Dumaguete – Nubert's Adventures

Welcome to a noob traveler’s adventure to Dumaguete, Philippines / Siquijor. Our adventure started with purchasing discounted tickets to Dumaguete with Cebu Pacific. Though we still had to wait a year, we were very excited nonetheless. Our adventure starts on February 15th and goes for 6-ish days until February 20th. DAY 1: February 15 Originally, we were scheduled for boarding at 2:20 pm. Unfortunately, our flight was delayed for 3 hours! They had to do additional maintenance on our plane, so we were transferred to a new one. It was annoying, but at the same time, it was assuring that they do these extensive checks on their planes before boarding. Due to the delay, we arrived at Dumaguete – Sibulan airport. Since we were way out of our schedule and are a bit tired, we want to go straight to the hotel, check-in and unload our baggage. As soon as we exit the airport gates, we were approached by different people offering rides to our destination. Here were the options:Van: was not able to get the priceTricycle: 350 for both of usMotorbike: 200 per person We find it too expensive since the hotel was not that far. We walked for a bit, planning to just grab a tricycle by the main road. Then, another guy approached us offering tricycle for 200 PHP. Tired and eager to check-in and drop our things at the hotel, we reluctantly took the offer. When we arrived at the Hotel, we haggled the price down to 170 PHP. However, the hotel receptionist informed us that, if we grabbed a tricycle by the main road, it would only cost us 100 PHP at most. And, it was only a 3-minute walk from the airport gates to the main road. We checked in at the Southview Hotel. It was 1,000 PHP per night with breakfast buffet. The staff was very friendly and helpful. They took our luggage and brought it up to our room. As we walked through the reception area going to our room, we noticed that the decorations are mostly Chinese oriented. They even have a few aquariums around the reception area. Translations are in Chinese as well. Pretty sure the owner of this place is Chinese. Surprisingly, our room was pretty nice for a 1,000 PHP per night with breakfast buffet. AC, a couple of complimentary bottled water, water heater, flat panel TV, comfy bed, electrical outlets beside the bed, cabinets supplied with a bunch of hangers, private bathroom and pretty good WIFI coverage. There are plenty of access points around the vicinity that makes the WIFI coverage good. The only thing that I didn’t like about the room was the bathroom. The shower area is a bit tight. But the rest is fine. They even have a bidet. Too bad I was not able to get more pictures of the room. We were tired and hungry and really wanted to grab something to eat real soon. LOL. Btw, the flats screen was a smart TV but in Chinese. Once settled, we head out to grab something to eat and check out a local street food spot. We grabbed a tricycle going to Rizal Boulevard and it costs 20 PHP per person. While on the tricycle, we were asking the driver to drop us to somewhere we can eat street foods. The local that was on the tricycle before us suggested to the driver to drop us at the “tempura” spot. As we get there, I was amazed at it reminds of Roxas Boulevard back in Manila. It was also by the bay, and there were a lot of restaurants around the area. I guess it’s a better version of Roxas Boulevard, the bay at Rizal Boulevard is clean. So here we are, excited to eat their… famous I guess? Tempura. We asked for 1 order for each, and a couple of orders of Squid Balls for each as well. I was a little disappointed… The so-called tempura was just a huge Kikiam, a street food also available in Manila. Squid Balls are fine. Still not satisfied, we grabbed another tricycle trying to look for grill stands. I was assuming there would be a bunch of grill stands with seafood options. But no. The only grill stands that we found sells same old pork barbeques and same grilled food back in Manila. Tired, a little disappointed and we have to get up early the next day for Manjuyod. We head back to the hotel to rest.