Joseph's Notes

One day we took off in the car to Sagbayan Peak in the Chocolate Hills. It’s about an hour and twenty minutes from our apartment. One Chocolate Hill as we neared our destination As far as a viewing sight for the Chocolate Hills, we think it’s perhaps a better alternative than the main one in Carmen. There are more things to do in Sagbayan, and, we thought, a better experience. At Carmen there's not much to do except climb the 200+ steps to the viewing area and look around Carmen viewing area Sagbayan Peak We had a very nice lunch in the open air restaurant, took many photos of the scenic views including very closeups of their tarsier, and swam in their huge beautiful pool. We were the only swimmers when we were there. Lyn's sister Wendie in a field of umbrellas World's smallest monkey... ... the tarsier We really enjoyed the day at Sagbayan Peak and look forward to going back.

Swimming in the Water Paradise Resort pools This post is particularly for my American friends who might visit the Philippines. When you visit the Philippines, don’t be shocked if it seems hot any hour of the day or night. I remember the first time I arrived in Manila at almost midnight and walked out of the air conditioned airport. The heat (it wasn’t that hot) hit me in the face and said, “Welcome to the Philippines.” Don’t be shocked if someone you don’t know smiles at you and greets you as if he knows you. Just a few days ago I was walking through a public market in another town, and a man I had never seen before walked up to me and shook my hand and said, “Welcome to Jagna. Thank you for visiting us.” Don’t be shocked if someone you don’t know asks you where you’re from and engages you in conversation. They are a friendly people, especially away from cities and tourist areas. Don’t be shocked if you see a man urinating beside the road, out of town, in the city,...

A Pleasant Road Trip to Sikatuna, Bohol As I said in a previous post, we like to go on “excursions” if we have free time. It’s great to be able to travel around Bohol in our own car and explore. Normally the roads in Bohol are very good with not much traffic, especially outside the city. Most of the country highways are pretty nice We were on one such excursion recently to the east and north of Tagbilaran, where we went to Baclayan, Alburquerque, Loay, and Loboc. We also went to Sikatuna. It is a small pleasant town of about 7000 people, actually the smallest municipality by land area in Bohol.  Sikatuna Town Hall Who is the clown in the back? Historic church in Sikatuna It is named for the native chieftain, Datu Sikatuna, who in 1565 signed a peace treaty, the Blood Compact, with the Spanish explorer Miguel Lopez de Legazpi. It is said that both leaders contributed their own blood into a cup from which they both drank, thus sealing the Compact and...

Dumaguete and Tagbilaran The two cities are similar in many ways. Both are smaller cities. Dumaguete has about 134,000 residents; Tagbilaran has about 105,000. Both are provincial capitals, Dumaguete of Negros Oriental, and Tagbilaran of Bohol. Both have many foreign expats living nearby. In Tagbilaran, many live on nearby Panglao Island. In Dumaguete many foreigners live in Valencia in the mountains or in Dauin or other towns nearby. Both have a lot of tourist attractions nearby. Dumaguete has the mountains and waterfalls and Apo Island and Siquijor Island and Rizal Boulevard and many other attractions. Tagbilaran has the Chocolate Hills, tarsiers and nature preserves, river cruises, Panglao Island with Alona Beach and eight other beautiful beaches with white sand, coconut trees, and amazing clear water, and many other attractions. The Island of Bohol Tagbilaran is in the lower left, beside Panglao And both have several malls and large shopping centers. Duma...

From Dumaguete to Tagbilaran Leaving Dumaguete Dumaguete is the provincial capital of Negros Oriental on the island of Negros Nobody likes to move, and we weren’t anxious to either, but Lyn and Wendie tackled the task with alacrity. Our friends and neighbors Ariel and Jen helped us prepare. We don’t have a huge amount of furniture, but we do have several big items. And rather than have our household items shipped, we chose to bring them with us. We decided to keep our old Mitsubishi, but that wouldn’t be big enough to hold all of our stuff. Waiting to board the RORO Our kind Filipino friends Boy and Lourdes volunteered to help us move with their Suzuki multicab. We loaded everything in the two vehicles, and the seven of us (Uncle Boy and Auntie Lourdes, 3 grandchildren, and Lyn and I) took off. Wendie was already in Tagbilarin.  Uncle Boy and his multicab on the RORO Since there is no RORO (roll on, roll off) ferry directly from Dumaguete to ...