Sojourns around the Visayas and Mindanao

I’ve been basing myself in my home province of Cebu for almost a month, a welcome respite from the hot and humidity that is enveloping Manila. But I’ve been staying more and more in Cebu lately starting December of last year. There’s no better place than home but probably, because of recent assignments, travel possibilities and some struggles with some personal things, I was more in the Visayas and Mindanao region.

But the past few weeks have been quite hectic. From Cebu, I’ve had trips to Bohol, Dumaguete, Siquijor, Davao City then now, I’m in Boracay to cover a rowing event.

I spent less than a day in Siquijor and two nights in Dumaguete. I love these two places. While waiting for my roro trip from Siquijor town back to Dumaguete, I visited the kumbento and this beautiful facade (above) just greeted me! Folksy rendition of the royal escudo, or the Spanish royal coat of arms attest to the royal support in building this building. Just beautiful and it still has traces of the original colors of blue and red!

Dumaguete? It is starting to wake up from its slumber. Life is getting hectic I guess with many new establishments being built. But I still love its small town charms, the languid and slow tedium of life. It has great food places from the filling puto and sikwate at the public market to small cafes and restaurants with interesting offerings. I’m seeing myself visiting this city, just a couple of hours trip by bus and boat from Cebu, more and more.

Marco Polo Davao organized a blogger tour and I was one of three invited for this activity. It’s great to be back again in Davao and believe it or not, I really had a great time discovering new food places! I had again a taste of the various dishes at Cellar de Oboza and their maja blanca cheesecake was just awesome. Lachi’s really is interesting with their desserts and meals with the, oh so delicious callos making the visit very memorable.

I didn’t dip in the waters of Samal but the food at Paradise was just so great. The resort is an old reliable, being the first resort in the island 27 years ago. But the seafood, the paella, grilled pork was more than enough to sate us. And of course, I had a great stay at the Marco Polo hotel with their new Premier City View suites!

Just days after my Davao City trip and I was on board a flight to Caticlan to cover the Boracay International Dragon Boat Festival 2013! This was what I’ve been busying with for the past few days. But at this time of the year, Boracay is just so hot and humid that it is taking its toll on my sanity. The heat is oppressive that a better way to enjoy this resort island is just to stay indoors and go out late in the afternoon till evening.

Now that the race event has finished, I’m now enjoying some relaxation at Sol Marina Resorts. It’s a bit far from Stations 1-3 but the peace and quite is priceless!