island on fire
I'd been looking forward to this trip as Siquijor intrigued me a lot with all the stories about aswangs and mangkukulams (vampires & witches) that inhabit this far-off island with its untouched beauty, once semi-isolated from the rest of the world . Recent local travel promotions ,stories,photos, and blogs came out attesting to Siquijor's natural wonder and this led to Siquijor's opening of its doors to the outside world for tourism. According to people who recently visited the island, the aswang and mangkukulam scare is just pure mythology and does not exist anymore , but some still spread stories about mangkukulams still wandering in the island. The mystery and beauty of the island lured me to say yes when my Cebuano friends asked me to join them on this weekend trip.
Salagdoong Beach
Everybody in our office at Makati had a common reaction whenever I said I was going to Siquijor that Friday April 11. Everyone gave precautions and advices of sorts: do not make direct eye contact with strangers, do not accept offers of food and water from locals, bring a rosary or crucifix, if anybody taps you on the shoulder tap them back, etc.etc. I was just laughing about everything I hear but it made me even more excited. By 6 pm that day, I was already at Cebu City, my home sweet home for the past 5 years until I transferred back to Makati late last year. I went straight to Cebu Midtown where I checked in, and texted travbuddy RACKY to tell him I was already in town and to ask what time will we meet for beer later in the evening.
red banana
After doing some errands, I went to Keppel Building at Ayala Business Park to fetch Racky_tn and we headed to Busay Hills at Mister A's for some beer, scallops,calamares,and sisig. The place is located on the upper hillside of Cebu overlooking the city. We drank our last bottle of San Mig lights at around a few minutes past midnight as we promised ourselves to head home early as we both were to travel the next day, me going to witch hunt in Siquijor and Racky going to search for Manta rays in Malapascua Island. I was able to wake up early the next morning to catch my 7:00am boat to Siquijor while my other travbuddy was still into very deep slumber dreaming of sharks, eels, Manta rays and more sunburn; while his ride to Malapascua is already miles away.
wearing my anti-evil bling bling.
What a bummer! He missed his trip to Malapascua Island.
The Weesam Express boat ride to Siquijor took a total of five hours with stopovers at Bohol and Dumaguete ports. The boatride on this fastcraft was fairly smooth and comfortable. We reached the port of Siquijor town at around 12nn. Our guide met us at the port and the first thing we asked him was where can we have a decent lunch. We were brought to Samwyz Pizza, which was just a 5-minutes ride from the port at the town center. It seemed like that was the only restaurant in town. It was at the 2nd floor of a two-storey house with a veranda facing the road and the marketplace. I kept on looking outside the veranda and wondering why the street was almost desserted and very silent contrary to the other provincial towns where the town centers are filled with minor bustle and tricycle & jeepney noise and fumes. I was thinking that if the town is almost deserted during the daytime then what more after the sun goes down.............................
