A day trip in downtown Dumaguete

As someone who professes a love for travel or at the very least a desire to visit places he’s never been to, this writer was only able to visit Dumaguete last week. Friends had already told me about the many charms within and outside the capital of Negros Oriental but plans to come for a few days’ visit remained just that: mere plans.

When the schedules of my two college friends cleared up recently, I knew I had to make the trip with them. After deciding on a "fluid" itinerary, we packed our bags and narrowly missed the arrival of super-typhoon "Egay."

Our main objective was really just to fly to Dumaguete, head straight for the pier, and take a fast ferry to the island of Siquijor. Since none of us had ever stepped foot on this mystical island, that settled things.

When we arrived in Dumaguete on Friday morning, we were too late for the 9 a.m. Delta ferry. Although there were two other trips scheduled later that day, we were told that the waters usually turned choppy in the afternoon.

Clockwise from top right: Silliman University, Sans Rival Coffee Shop, and statue of the St. Paul Sisters

After a brief consensus, we all decided to stay overnight in Dumaguete and then take the 6 a.m. ferry to Siquijor the following morning.

That’s what’s nice about going on a vacation with friends. You can change your plans then and there and not be afraid that the others might find you too bossy or wishy-washy.

We checked into our hotel, the Honeycomb, a stately, pre-war residence that the Japanese had taken over during the war. The hotel had obviously seen better days but since we would only be there for a few hours, we didn’t mind the threadbare sheets or towels because once you stepped out, the first thing you saw was the beautiful acacia tree-lined Rizal Boulevard and the sea beyond it.

Checklist

Before I left, I asked friends who lived in or had visited Dumaguete for tips on what to do while there.

First on the list was to take a leisurely stroll along the boulevard, preferably in the afternoon when the locals would converge to brisk walk or simply enjoy the breeze. That, however, would have to wait.

A trip to Silliman University was also on my list and we accomplished this after literally dropping off our bags at the hotel.

"It’s like UP Diliman but with more character," one of my friends said. "There are trees all around and people walk from one building to another."

She was right about the place having character. The buildings are old and elegant and you can’t help but smile at the little touches like the trellis above the entrance of Oriental Hall that looked strangely like a moustache.

Just beside Oriental Hall is a beautiful Presbyterian church with arched windows and whitewashed walls. The university was preparing for a slew of homecoming activities at the time of our visit so everywhere we looked, people were painting walls or building nipa huts that they would later decorate and enter in a contest.

The balconies of some of the school buildings were hung with tarps printed with pictures of the candidates to the Miss Silliman pageant and their respective words of wisdom. One that caught our attention read: If you work hard, you won’t just be hard; you’ll also be hard to beat.

All that walking made us ravenous so we had lunch at Kamalig, an eatery just across the campus selling cheap and tasty chicken inasal (barbecue). A meal for four including soft drinks and a generous order of adobong kangkong (sautéed swamp cabbage) just cost us a little over P350 total.

That’s another thing friends told me about Dumaguete: the food is good and really inexpensive and, I’m glad to report, it was the same everywhere we went.

Budbud kabug

After lunch, we felt like taking a nap but before heading back to the hotel, we made a detour to the public market for some budbud kabug. I had been hearing about this suman made with millet and coconut milk for years so I just had to try it.

We bought several pieces of the regular variant — they come in pairs — as well as the one with a chocolate "swirl." Both were good but I liked the original one better. It was pale yellow and had a nutty taste that needed nothing extra like sugar or grated coconut.

Later that afternoon, after we arose from our longish naps, we went to the boulevard and took the requisite snapshots of ourselves and of the nuns. Yes, there is a monument on the boulevard to the seven (CHECK THIS) be-wimpled Paulinian nuns who arrived in the Philippines in 1904 and went on to establish the Order of St. Paul.

We planned to have dinner at Hayahay where singers are scheduled to perform nightly but we couldn’t resist having a late merienda (snack) at Sans Rival, a tiny bakeshop and restaurant that’s been operating in Dumaguete for 30 years now.

While my friends had lasagna and Mediterranean salad, I ordered the house specialties: a slice of buttery Sans Rival and sweet spaghetti with two triangle-shaped pieces of white bread all for a whopping P43.

One day is far too short to see and experience all that Dumaguete has to offer so I’m already planning a second visit maybe early next year. This time, you can count on it.


	© 2009 BusinessWorld Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved. Read our privacy guidelines. Contact us.

Travel

Story tools

Travel

A day trip in downtown Dumaguete