Best Posts in Thread: Traffic in Dumaguete absolute c-h-a-o-s!

I joined the forum as I couldn't be bothered to set one up for Siquijor where I live . I take the ferry across maybe once or twice a week when I am back from work in the Phils to stock up on supplies etc. I must say that the situation has got a whole lot worse since I first arrived nearly 10 years ago. I stay over in one of the hotels if I have unfinished business or simply am too manana to take on of the last ferries back. Though I am doing this less and less as the fleets of deafening tricycles, endless solid traffic jams and the sight of trash thrown willy nilly have really begun to put me off. It's easy to get paranoid about crime, but there does seem to be a growing sense of chaos mingled with menace around the boulevard at night culminating obviously with recent unfortunate events. The city itself seems to have a growing shabu problem and it would seem to me that the wild west frontier justice ethic has set in ie "we'll sort this out ourselves with firearms in broad daylight". So overall I am rather saddened to see Dumaguete slip down the way to decay and ruin via the well worn and trodden path of neglect, unfettered growth and lack of strategic planning.

I think contributors are right, infrastructure does not seem to have grown with the city and there seems to be either a lack of city ordnance or will to address the problem. Dumaguete will fast loose it's reputation as a retirement haven for ex-pats if things continue at this pace. Then the regrets and recriminations will set in when it is all too late. So if any aspiring or current politico passes by this post take heed, you have a great city but you could make this a really great and GOOD city.

In comparison to Siquijor, where the daily noise pollution is one of a crack throated chicken in the yard or an equally crack throated local out of his skull on tuba performing "My Way" on the Purok karaoke machine down the way I think I have it fine. Clean air, a 'zero' (um, that's not strictly true, but we will save the good burghers of Siquijor their blushes) crime rate and the throaty roar of the occasional tricycle as it circumnavigates the island highway is as about as bad as it gets. Nightclubs and bars are not exactly my scene any more so one might say that my evenings spent with a cold one sans le Missus staring across the sea at Dumaguete is idyllic boredom - but it floats my boat and I thank my lucky stars.

Btw, I don't know which planet the forum moderator is on! Central and Southern American countries can be a real nightmare. Remember you are a Gringo. I lived in Guatemala for a few years and had to have an army of bodyguards, Panama is vile, Belize is positively lethal and unless you are in the tourist traps of Honduras then your life expectancy is greatly diminished. Nicaragua can be peaceful as can El Salavador - but all these are countries in the cocaine belt of smuggling, all with their own recent bloody and unfortunate histories. You have to be way outside the major cities to be sure of reasonable security. One of the first things I learned to say there in Spanish was "Lo siento. No soy Americano". I'm pretty sure it saved my life once or twice. So I am going to stick with the Phils for the time being, Dumaguete and all.

Cheers,

C

 

Its all been said before and it wont change in my life time, its the same as the airport infrastructure in the city is way behind time

 

They are all at work by then. Try again at sunrise. At 6 am the boulevard is very crowded with locals who like to walk. And It is not 2.4 kilometers, no way. It used to be 1.5 km round trip and now it may have stretched up to close to a km each way. Just like the other poster, I don't have pics so anyone who wants to know for sure would just have to go for a walk there between sunrise and 6 am. As to the length, there are marker bricks every 100 meters so you can easily count the distance.

Still, this does not help the traffic problem, its in the downtown area and along most streets that they need to make it more pedestrian friendly.