Mountain view over bell tower. June 2015
Town plaza. June 2016
Seafront esplanade. June 2016
[from FB post: June 23, 2015]
I think I found a nice place to retire to... huge mountain behind me, the sea and islands in front of me and a very relaxed pace. And judging from the number of "old white farts" around me, I think I am not the first to have this idea.
oh yes... and while walking along the seafront esplanade this morning a guy came up to me and offered me "Viagra, Cialis, and ...... sunglasses" Sunglasses, really?? at 9am? I was scandalized...
[from FB post: June 23, 2016]
Second visit... I stayed a week just to chill out. I love this city
Few places have lured me back repeatedly. As a person who loves the thrill of constant exploration, the bar must be pretty damn high for me to want to return anywhere. There are very specific places I would like to return to, of course, but here I refer to actual cities I have repeatedly revisited. Yogyakarta in Indonesia was a place I returned to frequently just to "hang out" because it was one of my favorite places in the country. I had done everything there was to do in Yogya - I only returned for the city, the food, and the vibe.
Dumaguete was another of those places. After my first visit, I fell absolutely in love with the city. Rizal Boulevard along the waterfront was the most enchanting urban seafront I had seen in the entire country. For a nation of islands, it was surprising that more cities had not developed their waterfronts, but upon reflection, Indonesia - also an island nation - was similar. Both countries had famous beaches, but cities on the sea that beautified their waterfronts? Absolutely not.
I woke up each day at my hotel, the C & L Bayview Inn. and had breakfast on the roof terrace with its view over town and Mt. Talinis, a dormant volcano whose geothermal power was tapped for the city's electrical grid. Then I went for an early morning walk along Rizal Boulevard and looked out across the sea to Siquijor Island, like some Bali Ha'i, beckoning people to visit its incredible beaches and waterfalls for a day. Along "the Boulevard" was an outlet of Bo's Coffee and I ordered a latte, sat, and caught up on all things via the internet. The waiters and baristas were all energetic young people with a great sense of customer service.
Dumaguete made a practical stop as part of any larger trip because I found a good, cheap laundry service that had only a three-day turnaround. Dumaguete also had a "new" bus station that may not have had good scheduling, but at least had a proper waiting room and ticket windows. Daily ferries left the downtown port for Cebu City, Bohol, and Mindanao. There was even the "Dumaguete Mall" with a real movie theatre showing fairly recent releases. For me the city was made for stopping over and recharging batteries.
The food scene in Dumaguete was also excellent. With several universities in town, plus being a major hub for the inter-island ferry system, lots of potential customers passed through or lived in Dumaguete. Just beyond the port were some seaside restaurants serving great seafood. North of Silliman University I found a wood-fired (and non-AC so you baked along with your order) pizza restaurant, Neva's, which had good product for an out of the way place like Dumaguete.
The city's old central plaza was a beautiful park with a gazebo and was fronted by the cathedral with all the apostles just outside the main doors placed on pillars. The attached Bell Tower was the symbol of the city and dated back to early Spanish colonial days when it was used to warn the residents of impending pirate invasions! That space was a nice patch of green in the very urbanized downtown core and was well-used by its residents.
After the day's activities (which usually were just a seaside walk) I retired to my hotel and went to the roof once again for evening beer and snacks. Watching the sun set over Dumaguete and seeing the city light up below me was a simple pleasure. I usually took my evening meal at one of the seafood restaurants which were packed in the evenings. It was funny to me that at lunchtime they stood mostly empty in spite of their incredible views, but at night they were full of customers while giving pitch black vistas of the sea broken only by random lights over on Cebu Island or fishing boats.
I purposely never did anything in Dumaguete even though there were interesting sites nearby like a few waterfalls and a lovely little marine reserve, Apo Island (famous among divers). The whole point of Dumaguete was to relax and NOT push myself to go go go every minute.
I noted some Westerners had retired there. I saw the attraction. I am not sure I would like to retire to the Philippines, but I certainly would love to retire to Dumaguete!
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