Let me tell you about my decision to move from the comfort and safety of my apartment in the United States for a third world country in Asia. ( The Philippines )

I had a fairly successful internet business in California that was pretty much on auto pilot and producing monthly income that would allow me to live comfortably anywhere in the world. All I needed was an internet connection and a few hours a week to manage the business and do some updates to my web sites. So that left almost any country I wanted to live in available to me.

I decided to move the Philippines. I had lived in the country with my father about 10 years earlier and enjoyed my time there. The people are very friendly and there are many fun places to visit and take in the culture and attractions the country offers.

I put everything I owned in storage and got my plane ticket to leave the United States. It took me 3 weeks from the time I thought about going back to the time I stepped off the plane at Ninoy Aquino International airport in Manila. My friend has a travel agency in Manila so I booked my traveling arrangements through his company.

Once I got through customs I had arranged for the hotel car to pick me up so I just looked for the guy holding up a sign with my name on it and off we went to the hotel. At that time I had to stay in a hotel but I planned on staying a long time, so during the next few weeks I spent a lot of time looking for an apartment to rent.

After about 2 weeks of looking for a place to stay I finally settled into my apartment in Makati, witch is the business capital of the Philippines I used a rental broker that basically drove me around the city to different apartments that I wanted to look at. It is a free service, the broker just gets a commission from the Unit owner for finding somebody to lease there unit.

I have happily lived here for 5 years now and currently looking to try and start a business in manila as my savings has been depleted and my former Internet business in the United States is no longer operational.

Living in this country has been very enjoyable, from the friendly people to the beautiful places to see in this tropical country. I highly recommend to anybody that they visit the Philippines and it is the 3rd largest English speaking country in the world so you seldom have trouble finding somebody that wont understand you.

Some of the things you can do if you plan to vacation or live here are.

1. Scuba Diving
2. Surfing
3. Night Life ( Lots of lovely girls in this country )
4. Back Packing
5. Mountain Climbing

Most people come here to visit one of the many beach resorts on Luzon or one of the many surrounding islands. There are over 7,000 islands in the country. The most popular places are:

Borakay:
The most popular beach island for tourist wanting fun and sun. Borakay has the most beautiful white sandy beaches I have ever seen, there is a lot of night life and water sports available. If in manila there are domestic flights that will take you to borakay. The flight is approximately 1:30

Puerto Galera:
This Is a beautiful place with nice coves and wonderful views of the coral reef. Most of the resorts here cater to scuba diving enthusiasts. They do have beaches and you can always go swimming or rent a jet ski, but the main goal of this peaceful area is to help people go scuba diving. I have been scuba diving there many times and it is very fun, if your a beginner they have PADI dive courses available that will have you explore the underwater world in only a few days. To get to Puerto Galera from Manila you would take a scheduled bus ride that is about 4 hours long, once the bus stops you then board the SEACAT ferry that will take you to Puerto Galera. The boat ride is very relaxing and drinks are served.

I'm sure you will enjoy your time in the Philippines just like I have.

J.P. Miller is a freelance writer and web site promoter. I dont currently have a web site http://hastravel.com/. If your looking to travel to the Philippines or Asia, you might want to take a look at my friends travel service Philippine Travel Agent - They are a full service agency that will help make your travel in asia more enjoyible.