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Dumaguete, Philippines offers a unique sense of freedom, particularly for those who enjoy fishing, with its relaxed regulations, beautiful environment, and welcoming culture.
The video introduces Dumaguete, Philippines, through the lens of a 'Ninja Fisherman' named Stepan, who finds freedom and stress relief in fishing. He explains the local fishing practices, including day and night fishing for various species like lapu-lapu and squid, and highlights that fishing here is free, without the need for licenses or permits, a stark contrast to places like the US. Stepan also shares his daily routine, which involves early morning work at the market and evening shifts as a parking attendant, with fishing serving as his primary method of relaxation.
The discussion expands to cover Dumaguete's appeal to foreigners, emphasizing the city's gentle, friendly, and open-minded populace. The ease of access to nature, clean waters, and local delicacies like 'Sinugba' contribute to its charm. The video also touches upon exploring nearby areas such as Dauin and Apo Island, known for their natural beauty and diving opportunities. The overall sentiment is that Dumaguete offers a peaceful and liberating environment, allowing for a good work-life balance.
The conversation delves into the broader aspects of Filipino culture, particularly the sense of freedom and a non-judgmental attitude prevalent in Dumaguete. Unlike other locations, Dumaguete is portrayed as a place where people can live freely and pursue their passions. The video concludes with an invitation for viewers to visit Dumaguete, highlighting its welcoming nature and the opportunity to experience its unique charm and the freedom it offers.
Fishing freedom in Dumaguete Philippines is unique because it's a freely accessible activity without strict licensing requirements, allowing people to de-stress and connect with nature. This contrasts sharply with many other locations, offering a liberating experience.
Dumaguete is attractive for expats due to its gentle, friendly, and open-minded populace, creating a welcoming environment. The city offers a peaceful lifestyle combined with opportunities for both work and leisure, making it an appealing destination.
The lifestyle in Dumaguete is characterized by its laid-back and freedom-oriented culture, with friendly locals and easy access to nature. It offers a balanced approach, allowing for personal passions like fishing alongside daily work.
In places like Dumaguete, Philippines, you can fish freely without needing licenses or permits, offering a significant sense of freedom. This accessibility allows for a more relaxed engagement with the activity and the environment.
Living in Dumaguete offers benefits such as a peaceful and liberating environment, a welcoming local culture, and beautiful natural surroundings. It provides a good work-life balance, allowing residents to enjoy activities like fishing and exploring nearby attractions.
Yes, fishing in Dumaguete is free and does not require any licenses or permits. This is highlighted as a significant contrast to places like the US. It's presented as an accessible activity for relaxation and connecting with nature.
Dumaguete is appealing to foreigners due to its gentle, friendly, and open-minded population. The city offers a peaceful environment with easy access to nature, clean waters, and local food, contributing to a good work-life balance.
The 'Ninja Fisherman' works early mornings at the market and also as a parking attendant in the evenings. Fishing serves as his primary method of relaxation and de-stressing from his work routine.
0:02 You get lucky here. But if I get stressed, I go fishing. Free to dive here, Dumaguete is a nice place. You can start your day with coffee and finish today with Red Horse. So there's a lot here, hopefully we can meet you soon.
0:20 I'm here in Dumaguete, Philippines, and I made a new friend. He is the Ninja fisherman. Let's go have a chat with him. I'm wondering, what's your name? I'm Stepan.
0:28 Stepan, where are you from? Dumaguete here. Here in the city and Dumaguete. I see. And you're a fisherman? Yeah, probably. I'm a fisher, a beginner only.
0:41 He's a beginner. What kind of stuff do you like to catch here? Maybe I can catch a small fish, or either a small one or a bigger one. I got big fish, but if not, we got zero like that.
0:56 What's the biggest fish you've ever caught? Lapu-lapu, got two kilos. Oh, here. But around 6 a.m. in the morning, like this afternoon, I cannot catch fish anymore.
1:10 But there's spear fishing also. You can swim around and get them a fish also. They got fish nets like that. So maybe, probably, if you got lucky, you can catch big fish.
1:30 If not, maybe in the evening, you can catch squid. Squid, if evening. But probably here is most of the area that has more squid. Maybe in the evening, you can get lucky to get squid.
1:44 But fish, maybe get lucky in the afternoon sometimes. Oh, if you can get, maybe got zero, mostly zero.
2:00 So that's all. Do you ever get in the water to try to get sea urchins? Yeah, also we got spear fishing also at near the port. So if it's low tide, we can go there.
2:15 At night diving, so we can see our change or the snail, the other one. And maybe we can also get the snapper, the other one fish at night. Usually, you can get it.
2:39 No, spear fishing only. I usually get this one only. Fish at this time, the weather is not totally good for fishing right now.
3:03 It's okay if you just do whatever you want. Just fish. If you spare fish, it's okay at night because the fish aren't very playful. So it's okay.
3:17 You can catch more fish at night. Usually here, when the low tide is okay, it's beautiful. But if you do something, you can also catch a lot of squid.
3:34 You can catch a lot of squid at night because there are more squid here. So there are fish. The fish are gone. What else have you caught? Others have already caught them.
3:51 Others have already caught them. So it's just luck. That's all. How do you, when you catch something, what do you like to prepare it with? Do you grill it or...
4:16 Yeah, grill, usually grill. Because it's fresh. Maybe you can get soup, but much better if you get grilled. So much better is grilled.
4:27 Like calamari in the evening, the squid or calamari grill. It's usually grilled is nicer. And you know how to prepare it?
4:37 Yeah, I know it. How do you marinate it before you? The squid, you clean it before you marinate, then you prepare the ingredients, then you grill it.
4:58 And something yummy. Or if calamari, that's good. Oh, and you share with your family?
5:04 Yeah, yeah. That's so nice. Do you have to have like a license here or something, or can a foreigner just come here and go fishing?
5:13 Just come here and fishing. It's free. Dumaguete is free. Free to get fish. Or not like other places, there's a permit, right?
5:26 In your place, there's a permit, right? Yes. So yeah, in the US, you got to get a license. Small fish. That's right. That's right.
5:33 Yeah, here it's free. Oh, if you can get fish, it's okay. You have to get dinner or so. Uh, you want to get some happiness or stressful?
5:44 Yeah, you can free. I see some people on boats. Do you ever use a small boat to go fishing?
5:51 Yeah, also. But I have a friend also, they have boats. Uh, we can go jigging maybe there over there at Bacong, Dauin, Siaton.
6:05 We can go there. But if there's a time, but my friend is also busy. So right now, it's busy. So I get solo first. Solo fishing only.
6:16 It's such a relaxing hobby. Yeah, stressful. You get stress from a week's work, then you go fishing. It's okay. You got zero. It's natural.
6:29 It's an exercise also for yourself, and then stress relief. That's good. Fishing is not about you can get fish. You can ask some to get fish also.
6:42 But you can relax. It's difficult. Stress relief from tomorrow is another day. You can get much better. You get fish.
6:53 But if not, it's okay. But you relax. The time will go, and you spend some time exploring like other places. Or you can go to other places like Dora the Explorer. You can explore anywhere.
7:07 You can go. Or it's free. Free to get fish. And you have an interesting outfit. What has inspired you to have this kind of outfit?
7:16 I probably use this one because I have a group of fish hunters. Oh, so we can get fish around anywhere in Negros. So we can hunt any fish in the shore.
7:30 Shore fishing only here in the baybay only, or we cannot go another far away? We can also hunt easily here in the shore fishing only. We can outfit only because we can got it's so hot.
7:47 So we usually use this one to have a clue that we are fishing over here. You cannot go get black again. Ah, you want to prevent sunburn?
8:01 And yeah, yeah. That makes a lot of sense. Yeah, that's all. Fishing is relaxing. Relaxing, really. You're not really good. You don't really know what's going to keep you awake, no matter how much you throw at it.
8:25 What's your name again? Oh, my name is Alex. Alex. Okay. From YouTube? YouTube vlogger. Oh, what's your vlog name?
8:31 Oh yes, you could find me at Eastern Dreamer. Eastern Dreamer. Oh, I see. Because I'm dreaming of the Philippines. Ah, okay. I'm always dreaming of the Philippines.
8:42 Nice meeting you. Oh, I'm a beginner vlogger also, but not yet. Only small content. About fishing, but not totally good. Oh, but easily, I'm trying.
9:00 How can people find you if they want to find your try to find me on YouTube or Facebook, Survival Hunter Philippines.
9:09 Survival Hunter Philippines. That's my page on Facebook. You can catch me up on that page. Then on YouTube, you can see me. That on Hunter Fish Hunter only.
9:22 Dumaguete is gentle people here. It's a nice place. It's clean. You can see the water here. About our sea here is so clean. It's very clean here.
9:39 Yeah. If you have to swim here, it's free. Free to dive here. You cannot. There's no people. You can shake. So, in Bisaya, you can learn Bisaya.
9:51 I like. I would like to learn Bisaya. So, Bisaya, you learn? What desire you learn? I know delicious laman, laman.
10:11 Dumaguete, we have delicacy here. Sinugba. You eat it. The cake. Okay. Sinugba is delicious. Shout out to Sinugba. So delicious. Hopefully, get sponsored.
10:22 That would be wonderful. SR, if you're listening to me, I will happily take a sponsorship. I would eat there every day if I had the budget.
10:36 So you're schooling here? Schooling? No, you're vacation only. Are you alone vacation here? Somewhat. I'm here for youtubing.
10:46 Ah, youtubing. Ah, okay. So that's why you can get a vlog here. Okay. I'm very fortunate to have some vlogging friends that are very good at what they do, and they teach me a whole lot.
10:56 But I'm not so good in English. Ha. Oh, it's good. It's good. I think you'd be surprised. Your English is good. It's solid. I think you're having a lot of fun with fishing.
11:08 If you don't ask me, what is your job here in Dumaguete? Yeah, I'm in the morning, I get in the market. I have a wife on market. We have a small intestine.
11:19 We sell the inner part of the pig. So at the market around 4 a.m. in the morning. And then in the afternoon going to evening, I have a parking attendant at McDonald's provincial.
11:36 And Dumaguete here, or I have a parking attendant there, sideline work. Then after that, I go fishing around 11:00 in the evening to 2:00 in the morning.
11:46 When do you sleep? Around about 2:00 to 6:00 in the morning. Or either, if I go to market, I cannot go to fishing.
11:57 But if I go to market, I stop fishing only. Maybe I get from the weekend. I go fishing maybe.
12:05 Probably that you're so intense. I mean, the amount of hard work that you're doing to take care of your wife. And yeah, but if I get stressed, I go fishing.
12:17 So stress relief. Boulevard. Maybe I have a spot on only in Dumaguete.
12:25 I'm not going too far. If I go far away, maybe I have something to do, to have a schedule to my work in the evening. So I cannot grab it totally.
12:37 So if here nearby, I can go home right away. That's all. You ride a motorbike here?
12:48 Yeah, yeah. Motorbike. My place is around Cant Street, or near lang. So you're here in the city?
12:54 Yeah, yeah. City only. You is in Bacong? Yeah. So I take a jeepney into town. Okay. So you're going to ride a jeepney going to Ano?
13:03 It's okay. So how many days you are here? Uh, I'm here one month. Well, I've been here for one month, and now I'm extending one more month.
13:14 We get lucky here. It's so nice. Wait, if you want to explore more here in Dumaguete, I can recommend you at my place in Dauin. So nice.
13:29 The beach over there. You try that. I love Dauin. It's so beautiful. You can go there. Okay. But if you want to explore more, you go to Apo Island.
13:42 You try Apo Island. It's hard to see, but in the distance, actually, there's Siquijor. It's kind of covered by. It's a little bit cloudy or foggy today. That island of fire.
13:56 That's good. That's nice also. The tourist spot is there. But if you have here, island over there, the smallest island only. So nice over there also.
14:11 In Poland, what do you think about all the foreigners that are coming here to live in Dumaguete? Dumaguete is a nice place. I can recommend it. It's a nice place.
14:24 The people here are gentle people. You can approach here. Maybe you cannot approach at first because it's hard to be an English right away.
14:36 Right. They're a little shy. Oh, yeah. Like me also. I'm not going to, but I'm trying hard. But okay. Here in Dumaguete, if you approach here, usually foreigners, the beautiful place, the fresh air.
14:51 You can get a nightlife around the city every evening. It's okay. Okay. Then the people are approachable. Yeah, you can manage if you get friendly also. You can get also right away.
15:06 You can start your day with coffee and finish the day with Red Horse. Yeah, like that. Tomorrow is over. But here in L, peaceful, peaceful.
15:16 You cannot like other places. There's a depends maybe. What should foreigners know about the people in Dumaguete?
15:28 You can know about people here in Dumaguete. I think it's friendly and what do you call this one? They're really...
15:40 What do you call this? They're really nice. I'm not sure if 'nice' is the right word. Maybe 'submissive'? I think maybe you can say they are 'fitful'. People here are faithful, friendly, and open-minded. They're non-judgmental.
16:15 A lot of people here are open-minded. There's so much gossip, like 'Marites,' but if you know them, they're just friendly and open-minded. Have you been to other places in the Philippines?
16:39 No, I think you found the best place in the Philippines. I've been to a few other places. If I had come here first, I would never have seen anywhere else. Maybe I tried Siargao last time. Okay, very cool. I went to Siargao and stayed for almost three days only.
17:03 I have a friend over there, Station R Siargao. Shoutout to R, he's my friend, a manager. What kind of music does he play? B-rock, usually. B-rock, alternative B-rock, and 80s and 90s.
17:46 If foreigners go to Siargao for the first time, what should they do there? If you go there, it's much better to have a friend to get a tour guide. Rent a motorcycle. After renting a motorcycle, within 24 hours or two days, you can go around Siargao. It's okay in two days, but if there's no stop, stop swimming, stop taking pictures, or making memories of that place, you can get three days. It's better to not totally rush.
18:32 Why are you in such a hurry to get photoshoots in that area? It's much better to relax and enjoy that place. What you're suggesting is when people come here to do M and to Siargao, they should take their time. Take time; it's worth making the most of it. Don't rush for the cost; get memories.
19:02 What do you love most about Filipino culture? What I love most about Filipino culture here is that it's like a free city. You found freedom here. Also, the freedom here is good. Freedom, freedom. You don't have other people who can say 'no' to you. There's no 'fishing' there, nothing like that.
19:37 Maybe in other places, but here in Dumaguete, it's okay. I feel very free here too. There are a lot of people here who are not totally saying you can't go over there. The people are really laid back. It's a freedom place.
19:55 Stefan, thank you so much for your time today. I really appreciate your help. Everybody, check him out. Do you have any final words for us?
20:04 First, thanks to Alex, a small, I think a bigger vlogger here from us. I think it's a blessing to have a friend like this one, a good vlogger. Hope we can get... I also have an idea to have a vlog because I'm a beginner here in Dumaguete.
20:33 So, a final word here: Thank you for the rest of your time visiting here in Dumaguete. Hopefully, more of you can visit here in Dumaguete because the people here are gentle and friendly. Maybe you can be shy because there are a lot of foreigners here. They can talk in English, but try to approach me. Maybe I'm not totally good in English, but I try. As long as I'm a magician, there's no problem. Thank you.
21:06 Thank you so much, everybody. Subscribe if you haven't already. See you soon.
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