Dumaguete 2018

Up to now, me and Joel are still reminiscing about our Dumaguete trip last 2018. We really loved the city vibe there. We planned to stay for only 2 nights but extended to 1 more night.

Dumaguete, nicknamed as the city of gentle people, is the capital of the province of Negros Oriental. It is also referred to as the university city because of the presence of 4 universities and small colleges where students from around the country converge to enroll in tertiary education.

Dumaguete is where I lived for 4 years of my college life. When I look back to those years, its a bit of a blur but I can remember the feeling of having a second home in Dumaguete. I can say I never fully enjoyed the place as I was focused on getting through college and passing the board exam. However, Dumaguete will always be close to my heart.

Some things we did during our short stay.

1. Walk along the Boulevard

 It has always been my dream to stay at Bethel Guest House which is situated near the boulevard and fortunately for us, there was vacancy when we walked in. This gave us a good view of the boulevard in the morning and during the night when the light posts are turned on.

On our first day, I insisted we go out early to walk along the boulevard. Fresh breeze made the walk enjoyable as the rays of the sun started to shine. There was a coconut vendor selling coconuts for 20 PHP (0.38 USD). It was refreshing while seeing all the sights of the early morning.

During the night, the boulevard is the host of programs. We were able to witness the opening night of #Dumagetme - I believe it was a tourism program of the city. Tempura stalls would line up as well adding to the already wide range of food options from the restaurants.

2. Visit Silliman University

My Alma Mater. I don't get tired of visiting and making sure I step foot inside the university that helped shaped what I am today. I am always excited to see what the progress have been made on the grounds/ buildings and to visit my old dormitory. Walking through the halls of Silliman made me remember how I walk to the library almost every night, our gym class on the sprawling grounds, how the guards would always check for identification before letting someone in, and especially the cheese bread from the cafeteria.

3. Eat! Eat! Eat!

The city has stood up to the demand of the growing crowd and it does not disappoint when dealing about food. A lot of restaurants have appeared along with the old favorites like Silvanas, Chin Loong and the likes. We particularly liked Food Net not only because it was affordable but also because it is tasty with good serving size. I gobbled up the food right away, therefore I do not have photos LOL.

4. Lake Balinsasayao

The lake that is on top of a mountain. Hard to get to but pleasing when you get there. You can read all about it here.

5. Tierra Alta

A new resort located on the slopes of Palinpinon, Valencia. It has been a venue for weddings of my friends and I didn't expect that my old friend, Rainer, would take us here for sight seeing. We saw an amazing 360 degree view of the mountains and it also has a restaurant serving delicious food.

There are lots and lots of things to do in Dumaguete which we did not have time to do. Maybe if we visit again soon. For now, I am happy to see people and friends post about being in Dumaguete. It makes me smile knowing that they are having fun at the place where I had an awesome time, too.

Thank you for reading and 'til next blog!

Arthurs Seat 2019

For our first day trip in 2019, me and Joel decided to go to Arthurs Seat. As per history, the first British explorers entered Port Philip in 1802 and named the hill Arthurs Seat due to its resemblance to Arthurs Seat in Edinburgh, Scotland.

We went down there last 5 January 2019 and left Melbourne at about 1 in the afternoon. The weather in Melbourne was cloudy and the forecast was cloudy at Arthurs Seat as well but will be sunny at around 5pm. We were in no rush and were also prepared to be disappointed because of the weather. The drive was about an hour and along the way, it was really rainy so we were in doubt if we made the right decision.

The clouds were already rolling away when we arrived at Arthurs Seat. We were happy to see this but because we got confused, we drove directly to the Summit Station. Parking was free in both base and summit station. As expected the roads were winding and there were a lot of lookouts along the way.

We were ready with our jumpers because the weather can get chilly in a split second. As with any other parks in Australia, helpful signs are along the way.

Arthurs Seat is the highest point of the beautiful Mornington Peninsula. I saw glimpses of the view when we were driving up but the best view can be from the gondolas. First we headed off to the  Eagle Cafe as we were both craving for hot drinks. This gave us time to decide what things to do while up there. 

 This was our view.

First we decided to head to  Arthurs Chair as well as the lookout.

Then we headed out to check the Enchanted Adventure Garden which was about 2-3 minutes walk from the cafe.  It features 3 hedge mazes, 5 giant tube slides and many more. It also features tree surfing wherein there are high ropes adventure with zip lines. General Admission is $30 per adult and $20 per child/senior. It would take about 2-3 hours to take utmost advantage of the place. We realized we had limited time and will be back to conquer it next time.

We then decided to go back to the base station and paid $24 for a return ticket per adult to ride the gondola. No long line to get into the gondola during that time and we had one to our own. We used their map to spot things from the gondola.

Back to the summit station.

We still had time so armed with our map, we went to check out other walking paths. The day was already nice and it was interesting to see different kinds of trees in their gardens. There were a lot of spots for picnics and relaxation.

Another lookout.

This is Flinders Cairn. It's a stone monument marking the site where Captain Matthew Flinders, the leader of the first circumnavigation of Australia and identified it as a continent, saw Port Philip. A stone cairn was used to mark a historical location at that time. At present, it has been enlarged.

We were satisfied with our time up there so we then headed to ride the gondola back to the base station. We were happy the day turned out not so bad. Another must visit place in Victoria conquered! Thank you and 'til next blog!

Ba Na Hills 2018

I have never heard of Ba Na Hills before until I was researching for things to do in Hoi An. It has piqued my interest as it looks like somewhere in Europe and not in Asia. In addition, it has a long cable car to take guests up to the resort. It looks very lovely and since Joel agreed, we went there after our short stint in Hoi An.

Ba Na Hills was discovered in 1901 by Paul Doumer, the General Governor of Indochina. With its lovely weather, the French built it to become one of the most luxurious resorts in Vietnam. However, time and war devastation made it lost its beauty. Thanks to Sun Group, Ba Na has been restored and  and is now called the "Europe in the middle of Central Area". Now it has a 4 star hotel, restaurants, a modern entertainment park and much more.

Our hotel in Hoi An was very kind to help us arrange a taxi towards the cable car station in Ba Na Hills. Since it was about an hour ride, the price was 500,000VND (22 USD) for the car. Excitement started to come to us right after we stepped off the taxi. Who wouldn't be with this view?

The counter for cable car wasn't hard to find.We mentioned that we are staying at Grand Mercure and the lady at the counter called a butler to assist us. We rode what seemed like a golf car towards another building where the hotel reception was. Joel asked if that was already the hotel. I was confused as well but the receptionist assured us that the hotel is at the top :) She gave us a map of what we should expect over there.

Check in was very fast and we had to pay 18 USD for the cable car. This cable car is one of 10 most impressive cable car systems all over the world as voted by CNN. It was so exciting and when we finally queued up for the cable car, we were overjoyed that we had one to ourselves!

With soothing music, good weather and spectacular views, me and Joel were so impressed.

Our hotel, the Mercure Ba Na Hills French Village Hotel, is beautifully designed with European architectural style in the 19th century. We presented ourselves again at their reception which looked lovely!

They also surprised us by upgrading our room!

The room's main colour was purple and which gave it a royal feel.

Loved the hotel's spiral staircase as well. 

I was in doubt why the flyers and maps said that we can experience 4 seasons in a day in Ba Na Hills. Well, I saw it and it made me believe! One second there is sunshine, then fog will envelop the place and then sunshine again just before the rain and winds come. Like this fog just outside our window.

Right in front, or where our hotel was, is the French Village. It represents a classical and romantic France. It really does not feel that you are in Asia if your here at the French Village. There are a lot of tourists so getting a decent photo is a challenge.

It is easy to get hungry from all the walking and picture taking so fret no more. Scattered in the village are street food stalls such as grilled sausage, crepes and pop corns. I saw souvenir shops around as well.

Unfortunately, the clouds descended so fast when we were about to come out of the hotel to explore what's around.

We decided to have dinner at the hotel (because we didn't realize other restaurants close early). The hotel restaurant was grandiose.

Afterwhich, we checked their heated pool with free movie screening.

The next day, we had our buffet breakfast and checked out from the room.

The staff was very kind to let us leave our bags in their storage room while we roam around to see more of the resort.

We then ventured into Fantasy Park. This is the largest indoor entertainment park in Vietnam and it has about 3 levels of fun! Most of the games and rides are for free except for the Wax Museum.

We had fun with the many entertaining games.

There were also live shows of talented artists on a stage.

We looked for the Funicular to get to other interesting places. At first we were not sure if it had an additional fee but there was none! So we reached Le Jardin d'Amour first which included 9 gardens such as Lover's Garden, Secret Garden, Grape Garden, Dream Spring Garden and Legendary Garden.

We also went into Debay Ancient Wine Cellar which was built by the French People in 1923. It was about 100 meter long and the exit lead us to Bar Debay. They are serving wine, BBQ roaster, apple cinnamon tea and Sangria which we tried out.

We also headed to the Buddha Statue and Linh Ung Pagoda.

Restaurants are abundant in Ba Na Hills. Italian, European, Asian and even Russian food is available and some even offer buffet. But, as a resort, these places are really pricey.

I could say we didn't expect how cold it is up there in Bana Hills. But it does make sense because people come up there especially during the summer. 2 days and 1 night is not enough to enjoy the whole place. I've read an update that they had built a long and grand overlooking bridge up there which the guests loved. Not sure if I could come back to Ba Na Hills but it was a good experience to have "Europe feels" while still being in Asia.

Thank you for reading and 'til next blog!