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Day 4: Dumaguete City (going home)

January 23, 2012

Last day in Dumaguete! We woke up early to go to the market to buy Budbod Kabog which is like suman but it’s made of birds’ seeds. I have no idea what that is but it’s expensive.

Walking to the market, we passed by the Dumaguete Belfry.

We ate breakfast at  and they have these cool seats! We had lunch at Sans Rival and to also buy pasalubongs (cue: Silvanas!).

Our messy room! We were panicking because it’s almost check out time. :P

Then it was time to home. Our flight was *drum rolls* slightly delayed! HAHA. Surprise surprise! It was again due to the heavy traffic in NAIA, it takes time for planes to turn around and take off. Only one of the many problems of the Tourism Industry.

And that concludes my Negros Oriental trip. :) Yay it’ s more fun in the Philippines! :D

Day 3: Apo Island

January 22, 2012

Early call time to head to Malatapay, Zamboanguita to jump on a boat to Apo Island which is part of Dauin, Negros Oriental. We passed by McDonad’s for breakfast and then was at the jump off point in 45 minutes. All six of us: me, Danica, Erika, Abie, Sette and Mai were in one van and the assigned tour guide for us was Ms./Madame Pearl. She’s a former teacher and she’s like a mom to us. She gave us sun block, water and even took care of our belongings (cameras, phone etc) when we were snorkeling.

On our way to the island, it was unexpected and so fortunate for us to see dolphins! We were just talking about it the night before and how Danica really wished to see dolphins in an open sea and that it’ll make her cry if she did. It was too awesome! First there were only 2 of them jumping out of the water then comes a lot of them! We clapped with joy without knowing that doing that is like calling them. We were overjoyed. Too bad I didn’t have a camera at hand because the sea current was too strong and it’ll got us wet so no valuable things should be out in the open.

Apo Island has become my favorite island (so far). It’s really a paradise! There are two baranggays in the island and they live a very simple life. They get their water from the main island or in deep well which is still kinda salty. They also have a small chapel and we saw how they all cooperated. We saw this boy banging this metal to notify the people that the mass is about to start. After the mass, they formed a line outside because someone donated slippers to them. It was a beautiful sight because they were all happy.

The island has a lot of diving spots and snorkeling sites but because of typhoon Sendong, some of the spots were ruined like the clown fish snorkeling site.

Another highlight of our Apo Island tour was swimming with the pawikans! It was tooooo cool for words. They were big and you can see them in their real habitat swimming and eating! We also saw a blue starfish, clown fish, sea cucumber (which is like an eggplant), sea urchins and other marine species that I don’t know of. :P 

After our binalot lunch, we head back to the main island and had a side trip to Bacong Church where the oldest pipe organ from Zaragosa, Spain is at and also to NOAH (Negros Oriental Arts & Heritage) for souvenirs. We also had ice cream at Panda Ice Cream Haus where they sell low-fat and low-sugar ice creams.

After washing up in our hotel, we went out and go to Siliman University, which is older than UP. We also hunt a restaurant to eat at for dinner and we found Kamalig where you’ll ask them to cook the food. We had grilled scallops and sisig squid. The price was okay, not too expensive.

What I noticed in Dumaguete City was that there were a lot of foreigners. In every restaurant or bar in Rizal Boulevard, there are foreigners with Pinays. I love the Philippines, but that’s reality.

Trivia: Apo (as in grandchild) Island got it’s name because there’s a grandfather island (Negros) and a father island (Siquijor). Correct me if I’m wrong. :D 

Day 2: Public Consultation (Dumaguete City)

January 21, 2012

Second day in Dumaguete and we have to wake up early to prepare for the public consultation our class is going to hold. The very reason why we went there was for this. Our class (Tour 111) class is about creating a Tourism Master Plan and my Professor chose Dumaguete as the place we’re going to a make a plan of.

The night before, I became the backup reporter because our leader’s flight was only that morning so someone should be prepared to take over, and I was that someone. We rehearsed the report and that explains why I slept late and woke up very early that day.

The public consulatation was held in Sidlakan Village. It started at 0900H and ended 1530H. We held 3 workshops: Mission-Vision, SWOT Analysis & Mapping. It was tiring and I was too sleepy and tired.

Like a pro. Using Danica’s camera while she’s using mine (well, not really mine ‘coz it’s my sister’s, but you get the point).

Our Professor :)

Stealing some sleep while there’s action going on behind that blackboard. =)) *Thank you, Danica for this scandal photo.

I hosted the ice breaker game (Hep hep hooray!) after lunch, it was fun. After the consultation, we had a little ‘sharing’, which I hate. HAHA.

Stopped at Sansrival Cakes and Pastries to try their famous Silvanas! 

So hard to fit, but still tried. :))

Rizal Boulevard, their version of Roxas Boulevard. But FYI, Roxas Blvd was patterned from this, so this was the original. 

Why hello there, Kuya! :-)

We tried a street food which they call Tempura. It is made of fish and it looks like kikiam, only bigger. One piece costs 4 pesos. The taste was acceptable, close to kikiam. A part of Rizal Boulevard sells this with Penoy.

These kids were singing, or better yet, rapping for money.

We walked the streets of the City more and found ourselves in McDonald’s for a McFloat. That branch is the only McDonald’s in the whole city. We went back to our hotel after and do the usual talking, watching and eating.

(I can’t believe I wrote this in between reviewing for T175’s blank Philippine map with Airport codes and 100 questions tomorrow!)

Day 1: Dumaguete City

January 20, 2012

Our flight was at 1500H so we attended our class first, namely Tour 175. Thank God it was ACLE on that day so we wouldn’t have to worry about being absent on our afternoon classes.

We went to the NAIA 3, my first time there, via cab. We had our lunch after checking in inside.

We saw a Senator in the airport and observed that they wouldn’t have to fall in line upon entering, his whole entourage didn’t have to. They were so special.

Inside the terminal’s toilet, we saw Bianca Manalo. She was really pretty and tall, maybe as tall as me and Erika. And she was really slim! Pfff. There were a couple of personalities there also and Danica said maybe because it was Dinagyang Festival.

View from the plane: Taal Volcano

My favorite picture (taken from cellphone): A rainbow!

Our flight was slightly delayed so we arrived in Dumaguete at around 1630H. Their terminal was small, like that of Dipolog City. Our first impression was that the people were really nice which explains why the city is dubbed as the ‘Land of the Gentle People.’

We were then transferred to our hotel, the Bethel Guest House which gave me the impression of a hospital (creepy haha). We chose to ate at Jo’s Chicken Inato because we read in the in-flight magazine that it’s a must-try. We rode their 6-seater tricycles going there!

The restaurant’s price was affordable. I think we spent 140 each with unlimited rice. The taste was a little bit similar to that of Chiken Inasal.

Dumaguete is small, you can easily walk around the City and you wouldn’t get lost. The only little challenge is that not all people can understand or speak Tagalog.

(Day 2, 3 and 4 to come soon. I really wanted to blog about the trip so the next time I can, I’ll surely will. School is really busy right now, my planner is packed until February 11. Hope I can survive this semester!)