Dumaguete - charming big city!

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We got up at 4:45 which was really early for us, but we had to catch the ferry at 6. We were lucky to get a room at Harolds Mansion which is a very popular backpacker place there. We had to pay 500 pesos for a room, which included breakfast and 30 minutes of internet a day.

We had some breakfast and packed out. After this we went to CENTROP ZOO. Here we were lucky to meet a guide - it was his day off, so he showed us around for free, I guess he didn't have anything to do. We only payed 10 pesos at the entrance. He was very proud of his job, he was in charge of the worms and rats which they used for feeding the animals, so he was breeding them inside his 'office'.

He showed us deers, warthogs, python snakes, toucans, red hearted doves and bats and he let us come with him into some of the animals 'cages'. It was a small place and they tried to help some of the local endangered species survive.

After the visit at the zoo we went to the center of the city, we saw Coral Bell Tower, a local market, went to a park, the promenade and I bought some pearls for gifts for friends and family at home. We had some dinner in the city, a pizza at Boston Café, but it wasn't that good.

When we got back we talked to Harold who owns the place, there were a lot of people at the roof top drinking beers and talking. We talked to a lot of different people, some from Canada, Tokyo and California. It was nice to talk to Harold and get some advice for trips, but he passed out in the hammock, which he apparantly does a lot.

The next day we went on a trip to a waterfal and the twin lakes. I went for a swim in the big waterfal and it was really refreshing and nice. The place was really beautiful, but what I remember the most from this trip was how hungover Ramone was (Harolds cousin and our guide), he was very fun to talk to and a great guide!

We had lunch at a restaurant with an amazing view over the jungle and mountains. Even though the view was amazing the service was really bad and we spend almost two hours there. The music was really bad too.

When we arrived at twin lakes, it was really foggy which was a shame, you couldn't see that much of the area. It was really beautiful though. We payed a little extra for a boat which took us to a tower, from where you could see both of the lakes. But you could only see the big one clearly, which was a shame.

When we came back I saw that Shonna, Claus' daughter, had written to me and recommended eating at Casablanca at the promenade. So we decided to go. It was really delicious food! We had bruchetta, guacemole salad, pork steaks with potatoes and garlic sauce and I couldn't remember having that good food lately, not even in Denmark. We only payed 60 DKK pr. person which was expensive from a Fillipinno view but very cheap for us. We even got some Haribo candy included in the price (the owner was from Austria and would bring candy back when he had been home).

The next day we had to get up at 7 o'clock because we were going on a snorkelling trip to Apo Island. We had breakfast with two American guys who we had talked to the past couple of days on the roof top and the trip the day before.

We were a lot of people on the trip, but some of the others also had to dive so they divided us in two boats. We walked around the island on our own to find the good snorkling spots. The first place there was supposed to be TURTLES ... But I think Harold oversold that one... Two Swedish guys told us that they had seen one, but we had no luck. But we still saw some amazing fish with many colors.

After this we went to the other side of the island, to find the coral reefs. At this place there were so many beautiful fish, it was really stunning - and there were also big shoals of tuna fish. We also saw a sea snake and many other things.

Back at the hotel we went to sit by the computers and wait for the rain to stop. We gave up and tried ordering food at the hostel, but they couldn't make many of the dishes on the menu. To our luck the rain stopped, so we went to Greenwich where we had some good lasagna.

When we went back we drank at the roof top with a lot of people. and we ended up going to Hai Hai and Zanzibar with them. It was a really fun night and we weren't back at the hotel until 4 in the morning which we usually cannot do since were always on the move.

The next and last day in Dumaguete we had to get up at 9. We had some cornflakes and our intention was to catch the first bus heading towards Sugar Beach, but Harold and some of his friends offered for us to go with them on a local market. We picked another Danish guy up on our way, who had been in the Phillippines for 4 months already.

At the market they sold EVERYTHING.. Vegetables, fish, clothes, jewellery, goats, pigs, cows, buffalos and horses. Harold and his friends helped us catch the right bus and then we headed towards Sugar Beach.

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