General Santos City: Overview of my Home Sweet Hometown

General Santos City or known as the Tuna Capital of the Philippines is my hometown. It is called Tuna Capital because of the Tuna Industry in the City. Shortly known as Gensan, it is also the home of the famous boxer Manny Pacquiao. Nowadays it is also called as Home of the Champ because of this.

People from the Luzon and Visayas islands are quite scared and hesitant to go to Gensan because of the bombing cases years ago and thinking that Gensan is an unsafe place. Well, I am still alive and kicking right now. We are all a magnet of accidents and trouble. Anywhere can be unsafe unless there is constant vigilance.

There are a lot of ways to reach GenSan. Via plane, bus, ship/boat, you choose. Common transportations in the city are tricycles, public jeepneys, trisikad (a mini version of tricycles which are only allowed to travel within subdivisions and barangays), and habal-habal (motorcycles). There are a few taxis but with unfixed fares.

Photos below are taken downtown, General Santos City's Park (July 23, 2010). I chose to take some shots of the park because it is found at the heart of the city and the most well-known landmark in GenSan.

The renovated and improved Plaza Heneral Santos was unveiled to the public September 4, 2009.

 Pathway. At the end is the City Hall.

Statue of General Paulino Santos Sr.

Unlike before, the park is now adorned with ornamental plants, well-arranged trees and pretty landscapes.

Pioneer Avenue facing the General Santos City's Park. From here, you can see tricycles,and habal-habal.

Gensan is a lovely booming smalltown with neighboring cities such as Koronadal and Davao. Since Gensan is my hometown, I will show more posts about this city in the future (the benefit of having your own blog-biased, LOL!).

Tacloban City

Finally! If it wasnt for our Waray friend, Mytha, I wouldn't be able to reach Tacloban. I just love the peaceful ambience. I wish I could go back there and revisit San Juanico Bridge and McArthur Park for I wasnt able to see the charm of those man-made beauties during daytime. I'll show you some famous landmarks and for sure you will fall in love with Tacloban City.

This is the Santo Nino Shrine by the late President Ferdinand Marcos. Inside you can see priceless collector's items like paintings, furnitures, etc. You will be asked to remove your footwear and wear one of their slippers once inside. The downside? You won't have enough time to appreciate the beauty of the items because the tour guide will tell you to hurry up for they are saving electricity.

If you want to get inside, here are the details.

This place is in the city's vicinity. From here, you can see the vast ocean of Tacloban.

I love this place. I think this is their court, not sure though. My friend Mytha mentioned what it was called but I forgot. I'm terrible! Ugh!

San Juanico Bridge. The longest bridge in the Philippines stretching from Samar to Leyte crossing the San Juanico Strait. When a friend and I went there, it was already night time. We were told that vehicles are not allowed to stop there so we had to sneak and hurry to have this picture taken.

Mc Arthur Park. This monument is dedicated to General Mc Arthur and his troops. Located in Palo, Leyte which is a few minutes drive from Tacloban City.

Transportations in Tacloban City proper are tricycle, jeeps and fare is Php7. From Cebu, you can ride a fastcraft going to Ormoc City and then ride a bus for Tacloban. The fare for the fastcraft is Php 1000+ and the ride for the bus is free, part of the promotional package of the fascraft line.  You can also opt out to fly on a plane. 

More photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/xymyr23/sets/72157624975330765/

watch out for my Ormoc City Trip!

Dumaguete City

Visiting Dumaguete City is one of the most memorable experience I ever had because it's one of those rare times that I went out without planning! Just the mere thought of going there triggered my adrenaline to rush and without second thoughts, I and two of my friends arrived at Dumaguete equipped with only instinct and trusting luck not to forsake us on that foreign land. Just the sight of the Belltower while riding a tricycle is worth all the risks!

To go there we rode a bus from Cebu City to Liloan Port, still Cebu. After reaching the port, we rode a machine-powered boat going to Sibulan. This way of transport is time-consuming (3-4 hours approx. including the ride in the bus and boat) compared with flying on a plane but it's much cheaper. Once in Sibulan, we took a multicab ride or you can opt out for tricycles to reach Dumaguete City. Fare is cheap, we only spent less than Php500. Just prepare Php 1000 back and forth to make sure. I don't know if how much is the price now.

When we reached the City, we still looked for a place to stay and during that time, I had proven that the locals are gentle and very helpful people. The main city is small because it won't take a genius to memorize the crisscross and looks of the streets. Tricycles are all over town, you can ride one of those to go to your desired destination. Fare was Php7.

Rizal Boulevard

Bell Tower of Dumaguete

This is encrypted at the entrance of the Church

Oldest Stone Church in Negros

You should try out the pastries of Sans Rival. Locals and tourists come here because of the delicious taste of the said pastries. We tried some of their cakes.

We can't just get enough so we came back the next morning before leaving Dumaguete.

Sans Rival is well known for their Sans Rival pastry. Try it, it's Php 25/slice.

Dumaguete is also known as a University Town because of the many universities and schools. This picture is the ampitheater of the Siliman University.

If you want to experience the relaxing and posh feel of the pool try going to Bahura Resort. We paid Php500 for the day use. It includes the entrance fee, use of the pool, food (appetizer, main course, dessert). We had the place on our own when we went there because it was raining. To go to Bahura, you can just ride a jeepney or multicab from the city fare is around Php10.
Over all going there was worth all the risk, not an expensive trip and fun, fun, fun!

More photos on this site:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/xymyr23/sets/72157624569522330/