hey what's up everybody I am going live here in dumag and I just wanted to do a welcome video thank all the new subscribers from Mike's Philippine retirement shout out to Mike and from Old Dog New Tricks Paul
shout out to Paul both of these gentlemen have been incredible mentors to me me in a very short time both uh so yeah I think the timer reset I'll go ahead and repeat what I just said welcome welcome
um so first off I want to thank everybody and welcome everybody who is coming from Mike uh Mike's Philippine retirement and then also old dog new tricks I owe a great deal of thanks to both Mike and Paul
for collaborating with me they both have a lot of insight and I see both of them as fantastic mentors for myself they've both been very selfless and generous with not only collaborating with me but also the Insight behind
the scenes they've shared a lot with me that I feel like I'll carry with me for the duration of my time here on YouTube it's it's just uh the amount of analysis and thought and effort that they put
into their channels is just it's brilliant I mean I I have such a deep appreciation for the craft and I think that the things that I'm learning from me will help me to elevate the content that I bring
to you all as my audience so um yes and thank you so much Tony Tony has been a great supporter of the channel for a long time now and really appreciate his encouragement um how are you doing today
Tony it's uh it's Monday morning for you it's um it's the start of the week I'm U got an interview in about two and a half hours with a fintech company but uh yeah just um aside from that
you know nothing major really just trying to focus on the channel I've got an interview I recorded with Paul that I'll probably edit tomorrow probably tomorrow I'll go to Tom and Tom's Cafe and um and then I've got
another one with some uh some young folks I ran into who are cosplayers on the Boulevard in dag Getti so they actually dress up as anime characters and I just had to approach them so I chatt with them
for about 20 minutes really talented young folks and uh so yeah the the one I did with Paul um that'll probably come out probably Thursday because I put out the one with Mike tonight I'd like to give that
a few days and then the one with the cosplayers I'll try to have it done by Sunday yeah thank you so much Tony I Paul is just an incredible Storyteller the kind of way I differentiate Mike and Paul
is that Mike is really fantastic at creating what I call the howto guide if you want a stepbystep assessment of how to go from you know being in the United States or North America Canada like it's in your
case Tony uh or you know perhaps you're in the UK um Australia New Zealand you know Mike's got this he comes from like a a really interesting background and he has this really great way and I think a
lot of his Insight could apply to a lot of different countries so obviously he's chosen the Philippines but I think a person could apply the same methodology to um to a lot of different expad destinations and then you
know with Paul he's just got this really great storytelling ability um he just has a way of creating this narrative and we actually sat down for several hours and uh you know really got to know each other because
I actually reached out to Paul about five five years ago it's I think it's really surprising for uh Paul because he's obviously he's talked to a lot of people um but you know I saw him sort of land
in the Philippines and really start his channel and it's been incredible to watch his progression since then I've seen him go from frankly being a bit Haggard right run down worn down he had a lot of challenges that
he's discussed in past videos and you know he's just got such a warm kind of vibe these days that you can tell he's really overcome a lot and he's improved his um his happiness and so uh now somebody
said these guys aren't Saints I will never come on here and tell you oh this Mike he's a saint or oh this Paul he's a saint I don't see them that way I I think that what they are
are two guys who managed to overcome a lot of challenges in their lives and that if a person who's dealing with their own challenges in the west watches them um then they'll get some kind of insight from how
to overcome their own challenges um I don't look at their channels as uh you know what's the word showing these two guys with perfect lives I I think it's two guys who had challenges and they're just examples right
I'm going to be me uh meeting with several other vloggers in the next couple of weeks um but yeah just uh let's see last part of that interview discussing the therapeutic aspects oh by the way we've got four
viewers on here um everyone feel free to chime in and share your thoughts or questions or comments and not just on the interview that I had with um you know with them but also or the interviews I had
with them but also just in general I'm I'm all open to uh whatever the audience would like to discuss so I'll I'll tie back into Tony's comment here discussing the therapeutic aspects of the Philippines finding a community Fellowship
becoming visible and affirmed as a person by the social as aspect of the Philippines yeah I mean for me here I can get as little socializing as I want or as much as I want if I'm in the
mood for Less um it'll be a day that I'll just spend more at my place here I could interact a bit with my host family here very very sweet lady Wanita here I'd like to interview her now I
have to ask I haven't brought up the idea to her but she's just such a strong person I mean she is she's just a strong person and she's been very honest with me and very kind and and um
very warm um in some ways kind of a mother figure if I'm being transparent uh just a sweet lady but even if she doesn't I'll brag on her a bit um so yeah if I want just a chill
day I could just chill here and hang out here and it's uh you know it's just a really laid-back environment but now if I'm craving more uh I can walk up the road to D and in D there's
some great pizza places I I tried one of them there's of course some nice restaurants as well there's this almost like Carnival I walk by so that's a little bit that's a little bit more right I can interact
a bit with the staff at these places but um maybe I I don't see somebody I recognize because I don't spend as much time in D now if I'm wanting another step up I go down to the Boulevard
and do meete and we can why don't to pull up a map here just to give you guys a sense of where I'm talking about yeah so um here's the boulevard if you ever hear about dumag vloggers talking
about the boulevard it's generally they're talking about Ral Boulevard uh you've got quite a few nice restaurants up and down the strip I'm a fan of this spot SS Revol beastro it's really reasonable I mean we're talking uh
they have a great like kind of combination meal where you get an entree a drink and dessert and a soup or salad for 280 pesos so about $5 to have their combination it gets you a little bit of
everything uh but the nicer part to me even more so than the restaurants which are good is just walking up and down this Boulevard and um they've got this nice Park here this parklet it's a little bit hard
to yeah so they've got here they've got like people that set up and play chess uh they've got a lot of different mostly local people uh during the week you got some some expats and foreigners but then on
the weekend it really um it's really a lively scene you see tons of people down there I think they're out there even until midnight I usually ramp up around 10 p.m. uh it's like usually a half hour ride
back to my place and by then I'm pretty much ready to to go to bed but it's such a nice Community setting I mean I just meet person after person after person and I can just talk to anybody
um even if it's just simple hello I try to greet people and people smile and the social scene is just incredible it's like nothing I've ever experienced anywhere in the world you know it's there's a lot of compromise
scenes throughout the Philippines but dag Getti is definitely up there as far as uh offering opportunities to socialize uh thank you for catching that Tony I'm I'm sorry to hear about the screen being black um but thank you
so much for calling that out it's it's definitely good to know um oh hey Captain trucker welcome welcome uh shout out to Captain trucker if anybody is not familiar check out his channel he is an American uh and
he's got some strong he's got a he's got a great Channel I a huge fan of Captain trucker it's funny trucker but actually I mentioned your channel to several vloggers here and dagate and they're familiar and they watch
your channel uh so yeah Trucker's got a lot of original content he's got a different perspective I think that's partly why his channel is growing so fast definitely recommend his channel he's got oh trucker I did want to
call something out I have had some issues with PayPal I greatly appreciate the support that you've uh provided to me um I may have to to link with you and ask you to cancel that one and and share
my venmo with you because um I've just had some issues with PayPal I've actually probably got a Callum tonight to try to get it unblocked it's they're a little bit overzealous uh in my experience um yeah yeah I
think a lot of people are familiar with your channel even though I think you're you're not as dag Getti focused right there's a lot of guys that dag Getti is their total area of focus they live eat breathe
do meete then uh I think what people find refreshing actually trucker is that you're not a dumag Getti vlogger so if you're uh you know if you're a person who's vlogging dumag Getti you've got a bunch of other
people that you're competing with where for you then um uh it's you know you're doing I don't want to say more original content because I think everybody's got their own take on dumag but there's less overlap right I
mean if somebody maybe they've got a couple of guys they watch from dumag Getti they're not looking to add more to that uh rotation then they've got your channel and yeah trucker is like wholesome and um he's also
got the tie of having a Filipino son and I think it's um yeah I I I think he's great I think if you're looking for interest in content check out trucker so um yeah definitely trucker and there's some
potential for interesting collaboration I mean I know um you're starting to kind of Branch into collaboration but I think that there's several guys here who would have some interesting uh synergies with you and your Insight and your perspective
uh yeah I've got a couple more on the radar um oh wow for okay great great yeah great to see you also recommend checking out a foreigner asking question questions in the Philippines yeah that's one of the people
Captain trucker uh that mentioned that he's a a fan your channel um yeah yeah it's uh trucker is ba for sure um but yeah Tony I mean I definitely definitely agree with the affirmations that you experience here in
the Philippines it's just uh it's such a community-minded place where like everybody is included it's you know it's such an inclusive environment and um you know coming from like the Burning Man World which to me at times seem
to become more and more elitist um even though inclusivity is like part of the ethos of Burning Man for whatever reason I feel like it's still a thing here I I feel like people of all ages of all
backgrounds of all socioeconomic statuses different professions they are included here um you know sometimes you see people down on their luck and yet they still get politeness they still get respect um and you know there's something that that
uh Western culture could really learn from the Filipino people as far as just being an inclusive population uh very warm-hearted kind-hearted um Tony saysi think you uncovered some hidden kernels of what many are searching for but don't know
what it is yeah it's hard to it's hard to like really put words to it Tony um you know I was searching for it in Thailand and I I found it to some degree in Thailand but the language
barrier right I mean even though I had uh numerous moments of connection with Thai people it was heavily contextually based right we would be there experiencing the moment to together we'd laugh we'd smile we'd make eye contact uh
but there's still that like with the language in the Philippines there's no ambiguity there's no like second guessing or like H I'm not sure if I know what they mean no like we know what each we know like
what our counterpart in conversation means and it's um it's just so much fun like it's it's um I felt like in the the US you know at times I'm I'm so lonely that I'm I'm almost at times Desperately
Seeking connection yet here it's like okay I gotta I know when I'm my cups full of socializing right I've had my fill and it's time to to call it a night that's um that's not really an experience I
have as much in the west um and I'll I'll jump back and forth um because I want to get to some of Trucker's insights uh thanks for the feedback had no idea people watched me there yeah trucker um
it was uh you know it was surprising to me because you mentioned in some of our conversations on your channel that um you know you weren't really a dumag Getti focused vlogger you hadn't made it down here but
I think that just the quality of your content your honesty um your channel doesn't come across as salesy like I don't feel like I'm watching a sales pitch or something like that um I think also a lot of
guys can relate right I mean like being a driver uh can be a grind and a lot of guys that they're in the position to stay here long term they've done the grind I mean I've had this conversation
with both Mike and Paul where I told them like no jealousy here you guys put in your time you guys did your time you guys had long careers where you were in go go go mode uh for decades
right and so so um for us young guys we got to put in our time too um and seeing them overcome those challenges um it's a reminder that you know while we're seeing them get to experience their dream
like our dreams it's possible for us to make our dreams too and I think in some ways we're we're um what's the word I'm looking for like uh we're how do to explain it like we're getting to get
some tastes and some some of those Discovery trips uh in a time with the internet whereas you know when they were our age uh they didn't have the luxury of the internet right or the internet was in its
infancy you couldn't just go and research about dumag uh or or SIU City or any of these wonderful places countries Etc you remind me of this guy I went to school with years ago they were twins that's funny
you know I'm I'm hearing that more and more I don't know exactly what's causing it but I'm hearing more and more that I remind people of someone they know um maybe it's because I watch too much content and
uh so that influences like my speech and uh you know some of the topics I discuss uh and I like and you mentioned I liked your speech on the narcissism of expats yeah I mean you know it's an
unfortunate reality like something that I've heard before and I'll Echo it is you don't really have to worry as much about the local people um your bigger concerns or in my opinion your bigger like threats are going to
be more often from uh expats like I I think you know one of the things that I heard and this is from a channel so I'll give credit where it's due but a channel I watch from time to
time his name is Brett Dev he said you know a local person might rip you off for a hundred bot on a uh a Tuk Tok ride uh whereas an xat might sell you a business that doesn't exist
um so these are two very different scales uh the local individual may be just trying to feed their family the xat is trying to continue a lifestyle you know in what they deem as Paradise so you have to
be you know and I'm I'm preaching the choir bit trucker because I think you're very familiar with this you're an experienced expat but uh we really have to be cautious about that right because there's this I think there's
this like desire um there's this a desire to connect with people from our home countries right I mean even in a country like the Philippines where many of the local people have great English you know we like some
of those shared experiences we like hearing about oh you know this was your Milestone experience right you 16 you got your first car um you know you got your first job doing this kind of job that may not
exist here in the Philippines um you know there's just these experiences that we can bond with other expats on but Bad expats Bad actors can misuse those connections right I mean I remember I've got a story to share
about a I would call a somewhat narcissistic expat I ran into in Pome pen Cambodia why don't we pull up Pome pen here we'll just zoom out here and go to Pome pen I was here on the Riverside
and see so I think it was Cawa Riverside Park and uh this gentleman identified himself as American and walked up to me and uh tells me he's from new New York City and then asked me where I'm from
and then now I told him I'm I came here from San Francisco area I'm not originally from San Francisco but uh especially five years ago nobody had heard of Nashville now I think that's changed but anyway I'm telling
them you know I came here I was living in California uh and he's telling me Oh really I'm from San Francisco so right off the bat he's initially he's told me he's from New York now he's from California
so I first off like when you're new to a country you don't have any friends in that country um maybe you make some friends maybe you find a girlfriend but when you're new you got to be somewhat skeptical
right uh and I'm I'm a little bit less skeptical of YouTubers because I can go often I've already watched their Channel I know what they're about I've made a determination do I like this person enough to um have
a conversation or you know or is it just more of a polite he nice to meet you but anyway and and penom Pen this guy uh he I immediately in the back of my mind I'm thinking he's going
to ask for money so then he brings up he's a musician and his CL his his read is broken he needs money for read and and I just said yeah good luck with that man I got a roll
and so I headed out so then I I walked down the street and 15 minutes later I come back and now he's talking to a local Cambodian person and he's starting to go down the same story and you
know I think that Cambodia gets perhaps less foreigners than say Thailand um and so I I part of me wanted to interrupt and be like ah dude come on just you know give it up right like you know
it's it's one thing to ask a foreigner from your home country for money it's a whole another thing to ask a local person like have some shame um you know because you as an American you could go back
like in the case of this expat that approached me you could go back to the US and work and earn more money like somebody who's living in this country this is where they're at right like there's no other
country for them to go back to this is where they live they're a local person here and uh yeah so so it's important to just be mindful that um you know even though we are striving for connection I
think that's what uh causes a lot of us to come to uh these other countries then we can't we can't let our guard down all the way right we have to still maintain boundaries and and think about the
motivations of people who uh you know might have ulterior motives we have no idea who um you know who they are back in their home country they might have a checkered past they might be you know running from
some kind of issue for whatever reason they uh they've got to earn our friendship too right um trucker says absolutely we try to embrace the benefits of being a foreigner an outsider can have its benefits and learning opportunities
sometimes Travelers don't try to adapt to new environments yeah I think that's so so powerful um I I think it adaptation is important uh being considerate like I definitely noticed here in D MTI uh I they're what's the
word some people here have dealt with impatient form corers I notice sometimes a look of relief on the face of somebody who is uh you know I'm engaging with them in a service capacity maybe at a restaurant it
maybe um you know at a that's the most often case but sometimes just at a service oriented business and there's this look of relief when they tell me oh sorry sir out of stock or oh it'll be a
little bit of a weight and uh you know I'll let them know oh it's totally fine like that's not your fault um for okay so perfect example I was at a restaurant yes yesterday uh two days ago I
was at a restaurant two days ago it was a restaurant recommended to me by a friend I ordered the mashed potatoes with my dinner and after about five minutes the waitress comes back and says we're out of mashed
potatoes we have potato wedges we have garlic rice and we have plain rice and I said oh that's fine the potato sound great and the look of relief like she was half worried I was oh my God you're
out of potato you're out of mashed potatoes I can't believe this this is you know not only is this a disc you know just this this over-the-top reaction that I'm sure she's observed or witnessed before of an expat
or you know a Westerner who just can't believe they would disrespect him by not having having his mashed potatoes and I'm thinking no big deal you know uh they ran out I'm sure a lot of people like mashed
potatoes I'm sure a lot of people that day had ordered mashed potatoes uh and they just ran out and that's totally fine and the potato wedges were good I enjoyed them they were a little bit different than the
mashed potatoes but uh you know if I they were out of that I would have gone with the garlic rice uh if they were out of that I might have asked for extra vegetables right because they had some
green beans and some carrots that they served alongside uh the dish that I ordered but not a problem at all not a end of the world situation you know I think that when you come to any country outside
of your home country it doesn't matter what country I I feel like and this is something that I've I've learned and heard from Paul and Mike and I agree with it 100 percent you got to bring patience we
always are talking about budgets and how much money you should bring but you got to bring P bring patience understand things work a little bit differently um there's certain ingredients that are imported that they can't just uh you
know call up uh somebody in Idaho and say hey load up the truck you know we we're out of potato we're GNA be out of potatoes early potatoes are imported right I don't I've talked to a few expats
about this there's a seems like there's some kind of consensus here where uh any potato dish you get here in the Philippines probably probably ain't coming from the Philippines right probably as on boat or an airplane and so
we just have to be mindful of that and the uh you know the service sta is the the last person in line right they're not in charge of growing the potatoes they're not in charge of ordering the potatoes
they're not in charge of uh you know cooking the potatoes they're just a person you know that day they happen to be out not a big deal um but yeah it was just uh you know it was something
that I felt like man like this is I think it sucks that some you know somebody was you know inconsiderate toward the staff um about something that's just not you know not within their wheelhouse trucker says I got
to Drive Albany New York uh can't type but I'm listening wonderful trucker yeah thanks so much for joining us like I said shout out again to trucker anybody who's a fan of my channel I think they'd also enjoy
trucker Channel I I spent some time in Albany gosh 10 years ago and um that was an interesting weekend it was for this festival called The Hudson Project which turned into the mson project and uh probably the worst
Festival I've ever been to if you've ever heard of music festivals or you're familiar with that scene it was on the same grounds as Woodstock 99 and um yeah huge storm came in it was just a wild scene
but uh G catch back up on Tony's last comment here Tony says many guys that go there talk about their invisibility in the US and there are feelings of being a non-player character back home but coming to the
Philippines being made to feel affirmed and recognized yeah you know I think Tony and this is a one I could really go on a while about is that um you know it seems like life is so fast-paced in
the west that we just don't have time to acknowledge each other as much I think some of it is age related Tony I'm gonna just validate what you're saying there I do think that there's this okay you put
in the work okay time for you to go in the trash I I need to ask Paul about this but I think a funny thumbnail we're not going to actually do this I could maybe Photoshop it but Photoshop
him standing in a trash can like you've done your time time just we're done with you right we've extracted everything out of your battery your battery's worn out we don't have a need for you anymore um and that's
something that is not the case in the Philippines in the Philippines there's this idea of older people uh getting a certain level of respect now I want to add a caveat to this uh age is not solely a
signifier to me of a quality person a long time ago when you had somebody that was an older person the Assumption was they had to do something right now in the modern era we have advanced healthare we have
a lot of different treatments there are some real dingbats that make it to an older age that being said there are a number of guys who are older than myself who have accumulated life experience who have wisdom to
impart uh and so I'm I'm receptive to that right I always try to be cognizant like hey he's got 20 more years surviving this shindig than I do or he's got 30 uh you know in the case of
of uh Mike like 37 years more experience than I have Paul like 38 years something like that so close to 40 years more experience than I have um you know in the grind and so you know I've got
to be mindful of that and and also in the expat sense right because like it's it's not necessarily what I would call easy to move to a a different country I think visiting is one thing I think most
people could go to a borai or a Palawan and or a bona show Global City for a week or two and have a blast not really you know they're in they're in vacation mode right they they probably got
a nice ride from the airport and and a nice air conditioned cab they're eating at the western style restaurants they might be eating imported beef from Australia uh they may be staying in a nice resort with on call
staff H private beach it's a whole another thing to do day-to-day live mode in any of these countries because it's just not practical to replicate vacation mode uh and so that's when you're taking on a different beast and
it's uh it's that much more valuable to get insight from guys like Mike guys like Paul who um have made the blueprint and are excellent storytellers uh and then now I think there's there's uh you know there's guys
like trucker who are doing psychology and who are uh bringing Nuance takes and like uh I don't want to say how do I explain it having a bit more skeptical uh thought process towards some of our fellow expats
but but not this not this drama right like I I think trucker walks this fine line where he's able to have some critiques of uh expats the impact that expats can make without turning it into a troll Channel
because I don't like the troll channels either um I find that they're harmful I find that they're hurtful I find that they do an injustice toward a lot of these countries by just putting some negative energy out there
but I don't watch them so that's that's how I do my part is if I think there's a channel that's oriented toward uh a bias toward negativity I'm not going to feed that I mean you know the the
algorithm is impacted by what we choose to watch and we've got to be mindful that and and make more conscious choices um but yeah D MTI just it's uh I get it I totally get it I didn't get
it at first I when I first rolled into town a few weeks ago I was thinking man this is like where where the tall buildings like I spent so much time in Bangkok and shangai uh you know in
past visits I spent time in kagay De Oro and SIU and I'm looking around like where are all the tall buildings and I don't see them uh but over time you know it took a day or two but
I got the charm I went to Robinson's mall I'm like ah this is a nice Mall um what we scroll down here Robinson's is I think where a lot of you for your first time in DTI you'll naturally
gravitate toward Robinson's it's uh it's a nice size it's got a couple of stories it's got a decent variety you've got several great restaurants there there's a branch of sans Ral there's a branch of uh they have I
think they have uh they have a jellybee there um they have you know several of your great chains a Greenwich which I ate at today in the downtown dumag location uh but yeah it's you know it's a nice
place to go walking the airon is nice there I definitely have done a bunch of laps around it over and over again during the heat of the day if I find myself in downtown doing aete it's like a
15minute walk from downtown I'll just go over there and just do laps and grab a bite to eat and may uh you know may stop by the ATM I haven't seen a movie there yet but I do want
to see a movie at some point while I'm in town um and a nice department store you've got the anchor Robinson uh store here I need to go by there actually and get a few things but uh great
options dingbats no no age at all absolutely Gerard I mean uh dingbats come in all ages shapes sizes um yeah definitely a a reality of of living abroad is you do get some some unsavory characters at times one
sec I'm gonna got to plug in my charger here my laptop how's everybody doing tonight or today [Music] [Music] [Music] trucker says that's a good thing to hear when you remind people of someone it means you are connecting
on a higher level of human communication yeah I think so that's a great Point trucker um yeah so one thing I wanted to Pivot to is my next steps so I'm loving dumag I really don't want to leave
but I have a couple of directions where I'm being pulled um one is that I want to go see my buddy in malibal City I've talked about it several times um he's see here so he's over here in
minda now so it's about a 12-hour Journey he's he's here in Malai balai uh buad Nan and I've been wanting to see him I haven't seen him in five years so the last time I actually got to see
him was five years ago and uh you know we've been in touch ever since and he's just uh you know he's part of what sold me on the Philippines I think a lot of guys they they get sold
on the Philippines by the vloggers right they watch a lot of vloggers and they're able to learn a lot and get a sense of what it's like as an American or Canadian Australian to come over here and live
a Brit uh and then others you know they they may go on like a a dating website right and an online dating website platform like Tinder and they you know they meet a Filipina uh but for me it
was my buddy uh he was my virtual assistant great guy and and um you know we were just talk you know in between talking about work we'd talk about personal life and he you know was telling me ah
you gotta come over here and and meet a nice woman and H you gotta come over here and see this beautiful country and um yeah he sold me on it so I came five years ago and loved the
country and I part of the reason I put off coming here is I knew once I go back um I don't it's going to limit me wanting to travel to other places it's just the Philippines the people are
some of my favorite people in the world and it's really hard to I don't know for me personally it's it's hard to imagine to go to many more new places uh because I love this country so much um
and so that's One Direction right that's one direction that I'm being pulled in is to go to malibal he wanted me to check it out last time but I was in a hurry I was here for like a
month and I was jumping places every week or 10 days this time I'd like to go for a month rent an apartment in Mali for a month there's a vlogger expat lifestyle he did a good interview a regular
guy a few months back he's based in Malai Bai as well uh so I'd like to meet up with him in chat but um yeah so that's like it is a 12-hour Journey because it's going to be like
four hour ferry to dapitan uh in Zamboanga Del Norte and then I take like a bus from dapitan all the way through oroa asames um around pangul panguil Bay uh through ilon and then um to kagay and deoro
and then transfer in kagay and deoro to uh yeah to badan so then the other option is I'm talking to a woman based in SIU and I'd like to go see her uh so how we met is that
I was on the Boulevard in dumag and I'm talking to the I basically I meet these students because they have these cool costumes on and I wanted to compliment them because it looked like they put a lot of
effort in their costumes then all of a sudden their principal comes up and I start talking to their principal then their principal is trying to set me up with one of his vice principls um and you know that
conversation ends and then I start talking to these other students and then I just randomly meet another P another lady and then this other lady uh she's telling me okay you got to meet my nieces so she's got
two nieces and so she connect me with uh the two nieces and one um I was able to add on Facebook the other her profile was limited uh to just messaging and so anyway I I started talking to
one of her nieces and we just have great chemistry um she's just a really she's a really nice person and we really like we've been talking every single day and getting along well and so she's based in SIU
City and so those are the two directions I'm being pulled in I do want to see my buddy U but I also want to go meet this woman and it's a little bit tricky because it's easier the way
the infrastructure works it would be easier for me to go meet her and then fly down to kagay and deoro and take a bus to Malai balai versus the reverse where if I go to Malai Bai what's more
likely for me to have to happen is either go back to kagay and deoro uh which may have to happen anyway because I need to go to immigration or uh what I prefer to do is go down to
Deval City check out Deva City for like a week or something like that and then fly to SIU so I lean towards SIU um because naturally like I want to see her and if I get a job offer
back in the States then I'm gonna have to dip right and so be disappoined to not see her because yeah she's just a really nice person I don't know how much you know like if you know I meet
her and and everything I don't know how much I'd feature her on my channel I would want to respect her privacy I also know as the channel grows I will get some trolls I I want to protect her
from that you know if that's the direction things go but um yeah so that's kind of where I'm at is is trying to determine next steps do I want want to go down to Malai balai where there's some
great opportunities for me to meet with my friend also there's seven tribes in Malai balai of indigenous groups and he's talking about how we could do some content with them there's also a pineapple farm that I want to
check out down there and uh it's um yeah it's just super appealing so that's that's kind of where I'm at SIU or Malai Bai I've been to seu before but I was only there for like a week or
so maybe 10 days so didn't get the full month experience in SIU which this time I would be uh getting that full month experience there um but then she wants to go to badan at some point so who
knows maybe I go up there and and we spend time and then you know maybe we uh that's a trip that happens for for the both of us but uh you know things are just up in the air
it's such a hard decision Captain trucker says meet the woman I think that's a good call Captain trucker she's uh yeah she's just such a a bright woman and um she's got a great sense of humor and she's
uh yeah she's just really sharp she's also seen a lot more of the Philippines than I have um that's something that I really like about chatting with her is she's been to a lot of different parts of the
country and and so there's just a lot for me to there's a lot for me to learn from her and to be fair there's a lot for me to learn from my my buddy as well but uh there's
just certain synergies there and and of course like it's uh you know I'd be lying if I didn't say that dating was part of uh my love for this country or Intrigue about this country is like the potential
to me a long-term partner a serious partner uh you know somebody that I'd be making a commitment to it's um it's certainly appe appeal for a lot of guys and I'm not going to certainly not going to apologize
for my desire yeah trucker I I I lean toward that and and it's possible like I said you know very easy to fly from SIU to Deval you know take a bus up to Malai balai I like the
one of the things that I want to experience maliz it's up in the mountains and I really would like a taste of that cooler weather I've been in Southeast Asia this this trip for like over a year and
the heat and humidity like sometimes I do miss that cooler weather like uh so yeah it's it's tough but I lean toward meeting her um yeah I lean toward meeting her Tony asks great question Tony the attention you
are getting from women people trying to introdu introduce you to women is this that the same amount you get in other countries you get more in the pH uh to be honest way more in the Philippines I I
think there was some of that in Thailand Okay I'll be fair here there was some of that in Thailand but the language barrier made it a bit challenging I do have some Thai female friends that speak great English
uh I enjoy their company you know just like hanging out it's it's platonic there's as far as my Thai female friends there's been no romance uh there and uh I haven't broached that subject certainly uh they haven't either
you know like I I get the impression if it's it's something that I were interested in pursuing that that would be a possibility but it's um you know I just I see them as as platonic friends I get
I have such great friendships with them too like the there's there's some elements of Thai culture that are similar to East Asian culture and and so that's where we connect I I like Filipino culture because it's different than
East Asian culture in some ways um I think it's more complimentary in some ways whereas sometimes with my Tha Fimo friends it feels like we butt heads a little bit because of our similarities I don't get that as
much with uh Filipinos but yeah Tony I think I get a lot more of that here be because there's a few things one I think the culture is romantic I think the Filipino culture in general is just very
romantic I think that there's a general belief that most people should be in a relationship especially if you're a good guy and you have Pro social characteristics or qualities I think that there's this um you know there's this
sense that like you could treat somebody well um and you could bring happiness to their life and it's like a it's like mutually beneficial scenario where the sum of the parts is uh the whole like the couple is
better than the pair as individuals and so I do feel that way I also feel that there's a genetic component right I mean if you're on an island then on some level there's got to be some risk of
uh you know genetic overlap I'm not I'm not saying that in a pejorative way I'm not saying that in a disrespectful way I found that uh it's you know there I think it's just there's Intrigue right there's interest
like there's interest in in different kinds of people and like it's the Philippines Filipino is a nationality that's that's the way for me to put it it's a nationality it's not a race Filipinos come in many different shapes
sizes colors uh there's indigenous Filipinos there's Chinese Filipinos there's Indian Filipinos there's Indonesian Filipinos uh I think some of the IND the indigenous Filipinos are what you would call alron Nai uh but yeah Filipinos are really a diverse
group much more so than I think the outside world conceptualizes and part of what adds to that diversity is different people uh from different places um mixing in with the local people and as somebody who is mixed race
definitely I feel accepted here in that way like you see a lot of Filipinos who are who seem to have or appear to have mixed ethnicity or different kinds coming from different kinds of ethnic backgrounds and uh in
some places that may not be as welcome I feel very welcomed in that regard um I haven't felt any like people ask me you know where you from I tell them United States they might ask a little bit
more about my ethnic background I tell them I'm Indian and Japanese and oh that's so interesting uh because I think they also are acquainted with people that like maybe say half Filipino half Japanese or half Filipino half Korean
uh Gerard says you'll never forgive yourself if you don't make the effort to meet her and share some time together share a meal that's a good point Gerard because like the chemistry there is just interesting um I think
that she comes from a good family just based on context clues based on her interests uh seeing like seeing her pets seeing how well they're taken care of like the dogs look super healthy she's you know knowing that
she and I just some of the things we talked about we have a lot in common uh we have some of the important things in common I think as far as just like future interests you know one area
where we may uh differ is like she she's definitely you know interested in in having a family I'm more of what I'd call a fence sitter uh I worry about you know just being fully transparent I worry about
my ability to provide you know does that entail me working more in the US I don't know that I could count on YouTube to take off it's something that I'm very cognizant enough due to my challenging background uh
I you know I don't want to bite off more than I can chew I don't want to make a commitment like oh yeah you know we'll start a family and then I'm I'm not able to provide the resources
that a family requires right um and I think a lot of you know a lot of guys have that concern right I mean it's it's a it's a big responsibility it's not a responsibility I take lightly uh and
so that's something we'll have to discuss further you know it may like I said it may inil me going back to grad school you know maybe I could I could support that on on um you know a higher
income it's also you know it's like okay does that in you know bringing her to the US eventually I'm not sure how I feel about that because one I just I'm not as a happy person in the US
I think that the US is hard on a lot of relationships I think that the individualistic nature of the US is such that it's just naturally going to be hard on relationships it's you know people are very they
have a lot of financial pressure there's a lot of pressure work um you know housing is very very expensive it's um it's a lot to think about and and she she and I are on the same page she
I've been as honest as possible with her and trying to be as clear about my thoughts about the future and intentions as possible because um I just want what's best for her and if you know if that's uh
you know if there's there's a different Foreigner that's better prepared I I think that you know that that's not the end of my world I've I'm in a much better place than I was when I'm younger I'm happy
on my own like I I know that sounds strange I I'm not I don't think I'm at Optimum happiness but I am generally happy on my own I've I've come to develop a sense of healthy self-love and I
don't want to force a relationship and bring in unrealistic expectations and and um yeah so like you know there's still a lot of discussion you know we still gota to link up we just chat so much I mean
we talk for like hours she and I do um even when like she gets break on break from work um and and she has dated a foreigner in the past so that's that's another some people look at that
as a negative I personally don't because there's there's a better sense of like you know foreigners are different from from Filipino people um there's a lot of adaptation and adjustment foreigners have to make that a a local person
doesn't have to make right and so there's that level of patience that comes with that but I don't mean to be all negative on this either I mean you know I I think like worst case scenario I've made
a wonderful friend I she and I have that kind of chemistry where like we get along in a friendly way so um yeah I just I'm not I'm not in a rush to get married some people were telling
me don't get married don't get married don't get married marriage is forever in the Philippines um it's not something to be taken lightly in this country for sure it's it's an institution that's put on a very and held
in very high regard and uh and so she and I are on the same page in a lot of ways and and um yeah I look forward to to meeting her and spending time with her Tony says not
going to lie The Lure of going to the Philippines and getting attention from women the possibility of meeting dating multiple women is very appealing for us uh invisible average guys in the west yeah Tony I mean and it's
also like it's just a generally Young country I mean I look at the United States the average American is like 39 years old uh here the average person is more or like 28 years old 27 years old and
so when you go out you just see like tons and tons of young people and it's just so different from the West um where you know one a lot of people are settled down I mean I think Mike
talked about that in my interview with him where he's saying I think the truth is a lot of the good ones are taken in the west and I would agree with that I mean I've met a lot of
wonderful women in the west who are married uh you know who are in a committed relationship that man you know I wish she was single but because she's not I got to respect that um that's you know in
a in a young country like there's just going to naturally be more people who haven't settled down or maybe some people who uh they're single they dated somebody for a while they broke up uh you know they didn't
meet the right person yet so there's just like I don't know more of an optimistic attitude and I think the bar is also is just super high in the west I mean I think exposure to popular media has
really skewed people's expectations in general not just uh women for men by the way I think man men male expectations in the West can also be out of whack I think you look at something like uh certain forms
of entertainment Online Entertainment that have skewed men's expect some men's expectations they they see an airbrushed uh woman who has had various uh augmentations and things like that and they think oh man you know if I'm going to
settle down she better look like that when that's not really reality right that's not really a realistic uh image or or uh you know thing to think about for uh so I think it goes both ways now of
course majority of my viewers are male I'm gonna speak more to the male experience and I think in that regard Tony yeah I think you you know somebody who is a good guy who has a lot of great
qualities who's stable um who's H who's developed themselves right has worked on their career has looked after their health and well-being who has a lot of insight to to share right I mean you had like all guys have
had some missteps that I think you're if you're you know dating a woman in good faith who's younger than you you can share some of those step so they're hey this is a mess up I had like hey
this is you know something that I found was valuable sharing your Insight sharing your life experience is uh is something that I think a lot of people here value they value the experiences and insight of older people um
in a way that's just not as as common in the west and I think it's worth a disc trip I I tell everybody this like I'm not telling you move to the Philippines it'll change your life I think
uh you know I Mike and I had a conversation we discussed that in my our latest video where uh you know I I think at one point I I I misstepped and I was like oh yeah this is
parad or this is this is a great solution for everybody he's like oh no no it's not some guys it's not going to be right for some guys I think it is worth a discovery trip I think it
is worth checking out and having a look around maybe scheduling a few weeks trip here maybe a month trip here doing something like this is personally what I would suggest picking three places and doing 10 days in each
or four places in a week in each so maybe you land in SIU I'm preferential to SIU uh but Manila is an option just taking a week there to get over your jet lag then maybe you come down
to uh well maybe you fly out to Puerto Princessa Palawan you have a week traditional style vacation maybe then you try a week in like a dumag where it's a a small city right it's not it's not going
to be your SIU or your Manila but it's going to have some conveniences the traffic's not going to be so bad it's uh you know you got you got some Fairy like a ferry over here to siki wh
which is a very popular destination I need to get over there um maybe this weekend maybe like well it's it's a lot more popular on the weekend maybe like Wednesday or or Thursday or something I've got I've got
so much to do I I really got to make it over there at some point though and Oppo island is also on the radar Oppo is down here look at that turtle and then you know finishing up up
with like I don't know a week in it's a good question maybe you know maybe of the three that you you visited you go back for uh a week but yeah you know it's kind of Choose Your Own
Adventure in the Philippines I I feel like you can't go wrong there's so many different cool places to see there's 7,000 islands in the Philippines and then around a thousand are inhabited so you've got a solid variety of
choices you know your preferences though so like if you're a big city person you might want to focus on a manila or a SIU I think also if you're oriented toward dating Manila and SIU are going to be
your best options I've got to kind of go back on something I said Tony and one of the things that I said in my initial impressions of dumag is that I think it's fine for dating I don't think
that's as much the case I think it's a place that once you've met a significant other then you might want to you know bring youro to dumag but dumag it's there's just so many foreigners here um there's a
lot of committed women here there's it's the population's a couple hundred th000 right so out of that you take out 100,000 because half are half the population's dudes let's say you take out a third of what's left because
they're uh you know they're not of appropriate age you take out another third of what's left because they're above what your age range is and then of that remaining third how many are committed so now you're down to
like not as large of a number so if you're wanting to meet uh you know somebody for a relationship SIU has a lot of single women who've moved up there for work they or Manila same deal a lot
of women who' moved up there from all over the country to work uh so you've got kind of an influx of people consistently turning into the city that are looking for a relationship are open to dating somebody and
are not yet committed right TJ Riley welcome welcome to the channel Critter Republic does Dives at Apo Island shout out to Critter uh crit Republic I actually walked by uh his spot and the other night but it was
nighttime so I didn't I didn't enter but the gates were open I I need to check them out though like maybe tomorrow night I'll go get some pizza up the road from from crit Republic and then just go
walk down there and introduce myself shake some hands uh you know just see what's up about uh you know his establishment but yeah that sounds like a great opportunity to check out Oppo I'm I'm still a little bit
shy about diving so I tried uh some diving in Mexico and it wasn't the best experience um to be honest there was numerous reasons for that so I'm I'm a little bit panicky I would have to do a
course I think before I commit which I know Critter does offer some courses I'm not sure if the timing is going to be right for this uh trip but yeah absolutely beautiful I mean look at this Coral this
marine life it's just stunning that looks kind of like a face that's interesting oh I love the clown fish that reminds me of uh some other places I've been in the Philippines these are some of the most beautiful
fish for me to personally to spot I know they may not be the rarest but I just love the the Finding Nemo Vibes right that's what it reminds me of a lot is is Finding Nemo I didn't see
a sea turtle last time that would be super cool but guys I'll probably wind down here shortly we've been going for over uh an hour here and my voice is starting to go because I had a super lengthy
conversation tonight with uh one of my new Buddies who I met here a couple weeks in DED and uh I know I've got a lot more talking to do this week and need to drink some more water why
don't I have some water that might help a little bit I just caught your interview with old dog well thank you so much TJ I'm I'm greatly appreciate you check that out he's a real Jem um yeah Paul's
a real jam and I'm I'm super appreciative that you know he's willing to to collaborate with somebody like me I'm I'm still a newtuber and uh yeah ciao Alex look forward to the next thanks so much Tony yeah
I've got one that I need to edit so I actually and this is a great segue into kind of wrapping things up for for tonight uh I I turned the camera on Paul so I actually have a video
I've recorded with Paul uh and asking him some questions and uh we had some banter as well and so that's the next one up in my queue to edit so I'll probably get a I'll probably pull the files
over tonight and then uh do more most my editing tomorrow but uh thank you so much for membership Tony really appreciate the support it helps to bring this content to the lovely audience at some point Tony too I'm
happy to uh do a you know a members only stream I think I'd have to schedule at a convenient time for you because uh you know we're still uh you know we're still early on in the membership phase
and so uh I think that would give you a great opportunity to ask lots of different questions um thank you so much TJ yeah it's never too late to start the rest of your life I absolutely agree it's
uh you know we're all learning and we're all growing there's um you know coming here has really helped me a lot with personal growth and just seeing the resilience of the people and the strength of the people it's
it's such an incredible country and I I feel so fortunate to be able to spend time here I know it's a great privilege and that uh you know many many people around the world are watching vogs here and
and they dream of coming here and I hope that it's as healing for them as it has been and continues to to be for me um but yeah thank you so much for your subscription TJ and I I
appreciate you joining the channel and um yeah thanks so much everyone so so to kind of wrap it up you know if you're watching this on replay you want to see more content like this please subscribe to the
Channel Down Below feel free to comment any questions or thoughts you have about tagete always welcome feedback feedback is a gift uh for me and um if you haven't uh haven't yet you know you enjoyed this give us
a thumbs up you can always give us a thumbs up after the stream and thanks so much Gerard um I look forward to chatting with everyone again I'll probably do another stream mid to late week uh thanks so
much Foreigner asking questions in the Philippines check out his channel too his channel is really good he does interviews here in dagate and Beyond um so yeah I'm so glad you enjoyed the stream and I really appreciate that
uh you think of wealth of knowledge I feel the same way and uh yeah until next time I hope everyone has a great evening or a great day and we'll talk soon byebye
