⌛ Recent trip to Dumaguete

^^There are just some qualities in the city that I couldn't exchange for any other Philippine cities. I mean I have stayed in many other other Philippine cities such as Davao, Manila/Luzon, and Cebu, and I must stay I am fairly well contented being in this city and province. And I could attest that even foreigners like it here, primarily because it is cheaper to live here than in any other western or industrialized countries.

Regarding the stench, yes I could smell that too specially during low tide while walking along the boulevard, but I have no complaint. I could smell that kind of stench too in the beaches. I guess that's a natural stench brought about by dying seaweeds and planktons, and other marine organisms.

I do not really notice huge amounts of garbage in the Dumaguete sea. I mean it's not really 100% clean, but I guess it's fairly cleaner compared to the seas of cities such as Cebu and Manila.

Regarding crime, I had no major incident even if I go around town at 2 a.m. In fact, it was me who was shouting and fooling around. I couldn't do that in cities such as Manila or Cebu, or any Mindanao city.

Bayawan is getting its share of progress, and I guess it could be a place where we could implement the things where we failed here in this city.

But as it is I am fairly well contented with Dumaguete and I wouldn't exchange this city or province for any other city or province.

 

I have to admit that your post did make me laugh since it is written in a funny way and portraits the more negative aspects hillariously
But I started soon after to get another feeling when I read the underligned words.
You seem to know these people well. What sucks for you sucks for you, no need to argue on that with you.
But don't tell them/me what we HAVE TO like.
I hope you keep laughing and sucking anywhere else.
I have the idea however (I really don't know why ) that you have been on this forum before.
Or is it purely to trigger for reactions ? Then you succeeded splendedly.
Dumaguete is for those who like Dumaguete.

 

As a foreigner, who first came to Dumaguete 5½ years ago, and who have seen a number of other citys in the Philippines, I can confidently say, that I have yet to find any other city in the Philippines, which even remotely have the charm, that Dumaguete have.

Yes the charm has worn somewhat in recent years due to the rapid growth in population, trafic and crime, but there still aren`t any other citys in the Philippines, that I know of, that are even half as charming.

Claiming that Bayawan would be a better place to live is simply ridiculous in my opinion, unless you want to live in the countryside. But if that is the case, then why not move to a small island like Siquijor, Cabilao or maybe Camiguin?

These places have even less trafic than Bayawan, but also even less to do and even less possibilities to purchase even the simplest of things, that you need for your daily live, except for local farm products etc.

I once tried to find a wine opener in Moal Boal on Cebu Island, and it was impossible. So people living in that place have to travel 110 km to Cebu city, even just to buy a thing as simple as that. If you can live with that or not is a highly personal matter. And if you can`t, then you need to accept a certain amount of trafic jams, pollution etc. Its as simple as that really.

A city like Bacolod, which is nearly the same size as Dumaguete, has a much more well organized trafic system. But it is completely devoid of charm, and after 7 p.m. in the evening it is completely dead. So you really need to have a quite special mentality to prefer living in this city rather than Dumaguete i.m.h.o.

Ditto goes for the citys in northern Mindanao, which is approximately the same size as Dumaguete, i.e. Dipolog, Dapitan, Ozamis, Illigan, Butuan and Surigao. I really can`t imagine myself living in any of these places, if I am honest.

I could imagine myself living in Cebu, if I found a nice place in the outskirts of town. However, I still prefer the slightly provincial charm of Dumaguete to the big city character of Cebu.

This is a matter of taste though, and if you want to live in a place, that really have everything (culture, night live, shopping opportunities), and if you can live with the trafic jams and not being able to walk around town, then Cebu is definitly a better choice than Dumaguete.

Personally though, I find that Cebu does my head in after a few days, and then I am happy to "escape" back to Dumaguete again.

 

Almost had me until you started talking about Bacolod.....but when it comes to charm....Dumaguete has some.....I'd give it 6-7 out of 10. But there are others that have struck me as having considerably more....Vigan would have, easy, a hundred times the 'charm'. Legazpi has tons....even Tacloban struck me as being more charming......back on Negros I think Silay would give Dumaguete a good arse-kicking for charm.....

Anyway, Bacolod would be about ten times bigger than Dumaguete....don't know which Bacolod you've been to - but the entertainment district goes most of the night and that district offers about fifty times what the boulevard has....not to mention the huge malls stay open till late evening, the thousand restaurants around the town, pubs...etc...etc...

I like Dumaguete, wouldn't mind spending some relaxing there - though we couldn't see living in the area. But the original poster wasn't too far off the reality of the city.....bit extreme with a couple points....but the general thrust was pretty accurate..

 

Hey Chantal

So where can you go in the Philippines that you wouldn't have a problem with porters. Beggars I'm not sure that I have been anyplace in the Philippines that I wasn't accosted by one. The smell of low tide stinks every where in the world. and most of the business in the Philippines think they are doing you a favor giving you service.. almost everything you mentioned you can find anyplace in the Philippines and most Asian countries..SO what the problem ???

 

@Garbonzo

I am referring of course to Bacolod, the capital of Negros Occidental. This city isn`t 10 times bigger than Dumaguete but perhaps 20% og 50% bigger, measured in population.

Dumaguete has the boulevard, and Bacolod has the Goldenfields Commercial Complex. Which is really nothing more than a collection of restaurants and bikini bars several kilometers outside of town along the national highway.

They are open all night for sure, as are the similar places along the national highway just north of Dumaguete airport. The difference is, that as far as I was able to tell, there is no nightlife worth mentioning in Bacolod itself, i.e. in the central parts of town.

But maybe I just didn`t search hard enought, since I was only there for one day and one night. Still what I saw in that single day didn`t make me want to come back, and for sure it didn`t make me want to live there.

Yes they have a few malls in Bacolod, but soon Dumaguete will have a mall also. And if malls are your main priority, then just move to Cebu, since the ones in Bacolod are nothing in comparison.

I think the main difference is, that Dumaguete is a university town, whereas Bacolod is mostly an industrial town.

And if I was to move to a bigger city in the Visayas, my choice would fall on Cebu any time, since this city is big, rich and educated enough to have - among others - the cultural scene, that Dumaguete and in particular Balocod doesn`t have.

As for Legan, Legaspi, Tacloban and Silay, I havn`t been fortunate enough to visit these places yet, so I can not really rate or compare them to Dumaguete.

I have been to Tagbilaran on Bohol though, and this city also did not strike me as an obvious alternative to Dumaguete, even it has approximately the same population size. Boring is probably the best word, I can use to describe it.

 

good 1 dumaguetenia..lol...:D

 

Yes Dumaguete has lost the charm it had when I first visited in 1982 and i know chantal isn't the only visitor who is unimpressed with the place. In 1982cebu was a dodgy dump and dumaguete was a beautiful little friendly university town. Since that time Cebu has gone ahead in leaps and bounds, cleaned up its act and is now a vibrant city with great shopping and cool nightlife. Dumaguete has gone backwards with the city choked with tricycles and the boulevard becoming a geriatric kano hangout with the locals choosing to go elsewhere rather than mix with the old whiteys and their young girlfriends.

Garbonzo mentioned Silay and Vigan as having charm but that is for lovers of colonial spanish buildings and does not relate to the charm of the locals like Duma in the good old days. I also like Tacloban but find it difficult to see any good things about Bacolod.

I find Peurto Princessa to have the friendly vibe and almost innocent attitude that Dumaguete has lost and it is also the gateway to the best beaches and jungle in asia. Go there and check it out before it becomes overrun with tourists and expats.

My two pesos worth.

 

Hey Chantal,

Perhaps you have moved on and have no intention of posting again to the thread or even reading these replies. But I will throw my 2 cents in also.

First off, thanks for coming by and posting. I would have invited you for a beer at my place but I'm too afraid you would have bitched about the floor not being clean enough, having to sit on our plastic chairs, the roll of toilet paper in the CR being placed backwards in the holder and only two ply, etc. ect.

Each of these things you can b*tch about because maybe they are true, or you could just be a cool guy and attempt to enjoy the experience. I try to live each day like it's my last, and I don't want to go out bitching. I have never expected Dumaguete to be paradise and I wouldn't describe the city as paradise now, but I did approach it with an empty cup and felt lucky to be able to experience this place.

From your post you seem to feel like we were trying to sell you on this place. Personally, I don't care if any other foreigners come here. The locals could use the tourist dollars and certainly there are things they could clean up, but Dumaguete is probably not high on anyone's list as a tourist destinnation.

Downtown does get crazy crowded because it's the hub for the region for quite a few things. With crowds comes noise, beggars, traffic and headaches (and more cute girls to look at.) I avoid downtown during the day because I keep myself busy with web projects (and because of the hot sun.)

Dealing with beggars and street vendors is not fun while eating but they are easy to get rid of and some places have them worse than others. You just need to learn how to deal with them and the best places to go, and that comes after living here for a certain time.

Traffic sucks but you can still get to where you need to go in short time. I would take the chaos of Dumaguete over the orderly "go nowhere" of places like L.A. any day. Once you figure out how the traffic flows work, you can get through it pretty easy.

I do enjoy living here though. Dumaguete either fits your lifestyle or it doesn't. If you like slow, you can live in the sticks. If you like fast, you can live in Cebu. Dumaguete is somewhere in the middle. What I like the most here is Dumaguete at night and the friends I have made (not going to confess to being a friend of Rhoody so that I can keep his friendless reputation intact.) Dumaguete is a great place to live. It's a great place to dive. If you are just visiting the Philippines then I would agree that there are other places you should probably check out before you get around to arriving here. At that point, you have probably seen enough of the Philippines that none of these "problems" would be a surprise to you.

 

I agree with you loftyone. Dumaguete has gone backwards and chantal raises some good points. The local city government could make a start by pulling its head out of its butt and doing something. Getting rid of all the smoke-belching two-stroke powered tricycles would be a good start. Taking some control over the number of tricycles operating in the inner city area would also help. Most of them, most of the day are just driving around empty contributing to the noise, dust and air pollution. Another thought would be to put an axe through those insanely loud mega-speakers in Perdices St, and that idiot that mindlessly blows that hooter in front of Lee Plaza needs to be frogmarched out of town. Maybe a lot of Dumaguete expats in this thread have their vision clouded by the 9am San Mig or their teenage gf's.

Recently I was in Bayawan, my partner noted that it was "like Dumaguete 20yrs ago" Yes, I know we can't unwind Dumaguete's "progress" but many points chantal raises are valid. Some of the good things Dumaguete had are lost, not because it's inevitable, but because those that should be doing their job and looking after what it takes to make Dumaguete a nice place are just not doing their job.

Oh, and by the way fundiver198. There really is quite a good restaurant in Bayawan. It's under the Casa Rosario pension opposite the Petron. Alex and Ernie cook the best food I have eaten in Negros, simply delicious!