Best Posts in Thread: Newbie planning to move to Dumaguete

$10 is quite a lot for dormitory accommodations in Dumaguete (about twice as much as you should be spending). If you decide to stay in such a place make sure you are only bringing clothes. Keep anything valuable on you at all times. You electronics/expensive items will get jacked if you leave it unattended in the room.

It's a bad idea to come to the Philippines/Dumaguete on a limited budget and think you are going to open a business and live off of the profits....unless you are comfortable living in an unfinished house/boarding house with dirt floors, with a few light bulbs, no ref and surviving mainly on rice like a local. Almost every expat you will see with successful businesses (technically they don't actually own sh*t) in Dumaguete came with a small fortune to start and the profitable existing business was likely not their first attempt. If you have experience with your own business in the West you might as well throw all that knowledge out the window, things are not done the same in the Philippines. Also, starting a business catering to expats in Dumaguete is a bad idea as well. Most expats living in Dumaguete are about as cheap as locals (yet complain 10 times more than locals do). Most want Western products and service at Filipino prices, quite ridiculous dealing with us. Avoid like the plague.

Then again, your posting location seems to suggest you are already in the Philippines so maybe you are already aware of all of the above.

Are you married to a local?