Negros Oriental Ph

One day at a time. One simple beautiful stay in Tayawan Negros Oriental.

As I stay longer in this place, there’s plenty of experiences to enjoy that don’t have to cost a single centavo. Walk around, feel the place and if you have the courage and want to gain pain then hike at your own risk at Bao-Bao Peak.

As COVID19 still exist, there’s a top destination that circulates on social media about this place ( Bao-Bao Peak) which intrigued me located at Sitio Mambunot, Barangay Tayawan, Bayawan Negros Oriental (lucky me, it is near to where I live – can’t be spending a single centavo haha). According to those who experience the place it can be traveled around more or less 1 hour from Bayawan City (30-45minutes hike to the peak).

Currently residing at Barangay Tayawan, we had a long walked and hike from Purok 4 to Sitio Mambunot with my buddies.

We woke up early (3:30am) and we prepared ourselves to get ready for a trek. We are not familiar about this place. No guide. We are just excited to conquer this place haha! We started walking the rough roads of Tayawan with no lights at all. It’s about more or less one hour we reached the foot of the Bao-Bao Peak, we are not familiar which way to take going up….It’s really our lucky day we’ve seen a house and ask the owner the right way going up (as expected people in the province woke up early).

We just noticed that a lot of motorcycles parked in front of that house. According to the locals that we encountered on the way there’s a lot of people already going up earlier than us (we just decided to take other path rather than following the trail to avoid crowd at the peak).

Bao-Bao Peak is not yet purely developed destination and as I said earlier in my post, hike at your own risk because you have to take good care of your own self while hiking and when you reach the top of the peak, no one will remind you to be careful. You will be responsible for your own self as a tourist, visitor or as a hiker.

As the sun started to rise, we start running up even though we’re already catching our breath just to see and witness the sunrise. We didn’t follow the path of that peak. Instead, we take alternative route(avoiding the crowd at the peak). We didn’t follow the path we make our own trail haha! We take up the highest point, it has a small tower, some animals like dogs(barking on us), carabaos and cows eating grasses (we are on the other side of the peak).There’s a small house/camp too.

Wow! I am speechless when I reached the top! Breathtaking. Peaceful. The calmness of the environment is amazing. After a long walked, I felt I was on top of the world….

When reaching the top, I felt like I was on cloud nine. That experience, relaxing and spectacular view. You can feel and gaze up the sea of clouds.

It is advisable to visit the peak at around 4am-5:30am to see/catch the sea of clouds and witness the beautiful sunrise.

Looking forward to explore and discover more the hidden treasures of Negros Oriental.

P. S. Please don’t leave any kind of trash to protect our mother nature.Just leave your footprints and take only memories.

I have encounter some people saying that they don’t want to go back to their provinces where they grew up because life is hard. Most of these individual came from poor family in the province who move from the city and find good luck in big cities. But, as COVID19 occur, people from Manila and other cities desperately wants to go back home(province) because of crisis. No jobs. Businesses have been closed. No other source of income and some are kicked out from their boarding houses and apartments because they can’t pay their rent anymore. Now they realized that they need to go back to their provinces.

Living in the city makes us realized that life in the province is much better especially now that we are facing crisis not only in the Philippines but all over the world….

Living in the province is one of the best place we can go to avoid traffic, pollution, and the stress that take too much in the busy city. Waking up early with fresh air and welcoming the sunlight on your door, windows or on your bedroom will give us a good mood to start your day.

Enjoying a walk with my huge “Kalong Baliw” in bisaya. Known as Buri Hat or Salakot in Tagalog.

Rural living is one of the best for holiday breaks, for good or retirement.

Living in rural areas can be a great idea to relieve stress from the hectic schedule in the city. You get to have fun and explore the great outdoors and enjoy it with family, friends, relatives and neighbors.

It is also affordable to live and secure lands in the province – labors and materials cost are cheaper too….

I was born in the province of Benguet which is located in Northern part of Luzon, but moved in Baguio which is the capital city of Benguet – one of the most tourist visited places in the Philippines ……As of now I am in Central Visayas which is a bit warmer and miles away from my hometown and family.

Due to COVID19 virus we decided to move away from the city of Cebu (5 years in business operation, sadly shutdown due to C19) and we will try our luck in Negros Oriental province (my partner’s hometown) .

Negros Oriental is a province in the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region. Its capital is the City of Dumaguete. It occupies the southeastern half of the large islands of Negros and borders Negros Occidental.

Advantages living in the Province

Price of commodities is fresh produce. Fruits and vegetables are freshly picked on backyards and sometimes given by neighbors.

You can also put up poultry and domestic livestock as other source of income.

Friendly folks. Neighbors greet you even you don’t know each other. A simple smile is a way of greetings every time you meet them on the way or pass in front of your house.

Access to nature. Physical and mental benefits spending more time outdoors. It promotes physical agility, alertness and it improve us to be more resilient and optimism….

(Nowadays, most people especially kids are more fun of using gadgets like computers, cellphones and television all the time. We cannot deny the fact that we are in a modern world and mostly “millennials” are easily entertained in this digital era).

Lower costs. Most people living in the provinces have lower costs of living because foods and other basic necessities are cheaper.

Not too much pollution. Provinces have cleaner air especially if you are living few meters away from the city center.

More space. If you want to grow vegetables, bearing fruit trees or maybe if you are a fun of landscape gardening then the province is for you. (You do anything you want on the abundant space you have).

Relaxed Environment. More landscape and relaxed atmosphere and surroundings in the province. You will learn to appreciate small and simple things like backyard gardening, hiking in the farm, or sight-seeing natural landscape scenery around you.

If you want to escape a hectic lifestyle, noisy and endless crowds, you want peace and calm environment, then you have to move in the province.

Close to Nature. As soon as you step out your door, you’re already surrounded with natural greens of the outdoor. The great outdoors can reduce stress levels, restore mental fatigue and can improve self-esteem.

Healthier lifestyle. Activities in the province can contribute better physical and mental health.

Activities. In the provinces, it will cost a lot less because if you want to explore especially if you have kids then you just take a walk, have a fun activities outdoor. Most kids in the provinces are very creative in making fun activities without any expenses.

More Security/Safety. Lower violence issues.

Save money. You can save more money in the province because of no distractions such as limited amenities, dining and shops. Foods are freshly picked on backyards and if you are creative enough in living in the province then for sure you will mostly save more money.

Disadvantages Living in the Province

Limited stocks and commodities. Services and conveniences. Dining and shopping options are fewer.

Salary. Provinces have lower basic salary due to provincial rate. (Hoping that provincial rate in the Philippines will be pushed through the senate to avoid congestion in big cities).

Fewer job opportunities. It may be hard to make a living in the province especially if you have limited job experiences/knowledge. Mostly big companies are investing in big cities. Most of the career holders move to big cities to look for some better opportunities especially those wanting to work in corporate world.

Limited Access. Fewer transport facilities. Internet connections are slow.

Fewer Education Opportunities. In the city more modern facilities/technologies for educational purposes (modern technologies makes learnings easier and faster) and lots of educational opportunities such as trainings, seminars, workshops, and more exposures. Communicating, meeting and socializing.

Dangers on wildlife and bugs. Current experiences, there’s a lot of wild animals around the corner. Haha! Such as birds on our roof with the nest, hawks, big lizards/spiders inside the house and different kinds of insects.

Moving to a new place is a great challenge. So before moving to a place you have to decide first what you really want, but in our case we desperately needed to move in the province due to COVID19 (businesses has been shut down, no jobs and no other resources in the city so we decided to move out with no plans at all). We are not even sure what we really want to do.

I swear, living in the province is awesome! It’s calm, relaxed and peaceful. I don’t even feel that C19 virus exist.

I really love it especially the food we eat every day. Enjoying organic foods, fresh seafood’s and the place itself ( feeling grateful everyday).