More about the house

So we finally arrived at the house in Governor's Hills subdivision in General Trias.  We had to bring all our things with us so the tricycle dropped us off in front of the house with two big suitcases and various bags things.  At this point I think our negotiating position was no longer strong.  It really didnt matter because this was the best place for us and the rent is $75/mo.  Really can't beat that.

The house is one room plus bathroom.  I think the size is about 20 by 30 ft.  I like to think about it as like a hotel room.  It is convenient to never have to go from one room to another.   The area here is a subdivision that is only partly built out.  There are lots of vacant houses all around us.  It looks like the builder pours the slab and puts up concrete block walls and a metal ceiling.  Nothing else is done until someone wants to buy the house.  I think the new owner does the rest of the work to make the house livable. We have been able to buy a tv, lr furniture and a wardrobe so we are close to getting it how we want it.

I know this picture is a little blurry (ok, alot blurry) but this is inside the house.

Our New Place in Cavite

When I returned to the Philippines, we had decided that we no longer wanted to live in an urban area such as Taguig. The condo there was pretty nice, but it was on a very busy street, where the traffic never stopped. That road was less than 2 lanes, but there were always heavy trucks, cement trucks, un-muffled Jeepneys, un-muffled motorcycles and street vendors. Also, we were right next to a place where they washed cars and installed (and tested) car alarms.

We talked about going to Baguio, where Leilani is from and which is about a 12 hour bus ride from Manila, but that is up in the mountains and gets cold. Also, she really didn't want to be so far from her family. We talked it over while I was in the US and decided to look in Cavite, which is the province just south of Manila.

Returning here became an adventure. I tried hard to find something on the internet like "Apartment Finders, " but it was not to be found. I found only one place listed on the web, which is where we wound up.

We stayed in a hotel in Manila for a couple days to get things sorted out, so on the second day we headed out for Cavite to look around. I had the ad I had printed out in hand. The transportation was a bus to the mall nearest General Trias, the town where the house is. The mall is called SM Dasmariñas.

Alot of the transportation here in this area is based on the malls. The buses go from mall to mall, while the Jeepneys go from the malls to the smaller towns and each little town has tricycle motorcycles that go from there to the outlying areas. We got waylaid by a agent on the way to see the house and she took us to see another place that was nicer but the rent was more than twice as much. With the expense of the trip to the US, we just couldn't pull together the money.

Dad finally gets to be Sahnta Close