bacolod and dumaguete

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after leaving the romblon islands i decided to check out some towns on the island of negros. i went to bacolod and dumaguete. bacolod was a smaller city (about 450,000). it was a very friendly city. it was kind of warm the few days i spent there, so i mainly stayed indoors during the day, either in internet cafes or at the movies. can't beat it, here the movies cost $1-2. at night bacolod was a different town. it is the official fried and roasted chicken capital of the philippines. on any block there could be 4-5 chicken stands. was so tasty. always freshly cooked in front of you. luckily there was a gym next door to my hotel to burn it off.

dumaguete was an unexpected surprise. i only thought it was going to stay there one night on my way to cebu island, but ended up being there a few days instead. it is a city of about 150,000 and is mainly a college town. it sits on the coast and has a great waterfront with sea breezes in the afternoon. at night the bbq and fish tempura stands open up. one thing that stuck out was these high school girls from Davao city. they were fundraising for their music program. every time i would go out walking they would be there. it was funny. they must have played at least five times for me. good voices.

by dumb luck i arrived a day before their huge fiesta. on the waterfront there were three stages set up with a battle of the bands rock event. good, free music. the whole city turned into one giant block party. good example of hedonism. early in the night i met up with some new local and Cebuano friends. they invited me to their table where we drank san miguel and red horse beer and ate bbq. later i went to their home for some lechon (roasted pig), so good. i felt so special for being invited. they were so open and friendly. at about 4am they all started to pass out on the grassy area near the music. i still had energy so i met up with some people from a nearby town (Bais, which is famous for dolphin and whale watching). we continued the part till about 7. then. it was way too past my bedtime, so a magically appeared at my hotel and was done for the night.

both towns are worth a visit, especially dumaguete. the people are the attraction. i know i'll return one day.

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Comments

[Felix]

Best kept secret
Dumaguete is well known to many Visayans as a fabulous place but few people outside of the Visayas and Philippines know about it. It truly is one of the best kept secrets.

[Marco]

Great Blog
You've been to more places in the Philippines than me, and I'm from there. But, indeed agreat blog. Enjoy the rest of the Philippines. I miss it terribly.

[joy]

You are right about Dumaguete.My husband and I went to Dumaguete and Apo Island last year. We enjoyed a lot. Planning to go back.