Dumagete

We were invited by John and Jannet Baxter, fellow missionaries, to go to visit Dumagete, the major city on the island of Negros Oriental, right across the Tanon Strait from the southern tip of Cebu island. They have never been there, but heard that there was a nice hotel, clean and tidy, so they wanted to go take a look. Since we are so new here, they invited us to go outside of Cebu city to travel a bit.
We were glad to get away for a while, so we jumped on the opportunity, not knowing what to expect.
I have to say I was a bit rush to make this decision, I was hoping for a beach, if not, maybe a pool in the hotel. But when we arrive, I realized that the city is not quite what we thought it was.
However, this trip has offered us some amazing things to see and experience. The following photos show what we saw in our three day trip.


After a about a two hour drive from Cebu city, we arrive at the pier, where we took a boat over to Dumaguete. The car rode on the deck and people up on top.


Kioni was exhausted after the car ride, hot and sweaty also, hanging onto daddy while mommy took some photos.


Dumaguete from the ferry


What a creative way for seating customers, four pots and a table, though I suspect the temperature of the 'seats' would be quite high after a few hours of baking under the hot sun.


Our first tricycle ride, Kioni was hot, she was not in the mood of anything while we were out and about, neither was mommy Amy. The lady on the right is Jannet Baxter.


We were surprised by a parade celebrating the Buglasan (bamboo) festival. We were able to watch the whole parade on the fifth floor balcony of the hotel we were staying in. There was sea breeze blowing and it was cool the whole time. The following few photos are some highlights of the parade.










Pay attention to what they wore, yep, flip-flops! All of the dancers in the parade wear flip-flops, brand new ones, all matching their costumes. They danced for hours making unbelievable movements, quite a interesting sight.




Acacia trees lined the seaside boardwalk.


Our hotel is on the boardwalk, therefore, we had perfect view of the parade. However, since there was a conference being held in the hotel, we could only rent the remaining two rooms, which has no view of anything but the windows of the room opposite to us.


A street in Dumagete with festival flags.




A fishing boat off the shore of Dumaguete ferry pier, the island in the background is the southern tip of Cebu island.


The beautiful blue water of Tanon Strait.


Eating at a restaurant by the sea on our way back to Cebu.


The restaurant server asked us if we would like to eat in the gazebo, why not? Well, for me it is a bit tough, the sun is setting, and it is shinning right on the gazebo, there was no wind, that means bugs were present. It looks pretty though, isn't it?


Watching Kioni like a hawk so she won't fall from the gazebo into the sea, though no harm will be done because it was mostly wet sand down there with just a tiny bit of water.