Dumaguete Just Might be the Place

[davewe]

I looked up Dumaguete in Google Images and it looks very nice. The pics showed coastlines, boardwalks and beaches. Does it have beaches I wonder, or are they out of town?

Rock and I know an Italian expat friend in Angeles City who just arrived from Dumaguete and says it sucks and is for losers. It's hard to believe that. So we wanna go there and see for ourselves. If many expats live there, there must be a good reason. Larry Elterman lives there too. He is the author of "A Man's Guide to Life and Love in the Philippines" that we advertise on this site. If a no-nonsense guy like Elterman lives there, there must be a good reason.

But Dumaguete looks convenient on the map though. From there, you can take a ferry to Cebu and visit the beaches there.

Btw, check out the tricycles in Dumaguete. They are a lot bigger and cheaper than in Angeles, where the stupid trike mafia inflates the prices and makes the trikes small and uncomfortable to try to get two people to take separate trikes. Greedy bastards.

Dumaguete is great for guys like me. If you want to interact with other expats, there are plenty. Most are middle-aged and older. I am sure there are plenty younger as well, but the general feeling is that it skews older.

Consistent with the old theme is that there are many nice restaurants and watering holes. I found the restaurant food to be good and reasonably priced. There are less clubs than restos, but they do exist.

Trikes clog the downtown area. They are 6.5p. They are still small by Western guy standards - thank goodness I am not a tall guy.

There are beaches for snorkeling/diving - mostly in the Dauin area, about 20 minutes out of the city. No white sand beaches. Apo Island is supposed to be a world class snorkeling/diving area. We missed it this time.

Unlike most Philippines cities there are actually suburbs and towns close to Dumaguete vs. the urban sprawl you find in some of the big Philippines cities. But again these towns are going to skew toward older expats, looking to settle down or even buy property.

It is a college town so in theory there should be plenty of young people as well, but that's not my focus.

[Winston]

Check out Filipina Pea's tour of Dumaguete. What do you think? Are the girls there nicer? What do you think @publicduende and @MarcosZeitola?

[publicduende]

Check out Filipina Pea's tour of Dumaguete. What do you think? Are the girls there nicer? What do you think @publicduende and @MarcosZeitola?

I think Dumaguete got a lot of attention when it was awarded some symbolic prize as one of the top 5 world destination for retirees. That was quite a few years ago, though. I have no idea if, as a city/environment, it has been living up to expectations or gone down.

A bit sad that the penultimate post on this thread was from DaveWe, who passed away last year. I hope he thoroughly enjoyed his final years in Dumaguete, next to his beloved J and his young son.

[Winston]

This guy from Beyond the Sea who has lived in Dumaguete gives a good rundown of it, like what to do and where to go. It looks like a nice place. I wonder if the Why Not expat complex has freelancers. lol. He also talks about Valencia which is nearby and looks nice and quiet with green nature too.

[Winston]

Wow check out FIlipina Pea walking around Valencia, which is near Dumaguete, and talking to foreigners there. They seem nice and friendly and relaxed. Wow.



How come if I did that around Taiwan, everyone would see me as some weirdo, creep, or pervert? lol. Yet everyone says Taiwan is super friendly. Go figure. I've been asking Rock about this since 2010, and he has yet to give me a serious answer. Weird. Am I in the Twilight Zone or does everyone lie or is everyone an NPC or actor trying to mess with my mind? How come a smart expat like Rock can't even answer a simple question like this?

Here also is Filipina Pea driving around Dumaguete and showing us around. It looks nice and relaxed, not much traffic. Apparently there is a bar and restaurant called Why Not that has freelance girls that you can pick up.