Dipolog, Dapitan and Jose Rizal
I took an overnight trip to Dipolog last Friday to watch a live drama featuring one of our company's brands (yeah, it was work-related :p ) Dipolog is part of Zamboanga del Norte, a province in Northern Mindanao.
Dipolog is a pretty small place, so small you can easily get around the area via a tricyle. In fact, there are no jeepneys nor buses around the area. You see fancy SUVs with monster wheels frequently--they need big wheels since there are lots of dirt roads in the area--and tricycles that are a little bigger than those you find here in Manila. Roads are littered with trikes that the local government deemed it useful to adapt the "color coding" method of Manila to the trikes of Dipolog. Literally written on the back of the trikes is their DAY OFF day. For example: "DAY-OFF: THURSDAY" --this trike cannot operate on Thursdays.
Dipolog doesn't have an SM (yet!) and they don't have a cinema! Well, they used to have a cinema building but it was closed down. Our tour guide was quick to point out that Dipolog was very much in touch with the latest trends (while we were listening repeatedly to the OST of Twilight in his fancy Strada) and that even though the cinema closed down, they still get to watch the latest blockbusters featured in Manila...how else but through the trusty neighborhood DVD pirates. Great.
While having some time to kill, we drove to Dapitan which is a quick 20-minute drive from Dipolog. I was very excited to visit the actual place where Jose Rizal was exiled. Nearing the place, my companion (the person from the radio agency) was quick to point out that she wouldn't mind being exiled to such a beautiful and peaceful place--it was beside the BEACH! True that. The place was indeed beautiful. And romantic. A place fit for the romance of Jose Rizal and Josephine Bracken. How can you not fall in love in that setting?
Anyway, we reached the fenced compound. ANG PINAGTAPUNAN KAY JOSE RIZAL, MULA HULYO 1892 - HULYO 1896. I went straight to the nipa hut. It was quite disappointing to find out that it was only a replica of the actual hut Rizal lived in. The original was either totally dilapidated or burned down. I'm not quite sure. I was itching to ask the Rizalians who were in the area--3 veiled women whom the tour guide said worshiped Rizal as almost God--but chickened out. Anyway, despite the replica hut, I was quite happy to have visited Dapitan. The beach front, the sand, the trees--these were things that I saw which Rizal saw himself. And that made my trip worth it somehow.
****
Other updates:
- Am in the middle of watching S.A. (visiting my anime roots)
- Got my first ever Havaianas in Dipolog. Forgot my slippers in Manila and the slipper shop the tour guide brought me to is Havaianas.
- Our batch finally got our kick-off assignments (yipee!) and I'll be handling the team building session.
- Caveat is that starting Sept after my current stint, we'll be devoted to kick-off preparations. Meaning, we won't be having stints!!! Meaning my sales stint is AGAIN moved to a later date. Meaning our graduation is now moved to JUNE instead of FEB or MARCH. :| Oh well. We just have to deliver a really kick-ass kick-off. Bring it!!
Dipolog is a pretty small place, so small you can easily get around the area via a tricyle. In fact, there are no jeepneys nor buses around the area. You see fancy SUVs with monster wheels frequently--they need big wheels since there are lots of dirt roads in the area--and tricycles that are a little bigger than those you find here in Manila. Roads are littered with trikes that the local government deemed it useful to adapt the "color coding" method of Manila to the trikes of Dipolog. Literally written on the back of the trikes is their DAY OFF day. For example: "DAY-OFF: THURSDAY" --this trike cannot operate on Thursdays.
Dipolog doesn't have an SM (yet!) and they don't have a cinema! Well, they used to have a cinema building but it was closed down. Our tour guide was quick to point out that Dipolog was very much in touch with the latest trends (while we were listening repeatedly to the OST of Twilight in his fancy Strada) and that even though the cinema closed down, they still get to watch the latest blockbusters featured in Manila...how else but through the trusty neighborhood DVD pirates. Great.
While having some time to kill, we drove to Dapitan which is a quick 20-minute drive from Dipolog. I was very excited to visit the actual place where Jose Rizal was exiled. Nearing the place, my companion (the person from the radio agency) was quick to point out that she wouldn't mind being exiled to such a beautiful and peaceful place--it was beside the BEACH! True that. The place was indeed beautiful. And romantic. A place fit for the romance of Jose Rizal and Josephine Bracken. How can you not fall in love in that setting?
Anyway, we reached the fenced compound. ANG PINAGTAPUNAN KAY JOSE RIZAL, MULA HULYO 1892 - HULYO 1896. I went straight to the nipa hut. It was quite disappointing to find out that it was only a replica of the actual hut Rizal lived in. The original was either totally dilapidated or burned down. I'm not quite sure. I was itching to ask the Rizalians who were in the area--3 veiled women whom the tour guide said worshiped Rizal as almost God--but chickened out. Anyway, despite the replica hut, I was quite happy to have visited Dapitan. The beach front, the sand, the trees--these were things that I saw which Rizal saw himself. And that made my trip worth it somehow.
****
Other updates:
- Am in the middle of watching S.A. (visiting my anime roots)
- Got my first ever Havaianas in Dipolog. Forgot my slippers in Manila and the slipper shop the tour guide brought me to is Havaianas.
- Our batch finally got our kick-off assignments (yipee!) and I'll be handling the team building session.
- Caveat is that starting Sept after my current stint, we'll be devoted to kick-off preparations. Meaning, we won't be having stints!!! Meaning my sales stint is AGAIN moved to a later date. Meaning our graduation is now moved to JUNE instead of FEB or MARCH. :| Oh well. We just have to deliver a really kick-ass kick-off. Bring it!!