Getting Out

With the situation in the West getting worse and worse for free thinkers, more and more are looking to get out. I wouldn’t claim to be an expert on alternative countries to resettle, but I can enlarge on the little I know, mainly through personal experience. At the outset I feel I must stress, you aren’t too poor and you aren’t too old to find a paradise out there in the Jungle that is just waiting for you. So do it now, before it’s too late!

Russia

The recent Russian offer is perhaps the most intriguing on the table right now. President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree allowing foreign citizens and stateless individuals to apply for temporary residency in Russia, which is the first step toward obtaining permanent residency and, eventually, Russian citizenship. The decree removes the need for applicants to prove their knowledge of the Russian language, history, or laws. It is aimed at those who share what the Russian government describes as “traditional Russian spiritual and moral values.” It offers a refuge for individuals who feel disillusioned with the policies of their own countries, particularly those influenced by Western neoliberal ideologies.

Cost of living?

Single person: estimated monthly costs are $503.9 (approx Rs 42,302) without rent.

Family of four: estimated monthly costs are $1,758.3 (approx Rs 147,609) without rent.

The cost of living is on average 58.5% lower than in the United States.

Rent: on average, 77.0% lower than in the United States.

I read somewhere that they will apparently give you land free of charge but cannot confirm that. It was in Siberia so you might want to go somewhere else in the winter!

Hong Kong

If Russia doesn’t appeal, then particularly for British passport holders the very best option seems to be Hong Kong. English is still widely spoken and a British passport holder gets six months’ stay on arrival (but US, Europe, Australia, Canada and New Zealand passport holders can get 90 days), and if you need to renew it, just take a day trip to Macau and start again.

It has to be said that living costs, particularly housing, are steep in the most frequented parts, but there are alternatives. My particular experience is with the outer island of Cheung Chau which is a quiet, lower cost, traffic–free little paradise with a wonderful beach, sea warm enough to swim all year round, shops for most everyday requirements, a hospital, plenty of bars and restaurants, and just 35 minutes by fast, cheap ferry from the centre. A complete contrast to Hong Kong proper, with few buildings over three storeys.

My company bought a little apartment there many years ago, the value went up for a while but has been static or falling since 2020. It is very small, 350 square feet (32.5 square metres) but still manages to have two bedrooms, a bathroom, kitchen and living area, air conditioned, now valued at HKD 2.5 million: that’s $320,000 or GBP 240,000. If you can’t manage that, you can find one like it to rent, ours is now HKD 5,800 a month, $750, GBP 550 (which is less now than when we bought it). It’s a short walk from the ferry: well everywhere is, really.

Here’s the apartment. One minute ten seconds.

Cheung Chau would be my choice today for a second home, but my wife as a Chinese citizen can get a visa for Hong Kong for only one week at a time. I can only repeat that it is a little paradise with almost all year round summer — there is a brief cooler spell in winter. Here is a two minute glimpse from a few years ago taken during the annual Bun Festival when the population doubles.

Lamma, a nearby island, is similar and was a firm expat choice for many years, I paid many visits there early on before finding Cheung Chau more convenient in many respects. Well, take a look, and see for yourselves!

It’s an hour by ferry from Hong Kong Central to Shekou port in Shenzhen, and short visits are now enabled to China for many nationalities by Visa On Arrival.

I think I will do a longer piece soon on life in Hong Kong today. The feel of the culture is still surprisingly different from the mainland even after 27 years reunion.

Mainland China

Before I turn to what we actually chose for a second home, I will deal with Mainland China. China is our main home and it provides a wonderful living experience. Virtually no crime, the best public transport system in the world with frequent MTRs in cities and 350 kph trains connecting everywhere, no homeless camping in the streets, most traffic now electric meaning clean air and quiet cities, all overseen by a government that actually works for the benefit of the people.

We used to live in the historic location of Shekou in Shenzhen where China’s Reform and Opening began in 1978, when China Merchants, long exiled to Hong Kong, leased just two square kilometres on the Shekou Peninsula and kicked it all off there. Although many westerners have left in recent years, Shekou is still a major expat redoubt centred in the Sea World leisure complex with restaurants of many nationalities, bars with live music from Filipino bands, and residential areas such as Rose Garden and Sea Taste nearby. It’s lost the raw, exciting wild west spirit of ten to twenty years ago, but I still cannot recommend it too highly: but how do you get to live there?

Simply put, you’ll need a job. And most likely, a qualification. Some years ago there was a mass exodus of unqualified teachers when the government tightened up, some of the affected pathetic souls now try to eke a living slandering China on YouTube. But I am sure there is still a demand for qualified English speaking teachers, which is probably the most promising route - there are reckoned to be 20 international schools in Shenzhen alone, you can find them easily on line. But this I think is only going to work if you are single, otherwise your spouse would need a complicated visa existence. If you are male and single, get settled in, and before you are approaching retirement age, better get a Chinese wife and then you can swap your work visa for a family one! There are plenty of attractive Chinese divorcees who left their husbands because they got beaten by them or were otherwise mistreated, looking for a compassionate foreigner.

I have a video of Shekou in the series A Stranger in a Strange Land, I actually subtitled it Paradise Lost! - but I’ll save that for another day.

The Philippines

Out here, the next best all round option must be the Philippines. If you have a decent pension, then a deposit of $10,000 will secure a lifetime residence permit which extends to your spouse and children, otherwise it’s $20,000. It is called the Special Residence Retirement Visa (SRRV) and it is what my wife and I have. You will be living in a country where the peso is so weak that in PPP terms your money is worth three times what you’d expect (58 to the dollar, PPP is 19).

You can’t buy a house but you can buy an inexpensive apartment. Summer all year round, English widely spoken, white beaches, blue coral seas, 7,000 islands. What’s not to like? Well, it’s the world number one target for earthquakes, volcanoes and typhoons. The latter queue up in the south Pacific and wend their way one after the other from the south east across to the north west, so the location of choice must be the southern end of the most beautiful island, which is Palawan in the far west. Puerto Princesa is a lively, well kept town (in marked contrast to most of the Philippines), the capital of Palawan, with a port and an airport. Brooke’s Point is a very attractive small town further on down.

I have a vast selection of videos from the Philippines and I thought I might have some difficulty choosing just one, then this clip leapt out at me, I think you’ll get the picture! Angeles City. Just one minute, seventeen seconds.

A problem which has reared up for us in the past two years with the presidency of the son of one of Philippine’s erstwhile dictators is a swing from neutrality to being fully under the thumb of the United States with increasing militarisation and mounting Sinophobia. When asked, my wife says that she is Taiwanese. Officially there are nine US bases (including four new ones now being arranged, one at Balabac island, the furthest point south of Palawan) but a while ago in a pub in Princesa there was a bunch of GIs a very long way off from any of them. Apparently as we were told there are two more just up the road, under the radar, handy for the Spratly islands off the west coast of the islands, where the USA is stirring up trouble with China.

https://waltking.substack.com/p/the-philippines-the-next-ukraine

So the Chinese now cannot obtain visitor visas, and we cannot entertain many friends or the extended family — my wife has no such difficulty now with the SRRV and probably, unless you have a Chinese passport, neither will you. It’s a long way to the next election, 2028, when hopefully Sara Duterte will take over, but I have just read of a poll saying that 7 out of 10 voters would not support a pro-China candidate today, and Sara seems to have lost her mind, threatening to dig up Marcos Sr’s remains and toss them in the ocean. I may not last that long, so the next best option at least for us would be Malaysia, preferably East Malaysia, so let’s wind up there.

East Malaysia (Sabah and Sarawak)

We have explored East and West Malaysia, and apart from the delightful town of Melaka (Malacca) on the main (West) region, our preference is firmly with the eastern provinces on the island of Borneo which is shared with Brunei and Indonesia. These are Sabah and Sarawak, open to all unless you are Israeli, then they won’t let you in at all! In fact all of Malaysia is a superbly well ordered and civilised country which puts the fascist West to shame.

All Malaysia offers various versions of the MM2H, My Malaysian Second Home. But be aware that the monetary requirements are substantial, I think a deposit of up to $70,000 is needed everywhere, less for a single person, it would be tedious to elaborate now because West Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak all have variations on the basic plan, in fact they act in some respects as different countries, you need to go through immigration when passing from one to another! But it is important to realise that that money is still yours, you just have to maintain the minimum balance in an account in your name.

The atmosphere is very relaxed, English widely spoken (a former British colony). You may wear your Free Palestine T shirt there with no fear of being arrested (in fact you will get thumbs up from passers by). The only drawback is that it can be a little hard sometimes to find a drinkie - it is mainly Muslim although with large Chinese populations - but alcohol is not illegal, some outlets just prefer not to serve it, so you may just have to search a bit in some areas. Strangely it was most difficult on Langkawi island which is supposed to be a tourist magnet.

Here we go to the west side of Sabah, based around Kota Kinabalu. Thirty minutes.

Here we briefly go back to Kota Kinabalu and then across to the east side of Sabah, based at Sandakan: sorry a bit long, 54 minutes. If you watch nothing else, at least view the release of baby turtles on Turtle Island at 24.20.

Miri, Sarawak. Seven minutes.

I think the best choice would be to go for Sarawak: the financial requirements are less than the others, but you still get visa free access to the rest of Malaysia. You just have to spend at least 30 days a year in Sarawak.

More, perhaps, next year!

Auschwitz: six facts, and seven questions

“A masterpiece”.

Spreading the word. Now on the Unz Report:

https://www.unz.com/article/auschwitz-six-facts-and-seven-questions/#new_comments

On Substack:

Approaching 6,000 reads, 27 restacks.

https://waltking.substack.com/p/auschwitz-six-facts-and-seven-questions