With our trip finally booked, we started searching the internet on places to see and visit and at the same time wouldn't cost us a lot as our travel funds for the year had already been depleted as a result of some trips we made: Baguio City in February, Boracay in April, and Cagayan de Oro/Camiguin in August.
Possibilities of places to go are snorkeling in Apo Island, swimming in Siquijor, and Bais City for dolphin watching. As the date of our trip approached, we regularly checked the weather forecast for Dumaguete for the next 7 days and it's almost always the same: rainshowers. Not totally encouraging.
With no other choice but to continue with the trip, we availed of CebuPac's Web-Check-in facility wherein you can reserve your seats for free within 48 hours before the flight.
When we got to the airport, the lines on the check-in counters were long. When it was only about 45 minutes before our departure time, the ground crew asked who among the passengers are bound for Dumaguete. We were given priority. After checking in our backpack, we were given our boarding pass with our pre-assigned seats. We arrived the gate just in time for boarding. The plane left 5 minutes earlier than the actual time of departure.
On board the flight, my daughter and I made a little experiment with her bag of chips. She was surprised to find it fully inflated while we were cruising at 17,000 feet. I told her to eat something else and watch what happens to the bag when we land. And true enough, when we landed the bag was no longer as inflated as it was while we were up on the air.
After we got our luggage from the airport carousel, we immediately went out of the terminal and found our transportation. Bethel Guest House offers complimentary pick-up at the airport to their place. Less than 15 minutes after, we are ready to check-in at the hotel.
The standard room, which has two single beds, cost us P1,300 per night. The room is basic and clean, airconditioned and with cable TV. The bathroom has complimentary soap, shampoo and tooth paste. They also have sanitized slippers for use by the guests.
After settling in, we decided to have lunch. The hotel is just beside Shakey's Pizza but we opted to have something more local. We walked along Rizal Boulevard to look for some place to eat. About two blocks from the hotel is the Sans Rival Cake and Pastry Shop which we have read a lot earlier. We decided to check the place but didn't like what was on the menu for lunch. We opted to have dessert after we have lunch somewhere else.
Walking along Rizal Boulevard, we found a lot of restaurants catering to expats who may have chose Dumaguete as their retirement place. When we reached the Silliman University, we saw Jo Chicken Inato and had our lunch there.
As the weather was really hot, we decided to take a tricycle (The minimum fare which we paid was P8.50 per person.) from the pier to the Sans Rival to have our dessert/merienda. The cake shop surprisingly closes early, 7 PM. I don't know if it was just a coincidence, but a restobar just across the Sans Rival is named the Zanzibar.
We went back to our hotel room to have some siesta since it was still hot outside although the weather forecast had predicted rainshowers.
After the siesta, we chose to have dinner at Cafe Filomena of the hotel which offers buffet dinner every Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. The cost is P175 for adults and P100 for children. Aside from rice, there were four viands and two desserts. The dinner for the three of us cost P450, about the same price we would have paid if we went out to eat.
We were supposed to stroll along the plaza which is a few blocks from the hotel, where there is a night market, but was cut short by a sudden downpour. The weather forecast was true after all. After the rain stopped, we went back to the hotel to get an early rest as we are to travel to Siquijor the following morning.
Dumaguete/Siquijor/Bais Trip - Day 1
2 comments:
i love dumaguete... and their sans rival, too! glad you enjoyed your stay. i hope i can bring my son there soon :)
thanks gladys. since we returned from australia, we try to go out of town every year on our daughter's birthday, november 29.
travelling is good for children to let them explore the Philippines and the world.
Post a Comment