Philippines Part 5 (Bacolod, Silay, Mabinay and Dumaguete)

Easter Friday was even more dead than Thursday.  We wanted to take a boat across to Bacolod, but they were all cancelled and there was only one left for the day.  We had to wait around a while for the boat to leave and Cannelle got chatting with a Filipino who was now living in Seattle.  Of course he gave us some fruit.  We then got chatting with another local guy who was heading back to Bacolod with his dog.  The dog had to stay outside the boat on the trip.  He was telling us about his woman troubles, but he gave us a lift into town with his girlfriend.  Nice people.  Everything and I mean everything was shut.  Wow they really shut down everything for Easter week.  Both Iloilo and Bacolod are meant to be cool student towns.  We saw none of this as both of them just seemed to be ghost towns.  We got yet more bad news as we found out that we could not climb Mt Kanalaon because all the permits were booked up until a week later.  Dammit.  We weren’t having luck in this country.  They have a nice church in the middle of the town and then we watched their crappy parade in the town centre.

We got a shit breakfast in the hotel.  Really, really shit.  Then we decided to head off to the ruins.  It’s a short jeepney ride to the turn off and then you get swamped with people offering cheap tricycle rides to the ruins.  Seems like a catch.  There was one.  We decided to walk the 2km or so to the ruins and they have a checkpoint where you have to pay 60 pesos for a tricycle to use the road.  They use this trick in a few places in the Philippines.  You hire a tricycle for cheap, you ride around the corner and are hit with road fees for the tricycle, which you either pay because you have already paid for the tricycle or you walk and waste the money.  Anyway the walk is nice enough.  The ruins themselves are very atmospheric and different.  A mansion without any roof and holes for windows.  Very impressive.  Its very romantic as well.  We then headed to Silay which is like a mini Louisiana.  Loads of wooden colonial houses that you can wander around.  It was all from the sugar plantations that made a lot of money.  Most things were shut again.  Seemed a shame, but it was still very nice to wander amongst the old house and one of them was open to take a mini tour around the insides.  We ate in the old vintage bakery and it’s a relly pleasant double trip out from Bacolod.  In the evening we watched GI Joe 2, which was ok and I spoke to my mum and sister.  Spurs won 2-1 against Swansea and Chelsea lost to Southampton which was a nice bonus.  Some local guy even said ‘nice tits’ to Cannelle as she was walking down the road.  Bacolod itself is nothing special, but the day trips around it are really nice.

The next day we took a bus to Dumaguete, but decided to jump off halfway in Mabinay, where we got an excellent lunch.  Barbecued chicken and the best mango I have ever had.  I don’t normally like mangos, but the mangos in the Philippines are like a totally different fruit.  Its so juicy and so sweet.  Delicious.  They have a small natural pool in the town and it makes for a nice break between the two town, as we were beginning to get very tired with taking so much transport.  We got back on a bus to Dumaguete and checked into Harolds Inn in town.  They only had single fan rooms left so we shared the smaller bed as we hate air con.  The hostel is the first real hostel we have seen in the Philippines, with a rooftop chill out area and pool table.  They also have a very average free breakfast, but at least it was a place to meet people.  We even bumped into the Spanish guy from Baguio randomly and he told us Siquijor was nice, but not worth going out of your way for.

In the morning we wanted to rent a motorbike, but they don’t let you take one without a driving licence here.  Cannelle has one, but doesn’t want to drive.  I want to drive, but I don’t have a licence.  So we decided to take a jeepney to the turn off for Twin Lakes National Park and then walk the 15km to the lake.  I figured it might be an exaggeration, but it seems like it is.  About 3km of the walk in a family in a truck stopped to give us a lift.  It was a local family, but there was a Belgian kid whose mum was from here and his dad was Belgian.  They had come to see the local area.  We joined them at the lake and of course they fed us.  We even joined them on a boat trip across the lake to see the local waterfall (its not really worth it apart from the trip) and the lakes are a very relaxing and different place to the what we had seen in the Philippines.  The paddling was also quite therapeutic.  After the lakes the family asked us if we wanted to see Casororo Falls as they were near where they lived.  So we got a ride out to the falls and they were closed.  No worries.  The family just effectively bribed the guard we went down to see them, scrambling through the rocks and water to see an impressive drop of a waterfall.  They gave us a lift back to the hotel and we chilled out in the rooftop bar.

The following day we dived in Dauin.  It was our first beach dive and our first macro dive.  Cannelle had said that she wasn't sure if she really liked scuba diving.  Both dives were on the wrecks of jeepneys that had been sunk and some tyres.  They had created artificial reefs and it was almost much easier to see the fish against the black background than when they were on coral reefs.  We saw giant lionfish in open water, when usually they are hiding around rocks.  We saw a dead sea snake, lots of small stuff, some even requiring a magnifying glass.  We saw jacks fighting with a couple of groupers, a free swimming moray eel, one turtel (apparently the only one there) and our first seahorse.  They were both really nice dives.  Cannelle really loved it and was finally excited to go diving for the next time.  We met a local guy for lunch and he told us that Dumaguete was a cheap place to buy a laptop.  We took his advice and picked up the laptop that I am writing this on for just 200 euros.  We then went looking for haircuts.  Cannelle paid 2 euros and I paid less than 1.  I think those were the cheapest haircuts that we had ever had. The local guy then took us for dinner at a local barbecue place that was really good and cheap.  Everyone hammers Filipino food, but we find it really good.  Best in Asia for Cannelle.  Second best for me.  I think its only great if you eat with locals as the stuff aimed at tourists tends to be a bit shitty.  Back at the hostel we played pool with a Swedish couple and we realised that we were the only travellers that were not going to Palawan.  Everyone goes there.  Cannelle had also decided that Dumaguete was by far her favourite city in the Philippines and would be the one she lived in if she had to choose.

The next morning we were picked up by the family we had met at the National Park.  They took us to go to Apo Island for the day.  We got there early and they fed us again.  We then waited and waited and waited for a boat.  It was about midday and we started to think it was too late to make it worthwhile to go.  So we pulled out.  The family were very apologetic for the delay and I think we ended up insulting them really.  It was a colossal mistake and a stupid one as I am sure we would have had a nice afternoon.  Instead we hung around and did nothing in Dumaguete.  Of all our decisions on the holiday that was the stupidest and the one we regretted the most.  We went to an excellent cake place in the evening for dinner, but that was a big regret.  We should have gone.  Or we should have dived it as it was only 3300 pesos for 3 dives including boat and lunch.  At least we had dived Dauin for 1000 pesos a dive.  Now we were heading to Cebu for some more diving.  Negros probably has the nicest Filipinos we met on all of our trip.