacked, and I ended up losing lots of money from our bank account, as well as getting several other accounts hacked.

​HOW?
Have you ever:
  • purchased anything online?
  • paid bills online?
  • checked your bank account online?
I have done all of the above. And I happened to be using my cell phone (the 1st time, and Wifi (the 2nd time). I mean, I thought using my cell phone & Wifi was secure and safe. WRONG! Unknown to me, I learned the hard way that there are 1000's of hackers lurking and waiting to take advantage of innocent people who are using their laptops and their cellphones. 
NOTE: Getting hacked can even happen if you are not using Wifi (LTE, Broadband, cellular service, 3G).
Getting Hacked is Getting Robbed, and it concerned my family and me. For my safety, my families safety and our financial future. Malicious hacking can happen anytime we use the internet from public/home WiFi, our smart phones, and our computers. (I will share the SOLUTION later in my writing).

To solve the problem of malicious Hacking, I began searching for a solution to keep our personal information, our financial information, our social media and our privacy secure any time we are on our cell phone, or our computer. 

SOLUTION
With the help of a friend (a communications expert, and former U.S. military intelligence officer) we found a top internet security application that allows us to use the internet safely. 


I hope you never get Hacked. It is very stressful and financially painful. To see what we found to prevent this from happening again, take a look at below AnchorFee HotSpot Shield. It might save you from losing your Life's Savings and keep your Life secure.

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WARNING - How to protect yourself online. How to protect your family online. How to Protect your privacy online. How to avoid getting hacked. Avoid the cost of Financial Loss & Stress How to protect yourself online. How to protect your family online. How to Protect your privacy online. How to avoid getting hacked. VPN for MAC. VPN for Windows. VPN for iPhone. VPN for iPad. VPN for Android. Best VPN for China. Best VPN against Hackers. Bank Account Security. 
written by Greg Pasden (James G. Pasden)
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