[scotian]

(03-03-2013 09:32 PM)scotian Wrote:  

(03-02-2013 09:37 PM)High Society Wrote:  

Scotian,

How is the night scene in Duma? Thinking about doing a month in Cebu, then a month in Duma. Although I am worried I might get bored with Duma after a week or so.

What is your thoughts on Duma after spending some time there?

To further answer your question, yes you may get bored of Dumaguete after a week or so due to the lack of night life options. It really depends on you and what you're doing, if you're into diving then you could stay longer or if you want to get into some kind of "mini-relationship" with a local, it could be okay. However, since it is relatively small, it may be tricky running through a bunch of girls there as you're likely to see the ones you've already banged at the mall or in the clubs. The girls here are a bit conservative and seem to take a couple of dates to bang, unless you shore from Why Not.

I just spent 3 days in the city of Tagbilaran on Bohol island and am going back to Dumaguete tonight, I will drop some data on that city too in the next couple of days.

I've got some free time so here's the intel on Tagbilaran, Bohol Island:

Overview Tagbilaran is the largest city on the island of Bohol, population of about 100, 000, its situated on a hill over looking the Cebu straight. I didn't really see too much of the city as we didn't rent scooters, but saw most of the down town area and the beach town of Alona. There are fewer foreigners in the downtown area as Dumaguete, probably because it really isn't as nice. However, according to Wikipedia, the people of the city have more money than cities in other areas and this was noticeable by the fact that there actually is a nicer, higher end (non hooker) night club here, more on that later.

Getting there: Direct flights are available from Manila and Cebu. We took the Oceanjet ferry from Dumaguete, it was 2 hours. Tagbilaran is half way between Cebu and Dumaguete on the Oceanjet, it stops in Tagbilaran before going to Dumaguete from Cebu.

Hotels: We stayed at Reyna's Haven, which is close to downtown but not in the heart of the action. Nice rooms with Ac and WIFI for 1000P/night. Another, higher end option would be the Metro Centre Hotel which is right downtown on the main strip and it has the nicest club in town in the down stairs, Atmosphere.

getting around: Same as Dumaguete, tricycles are the best option, but unlike Dumaguete, taxis are available. We tried to rent scooters but they were a lot more expensive at 800P for 24 hours, we found one place with scooters for 500P but neither would start, so we gave up on that idea, too bad.

Things to do: Quite a bit actually, forum member Innuendo organized a taxi to take the three of us around for a day, at a cost of 2000P total, plus entrance fees to the sites. Here's what we did in the full day tour:

-Chocolate Hills tour: Bohol is famous for these limestone formations which look like big conical mounds, apparently there's about 1200 of them. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocolate_Hills

-Tarsier Monkeys: Stopped by at a tarsier zoo, they were in the jungle in a tourist set up, they're the smallest monkey in the world and pretty cool to see. Entrance to the zoo was 50P and we stayed for about 15 minutes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_tarsier

-Bohol Zip Line: Best thing we did during this day trip, this zip line is awesome. At 350P, it was totally worth it as you lay in a harness "super man style" and zip across a canyon with a river below. The zip line spans a distance of 520M at a height of 120M, it was one of the biggest adrenaline rushes I've ever had in my life, for under $10.

-River Boat Cruise: We hit this up mid-day and it was very nice. Basically its a river boat that cruises along the Loboc river for an hour, includes a full, all-you-can-eat buffet and live music. It takes an hour and stops at a river station where about 30 Filipino women and children sing and dance for the tourists. At 450P, it was money well spent.

We then went to the oldest Catholic church on Bohol and the site of the "Blood Compact", a recently built statue of Spanish conquistadors and local Filipino tribesmen: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_compact

We ended the day by hitting up a local cock fight (it was a Sunday afternoon) and this was one of the best parts of the trip. I can't under estimate how integral cock fighting is in the Filipino culture, great way to spend and afternoon (and lose money!), also, not a woman in sight!

Other areas: Most tourists in the area leave Tagbilaran as soon as they get there, and many head to the popular Alona Beach, which is about a 40 minute tricycle ride from the Tagbilaran port. We stayed here our first night at Paragayo Hotel (1260P/night) but left the next day to have a more "local experience". Forum member Innuendo stayed there, and honestly, we should have too because Tagbilaran was a bit of a let down, although Atmosphere club was pretty good on Saturday night.

Alona Beach has a bunch of activities and caters to the foreign tourists, most who are European. Its a typical beach town: lots of dive shops, little cafes, restaurants, bars and a a few decent beach style night clubs, you'll have a decent time here although it won't be authentically Filipino and you may be annoyed by the aggressive taxi drivers and touts, as my friend and I were, which is why we decided to head into Tagbilaran.

Night life: Not much going on in Tagbilaran, we hit up a couple of local KTV bars and one was dead, the other was very low end and local, so we just walked 2 minutes around the corner to the only decent night club in town, Atmosphere. Located inside the Metreo Centre Hotel, there's a lounge area and a medium sized night club that was packed on Saturday night, probably about 300 people. It was mostly locals (only saw two other Gringos) and a younger crowd, about 18-25. We stayed for a couple of hours but didn't pull, its a non-hooker bar and it seems that Filipinas go out in mixed packs of female/male friends and none are too keen on leaving alone with a random foreigner, I hit on a couple and they were open to chatting but not even into dancing with a Gringo in front of their friends.

Not sure if there's a hooker bar or P4P scene here, doesn't seem like it although I think that some of the girls in Alona beach were looking to hook up with foreigners.

So all in all, I would recommend staying at Alona beach as Innuendo decided to do and skip Tagbilaran, unless you want to go to a decent "high end" bar, even still I would stay in Alona beach area and catch a 40 minute cab or trike back.

Ok, I have to leave soon and catch this boat back to dumaguete. Still undecided if I'm going to fly to Manila with my friend and Innuendo or stay around here, I'll keep you guys posted!