And on to the next island :) (Day 142 of the world trip)

01/24/2020

Last night before going to sleep, we took a short walk and realized that the noise from the bars on the main street was hardly audible :O Apparently, we just have bad luck that we can hear the sound from some "hill" or something in our "valley" where the huts are located :D :D

Accordingly, the second night was also very restful and we were looking forward to continuing the journey sleep-wise :p

I was awake enough at 6:00 am to get ready. After breakfast and packing up the remaining things, we were picked up by a tricycle at 8:30 am to be taken to the bus station :)

As we found out, the standard price for this route is 100 pesos (if you remember, we paid 300 pesos for the same route when we arrived...). But it doesn't matter^^

Just as we were let out, our bus arrived. As usual, there is no fixed schedule here, but a bus towards Bato, where we wanted to go, passes by approximately every half hour.

So we were able to board directly without any waiting time and since the bus was half empty, Kalle and Törki were even allowed/forced to get on the bus and got their own seat there^^

The journey took about 1.5 hours and was quite bumpy :D It seems that the bus drivers here have repressed racing driver dreams ;-) Braking before curves? Nope. Full throttle! Several times I had to grab the front seat because suddenly we had to brake and yeah.

When we finally arrived in Bato, I felt really sick, even though I never usually have problems with motion sickness^^ But Jonas was fine! :O

When we arrived at the bus station in Bato, some tricycle drivers waved at us. They all knew exactly where we wanted to go ;-) "Go to port for ferry?" Yep!

We rode the tricycle for about 10 more minutes and finally arrived at the port for the passenger ferry to Dumaguete. There is also a car ferry, but we didn't need that :)

The "port" is a pier, which is quite nicely made and there is even a snack bar in a small house! We bought our tickets for less than 2 euros per person and made ourselves comfortable in the waiting area.

I thought about getting something to drink against the motion sickness and was happy to have "solid ground" under my feet^^ But not even five minutes later, boarding for the ferry already started :D

So, it was almost creepy how smoothly everything went :p

On the ferry, there were benches and all passengers found a seat :) Only the large luggage like our backpacks and other tourists' suitcases had to stand in the aisle, but the sea was not so rough, so it wasn't a problem.

Although it was rocking a little bit (the ferry was small), it helped to look out the window a bit - just because of the view <33

The island of Negros, where Dumaguete is located, has green, overgrown volcanoes just off the coast, which make the landscape really beautiful!!

The crossing took about half an hour and when we arrived at the port in Dumaguete, the tricycle drivers were waiting for customers like us again^^

After a tricycle, bus, tricycle, ferry and another tricycle, we finally arrived at our accommodation. It is a residential house located behind a security gate, so we weren't sure if we were in the right place at first ;-)

When the mother of the host opened the door for us, we could only marvel. Wow! The house is really beautiful and super chic and modernly furnished. Flat screen TV and modern-looking equipment immediately made us want to stay!

Our host Nikko briefly welcomed us before showing us our room. We booked a double room with a shared bathroom. What we got was a double room with a private bathroom AND a balcony :O <33

Wow!

The kitchen and the living room, where you can watch Netflix on the TV, are freely available to us and we were just thrilled! We haven't had this much luxury since Ninh Binh :D

The only downside is the lack of air conditioning, but there are two fans that will probably help ;-)

After checking in, we sat on the balcony for a snack lunch. It is in the shade and therefore very pleasant to stay there :)

After that, we went out for a short city exploration. Dumaguete is known for its universities and schools. Almost a third of the residents are students!

Otherwise, the city has a larger port from which you can take ferries to various other islands.

So you can quickly explore the city, but it was still nice!

First, we walked along the street, with schools and universities on the left and right side, which had a really nice flair :) Then there was a shopping street with local shops, especially for electronics such as mobile phones and laptops, supermarkets, and then the cathedral.

Churches are not as spectacular for Europeans like us, but we still took a quick look and yup. It was pretty :p

Next to the church, there is a tower that was apparently built as protection/defense against pirates, but we couldn't find any more information on site^^

Since the sun was really blazing today, we took refuge in a mall, which was not particularly big but nicely air-conditioned :D :D

There was a really long line of people waiting in front of a store, holding forms in their hands, but we couldn't tell what it was about^^ The length of the queue made us curious, though ;-)

After the mall, we started making our way back and walked along the Rizal Boulevard, a promenade that is touted as one of the "highlights". It's quite nice, but most benches are occupied by locals who probably don't have a home :(

When Jonas and I sat down for a moment in the shade by the waterfront, a little boy came up to us and sang a song. Obviously, he would ask for money at the end of the song, but he just didn't move and so we had no choice but to keep going...

We briefly saw the larger port where we did NOT arrive and where a few people were waiting in line for tickets, and we were already back at the accommodation by around 2:30 pm.

Jonas lay down on a towel on the balcony floor and I did a bit of research on what exactly we want to do here :)

Since the accommodation is so nice, it quickly became clear that instead of 2 nights, we will probably stay 4 nights and we just confirmed it ;-)

In the late afternoon, we went out for dinner. Neva's Pizza is supposed to be THE place here and even though the service was a bit slow and not perfect, it was worth it.

Jonas got a really big pizza for just under 5 € and my dish (vegetable curry in coconut sauce with rice for 4 €) was also huge and both were pretty delicious <33

The last stop for today was a visit to the supermarket. After our margarine ant debacle yesterday, we needed to restock on spread ^^

Back at the accommodation, we chatted a bit with Nikko. His English isn't that good, but it was enough for the basics^^ We booked a tour for the day after tomorrow through him, where we have to be in a city about 2 hours away at 6:00 am, but yeah... :D :D It will all work out somehow ;-)

Shift's almost over for today. The fans are running and it's quite pleasant, so we hope for a really good night :)

Tomorrow, after a kind of mix between a travel and rest day today, we'll go on another excursion <3