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.
June 9, 2019. We had originally planned on a whole day excursion to Nusa Penida, an island east of Bali known for its picturesque beaches and cliffs. However, considering that we were still exhausted and that a trip to the offshore island would take an entire day, we decided to change our plan and opted for a more relaxed day at a beach club near our hotel in Seminyak and explore some of the nearer towns.
That morning, we skipped hotel breakfast and asked Joe to bring us to a place where locals love to eat. He decided to bring us to another “babi” (pork) place called Pak Malen where they serve babi guling (see photos below). True enough, even though we were there a good half hour before opening time, a horde of customers and Grab delivery riders were already waiting. Apparently, in Muslim-dominant Indonesia, Bali is one of those places with a big fascination with otherwise haram (forbidden food) pork.
How was it? The dish was hella spicy for me and it turned my face into a giant waterfall of sweat. It’s like lechon kawali, Bali-style, but make it tongue- burning with chilis and spicy sidings. Halfway into trying to finish my food, my tongue had numbed I couldn’t really decipher the other flavors anymore. I would, later on, learn upon further inquiry that it was possible to get a non-spicy version of the dish.
After breakfast, we decided to go to Canggu, Bali’s hipster and laidback surf town north of Seminyak.