Slogging through Negros
A change in islands from Bohol to Negros last week didn’t bring with it a change in weather, and days continued to be wet and very dark (Mordor style) as part of the delayed monsoon that was supposed to be over in November. Still, we managed to do something interesting each day that we spent on Negros so it was still pleasant enough despite the conditions.
We started in the coastal city of Dumaguete and on our first afternoon we took a trip via jeepney (the ubiquitous public transport here), motorbike and a short trek to an impressive 30m high waterfall in thick jungle. We got rained on a bit as we were walking the last part to the falls, but managed to convince ourselves that the rain improved our outing, as it increased the volume of water at the falls, and made the jungle greener and more lush. Needless to say, we were the only ones there, which is always nice.
The next day we visited the Wednesday market at Malatapay village, which, while not among the best markets we’ve seen in various places around the world, was traditional enough and was a nice counterpoint to the shopping malls that so dominate the cities in this country. (Filipino word of the day: ‘malling’, which we saw on a sign the other day and which presumably signifies the spending of one’s time at a shopping mall.)
From Dumaguete, we travelled through the interior of the island to Silay on the west coast, a longish (seven hours) but scenic trip through rice fields, palm trees and gentle mountains. We’ve been impressed with the scenery every time we’ve ventured inland on each island we’ve been on in the Philippines so far, but it seems that all the towns and attractions in the Visayas are on the coast so we haven’t stayed anywhere inland yet; that will come when we get to Luzon.
We spent a nice day in Silay, an old sugar plantation town whose heyday was in the 1920s and 30s. There are still 31 houses from that era dotted around town, some of which have been turned into museums, so we were able to go inside a couple of them which was pretty interesting. From there, we took another fastcraft boat to Iloilo on the next island to the west, Panay, ahead of the Ati-Atihan festival.
Tags: Asia, malling, rain, Southeast Asia, The Philippines
Nick