Hello All, I apologize for being AWOL for a while. My computer suffered major virus and trojan damage, it was in the shop for two weeks, plus we had "stuff" going on here at the house. I arrived in the RP on June 15th, and left the 29th. I first arrived in Manila, FROM Hong Kong; then flew onto Dumaguete from Manila. Being a high country long nose type guy, I thought I was going to melt when I first got there.. he he. But my God, was it ever beautiful! Holy smokes, GREEN, everything was GREEN.. jungle even! I LOVED it. First impressions here. Two weeks was NOT near long enough for me and my wife. We fell in love with the place AND the people. I am sure there are some "bad guys" around, but we honest to God did NOT run into ONE buttheaded person, or rude person, nor had we any "negative" experience with the people of the region. We TRULY want to live there someday, if the crazy leaders of the world will allow it to happen. By the time I am "of age" to retire... we could all be living in the stone age by then. The world our leaders have given us, is very unstable at best. BUT... none the less, we fell in love with the region. I didnt do much running around in town... had dinner a few times at a mexican place on the waterfront.. Maya??? Spent a lot of my time out in the jungle, or goofing around with some treasure hunters from Valencia area.. looking at land for sale, etc... getting a feel for what it would be like to live off the beaten path. We liked the jungle, and the sounds of nature, which mostly are missing in the coastal towns.. and it was the goldilocks zone for me, up on the mountain. The locals I am sure, consider it pretty chilly for them..lol. But there were some places I was at that were absolutely the PERFECT temp, and that would be YEAR ROUND too! You could do work without becoming soaking wet with sweat in 5 minutes! lol.. And we met some precious farmers up on the mountain, who grow all organic food. I cant tell you how wonderful the food was from these folks. We got a big fist full of asparagus from one fine Filo farmer... it was the best I have ever had in my life, honestly.. not a tough fiber in ANY of it, all very tender and perfect flavor. We stayed with a friend and his wife on the outskirts of Dumaguete. They have a NICE home on the beach, his mother-in-law had property there, so they built on it a few years ago. VERY nice, but hotter than you know what too once the sun gets up a ways in the sky. By the time we left, I had acclimated to the heat a LOT.. my body wasn't leaking near as much... lol. I would imagine after being there a year or so, I would be more like the locals in tolerance. We went to a traditional Filo wedding reception on the beach, had a wonderful time there. I got my first really messed up moments on that dang Tanduay Rum (sp?) .. man... I drank a lot... but so did the others too. So it wasn't like I was the only drunk person..whew. Figure I had a big bottle by myself... but toned it down with lots of good food, even the roasted piglet showed up... I guess it is NOT a real reception UNLESS there is at least one roasted pig, so I was told. We went up to Cebu for a couple of days... wow.. a lot more folks live there! The drive there was stunning in scenery, and interactions with the kind Filo people. We DID see some sights that would break your heart though.. but that was to be expected too, just sad to see.. it would be great to be able to be a philanthropist, and actually be able to afford to be one. I could do great wonders there if I won the lottery and bailed to the RP.. he he. I was mostly impressed with the youth of the region. We never met a more polite and well mannered group, "collectively speaking". Even those considered "bad boys".. were polite to us, and enjoyed dinner with us one evening, about a week later when we had our monthly 12 hour power outage. We cooked traditional BBQ outside, fish, beef, chicken on bamboo sticks, with soy sauces and peppers from the garden. Jackfruit, and calimanti teas, pineapple tea, and some rice candy stuff wrapped in banana leaves too.. ALL was very good! I LOVED the schools for the kids. They all had "virtues" painted on the walls that surrounded them. Like "HONESTY", "MORALS", etc... all with a saying, or quote to bring home the point of the virtue to aspire for.. VERY GOOD! It apparently is taught in the schools there too. ALL children we met were VERY precious little people with impeccable manners towards adults. We still can't get over it. So well behaved! There is this one young boy, who helped his father every day, except during school times...of course. Man, I wish I could live there and have that young kid as a godson.. make sure he got whatever he needed to aspire to whatever he wanted to become as an adult..One couldn't ask for a better "grandkid" to have around and love as your own grandchild. His parents are very precious people also.. very poor but hearts of pure gold. We went to a WW2 museum in Valencia.. run by a really nice old man... 89 yrs old I think! SUPER nice guy. We went to some hot springs NW of Dumaguete, really NICE. Mostly we were climbing around the slopes of the mountain.. some marvelous views, and nice tolerable temperatures for this mountain person.. he he. Needed at least another week to see things really. We WILL be back someday, hopefully sooner than later. Whether or not we get to move there depends on the world economy, the dollars future demise, etc... too soon to make solid decisions, mostly due to world circumstances. But IF it could happen, we would move there when it is time. Pravdaseeker
It's so heartwarming to hear you share your wonderful stories of Dumaguete and the surrounding towns. Thank you for sharing it with everyone!
So glad to hear you enjoyed your trip. Hopefully some of us can meet you the next time you're around and show you some more
Thanks for sharing your story. It brings back so many memories of my first visits. Yeah, there's some bad people but that's true anywhere in the world. The Philippines isn't for everyone but for some of us, the virtues outweigh the vices in a big way!
So glad you and your wife enjoyed your trip. One of the best holiday stories I have read so far, thanks for sharing it. Wishing you both good health, hope you make back to Negros soon....regards JB
