kathangisip travelogue » what to eat in Siquijor

Itinerary Day 4: Siquijor

catnap03 — Mon, 25 May 2009 02:21:06 +0000

A copy of Siquijor map at Forest Camp

How to go to Siquijor

Because of our mishap the day before, we were forced to tour Siquijor on day 4. We bought the earliest ferry (Super Shuttle Ferry) scheduled to depart at 5am. Tickets cost 350/pax and the ride was approximately 4 hours. I’d say this was a typical RORO because it has room for land vehicles.

When we arrived in Dumaguete Pier, we bought ferry tickets bound to Siquijor. Delta Fast ferry is fully booked so we settled for a GL Shipping Lines Ferry. We recommend Delta Fast Ferry more because it is faster and safer. When we board the GL shipping lines, we were worried because the ferry looked overbooked. Japanesecake and I asked the coastguards if we were still safe and we wouldn’t capsize. There were hardly any seats for all passengers. Besides, the ride was rough to the point that passengers at the topmost deck were splashed with water. L ended up throwing up and cursed ferries from that day onwards.

Japanesecake and I managed to get information from local passengers so we booked at Dondeezco Beach resort. We hired the first tricycle driver who doesn’t look an aswang to tour us. Just kidding.hehe. The driver was very nice. I forgot his name though.

Tourist Spots in Siquijor

Here are the tourist spots of Siquijor:

Century-old balete tree
Cambugahay falls
St. Isidro labradore Parish church and convent
Capilay Spring park
(folk-healing village) – opted not to go here because of distance and time factors
Cantabon cave – opted not to go here since we’ve been to Libuton cave already

Expenses

Here is our expense breakdown for the day:

Description	Total as a Group	Breakdown per person
Trike to Dapitan Pier	200	50
Tip to manong	50	12.50
Dapitan terminal fee	44	11
Ferry tickets to Siquijor (promo)	400	100
Trike to Jolibee	28	7
Breakfast @ Jolibee (individual)	-	-
Trike back to Dumaguete Pier	28	7
Dumaguete Terminal fee	60	15

Ferry tickets for Siquijor- Dumaguete	640	160
Siquijor tour via tricycle	800	200
Dondeezco Beach resort payment	1495	373.75
Donation to St. isidro labradore parish church and convent	20	5
Parking fee (Cambugahay falls)	10	2.50
Dinner @Dondeezco	622	155.50
Grocery	108.50	27.125
Total	PHP 4585.50	PHP 1146.375

Reception area, Dondeezco

Where to stay

Dondeezco resort has a fine, white beach to boot for. Unfortunately, we were unable to try swimming in the beach because of the Habagat. If Dakak’s water was so calm, Siquijor’s was the opposite. The wind was so strong that it was impossible to swim at the shore. The waves were huge and strong enough to capsize a small boat (I suppose).

Dondeezco contact info:

Phone : 035-4809066 / 09224143370

website : http://dondeezco.com.ph/

Siquijor is a diverse island having great tourist spots and fine, white sand beaches. I’ll recommend it to anyone who wanted to relax and have an adventurous day. Besides, as japanesecake described, Siquijor is no place for “aswangs”. Or perhaps we just haven’t met any? :p

More pictures of Siquijor here:

Touring Dapitan-Dipolog-Siquijor-Dumaguete in Under PHP9K

catnap03 — Sun, 03 May 2009 03:19:24 +0000

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.

Description	Total as a Group	Breakdown per person
Airfare (MNL-DPL)	2912	728
Airfare (DGT-MNL)	2912	728
Underwater camera /groceries	1085	271.25
Dakak barkada package	2800	700
Day 1 expenses	1690	422.50
Day 2 expenses	3104	776
Day 3 expenses	5508.50	1377.125
Day 4 expenses	4585.50	1146.375
Day 5 expenses	4585.50	1146.375
Day 6 expenses	3429	857.25
Day 7 expenses	2662.20	665.55
Total	PHP 35273.70	PHP 8818.425

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.

Siquijor is no place for ‘aswangs’

japanesecake — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 02:51:10 +0000

Siquijor's Cambugahay falls

Coming to Siquijor, some of my friend’s family were a bit worried that we are going there. They were afraid because of Siquijor’s reputation. In the Philippines, Siquijor is known for having mambabarangs, mangkukulam (witches) and aswangs(monsters)

That connotation is really funny, because Siquijor is no scary place at all. It’s one of the most beautiful places I’ve been into. Plus the people are really nice, and they didn’t eat us! haha.

One of the things we were warned was if some Siquijor local taps us in the back or in any area, we have to tap them back. Because a single tap means that we have been cursed. What’s next? require every people we see to put saliva in our forehead to prevent us from getting “usog” haha.

Maybe aswangs and witches is what caused Siquijor to be so beautiful. Most tourist are scared of it.

Getting There – Siquijor

Our itinerary started from Dipolog, Dakak, Dapitan and then Dumaguete. We didnt catch the daily 4 pm ferry from Dapitan port. (Due to some annoying people we ran into in Dipolog)

Because of this, we opt to ride from Dapitan, then Dumaguete then Siquijor. So thats two ferry rides from two ports.

Things to do in Siquijor

The only thing we did in Siquijor was to tour. We (four of us) rented a tricycle to do the tour for us.

We went to Cambugahay falls, the biggest Balete tree, Lazi convent, and Lazi church.

Lazi Convent

Lazi convent was pretty amazing, it’s huge! I googled just right now, and it’s actually the biggest convent… in the whole of asia!!!!! hahaha. It used to be a convent for friars and nuns during the 18th century. Right now it’s just a tourist spot having a mini museum, which lies on the second floor. Entrance to the museum is 20 pesos. Of course like any other museum pictures are not allowed. They also sell t-shirts there, in case you’re interested. Speaking of t-shirts, we were told that one good souvenir to take from Siquijor are t-shirts with aswang illustrations in it. But none of the locals know where to get it. So in case you get lucky, please tell us where you bought one. hehe.

Biggest Balete Tree

Okay so to add to the spookiness of Siquijor, it’s also home to the biggest Balete tree (wait I just need to google which area). Okay it’s only biggest Balete tree in Siquijor, I thought it would’ve been categorized in the ‘whole of asia!!!!’ category. Its really big, and pretty annoying actually, they commercialized the area by putting some stupid man-made no-water pool in front of it. But they didnt say it’s the prettiest Balete tree, it’s just the biggest.

Cambugahay Falls

Whenever we would tour, Falls are always on our itinerary, it’s kinda getting old and boring. Good thing Cambugahay was really nice. Though you have to make a good 20 minute trek down it, I’d say its worth it, cause the place is really beautiful, and the water is clear and cool. But again we ony dipped are legs in it, cause we were off to another tourist spot, and getting there wet is not cool.

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More pictures of Siquijor here:

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