Side Trip to Dumaguete City

My 2012 starts with a side trip to Dumaguete City. And what's good about it was I got there solo. Finally I was able to get to a place again just by myself. I was really eager to do a solo travel again but I can't find time to do so thus; this side trip gave relief to that.

Dumaguete City is a city of Philippine province Negros Oriental. The city is also known as The City of Gentle People.

Going to Dumaguete City. Because of the very expensive fares to Cebu during Sinulog, me and my friend booked a plane ticket - Manila to Dumaguete to Manila. We were just very lucky that our inbound flight from Dumaguete to Manila was cancelled thus we had it re-routed from Cebu.

Me and my friend have different flights. I took the earlier flight while she had the next flight with almost 5 hours interval. I asked her that I'll just meet her at Sibulan port to get to Cebu and so she agreed.

Because I'm on a budget, I opted to go to the airport through the cheaper way, public vehicles. From EDSA-Taft, I rode a NAIA terminal shuttle bus going to Terminal 3, fare is around PHP 20.00 (cheaper than taking a cab). What I learned about this ride was since the drop off point was at the arrival area, it's easy for me to get inside the terminal because there are no long queues compared to the departure area gates.

I checked in and waited for boarding announcements. 11:15 came and I boarded the plane and I'm off to Dumaguete City.

I'm kind of excited during the plane ride as after a long time I was able to travel again solo even just for a short period of time.

Bohol Island Tour: Panglao, Balicasag & Virgin Island

Bohol is one of the provinces in the country that has its finest beach. Aside from that Bohol also has an amazing underwater world to explore. Too bad I wasn't able to experience diving during our vacation but for sure I'll be back in here for that one.

Bohol Countryside Tour

Bohol is one of the places I've been to before I started blogging. I just did a day tour then and haven't explored everything about the place. What I only knew before about Bohol was Chocolate Hills. I even didn't know Panglao and it's finest beach exists on this province. 

Now Bohol has a lot of things to offer from its classic countryside tour to extreme adventures of Danao and to wonderful experiences in Panglao and Balicasag island.

Cebu City Tour

Cebu is one of the provinces I've been to several times. Cebu is the first destination I've flown to. I'll never forget the first time I've got to this place. A lot of memories, great memories indeed.

I included Cebu on our week-long family trip since I wanted to revisit the history and beauty of Cebu. As well as to have my family discover and enjoy those places.

Mount Pinatubo Trekking Adventure

I've been to a few trek on my few years of travelling (if you call walking continuously just to get to my destination and walking for hours to see the 7 falls of Mambukal a trek) but never been to a major mountain hiking. When I learned that Pinoy Travel Bloggers group will be having a trek to Mount Pinatubo, I didn't hesitate to join and I set this event on my calendar. Being on my places-to-go list for the past 2 years, I was able to finally set my feet on one the most beautiful spot in the Philippines, the Mount Pinatubo crater lake.

One of the advantages of being invited on such trip with travel bloggers is you don't need to worry anymore on the travel plan and itinerary. But that doesn't mean opinion's or request's of each joiners doesn't matter. One must participate and share on everything. With that, I'd like to thank everyone who worked on this extravagant event for Pinoy Travel Bloggers.

We're 30 joiners for this trip. It was the biggest trip I've ever been to in terms of participants. We left Metro Manila at 3:00 AM via rented van.

A Visit to CocoFed and Paseo Del Mar in Zamboanga City

After our enjoyable beach family bonding at Sta. Cruz Island in Zamboanga City, we then explored some of the tourist spots in Zamboanga City that we haven't visited on our first day.

Our tour started at around 3:00 PM. I was already kinda tired and sleepy during the tour but I need to be awake and lively so I can make the most out of the tour.


COCOFED Training Center. 30 minutes drive from Yakan Weaving Center is the CocoFed Training Center. It's a Philippine Coconut Authority research center located in Zamboanga City. I haven't had any further information about the research center but they do everything out of the coconut tree.