mongster's nest

- disturbing fantasies, traumatic verses, definitely mongrel thoughts

dumaguete delights

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Election campaigning provides opportunity and excuse for travel. For this reason alone, I have no regrets in being a candidate.

How I envy other bloggers who could find time and energy to write everyday. How I wish I could also narrate my everyday angst and observations of this funny world inhabited by interesting creatures. There are various times I want to blog about the places I visited, the best food shops, peculiar road signs and petty street quarrels. But its always difficult to write about these things. Blogs could not always ‘capture the moment’ in a way I experienced these events. Let them be archived in my mind so that when I become a senior citizen, I will have something new to say about this world of ours.

But I could always give a glimpse of my travel diaries. Today, I will share some of my discoveries of Dumaguete, a small but enchanting university town in Negros Oriental.

1. I first visited Dumaguete in 2004. A friend of mine joked that the name Dumaguete came from the word ‘dumagit’ or a rough translation would be ‘to steal’ since pirates and foreign invaders have been stealing beautiful women from this town for many centuries. Hence, there are no longer beautiful women left. (How untrue, I saw beautiful women in Dumaguete).

2. Dumaguete has four major universities. The most famous and prestigious is Silliman University. Preetam, a colleague from Global Voices, thinks the name Silliman is funny for a school. I asked why. He said it could be understood as ‘silly – man’. Sometimes, an outsider viewpoint can make us see the things we often overlooked. Like the PERC survey result which confirms our status as the most corrupt nation in Asia from the perception of foreign business executives.

3. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo once described Dumaguete as the most peaceful town in the Philippines. This statement was quoted in travel magazines. Now, foreigners are flocking towards Dumaguete. Foreigners are buying lands and retirement homes. Many restaurants are charging dollars not pesos. Business is booming, so is, sadly, prostitution.

4. Dumaguete is five hours away from Bacolod by bus. It is four hours away from Cebu City, also by bus. Tricycles are spacious. A proposal to create a super port was shelved since it was vigorously protested by the Silliman community. The plan will require the removal of historic buildings of Silliman University.

5. Boulevard, the baywalk of Dumaguete. But its cleaner, more peaceful, no traffic, no foul odor from the sea and definitely a major tourist hang-out. Food is expensive by the way.

6. There is no PLDT DSL in Dumaguete. The market is monopolized by Globe’s broadband service. There are no classy cafes –which is good.

7. Airport personnel greeted Korean tourists in Korean language. But they forgot to greet me or other locals, not even in our native language.

8. In 2004, I did ask about the Dumaguete scandal, the infamous mother of all sex videos. I learned some information about this spicy subject. But it cannot be written here. Perhaps, some other time.

Related entries:

Iloilo impressions.
Travelogue.

posted by: mongpalatino at March 17, 2007 10:44 | link | comments (2) |
travel

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