April 16, 2022. One of the highlights of my family’s vacation was a trip to Bais and the Manjuyod sand bar around the center of Negros Oriental province. The resort we stayed in gladly arranged for us a whole day trip to these destinations where we chased and watched dolphins in the sea and had amazing lunch in the middle of a submerged sand bar.
The trip to Bais City from our resort in Dauin took us almost two hours northwards from Dumaguete. The van took us directly to Canibol Wharf where a large banca was waiting for us to bring us to Tañon strait, the body of water that separates Negros Island from Cebu.
At this time of the year, with ideal current and wind conditions, visitors will encounter immaculately calm waters, almost perfectly still and glass-like at certain parts of the sea. A large section of this area is a protected marine seascape. Some Filipino lawyers and law students might be familiar with ‘Tañon Strait’ as it hosts ‘the resident marine mammals’ who were found by the Supreme Court to have legal standing to be represented and have in fact claimed protection under the laws of the country.
April 14-17, 2022. The first part of my trip was devoted to spending quality time with my family, celebrating my mom and my brother’s birthdays staying in a proper luxury boutique resort in Dauin, a town south of Dumaguete, and doing day tours in provincial capital and its surrounding towns of Valencia, Bais and Manjuyod.
How we got there
It takes just above an hour by plane from Manila to get to Dumaguete, the capital of the province, and the gateway to all the other places in this part of Central Visayas. From the airport, we had a pre-booked van in order to go to the resort in Dauin, a dozen or so kilometers to the south of Dumaguete.
What we did
For our first day, a friend of my mom’s friend toured us around some parts of Dumaguete. After stopping by a the Catholic church in the center of the city, we went to Valencia to drive around some of the mountain attractions. We made several stops including one at a road side where sulfur steams out from the ground.
July 20-26, 2020. The first half of last week was spent contemplating on and preparing last minute necessities for my impending departure from Manila. I made last minute trips to the mall, saw some friends, and finally got myself to pack the relatively few things I would be taking with me–considering that I would be staying abroad for a year. They all fit in just one suitcase and a duffel bag, actually. I flew out of Manila on July 22 and arrived in Paris the day after, spending a brief layover in Doha, Qatar. I wrote a separate blog entry narrating the experience of the entire transit.
I had written a draft of this blog entry as it is, but felt it appropriate to just say, before anything else, that I am acutely aware of the tremendous privilege I have and by no means do I mean anything I say as a “flex” to anyone suffering during this pandemic. It’s been an odd thing to navigate, how to express one’s self at a time when anything some people can say or do can be considered as an insensitive display of privilege. Sometimes I just self-censor myself and not say or post anything at all, because the mere fact that many of us are online to discuss this, after all, is a privilege by itself. Where do we draw the line? Maybe I’ll write another blog entry on that some other time.
Anyway, much of the past two weeks, as with the fifteen weeks prior, was spent staying at home with my family, sometimes running errands for and with them, and arranging for my prospective departure for Paris in a few weeks’ time. I’m taking advantage of the time at home and have not gone out despite the relative freedom of the modified community quarantine, not just because it is the responsible and safe thing to do nowadays, but also because once I depart, it might be a while before I am able to return–not only because under normal circumstances it would be costly to fly back, but the pandemic has put in place so many complications as regards flying in and out of certain jurisdictions. I am just fortunate to have an existing resident student visa that I can return to Europe at this time despite its external borders being closed to citizens from most countries including the Philippines.
August 31 – September 1, 2019. Typical of traditional Catholic Filipinos who find themselves visiting France, a trip to the town of Lourdes is a must. It was a necessary pilgrimage for my mom who was a devout Catholic.
We took the TGV (‘train à grande vitesse’ / high speed train) from Paris directly to Lourdes, far south of France, near the Spanish border. The distance was more than 600 kilometers but it took us a little less then five hours to get to the town.
August 29-30, 2019. We started off our third day (August 29) in Paris with a morning stroll at the Place de Trocadero to have our photos taken with the Eiffel Tower. It still is very surreal for me finally seeing such an iconic monument I’ve only seen in photos, movies and TV shows all my life till then.
From Trocadero we walked to Champ de Mars and had more photos of us taken. We continued walking all the way to Pont Alexandre III until we reached the banks of the Seine near Musée d’Orsay. From there, we boarded a river cruise which also served lunch. A very tourist thing to do, but that was exactly what we were. I still couldn’t get over how I am finally here in this city.
