Saturday, October 27, 2012

Arriving Dumaguete City!

I arrived Dumaguete City two days after traveling from Seattle, Washington to Cebu, Philippines.  I flew into Dumaguete with Ray and Amy Villanueva from Cebu to make the transition and way-finding much easier.  Ray and Amy are my friends and colleagues from Seattle.  They are married and have been working at Foundation University for a year.  Ray has been teaching architecture for two terms.  He is my connection to Foundation University and has made it possible for me to take this professional leap abroad to teach.  Thank you Ray and Amy for trailblazing this rare opportunity and making a smooth transition to the Philippines.
Above: Amy (in green) and I (in peach) have just landed on Dumaguete soil.  This is my first ride in a pedicab.  Dumaguete City is the capitol for Negros, Oriental and the largest seaport and city in the province.  It has approximately 150,000 people within the city limits and is nicknamed, "the city of gentle people".  It is also known as the motor city of Negros Oriental.  Many residents own a scooter or motorbike, or run a pedicab business.  The narrow streets are congested with these modes of transportation.
Above: the pedicab driver.  Drivers have to pay attention at intersections because there are no stop signs.  Traffic weaves around each other like a steady, flowing current.  Surprisingly, there are few accidents because everyone is driving in defense of the rest of the drivers.

Below: That's Ray.


Regional cartoon tourism map of the east shoreline, Negros Oriental.  Notice the motorcycle identifier for Dumaguete City.










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