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 northward 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.
A little more than a month before I officially assume my role as Foreign Service Officer with the Department of Foreign Affairs, I decided to go on a 15-day sojourn to places in Central Visayas that I have not been to before: Dumaguete and its neighboring towns in Negros Oriental; Moalboal in southern Cebu; and the island province of Siquijor.
It was sort of my way of reviving a type of eagerness for the country I am now duty-bound to serve. Something like going on a trip with someone you love to rekindle a love affair that has staled for a while, I wanted to experience a renewed passion with the Philippines by seeing more of it, especially of those places I’ve never visited before. Also, of course, I just simply love traveling, and a half-month backpacking trip before I start work, where I might never be able to do extended holidays anymore, sounded like a good idea.
This trip began with a proper vacation with my family during Holy Week break in a luxury resort in Dauin in Negros Oriental, a town a few kilometers south of Dumaguete known for its exceptional diving and diving resorts. None of us in my family were scuba divers, however, but it did not mean we did not have a fantastic time. It was also a celebration for my mom and my brother’s birthdays. During this trip we also had the chance to see dolphins swimming in the wild, gliding through the calm waters of Bais, and spend some time at the Manjuyod sand bar.
The week after, I stayed behind while my family flew back to Manila. I then began my trip to Moalboal in southern Cebu, with the objective of learning scuba diving in order to get a license and earn certification as an open water scuba diver.
The week after was spent in Siquijor, an island province in Central Visayas known in my generation and those preceding mine for its mystical folklore, but is nowadays renowned for being a young millennial backpacker’s paradise and now forms part of the backpacking circuit in the Philippines many Western backpackers now undertake.
I eventually find myself back in Dumaguete for the final days of my trip where I catch up with friends from law school who have made this part of the country their new home.
July 28, 2020. In less than an hour from Compiègne by train, we arrive in Amiens, an affluent mid-size city north of Paris. Upon arriving at the train station, we wasted no time and immediately walked to Musée de Picardie, which was quite a distance from the terminal. We passed through the pedestrian promenades in the center of the city along the way. At that hour, which was around 4 in the afternoon, the sun was still scorching hot so there were few people walking the streets. Many were under the shades of trees in the parks or in the shaded terraces of cafes.
July 28, 2020. Two of my LL.M. classmates who had remained in Paris over the coronavirus confinement invited me to a day trip to Compiègne and Amiens, just short train rides away north of Paris. It served as our first reunion, months after our abrupt separation as a class last March when most of the class (including myself) hurriedly flew out of Paris to seek refuge in our respective countries of origin.
So I met my Japanese and Russian classmates at the Gare du Nord in the morning and we all took an almost-empty summer weekday train, first, to the town of Compiègne, which only took less than an hour.
September 27 – 28, 2019. For all its hedonistic and liberal stereotypes, Amsterdam remains to be (in the short period I’ve experienced it) a laid-back and charming (and safe!) city. Perhaps proof to the truth that the pursuit of worldly pleasure is and should be no different from other ways of pursuing one’s happiness.
I just continued walking around the center of Amsterdam the rest of the day. I love walkable cities with efficient and convenient public transport where I don’t need to ride a car to get me anywhere.
