Universitas Sillimaniensis

Negros Oriental

The first semester of AY 2012-2013 was bloody hell, so much I don't want to even think about it. My friends and I need to "de-stress" and do something exciting. So we decided to visit Negros Oriental since our college classmate is currently doing her law at Silliman University. Other than relieving the stress, the trip was actually more of catching up a good old friend and surprisingly it was in time for the yearly Buglasan Festival. We planned just a day before departure, sometimes not planning adds more adrenaline to the fun that lies ahead.
An so from the Cebu South Bus Terminal (Php 169.00) we head off for Liloan, Santander. We arrived at Liloan 11:45 AM just in time for the ferry (Php 60.00) bound for Sibulan, Negros by 12:00 noon. We crossed Tanyon Strait for about 15 minutes and the waves were plain torture. It might help to drink some meds for motion sickness. Another way (though this might take 15 min more of your time) is take a direct bus (Php 250.00) from the terminal, drop by Bato, Santander and take the RoRo straight to Dumaguete City.
By12:30 PM we were in Sibulan which is a 10 min jeepney ride (Php 11.00) to Dumaguete City. Kenny has been living in Dumaguete for 2 years now so she did all the recommendations, from food to the sidetrips and what not. We took our lunch at Sta. Theresa Resto, the food was affordable and delicious. When I say delicious, I mean it. So far of all the trips I've been, Dumaguete has the best food and my friends agree to that.

Dumaguete has a lot of foreigners, Asians, Europeans, Americans and locals alike so looking for a place to stay should not be bothersome. Just like food, hotels are also cheap. Ours was Php 1000 for 24 hours, we're four so we just spend Php 250.00 per person. We chose a strategic hotel located in the downtown area so it's easy to just go anywhere. After settling down we head off for a hot spring in Valencia, 40 min jeepney ride (Php 11.00) from Dumaguete, then we took a "habal-habal" to bring us to Pulangbato hot spring in Malabo. The place was very remote, a valley located in between ranges of a dormant volcano so when people go there they normal ask the "habal-habal" drivers to wait. From Valencia to Malabo plus the waiting period (2-4 hours), and the from Malabo to Dumaguete, the habal-habal cost Php. 150.00 per person. The name Pulangbato literally means red rock primarily caused by high concentrations of iron.

 After dipping ourselves to the 40 degree Celsius water, we were once again spoiling our gut to the sumptuous goodies of Dumaguete and head straight to Qyosko for dinner. We then spend the night strolling along the boulevard, enjoying the festivities of Buglasan and did a little of the booze in Hayahay.

The next day we went to Sans Rival, a must-go resto/bistro, and the highly acclaimed Silliman University. Sans Rival and Silliman are quiet big names in Dumaguete and I have only good memories for them so I will be scribbling a separate blog for these.(Silliman University, Sans Rival)