Forest Camp in Dumaguete

Next stop, the hot and cold springs of Forest camp.

How to go there

From our hotel: Grand Pensionne Plaza, we went to the jeepney terminal going to the town of Valencia. From Valencia, we took a tricycle to take us to Forest camp. Alternatively, there are habal-habals available in the area.

Going back to Dumaguete, we rode a tricycle instead of a jeep because we weren’t able to catch the last trip going back to Dumaguete.

3D1Q photo-opt at the jeep

What to see

Forest camp is actually a nature-inspired resort located in the town of Valencia. It features common tourist spots like a hanging bridge, a tree house, a picnic area, a fishing pond, and hot and cold springs. The spring water comes from the falls of Casaroro.

Arriving at Forest camp, the initial display in the entrance is this four by four military-like jeep.

A restaurant is also located inside the camp to accommodate their visitors who stays over night at the camp.

A bunch of locals (and Italian kids) we ran into at Forrest camp

Visitors can also take a swim at any of the two hot and cold springs inside the camp. We actually met this Italian family there, and a bunch of locals having a dip at the pool.

Fees and Fares of this tour

• Tricycle going to Valencia jeep terminal : P28.00
• Jeep going to Valencia: 12.00 each
• Tricycle going to Forest Camp: P120.00
• Entrance to Forest Camp: P30.00 each
• Tricycle from Valencia, going back to Dumaguete: P120.00

Tips and Traps

• Jeepneys going back to Dumaguete from Valencia is only available up to 6pm.

check out our gallery for more pictures

We travelled back to Dumaguete on board Delta Fast Ferries leaving at 12:30pm. We bought the tickets the day before so as not to risk our schedule and itinerary. When we docked at Dumaguete pier, we asked our tricycle driver for an affordable hotel. He took us to grand Pensionne plaza, where we booked a family room(good for 3) and added an extra bed, all for P1100. Since Dumaguete’s fried ice cream is one of the reasons why we choose to travel Dumaguete-Dipolog, we immediately looked for the ice cream bar. The receptionist told us that it was near our hotel and provided some directions.

Outside the hotel, we asked around again and were surprised that the locals didn’t know where it was located. We managed to find Panda Ice Cream Haus located on Ma. Cristina Street, Dumaguete City. We ate their infamous fried ice cream after our lunch at Scooby’s. After our sumptuous dessert, we thought that it’s time to tour Dumaguete.

First, we took a tricycle to the jeeps headed for Valencia. Although the jeep’s huge, it was cramped because about 6-8 people were required to sit in the middle of the jeep. They use small stools for the unlucky people who would sit there. The jeeps were scarce so it was normal to overload their jeepneys.

We took the jeep and hopped off at Valencia. The locals told us that the last jeepney trip was at 6pm (woah, that’s too early!). Amidst the chaos of haggling with the tricycle drivers, we managed to get a trike to Forest camp. Since it was already late (around 4pm), and the Casaroro falls was a long ride according to the drivers, we opted not to go there.

There’s not much to do in Forest Camp, unless you’d like to swim in the raging, rocky, river-like pool, where the water was taken from a nearby falls. I’m not sure where the source of the water really was.  We took a few pictures then head back to the plaza where the Spanish fountain was located.

We were amazed at the Dumaguete plazas we saw. For each plaza, there was always a Rizal monument as well as soccer and tennis fields. We never thought that Dumaguete is a sports-enthusiast province. We were also amazed when there was a sudden church-bells ringing in the air. The locals in the area suddenly stopped whatever they’re doing as a sign of respect to their church. I haven’t seen that kind of devotion in years.

We were unable to get the last jeepney trip back to Dumaguete City, so we were forced to hire a trike to get back. The driver asked if he could take more passengers. In the end, our trike had 7 passengers, the driver was 8th. Imagine how 7 passengers managed to squeeze-in in the trike.hehe

We asked the driver to drop us in the baywalk. We wanted to try the food sold there. However, we were a bit disappointed when we saw that the food available is something that looks like squid, coated in flour. We thought there were inasals or barbecues sold just like in Dipolog.

Afterwards, we walked to Sans Rival and bought some cakes for desserts. Then while looking for a good place for dinner, we saw la Cavitena’s Barkada package sign (for just P472). The food was great and affordable. The Barkada package consists of grilled squids, shrimps and pork. We decided to eat there again if there’s a chance. Dumaguete is a really good place for food-tripping.

Here is our expense breakdown for the day:

Multi-layered Cambugahay Falls

Last Feb 19-25, 2009, 3 friends and I toured Dapitan, Dipolog, Siquijor and Dumaguete. When we reviewed our total expenses, the total, including the air fare from/to Manila just costs under P10K. To find out how we did these, read on.

Preparation:
After our trip in CDO last October, we immediately planned our next destination. Japanesecake saw Dumaguete in LivingAsia channel and thought that it might be a good place to tour. Since Dipolog is just under Dumaguete, and since Dakak is in Dipolog (we saw the DAKAK commercial played nth times in Eat Bulaga, so that paved way for curiosity about the place), we decided that we can tour Dumaguete and Dipolog using an ARUNK flight. (ARUNK is a travel-industry term short for arrival unknown. Our flight is MNL-DPL and DGT-MNL, but going to DIPOLOG-DUMAGUETE is “unknown”, that’s where the term ARUNK comes in).

When Cebu Pacific 0 fare promo is offered to the public, we immediately decided our travel dates and booked a MNL-DPL and DGT-MNL flight. Our first step of preparation is complete.

Though we only booked hotels during trips, one week before departure, we opted to book for Dakak’s barkada package which is good for 4pax. The cost is only P2800, fair enough I guess. A few days before our tour, we finalized our itinerary. Our initial itinerary was:

Day 1: Dakak
Day 2: Tour Dapitan
Day 3: Tour Dipolog
Day 4: Tour Apo island, Dumaguete
Day 5: Tour Siquijor
Day 6: Tour Dumaguete
Day 7: Tour Dumaguete and head back to MNL

Due to some unexpected little mishaps, we changed our itinerary during the tour. It’s good that our itinerary is flexible enough to be changed abruptly and that we didn’t make any hotel reservations prior to our trip (except for Dakak). Here is our final list of itinerary.

Day 1: Tour Dakak, Dapitan (Dakak andDapitan Itinerary)
Day 2: Tour Dapitan and Dipolog (Dipolog Itinerary)
Day 3: Tour Liboton Cave, Dipolog (Dipolog Itinerary)
Day 4: Tour Siquijor island
Day 5: Tour Dumaguete
Day 6: Tour Apo island, Dumaguete
Day 7: Tour Dumaguete, head back to Manila

Here is the list of expenses per day of our travel. Breakdown of expenses will be shown per day in other posts.

Being able to experience a 7-day trip across 4 destinations for just under P9000 is a feat. Not only did we enjoy the tourist spots of the provinces, but we were able to prove a lot of things. One of them is Siquijor as a paradise, and not as the “aswang-infested” island we were used to hear.

I have searched highs and lows for the perfect foot wear that I could use for hiking, rafting, and at the same time use it on a regular basis. Then I came accross, this brown beautiful strappy thing. I was introduced to Giselle Bundchen…’s Ipanema. haha.

It cost me 1800 for this plastic sandals, only to find out that the ‘bangketa’s’ outside is swarming with fake replicas of these ipanema sandals. (I would’ve opted for the cheaper one. I’m not a ‘brand’ shopper.) My friend/tourmate ‘L’ had the same one, only fake. And to think I could saved 1700 for the slippers.

But now, my ipanema is still alive and ‘L’s well, she doesnt like to wear it anymore. My ipanema is standing strong. She had taken me to places, and she hold on tight during the rough times, when she almost was a gonner.
She had taken me to these beautiful places…

ipa at Siquijor

ipa at Macau

ipa about to take a leak.

dirty feet and ipanema at Davao

Yep me and Ipanema is going strong. And yes, I’m talking about my slippers in this manner.

fried ice cream from Dumaguete

Fried Ice cream

One of our food experience there was the famous fried ice cream of Dumaguete, available at Panda ice cream store. We think it’s famous, but we actually had trouble finding the place as the locals doesn’t know what or where it is. so for those planning to go there. It is located at RHD Building, Ma. Cristina Street, Dumaguete City.

The ice cream is basically an ice cream on a bread. It is is served immediately after cooking. Amazingly, the ice cream inside is still hard. It’s eaten with a spoon as you have to scrape and break open the bread to get to the ice cream inside.

Cost is about 50 to 80 pesos each.

this is what happened to the food we ordered in Hayahay

Hayahay

This is the only good seafood restaurant in the place we found considering Dumaguete is near the bay, and we have actually seen fisherman fish on the coast of Dumaguete. The food is great and doesnt cost much, at least for us four people. We share food so for four food and 4 cups of rice, I think we spent like almost 900 for the meal, including the drinks.

Fishballs and other street food

We were actually expecting that the boulevard(bay area) food stalls would be barbecued stuff but only to find out that it’s just fish balls and kikiams and all that little fried stuff. We didn’t eat here as we want to eat dinner at the place. We ended up going to El caviteño instead. (below).

Barkada package from La Caviteña

‘La Caviteña’ is beside Siliman University, you wont miss it. It has a banner that says barkada package for 450 pesos only. The barkada package we ate contains sea weed salad, chicken inasal, barbecued squid, baked mussels, buttered shrimp and some fish fillet. The funny thing about this restaurant is that the package boast of 4 – 1/2 rice, which is translated to 2 rice only. But they insist in calling it ‘apat na half rice‘ so, whatever.

the famous Sansrival store located near the bay

Sylvannas and Sansrival

This one is famous in Dumaguete, plus the store selling these deserts is quite nice. Its kinda like entering the house of the witch in the Jack and Jill story, except the walls is not edible. hehe. I didnt buy these products, but my friends did. Both sylvannas and sansrival are frozen deserts. We were told that it would only last for four hours. And by the time we went to the store, we were one and a half hour away from our flight. I did get to taste the sylvannas though, and boy was it good. I actually bought one here in Manila, to compare, and definitely Dumaguete’s sylvannas is much tastier.
Each sylvannas cost 10 pesos each and a box costs 105 pesos. The extra 5 pesos is for the box.
Sansrival if I remember correctly costs 125 or something.

The place is just near the bay,  walking distance from Siliman University.