Negros, and our weeklong hideout at Sugar Beach, Sipalay

---

Getting to Negros from Bantayan is for the well-travelled. People gather at the ferry station in Bantayan town (where there are, so to speak, no tourists), and depending on the day, the ferry may go to one of two ports on Negros. This means you may or may not have to take an 8-hour bus to Bacolod instead of a 4-hour one. Also everyone gets there early, adding to the excitement, even though the boat has no chance of leaving before the tide is high enough (about 2-3 hours into the wait). All of this is not as arbitrary as it sounds, but while in the planning stages it seemed apparent that getting from Bantayan all the way to Sipalay in one day was out of the question. And we were indeed glad we hadn't tried.

We really don't want to complain, as all travel in the Philippines was mostly on time or early, well-maintained and safe, and ridiculously priced (this is of course from our point of view after our travels), but if you do take a “large pump boat” as they like to call them in those parts, there is a reason why all the locals pile up in the back. Those big open windows and doors in front which we sat beside thinking we would have a view were promptly boarded up upon departure, and the combination of the huge waves and diesel fumes and no view of the outside were not, to say the least, the most pleasurable. But again, no complaints.

Bacolod was just a stopover place for us, to eat and sleep and move on. We stayed at the Pleasant Travellers Inn, which was supercheap and friendly, and down a dodgy sidestreet we otherwise would not have gone down but were glad we had a reason to. We had some more amazing fried pork, this time the Crispy Pata at the L'Fischer (which is not the same as the Lechon Kawali, though both are crispy delicious fried pork bits....mmmmm), walked around and stocked up on snacks (after all our next destination was remote and even the closest town involved a boat trip).

The next day we got the bus to Sipalay and headed to the Driftwood Restobar, where a boat would come and get us and take us to the isolated Sugar Beach, and to Driftwood Resort, where we would be staying for the next week.

The sun set as our boat got to shore, and we knew we had picked the right place, just a strip of beach with a few places to stay, all concealed from view from the shore. Dina, one of the lovely Philippino girls working there, showed us to our little nipa hut, and we were sold. It was basic, but cozy, and everything about it was exactly what we needed. Our stay at Driftwood was fantastic. The staff, a group of Philippino girls (most of whom have been there since they openened) and Peter (married to Daisy, one of the “D” girls) and Markus, who are escapees from Germany living out their very own Robinson Crusoe dreams, run a low-key, feet-in-the-sand, type of place. The food was delicious (have you noticed this is a thing for us? Ha!), the people, both staff and fellow travelers, were lovely, there were hammocks everywhere, a daily volleyball game with staff and guests (which we never missed and mostly initiated whenever anyone was running late) and the views were calming, the music relaxing, and the ambience perfect. If you consider hot showers, fans and iced coffee frills, then this place has the perfect level of “frillage”.

We mustered up the strength to stir from our hammocks one day (it really was blazingly hot) to go on a snorkelling trip, where we got on a boat up to Punta Ballo (more famous for diving), snorkelled around a bit and saw some amazing fish, and had lunch. Other than that, the week's activities were lying on the beach, lying in a hammock out front, lying in a hammock on our veranda, playing volleyball and going for the occasional sunset run (the sunsets were stunning), and one day we did manage to go up the hill to the newly built bar, Sugar Rocks, from where we saw not only the beautiful view of the whole beach but also the amusing sight of a man taking his water buffalo into the sea for a swim. Yeah, it really was that hot. We celebrated Valentine's day there. We celebrated Rosemary's birthday (one of the girls who works there). We enjoyed every meal, every coffee, every coconut (freshly picked from the trees that supported our hammocks), every mango shake (remember? eat mangoes in the Philippines!). And after it all, we sadly had to leave. Everyone came to hug us goodbye at the shore, and as we got on our boat to continue our travels we knew, that, once again, we had found a place we would have to come back to someday...

Dish we ordered the most at Driftwood: adobo (chicken adobo, pork adobo, string beans adobo...)

Our dog: the guy who had lived in our hut for 3 weeks before we got there had made friends with one of the dogs. He lay in front of our door every day and night, hoping he would come back...

Salsichon in the Philippines can be: spicy and salty, salty, sweet and salty, or just sweet, depending on where you are and who is making it. At Driftwood it was salty/sweet and yummy with eggs for breakfast 😉

Secret of Philippino cooking: ordering exactly the same dish can yield wildly different results. The recipe, the ingredients, indeed the entire dish can be different from place to place, all depending on who makes it and, basically, what their mother thinks is the best way to make it...

---

Photos

Swing a long
Sadie is taking out the last of her energy having fun at the swing

Big fish on the beach
Even the big boats are left to wait for the tide to come in. That also goes for the ferry, who can not leave until the tide is high enough

Shopkeeper by the ferry
This fantastic looking lady was keeping everyone in shape, serving cool drinks and snacks for the trip with the ferry

Not first class
The exhaust from the diesel engine is flowing in, there is hardly any air coming in, and the seats are hard and with now view, still it was quite enjoyable

Not in top shape
Sadie wasn't too happy with the boat and had to get some fresh air

Packed and ready
Stacking two Norwegian backpacks on a small tuk tuk is an art, no doubt

Funny detail
Can you see what we saw?

Offer of the day
We're not so sure if this is where we would have picked to do our shopping

Family business
Hopefully they don't argue about much at this law firm

On our way to paradise
On our final leg to our paradise

And it would be the best so far
we didn't know but we were really in for a treat at Sugar Beach

The end of the day from Driftwood Village
We would get so many beautiful sunsets from this beach

Getting ready for a new day
there is always a lot of activity at the docks

Driftwood boat at the beach
Luckily, Driftwood Village have a few boats of their own, and these are being used to transport everything and every one to and from any exciting thing that might come up

Another evening
.. another sunset

What a life
Enjoying the shade at the beach. It was just to hot to do much during the daytime so most of our time we spent in the water or in the hammock reading a book

Comments

[liliram]

Sunsets
Those are lovely sunset shots! Btw, the dog missing his friends make me cry :-(

[Sadieandoyvind]

Thanks :)
Hey liliram, glad you liked the shots... yeah, the dog made us kind of sad too, but we were all really friendly to him still... maybe the guy who was there before was giving him special treats? ;)

[mom]

øyvind, "swing a long" is a jewel...as are the sunsets...and i love the twin-shots on the boat... "the entire dish can be different from place to place, all depending on who makes it and, basically, what their mother thinks is the best way to make it"... and the "low-key feet-in-the-sand type of place" are signature one-liners, thanks sadie c. thanks to both of you, i'm there! in paradise! eating! with my feet in the sand!