Why do expats love Dumaguete?

Actually, since you brought it up, at my retirement I was not grandfathered in the monthly pension plan and had to take a lump sum which my ex-wife was happy to take half of and which taxes took a chunk out of the remaining. So I am not living on the beach. My wife picks free mangoes from the empty lot next door. My monthly SSA helps to buy meds and monthly expenses and is gone by the end of the month. Still, life is good. How about you?

 

Thanks for digging up an old thread, no doubt digging for keywords. It's good to know that DI shows up as number one for "Why do expats love Dumaguete?"

Since I'm actually a foreigner, allow me to chime in.

Economics: Foreigners enjoy Dumaguete because the economy is emerging, not soaring. You don't have the same spiraling of money dumps such as labor and land costs. That's not to say that it's cheaper to live here, but rather you CAN live cheaper because you have more room for downsizing. For example, you can live close to the city in a hut for next to nothing if you like. It's much harder to do that in the countries we come. Foreigners could give a rat's @$$ about economy except it would be nice to see a Burger King come in here.

Note: Your summary on economics seems to be much different from the article you linked to so I'm responding to your summary.

Weather: Right, if you live in a hut for next to nothing, then you won't have to worry about freezing to death as you would in the US.

Gentle people: From your article...

Are you kidding me? Do you actually live in Dumaguete? Are Filipinos now outsourcing content writing to some other nation?

This is dangerous advice. Of course, you can run into problems anywhere and you should always be vigilant. But I feel that you would have to be much more careful in Dumaguete compared to cities of a similar size where I come from.

I have been robbed 4 times here where things have been taken from me while I was fully aware of it. One of those times was by minors past curfew. I have been threatened and attacked on other occaisions. I probably have an incident on average about once a year here.

One of the most problematic areas is the market area around the time which people start setting up (dawn or just before.) Early risers who like to exercise before dawn have to face drunk drivers, roaming thugs and stray dogs.

I don't know where the gentle people thing comes from, but they need to get another slogan. Even if you did keep the slogan, you might attractive more foreigners if you updated it to "gentle on the streets, freak in the sheets!"

Ammenities: Um sure. You mean like, McD's will offer you ketchup with your fries? Or is that condiments? The summary is lacking and the article wasn't much better.

Thanks for posting though. Hope you contribute more than one post.

 

Fun facts about this thread...

If you look at the starting point, the title "Why do expats love Dumaguete" was a bit tongue in cheek because the video which the OP posted was quite controversial to the expat community here.

Speaking of keywords, this post also ranks #1 for "assholes Dumaguete" and of course does the same for "why assholes love Dumaguete." And that was thanks to yours truly.

Personally, I think this thread should split into the (at least) 3 different recent subjects it covers. Original renamed and locked (possibly hidden away in the controversial subjects forum.) The post from Dumagueteneo forwards being the new face of the thread. And my own posts removed from the new thread, hehe.