So Many Expats in Dumaguete 🇵🇭

I'm making this video now that I've spent coming up on 3 months here in D meetti I feel qualified to talk about it and share some of my insights with you as to why I think dag Yeti is so popular why it attracts so many different people of course the vloggers have an outsized impact on the popularity of the city and in this video I want to answer the question why do magetti why should people choose do magetti why is do meetti so popular and this video I'll give you five reasons as to why you might want to pick dumag Getti and why I think dumag Getti will continue to be popular some of the reasons may be negatives depending on who you ask and without further Ado let's get into it reason number one is the prevalence of foreigners here I think there's estimated around 5,000 foreign Nationals living here in dumag Getti so if you're somebody that when you move overseas you're giving up a Social Circle back home then you may want to move to a place with a substantial Foreigner population so you meet people with shared experiences right I get along great with Filipino people here in dumag Getti but we don't always have the same shared experiences we haven't been through the same struggles in America not to say their struggles aren't important but they're just different and so when you are around a lot of different Corners you can kind of commiserate oh man I don't miss this about the United States or I don't miss this about the UK or Australia and you get this sense that you're not alone some destinations abroad can feel very very lonely I've heard certain countries certain cities described as very lonely places and to counteract that you can be selective about where you choose to settle and that's something that appeals to do meetti there's tons of men's groups here groups where guys can get together and hang out with other guys less so women to be honest I just don't see as many foreign women here in dumag Getti but people can get together and bond over different topics some are politically aligned some are affiliated with religious organizations some may have a certain dietary preference some may just form organically over time additionally if you want to go to a town that has been covered by a lot of vloggers where you can basically learn a lot about the town without having visited here then dumag Getti is great for that Vlogs have covered every inch of the town all kinds of different social topics different venues in town nighlife and entertainment options there's not too many stones unturned in dumag Getti compared to some more remote locations or more sparsely populated provincial areas and there's just a sense that you have one foot in the Philippines one foot in the west if you want to meet up with friends for Western food that's an option you want to go to a western style mall that's an option we've got Robinson's which I like to frequent one thing that I found interesting is that here in DTI I've met foreigners that I never would have met otherwise if I hadn't come here to the Philippines and chosen do meetti specifically I have American friends from all over the country and many different places that I've never lived several of my friends here have lived in Las Vegas which is really interesting cuz I've never lived in Las Vegas I have friends here who are from the Northeast who are from the Midwest who are from the west coast and even some guys from the southern us which has been great cuz I don't think I would have had the chance to meet any of these guys back in the States we're all in the rat race we're all in the grind we don't have time to socialize like we have time to socialize here I've learned so many interesting things from so many different guys who I wouldn't have had these opportunities to interact with where we just wouldn't have had the time to sit down and grab a meal together whereas here it's very common for me to message a friend hey you want to meet up for lunch here or there and we have the time to do that it's not just the presence of the foreigners here but it's also having a time to interact with other people in a more civilized manner than back home where maybe we're racing each other in traffic or we are tired of standing behind the other person in the grocery line so having this kind of like calm atmosphere to interact with other Americans I'm getting a better feeling about my fellow Americans from living here strangely enough there are some oddballs but most of the guys here are great I get along with 8 90% of the expats I meet here and I don't expect that figure to change most people come here to chill out relax they're not looking to argue or to have political disagreements like the people back home not saying those don't happen here but I personally feel that they are less frequent that it's not like you have to work with guys you disagree with where you need to pay your bills so even if you don't get along with somebody you're going to still have to go be around them here if you don't like somebody it's a lot easier to just distance yourself from them and I think that really lends itself to building a better social climate because we can just organize ourselves more effectively here into social groups finally the YouTube Community has been really powerful I have people coming up to me in the mall and here in town on a regular basis that recognize me it's been really encouraging for me to continue to build this channel by having these guys who tell me hey your Channel's very helpful I've learning so much this has been a great resource of course my channel is modest in size compared to Guys Like Mike and Paul who have done a ton of groundwork in terms of educating would be expats but even so I think that the community really does help to make dumag Getti a special place Point number two is western style restaurants a lot of guys worry if I move overseas am I still going to be able to have my hamburger am I still going to be able to get pizza or Italian food or sushi dag Getti has all of that DTI has every different type of food that you could imagine they've got imported steaks from United States they've got sushi restaurants they've got Italian food they've got texme style they've got everything you could imagine and they even have a high-end grocery store here called bchris that has imported goods so you're not just limited to ingredients produced here in the Philippines but you also have all these other options some people are not accustomed to Filipino food and that makes sense maybe they've never seen a Filipino restaurant in their home country maybe they've never had a Filipino friend before moving here for me I like the Filipino food but I grew up on Asian food it's closer to what I'm accustomed to than probably a lot of other foreigners if you're somebody that's not open to domestic Cuisine then that's another appeal of dag Getti is if you want to exclusively eat Western food you can do that here I cycle a lot between Filipino food Korean food Indian food Japanese food and western food while I am here it's not just eating Filipino food you got a lot of options here you've got a lot of variety here and you're not going to get bored of your options here there's so many different restaurants in town and I think new ones open up every year as different foreigners come here and bring their Cuisines with them it's really an exciting place to be in terms of food which surprised me because it's not a major city but there's still a lot of options that you can have here I personally don't cook at all I know some people love to cook I enjoy cooking but it's just a time thing it's also a cleanup thing for me as a single guy it's a lot of effort to cook and then to clean up so I prefer going out to restaurants and for me there's enough variety here that I don't feel compelled to cook whereas in small town America in a comparable city of its size I would need to cook a lot one to save money but two because the things that I like might just not be available that's not a problem here as an example there's a chicken wing place in the North Point area called Scoville I love Scoville shout out to Scoville it's a great option if you like chicken wings to go there and you can do all you can eat for like 310 pesos is their normal pricing there's a lot of different moderate price point places as well it's not just high-end it's not just expensive places there's also plenty of budget friendly options finally don't just feel like it's only Western food you have other Asian Cuisines here I like those in some cases even more than the typical Western food and I don't feel excluded at all the one thing I would say if you're a vegetarian you're going to have to do a bit more leg work there is a really good vegetarian place downtown called Green chef and there are restaurants that have vegetarian options but the majority of places seem to cater to more like meat and vegetables or carb heavy dishes you may struggle a little bit as a vegetarian Point number three is that dumag Yeti is not too big I came here from California which has which has five large cities depending on what you consider a large city and dumag Getti is comparatively small the metro population is around 150,000 people the city I grew up in is around a population of 2 million people so this feels like a small town by comparison however I have met people from very small towns or what you could call villages in the west that consider dumag Getti to be a big city to be too big for their preferences be mindful of that compare the size of dumag Getti to the size of what you're used to and understand that for some it could be too big of a city for me it feels just right downtown isn't too big there's enough variety to keep things interesting but there's not so much going on that it feels chaotic and like people are in a rush and stressed out this is definitely a retirement friendly destination where people come here to slow down people come here to relax most people are not coming here to pursue a career there is a BP industry here but but that doesn't apply to foreigners there is a rush hour and there is a lunch rush there isn't this random middle of the night traffic like you have in cities like Los Angeles or Atlanta where traffic is bumper to bumper it doesn't matter if it's 2:00 a.m.

it doesn't matter if it's 3:00 a.m.

you're just not going to see that in dag Getti I've traveled around the city at like 11: 1200 p.m.

and it's pretty chill it's pretty quiet there's not much traffic on the road and you still have to be careful right I mean you still have to be mindful and paying attention but it's not going to be like some of these major cities in the west where or even like the big city of Manila where you really have to plan your day around traffic the flip side of this is that it does seem like at times everybody knows everybody I have people recognizing me on the street I met a few weeks ago or a month or two ago Filipinos seem to have this uncanny ability to recognize face like they have this kind of facial recognition technology so it is important to be mindful that that there is more accountability in this small town where if you are stressed out you're inconsiderate word might go around town that you're not a friendly person that people need to be careful around you that people need to be careful around you that people need to be mindful you have some Thorns so you want to be careful here more so than in your Western Home Country maybe you're from a big city back in the west where people are rude to each other all the time cuz they know what are the odds they're going to ever see them again it's not like that here certain people have developed a reputation for being difficult to deal with or being rude and you don't want to be one of those X Pats I actually like that element of living here because I feel like I can more easily figure out if I can trust somebody or not based on mutual friend groups everybody seems to be connected to one another in some way or another very different from the big cities in the west that I've lived in where it seems like nobody knows anybody because there are simply that many people living in the area I think a lot of foreigners miss that small town feeling wherever they're from has changed and grown so much I can say that about my hometown that it's changed so much I hardly recognize it so if you miss that kind of small town feeling I think D meetti offers that it may change I know some of my friends who have been here for say 10 years have said it's changed substantially but I think it still offers that small town feeling to some extent probably more so than where you're from in the US or the UK Australia it just has that charm I think some of what adds to that is you don't see a lot of tall apartment buildings here there are some tall buildings but there's not a ton you have pretty good visuals of the ocean you have visuals of the mountains it's not like a urban jungle like some big Asian cities can feel like the number four reason why so many foreigners love dag Yeti is that there are lots of Transportation options most of my friends seem to ride motorbikes they come in different shapes and sizes I've heard of some guys that have purchased or rented to Tuk Tuk the three-wheelers I've even heard of some guys owning a trike you see some of the trikes are decorated with family name and they say this is for private use only this isn't for public use so it's not one of those trikes that you want to flag down and say hey can I pay you the fair to right across town so there's all kinds of different Transportation options there's also jeepneys which are the converted trucks there's also these sort of mini jeep knes that are not quite as big as the large ones that have that stunning visual they look more like transport vans that have these benches in the back and then also a seat in the front next to the driver these are all reasonable there's plenty of public transportation options here different from a city of its size in the US like smalltown America typically does not have solid public transportation they expect that you own a car here they don't expect you to own a car most people have a motorbike or they take public transportation some guys invest in owning a car or a truck there's nothing wrong with that but you want to make sure you're staying longterm to own one of those types Vehicles because it's a more substantial Financial commitment it's also a bigger space commitment you can park a motorbike all over town here very easily if you're driving a larger vehicle it's a little bit trickier to find parking now if I was going to live here permanently I would buy a car I just don't feel super comfortable with my coordination to ride a motorbike some people are great at riding motorbikes they drive very carefully they haven't had any issues I think it's a solid option for some people that feel more comfortable with that two wheel option I'm not one of those people I don't judge those who are some of my best friends here in dumag Getti have those options one of the things that makes those so convenient aside from parking is that you can also easily find a mechanic there's mechanics all over the city that know how to work on those that will know how to repair one of those I've heard fees are very reasonable I've heard the parts are also very reasonable it's a very budget friendly option for the people that they want to get around town they don't want to walk like a turtle like me they want that flexibility to go up in the mountains they want that flexibility to go to other parts the island there's a reason motorbikes are so popular here among not only the locals but also the foreigners one thing I won't comment on is the difference between buying used and buying new I've heard differing opinions on that I haven't purchased a motorbike so I don't really feel comfortable discussing that topic motorbikes definitely lend themselves to the social element several of my friends have mentioned there's a lot of places that are simply not accessible on foot and it's a pain to get a trike there just get a motorbike unless you have a major reason not to and you'll be able to see and do so many different things you'll unlock a lot of different places some have suggested hey go learn to ride in sore rather than here you can go to this island over there where the traffic is not so bad where the roads are more wide open you can kind of take your time to get adjusted I think that's a major factor in the appeal of dumag Getti is that hey I don't have to have my car anymore I don't have to drive a car I don't have to worry about parking one of my buddies loves doag Getti expressly for that reason is he says I had to drive a long way for work every day back in the US I had to drive a long way home I don't want to drive anymore so being here in dag Getti means I don't have to worry about getting in a car at the end of a long night I don't have to start my day in a car I can just take trikes around town the public transportation is sufficient it really allows me to have flexibility to not have to worry okay is there parking where I'm going how much is the parking fee am I going to be able to stop at a gas station before I run out of gas all these things do I need to take the car for an oil change I need to get the tires rotated all these things that come up when you're the owner of a personal vehicle that if you want to be in a place where you don't have to drive you don't have to deal with maintaining four-wheel Transportation dag Getti offers that something else to mention if you want to go to Manila there are direct flights to Manila super easy to get down to the airport and seean hop on a flight hour and a half later you're at noinoi aino airport in Manila and from there you've got the major Metropolitan region the capital city you're able to travel internationally from there all over Asia so you don't necessarily feel as isolated as you might think being on a less heavily populated part of the island compared to say bid city which is Northwest of here or Sabu mtan area or being in Manila proper you can easily get to Manila from the airport here so super convenient dumag Getti is super convenient in terms of Transportation options not only within the city but also to other areas finally if you want to go to other parts of the island then you have this series bus buses that go everywhere and I haven't taken a series bus yet I haven't needed to but I've had numerous friends take them talked about how they played movies on the series buses and the seats are very comfortable it's just a super convenient way to get around if you're not a motorbike rider to go to other places in the island they have the bus terminal downtown and they have these signs in the windows of the buses with red and yellow lettering to tell you where the bus is headed the final reason that dumag Getti is so popular for retirees and foreigners in general is that it's bud friendly if you're a person on a limited budget you don't have the money to live in Manila or Sabu I think daget is a great option Manila and particular if you want to live in BGC you can pay close to Western prices to have that kind of Lifestyle there are a number of Western expats living in BGC that earn Western salaries they can pay for the high-end Starbucks every day they can pay for the nice steak dinners and the imported fish from Japan and all the luxurious options that many people are seeking out when they live in a place like BGC likewise SAU has it park that has a lot of BP jobs boo businesses and it can be pricey as well Doom mti's rents aren't so high Doom mti's rents are probably like a half to a third of what you'd pay in those places I think a number of other things are comparable in cost but the big thing that you save on here is rent your rent is not going to be at closer to what you could call International pricing like it would be in one of those cities It's a Small Town Vibe you have industry here but it's not quite at the scale of SAU or Manila there are people here that are working online or working remotely I don't think there's quite as many as in those big cities so dumag Getti remains really appealing to people on a fixed income maybe they're collecting Social Security maybe they've got a military pension maybe they've got a teacher pension maybe they've got a modest Investment Portfolio and they want to stretch those dollars or Pounds or Australian dollars further than what they could do in their home country so they come here they can rent a modest apartment on a budget close to public transportation options they can take budget friendly weekend getaways to siki or to bowan is another popular one there's other parts of the island that are not going to cost you what it would cost you to go to a borai or a Palawan maybe even more far-flung destinations that I'm not as familiar with I found that in Manila and in Sabu it's common to meet people from all over the country and even all over the world where dumag Getti it's more common that I meet people from all over the island from other parts of the island it doesn't have necessarily the same magnetic pole of people coming to work that those bigger cities have it still has that but I don't think it's quite as Extreme as Manila or as SAU I didn't realize this until I came here but plenty of people that live in Manila and in Sabu they've come from every corner of the Philippines to work in different Industries do seems to be more pulling from the island and less so from other places there are people here from other parts of the Philippines it's very common for a guy he meets a nice woman in another part of the country he wants access to some of the western amenities at a budget friendly price point and they'll move here together but I often meet people here from Bayan from bayis from basai from other parts of the island then I do meet people here from Manila or Daval or SAU most of my friends here range from 50 to 70 years old in fact a lot of my subscribers are in that age range as well they've had a lengthy career back in the States or in Australia they've saved their money they've lived below their means they're ready to come to a place to really enjoy it and to have a slower pace of Life many of them could afford to live in Manila or SAU but I think a lot of them just want something slower paced than those places they don't feel like they need to be in the business center to advance their career anymore they want to chill out they want to slow down they want to enjoy life and dumag Getti really lends itself to that not just in terms of financial budget but also freeing up your time it could take a long time to get around Manila it can take a long time to get around Sabu I think that dumag Getti is a little bit more tutorial mode friendly this has been five reasons as to why I think dumag Getti is so popular let me know what you think down in the comments Below have you been to dumag Getti do you plan to go to Dag Yeti maybe you've been chatting somebody online and you want to go meet them in their town and then bring them here here to DTI to have a more western style of living I think dag Getti offers something for many different types of people it's interesting the contrast and the foreigners I meet here they're all not one type of guy I think there's many different kinds of xats and foreigners here so comment down below and give us a thumbs up if you found this content to be helpful it helps with the YouTube algorithm finally subscribe to the channel down below if you want to see more content like this and we'll see you soon bye-bye