Philippine Travel Notes

Ah, I don't know about yours. But this trike was my ride from the Ceres Bus Terminal in Dumaguete City on the way to Harold's hehe! And there really is such a name! A tricycle builder, no less! Mind you, if his two-syllable name means something to us in Metro Mnaila, ask the Visayans to discover that it also means something still funny for a name! Hmm, maybe the trike maker is a brother of Toto, anak ni Tata! Oh well, the Filipino nicknames of our times...

My Negros Oriental Tour: Dumaguete To Bais Trip Time to move on towards the northern half of the province and change my ‘base of operations’ hehe. Had to make a quick change to this planned move, but I like it anyway. Plan was ride a bus to Tanjay, roam around and stay there overnight. But things were muddled by some semi-official errands at Dumaguete so that I was only able to leave late in the afternoon. And argh, it was raining! At the Ceres terminal, I spotted a bus bound for Manjuyod and wondered why :) Maybe they do have a hub there, and I wonder why hehe! Anyway, when conductor asked me where I was destined, I suddenly said Bais. A re-plan was already working in my head. I would instead go straight to Bais in lieu of Tanjay for I would reach any of them by nighttime. Why? I thought I would be happier spending the night in Bais instead of Tanjay. Why? Because the reviews I saw on the web are better for La Planta Hotel (Bais) than Hotel De Tanjay (La Residencia). I was almost sure...

My Negros Oriental Tour: Dumaguete City I saw this place while walking around the streets after Sans Rival when the skies seemed to have cooperated. I just noted it and went back to Harold’s Inn for a quick nap – for lack of anything else to go to, the rest of the gloomy afternoon. It’s a fairly new restaurant and decidedly was going to be my dinner venue after the needed nap. Oh yes, I knew how to set that alarm up! Had the TV set to channel 7, so that if ‘bente-kwatro-oras’ was doing its final chika minute, that would have been time for me to go and have dinner at Ka ‘Waway! Yey! I got outa the room when Mel Tiangko was exclaiming “walang kasinungalingan” or something like that! Ka ‘Waway’s looks and feels rather new. Oh, this is at a street (Sta. Catalina?) next to and parallel to the famous Rizal Boulevard. Crews are (still) enthusiastically eager to serve and I was surprised there were quite a number of groups dining. In short, it was bustling. Whew! There I was again, almost read...

My Negros Oriental Tour: Dumaguete City Okay, I have professed many times that I really don’t go for sweet desserts and fancy pastries as to crave for them. But when am in the situation… heaven knows what may happen hehehe! From Sidlakan and PAO areas, decided to walk around the boulevard and university areas. Doing so, I thought I was a bit famished but it was just a rainy afternoon (still far from dinner) so I said I must eat, but only lightly. Hah, I remembered ‘Sans Rival’, so I went for it. Let’s clarify that, “Sans Rival Cakes & Pastries” is the name of the food joint. It sometimes gets confusing, as we all know that ‘sans rival’ is the name of that sweet buttery nutty chewy bar that this eatery does well. Not that it was my first time… been in this sweet tooth haven a number of times, but I could imagine I would find something light to the stomach in there, reminiscent of Dumaguete instead of the ‘national fastfood’ that is the bee hehe! Do your litanies of what to find at S...

My Negros Oriental Tour: Dumaguete City This one I did not know about nor was it even in my list of things to see. I was just exiting the Sidlakang Negros Tourism Village when some activity caught my attention. Towards the right near the corner of the EJ Blanco St. with Real (the national highway going north, I think), I saw some folks carrying veggies and the likes that seemed to have been bought just nearby. Since I knew that this area is way far (in fact at the other end of the city) from their public market, I walked towards what might be there. Voila, a “tabo”, yes a market! Signage says “Tabo sa PAO” and I have asked at least 5 folks before I could get a bearing on what the ‘PAO’ really means. Most said they didn’t know but one said ‘agriculture’ hehe! So I am guessing, this place is a provincial agricultural office or something. Its in the city yes, nearby to Sidlakang Negros to its left and the provincial hospital down the bend to the right. And agricultural office this must be...

My Negros Oriental Tour: Dumaguete City Okay, I was back in Dumaguete City with the rain still on and off, so I thought of what else to do or see. Hmm, I remembered the Sidlakang Negros Tourism Village that I visited last year but was not able to roam much of it as there were a lot of people. It was a bustling feast day. So, I went for it as this time there would be few people. Hah, I was wrong… there were no few people… there was virtually none! And I loved it hehe! Well, to the extent that some of the houses were themselves unmanned or closed and some displays have been removed :( But I still moved on. It’s a “village” where there is a central building that is a museum and a store for Negros Oriental products. At the back is some kind of an open auditorium or something for events or shows. And around the area are houses, each made, maintained by and representing the towns and cities of the province! Imagine a localized version of the world expo hehe. This is it. Ah there are so many ...

My Negros Oriental Tour: Transpo from Dumaguete to Valencia I started with asking around the Dumaguete public market area as to where I could get a ride to Valencia. Some did not know about that, some pointed to me a wrong place (‘esrides’ for Dauin), but finally a shoemaker pointed me in the correct direction. Its not easily “spottable” as the jeep or two is just parked by the side of the street hehe! No kiosk, shack nor terminal to indicate so. Anyway, from the market, heading westward on Colon St., look on the left side for an “Elmido Dental Clinic” and a “Maglingaw Ta Videoke” which are both on a building called “VPDRC”. Across them should be your jeep. That’s what I found out hehe! Well there is after all a sign posted about knee-high and of course obstructed by the jeep itself. I saw that “beautiful” signange when I was already seated and waiting for my ride to go! Hah, its no less donated by a milk brand hehehe! Yes, I was silently laughing when I spotted this very artistically ...

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...