Baguio Insider

And what does this news have to do with Baguio City?

1. First, I was asked last December to design the Go Dumaguete! website, and I will have to go there to do my research (junket!!) because some folks liked the Go Baguio! website and wanted the same for their “City of Gentle People.”

2. Except that it’s a lot of sand and sea, Dumaguete is much like Baguio City: laid back lifestyle, lots of university students, koreans arriving in droves, small town where everybody knows everybody, jump off point to Apo and Siquijor Islands (like Baguio is to Sagada and Banaue), the Boulevard purportedly designed by Daniel H. Burnham (yes, it’s the Burnham Park guy, our city’s urban planner), everything cheap (ok, cheaper than here even), a thriving cottage industry, and a beautiful natural environment.

3. So from cold, cold, cold January nights in Baguio, I will be sunning myself, exploring dive spots (for someone who does not like fish, this is going to be funky), and writing from Dumaguete City.

My tools will be the same: a reliable digital camera, my laptop, my treo. Am hoping to publish using my cellphone to connect to the internet as I am not sure about wifi spots there. But hey, if I can live with the stingy 28.8 kbps dialup that Piltel Vibe ’service’  provides me (they insist that there are no DSL lines available in my Baguio neighborhood (and I’m kinda near the center of town, among all the nice hotels and big vacation houses)!

So tomorrow, I am off to Dumaguete City and another web design adventure. This is the life!