Philippine Travel Notes

The question was: after watching the butanding in Oslob , where would be a nice new place to visit? We considered a day tour on Sumilon , even called them earlier to check rates. Alas, we were late. Meaning we left Cebu City too late for it to be practical to hit the island-resort after the butanding watch. I also considered the nearby Tumalog waterfalls, but friends were not too keen on that. Also considered backtracking to Simala , but they’re not that religious. Even considered Carcar , but they’ve already enjoyed Vigan . So… Why not go to Dumaguete ?! And we all said yes. It is just a hop away! Bus to Liloan port in Santander, fastcraft to Sibulan, jeep to Dumaguete! Not even an hour to go! Thus, we waited for a bus… but this was what first came hehe! They spent their grand slow time wading, ooops traipsing that highway. Yes, vehicles evaded them! Queen of the road and her princesses - cute lovely ducklings! We reached Liloan jetty port in no time... But awk! No crafts were bei...

This one was at Bato Port in Santander, Cebu. Yep, where the Ceres buses cross to/from Tampi Port in Amlan Negros Oriental, so that your trip goes straight to/from Dumaguete. Can you believe I did not take this photo because of the word ECONOMIC? You understand what that proud announcement / ad is saying anyway, right? Really?! Okay, compare what’s on your mind versus what it really is trying to tell you… “Ceres Bus Economy Fare (a.k.a. regular non-airconditioned bus) TO Cebu FROM this point (Bato) VIA Samboan is only Sixty Pesos” Did you get that correctly? Good if you did hehe! In Cebu, bus destination signages take a little twist. How’s that? Ganito: “BATO – BARILI” means going TO Bato VIA Barili (NOT Bato to Barili) “BATO – OSLOB” means going TO Bato VIA Oslob (NOT Bato to Oslob) “MAYA – BAGAY” means going TO Maya VIA Bagay (NOT Maya to Bagay) “MAYA – KAWIT” means going to Maya VIA Kawit (NOT Maya to Kawit) You mistake the meanings and you could be circling the islan...

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...

Quote from previous blog entry: 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...