so No Country for Old Men huh so today we're going to talk about whether or not I could live as an expat in the province here in the Philippines and my reasons as to why or why not so
let's get into it good morning YouTube Alex here and in today's video I want to talk about why I could not live in the province and why I live in dumag the first reason is that I like having
Foreigner friends I like having expat friends now I also like having Filipino friends the difference between the province in the Philippines and the city in the Philippines is that there are more opportunities to hang out with other foreigners
in the cities and not just Americans uh but also friends from the UK friends from Japan friends from Australia and it's just really exciting it gives an international feeling to life in the city I find that the one
thing that I really enjoy about my Foreigner friends is shared experiences there's certain things that we experience in the west that are not as common here in the Philippines and it's nice to have friends that have experienced some
of those same things also if you want somebody to go out with you to a foreign restaurant then I find a lot of Filipino people prefer Filipino food where a lot of my Foreigner friends are more interested in
International Food food and so that's another thing where if I want somebody to join me for International Food then it seems like it's easier to find a friend from another country to join me for something like that I
found that in provincial areas expats are far and few between and this is something I'll tackle later in the video the businesses that cater to foreigners are just not as common there if they exist at all I've had
friends mention you get far enough outside of dagate and you see sorry sorry stores hardware stores and Caren areas and that's it there's nothing else out there really I found the Mad bunky hostel here so uh this is
one of those things that is really appealing if you are a traveler and you want to meet other Travelers you can come here and I don't think this kind of place would exist in a provincial area they've got
Western food they've got hostile beds something that is just not super common in the province looks like they've got the generator here too in case the power goes out it's a really nice luxury it's also nice to be
able to meet up with friends for coffee like if you research popular coffee shops here in dumag you'll become familiar with ground zero Tom and Toms there's also son reval Bose coffee and these places offer fantastic coffee and
if you want to just meet up with somebody get together over a cup of coffee have a conversation catch up these places will offer you solid opportunities to have these experiences I've met quite a few friends at different
coffee shops here in dagate there's such a wide selection I feel like the two things the Philippines does not get enough credit for is the archit texture and then also the coffee scene both of these things are very
cool and dag is no exception there's just so much tasty coffee and cool architecture to look at here in the city I find expat friends to be valuable in many different ways it's it's not really possible to quantify
this value just know that I think all of us need people we can commiserate with and oh that was strange to you or oh that was weird to you oh yeah man that was an odd experience there's so
many times where I'm doubled over laughing when I talk to guys like Mike or guys like Paul about things that we've had in common as far as what did you think about that what did you think about this
and things that are very normal for Filipinos can be very strange for us foreigners and so that's something I really enjoy I find a lot of humor in having other foreigners around also just helps with feeling less lonely
I think when you move halfway around the world and you may not speak the local language you don't really know anybody it can be helpful to have some friends that are from back in the States and from back
in Australia wherever you happen to be from that you can relate to and you can talk to you share that common language you both lived in Las Vegas you both lived in La New York that kind of thing
the next point is that I like Western food and I like Filipino food too but I'm more accustomed to eating Western food there's very few cities in the US with a large enough Filipino population to support Filipino restaurants
the result of that is that I've never gotten in the habit of eating a lot of Filipino food I like Filipino food but it's just not what I'm used to having all the time I've talked to numerous different
Filipino friends and they've all told me they much prefer Filipino food over Western food they'd much rather have what they're used to than what I'm used to and I don't blame them at all but it's nice to go
out and have meals with friends and so I like to have places that I can go and have pizza at or a burrito or a hamburger um these kinds of dishes that my Filipino friends are just not as
interested in and that taste really good and remind me of Home sometimes you feel a little homesick as an next I feel less and less homesick over time but it is nice to get a taste to home we
all have our comfort zone I've never seen such a tall fence I mean that is like Fort Knox I happen to like Filipino food a lot but then a lot of my Filipino friends are working a lot they
don't always have the free time to join me for a meal so if I want friends to join me for meal it's often with my friends who are older and retired have the free time and have the appetite
for Western Cuisine the cool thing about dumag is there's tons of foreign restaurants here more than I can count and more than you can eat at in a long time of course zete is not the only city with
Western food here in the Philippines you've got Manila Sabu ELO ILO daa that all have plenty of great Western food from my experience and the experience of my friends that live in these places most popular Cuisines most popular
Cuisines will be represented here in solid numbers here in dumag I managed to have Vietnamese food Korean food Japanese food Chinese food American food Mexican food and that's just off the top of my head [Music] the next Point
here is that I'm used to city life I always lived in sizable cities except for a few short stints and some small towns I've always lived in bigger cities it's just what I'm accustomed to it's just what I
enjoy and for me it's just a big adjustment to live in a province or small town I've tried it a few times and there's things I really like about it but I just miss living in the city I
missed the dynamism I miss the convenience I missed a variety of people I miss that there are lots of different kinds of people people from different countries people from different cities people in different stages of life you just
get so much variety when you're living in a city I like having a variety of activities to do I like the access to the airports I like the variety of restaurants and it's what I'm accustomed to I'm used
to that level of convenience I'm used to these different kinds of unique opportunities that only exist in cities I don't see myself ever changing you know I grew up in a city of like two million people and to
go down to a town where maybe there's 5,000 people or 10,000 people I think I would just struggle in the long term there I think as I get older too Healthcare will become more of a concern and I
won't want to be so far away from health care options like we have here in dagate or in larger cities I do find that the largest cities in any country can be a bit overwhelming at times but you
don't have to go to the absolute largest cities in any given country to have some of those City conveniences being able to go to the shopping malls being able to have that One-Stop shop experience being able to hire
a driver for the day easily being able to just meet people that are more used to being around other types of people I mean I think if you're in a very provincial area anywhere in the world you're going
to have a lot of people that aren't used to being around Outsiders aren't used to interacting with foreigners aren't used to uh speaking speak English even or they're not used to your accent right if you go to some
parts of the South and you're from New York they're going to say something like you ain't from out here are you boy plus I think in rural areas it's harder to find beautiful Catholic churches like this one it's
really a centerpiece here in dumag for both local Believers and tourists alike I also like the walkability factor I like being able to walk around and handle errands and that's a big thing I noticed when I moved from
the province of dumag out in beong to the city proper where I could get around super easily on foot here I can hire trikes these things are just harder to do or harder to handle out in the provincial
area the next reason is transportation options and there's no way around it if you're living in a province you've got to have a motorbike there's no other solution other than to have a motorbike maybe you buy a car
car or a truck but for most people they're going to want to have a motorbike and if you're in a city you've got options you've got the series buses you've got fairies you've got planes if your city's got
an airport you may make friends that have cars that can give you a ride here or there you've got different options to get around town but if you're in a provincial area and you don't want to ride a
motorbike maybe you're prone to certain health issues maybe you don't feel comfortable learning maybe you're not the most coordinated person like I'm not the most coordinated person then you may not feel comfortable riding a motorbike it's so beautiful
here in the Philippines look at this place it's spectacular I love the nature in the Philippines it's such a relaxing environment here it's uh it's something to behold if you're expecting to live in a provincial area but without
a motorbike I don't nearly know how you're going to do that it's one of the top reasons I could not live in a provincial area is I like my freedom of movement I like to be able to just
walk out to the main road hop on a trike be downtown if I want to fly to the big city I can be down at the airport in a short time hop on a flight I'm in Manila or
Sabu an hour later hour and a half later not a big deal maybe a couple hours to Manila maybe like an hour hour and a half to Sabu from dagate I I think the biggest mistake that people make
when they think about living in the province is they think oh it'll just be like living in the country in the United States hello friend hello sir wow you're very high up what's your oh Eastern dreamer uh yes
sir thank you sir thank you sir very good job you're working very hard a lot of these people that may think I want to live in the province in the Philippines they may think oh it's just like the
United States where okay maybe I'm in a rural area maybe maybe I'm in a small town I just hop in my car and I'm in the city in 30 minutes 45 minutes it's not like the US where you
might just hop in a car and you're in the big city 30 45 minutes you got your RB you got your Wendy's you got your McDonald's you got your Walmart store you could go 30 45 minutes an hour
and still be in a provincial town the only difference is you've got different sorry sorry stores different hardware stores but the products are all going to be the same it's not going to be a meaningfully different experience versus
the US where okay yeah I live in a small town or I live way outside of a a small town but I go to the city I can run into friends I can go to stores I recognize with
products that I need I can do my grocery shopping that kind of thing you could be 3 4 hours away from a city of substantial size depending on the provincial town that you decide to go to and it's
not to knock life there life there is often simpler but I think for a lot of people accustomed to life in the US or the UK Australia it's going to be too simple too laid back for them to
enjoy but not only that but it's just going to be too far away from doing the things that they want to do living the way that they want to live if they're single moving out there I think that's
going to be even more challenging cuz if you don't like the ladies that you run into in town that may be it with the motorbike you may feel like well I can ride a motorbike but let's say you
do want to go to a town a couple hours away to go shopping how much can you carry on that motorbike for me I don't feel comfortable riding but even if I did I would know hey if I
want to go stock up on this or that in the big city if it doesn't fit in my backpack man I'm not going to be able to get it back home and I may have to go without so
I may spend all this time going to the store I may even find things that I want but then I don't have the storage capacity to get them back to where I live so that was another big thing
that came to my mind when it came to to why I couldn't live in a province is transportation is going to be way more complicated and difficult to pull off yeah maybe you could buy a car buy a
truck it's going to be hard to find parts for those kinds of vehicles in the province it's going to be hard to get a mechanic that can work on these types of vehicles out there I've heard of some
expats in provincial areas traveling 1 2 hours each way every day just to get the chance to go to a Jolly Be if you're afraid to ride a motorbike I don't blame you I'm afraid to ride them too
after seeing a number of incidents over my last year and a half in Southeast Asia they're just not for everyone if you don't prefer that option it will limit where you can live I think it does rule out
a lot of provincial areas that you might otherwise want to live but then you find out it's really rural it's not just a little bit rural it's super Rural and I'm not going to be able to get around
very easily and I might be limited to a couple of resorts for example if the power goes out are you willing to hop on a bike and ride an hour just to get access to Wi-Fi if the electricity
goes out what if all of your batteries have just run out of charge all these things become way more complex where I know my buddies when their Wi-Fi goes out they just come into downtown Dumaguete they could find
a coffee shop with Wi-Fi and if their power went out and they really had to have power they could check into a local hotel if their car car broke down and their bike was out of commission at the
same time somehow they could probably walk to a hotel pretty easily from where they live in the city the final point is that I get bored in the province I just get bored I quickly run through the things
that there are to do and I don't know what to do with my time there are lots of lovely people in The Province I've spent time in a number of provincial areas in the Philippines including in minda now
and here in the Dumaguete area I just do what there is to do typically there's like a beach that you go to you spend time there you stay in a resort and once you've seen the beach you've done
the hike there's only so many times you could do that before it becomes redundant as beautiful as this country is and I often say it's the most beautiful country in the world I just become desensitized to these activities
I struggle with sometimes intermittent internet where the internet is not always Cooper operating I miss my Western food within Arms Reach here in Dumaguete City I don't know what there is to it I'm not sure if you feel
this way let me know down in the comments if you get bored in the province and it stinks cuz I think the people are often friendly and welcoming and kind and curious much more Curious than the people who
live in expad hun spots there's only so many times I want to engage in those activities before I miss what I'm accustomed to and what I'm accustomed to is life in the city and so yeah getting board in
the province I think it happens to a lot of guys I've heard the same feelings expressed about the provincial areas in the United States and also in Canada also in Australia pretty much any country you could think of
people moved to the big city for job opportunity for entertainment for night life for dining I would say the job opportunities are top of mind but all these ancillary things or all these things are important to people as
well and I think for expats who may have had to live in the big city they feel like the province will be appealing but they don't quite realize what that entails that they're not going to necessarily have the
conveniences that they are expecting like they would have in their home country and it may be that they end up pretty bored feeling like man you know what I was expecting this or I was expecting that and it
didn't turn out to be that way maybe they feel like they won't get tired of it but then after a week or two they do I find that after like 3 or 4 days I'm missing the city I'm
ready to go back to the city I want to come back to the city and spend time in the city and while I enjoy and appreciate my times in the province I appreciate the opportunity to disconnect from technology
there's nothing quite like the Comforts of being in the city the conveniences of being in the city the glow of the neon lights the vibrant Urban landscape with all the Oddball characters we have here in dag it's comforting
in a way I think for many of us we're used to the simulation of the city we're used to having all kinds of stuff going on all the time we're used to The Nightlife and entertainment options and we
don't want those to go away we don't want to give those up we don't want to live without those I get Bor in the province I run out of stuff to do I don't think I could ever live
in the province this is more pronounced in some countries than others uh but all around it's just much more preferable for me to focus on life in the city as a side note when I am in provincial areas
I often feel like everybody knows everybody except for me I feel like everybody has all these shared experiences they've all gone to the same schools they have all been neighbors they've all grown up around each other they remember
the one time 5 years ago or this one time 10 years ago you feel kind of out of place when you hear these stories like ah I don't know who that is never met that person didn't grow up
around here don't really remember the Old Mill you know all these stories that really tie rooll communities together you can become acutely aware that you're not part of the group there so let me know what you think down
in the comments section below could you live in a provincial area are you focused only on on cities some of us are met for City Life some of us prefer the country life additionally give us a thumbs up
it helps with the YouTube algorithm and finally subscribe to the channel down below if you want to see more content like this and we'll see you soon [Music]
