Another Beautiful Day in the Philippines

Live Stream Kickoff and Viewer Welcome

0:07 Hey, what is up YouTube? We have we are going live, and it looks like the mic is working well. So, yeah, we'll just give some time for people to hop on. I'm going to do myself a favor here really quick and I'm going to share the link on my social media. I'm going to wait to get started until we get our first viewer in here.

Catching Up with Friends and Channel Growth

1:59 Hey Saturn, welcome! Welcome. I think this is the first time I'm seeing you on here, and I'll go ahead and get started since you have helped kick off the live stream. But, yeah, just a chill night. I had a great day today. It's just been back-to-back meetups with some friends of mine who are helping me to level up and, ideally, build a successful channel.

2:31 Yeah, just had a great time today. Met up with my new friend Chad. You may be familiar with Chad Foster, and he's an individual from Canada. He's a wealth of information. I mean, he has shared so much with me, and it's just been so much fun. I'm having so much fun with YouTube and really enjoy connecting with the audience. The growth has been incredible. I mean, just in the last month, we've had 600 people join the channel. It's mind-blowing to me that I would have over 2,000 people that are interested in what I have to say. It's been very humbling and greatly appreciative of all the new subscribers. I can't thank all of you enough for taking the time to engage with my content.

3:30 And yeah, I've got several more interviews coming down the pipe. I chatted with JR of JRC recently. You can expect that one. I met a gentleman from Australia who's got an interesting story. Sat down with him twice. One may have to wait until YouTube comes out with their copyrighted music stripper because I need to be able to strip the copyright music out of that one because we did it in a cafe and there was just some copyrighted music playing in the background. The second part of that, we did it in his hotel room, and there was no background music, fortunately.

Life in Dumaguete and Expat Community

4:20 What else? Yeah, so I talked to JR, talked to this gentleman from Australia. It's not overrun with expats. I mean, I'm glad you enjoyed it, Saturn. You know, I thought it would be so. I thought I was walking into a town that was going to quickly wear on me, that I wouldn't like, that there were so many expats here. That hasn't been my experience.

4:56 Are there a noticeable amount? Absolutely. You're not going to spend time in town without noticing expats. I'm starting to get more and more expats approaching me like every other day because they're seeing me, you know, do the rounds on the channels. But I've got a channel, right? I mean, if you're not a public person like myself, you are going to have... I see it as the expats are more normalized here. People are not going to be shocked to see you. You're going to have an easier time.

5:29 There's some things here that I really like that make it convenient. There's a high level of English. If you want to have Western foods, you can have that with no problem. If you want to make expat friends, you can do so with no problem. Is everybody getting along with everybody? Obviously not, but most people seem to find a group of their own if that's something they're seeking.

5:53 That being said, certainly there's a lot of cool Filipino people. I have some Filipino friends here in Dumaguete as well. Really kind-hearted, warm, friendly people. I think of Dumaguete as punching above its weight. So around 150k people in the metro, it feels in some ways like, I don't know, bigger than that is the right word. But of course, you see tons of content about it online.

6:27 I look at it like easy mode, like tutorial mode. I've been in other parts of the Philippines that are harder to navigate, not as much public transit, not as much English, not as much Western food. But you're still very much in the Philippines. You're still going to be able to interact and spend time with Filipinos.

6:51 It's, I think sometimes we get this sense that every other person here is an expat. I'm imagining maybe like 5% of the population are foreigners. I happen to gravitate toward them because my channel introduces me to them. I also want to interview them and get their perspective.

7:12 But it's worth checking out. Is it going to be for everybody? No. Some people are going to want the big city vibe. They're going to want to be in a Bonafide global city, a Makati, a Davao, or a Cebu. But for those who want a little bit more provincial style lifestyle, maybe we don't want to pay the rents in Cebu or in Makati, you know, you can still find reasonably priced accommodation here.

7:42 Is it going up in price? Absolutely. Certainly with the appeal, the attraction, the conveniences you have here, the English, just the vloggers that are bringing a lot of attention to Dumaguete. It's not as cheap as it was in the past. There's still modest accommodation. I chatted with JR, who runs JRC. He said, you know, he explained to me he's in Cebu, and the costs are noticeably less here in Dumaguete. Business owners are simply not paying the same rental price that they're going to pay in Cebu, and that translates to more modest food prices, more modest pricing in general. Transit is going to be a bit cheaper.

8:30 It's, Dumaguete reminds me in some ways of Cusco, Peru, honestly. If I had to compare it to one city in another part of the world, there's some elements of it. Of course, Dumaguete is not in the mountains, it's by the ocean. But you've got this city that just has a lot of conveniences. But also, you can just tell it's a cool place. A certain percentage of people that come here are going to want to live here. It's just that nice.

Daily Activities and Social Engagements

9:00 There's, you've got the nature. You've got the city. Traffic's not too bad. Great food scene for the city of its size. I run into my friends all the time in town, so the town's not so big I'm like, you know, just feeling as isolated as I might in a bigger city. Hey Chris, how are you doing tonight? Hope you're doing well.

9:33 Yeah, I could barely laugh. I've laughed so much today that I'm like, and talked so much today. Let's see, how long did I talk today? Seven or eight hours. So I met with some friends, Mike and Paul, at the coffee shop. I talked to Paul for probably 30-45 minutes, talked to Mike for another 30-40 minutes. Ended up running into my buddy, I'll keep his name private, he's not a YouTuber. Talked with him for an hour. Ran into another buddy, Colin, who has been on YouTube. Talked with him for like an hour and a half. Ran into Chad, talked with him for like two and a half hours. And then finished back up, met back up with Colin and talked with him for a while longer.

10:27 So definitely losing my voice a little bit, but I just wanted to connect with everybody on here tonight. Please, everybody, if you can, give us a thumbs up. It really helps with the algorithm to distribute this video to new folks that would really benefit from engaging with the channel.

10:44 Saturn says, "Cebu has several motorbike taxi apps. Which one does work in Dumaguete? Move It, Maxim, JoyRide?" So I haven't tried any of those, Saturn. You can use Grab, so Grab does work. I mostly just try to negotiate with the drivers. I pay the local rate. I overpaid a little bit when I came down from Valencia to Dumaguete, but I'm mostly just taking public trikes and jeepneys. I'm at the end of a jeepney route, so when I hop on it to go into town, I get in the front seat. It's rare that I don't get to ride the front seat. I look at it like I'm a big foreigner, I've got broad shoulders, even though I'm not the tallest man. So, comfortable riding in the front. It's 20 pesos for me to get from here in Balingasag to downtown Dumaguete. And then when I want to come back from downtown, Daguete, Taguig, it's like 30 pesos because I'm close to the border of Daan. So I pay, like I said, 30 pesos to get back over here.

12:09 Chris says, "Oh, you got your ears lowered?" Yeah, got a great haircut. Got it done in town yesterday. So I got the haircut done yesterday. It was about 80 pesos. Let me look up how much 80 pesos is in US dollars. $1.43. So I got this haircut for a $1.43 equivalent, and he did a great job. It's a little bit messy, I know, but that's just because I've had a long day. It's been, yeah, it's just been a long day running around the city, hanging out with friends, having a ton of coffee. Man, I've been just super caffeinated. I started off with an energy drink and chugged out on the way to meet with Daddy Paul and Uncle Mike. And then when I met up with Chad, had another cup of coffee. So I'm having like two, three cups of coffee every day, and it's definitely keeping me going because I am burning the candle at both ends. But Sunday will be a chill day.

Dumaguete's Appeal and Future Plans

13:24 Well, no, Sunday might not be a chill day because I want to do another collab with Daddy Paul, and that'll probably happen Sunday or Monday. And then I want to do something with Chad. That'll be Monday. So probably I'll probably see Paul, Daddy Paul, on Sunday, and I'll probably see Chad on Monday. So Sunday and then Monday. Like you could tell, I'm a little bit jumbled up, but such a great move. I mean, it's just been Dumaguete has been life-changing for me. I already knew I love the Philippines, but it's just a gem of a place.

14:09 I mean, I could do so many videos on what I like. I need to do a new thumbnail on that video about Dumaguete because the thumbnail is so-so. And I'm learning that the thumbnail is super important. You got to capture people's attention and draw people in. The fact that it's done almost 5,000 views with that not very good default thumbnail tells me if I change up the thumbnail, it's going to get more traction.

14:33 Not Chris says, "Nice, about a buck 50." Yeah, I mean, I pay more than a buck 50 in tip in the US, right? I mean, just to tip the person who's cutting my hair. Yeah, I'm paying far...

14:49 Cutting my hair, yeah, I'm paying far more than that. It's probably been 70 years since you could get a haircut in America for a dollar. About $1.50, and he said he'd do the beard for 60 pesos, so like a dollar and five cents or something like that.

15:07 We've got nine viewers on here. This stream is definitely picking up steam. Everybody, if you could give us a thumbs up, it helps to distribute the content to new viewers, and people could really benefit from the content.

Comparing Thailand and the Philippines

15:21 Wow, okay Jay, so that's a great question. What's good, Alex? Chris, yeah, so I'll get to your comment in a second. I just want to address Jay's comment: which is better, Thailand or the Philippines? I don't believe that.

15:40 Oh, thanks so much, everybody. Very good on running up the likes. I don't believe either one is better. I look at it like tradeoffs. For the Philippines, I like the English, I like the nature. For Thailand, of course, I love Thai cuisine. I also love the infrastructure.

15:57 To be transparent, the infrastructure. Hey Tony, good to see another Tony. So I'm kind of curious, I sometimes want to do a tally to see how many Tonys, how many Miks, and how many Chris's I get on as subscribers on this channel.

16:17 But yeah, Jay, just to answer your question in short, I don't see Thailand or the Philippines as being better. I think they are different places with different advantages. I love both.

16:27 Could I live in Thailand forever? Absolutely. Chiang Mai is one of my favorite cities in the world. Could I live in the Philippines forever? Absolutely. The level of English, the social climate, the people are just incredible.

16:44 So I would say, you know, really just doing a deep dive on what's most important to you. Is it infrastructure? Is it cuisine? Or is it the English? Is it the nature?

16:53 Both have some of each, but there's definitely some strong suits. Each place has its strong suits, and there's different places within those countries as well.

17:05 Jay, like, one person may feel like, wow, you know, I'm not a fan of the big city, but, you know, I like a provincial area. But if I'm in a provincial area in Thailand, I may not have the English.

17:17 So yeah, really, really, you know, just very different advantages and disadvantages of both.

Expat Life, Channel Support, and Ikigai

17:29 Chris says a bad haircut in the US is $25. Yeah, I've definitely had some terrible haircuts at that price point, Chris, to the point I almost want to learn how to shave my head if I go back.

17:43 Yeah, Tony, so this is another Tony. So Tony and I met. I met up with a gentleman named Dexter, and Tony, Dexter, and I ran into Tony. We got to talking, and Dexter had to part ways. He had some other things to do.

18:06 But yeah, Tony and I ended up talking for a long time. I actually have an interview with him, one that'll get released sooner rather than later. I just need to pull the file onto my computer.

18:18 I've got like three or four interviews in the tank that I've recorded that I just need to get edited. And I finished one of them this morning, so that's the interview with Gio.

18:30 If any of you have seen Gio in the Philippines, I sat down with him a few days ago and we knocked out an interview. He interviewed me, and he's already got that one up. I interviewed him, that one's up for channel members.

18:44 Once again, just a shout out to all my channel members. So, different Tony is actually a channel member. I want to give him a shout out for supporting. He's actually the first member of the channel.

18:54 Feel free to check that out if that's of value to you. They get videos early. We're eventually, once we get enough channel members and it makes sense, we're going to do members-only live streams and I'm going to be creating higher tiers.

19:06 So different ways for people to support the channel, to help grow the channel, to help give more value out of the channel. I, you know, one of my ideals is that I could be doing this full-time because I think there's a ton of you guys in the West that want to move over here or to Latin America.

19:26 I'm also a fan of Latin America, but you don't know how you don't have enough context. You don't have enough information, and through the memberships, that could be really valuable.

Filipino Culture and Expat Experiences

19:36 Once again, I've got skill sets, I could go back, I could do work, not a big deal. But this is something that I find a lot of meaning in and a lot of enjoyment in. It's, you could call it my ikigai. I'll go ahead and throw that word in the description.

19:52 But yeah, Tony and I had a great two dinners. We had two dinners, and both were fantastic.

20:00 Chris says, Tony, Mike, Chris, sounds like the members of a 90s R&B group. Yeah, I really does, Chris. It really does.

20:09 Big Lance says, hi Alex, peace from Krakow, Poland. Hope you're having a good time there. Yes, Lance, it's a fantastic time in the Philippines. The weather's nice, the people are nicer.

20:23 The food is good. The people are nicer. I didn't say the women are beautiful, it's just a very comfortable life here. It's very relaxed, people are respectful, people are considerate, people have very high EQ here.

20:43 So if I had to brag on the Filipinos, I would say they tend on average to have a high emotional intelligence. They tend to just be very understanding. They tend to be very empathetic.

20:56 They are much more often patient with us than we are with them, especially for newcomers. I think longer-term expats tend to slow it down.

21:03 But some of the new people, I mean, I witness it myself in immigration. I really should do a video about that. But I witnessed a gentleman who's just, you know, fresh off the plane from Canada, and just being, I can tell he wants to be nice, but he just can't keep the frustration.

21:21 He's so unhappy with his life in the West, he just couldn't hold it in. He's barking at his wife like she gets on a call. It's loud, he screams at her to turn it down. It's just, I know it's not going good back home, guys, for a lot of you.

21:36 And I do consider it to be really important to try to help as many people as possible. I know some would say, oh, don't tell, don't let the secret out. The secret's out, okay?

21:47 Everybody online is starting to understand there's more and more people leaving the Western democracies who are not happy with the life there, who want to try something different.

21:59 And they found their peace, and they suspect they could find their peace and happiness abroad, and they want to give it a chance. It's not going to work for everybody. For many people, it's a great fit.

22:11 And for many people, they just need to keep doing discovery trips and just learning more about the different options and find out what's for them.

Travel Comparisons and Expat Life in Poland

22:19 Because, like I said, not everywhere is good for everyone. It's very individualized. The Philippines works great for me, may not work great for you.

22:33 Jay says, both have a walking street, which is better? Also, isn't Thailand safer? I don't think I'm much of a walking street guy, so not super interested in walking street. No judgment, I know that's an appeal for a fair amount of expats or foreigners, but just not something I'm super into.

22:53 Thailand isn't also, isn't Thailand safer? I think it depends on where you go. I think it depends on the part of the country you're in. I think it also depends on the context.

23:08 Like, I don't, I haven't noticed the difference. I feel fine here in DM. Maybe different in some other places. I have not felt unsafe in either country.

23:24 So maybe it might just be the places I've gone in each country. But yeah, I would say, you know, just comparison is tricky. Comparison is super tricky. There's so much nuance.

23:38 Comparison, location is very important, and the individual is very important as well.

23:46 Saturn says, one concern about working online from the Philippines, VPN was a terrible experience. It used burnt IPs. Google was constantly blocking my searches with captures. I'm not sure about that.

24:02 I am getting a lot of flags on my YouTube channel, so I'm having to log in again and having to confirm my identity. And I don't know, I've heard some people say enable two-factor authentication. I don't know that that really has anything to do with your VPN though, Saturn.

24:19 But that's a fair concern. It's something I need to do some research on. Please feel free to comment again, Saturn, if we chat again about that. I'll make a note of it. I'll just copy and paste your comment here and understand that that's something that's...

24:55 Yeah, Big Lance. Chris says, Big Lance, I've heard good things about Krakow. Yeah, Big Lance, feel free to chime in about Krakow. I do need to learn StreamYard because I'd love to have guests in here. I'd love to set up something where whoever wants to, within reason, right? We don't want trolls jumping in, but any subscriber could jump in and have a conversation with me.

25:16 Engage me in that way. I'm sure some of you would like to chat, promote your business, discuss what's working for you, what's not working for you, are you in your planning stages? All these things are super important.

25:30 And I think it'd be a nice way to engage with the audience a bit more. But yeah, Big Lance, feel free to chime in if you're still enjoying the stream about your time in Poland. I know where West is, he's in Poland.

25:46 So he's actually Filipino American and he's currently living in Poland. So he felt like Southeast Asia wasn't the perfect fit for him, but as far as it seems like, or sounds, he's enjoying it.

26:04 Chris says, or Big Lance says, Chris, yes, it's a great place, lovely history, people, food. I've lived in Thailand and the Philippines, which are great. For Europe, it is one of the best places in my opinion.

Asia Experience and Travel Plans

26:18 Okay, so you have quite a bit of experience, Lance, with Southeast Asia. It sounds like you've been to the two very popular ones.

26:29 Poland seems really nice. Hopefully, I can get over there at some point and see what it's about and experience it. I'll probably come in the summer, to be honest, maybe the fall or the spring. I don't know how much I'm up for Polish winters after spending so much time in Southeast Asia.

26:57 Big Lance, over 20 years in Asia, wow. Okay, that sounds really interesting. That would be a great chat. I'd love to chat with you sometime on stream. I'm not sure if you're open, or what your schedule's like, Lance, but over 20 years in Asia between China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam. It sounds like you're very experienced, much more so than myself. I think you probably have a lot to share, but totally understandable if not. I just, it's rare to meet somebody with that much experience in this part of the world.

27:23 I think a lot of us, we've got a few years, maybe we're up to seven or eight like Paul or Gio, but 20 years is a long time. I met one person back in the States that had that much experience, and he always had positive things to say. He lived between Tokyo and Hong Kong. He got his NBA, and then just spent his career over there with his wife, who was from Nagasaki. So his wife is a friend of my grandma, and she was from Nagasaki.

28:00 Big Lance, this is good to hear, as Poland is on my travel list. Poland seems super interesting. It's a place that seems like it's on the up and up, like it's an economy that's growing quickly. I know that there's a lot of outsourcing happening, like American companies are sending tech jobs to Poland. So it sounds like a place with a growing middle class.

28:41 Well, yeah, I'm definitely feeling the effects of being tired. I did sleep pretty good last night, so I got to sleep at like 3, 3:30. I was editing, and then I woke up around 10:45. I got up at 10:45 and kind of puttered around my studio here.

29:06 Actually, this place is rented out for next month, but my host family has said I could just rent a room in their main house. So they've got a main house, and they've got bedrooms, and an upstairs bedroom that's unoccupied. So if I decided to extend my time in Dumaguete, I'm going to be going over to the main house.

Dumaguete Accommodation and Social Interactions

29:29 Yeah, that should be nice as well. They're so hospitable. It's just been a wonderful, wonderful stay here. I definitely recommend it. I should share a link to this spot. It's like 250 after fees. This studio place is 250 for a month, including utilities. Very good value for money.

29:56 Is it the cheapest place in town? No, it's not the cheapest place in town, but it's comfortable. The host family is a very sweet family. They've got dogs here, so I don't mind leaving my camera or my iPad here. You know, I don't have to worry about it going missing. They've got a long history of hosting people here. The family is just, they're absolute sweethearts.

30:17 They had a birthday party for the granddaughter tonight. She turned one year old. They're offering me lechon and spaghetti, and just such big hearts. Chris, so what is your favorite haunt in Dumaguete?

30:36 Some, I'm gonna have to keep private, Chris. I gotta be honest. Some I'll disclose, maybe to like channel members in a kind of a select live stream, because some of the places that I like to frequent have been provided to me by close friends, and I want to protect those places.

30:55 Because some of these friends, you know, they've got big subscriber bases, and they have certain places they like to spend time. And if those places get publicized, the concern is that people will start showing up there looking to meet them, and they'll get, you know, kind of mobbed. And I just want to be considerate of that.

31:23 So there's a few places that, yeah, I just, I'll keep, you know, just kind of on the DL. Some places that everybody talks about, Ground Zero Coffee. I've been there several times. Ground Zero, you know, they've got nice coffee. I haven't tried their food yet.

31:43 Exactly, Chris. Trying to avoid another Ground Zero type situation. That was really unfortunate. Actually met and hung out with Dexter. He's a nice guy. I mean, he's anyway, that was a very regrettable and unfortunate situation. We don't want to repeat that.

32:01 And then my friends also have some places that they keep on the DL for me. Not that they don't want me there, but you got to have somewhere you can go to be on your own. I mean, in a city like Dumaguete, it's easy to navigate.

32:14 You know, you gotta, you get to have a bigger following. Like I've got 2,200 subscribers. I'm getting recognized every other day now, sometimes every day. Like at least getting stopped at least once per day. And it's to the point now when I get to downtown, I look out for people that might recognize me.

32:37 Not that I'm like, oh please, please, please pay attention, but more like I expect I'm going to get stopped and get sidetracked into a conversation. Somebody's going to want to sit down with me. Somebody's going to want to talk with me. And it's a, it's a unique feeling. I'm not going to complain about it.

Favorite Spots in Dumaguete

32:53 I mean, that's just the trade-off. You want to be a public figure, you've got to accept people are going to recognize you. But sometimes I got stuff to do. Sometimes I got to get from point A to point B, and I'm in a hurry, and I don't want to be rude. I don't want to be inconsiderate, but I'm trying to still maintain somewhat of a schedule here.

33:11 But yeah, so, so Ground Zero, of course, that's an obvious one. Chris, um, Robinson's Mall. You know, I know it's kind of generic, but I like Robinson's Mall a lot. They've got several good restaurants in there. I buy my phone load there. So when I need to buy data for my phone, I go there and top up.

33:35 I've been shopping. I got a digital app account. I go to the department store there to buy socks and some basic clothes. They've got a pharmacy in there. They've got, they've got a lot of what you need.

33:48 So sometimes I'll just take the ride, I'll take the Jeepney down to Robinson's. I'll hop out at Robinson's, go in, handle my business. They've got public Wi-Fi there for an hour free, and I'll go there and I'll edit. There's a karenderia in there too. I like to have lunch. I get my kinilaw, my raw fish, you know.

34:08 Japanese people love raw fish. Pumpkin, and then lumpia. And so I'll have that there. I'll also go in the Robinson's grocery store downstairs, grab an energy drink that wakes me up and gets my day going, really convenient. So I'd say Ground Zero, Robinson's Mall is nice.

34:28 Um, Boulevard. I like to go down to the Boulevard and hang out, just walk up and down during the heat of the day. It's so, so, I mean, it's really hot, but when the sun starts setting, all the people come out and hang out. Everybody's meeting up. I'm making new friends. I'm talking to now, more long-term friends.

Best Meals and Food Experiences in Dumaguete

34:46 And those are the three that I would say you have a good chance of making new friends in, and their kind of social environments: Ground Zero, Robinson's, and the Boulevard. Michael says, howdy. Hey, welcome, Michael. Good to see you. You asked me when I'm doing another live stream. I was hoping you'd see this pop up and that you'd be joining us tonight. How are things going in your area?

35:22 Pardon me. Saturn says, no solution yet. The main point of a VPN for me was to show sites like Amazon. I'm still in the US, but their suspicious login emails and Google blocking searches with captchas defeated the purpose. Got it, got it. Yeah, I'm not sure, Saturn. That's unfortunate.

35:42 Michael says, I went to Robinson's today and bought a 55-inch TV. How are you liking your new TV, Michael? By the way, anybody who hasn't yet had a chance to give us a thumbs up, I'm going to plug that a lot in my streams moving forward. It helps to distribute this stream to new potential viewers.

36:08 Once again, I know many of you already have, and I hate to bug you there, but it's just very, very helpful. And also in the replay, also say mentioning that will catch some replayers. Christopher says, best meal you've eaten in Dumaguete.

36:18 So, Sans Rival. Huge fan of Sans Rival. They've got pastries and cakes and desserts. That's more of what they're known for, but I really like their swordfish. Is it swordfish? It's some kind of fish, and they cook it in like this soy sauce, and it's got this steak flavor. It's delicious. They grill it. They serve it with a like a cup of rice and this chopped up mango and tomato. Delicious. I've had it several times.

36:55 And with friends, and it's, it's so good. It hits the spot. Also a fan of Moon Cafe. Moon Cafe does a fantastic Filet Mignon for 430 baht. So, 430 Philippine pesos, around eight bucks, 750 something like that. And it's really, really good. They cook it nicely. They serve it with rice or potatoes and a little bit of green veggies.

37:24 So I like to have that too. It's, um, those two, those two spots, they are chains, but really good. Also found a Leon Manok place, this place that does grilled chicken. I should have got some of that before I came home. But that place is really, really good. I like that Leon Manok, like 135 pesos, 250 for half a grilled chicken. And one half of a grilled chicken is enough to fill me up. It's, they don't include sides with it. You'd have to stop and grab some sides if that's something you want.

Air Quality and Travel Destinations

37:58 But yeah, Michael says, things are good. Still setting the TV up. Need to watch a movie or something. It will let you know it's Samsung 4K. Yeah, that sounds like a really nice TV.

38:12 Michael, Saturn says, comparing air quality in Dumaguete to Cebu, which had worst vehicle exhaust fumes. Yeah, naturally, that's going to be Cebu, Saturn. Cebu is probably the metro population is probably 20x Dumaguete. And so yeah, I would say, you know, if you're concerned about air quality, Dumaguete is a better bet.

38:36 Now, that may change. Dumaguete is growing fast. There's construction everywhere. There's new people coming in every day. But as far as the present goes, Dumaguete is just a much smaller city. Michael says, hey, I thought at.

38:52 Michael says, hey, I thought at one point we were friends on Facebook, but I tried to look you up to message you, but couldn't find you. Michael, let me send you a message now. I'm going to go ahead and send you now a message, and that way you can get it. Okay, cool. Michael, I just sent you a message on Facebook, and that way you know where I'm at. Feel free to reach out anytime, always happy to chat with you.

39:42 Yeah, feel free anybody to add in any comments. My host family, they cook some great food. They've served me some great seafood dishes, also some eggs. I haven't had much American-style food. I will say McDonald's is pretty good here. I think it's some of the better McDonald's in this part of the world. I don't know if it's just that it's more Americanized here in Dagupan, but yeah, McDonald's is really good. One of my buddies goes there for coffee; they do like a coffee for 50 pesos and then a free refill, so he gets two coffees for 50 pesos.

40:26 I need to send him a text actually and try to meet up with him to have some coffee with him because it's a good value for money, and you get to sit in there air conditioning and people watch. I actually recorded that; I need to get that thrown together, but that was a good experience.

40:53 Air quality is probably best in the Tagaytay or Alfonso areas recently. Visited there, it was great. Also, it's cooler because of altitude. Some of the higher altitude spots definitely feel like anywhere you go, you're going to have a little bit better air quality. I noticed that in Shanghai when I was there during Burning Season. When I went up to Doi Suthep, I could see the layer of smog, which is unfortunate. Baguio probably has decent air quality; it's very popular and growing fast, but Baguio is just known for being at a higher altitude.

Sweet Treats and Desserts in Dumaguete

41:26 Michael, feel free to comment about Baguio. I'm not sure if you've been up there, but maybe you could add some thoughts to it. I'm not sure if you've heard much about it, but Chris's favorite sweet treat in Dumaguete, that's a great question. This is something that Jr. treated me to yesterday.

41:44 Man, time just flies by so quickly. It's almost halfway between cheesecake and bread, and it's delicious. They serve it with hot chocolate. It's so good. Other sweet treats in Dagupan? The fresh fruit is really good here. I mean, not exactly a baked good or something like that, but the bananas are really good here. What else have I tried here? The papaya is really, really good here, super fresh. We got papaya trees out in the yard, and they pull them down and chop them up. The coconuts are good here too, the buko. I like the coconut smoothie or coconut milkshake they serve in town. They do condensed milk, the pulp, and ice, and it's really refreshing on a hot day.

42:43 Saturn says, 'Tagaytay is too close to the volcano.' Any okay, got it. Michael says, 'I haven't been there, so I don't know.' Yeah, that's fair, Michael. I do hope you make it up there at some point if you'd like. Curious about Baguio because it's very popular for a lot of foreigners.

43:17 But yeah, the 'N Mod' is really good, Chris. The fruit is really good. I had a piece of chocolate cake at Sans Rival; that was pretty good too. Sans Rival does a ton of great desserts. You cannot go wrong there; they specialize in sweet treats, and their food is good too. But if you're wanting dessert, I recommend Sans Rival.

Health, Expat Behavior, and Research

43:47 I need to fast for 10 hours. Man, I've been fasting today, Michael. I finally broke it tonight with the 'lomia'. I'm working on losing weight, and fasting has definitely been good for it. It can be a pain, right? I mean, they've got some great food where you're at, Michael, up near Manila. There are just so many delicious options, but I get it. If you've got your full exam coming up, you've got to be careful about that blood work and all the stuff someone over 50 needs to do.

44:21 Fair point, Michael, for sure. I hope it goes well. Please let us know in an update or reach out to me. Let me know how it goes because I know you're probably stressing, wanting to make sure all that comes back good and you've got a clean bill of health, no red flags for you. I hope you're doing well, Michael.

44:49 Chris says, 'So your interactions with other expats in Dumaguete have been good?' Yeah, it's been almost universally positive. The one exception would be when I stopped by immigration and saw the gentleman losing his patience. That's just a bad look. I mean, you know, I saw him shout at his wife. I shouldn't have even said anything to him.

45:18 He was complaining about he was actually not even at immigration; it was a visa service center. I'm not going to name them because I'm a fan of them, and I'm not here to criticize them. This was the expat that was acting bad. They were going above and beyond to be helpful and nice to this guy, and this guy is just being a jerk. He wanted to be nice, but he just couldn't have it within him. So he starts complaining to the visa processing service people about his internet. He starts complaining about the taxis. I'm like, dude, they're handling your visa; they're not your taxi guide. They're not your internet guide. That's not within their purview. Go complain to somebody else.

46:04 But I finally intervened. I'm like, 'Hey, have you heard of Grab?' I said it in a more polite way. 'Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, my son told me about it. My son's been here. I'm so important.' Just these self-important, Western people. So terrible, just awful.

46:22 More often than not, if you haven't been over here, you're much more likely to have an issue with another expat than you are a Filipino person. I haven't had any issues with Filipino people; they've all been wonderful. It's the expats that don't bring their common sense, don't bring their doubt or skepticism. They don't do their research and they come over here and make some dumb mistakes, and then all of a sudden it's a Filipino, it's your dude.

Expat Interactions and Community Support

46:57 I don't say that lightly either. Before you come halfway around the world, you should be doing a lot of research. You should be watching videos, reading forums, hiring a consultant. I'm thinking about opening up consults, but you should be investing the time and money to be prepared. People come here and are like, 'Why is it so hot here?' It's hot because we're in the tropics. It's hot because we're not that far from the equator. It's hot because you see this gorgeous environment; it's lush because of the heat and the rain. We're not in the Arctic here, and so people have unrealistic expectations, and that can be really frustrating.

47:45 Chris, and other than that, universally positive. All the YouTubers I've met are super nice. Paul, very nice. Mike, very nice. Gio, very generous to come out and meet me, even though he and I never really interacted much. Who else have I interacted with? As far as... yeah, yeah, most everybody's been nice though. I've had several people approach me in the mall, and each of them have been nice too. They're not YouTubers, but they've all been nice.

48:26 I'd say probably 95% of my interactions with other expats have been positive and are going to be positive. The smart ones that last year, they're grateful, they have gratitude. 'Hey, what's up, a foreigner asking questions in the Philippines? Check his channel out, guys. He's an interesting dude and he's got some great interviews on there.' His channel style is a little bit different from mine, so if you're looking for something like me, that's not it. But he's got great content. We missed him tonight; we normally hang out. But it's all good, I know we all have different things going on.

Community, Respect, and Expat Life

49:14 Yeah, Chris, my interactions with expats have been fantastic here. It's such a supportive environment. I expected to come here and have YouTubers not want to be supportive, not want to engage as much, maybe feeling like, 'Ah, if we help this guy out, he's competition.' We're all different people; we all have very different life experiences, very different perspectives. I don't think any of us have worked in the same industries. The only other salesperson with a sales background I've met here has been Paul. Everybody else has totally different backgrounds from myself.

49:59 Family of Five says, 'Durian is the best.' Michael says, 'That's the stinky fruit.' Yeah, I love durian. I didn't like it at first, Family of Five, but I like durian a lot. If any of you want to make my day, make my week, and we have a meetup, or you just want to hang out at some point, the weight of my heart is with durian in hand. If you can get some durian, then we could definitely have a good conversation.

50:31 Michael says, 'You can easily get blacklisted and sent home if you cause problems here.' Yeah, you've got to respect the system. You've got to respect the people that work to make the Philippines a nice place. I fully support the system the way it is. I don't have problems with it, and I love it here. I can't say enough positive things about it. It's certainly not. If I wanted to change things, I'd just go back home; that's a much easier solution than coming here.

51:00 'I'm the smart foreigner.' No, no. We are here based on the generosity, the kindness, and the goodwill of the Filipino people, and we have to respect that. Just as we'd act... I don't want to get preachy. I don't even like talking about it to my audience too much.

Community, Relationships, and Western Struggles

51:23 I know all you guys are awesome and you have positive attitudes and you're respectful. Take care of family. We'll see you later, but you're wanting to make a positive impact, right? And so I hesitate to even go on about it, but it's just so important to be respectful.

51:41 Michael, I definitely agree with you. Black and Thailand says, 'How is Regular Guy?' So I haven't met Regular Guy. I think he actually lives up in Angeles, and I've never been to Angeles. I may go at some point; it's not top priority for me at the current time. But if he comes down to Duma, yeah, I'll chat with Regular Guy.

52:00 I know some of my friends have met with him and have chatted with him. They've had positive things to say. I think he tends to be a bit more of an introvert, so I can certainly relate to that. Although I'm less and less of an introvert as time goes on here in Duma, I just realized back home I'm not an introvert; I just don't have anybody to talk to and don't have anybody to relate to very much.

52:24 Maybe a few people, but I just struggle to relate to a lot of people in the West. People are stressed out, they're struggling, they're trying to pay their bills. They're in grind mode; they don't have the time to invest in relationships like the people do. The people that live here have time to invest in relationships.

Travel Experiences and Expat Encounters

52:43 Henry says, 'Did you see my invite?' I don't think so, Henry. Did you email it to me? Yeah, Henry, I'm not certain about that. Feel free to email it to me. I'll drop my email in the chat. I've created a new email you can reach out to me at: [email protected] if you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions.

53:11 I do need to make a new PayPal under that email address, but that should just filter my communications because I've got like five email addresses for all different purposes, and that just helps me to stay on top of things.

53:28 Gerard says, 'I saw you were interviewed on Tyus Times.' Yeah, Gerard, I was interviewed on Tyus Times about six months ago. That was when I was living in Changai, and yeah, it was an interesting conversation for sure.

53:40 Michael says, 'Barry in the PI was super nice and hosted Venus and I for three days. We were planning another visit soon to go see a place where there are a lot of monkeys.' Definitely take pictures, Michael. I want to see pictures of the monkeys that you see. That's good to know. I'll keep Barry in the PI in mind. May reach out to him.

54:00 B5 says, 'I can stay in the Philippines for two or three months only. Still love the US. We go to the Philippines every two years.' And yeah, well, great to chat with you, Family of Five. Black in Thailand asks, 'Have you heard of the Duma Getti Fight Club?'

54:15 Okay, before I answer that question, we've got 14 folks on here. Anybody who hasn't given us a thumbs up, please do so. It helps with the algorithm. Black in Thailand, have you heard of the Duma Getti Fight Club? Yeah, that's a really unfortunate circumstance. I think it's just a really unfortunate situation that it came to that. I don't support that, I don't condone that.

54:40 I think that it's not something that I'm going to ever do, I'll tell you that right now. I'm not going to support that, I'm not going to encourage it. I think that people should use their words to sort out disagreements and also use their minds to sort out disagreements. It should never have come to that.

55:02 It should never have happened, and there's a lot to learn from that. Let's put it that way. There's a lot for us to learn from that situation. Yeah, it was a very negative situation. I'm not going to go too much into it because I don't want to drag up old news. This is not a drama channel.

55:26 Yeah, that's as far as I'll go as far as chatting about that unfortunate situation. But none of my friends have had that experience, and I haven't had that experience. I don't understand anybody that would come halfway around the world to engage in that kind of behavior. But yeah, feel free to chime in with any questions or thoughts anybody has.

Dumaguete's Welcoming Atmosphere

55:49 Definitely losing my voice more and more. Yeah, no worries. I get it, Black in Thailand. I totally get it. You're not in the wrong for bringing it up. It was very big news for a while. It certainly attracted a lot of negative attention to the city, but I think we're past that. I'd like to think that we're past that and that such circumstances won't happen again.

56:17 But yeah, everybody feel free to chime in with any thoughts you have. I did have a couple of interviews last night, one at midnight, one at 1:00 AM. Haven't heard back from them. If I don't get a call back, I'm looking at trying to commit to a year here in the Philippines to just go all in on vlogging.

56:40 Macau Streets, hello folks. Hey, welcome, Macau. It's pretty late there. How are you doing tonight? Black in Thailand, I'm currently living in Bangkok. Was thinking about moving to Duma Getti, and that was one of the things that put me off. Yeah, that was one individual who went rogue and is not reflective of the greater community.

56:59 He has been banned from that establishment, and he is, yeah, let's just say he doesn't have the greatest reputation in this town, and for good reason. Not here to trample on anyone, don't want to feed into the drama, but...

57:37 What's the best way to put it? I think what I've said so far has been sufficient. Go for it. Yeah, I'd agree. Try it out, Black in Thailand. It may not be for you, but I wouldn't keep that as a significant concern. Everybody's been super kind to me, super sweet, super generous, warm, friendly.

Philippines vs. Thailand for Long-Term Living

58:00 I have seen, I imagine you're African-American or perhaps African British, just by your name. Could be totally wrong. I have seen a number of African-American individuals around town, and it seems like they get a warm reception. I know I'm starting to interact a little bit with Calvin. You may be familiar with Sunshine's Shoulders, and he's an interesting guy for sure.

58:32 But yeah, I think, okay, so you're from Ohio. Very cool. Yeah, I get the impression that this is just my impression, that the Filipino people are welcoming to all. They're curious about foreigners, they're interested in foreigners, they want to learn about foreigners.

58:51 They don't have this, I know in America, Black in Thailand, there's this negative stereotype about African-Americans, and some people are just not even willing to give African-Americans a chance. I don't get that impression here. I feel like it's, I understand why so many African-Americans or black individuals want to go try somewhere else, want to live somewhere else, want to feel like they're on equal footing with all the other foreigners.

59:27 They're going to look at you as a foreigner, but not as a perpetual foreigner, if that makes any sense.

59:40 Now that Thailand has a DTVB, so would you return? I don't think so. This is, I'm going to just go ahead and share my perception about Thailand. Thailand for me, because of the lack of English, which I do think is improving, I see the Philippines as being probably my long-term home base, assuming that I can meet the requirements of the visa and continue to do so.

1:00:06 I've fallen in love with this country. I liked it a lot last time, but this trip has solidified it for me. The English being prevalent, being able to talk to anybody I want at any time, the friendliness of the people, the presence of Americans that I relate a lot to, the convenience. It's just...

1:00:36 Oh, thank you so much. A foreigner asking questions in the Philippines. I really appreciate that you're hopping on here. And Michael said, 'Oh, uh M.' But yeah, so that's not a critique of Thailand. Thailand, I love Thailand. Thailand is a beautiful country, very modern, some of the best food in the world, very friendly people. I have some wonderful Thai friends there.

1:01:01 I have some wonderful expat friends there, but the lack of English made me feel a bit lonely at times. There were some times where I wanted to talk, wanted to engage, and it was feeding into this kind of depressive, like kind of mindset where I just didn't talk as much. And I'm like, 'I'm an introvert, that's why I'm not social.' That's not the case at all. It's that I struggle to communicate effectively because I don't speak Thai.

1:01:27 If I could learn Thai, I think it would open up a lot of doors in Thailand. But the Philippines for me, it's my preference. Now, I'm happy to vacation in Thailand in the future. I personally think Thailand is a fantastic place to take a vacation, and that the Philippines is going to be better for me for day-to-day life.

Expat Community and Hometown Connections

1:01:48 You're going to have some awesome experiences in Thailand. It's Bangkok, super fast-paced, but that as far as my day-to-day life, it's just less complicated here in the Philippines, to be honest with you. Black in Thailand, Michael says, 'Avoid people like that.' Of course, most everyone else will be good friends. Absolutely agree.

1:02:07 Absolutely agree. 95% of expats I've met here and engaged with have been super nice, super friendly, super welcoming, bringing me into the fold very quickly, giving me a chance when I have little to offer them based on the size of my channel.

1:02:32 What's up, Mike? Cool, cool. Yeah, he knows Mike. Very cool. Yeah, Mike, we met Mike on a live stream some months ago, like six months ago. I feel like I met Mike, and how the time has flown. Ah, good to see you guys. Thanks, Black in Thailand says, 'That's good to hear. Thanks for the insurance.'

1:02:50 Yeah, absolutely. That's just been my perception. Of course, some people who are black Americans, they may have a different experience, and I respect and validate their experiences. But from what I can tell, they seem to have a...

1:03:07 What I can tell, they seem to have a similar sentiment. And for what it's worth, as an Asian American, I feel like also, as a non-Filipino person, that I'm accepted here. Not the same, but I'm very clearly not Filipino. So you too, I try not to miss this dude's life.

1:03:26 How flattering. Um, really quick plug because we just have 11 thumbs up and 15 watching. If you could just help us run up the thumbs up, it helps to distribute the video to more folks. Michael says, by the way, for the new folks, I'm from Illinois but live most of my life in Nashville. Welcome, Ohio.

Weather, Travel, and Channel Improvement

1:03:44 So Michael and I got the same, in a way, you could say hometown. He's from Illinois, but I look at him as an honorary Nashvillian. And that's where we connected really well. As I grew up in Nashville, lived there until my early 20s and still have a lot of friends back there.

1:04:06 Gerard says, how is the rain out there? Yeah, it rained a lot yesterday, Gerard. I was out with one of my buddies and we had to step into a tea shop, Cha Time. I'll throw a name, it's a really great chain. I've tried them in SM Mall and SM City. And they offer great tea, but we went in there to avoid the rain.

1:04:33 And I actually, before that, I stepped into a cafe and just set up my computer. I was working on a thumbnail for a video, and they were totally cool with it. They're like, 'Ah, you don't have to order anything, you can just sit here until the rain stops.' So yeah, it rained a lot yesterday. Fortunately, today hasn't been bad.

1:04:52 I haven't noticed any rain. There was some wind, and it kind of seemed like it might rain, but it didn't happen. Hey Tony, welcome. Yeah, Tony's a channel member. Thank you so much for helping to support the channel, Tony.

1:05:07 Always good to see Tony in here. I feel like Tony believed in me before I believed in myself, and I can't thank him enough for the encouragement and for the validation of my work to date. And also, just encouraged me to keep plugging away at it.

1:05:26 P covered this topic, it's spiking in PH. Especially before GF moves in, I'd ask her to get tested. Yeah, that's a fair point, Saturn. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. I'm a fan of testing, I'm a fan of all of that. There's no shame in being careful.

1:05:49 Family Five says, have your girls tested with TB before you kiss them. Yeah, that's a fair point. And Family of Five, my Grandma had that. So when my Grandma was a little girl in Japan, she got it when she was 10 or 12 years old, and she thought that was going to be the end of her. She went to a hot spring, and for whatever reason, the hot spring helped her to get over it.

1:06:11 But yeah, it's not even necessarily, like I know it's some of these things are stigmatized. It's outside of people's control in some cases. It was that way in my Grandma's case. I think she stepped on a nail or something like that.

1:06:26 Tony says, the viewership of the channel is growing. Welcome to the new viewers. Yeah, we've added 600 subscribers in the last month, and it's just growing rapidly. And I think it's going to keep growing because I've worked out some of the kinks in my interview process.

1:06:41 I figured out what people are looking for. I'm improving my editing, I'm getting feedback. Feedback is a gift, by the way, everyone, unless it's nasty. Please let me know how I can improve.

Channel Growth and Community Support

1:06:55 And you know, there's a lot of ways in which I could improve the channel. There's a lot of ways in which I could, if I can make a better experience for you, please let me know. I'm not too good to do anything, to learn anything. I'm not too smart.

1:07:08 You're not going to hurt my feelings unless you tell me something personal that's not really constructive, which isn't going to hurt my feelings. I'll just, you know, move on quickly. But it's also not going to make the channel better, right?

1:07:21 So if you want to help them make the channel better, let me know what I can do to make it better. Let me know topics that are interesting to you. You always could support through membership, it's always appreciated, not required.

1:07:39 Yeah, Tony, I remember when Tony was the only one tuning in on these, and I was just like, man, I can't give up. There's like this one dude that actually is intrigued by this, and if I quit, I'm gonna let this dude down.

1:07:54 And Tony also, in that way, provided proof of concept. So I figured if one guy cares, I could probably find a thousand guys that care. And he helped to encourage me to keep moving forward, to keep practicing, to sharpen up my skill set.

1:08:07 And then here I've just leveled up dramatically. I mean, just being surrounded by YouTubers with 50k or 100k. Oh wow, thank you so much, Michael. That's so generous. Thank you so much for joining Gold Tier.

1:08:23 So one of the things I'm going to plug here, when we get enough people in my membership, we may have, I think four. Michael might be number four. I'm going to be doing members-only live streams where you get personalized attention from me in detail, answers to your questions, going in depth on them.

1:08:39 We could also discuss some things you might not want to share with the larger audience, maybe have some personal things. You know, you got some things you want to dig into, maybe you want to talk about some kind of, there's just a lot of value in having a small, close-knit group where we trust each other.

1:09:04 Where we don't have any trolls, right? I mean, the beauty of membership is nobody's going to pay me money to troll me, right? Nobody's going to support the channel to troll me. So something to keep in mind.

1:09:16 But thank you so much, Michael. Your generosity and your support is greatly appreciated. I don't take it for granted. It's very humbling that people would find enough value in this content to support with their hard-earned dollars. I know how hard people have worked for what they have, and I honor that support.

1:09:38 But yeah, it was hilarious. Tony was like the only one watching, and I'm just thinking, okay, yeah, this guy cares. This guy's interested, and we got to make it happen. We got to grow this, we got to help these guys, we got to help share information, we got to help build the community.

1:09:52 We got to keep talking, we got to work through these things, we got to validate each other because a lot of us expats, we get a lot of hate back home because we're sometimes looked at as traders, we're sometimes looked at as LBH, loser back home.

1:10:09 And I wanted to just defeat that narrative. I don't care for that narrative. I want to empower and validate. You're struggling back home, let's talk about it. Now, I'm not a psychologist, I'm not a therapist, I'm not licensed, this isn't counseling.

1:10:25 But I can relate. I know I can relate from my personal difficulties, from my personal experiences. I can relate to you. I can understand where a lot of you are coming from, and that's where the healing begins.

Community, Healing, and Western Struggles

1:10:40 Because sometimes guys will go to a counselor back home, they'll think, 'I just need to go to a counselor, and it's going to sort out my problems.' The counselor is going to treat it like an individual problem, like there's something wrong with you. Not necessarily. Let me reframe that.

1:10:55 I'm not here to say they're wrong. I'm not here to say do or don't do this or that. It's more so that I found healing through community, healing through spending time around guys I can relate to, not being like, you know, I remember at times people asking me about my family.

1:11:11 I come out and talk about it. 'Oh no, that's enough. Why'd you ask if you don't want to know?' 'Well, we're just making conversation.' Well, don't ask personal questions and then get upset that the response isn't what you're looking for.

1:11:27 Because you get that 'How are you doing?' question a lot in the West, but they don't really care how you're doing. They're just trying to break the ice, they're just trying to have some kind of filler, whatever, before you get into the meat and bones of the conversation.

1:11:44 No, no, no. A lot of us have struggled in the West, or we are currently struggling in the West, or we're going to be struggling in the West. Is this the case? My case, when I go, if and when I go back.

1:11:57 And more and more guys are going to be moving abroad. More and more guys and gals are going to be seeking a life abroad. We're at the point now where more and more what I would call normies are looking outside of the West. They're looking at Latin America, they're looking at Southeast Asia.

1:12:14 One of my closest friends in high school growing up, he actually is in Thailand for the first time, and he's loving it. He's having a blast. I've reached out to him a few times just trying to check in on him, see how he's doing, and he's just having such a good time.

1:12:28 He hasn't gotten back to me, and so I know it may be when he gets back that we actually have a time, we have actually have a chance to catch up on the phone, talk about it. What did he like? What did he not like? Was it what he expected?

1:12:40 Because I think to some extent, he was worried when I went over to Thailand, like, man, he's going halfway around the world. What is it like over there? And then he's seeing my videos, 'Oh man, it looks really modern, and the food looks really good, and the people look happy.'

1:12:53 And so, you know, I think that's been great for him. Now, he is a, in his situation, I don't want to share too much of his personal information, but he is a committed man. So it's not a situation of dating. Nothing wrong with that.

1:13:05 But yeah, once again, trying to break stereotypes here, trying to break down these beliefs that, you know, don't exactly aren't the most charitable.

Dating and YouTube Growth Strategies

1:13:20 Black in Thailand. How is dating in the Philippines compared to Thailand?

1:13:28 It's, you know, I don't know what it's hard to say. Like in Thailand, I found it to be good in both countries. I think that in Thailand...

1:13:41 In Thailand, you may struggle with the lack of English. Right now in Bangkok, that's not as much of an issue. Padia, not as much of an issue. The more westernized or tourist-heavy parts of Thailand are not going to be as much of an issue. In the Philippines, my personal experience is that it's good here. I have people trying to set me up all the time with a relationship. I have people trying to basically every day, I get asked if I'm single. Almost every day, somebody's asking if I talk with Filipinos. Some days I don't run into them, or I'm just in a rush, whatever, I don't end up having a conversation. But people are often trying to set me up here with a nice woman.

1:14:35 Saturn says, 'You're not a famous PH vlogger until Christian Filipina contacts you for a sponsorship.' Yeah, I imagine that may happen. I'm not opposed to it. Maybe when I hit 10K, then that'll come down the pipeline. Maybe what if I hit 15K or 20K? Maybe then, but yeah, I'm very, I'm a micro-channel, Saturn, you know, at 2300 subs, I'm very, very small. So I'm not expecting it. The success I've had to date has been mind-blowing, to be honest with you. I'm shocked that there's this many of you that are interested, but greatly appreciated.

1:15:16 AFA, I need to start calling him AFA Q. ITP, I think it's definitely worth it because Alex is very smart. Dude, that's really kind of you to say. I really appreciate that. I think your bar for smart is a little bit... no, I give a foreigner asking questions a hard time because we just have a... I don't know how to explain it. Check out his channel, that's the best suggestion. He, yeah, yeah, check out his channel.

The Power of Interviews and YouTube Growth

1:15:49 Tony says, 'Yes, I think you have unique insights. Interviewing others like you have done recently could be a good way to grow the channel.' Yeah, people love interviews, Tony. For whatever reason, people love interviews. Some of it is they want the perspective, some of it is that they like seeing people's excitement. Some of it is that they get a different perspective, right? Like they know I love it here, it's obvious, but to see a stranger being interviewed that can have positive things to say, it's like, I don't know if it's proof of concept, I don't know if it's acknowledgement, I don't know what it is exactly, but people love interviews. And so I'm going to be doing a lot more interviews.

1:16:33 Because for whatever reason, I think it's from my sales background, Tony. I think working in sales forced me to get good at asking questions. Some people feel like I'm a little bit too complimentary, but when it comes to these vloggers, I've been watching some of these guys for five years. So the chance to meet them is mind-blowing. And I know some people would say, 'Oh, they're not celebrities,' and they're exciting. Okay, they helped me to a sense of hope when I was stuck back home, and I was lonely, and I was unhappy, and I was frustrated. Watching these vloggers gave me the sense that I could make a better life than the one I had currently, and it gave me something to work toward.

1:17:15 And these weren't perfect guys, these aren't saints. Somebody was like, 'Oh, Paul's not a saint,' or 'Mike's not a saint.' I never said they were saints. I said they were normal guys who turned the negative to a positive and have the storytelling and the how-to guide on how you can make a better life. And so that's where I want to grow the channel is just to help guys. 95% of my audience is guys, but for the one in 20 that are ladies, I'm happy to help them too. I'm an equal opportunity helper. I tend to relate more obviously to single guys in the west, but you know, single ladies are welcome too.

1:17:52 You're compin' in Dumaguete, why not explore other islands? Maybe they will attract you much more than Dumaguete does. Yeah, I don't know about that, Maau. I like Dumaguete a lot. It's... I need to go. The channel before I start running around. The more you travel, the more expensive it gets. The more time-consuming it gets, the more tiring it gets. It's just a lot more work, right? I'm having to learn new restaurants, I'm having to learn new cities, do transportation. It becomes more and more complex. I'm not opposed to going to other places, but Dumaguete, I love. I don't feel confined at all.

1:18:35 I mean, I'm more excited about Dumaguete today than I was a month ago when I arrived. It's more interesting to me today because I have a community. I hop in transit and I go down to the city, and I'm immediately interacting with people that I'd have to... that would be a reset if I go to other islands. Not opposed to it, by the way. I do have Maau to go up to Cebu. I need to get down to Maliz City in mind now. But this is a fantastic base, and I'm learning a lot. I keep meeting new people, by the way, because my vlogger friends introduced me to their vlogger friends who have more to teach me. My schedule is jam-packed, and I know it would fade out, it would fade down somewhat if I were to leave. So right now, Dumaguete is working beautifully for me.

1:19:25 And I see it as a fantastic base. I know there's a lot of vloggers here, but there's also a lot of travelers here. There's people coming here every day wanting to check it out, wanting to see it. And so you have this network effect. It's almost like Silicon Valley, where people were like, 'Why live in Silicon Valley? There's all these techies.' Well, if you're in tech, that's like the best place to... that's one of the best places in the world, if not the best, to be. You're going to be surrounded by engineers, salespeople, ops people, operations people, lawyers, all the types of people that work in that industry. And to some extent, Dumaguete has a similar benefit. It's a network effect. If you want to learn about vlogging, if you want to meet other vloggers, if you want to level up, you want people to push you to your A-game.

1:20:10 I've done more here in a month than I did in a year in Thailand. Not a slight against Thailand, but when you're on your own, it's just not the same for me to watch some vlog online, how to make a good YouTube video. I'd rather sit down with one of my vlogger friends that's got 50k subs, 30k subs, even five or 10k subs, that is going to sit down and tell me, 'This is what you need to do. Here's some feedback. This is what you're doing wrong. This is what you could do better. This is what you're good at. This is what you're not good at.' That feedback loop is causing me to level up way faster than I would in almost anywhere else in the country. And I love this country. There's a lot to see, there's a lot to do, but I want to level up. I want to be forced to rise to the occasion. I want to be forced to do things better.

Accountability and Feedback Loops

1:20:57 And there's no better way to do that than to have people surrounding you like, 'Come on man, you can do it.' Like you're the... no excuses. You know you want accountability. I want accountability. I want to have to face them. And oh yeah, man, this thumbnail wasn't that great. Or, 'Yeah, this video didn't do that good.' Why do you think my video didn't do good? What about it was not as good? What about it was good? How can we do better? What did I do wrong? I'm constantly able to evaluate here in this kind of feedback loop. Maau streets of what I did wrong. Where if I went to say, a provincial area, and I was surrounded by local Filipinos, they're so sweet and kind. They're not going to want to crap on my video. They're not going to want to tell me, 'Man, the thumbnail sucks,' or 'Man, you know...' They're just such good, kind-hearted, warm people that they're not willing to be like, 'Dude, you suck.' And I need to hear that sometimes.

1:21:55 That's what's going to help me get better. And eventually, I'm not going to suck, just like if I was trying to play basketball. New York City would be an awesome option, right? You want to be in a place where you're surrounded by people that are doing what you want to be doing.

1:22:10 Tony said, 'And by the way, guys, I'm gonna have to pause to pull out my laptop charger. Let me do that actually right now because I don't...' One second, everybody. I could show you a little bit of my apartment. There we go. Okay, we got the charger plugged in. Ah, okay, very good. So yeah.

1:23:06 Saturn says, 'Do you see it as a red flag when a local tries to set you up with a date? What motivates them to do that?' Not a red flag at all, Saturn. So they believe everybody should be in a relationship here. It's a very romantic country, the Philippines. Very, very romantic country. You hear love songs in public all the time. You see couples in public all the time holding hands, flirting with each other. You see pregnant ladies all the time. Most people have children here. It's a young country, so the average age is like 28, and that's skewed upwards by Manila. If you took out Manila, it's probably even younger. So not a red flag at all. You do need to vet people, regardless of who it is, whoever you're getting set up with. Vet them, you know, ask questions, get a sense of who they are. Don't think, 'Oh, I met my wife tonight.' No, like you got to be patient. There's no substitute for time here.

1:24:02 So, no, people just believe everybody should be in a relationship here. They believe everybody should have a chance at love. And so it's very common for people to want to set you up and to introduce you to a single person that they know. They think that you know, it could be love, it could be... it could be the start of a bright future. Maybe not, you know, maybe it doesn't work out, but yeah.

Relationships, Cusco, and Personal Happiness

1:24:35 Tony says, 'Not sure how long ago it was, but I first found your channel when searching for living in Cusco videos. You did 'Went On,' 'Could I Live in Cusco,' and 'Being Introverted in Cusco'.' And I was told, 'Thank you so much, Tony.' Yeah, Cusco is super high up there. I actually had a guy today ask me about Cusco, Tony. And I was telling him, if it weren't for me being and just loving Southeast Asia, Cusco would be possibly the top of my list as far as...

1:25:00 Possibly the top of my list as far as places to live, Cusco is an incredible city. It is beautiful, it is interesting, it's got a lot of interesting foreigners. It's just this, I could say a lot of nice things about Cusco. I still love Cusco, but this guy asked me, 'Do you still feel the same way about Cusco?' I said, 'Totally.' Oh yeah, totally. I mean, it's a timeless city. It's got hundreds of years of history. It's going to be there far after I'm gone from this world. I'd love to visit there again. I don't know if it's going to be anytime soon, Tony, but it's, uh, Cusco is a very special place. It attracts people from all over the world. When I was in Cusco, I had friends from India, from Belgium, from gosh, Venezuela, from Colombia. I don't think I met any Argentines.

1:25:57 Yeah, people from all over the world are attracted to Cusco. Very, very cool city. Frugal Wanderer is an introvert as well. Might be good for you two to do a video discussion on introversion and expat life. Yeah, happy to chat with Frugal Wanderer. If you can ask him to just reach out on my email, Tony, if you can. I really need to reach out to him. I just got so many things that I want to do, but if you could help to set that up, Tony, I'd be happy to chat with him. I'd be happy to do a live stream with him or a recorded discussion because Frugal Wanderer has interesting conversations. He's also talked about trauma healing and expat life, another good micro-topic.

1:26:49 Totally agree. As far as healing, I think expat life goes hand in hand with healing. You're able to get away from the source of your trauma. You're able to get into a new paradigm. Nobody knows who you are, nobody recognizes you. Nobody wants to stop you from hitting escape velocity, right? I mean, sometimes people who haven't healed don't want others to heal, unfortunately. And we've got to be willing to pursue our own happiness even if other people don't want us to be happy. Happiness is up to the individual. What might make one person happy is not what would make another person happy. And so, I think it's just definitely important for everybody to pursue their own happiness, for everybody to figure out what they want out of life, where they want to live.

Choosing a Life Abroad and Costco Memories

1:27:36 The Philippines ain't for everybody. I think it's great for a lot of people, but it ain't for everybody. There's some people who are not going to like the weather. Some people are going to miss the infrastructure somewhere else. Some people, I don't know, there's some expats that don't speak English, right? There's some expats from Japan that are like, 'Hey, I don't want to learn English, so I want to speak Japanese.' So, I want to be in a place with a lot of, like Thailand has 100,000 Japanese, so they're able to get together in communities and speak Japanese, have Japanese food. Nothing wrong with that. I think what everybody should be pursuing is their own happiness.

1:28:18 Michael says, 'Venus and I need to visit Duma sometime in the near future.' Yeah, Michael, if you make it down here, I'd love to meet up. It would be super cool. I think you guys would really enjoy Daggett. I love it. I mean, I totally get the hype. I didn't get it at first. The first couple days I was like, 'What's the big deal?' And then I was like, 'Oh, wow, okay, I get it now.' You've got all these wonderful small-town vibes with a lot of conveniences that you'd find in a bigger city. You've got your modern shopping mall, your banks, your acres, your grocery store, your department store. You've got your kind of your boulevard where you can exercise and go up and down the boulevard all day long, interact with and meet other people. You've got the potential to meet friends and make new friends. There's, of course, for guys that want to date, there's single women here in Duma. It's just such a cool vibe.

1:29:21 They have great discounts at Costco. That's why it's one, yeah, it's just a couple letters removed from Costco. That's such a good catch. Absolutely. Michael Johnson says, 'Haha, yeah, so true.' I never thought about Cusco and Costco. That's you, the first person to pick up on that. A foreigner asking questions. It's so true that they're very close together, and I love both of them. I love Cusco, the city in Peru, and I love Costco, the warehouse retailer in the US. I love Costco pizza. That's if you were to ask me what I miss most about the US besides my friends, it's Costco. I miss the Costco food court. I miss going to Costco and getting like big containers of blueberries and strawberries. I miss getting a slice of pizza and a soda for a couple of bucks. Pizza is a primo item here. Soda's also coming at a premium.

Introversion, Expat Safety, and Spontaneity

1:30:24 So yeah, Costco, that membership, I definitely use it a lot, especially in California, because pizza is very pricey in California. I pay like seven, eight bucks for two small slices or go to Costco and get a big slice for $2. But yeah, kind of adding to the conversation about introversion. I think it's somewhat atypical. I don't want to say atypical, but I think it's not necessarily what a lot of people consider. I think a lot of people think I became an expat because I'm at a point where I'm financially able to focus on a social life. But there's a lot of places you can go where you can kind of just be on your own and nobody's going to bother you.

1:31:19 There's this misconception that expats, they've got a target on their forehead wherever they go in the world. No, most people just like want the same things. They want to spend time with their family, they want a job that has meaning, they want access to healthcare, they want food that they like. They're not looking to bother other people. People are caught up in their own stuff. Doesn't mean all expats are safe everywhere, absolutely not. You've got to have some caution. You've got to keep your wits about you. You've got to understand, 'I'm not in Kansas anymore.' But most people are not going to run into issues. As expats, we hear about the extreme cases, we hear about the worst-case scenarios because it's not entertaining to hear, 'Michael Johnson, the expat, had an uneventful day relaxing with his wife. They went shopping and had a nice meal.' Nobody's going to hear, 'Alex the expat went out for a nice dinner in Cusco, strolled around the streets, had an ice cream, saw some friends, and chatted for 20 minutes and then went back home.' That's just simply not that exciting.

1:32:28 I actually feel like my life over here in the Philippines is more exciting. But some of the places I've spent time are just not that exciting. It's a calm life, it's a relaxed life. It's not this hustle-bustle grind that I have back home. I feel like life back home is more dangerous, life back home is more stressful, life back home is more boring, where I'm trying to do things to stimulate my mind because all the excitement and risk has been just regulated out of the experience. Western society is just so risk-averse. You don't have the spontaneity that you have in the Philippines. I go out into downtown Dumaguete, I have no idea what I'm going to see, I have no idea what I'm going to experience. The other night, I'm walking along the boulevard and I step away, and there's a guy that's just pulled up a truck full of grapes. He's just got this truck, like just piles and piles of grapes. And I'm like, 'This would never happen in America.' You're not parking a truck full of grapes. First off, the cops are going to come up and ask you, 'What are you doing? Do you have a permit to sell grapes here?' 'No?' 'Okay, you need to get out of here. If you don't get out of here, you're going to be fined.' If you don't stop after the fine, we're going to handcuff you. That's not going to happen here.

Life in Dumaguete vs. The West

1:33:43 So you walk down the street and there's a guy, and then there's another guy that's like walking around, he's got like a basket full of fruit on his head and he's like, 'Hey, do you want some fruit? I got some fruit, you want?' You're not going to see that back home. People are just too risk-averse and too busy. You just can't, you don't have that spontaneity. I walk down this boulevard in Daggett, I have no idea who I'm going to run into. I ran into a ton of vloggers who just happen to be down there, not even always filming, just like, 'I'm hanging out, just came down to see who's out here.' Every day I'm running into random people and making new friends, and my social circle is growing rapidly. But yeah, Michael, I think you'd really enjoy it.

1:34:26 Michael says, 'I'm a bit introverted until I have a couple Jack and Cokes and then I open up.' I'm the same way, but with coffee, Michael. I'm pretty introverted, but I get some caffeine in me. I pound an energy drink or I knock back a couple of cups of coffee, and I'm ready to go. Today, I had a cup of coffee at like 5:00 PM, and I'm still feeling it. It's midnight, but I'll be tired after the stream. I still have to work on some stuff. Got a lot to do. Had a long two, three-hour conversation with Chad today, and he was just like, 'Dude, you've got it. You just need to move forward. You just got to do X.' Like, these are the things you need to be working on if you want to build this into something that has the potential to bring you a full-time income. Didn't tell me not to go back. You know, if I, like I said, if I get the right opportunity back home, it would make sense to go back and add some money to the cash. But like if I don't, you know, what do I have to lose?

Worst Expat Encounters and Cultural Appreciation

1:35:36 Alex, what's the worst encounter you've had with another expat, if you've ever had a bad encounter with one? Yeah, that's an easy one. An immigration issue a couple days ago. That guy yelling at his wife. That was not fun.

1:35:49 A guy yelling at his wife was not fun, but the worst one was probably in Thailand. I was at my gym, and I'm not going to name the gym, but I was at my gym and this older expat starts cursing out this younger guy. The younger guy happened to like start using this piece of exercise equipment that the older expat, I don't know, he was having a break from using. Well, he comes in, he starts cursing this guy out and then goes over to the Thai gym staff and is, 'Can you believe what he did?' I didn't see anything that would warrant that kind of overreaction. I think he's just cranky, maybe he didn't get enough sleep, maybe he's having some kind of issue. Whatever it may be, the Thai gym staff member just kind of shrugs. He's like, 'What do you want me to do about it? Are you hurt? You're not hurt? Okay, then what are you complaining about?' 'When he took my equipment.' He used the equipment I was using. He wasn't crying, but I'm basically calling him a crybaby because he's screaming and cursing, and everybody stops their workout to look over like, 'What are you doing, dude?'

1:36:59 So that was probably the worst encounter I've had with one. I ignored the guy after I figured out he was just over-exaggerating and making something out of nothing. If you're not hurt, just grow a thicker skin. You're going to live overseas, you need to have a thick skin. You don't need to be starting an argument with some guy in the gym. He could have just shrugged and said, 'Whatever, guy needs to use the equipment, who cares?' I didn't see anything, and I'd seen that guy before. That guy had never been rude to me, never been disrespectful to me, never tried to take a piece of equipment. I think this guy just probably wanted some attention and he wanted it so badly he was willing to throw a hissy fit about it. He always looked upset every time I'd see him. I worked out at that gym for about six months, and every time I'd see him, he just had this angry look on his face. I'm like, 'Dude, you're not in the right place if you have that attitude.'

1:38:00 But you get some guys that they get stuck over here, they don't want to live over here in Southeast Asia or Latin America or Eastern Europe, wherever they're at. But due to financial reasons, they're stuck, and so they don't actually like the place. I love these places that I go. Is the cost of living a factor? Yes, but even if it was expensive, I'd still come here. I just wouldn't be able to afford to spend as much time here. To me, the cost of living is icing on the cake. I love the culture, and the people are the two things that keep me coming back. I learned so much from these people. Every day, a Filipino person teaches me something new. They're helping me to expand my mind, they're helping me to see things from a different perspective. They're just really wonderful people.

Food Experiences and Cultural Gratitude

1:38:45 I feel very similarly about Thailand. The way that Thais are just insightful and interesting and lighthearted. It's wonderful. But yeah, I hope that answers your question about a foreigner asking questions in the Philippines. I'm very fortunate that I've had very few bad encounters with other expats. 95% of my interactions with other expats has been positive. Another one that was kind of weird was in Palawan. I had an expat try to cut me in line at the 7-Eleven. I'm like, 'No, you're not doing that, dude. That's not how this works.' I'm not waiting on you. But that didn't escalate from there. I just didn't tolerate it, and that was just where that ended.

1:39:43 Ballut. I hear them walk up and down the street selling balut, but I swear I'll never want to eat that. Mike was telling me I should do a video with Janet. Shout out to Janet and Mike, by the way. I should do a video trying balut with Janet. I'm not sure, man. It's pretty out there. I'm pretty open-minded about food. I've eaten some weird things abroad, but to me, I'd rather just have eggs. I'd rather just have some fried eggs or some scrambled eggs. I had some awesome scrambled eggs in Cagayan. But yeah, Filipinos cook eggs so well. I'd rather just have it cooked on a sandwich, or cooked with some rice, or cooked on their own with a cup of coffee. I feel like I don't need to eat balut. As far as texture or flavor goes, I think it's unlikely for it to be so awesome that I'm like, 'I'd rather have this than just your standard egg.' Here, the eggs are delicious, flavorful, and nutritious. I get it, people grow up on it, it's an acquired taste. They really like the flavor, they like the texture, they feel like balut is something really special, and they enjoy it. More power to them. If we're not as into balut, we're doing them a favor because there's more balut for them.

1:41:10 Michael says your channel is going to do well. I followed for a while and I see the differences in content, and it's gotten better. I'll help in any way I can. Thank you so much, Michael. That's so generous, so kind. I've had one bad experience with an expat from Kenya. I'll tell you about it sometime. I found out later he's part of some scammer group in Bacoor. Yeah, we can chat about that. I could recognize why you wouldn't want to go down that tangent in this stream. Thanks for asking questions. I think you fit in well over here. Thank you so much, man. I feel the same way about you. I think you fit in very well over here too.

Filipino Hospitality and Favorite Dishes

1:42:07 It's a privilege, you know, it's an honor. I just feel so blessed and so fortunate and so much gratitude that the people welcome me and the people are sweet to me. I've come such a long way from when I first arrived here on my first visit five years ago. I was like, 'Why are these people so nice? Why are they being so nice?' I remember walking down the road in Cagayan, and all these people were in their front yards and they just waved and smiled at me. I'm like, 'This is I'm on another planet here.' I've never experienced anything like this in my life. I feel like a celebrity. And now I get it, like they're just happy with their lives and they're happy to see a foreigner happy in their country that has love for their country, admiration for the resilience of the people. It's such a special place. I love the Philippines so much, and I love it more and more every day.

1:43:07 How about taho? I'd try it. I'd definitely try it. It looks like a really good dessert. I searched it up on Wikipedia. It's a silken tofu and sago pearl. I think Chad actually had something like that today. Whenever we met up at Cafe Filomina, it's attached to this hotel. I can pull it up because I actually recorded a video. Bethel Guest House. So Cafe Filomina is part of Bethel Guest House.

1:43:57 Pancit and Palabok. Let me look up Palabok. Oh yeah, yeah, I'm all about the noodles. I would eat a ton of noodles. Fan of pancit. I think I've tried Palabok, and yeah, two thumbs up. Love Filipino food. My favorite dish is Kinilaw. So if you were to ask me, Alex, what is your favorite dish here in the Philippines? Kinilaw is number one. It's raw fish with lime juice, vinegar, ginger. Sometimes they'll throw like onion, or they put these peppers in it, tomato. At where I like to get my Kinilaw, it's so good. I could eat it every single day. To me, it's like poke or ceviche. Fish, citrus juice, pepper, onion, tomato. I could eat it every day. In fact, when I was in Cagayan five years ago, I ate it like three or four days in a row. Delicious. Such good food.

Relationships, Culinary Comparisons, and Sales Jobs

1:45:10 Michael says, and we'll probably wind down in about 15 minutes, guys. My voice is starting to go, and I've got another interview tomorrow. Oh yeah, I've got to get up early tomorrow. I totally forgot I've got to get up. Well, yeah, I probably got to get up early tomorrow. No, no, it's Saturday, I think. I can sleep in tomorrow. Sunday, I got to get up early. I just saw the day change to Saturday, so I got a little bit panicked there. But yeah, Michael says, wait until you find your girl, you'll get so much more and how much they love and care for you. Just be sure you find the right one. I still can't believe I'm here and have what I have now. Yeah, it's a start. Contrast, isn't it, Michael? Compared to being back home, feeling lonely, feeling isolated, to having someone that really cares about you, someone that loves you, who wants the best for you. It's a world of difference.

1:46:04 Yeah, I definitely agree, Michael. Pancit Canton. Yeah, Cantonese-style noodles. That's oh man, it's so good. I need to try a place in town called Chune Long. It's a Chinese restaurant. I've heard it's pretty good. The reviews are pretty good, and I'll probably try it maybe early next week.

1:46:26 Saturn says, since you have a sales background, what is your opinion on YouTubers promoting with no experience? You can get a decent paying SDR or BDR sales job. You know, I think there's selling, right? I mean, there's YouTubers with a sales background, and they're bringing their sales skills to YouTube, and they're only going to tell you the positive. They want to sell the dream. Telling somebody, 'Hey, this ain't going to work out,' a lot of people that want to buy into a delusion. They want to buy into mystical or magical thinking. They don't want to hear that. They don't want to hear, 'You need some experience.' I got a great sales job after one year's experience, but this was also the heyday when there was tons of free money floating around. It was very easy back then. I think you need more experience now to start to get a decent paying job. You do need to get your foot in the door. You do need to start out with some kind of SDR or BDR job.

1:47:25 I think one of my subscribers, he's not on here, but he actually got his first BDR job after I gave him some tips and suggestions. He's, I'm not going to comment on his pay; I think that's for Unfriendly Stoic, his name on here. That's something for him to discuss in further detail.

1:47:44 But you know, no experience is tricky. Do they have any sales experience? Have they sold cars, real estate, or any sales experience? Some people might say, 'Oh, I don't have any tech sales experience, but I've sold farming equipment,' whatever it may be. If they have complex sales experience, they're probably going to be able to talk their way into more comp.

1:48:17 But it's a grind, you know, it's really a grind, and you have to be prepared for that grind. To be prepared to work long hours and to do repetitive calling and emailing. I had two interviews yesterday, and both were serious. They're like, 'We need output, we need to generate pipeline, we need to bring in new business. Are you capable of doing that?' And if you're not, this isn't the place for you.

1:48:49 Philippine culinary is a mixture of Spanish, Chinese, and local. Spanish and Chinese won't recognize their foods when they see them here in the Philippines. It's a fair point.

Pursuing YouTube Full-Time

1:48:55 Mel, Black in Thailand, are you doing YouTube full-time? Yeah, so Black in Thailand, I got laid off from my tech sales job last summer, booked a one-way flight to Thailand, spent a year in Thailand, went to Vietnam for a month, and then came here. I am basically going all in on YouTube right now, somewhat. If I get an offer for a good sales job back home that pays me what I'm worth, I'm going to have to fly back and take it.

1:49:24 Get as much money together as I can, save as much as I can, and then come back over. But since I don't have a job right now, I like to be putting all my time into YouTube, to growing that skill set because there's basically, I'm moving in the direction of doing YouTube full-time.

1:49:43 I'm having to do it, not having to do it. I enjoy it. Like, I love it. I love this so much. I love talking to people. I love getting to know people. I started doing it as a hobby. I didn't ever start out thinking, 'I'm going to make money at this.' I thought, 'Ah, it'll be cool.' I started off when I got into YouTube, my goal was to be a programmer. I was taking programming classes, studying programming. I wanted to do programming, and YouTube was just going to be something I did for fun.

1:50:11 As I've gotten better at YouTube, I've met more people into it that are into it. I've become connected with the broader community. I've learned from people like this. Yeah, there are foreigners asking questions in the Philippines. They really helped me to level up.

1:50:27 Um, it's risky, right? If I was at, I don't know if I had a dollar in the bank, I wouldn't be, I would be booking a flight back. But because I've got a bit of a runway, I'm not going to disclose exactly where I'm at financially because I've got a bit of a runway. Okay, I spend a year over here, it doesn't take off, it doesn't pay my bills. Who cares? I can go back to my old career. I can start a new career.

1:50:54 It's, I look at it like life is too short to only ever do the totally responsible thing. I try to balance being responsible with enjoying my life because I'm only going to be in my 30s once, or I'm only going to be 31 once. I turned 32 in less than a month, and the best times in my life have been abroad, not just because I'm not working a traditional job, but because it's just stimulating, it's exciting, it's fun.

Financial Strategies for Expat Life

1:51:23 I would like to do YouTube full-time if I'm being honest. Black in Thailand, I would like to build up my channel into a full-time income because the amount of money I need in the Philippines is much less than what I need back home. And when the income grows beyond that, that's just money in the bank. I'm not saying, 'Yeah, I want just for the sake of discussion, I want $2,000 a month from YouTube' because I can live on $2,000 a month.

1:51:47 It's more like I could live on $1,500 and bank $500 a month. And then if I go above that, whatever I go beyond that, I just keep banking it because one day YouTube might go away, I may get tired of it, for whatever reason I decide it's not for me.

1:52:05 Um, you know, I look at it like there's two things to conceptualize the money situation. You've got your input and you've got your outgoing. How much do you make and how much do you spend? And there's two ways to fix the equation or to improve the equation in your paper: make more and spend less. That goes for anywhere in the world.

1:52:27 So if you can make more and spend less, regardless of where you're at, like, let me frame it this way. Let's say I'm making $5,000 a month in the US, not what I'm making, but just for the sake of discussion, but I spend $4,999. I'm not doing as well as a person who makes $2,000 but spends $1,500. One person's banking $1 a month, the other person is banking $500 a month.

1:53:01 And yeah, so that's kind of the way to conceptualize it. In the US, I can only lower my expenses so much. If I need to commute for a job, I'm not getting rid of my car. If I need to have a fast internet connection, I'm not doing anything less than high-speed internet. If I've got to pay rent, I'm not getting away with $200 a month rent in the US. I don't have family to rely on, so my baseline minimum rent in America is a thousand a month.

1:53:38 I could live on a thousand a month here. I'm not suggesting you do that, I'm not suggesting the audience try to do that. But I'm just saying that's not a possibility in the US. If I try to live on a grand a month in the US, I'm living in my car. If I try to live on a grand a month here, I've got modest rent. I may have a place with a fan like I do here, but it's not going to be, it's just not comparable.

1:54:03 And so if I get up to say, a $2,000 a month income, still living in my car in the United States or renting a tiny room in a bad area, probably still living in my car. Here, I'm living comfortably and I'm banking a grand a month, just hypothetically.

Remote Work Opportunities and Future Plans

1:54:19 So there's two ways to improve the situation: one, make more money; two, spend less money. And that goes for anywhere in the world, whether you're in the UK or United States, you're in Southeast Asia, Latin America. I do have a meeting set up for Monday with a woman who is part of a remote jobs company. I've been familiar with them for several years now. She's based in Medellin, and she's going to help discuss some potential online jobs that I could do.

1:54:55 In terms of, I think in software sales, and the income's not going to be what I could make in the US, but I don't need the same amount of money. So this might be my key, fingers crossed. Would I take a lower paying offer here? I'd consider it, I'd think about it. I'm not saying yes, I'm not saying no, but it would depend on the money, and it would depend on the requirements.

1:55:29 I'll take your Michael, it's a savory soup. Michael, when are you coming to Duma? Venus and I may start a small channel in the future about our life and how I retired early, live on dividends and investments. What do you think that would be interesting?

1:55:40 Michael, I'd love to see a small channel with you and your wife, or girlfriend. I'm not, I shouldn't pry, but yeah, I mean, I'd watch. I'd love to watch it. It would be really cool to see more about. I mean, I've interacted with you plenty of times, and we've had some great conversations, but there's so much, so many interesting things about your life, Michael, that it would take a while to kind of unpack.

Community Connections and Channel Growth

1:56:11 And so yeah, it'd be cool to see that. Michael, the stew is delicious. It's in Portugal, Spain, and Thailand too. I don't know if I've tried it or not. But yeah, I got about five minutes left of my voice here, guys. Thanks so much for being with us for this two-hour live stream. Not sure when I visit Duma, but I'd love to meet up with some folks. I'll definitely let everyone know.

1:56:32 Yeah, that sounds awesome, Michael. Dave says, 'Wow, you are live now, so you are a night owl. Good to see you.' Yeah, good to see you too, Dave. Let me go to your channel. I know we've, I feel like we've interacted before. Oh, maybe. Okay, yeah, yeah. Anyway, good to see you. Good to see you on here, Dave.

1:56:59 Black in Thailand says, 'That's inspiring. Good luck, buddy. You have a new subscriber.' Good luck. Looking forward to seeing your channel grow and reaching your goals. Thank you so much, Black in Thailand. Welcome to the channel. I greatly appreciate your subscription. A foreigner asking questions in the Philippines, looking forward to seeing you, Michael.

VPN Usage and Transparency

1:57:19 Yeah, that would be an interesting collab for, like, um, yeah, we have such a great community here. Um, so yeah, anybody have any kind of last questions or thoughts? We're going to wind down in the next few minutes here. My voice is almost gone. I definitely want to give it some rest and recovery because I'm sure I'll be at it tomorrow. I'm sure I'll be down there on the boulevard chatting with people.

1:57:46 Um, back to the VPN issue. Trying to pretend to an employer you're in the US and you're in the Philippines isn't going to work, right? I don't recommend it. Saturn, I think it's too risky. Some guys will tell you that they've figured it out, they haven't had issues. More power to them. I'm a cautious guy. I lean toward transparency.

1:58:05 Um, trying to be honest. I personally think it's not a good idea because maybe it works for three months, no issues. Well, three and a half months in, your power goes out, your VPN drops, whatever happens, and now all of a sudden you've got a red flag. I would be more transparent. You may look into contract work, you know, you might find a way to offer your services as a contractor and say, 'Hey, I'm not in the US, right?' I believe in transparency. Some people may feel differently.

Travel Plans and Dumaguete Base

1:58:38 But yeah, I think just being honest about it, and um, you know, that's the long-term approach. Some would say it's bad because some would say, 'Oh, that's going to encourage...

1:58:58 I would say, oh, that's going to encourage outsourcing. I think if you're good, you can justify a solid price point for your services. What's up? Landed in Siargao 11 days ago, heading to Dumaguete. Holler at me, Vanico. Send me an email or comment in one of my videos if I'm still here in Dumaguete. I'm down to meet up.

1:59:24 I was thinking about going to Cebu next week, but now I'm thinking about staying. I've got another apartment situation here in Dumaguete that I could stay in. I wasn't sure if that was going to be available. I won't be in this room; I think I'll be in the main house.

1:59:41 But yeah, Dumaguete is great. It's so easy here. Michael says, 'Cool, I'll hit you up.' Great. Oh, what a cool connection. I'm so glad to connect. Michael at a forer asking questions about the Philippines. Two great guys, by the way. Alex, my dude, take care. See you tomorrow. Another great life. Take care.

Live Stream Wrap-up and Viewer Appreciation

1:59:59 Hit the likes for the algorithm. Yes, anybody watching this that hasn't already, give us a thumbs up. It helps with the algorithm. If you're watching this on replay, please subscribe to the channel if you haven't already. Feel free to comment down below. Do you have any travel plans? Where are you at in your X-pat journey?

2:00:18 It's a complicated situation for many of us, but we'll make it. We'll make it. Thank you so much, everyone, for watching. The support has been humbling, it's been beautiful, it's been incredible. I've learned so much and continue to learn so much from each and every one of you. I hope you have a wonderful weekend, and we'll chat soon.