Philippine Travel Notes

My Negros Oriental Tour: Bayawan City’s Casa Rosario Pension That is more formally called Casa Rosario De Bayawan Pension House. And I don’t know if they’re related to Casa Rosario in Cebu! Entering the small hallway with a few steps to the small counter called front desk, the woman in charge was all smiles and said “haaay finally”! They were waiting for me and were a bit worried since they called up Ceres and the air-conditioned bus from Cebu has already arrived, yet I was nowhere. Ha ha, how sure were they I would be riding that aircon bus, anyway? All I said last night was I’d be coming from Cebu! Sometimes, some pesky bus leaves some sleepy heads behind y’know! And that was my case hehehe! But hmm, that was nice to know that they were concerned about my whereabouts. So, after paying P900 for the overnight stay and signing the guest folio, I was ushered upstairs to my room. Nice enough room. Has a big bed for two that my mom would have loved – that means I did not like the covers he...

My Negros Oriental Tour: Bayawan City's Nightlife Does Bayawan have a nightlife?! Ah, let’s see! My phone’s alarm woke me up at 7PM and after a quick shower, I started out again. This time for dinner and to see if there’d be anything on the side of night entertainment. Checked-out the restaurant downstairs and it was still hot in there. No patrons. I just imagined, who would like going there anyway?! And I mused that it was probably the very reason why the crews were always either out in the hallway, the frontdesk, the gym or even out by the roadside. I thought that was too bad since I flipped at the copy of their menu in my room and their dishes were reasonably priced and looked delectable. Anyway… I remembered there was a ‘Chicken Ati-atihan’ restaurant near the Ceres terminal. Aha, nice option! As I walked on, I approached a lady busy closing her baye-baye shop and casually asked what would be the good restaurants in the city. At first she looked at my hotel but I was quick to s...

My Negros Oriental Tour: Bayawan City Boulevard Out at the church yard, I asked a trike driver if I could walk to ‘the boulevard’. He grinned and told me it was far so I should take a pedicab or a “potpot”. I did not quite get that, so I asked what a “potpot” is. The reply? “Kini!” and he was pointing to his pedicab. If his pedicab was called “potpot”, then I asked what a “pedicab” is. And he told me those tricycles using motorcycles. Haha and wow! Let’s say that again folks… in Bayawan City a trike powered by a motorcycle is called “pedicab”. Just accept and remember it. No need to tinker with etymologies, alright?! And a trike powered by driver’s feet on a bicycle is called “potpot”. Ah this one is easy to relate to. It probably got its name from the honk that they use, the “potpot” much like that gadget used by taho vendors in Metro Manila, aight?! Now to the boulevard. Ah yes, I went there on board manong’s potpot and it was a nice and slow ride along city streets! Wow! “The Boulev...

My Negros Oriental Tour: Bayawan City Center Exactly 2:59PM my Ceres bus from Dumaguete was already entering its own new and wide terminal. Wohoa! I finally arrived! Their big terminal reminds me of Bogo City's. Asked the Ceres employees how I could find Casa Rosario Pension House. Ah that was easy. They told me I could take a trike but most people would actually just walk the distance. So with their directions, I walked to find my overnight home in Bayawan City. How far? Just like entering at SM Cebu’s North Wing main entrance and finding the Island Souvenirs shelves over at the men’s section of the department store. That near! There is a separate blog entry about Casa Rosario Pension House after this, but anyway, I just dropped my things on the bed then proceeded to roam around the city. Baye-baye Emerging from the hotel, I got curious at the row of stalls across it. Yes, the area seems part of the city's “palengke” but I could not quite get what those stores were in busines...

My Negros Oriental Tour: Bus Ride from Cebu City to Bayawan City Cebu to Dumaguete Reaching the south bus terminal at 6:35AM, I was late for the direct Cebu-Dumaguete-Bayawan buses as they now leave 5AM and 6AM respectively instead of 6AM and 7AM. So, I took an aircon bus on its way to Dumaguete. But I got off at Liloan’s Puerto Del Sur passenger terminal (in Santander) so I could cross via fastcraft to Sibulan and make my way by multicab or trike to the Ceres terminal in Dumaguete. You might ask why did I not just take the bus all the way to Dumaguete’s Ceres Terminal and connect to another bus from there going Bayawan. Well, ah, from experience and some asking around, it is faster if you cross on your own via the fastcrafts to Sibulan from Liloan than keep riding the Ceres all the way to Bato that crosses to the Tampi port in Amlan before proceeding with the ride to Dumaguete passing by Sibulan. If you did not quite get that, just try ‘google maps’ or ‘wikimapia’ to look for those pl...