Dipolog Sights

Some other sightseeing areas around Dipolog City:

Sungkilaw Falls.

Eco-Tourism Park: This 344 hectare forest includes some trekking inside a replica of a typical Subanen Village, where they will show us some of their native dances. Subanean were the original inhabitants of the city.

River Cruise along Dipolog River: Drop off point was at Quezon River where lunch was served buffet syle on the boat. Very similar to Bohol's Loboc River cruise but this is wider and longer than the other river (but Loboc has advantage of having a mini waterfall at end of the ride).

Food in the city is very cheap (where else can you buy Bulalo soup good for 2-3 pax for only Php 100???) but shops/ restaurant all close early (except for some bars).

Strange but true experience in Dipolog: we usually head back to Pension house at about 8pm or so as everything quiet and dark outside and nowhere to go. Plus the fact that American Idol is on (predictably, David won) and sleep about 10 -11PM (as have 6AM wake up call the next day).

All is quiet until TOOOT BAM BAM BAM TOOT BAM BAM BAM TOOOT. What the hell??? It's 2AM! What's making all that noise???

Apparently, it's a marching band with cheerdancers on the desserted streets right in front of our lodging. And they practice for 30 minutes or so before retiring...only to repeat the performance the following day at exactly the same time. And it's not just one drum playing, it's the entire drum squad! GRRRRR!!!

So weird that the city is dead by 9PM, with hardly anyone or car to be seen there but only to be alive again at 2AM. I know practice makes perfect but kept on wondering why they couldn't start at 8-9PM when the streets were mostly empty anyway. This kept us up for two nights. Thankfully, parade was on the third day so was able to catch some uninterrupted ZZZ's that night.

Note: Dipolog City is the capital of Zamboanga Del Norte and we took Cebu Pacific Air flights to go there (depart manila 10:45AM, depart Dipolog 12:40pm).