Dumaguete Philippines: Friendliest City or Just Hype?

Good morning my friends. Right now we are in Dumaguete City, and I just arrived last night, so I haven't had a chance to check anything out yet. But I have heard that this is supposed to be one of the friendliest and safest cities here in the Philippines. So we're just going to go out, walk around today, see what we can find, and see if it lives up to that reputation. Let's go. And we've already found our first spot just a few feet away from my hotel. There is a market right here, so let's head in. I could use a coffee, maybe a little bit of a snack, and see what happens. So this market kind of looks like it's got a little bit of everything. I'm seeing clothes, hats, some rice right over there, and there are decorations everywhere. It was just I'm guessing that this is part of that celebration. And I really do hope I meet a lot of friendly people today, because after being in Cebu City, where everyone was so friendly, I don't know if they can top that. Oh, looks like the restaurants are right here. What do you got? Hello. Good morning. Good morning. What's a puto chocolate peanut butter? Is it the best? Yes. All right. Could I do one of those? And do you have a black coffee? Like this? Love it. Love it. Black coffee. So this is called puto? Puto. Puto with toppings. Okay. First, you put some peanut. Okay. Peanut on the top. Chocolate. It's like a Reese's peanut butter cup sticky rice. You put some little amount of condensed milk. There we go. Wow. Your puto with toppings. Thank you so much. Yeah, thank you. Look at this. It looks amazing. Reese's peanut butter cup sticky rice. Oh, wow. That is so good. Let me get another bite of that in there. So good. Wow. I think it's perfect with the coffee. This is so sweet and this is nice and just a little bit bitter and organic. Breakfast of champions. Wow. What a great way to start the day. I already had dessert for breakfast, met some friendly people, and got some advice. Hey, how you doing? Very good. It really is living up to his name. Everyone is so friendly. All right. Well, we're leaving this little area. We're going to head into the market, I think. Nice little steak. Hello. Good morning. Let's take a walk down here. Now, that is fresh. Hello. How are you? Hi, friend. How are you? I'm okay. Great. Me too. Yeah. Philippines is very nice. It is very nice. How would you say about the Philippines? I think it's amazing. The people are so friendly here. Yeah. And yeah, I just came from Sinaloag in Cebu. It was so much fun. I got painted everywhere. The dancing, the music. Who's with you? Just me. Only you? Yeah. Well, me and you. New friend. By the way, I'm Wardo. Wardo. Adam. Nice to meet you. Pleasure. Oh, man. So many friendly people. Oh, that looks delicious. Hello. Got some parrotfish, red snapper, eel. Oh, wow. Look at that eel. Very cool. Thank you. It's such a different kind of like feel here. As you know, I just spent six months in Japan and the people there don't really like to talk on camera. They're a lot more private. But here, it seems like everyone just loves to have a conversation. That nice big piece of artwork. I just came back to say goodbye and he offered to give me a ride down to the boulevard. Let's do it. Bye. People here really are so friendly. Have a great day. All right. Good luck. Got to pay the taxes. Bye. Honestly, I am like blown away by how kind everyone has been so far. Like, I thought Cebu City was friendly, but this is like a whole other level. And he dropped me off at a boat of nuns. It's none of my business, but what are all these ladies doing in this boat? Wow. It is gorgeous. This whole little road here, there's palm trees. We're right down by the port. There's a big I love Dumaguete sign down here. It is so nice down here. So peaceful. All you can hear are the waves in the background. The traffic kind of faded away from the streets. It feels special. And I think that right now there's no one here because it's the daytime and everyone's at work. But at night, this is supposed to be one of the best hangout spots to watch the sunset and then eventually go and grab some food. So hopefully if the weather holds out, we can come back and do that a little bit later. But wow. Oh, you see that water breaking over the walls there. I love this. And there's also pirate ships down on the water. There'll be pirates in these waters. Sorry. But actually, I wanted to mention that this is where the name of Dumaguete comes from. Dumaguete comes from the Visayan word dagget, which means to snatch. And pirates used to come here very frequently and raid the shores. And that's how it got its name. Now let's keep going. So I just went into the tourist information center right here on the water, and they were so friendly. The guard gave me a ton of information, a nice little handy map, and a free bottle of water. Who does that? Who gives you a free bottle of water? I definitely need it. And I'm super excited to have it. Now I want to head over towards the university, but he told me that I should head down this way to Burgos Street, where I can see a museum and also the cathedral that me and my new friend drove past. So let's head over there. Hello, how are you? More friendly people. I love that laugh. It really is nice here. I mean, even walking down these side streets, there's so many trees. Hi, how are you? Do you live in Dumaguete? Is it your favorite place in the whole world? Yeah. Oh, whoa, whoa. Just saved my life. He just saved my life. See, they're friendly and helpful. My name is Hemar. Nice to meet you, Hemar. And also, be watching where you're going so you don't get hit by a car like I almost did. But as I was saying, it's like really nice here. There's so much energy when you're on the main streets and then you just take a few steps away and it's shade and trees. Such a nice place to come and visit. I love this sign. I haven't seen one of these since Jamaica like 20 years ago. Oh, oh, no urinating here. My bad. And something else you'll notice here is that there aren't taxis so much as there are trikes. Like, there are definitely taxis all over Manila and in Cebu City, but here they do it a little bit different and I like it. Hello, how are you? Hi. I like your trike. And we are going through another little beautiful park with this statue in the middle. Ah, so the walkway we were just on that boulevard is called Rizal Boulevard. So I'm guessing this is the guy that is responsible for it or that is named for. I love all these green spaces where people can hang out in the shade. Right across the street here is that main cathedral and watchtower it looks like. I'm really hoping they'll let me in. Last time I couldn't go into churches in Cebu City in shorts but maybe it's different in Dumaguete. Let's head across the street and try not to get hit by a trike on the way. Oh, thank you. Hi. I'm gonna head in now if they let me but I probably can't talk while I'm inside so just check it out with a little peaceful footage and I'll see you when we come back out. That was so nice in there. It was so peaceful and they let me in in shorts which I really appreciate. That's one of the things about the Philippines is that they are extremely spiritual. It's a Catholic country and I just think it really reflects in the people with just how nice they are and how safe you can feel in places like this. But I really want to try some of those salvanas, salvinas, those special desserts that are from Dumaguete and there's a place just around the corner here that my friend this morning at breakfast just suggested to me. So we're gonna head over there and the sky has changed from blue to a very intimidating gray so hopefully the rain holds off so we can continue to explore. I'll see you when we get to our delicious dessert spot. We are almost there. Oh, here it is. The Sans Rival cakes and pastries. They're supposed to be the best at making these very special chili desserts and we're actually almost back down on the water where we just came from and you can see the blue over there and that stormy looking sky behind me. So let's eat these and continue before we end up in the rain. Let's head in. Hello, how are you today? You're famous for salvanas, right? All right, appreciate it. So I got my salvanas and they look delicious. They're nice and cold and it's pretty hot today so I'm just gonna walk right over here to the ocean front again and enjoy them with you. Hello, have you guys ever had salvanas before? Do you like them? Yeah. Do you want to try one with me? Okay. Yeah, I can't eat 10 of these. All right, so I found some friends to eat my salvanas with. Oh, do you know what they are? All right, what flavor do you want? Chocolate. Yeah, get a chocolate and what do you want? Chocolate. The chocolates are gone, guys. You can't have any, sorry. I'm gonna go with an original butter flavor right here. How are they? They're good. Oh wow, the waves, yeah. Thank you so much. So chocolate, what are your names? Nice to meet you guys. My name is Adam. Wow, these are so good. They're like buttercream inside. I'm having the original right now. I guess I lost my salvana buddies. Oh man, even the kids are friendly. So there's also strawberry, ube, panda, pandan. I don't know, maybe I'll try a little pandan now too. Oh that's so good. You can see inside that buttercream. I'm getting absolutely soaked. They did just warn me about this. But yeah, those are delicious. I can't eat all of them, so I'm gonna definitely have to share some more along the way. All right, let's keep walking before this. Oh, totally soaked. And I got some in my salvanas. All right, I think it's time to keep on walking and head over to the university. Could I give you one too? I can't eat 10. I just needed to try them. Yeah. Original butter, do you want one too? It's the local specialty for dessert. That's ube, pandan, and strawberry. It's got buttercream inside. They're from the famous place right over there. My pleasure, enjoy. Enjoy. Silvana? Yeah, you want one? Are you sure? I just bought them. They're still cold. I don't want them to go bad. All right, thank you. All right, we're down to three. Let's see how quickly we can get rid of them before they melt. Would you guys like a silvana? I just, I can't eat all of them. They're fresh. I just got them. Thank you. Thank you. Hello, would you like a silvana? Silvana? Good. Oh, they're so good. I just bought them. One only. You can have two if you want. Only one. Okay, thank you, thank you. Food with friends is always more fun. All right, I see some fishermen up here. Hello, do you guys want my last silvana? My last silvana? I just bought them. I'm just too full to finish. For free? Yes. Yeah, enjoy. What are you catching? Fish. Fish, nice. Are you catching or just fishing? Fishing. That's the way it works. Thank you. Hello. All gone, sorry. Silvana challenge finished. All right, so I just met a friendly cab driver who told me that there's a place called Valencia about 20 minutes from here that has a museum as well as some hot springs. So we're going to run by my hotel, grab some board shorts so we can go and take a dip, and I'll see you when we get on the road. So these are sulfur vents from the volcano? Yes. Wow. That's very nature. Very nature. Yeah. Yeah. All right, so he just gave me my first stop along here, and look at this. Wow, that smell in the air. You get all of that sulfur, that kind of rotten egg, but just seeing it, hearing the hissing of it coming up through the ground is just, it's really amazing when you think about it that it's all right here. I mean, look around me here. It's just jungle. We went from city to jungle in 20 minutes. Yeah, I want to taste. 20 pesos. You got it. What's boko juice? Coconut. Coconut. Okay, cool. Oh, sugar. Let's try it out. It's coconut, but like sweet coconut. I honestly think between that breakfast, my salvanas, and now this, I've had enough sugar for like three weeks, but oh, it's so good. And there's little chunks of coconut in there. Man, so good. And now I'm ready to go and check out these hot springs. He just told me that there is a waterfall right up here that the cab can't go up to, so if I hop on a motorcycle, I can go up and check it out, and then we'll head over to the springs right after that. Wow, it really feels like an adventure today. I'm loving it. Just discovering things along the way. Valencia. Valencia. Is this called a jeepney? Yes, sir. Jeepney. Jeepney. All right, so we are going to head up the steep mountain now. Hello, sir. Thank you. How are you today? Fine. Just one? 100. All right. But yeah, that's what I was trying to say just now is that, you know, sometimes when you just let a day unfold, you can really have an adventure. Like, I had zero expectations about today. I had no idea where we would end up. I met a bunch of friendly people, and now, wow, this waterfall looks amazing. And it looks like you can actually go swimming right down in there and climb down to it. Got a nice little swinging hanging bridge. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be waiting to go onto it, but oh yeah, very cool. And then just across the bridge, you come down and end up here. Wow, this thing is way bigger when you're down at the bottom. And all of the rocks have this, like, orangey-red tint to them, which I'm guessing is from that sulfur that's in the water. The nature here has been so impressive. Dumaguete, you shocked me, and I am loving it. And on the other side, across from the waterfall, there's another waterfall with a little swimming area. That's super cool. That was a great quick little stop right there, and you can go swimming, spend as much of your time as you want here. It did look nice, but I think I'm going to save myself for the hot springs. So let's go find our driver and head back down. Yeah. How many hours to stay here? Maybe one. Yeah. Is that okay? Okay. All right, so apparently this motorbike taxi is also my ride to the actual hot springs. I think it is 100 to enter here again, and we are definitely going swimming here. Quick change, now let's hop in the springs. All right, so it looks like they have multiple levels here. I wonder how hot it actually is. Not too hot, not too hot. So nice and relaxing, man, being surrounded by all of this nature here. I can't wait to get back on the road and head over to Valencia, Valencia. I'm not really sure how to say it, but hopefully we can go and grab some food over there, see some more beautiful things and keep this amazing day going. All right, we are in Valencia now and I'm feeling so relaxed after those hot springs. On the way over here, we stopped by and saw some really cute chilled out monkeys. They were with the mothers with their babies. And what I really liked about it was that as opposed to everywhere else in the world I've been, where they warn you if the monkeys are dangerous, the sign here says, please do not harm the monkeys because even the monkeys here are friendly. Hello, how are you? And Roland is taking me right here to see some doves in the park. 20 pesos. Yes, and I'll take you a human drone and picture and talk to you. Okay, okay. In the heart of the changing light. Thank you so much. Whoa, I guess he got a little excited about the food. Wow, the pigeon whisperer. Okay, okay. Oh, wow. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Whoa, I got a friend on my shoulder too. Even the pigeons are friendly here. They are so very kind. I feel like everyone around here is so kind. Loving this. Whoa. Yeah, my first experience. Ah, yes. I feel like a scarecrow. And I think the most impressive thing is none of them pooped on me, which is amazing. And while none of them pooped on me, I am going to do a little hand sanitizing just in case. Where do we go now? Go back. Okay. All right, let's go hop back in the bike. We are back in town down on the boulevard, and Roland, my amazing tour guide slash driver, told me we have to try one more thing before we end our day. And it's called Bolud, which is a fetus chicken or duck egg. That's either 16, 17, or 18 days old. He's looking for it right now. 18. Oh, I'm having what you're having. Oh, I'm only going to eat one, but you can have two if you want. Yes, sir. Okay. So they've got the 16 day and the 18 day. Roland, I am trusting you. Always, sir. Always. Roland is the best, by the way. At least we'll see after I eat these Bolud with him. First, we need to go like this, sir. Okay, first we take... So this is a duck egg or a chicken egg? Chicken egg. Chicken egg. Okay. The first step. Okay, first step done. Looks just like a regular egg to me. Slowly, slowly grab the skin. Okay, yep. I'm supposed to drink it? Yeah. Okay, drink it first. Just add a little salt. Can we salt bake? Can we do... A little. No. Okay. Vinegar? Yeah. Okay. So I'm drinking the fetus chicken eggs juice. It actually tastes really good. I told you. Okay. This next part looks a little scary. Look at that. Oh, I spilled a little bit. That is a fetus chicken inside. I'm trusting you, Roland. Yeah, sure. All right, so I put a little vinegar. A little vinegar. A little salt also. Okay. So that it will mix the... A little vinegar. A little salt. And a little bit of salt. Yeah, like that. Any paprika or anything? No. You just ate the whole thing? Yeah. Okay. Okay, I'm going to peel back a little bit more so they can see at home what I'm about to eat. Roland, I am not visually appealed by this. 18 day... Do I just put the whole thing in my mouth? Cheers. Mmm. You know, it actually tastes really good. It's sort of like a little bit of a liver flavor and like a hard-boiled egg. Yeah. Wow. And as you can see right now, before we were down here, there was none of this set up where all these restaurants are, but free until midnight. Yes, sir. All of the restaurants set up right along the water here. You can come down and enjoy the sunset. I don't think we're really going to get tonight because of the clouds, but man, what a day we had today. So much fun. Met so many fun people. At the beginning, I asked, is Dumaguete the friendliest city in the Philippines? And I'll tell you what, if there's a friendlier place, I don't know where it is because these people are amazing. And I mean, even the cab drivers, the pigeons were friendly, the monkeys were friendly. We got to go to a waterfall. We saw hot springs. Oh, and the sulfur vents. Yeah. Wow. Dumaguete really surprised me. I didn't really have expectations. Like I said, I just arrived last night, but everyone has been amazing and I can't wait to do some more exploring. I think Roland's going to be my guide for that as we move forward. But thank you so much for coming along. Thank you for being here as I started this adventure here. Hi. Say hi. But anyway, if you enjoyed this video, please give me a big thumbs up, comment, subscribe, and don't forget the ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, the Dumaguete. Thank you again, my friend. I really appreciate you. I will see you next time from someplace else here in the Philippines.