With inflation on the rise, Manila cost of living is no doubt affecting the lives of many people in the area, particularly on low-income households. But the domino effect seems even go wider, with the continues price hike of goods, fuel and the drop of peso, foreigners even feel the pain.
Lee "SunBhie" Jeong-jae, an international Dota coach is currently in Manila for some coaching activity with Filipino Dota 2 team in the country. But it appears that Lee had also feel the pain on his pocket.
"It makes no sense how expensive things are in Manila," wrote Lee on his Twitter post.
Adding that, "it is definitely more expensive than Bangkok and KL."
The Korean-Canadian coach even complaining about the "quality doesn't reflect the prices."
"Just random ass mediocre food on Grab is 5.5USD."
He also began to get curious by ending his tweet with a question, "How do people survive here."
His tweet took social media debate, with others are suggesting him to try other local food that would cost him less than 4 USD.
"While it is true things have gotten expensive, for around 6 USD you should be able to find quality local food. Try asking colleagues what (& which stores to buy) local dishes from. Try to use local dishes as your search query in Grab e.g. Sinigang, Bulalo, Adobo, Sisig," one said, but Sunbhie does not agree.
"These dishes suck. I suspect they are not supposed to suck, but have become a bastardized versions of what they are supposed to be due to the realities of Manila. Grossly imbalanced in nutrition, relying on fats and sugar for flavour. These are not good eats, my friend," said Sunbhie.
These dishes suck. I suspect they are not supposed to suck, but have become a bastardized versions of what they are supposed to be due to the realities of Manila. Grossly imbalanced in nutrition, relying on fats and sugar for flavour. These are not good eats, my friend.
— SunBhie (@SunBhieDota) September 29, 2022
While others have agreed to SunBhie's experienced in Manila, another comment suggest: "dont buy at grab food buy at food panda or go out your 5.5USD give you tons of affordable and good food like turo turo tapsilog, karenderya and your gonna experience true filipino authentic food are."
"You're probably living in one of those high-cost, artificial, gentrified communities like BGC. Try eating at s carinderia in a NORMAL neighborhood, you can get a delicious, full meal for under $4."
I earn pesos but work remote from Bangkok. I feel like I can survive longer here than in Manila with the same amount of money. Food is cheap. Public transport can get me almost anywhere I need to. 500 Baht gets me 500Mbps internet a month.
— giynn with two n's and a y but not where you think (@xserjin) September 30, 2022
Manila is more expensive than Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh too (and our other Southeast Asian neighbors, yes). Grab in Hanoi is so cheap for example. And let's not get started on how cheap (and still really delicious and nutritious)the food is there. Living in Manila can be a scam,naku.
— Mel (@peanutbuttercup) September 29, 2022
Cost of living in Manila is really high. Our power is not subsidized like in other ASEAN countries. Logistics is more expensive if not as expensive as in Indonesia because we are an archipelago and infrastructure is really bad. So those add up to the cost of goods and services.
— likha cuevas (@likhacuevas) September 30, 2022
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