Tour Pilipinas Part 1: Dumaguete, Bacolod, and Cebu

Whew. That sums up my last two weeks. It was a lovely but tiring two weeks of adventure!

First off, I flew to Dumaguete for another opening with my boss in tow. It was a rainy morning when we arrived but the sun shined immediately a few minutes later.

View from our Van Pick Up

The opening was a success. My boss and our other companions decided to partake of the local seafood offerings like oysters and scallops. YUM! They were so fresh. The oysters have a natural sweetness in them and the scallops, tender and rich.

The night was lovely and we thought nothing about what would happen the following day.

It was declared signal # 1 due to typhoon Urduja. Unfortunately, our fastcraft trip from Dumaguete going to Cebu got cancelled as well as other sea trips. We attempted to take the bus who will ride a barge, hoping that the bigger sea craft would be allowed. No such luck. All flights were fully booked as well. No luck getting to Cebu.

So off we went and took a land rip via Sir Vic’s car going to Bacolod hoping that we could get a Bacolod-Cebu trip. Again, nada.

So while travelling, we entertained ourselves with the wonderful sights of Negros Occidental.

Being in Bacolod, I cannot miss partaking of the famous Calea cakes which was just across the street from our hotel. It got two thumbs up from my boss for being dense but not cloyingly sweet. It was a sweet ending to a tiring and long day.

We flew back to Manila the following day, in the afternoon, since we had no other options left but to go to Cebu via Manila because all flights were full in Bacolod as well.

The following morning I took an early flight going to Cebu for another opening (my third branch in Cebu). It was a fly in fly out thing because I have a lot of catching up to do with work. Of course, since I was already in Cebu, what else to do but go to Tabo-an to buy danggit!!!

Choy, my Cebu counterpart, and I decided to buy CnT Lechon. Too bad we arrived late and lucked out on the lechon. Choy, who owes me a HUGE favor, took me to Merto’s for lunch. He bought me not one, not two, but THREE huge containers of Dentelles Au Chocolat Belgian Chocolate Lace cookies in three flavors: Mint, Semi-Sweet, and Dark. I was shocked at the price but what the heck… Choy owes me. Hahaha. He happily bought me a thousand bucks worth of cookies! Oh they were super yummy. I love those cookies and always ask Choy to bring me some whenever he goes to Manila for meetings. I hope he owes me more favors soon. Harharhar.

Anyway, off to fly back to Manila come 3pm. I kept wondering why this Indian guy kept sitting beside me and staring at me. He never attempted to make conversation though. I was surprised we were seated beside each other on the plane. He still kept staring. And then it hit me. I freakin’ smelled like danggit! Gah! It clung to my silk blouse! He must be attracted to the scent. Gawd.

When I arrived at Centennial 2, I almost had a heart attack. I saw that the passenger side window behind the driver’s side of my car, Genesis, was covered and taped up with carton boxes! I went white. I thought somebody smashed my windows taking advantage of the few hours I was at Cebu.

I called security to get an explanation or incident report. Turns out I was super sleepy when I flew to Cebu that I left my window open. The guards were kind enough to cover up my window just in case it rained. My God! I cannot believe how lucky I am that NAIA Centennial 2 Security Guards are so wonderful! Too bad I can’t remember their names now since this happened two weeks ago. But thank you! I now feel safer leaving my car at the airport overnight knowing how outstanding the guards in Centennial 2 are at their jobs.