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Bump to baby on the beaten expat track

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Having a baby in Manila vs. Having a baby in Bangkok (for expatriates)

10 August 2013 by Nathalie Abejero 4 Comments

Saoirse Inés Abejero Kelly

… continued from Part I. Our first child was born in Bangkok’s Samitivej Hospital in January 2011, which I wrote about here. Our second was born in St Luke’s Medical Center, Taguig, Manila, in March 2013. Below is our experience in both countries.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, airlines restrict travel at 35 weeks 1 day gestation. Living costs have to be calculated from five weeks before the estimated due date, through the birth, and the time it takes to finalize the paperwork to clear you for exiting the country with the baby. Bureaucratic coordination is a tremendous help to medical tourists – particularly for births. Our overall experience:

  • Bangkok‘s medical tourism industry is exceptionally efficient. Bureaucratic requirements for the birth through your baby’s exit clearance are transparent right from the beginning. It’s possible to plan ahead, budget properly, and concentrate on the birth. Hospital staff handled the paperwork and coordination across government departments on your behalf until you leave the country. We were able to go home when our son was 10 days old.
  • Manila was the complete opposite, with inefficiency at every office, in a process that is not transparent. Information for foreigners coming to the Philippines to have a baby was sparse, with different people in the same hospital/government office offering conflicting information, and unfair fines levied (which we paid in order to move the process). The coordination required to secure our daughter’s documents (1) within the hospital, then (2)(3) from the hospital to/between the different government departments, was worse than poor. We were finally cleared to leave the country after 74 days.

Nursing care is a big factor  [Read more…] about Having a baby in Manila vs. Having a baby in Bangkok (for expatriates)

Filed Under: Life, Travels Tagged With: Bangkok, birth experience, birth tourism, expatriate, expatriate having a baby in Thailand, expatriate having a baby in the Philippines, expatriate life, giving birth in Bangkok, Giving birth in Manila, having a baby in Bangkok, having a baby in Manila, Manila, maternity package, medical tourism, Metro Manila, Philippines, Thailand

Giving birth in Manila vs Giving birth in Bangkok (for expatriates)

16 June 2013 by Nathalie Abejero 4 Comments

CAM00022

As many of you know, most foreigners working in Cambodia and its neighboring countries fly to Bangkok for medical procedures. We chose to have our baby in Bangkok, Thailand, in January 2011, which I wrote about here on resources for foreigners. Due to airline policies we flew to Bangkok at 35 weeks gestation (they don’t want women having a baby while on board). This is a substantial amount of time away from work, so a speedy return back after the birth is ideal. Thanks to the extremely efficient medical tourism industry, we were able to leave Thailand with the baby an astonishing 10 days after birth. The official birth certificate, US passport, and exit clearance were all secured very quickly and painlessly. All engagement with government bureaucracy was expertly facilitated by a hospital representative. We spent two months, tops, in Bangkok.

This time around, for our second child’s birth, we decided to go to the Philippines. It took a week before the hospital sent Saoirse’s birth documents to the local registrar’s office. It took around four weeks before the National Statistics Office (NSO) released an official copy of her birth certificate (after we paid a fee to expedite the process). We secured an interview to report the birth abroad at the US Embassy two weeks later. After three weeks her passport was couriered to us. Finally, after some paperwork and lots of fees, the Bureau of Immigration gave us our daughter’s exit clearance. Compared to 10 days in Thailand, in the Philippines it took 74 days after birth before we were able to leave the country. We were in Manila nearly four months.

At least this was in a country where we had family, so the extremely long stay didn’t feel like an imprisonment. I wasn’t necessarily in a rush to get back to work, but it was stressful to wade through so much bureaucracy. The worst part is that it seemed as if few to no other Americans/foreigners have ever gone through it before! I assumed that with the medical caliber there, it would be one of the main medical destinations for foreign aid workers, diplomats and other expatriates working in the pacific island countries. Clearly not?!

I’ll be posting more about our experience being a medical tourist (having a baby as well as other medical procedures) in Manila and in Bangkok.

Anyway.. our little girl is “home” now. She was a trooper for her first flights (Manila to Singapore, then Singapore to Phnom Penh), sleeping through most of the travel while Tristan, now 27 months, was the one who kept us on our toes with his incessant need to run, touch everything, and tantrum every 15 minutes of the flight to Phnom Penh!

 

Other posts on this topic:

Maternity package rates at Bumrungrad (Bangkok) and St Luke’s hospital (Manila) Sept 28, 2013

Bumrungrad Hospital in pictures Sept 28, 2013

Having a baby in Manila vs. Having a baby in Bangkok (for expatriates) Aug 10, 2013

Living in Phnom Penh, Having a baby in Bangkok Feb 20, 2011

 

Filed Under: Life, Travels Tagged With: Bangkok, birth tourism, expatriate, expatriate having a baby in Manila, expatriate having a baby in the Philippines, expatriate life, Giving birth, Having a baby abroad, having a baby in Manila, having a baby in the Philippines, Manila, maternity package, medical tourism, Philippines, Thailand

Filipino food: Arce Dairy has got the BEST tropical ice cream flavors

15 June 2013 by Nathalie Abejero Leave a Comment

I love ice cream. One of the things I was looking forward to most when I went back to Manila after being away for over 20 years is  the ice cream. Mango, ube (purple yam), macapuno (a type of mutant coconut with soft meat inside instead of water), atis (sugar apple), nanca (jackfruit), pinipig (pounded glutinous rice) – just to name a few of the more interesting tropical flavors. Back when I was a kid there the brand to get was Magnolia, but the line seems to have faded a bit. Towards the end of our stay in Manila I had to binge on this one premium brand, Arce Dairy. It’s less sweet but packs a denser taste than other brands cuz (or so I’m told) it’s made with carabao milk and more natural ingredients.

Arce Dairy Ice Cream
Photo from www.fewsimplethoughts.com

 

Filed Under: Life, Travels Tagged With: Arce Dairy, atis, Filipino food, ice cream, ice cream flavors, macapuno, mango, Manila, nanca, Philippines, pinipig, tropical ice cream flavor, ube

a new baby

3 April 2013 by Nathalie Abejero Leave a Comment

Mum and Papa are in love. Her Kuya is not. He’s less than thrilled with the little bundle, but he’s resigned himself to the fact that she’s sticking around so he finds ways to bond with her… :-)

Saoirse Inés Abejero Kelly

Saoirse Inés Abejero Kelly

_MG_5400

Tristan Quinn Abejero Kelly

Filed Under: Life Tagged With: baby, medical tourism, Metro Manila, newborn, Philippines, St. Luke's Medical Center, Taguig

Filipino food: Mango Bene and Hot Tsokolate

21 March 2013 by Nathalie Abejero Leave a Comment

I’m not into sweets so much, but I love love LOVE mangoes, especially the sweet Philippine varieties. Someone made this dessert at a family event and my son didn’t finish his so, thanks to my habit of polishing off his leftovers, I discovered this great dessert, Mango Bene. (If you are looking for a recipe try searching for Mango Float). This one below is from Mary Grace, a great cafe chain in Manila. It consists of layers of meringue, homemade cream and sweet mango slices in between, and is served frozen at this cafe. At my family gathering it wasn’t served frozen, and I thought it was perfect for the hot summer day in the province.

Whenever we had Mango Bene, I had to order a cup of traditional tsokolate too. If at home we drop a couple of tsokolate tablets into a small cup of hot water and milk. Perfect combo!

Mango Bene from Mary Grace Cafe

Hot Chocolate (Tsokolate) Philippino style!

Filed Under: Life, Travels Tagged With: Filipino dessert, Filipino food, hot chocolate, Mango Bene, Mango float, Manila, Mary Grace Cafe, Philippines, tsokolate

Tropical Fruits in the Philippines

10 March 2013 by Nathalie Abejero Leave a Comment

I ate so many fruits while I was there. If I never eat another mango again, I know I’ll have eaten the sweetest, most buttery melt-in-your-mouth mangoes on the planet, in the Philippines.

Chesa, the two more orange fruits next to the guyabana (green prickly-skin fruit), is grown from an evergreen tree native to Mexico and South America but now cultivated across Asia. It’s in the same genus as Cambodia’s Lamut, which is smaller and browner. Sri Lankans call their varieties laulu/lavulu/lawalu. Another variety that may have a more familiar ring to English speakers is Sapodilla.

Guyabana is a fruit in the Annona genus in the pawpaw/sugar apple family, which I believe is native to the Andes but now cultivated in many countries that don’t get too cold (correct me if I’m wrong!). Similar fruits from the genus are called Tiep in Cambodia, Atis in the Philippines, Annona in Guatemala. I’ve heard other species called Soursop, Cherimoya, Custard Apple. Apparently many species in this genus have important agricultural, medicinal and pharmaceutical uses.

Photos are courtesy of Keith Kelly.

Plate of fruit
Mangoes, Chesas, Guyabana
Chesa
Chesa, cut.
Chesa
Chesa half, close-up.

And here’s another pungent fruit from the tropics, mabolo. This one is native to the Philippines. It grows from a tree called kamagong, which is sought-after for its unique dark characteristics. I’m used to durian, jackfruit and other foul-smelling fruit and not averse to trying them despite the off-putting aroma, but this one is an exception. The outer skin is red and has the fuzzy texture of velvet – I’ve been told to wash it very well or your skin will itch where it came to contact with the skin of this fruit. I can’t find reference to that, though. When cut open it has the texture and feel of apple, but a bit more creamy. The ones we had was a bit bland, so I was not very impressed.

Mabolo
Mabolo

Filed Under: Life Tagged With: annona, atis, cherimoya, chesa, custard apple, Filipino food, Filipino fruit, guyabana, kamagong, lamut, laulu, Mabolo, mango, Philippines, pungent fruit, sapodilla, soursop, tiep

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