To reach Dumaguete from Moalboal, I took a moto-trike, a 2-hour bus, a moto-trike, a 45-minute ferry,and then yet another moto-trike. Population 116,000, Dumaguete is a vibrant college town located in the Negros Oriental province of Negros Island. The small college there is gorgeous, but has the rather goofy name of Silliman University.
Moalboal, one of oldest diving towns in the Philippines, is in the Visaya chain of islands, about a 3-hour bus ride south of Cebu City. It's a raucous little place, full of divers, drinkers, bikers, and tourists.
Cebu, the capital of the Visaya islands, is a 23-hour ferry ride from Manila. It's about 90F and sunny here, not at all like winter. There are many aid workers at the hotel where I'm staying, likely heading northeast to Tacloban, the city recently decimated by typhoon Yolanda.
