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We went this morning to Arbour restaurant at Hibbard Avenue and had a very delicious breakfast.

Paying a visit to Arbour Restaurant was on my list since a pretty long time but for no reason it never happened. Finally we made it today and for sure it won't be the last time.

It started with a very warm welcome by the owner and his staff. During our stay we enjoyed really good service, fast and very friendly. The restaurant is air-conditioned what gives you a comfortable surrounding to really enjoy your food.

My wife's choice was the Signature Breakfast, I went for the German Breakfast. Both offered a great selection of ham, various types of Salami, scrambled and boiled eggs, various sorts of cheese, eggplants in a delicious tomato sauce, freshly baked bread, homemade butter and jam. All came at high quality standard.

I really don't know another place in Dumaguete where you can find this quality of food and service.

It was an overall great dining experience and for sure we will come back. Today we had only breakfast but Arbour offers very nice lunch as well and for sure we will be back for dinner.

By the way:
On 7th of October Arbour will celebrate "Octoberfest" in their beer garden.
Homemade beers and typical food is waiting for you. We will certainly not miss it.

 

Impressions of the new Unitop store in Dumaguete:

Good - easy underground parking; walking distance from downtown; spacious and airy with no boxes of goods stacked around the aisles; plenty of cashier points and none very busy.

Bad points - do not accept bank cards (apparently temporary); same quality of staff who spends ages moving the items you are buying around and checking underneath them to see if a tiger has slunk in and done a poop underneath them, instead of just putting them through the till; don't make the mistake of taking something from one floor and trying to pay on the next floor, unless there is a barcode on the item......usual thing, many items are not barcoded and some of our purchases ended up being left at the till; food court area (small area near the entrance and may be temporary as the third floor is not yet open) had dirty floor tiles...clearly never been cleaned since the store opened.

Overall impression - more of the same cheap and nasty stuff in a nicer environment; could have waited a week or two longer to open and done it better.

 

Just a heads-up on G-Cash.
Despite their denials this morning, G-Cash was hacked yesterday.
Hackers succeeded in transferring 37M pesos from unsuspecting users to their own bank accounts, but they were discovered before it was too late to recover the funds involved.
Reportedly victimized G-Cash customers were reimbursed.

Conclusion: G-Cash might be handy in some circumstances, but their system is apparently not up to security standards. Best to not have a large balance in a G-cash account. The public denial regarding the hack is obviously an attempt to limit the impact of the fall-out from the event on their business.

 

Bayawan is a place i have been to many times but the last time we went must have been well over a year ago so when we arrived there on Saturday i was amazed to see they had installed a roundabout and at least 3 sets of traffic lights with countdown timers and also on the pedestrian crossings, even more amazing was the people seemed to be obeying the signals.
Considering the general state of the infrastructure in Neg Or this seems to me like money that could have been better spent elsewhere.
The traffic was quite busy on Saturday but when we left on Sunday the traffic was very light but we were stopped at all 3 sets of lights with virtually nothing coming from the side roads so it looks like there are no sensors fitted or they are not set properly to change according to the volume of traffic.
The road from Dumaguete to Bayawan is now for most of the way a beautiful 4 lane highway but most people want to only use the middle 2 lanes and some drive slowly with a wheel on the centre divide marking (not 2 wheel vehicles)
So unfortunately unless the authorities are going to educate or better still force people to use the road the way it was intended then its a waste of money building it, there are many signs now saying slow vehicles use the right lane but they are totally ignored. There are new speed limit signs stating 60KPH in some areas and even 80KPH in other areas, 80KPH hahahahah, i laugh because this road is well capable of being safely used at 80 but not with people hogging the middle at ridiculously low speeds.
i know i know i know, i am flogging a dead horse and it will probably never change but it should

 

If you have problems with mail, you can get a PO Box at Dumaguete City Post Office. P1200+ annually.

 

May the Queen R.I.P. King Charles has a tough act to follow.

 

Seems like a few foreigners here are experiencing strokes recently. I will post my mistakes leading up to a stroke (in Sept. 9 yrs ago).
I stopped taking cholesterol meds when I got here.
I never got a health check up for years.
My cholesterol level went very high.
I had a lot of stress and anxiety an I let it bother me.
I was exercising at the gym regularly but very little aerobics.
I ignored the constant headaches in the back of my head.
I ignored the numbness in my left arm.
I ignored what was probably a short mini stroke (dizzy, almost fell down).
BOOM! My life changed forever. FUBAR.

 

Since the start of covid i have done my best to keep as far away as possible from doctors, hospitals or dentists but a couple of weeks ago the inevitable happened and i had to see a doctor, first stop was Silliman where the doctor said i needed a small operation and the protocol was that on the day of admission i would have a test for covid and if the test is positive then i have to wait 7 weeks before it is safe to operate.
On the day of admission i had the test 3400 pesos had to wait 3 hours for the result which was positive, as i had no symptom's, my wife had no symptom's and the other 3 people who live at our house had no symptom's i suspected the result to be false.
I decided to get a second opinion so 2 days later i went to Ace and had another test 2600 pesos, had to wait until next day for the result which was negative.
The next day no doctors for my particular condition were available at Ace so i went to Polymedic, same deal there on the day of admission i had to have a test 660 pesos, the result took less than 1 hour and was negative so the operation went ahead.
I just want to pass this on to members to highlight the price range,
Silliman, swabbed one nostril, 3400 pesos - positive
Ace, swabbed both nostrils and back of tongue, 2600 pesos - negative
Polymedic, swabbed both nostrils, 660 pesos - negative