A Tour to the City of Gentle People: DUMAGUETE CITY

Sharing you my short days of travel to one of the nicest cities in the Philippines. Away from Cebu City gave me time to relax for days at least. I could visit to another island. A friend of mine asked me if we could go to another place, we have visited the southern part of Cebu many times so we decided to go across Cebu Island.

Dumaguete City is a The City of Gentle People, correct me if I’m wrong but this I heard many times to people, one of the provinces and the capital of Negros Oriental, Philippines. I visited Dumaguete before but I couldn’t roam around the city because it was a day trip and had a very important appointment. But this time, I wanted to stroll around the place and discover the alluring place of the city. What makes Dumaguete City a beauteous and charming place? I’ll tell you my travel in this post and will show you some of my photos I captured.

To some people who want to travel, they wake up early, but for us with my friend it was just a chill travel, went to the terminal at 7:30am on Saturday, the 10th of March. From the south bus terminal in Cebu City, we chose an aircon bus (Ceres Bus, cost about P260) that would go straight to Dumaguete City. Once we got to the port, we transferred to a Roro Ferry. You would pay the ticket for the ferry separately and it was just P70. Got back on the bus when the ferry arrived at the destination port in Negros in Tampi.

This would me a great day for us, to explore the city. But first, we had to go to the place that we were going to stay and sleep for 2 nights, yes 3 days and 2 nights in the city of gentle people. When we were at the port of Tampi, the bus passed by to the boulevard and we got off there. Rode a tricycle in going to the place where we were going to stay for days. Excited to see the place where we booked and put our things so we can stroll around the city.

Got off from the tricycle and this I saw, this was definitely for me an artsy place looking outside and thought that it would be too nice to get in there, couldn't wait to set my foot to it. Friendly to your budget and a nice place that you could find in Dumaguete and if you happened to like eating a lot you can go straight to this place because they really serve delicious food.

When we were inside the resto/restaurant was amazed by the ambiance of the place, it was so bright and orange-y, a feeling of summer and hype when combined. It says there, "ALL DAY BREAKFAST", indeed it's an all day breakfast, they serve breakfast food at any time of the day and big serving you'll have in your stomach. Arrived in the afternoon and as what I have observed, still a lot of people stay and eat there, I heard that this place is one of the popular hostels, backpackers, people who want to chill around and interested in art are fit in here, colorful stuff and designs you can see. I remembered Bob Marley of this place (as if he knew me haha) a style of rastafari with a reggae music inside. Waited for the staff for us to get the key and my eyes were roaming to the place and got some shots from my camera.

And look! It's so cool right? Even the doors of their place is so colorful, painted an underwater theme and we got a seahorse painting on the door, so lively. The steps on the stairs also have this beach theme, drawings of boats, fish , corals and beaches, various colors you can see, a shade above when you walk through your rooms and on the third picture I took this outside the restaurant on our way to our room, seeing this was a perfect style for a restaurant to have, so catchy to the eyes and you would want to sit there, just a small single wall standing with a single window and a lamp on top with a table and chairs with colors, so nice.

Upstairs, the place would really welcome you with this set up, another fascinating area of Gabby's Bread & Breakfast, other than colorful and artsy rooms, outside on the 2nd floor you would really love to stay, comfortable was my feeling when I stayed in this area for how many minutes, just chilling and relaxing. There were books on the side, book lovers would love to stay and lie down or sit and embrace on their big pads and those red cushions, "jengga" was placed on the table (It's a classic wooden block stacking game), and some magazines. So when you and your friends stay here, no time will be a boring thing for you guys, you would really enjoy. When I stayed here, I felt comfortable and I wanted to go to sleep but we had to go out and explore the place

"Tricycle" is a common means of transportation in the Philippines. Motorcycles and tricycles or people sometimes call it motorized tricycles and small jeeps are their common transportation, even some to places. I couldn't see any taxis there. No traffic and for me the place is not really crowded. We rode many times with this transportation, we did go to different places and we enjoyed riding it. The weather also gave us a moment to enjoy our trip. Sir Lando (tricycle driver) was our trike driver for our ride in some places. He was very helpful and very kind in going with us to some different areas, we wanted to go to some cafe's/restaurants and eat some food, food tripping and taking some photos were important for us. :)

The high level of English is taught and spoken in schools and universities of Dumaguete and one of the reasons why visitors from all over the world keep on coming around the city and Negros Oriental. Siliman is one of the five universities with international accreditation.

One of private higher Education institutions in the Philippines, comprises ten colleges, five schools and three institutes, more than 9000 students and a lot of foreigners enrolled in the university. Visited the University but we didn't stay for a long time for it was late in the afternoon already, just looking around and taking some photos of it. When we visited there on a Saturay late afternoon, we saw a lot of students still, sitting on the benches reading, some were writing and facing on their laptops ding some research maybe and making some activities, they were busy.

Been here twice already and I love seeing the structure of the church. Known as Dumaguete Evangelical Church, was composed of townspeople and Siliman University. A worshipping church.

After Siliman University, we decided to find a very interesting place whom a friend of mine was recommended also by her friend to go there.

Not only apartment hotels but also you can dine here at the place and can eat some food, in-house restaurants put up and Gabby's Restaurant is here too, another branch of Gabby's bed and breakfast, but no rooms for rent. Only at Florentina Homes Apartment Hotels. It is an international themed apartment, Swiss, Spanish and British inspired in design. Roamed around the place and it was amazing, nice ambiance. We were at one of their in-house hotels, Gabby's Restaurant, since we already ate some rice and viand in the center of the city, we needed to chill and we just ordered 2 bottles of beer for each of us and grabbed a pleasant appetizer called "gambas ala cajun", taste of this dish is spicy compared to gambas al ajillo.

Who wouldn't want to miss going to this place? Of course, people would really dine, grab some bite of their dishes and their cakes and pastries. To end our first day here in Dumaguete City, decided to go to the boulevard and at last we found the bistro and wanted to eat some cake since morning. Cravings, ate 2 slices of cake at the bistro plus had to take out some, super luscious, wouldn't mind eating this everyday. :)

Actually we ordered 3 desserts for us, but since she was a bit full she just ordered the white chocolate top and I had 2 slices of cake, addicted to their cakes. I sometimes buy a slice of cake in Robinsons Mall, Cebu since they have a branch there. Mouthwatering and you will have more, the taste is different from others.

Their popular and in demand cookie-sized version of one of Filipinos beloved cakes, Sylvannas, the richness of its buttercream and the crunch of nutty meringue you may taste, toothsome!

After eating, decided to stroll around, we were so full and my stomach was almost aching because I ate a lot and drink some beer. It was a good day and happy that I get to go to some restaurants and nice places. In every street I swear, you wouldn't be hungry because there are so many cafe's , bistros, and restaurants of your choice to go. While walking towards the boulevard, I observed because it was Saturday a lot of people stay there, there were vendors selling tempura and fish balls. We tried some, for the nth time of eating that day. It was indeed our Saturday.

When we got back to the hostel at night it was already 8:30pm I guess and I was interested to join the game, the PINOY HENYO challenge which started at 10:00pm with many Steemians on Discord. I was so excited, It was a game on for me but because I was exhausted, knocked out from my bed and slept until I woke up in the morning on a Sunday. Lesson learned, to not be awake for 36 hours, you would miss the game!

Woke up at 6:30am and we had a very light meal, it was "bud-bud and sikwate"(sticky rice and cocoa/chocolate drink) that we ate, a friend of mine, Zee and I don't usually eat heavy meals in the morning, we prefer chocolate drink or coffee with bread or some light food for our stomach. While we were eating, we planned where to go, because honestly we didn't have any itinerary for this trip. Our goal? To just relax and away from Cebu City for days. Since some of her friends visited Dumaguete many times, they recommended a restaurant a place to visit. We decided to go there right away after breakfast and chilling at Gabby's Bed and Breakfast.

Had an early lunch at this place and it was one of the recommendations of my friend's friend. So we wanted to try their ribs. I posted a photo entry on my previous post about captain's ribs since this is in Dumaguete, I'll include this in my post again. This place is located in Siliman Street near Boulevard, actually when we walked on that street, there were many restaurants and cafe's establishments, I've seen a lot of foreigners, Koreans, Japanese, Europeans and Americans, they do love the city, no wonder because of the place and the people and near beaches, sight seeings too. We were a bit early when we got to the Captain Ribbers, two of us were the customers but it was indeed a good thing, not crowded. We ordered their best seller "Captain's Ribs", they said it's the best ribs in town and we checked it out, trying out this food. Talked and we waited for our food for 15 minutes I guess, the staff were very accommodating to us and very friendly, they talked softly, indeed it is the city of gentle people. :)

Tadaaa!!!! their very own "Captain's Ribs", this tender and delectable ribs.It is marinated and grilled to perfection. You can have your own pick of taste if you want to have the original, spicy, flaming, hot, and honey mustard.

The size of these racks of ribs were big like for me this is good for 2 persons. It was so meaty and the sauce, ugh! You will really get full, we decided to get a choice of one cup of rice and a side dish (mashed potato or coleslaw) or we can get the unlimited rice, while eating we thought of getting another extra rice. YES! Another extra rice for each of us, I think the way they grilled, seasoned the ribs and putting some several mixes of sauce make their "captain's ribs" for us to want more (for only P190) and we did finish eating 2 cups of rice and the meaty tender ribs. You will really gain some weight if you stay here for a week.

Zee (a friend of mine) told me about this place the day before we got to the city, I had no idea because I really thought it was just a normal or common place in Dumaguete City, but to my surprise, It was so fascinating! Remember Sir Lando? (tricycle driver), I mentioned it in my post earlier. He was also our driver in going to Tierra Alata clubhouse, It took us 15-20 minutes in going to our destination, It was so fun because he was so talkative and we talked about the places in Dumaguete. Three days are not enough to visit many places in the city, he mentioned some falls, sulfur mountain and red rock hot spring. We missed those places because of the time but Sir Lando and us talked that whenever we go back to Dumaguete we will contact him so he could be our tour guide and driver in going to the place we haven't been. Exciting!

When we were in front of the place, Sir Lando told us he couldn't get inside because it was steep for the tricycle to go there on top. We were able to find a motorcycle to get to our place and it just cos P30 for the rice in less than 5 minutes I think. Tierra Alta Clubhouse is located in Valencia Dumaguete City. Going there for sightseeing will cost you 50 pesos for the entrance but they do have a cafe it's called "Tierra Cafe", if you want to have some drinks,eat some snacks or heavy meal you want, no need for you to pay. Just go directly to the cafe and order while checking out the beautiful place from the inside. It is indeed a Greek-inspired clubhouse built on a mountain side giving you a breath taking landscape view.

The Alta clubhouse is also a hotel and has fun amenities, I heard they have a zipline and also there's a swimming pool if you want to swim. I couldn't get a photo of it for it was getting dark and we needed to get home and it was drizzling a bit. Taking about Tierra Cafe, their food and beverages are affordable trust me you won't regret coming here.

One of the main attractions in the clubhouse is this beautiful "lighthouse". You can see it at the back of the clubhouse near Tierra Cafe, nice view while you are eating,sipping coffee or drinks and even talking to your friends. The clubhouse can also hosts weddings too. When we were there, we saw a couple and a photographer, they were having a pre-nup photoshoot and I had fun watching them, a very good view to get photos and for some events to be held. I was fascinated by the lighthouse, though we could see it in some provinces but what we see is an old lighthouse in our province and some they don't have it. This one's captured me. I didn't go home without a photo by this lighthouse. I love it.

Around 7:00pm, we got home to our place, tired a bit but happy also because we enjoyed the places we went and ate some food. We were planning to eat dinner outside but we decided to eat our dinner at this place so we can go upstairs and rest after eating. Gabby's Bread and Breakfast at night had also a more fetching vibe, romantic feeling and very quiet in the evening. It was a good feeling staying in our hostel and took a rest. That night, Pinoy Henyo started at 10pm again and I didn't want to miss it again. :) Though I didn't win but I had a great time.

Maybe you might wonder why we had a breakfast meal, Gabby's B&B searves an all day breakfast. So even if it's dinner you can have a breakfast meal. Eating a lot is good but gaining weight is actually the problem next (sigh). After dinner, we headed to our room and took a rest, I waited for the pinoy henyo to start actually, after that I prepared my things before sleeping cause the next day it was the time to leave the city, we wanted to go home early because for sure, traffic starts in the afternoon when we get to Cebu City.

Woke up early to prepare in going back to Cebu City, three(3) day vacation is over and back to reality again. Ate breakfast at Gabby's B&B still, after that we stayed for an hour to rest and checked out. Before going to Sibulan port where we have to ride a ferry boat. We decided also to stop by and much some food.

A cozy place you feel when you get it, since we already ate a meal. We ordered light food before heading to the port. The place is located at Hibbard Avenue, Tubod Dumaguete, the tricycle drivers are very familiar to restaurants and cafe's. A mix of Filipino, American and Spanish cuisine.

It was time for us to get to the port. Though, it rained hard and we thought there was a low pressure, just a heavy rain and a bit windy weather. Three days are not enough to roam around the city, I was a bit sad because I couldn't go to some places I wanted to go but pretty sure I will be back. Twice for me to be here in Dumaguete City. I am starting to love the place, exploring different places and meeting people would give you different views, different perspective. Traveling can make your life interesting, for me it is. Have you asked yourself why do we have to travel? I am not sure about my answer, maybe for myself, embracing differences, finding a lot of delectable food, memories in different places but I am starting to feel like there are more travels to come. :)