And the bus departed… but one more lesson learned here… have thicker clothing ready for the bus ride. Air conditioning on most Ceres buses can be too cold to bear – even if its sunny hot outside. On this bus ride, some passengers requested the conductor to close the “aircon” from time to time since the minimum thermostat setting was still too cold.
This is a 3.5 hour or so bus ride and is just worth P176.
Unquote!
Okay now, the bus departed from Lilo-an and I think I never even got to see a clearer view of the town of Santander. As that bus started speeding through, most of us were still busy trying to fit bags and backpacks wherever they may fit. Plus the conductor was also busy roaming around giving us our tickets. Am not even sure where, but I know I got a glimpse of the Santander Municipal Hall – a generally pink building. The bus started tracing that road running along the eastern seaboard of the island.So what not to miss?
If you are the touristy type like me and just happen to pass by this area going to Cebu City, rule number one is: get a window seat on the right side.
I was silently cursing myself for not going along with the locals who literally ran when the boat from Sibulan docked. Thus, I got a left side view of the trip – which is already grand on its own merits. But the right side breathtaking views are to die for! Especially when the bus started climbing up the seaside hills of the town of Oslob, ah my badness, my seatmate even looked at me and smiled when I let out an exasperated ahhh! These majestic sceneries go all the way to the town of Naga with the exception of Carcar City (since the road passes through city streets.
On a sunny mid-day, the views out into the waters to the east of the island are very picturesque. Sometimes they are a bit covered by foliage or houses and other structures, but most of the time… ah what a view. Across us the Korean mother and daughter tandem were sleeping the whole trip away while behind and above them (yep, the last row of a bus is usually elevated, right?) the two Europeans were straining and craning and bobbing their necks on all sides just to catch the views. I was very much tempted but ashamed to ask the two Koreans for a switch since they were just sleeping. And the very same story was of the locals who occupied the front right side windows. Ahhhh, I was short of pulling all the hair in my head in frustration! Ahhhh!Anyway, no one (I think) has the fighting spirit to keep straining his neck for almost 3 hours, so we, those who wanted to catch those majestic grand views have seemingly dropped the idea. My seatmate snoozed, the foreigners behind me took to either their MP3 players or PSPs… and I (not giving up) contented myself with the (still interesting) views on my side of the bus. Hey, not totally without any memorable value, I caught the following as the bus ambled along…
Well, there you have them all. At least this made me promise myself, I will a lot time to visit these southwestern areas of the island-province. As to when, I have yet to check my schedules.
And to think, I was just supposed to be passing on my way from Dumaguete City to the Mactan Cebu International Airport for my trip to Clark! Whew!
For a chronology of stories on this trip, click the following article numbers:
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