Afterleaving Manila I flew to Dumaguette for three days/nights including a stopover on the island of Siquijor for a night. Dumaguette is mostly a college town with Silliman University right off of the city center so there are lots of college students walking around, I felt right at home. I stayed a little out of town about a 15 minute walk into the center. After my first night the next day I spent walking around checking out the sights and checking on somebusiness like the ferry schedule for my trip to Siquijor the next day. That night I talked with Johnathon from the pensionI stayed at about an open water diving course for me over three days after I returned from Siquijor. He was doing it away from the resort he worked out so it was cheaper for me and more one-on-one so I made plans to meet him on Saturday afternoon after I returned on the ferry.
There was a big fiesta being held in the city park in the middle of town so I spent an evening listening to music and cruising the food and stuff stalls. The next day I left the pension to catch the ferry at 10:15am . this was the slow ferry so it took about an hour and 30 minutes and we arrived at Siquijor town port at about 11:30am where I was met my "IP" one of the young enterprising tricycle drivers (a motorcylcle attached to a cart with a covered seat for passengers) who agreed to take me around to see some places to stay. He took my to the next town over to an expensive resort then back to a cheapy place by the main road. I realized he was just driving me around trying to make more money so I asked him to take me somewhere to rent a moto for the day. He took me to someone's house in the Siquijor where this young guy agreed to rent me his moto(cross between a scooter and motorcycle, 125cc with gears but no clutch) until 10:00pm that evening. It gave me about 7 hours to tour the island on my own and see some of the hidden beaches and villages.
I had a great time riding around the about 92km island waving at the locals, apparently a whitey on a moto is still quite a novelity. I spent a few hours at anice beach before almost running out of gas, (the sell it on the side of the road in old coco cola glass bottles) and finally parking under a church doorway during a big rainstorm. It was about 7:30pm and I wanted to get te moto back so after the rain tappered off a little I decided to turn it in, the owner lived around the corner. Well the little 125cc can really move on wet pavement because I came out to hot on te throttle and the rear tire came out from under me to the left, the moto went right into a retaining wall with me on it. I came off with a cut big left toe and some pains in various body areas but otherwise ok. The moto seemed to not be damaged so I quickly rode back and turned it in. I asked Francis the owner to give me a lift home and on the way he noticed the steering was off to the left. He asked me about it and I told him most of the story and he said he would go back and look at it in the light and let me know. About 20 minutes later as I was cleaning out my toe gash he came back and said there were some scratches on the mud coverings and the steering was a little off. I gave me some money to cover the damages he was pretty nice about it I think because he is a nice person and it was an "unofficial" rental so he did not have much recourse except through nice renters like me. I learned my lesson about this little motos and perhaps need a little more time in the saddle before getting my Triumph!!!
WOke up early to catch the ferry the next day to a very swollen and black/blue big toe and some bruises on my body. My toe ached and I was tired so I limped to the ferry only to hear it was not leaving at 8:15 but 12:15 so I waited at the pier like everyone else. Ah the joys of SE Asia transportation!!!
