First thing this morning we left Panagsama beach and took a tricycle to Moalboal centre. Next, we caught the local bus to Bato and then the Maayo ferry to Tampi on Negros island. (Fact, the conductors who sell tickets keep the different denominations of notes neatly tucked between their fingers). Then, we caught a bus heading to Dumaguete that dropped us near our hostel! It took most of the morning to arrive and when we caught the bus to Dumaguete, we actually got the one coming from Cebu City which was riding on our the ferry! It was packed and sitting on a little stool in the isle of a brand new, big aircon bus, with free wifi seemed a little weird! At a little stall we bought some drinks. There wasn't a huge range so we settled for the globally recognisable 'Coca Cola'. It came in the classic style glass bottles. The shop keeper gets a deposit when he hands the bottles back so they don't like you to take them away. Instead they prefer to pour your coke into a clear little plastic bag and give you a straw!
Dumaguete seems nice. It's a busy little university town. Much more relaxed than Cebu City or Manila, which has some 'no go' areas. On the news yesterday, we saw that there had been a shooting at Terminal 3 Manila airport. That is where we arrived, yikes!
Walking along the promenade was enjoyable and some very old fire engines caught our attention. It turned out to be the main fire station, where the friendly fire crews were enjoying their Christmas party.
Whilst we were exploring, we came across the central market. It was packed with second hand clothes stalls. Most of the items came from overseas, USA, UK etc. The items were priced generally around 10 pesos for a shirt or trousers. Considering there are over 70 pesos to the pound, these were real cheap! We think the items could have been donated to the Philippines possibly by charities or sold to them by the people who buy clothes per kg back home ...
Later we headed to the promenade to find some food at the night market. There must have been 50 food stalls! Great we thought, we can try many a wonderful variety of different things. However, we were a little hasty in our excitement. Every single stall sold exactly the same.... processed squid balls on a stick or tempura! All 50 of them!
We have just received news that on Sunday in Thailand there will be a huge protest in Bangkok. They are predicting 2 - 3 million protesters aiming to gridlock the city! The protests have remained non violent but one of the newspapers in Bangkok talks of possible civil war! Why are we paying such close attention? We fly back to Bangkok early January... fingers crossed all will be resolved.
Dumaguete seems nice. It's a busy little university town. Much more relaxed than Cebu City or Manila, which has some 'no go' areas. On the news yesterday, we saw that there had been a shooting at Terminal 3 Manila airport. That is where we arrived, yikes!
Walking along the promenade was enjoyable and some very old fire engines caught our attention. It turned out to be the main fire station, where the friendly fire crews were enjoying their Christmas party.
Whilst we were exploring, we came across the central market. It was packed with second hand clothes stalls. Most of the items came from overseas, USA, UK etc. The items were priced generally around 10 pesos for a shirt or trousers. Considering there are over 70 pesos to the pound, these were real cheap! We think the items could have been donated to the Philippines possibly by charities or sold to them by the people who buy clothes per kg back home ...
Later we headed to the promenade to find some food at the night market. There must have been 50 food stalls! Great we thought, we can try many a wonderful variety of different things. However, we were a little hasty in our excitement. Every single stall sold exactly the same.... processed squid balls on a stick or tempura! All 50 of them!
We have just received news that on Sunday in Thailand there will be a huge protest in Bangkok. They are predicting 2 - 3 million protesters aiming to gridlock the city! The protests have remained non violent but one of the newspapers in Bangkok talks of possible civil war! Why are we paying such close attention? We fly back to Bangkok early January... fingers crossed all will be resolved.
