I came to Negros Oriental without any particular purpose. Just exploring looking at various places. Ading was still in the future tense, and in fact was in Singapore when I dropped off at the pier in Amlan. Dumaguete was immediately attractive; quaint, clean for the Phils, and very laid back. The tricycle drivers did not rip me off, and prices were cheaper than in Cebu by a considerable amount. So, I rented a room for 10 days, figuring I might go back to Cebu City, then to parts unknown.
Dumaguete has a Boulevard, which essentially is a wide ocean front promenade lined with trees adjacent to a street. This "strip" has the tourist hotspots, restaurants, and dive shops.
As a single I did the Why Not disco frequently, even at 60+ I enjoy dancing. Met some girls who obviously were there to prey on guys like me, but mostly I just enjoyed dancing with the girls. Quickly I grew tired of that scene, with the ugly Americans, Germans, Aussies etc. drinking in excess, treating Filipinas badly, and basically acting like jerks.
I moved to a somewhat shabby resort north of town, very nice, quiet, with a swimming pool, ahh yes relaxing and quiet. This way I was not always surrounded by the "expat" scene.
Met a girl quite by accident that I knew from Moal Boal. We hit it off and ended up living together, first mistake! The rental house was in a nice western Barangay far from town, A quiet and friendly rural setting.
Her parents lived behind, and things were fine for a couple weeks...
