Negros Oriental's Dumaguete City

I arrived in Cebu City mid-afternoon and was undecided whether to buy a fast craft ticket (3-4 hours) to Dumaguete or stay in the city for the night and catch the earliest bus ride going to Negros the following day. My decision was based on schedule constraint, and financial argument. I ended up spending the night in Cebu.

So from Mactan airport, I told the cab driver to head-straight to Fuente Osmena Uptown, backpacker's haven. They offer very affordable hotels catering to transient or short-stays. In here, everything is accessible: from malls, to 24-hour convenience stores to ATMs and even late night barbeque stalls.

Looking for a cheap but descent hotel is a breeze except when it's Sinulog month. And yeah, it was the season so getting a room was a real pain. Having a 12.5-kilo ala-Amazing Race bag and a small backpack was no joke. So after check-in, I went to the nearest convenience store and bought some stuff I missed getting in Manila. I strolled around for a while as they had this street party in line with the festivity. There were band fest, tiangge, and yeah lots and lots of people.

Rizal Boulevard

Earliest bus to depart would be at 1AM but I left the hotel a couple of minutes late thinking that schedules were not strictly followed. Pinoy time is sometimes cool depending on the situation (such as catching a delayed flight, important interviews or something). But most of the time it sucks, right? So I hailed a taxi and went to South Bus Terminal (5 mins taxi ride without traffic from Fuente). Lo and behold that I missed the first trip. They were freaking on time. I was like, "Seriously?" I had to adjust my itinerary then as the 2nd trip would not depart until 3AM. It was just me and my Ipod in that cold waiting area that felt like forever. Well, it wasn't really THAT bad. They have a really nice bus terminal. It's clean, air-conditioned, well lit, and relatively safe.

Bell Tower

My bus route from Cebu City was down south (I mean really south) to Lilo-An, Santander (P130, 3 hours). From there, I had to catch a ferry going to Sibulan, Negros (P62, 30-45 mins) and then to Dumaguete City by bus (P7, 10 mins). You can also ride the tricycle going to the city but expect to pay a higher amount so why choose that (duh!).

Dumaguete was not part of my original plan. I was eyeing more for Siquijor but my trusty Lonely Planet book featuring the Philippines (a must-have) tells me that Dumaguete City has something to offer. So I thought a day or two wouldn't hurt. And it didn't.

Just about 9.4 kilometers south of Dumaguete City is Valencia town where you can find the amazing Casaroro falls. It is 100 feet high and the water was really cold. To get there, ride a jeepney (10 mins) going to Valencia. From there, hire a habal-habal (term used in Visayas and Mindanao for special trips using motorcycles), P200 to and fro but still depending on your haggling power. If you're the adventure type, riding a habal-habal especially on steep, bumpy roads would really give you that rush you are looking for. I have ridden a lot of habal-habal before but this one in particular was writing death all over. Crazy but fun!

Casaroro Falls

The trail going to the waterfalls has been cemented, well most of it, so you do not need to worry on getting lost. It's a 45-min to 1-hour trek. Pretty tiring but the destination made all the muscle cramps worth it. If nature and adventure are your thing then this one's definitely for you. I have to be honest, the thought that there may be leeches or snakes around, or some local psycho stabs me to death, which was of course over the top imagination, scared the hell out of me. Really. 

But the tranquility of the place washed all those lame thoughts and I just saw myself buck-naked.  Yes. I had to. Since I was the only one there, I took the liberty to go nude. At least, I didn't have to worry drying my clothes after. I was almost done when three Frenchmen came and went swimming. Good thing I had my board shorts on already.

Bared it all out

Full body massage capped the night. The next day, I toured the small city and took pictures of their famous Rizal Boulevard - comparable to our Roxas Boulevard only the former is free from garbage stench. The Bell Tower looks better at night. The city is quite peaceful, but one could not resist to notice the large number of foreigners or expat population visiting the city. I went to this cafe and apparently I was the only Filipino tourist and the rest were Caucasian and Koreans.


Spending two days there were not enough. A lot of nice places to go to that should never be missed such as the Manjuyod sandbar, Apo island reef, Bais dolphin and whale watching, among others.

Definitely, the Travel Junkie will be back.

And so I packed my bag, checked out and got ready for my next destination, Enchanting Siquijor.