Dumaguete: City of Gentle People - Day 1

The City of Dumaguete is a city in the Philippine province of Negros Oriental. It is the capital, principal seaport, and largest city of the province. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 120,883 people. A person from Dumaguete is called a "Dumagueteño". The city is nicknamedThe City of Gentle People.^[2]

Dumaguete is referred to as a university town because of the presence of four universities and a number of other colleges where students of the province converge to enroll for tertiary education. The city is also a popular educational destination for students of surrounding provinces and cities in Visayas and Mindanao. The city is best known for Silliman University, the country's first Protestant university and the first American private university in Asia.^[3][4] There are also 12 elementary schools and 9 high schools. The city's student population is estimated at 30,000.^[2]

 From Wikipedia

After a day spent in Cebu, we head to Dumaguete the following day. We will be meeting the rest of the group still coming from Manila.

From Cebu, we took the bus to the Ferry terminal and a few good minutes we landed in Dumaguete around lunch time.

We stayed at Harold's Mansion, which was a good accommodation, very cheap, clean and accessible to the city area. We loved it! There were five of us in a room and we all fit in it perfectly. They have cafeteria where you can get something to eat and there's also free wifi. They also offer diving tours and free bike rental.

Since the group coming from Manila need something to eat, we head to Kri Restaurant. It was a cozy place and seems new.

I just ordered coffee since I'm already full after we ate at Harold's Mansion.

After resting for a while, the group decided to roam around the vicinity. One of our friends took us to the Bay walk lined with coconut trees, this area is nice for an early morning jog!

We then dropped by the St. Catherine of Alexandria Cathedral.

And an old bell tower near the cathedral.

It rained afterwards and we were a little hungry for some snacks. We went to Sans Rival to get a taste of their famous pastries and of course, Sans Rival! It was very smooth and I loved it. Very affordable at 25 pesos I think.

We left the place and decided to get a massage fix to get ourselves more relaxed. The next day we are actually heading to Siquijor.

Thai Boran massage place is just a few minutes walk from Kri Restaurant.

One Day In Cebu

It's one of my most awaited trip this year since my supposed first solo trip was canceled in January. I was able to hit three wonderful province with one stone last March and I'm travelling again with some of the enjoyable friends from Couchsurfing. Our last trip together was the South Korea trip so we kind of missed the fun we had and here again is another memorable occasion for us to bond and just relax together.

It was an early Saturday morning and we need to fly to Cebu so early. I didn't mind since I always look forward to finally step to another place I've never been to and this time our first stop is Cebu. I'm travelling with Abby and Jester who have been to Cebu before so we didn't have any problems navigating around especially with the help of Jester's GPS enabled phone. I'm probably getting a GPS enable phone (jealous alert)!

We arrived in Cebu between 6-7am. We decided to stop by first the Mactan Shrine.

Mactan Shrine is the site where Lapu-lapu conquered Magellan in 1521.

Afterwards we head so SM Cebu to get something to eat as we are starving. We ate at KFC. True enough, I felt like I was just in Manila. But before heading there, we dropped by some souvenir shops near the Mactan Shrine.

After our lunch we head to check in and rest at Pacific Tourist Inn. We went to take a nap and later that afternoon we headed to Fort San Pedro to get our Rizal stamps. I'm still keen to complete my stamps although the contest may well be over in June. I still got a few more stamps to get.

Larsian is the quite well-known foodstop in Cebu. It used to be full block of the barbecue shops but when we got there there was just but one left.

We walked around and dropped by other Cebu attractions like the Magellan's cross, the Cebu Cathedral and made our way to Larsian for dinner.

I also got to see the Crowne Plaza Hotel where the SkyWalk is found. I'll hope to comeback and try it too! 

We had a great time and headed back to the inn to sleep and get ready for the next day. 

We are travelling to Dumaguete!

El Nido: My Little Piece of Paradise

One of the unplanned trips last year, was this trip to El Nido with my CouchSurfing friends. I didn't really plan it initially since I was also just coming from a trip to South Korea. However, the tripper that I am, it didn't take long for me to make a decision to say yes and join them. The flight to Puerto Prinsesa is the same day as my arrival from South Korea. So I basically had to go home after arriving, pick another set of bag, full of new set of clothes and toiletries and then jet-off once more to the paradise called El Nido. I was full of excitement for another journey.

Day 1

The flight to Puerto Prinsesa is in the afternoon but I left the house around 1pm to make sure I'm not late. I only had a back pack with me since we didn't avail of the luggage check-in option.

So off we go and arrived in Puerto Prinsesa almost 6 or 7pm. We stayed in a nice hostel in Puerto Prinsesa. We were hungry and need to get dinner so we head to Kinabuchs to get something to eat and meet with some  Couchsurfers in the area. I did try their well known exotic food, see below photo.

After dinner, we head to the baywalk that they call it to take some relaxing stroll.

We decided to head home and rest as we plan to head to the Butterfly Farm the next day and perhaps explore other sites nearby before we meet the rest of the group arriving in the afternoon.

Day 2

We head to the Butterfly Farm which is a jeepney away. We first decided to eat at Bona's for their nice tasting noodles and bread.

 

After Butterfly Farm, one of the locals suggested we also go to Baker's Hill, so we did. I liked this place as it has very nicely decorated houses and Christmas ornaments. We thought we wanted to go back to this place after we've been to El Nido.

There was a souvenir shop in Baker's Hill as well to get more pasalubong.

In the afternoon we met the rest of the group and we had lunch again at Bona's. They also wanted to try their tasty meal.

After that we all head to a rough ride to El Nido town. We had a time to get some rest as well.

One of my CS friend's family owns a resort in El Nido and gladly hosted us for the next few days.

We had a nice dinner at night and headed for some drinks.

Day 3

We go island hopping. I didn't take note of the islands we went to but as far as I can remember we had the Island Hopping tour A

Day 4

Another island hopping day. It's Tour B this time.

Day 5

We had a visit to our friends Grandma and in the afternoon head to the falls. And later that day is our flight back to Manila.

Whew! El Nido is such a wonderful place. I may want to go back when I get the chance. But for now, I'll happily reminisce this sweet paradise thru my photos.

I'll list the details and brief itinerary of this trip on my next post!

Busan and Seoul, South Korea Autumn Holidays: 5 days Itinerary

I am finally going to write up our itinarary during our South Korean holiday. I'm sure this will give an idea how much we spent on our stay. Because we went there almost end of November which is sort of autumn and winter season, I suppose prices could get a bit different during other seasons.

Hope this helps!

Click on the photo below for the itinerary and expenses table!

Notes:
1. Most of my shopping expenses are not included. Stuff like pasalubong and personal effects :)
2. We didn't have any expenses for accommodation because we basically did it the Couchsurfing way
3. The expenses for food, transpo and miscellaneous is just a rough approximation. These includes a min of 10000 KRW for transpo per day, 10000 KRW for every meal and 2000 KRW for Misc.

A Farewell lunch and Shopping in Seomyeon

On our last day of stay in Busan, we decided to spend half of the day for shopping in Seomyeon and then meet our host for a farewell lunch. It was a lovely day and we are just so pumped up for making the most our remaining time in Korea.

I actually just plan to check out some more pasalubong I could take back home.

Seomyeon is a few stops from Millak and it quite a busy area full of shops and a nearby mall.

We first took some snacks and then went straight into finding stuff like the well known BB Cream! But time flew so fast that we realise it was time for lunch and we'll be meeting up Kath near where she works.

We had a nice lunch and chit-chat again. Until it was time to say goodbye. We really enjoyed her company and she was very warm and helpful. She had to leave us since she still got classes in the afternoon.

We continued with some more shopping and then had to go back to the apartment to pick up our things and get ready to head to the airport.

It was a very nice trip. I loved the fact that our hosts both in Busan and Seoul were very wonderful people.

There's so much more places we haven't explored and I'm sure I will have to be back. South Korea is such a lovely place and the people are really nice and amazing.

Getting South Korean Tourist Visa

After two months, I'm now finally compiling the visa infos, itinerary and expenses during our South Korea trip. Hopefully, this should help those planning to head to South Korea anytime soon.

First off, let's get into the Visa application. After getting the promo tickets from Cebu Pacific on February 2011, we didn't care that much yet about the visa. We started preparing our docs and stuff around mid-October.

Visa Information
Being a Philippine passport holder entails some challenges for me as a traveler. We have to put up with these visa applications which also doesn't guarantee 100% approval. Anyhow, like what I always tell myself, you just got to try and try for the love of travel!

South Korea, though it required visa before entry, was good enough to have tourist visas for Filipinos given without any charge. Yes, for free. Further information should be found in their site South Korean Embassy in Manila.

But for all you out there interested to know how I went with applying my SK visa, I'll give a brief story about it!

First thing is to prepare your necessary supporting documents. Make sure you read the guidelines on their Visa information site.

What I have prepared are the following:
1. The accomplished copy of the Visa form, I have downloaded and printed my own copy
2. Your latest passport (should be at least 6 mos valid by your time of travel)
3. 1 Passport size picture (I had mine in white background but I think it doesn't matter as long as it's taken in the last 6 mos and clearly shows your face, but check their site as well for more info)
4. Old Passport - If you are a frequent traveler and have old or current visas from other OECD countries like US, Australia, etc.
5. Certificate of Employment - you could request one from your HR, state your position and how long you have been working, would also help to indicate how much you are earning
6. BIR Form 2316 or ITR for the previous year
7. Bank Certificates - this can be requested from you bank. This is to show you have enough funds to travel. Some says a rough estimate would be at least $100 USD each day you are staying in the country. But this may not always be the case.

Once I had these, I was ready to pass them to the embassy.

The embassy, in McKinley, accepts application only in the morning 9-11am. In the afternoon is the schedule for visa release.

When I got there before 9am, they already allow people to get in and get numbers and I suppose they were already starting.

It was really easy and quick. At the front gate, surrender  a valid Id and log you name before entering. No need to leave your bags or mobile phones. (This was the case when you go to US embassy)

Get inside the building and on your right, a person hands out a number. If you are traveling as a group, it would be good to get one number for all.

Window 1 serves those first time travelers. Window 3 for frequent travelers and those who has been to other OECD countries. I learned that in Window 3 the visa processing should only take 3 days unlike the one for Window 1 which takes a week.

I had to be in Window 1 since I applied with my friend who is a first time traveler.

So after being called your number you just need to give the documents and you will be given a piece of paper indicating the date and time to claim the result. Ours was scheduled a week after.

Don't lose the the paper as it will be needed on the day you claim the visa.

So we had a not so long wait...

Visa Result
We were excited and nervous on getting the result. So we waited at the lounge and when our number was called out we went on to the counter. It was my friend who got our passports.

And whola! South Korean Visa approved. We are allowed a single entry for 59 days. We are happy and excited.

N Seoul Tower and Lock of Love

After the refreshing walk around the city and C-Stream, we decided to finally get our N Seoul Tower fix.

After another challenging set of directions, we finally ended up in N Seoul Tower. Yay! We took the bus from the correct Myeongdong exit this time. It was like an accomplished task. We are finally going up the mountain and see the tower.

The tower had an amazing light show when we arrived. It changed colour once in a while and really looks wonderful!

Aside from the tower, there's also the lock of love where couples put locks, wish and throw away the keys to symbolise the locked love. There a lot of locks in different shapes and sizes.

It was almost December, so there's also Christmas trees around, made of the locks!

Perhaps, one day I'll place one for myself and the special someone!