Negros Adventure: Part 2: Casaroro Falls (Day 7)

Day 7:

Originally, we wanted to go to Oslob and have a daytour with the whale sharks there. But we weren’t sure of the schedule of the ferry going to Siquijor. We (except for Shee) also wanted to try a dayhike for Mt. Talinis, but we weren’t sure of the route (Yes, we’re addicted to pain and mountains; I wasn’t even sure if I had fully recovered from the Kanlaon experience!). So we had a day tour in Valencia instead, where we saw the Casaroro falls.

Siyempre, we ate our free breakfast. There was butter and coco jam for the toast, but Victor was more creative and put on some Lemon Garlic, Black Pepper, and Pizza seasoning… Yes, buti hindi sumakit ang tiyan sa biyahe. It was actually good that I had 5 slices! Haha Takaw mode

Free Breakfast At Harold's Inn

We took a tricycle to drop us off the jeep going to Valencia. They really cram the jeepneys full, even worse than Manila, because they have benches in the middle where people could sit. Anyway, once we reached the sleeping town of Valencia, habal-habal drivers were there to offer their services.

Initially, they offered to do it PhP 100/2-way. So for safety reasons, we had one habal-habal each. Somewhere in the middle, the driver told me that it’s PhP 200/2-way. So we were flabbergasted, and we refused for them to wait for us. We just gave them the PhP 100 and told them that we will just trek our way down. (I think we’re too proud that we’re mountaineers hehe Plus I don’t like the feeling of being deceived!)

Near the Casaroro Falls was also the jump-off point for Mt. Talinis. Apparently, we can climb it in 4 hours to reach the twin peaks. (So we can do a dayhike, which we wanted haha) We tried climbing it on our own for about 30 minutes. But after the initial 10 minutes, Shee wanted to go down plus Shee seems to having an asthma attack as well! Anyway, we weren’t sure of the route, because there were dead ends, thorny branches along the way. So after an hour, and some photo-ops at the foot of Mt. Talinis, we proceeded to Casaroro Falls.

To get to Casaroro Falls, you have to pay an entrance fee of PhP 10. You have to go down about 90 meters in altitude. It may take a 30-45 minute hike to the falls, depending on your physical level, degree of avoidance of getting wet at the time, and time for taking pictures hehe It starts out with concrete stairs going down and down and down, followed initially by a cemented pathway to the falls. (Unfortunately, recent typhoons and habagat rains destroyed this pathway, so instead of a 10-minute walk, it became 30-45 minutes.) Then you have to trek through the rocks and boulders of the river.

But the falls was marvelous. It was a sight to behold. (That or I'm just biased because I'm a waterfall person more than a beach one.) The water was very cold. Yes, we just have to swim and take a dip because we're there! The temperature reached around 23 C but that also counted my body temperature. (I didn't remove my watch, which was what I did at the Kanlaon crater.)

Casaroro Falls

 After a series of photo-ops, and oh my, what photo I had! (I couldn't recognize myself!) We went back up to civilization, and went to a Forest Camp-wannabe named 374 steps. There was also an entrance fee of PhP 10, and up we went to see the view of the Mt. Talinis Twin Summits, Bacolod City, and well, we didn't recognize the Japanese Grotto which can be viewed from there, as well.

We were running late, since the last jeep for Dumaguete was around 6 pm... And we were going to trek downwards! (Stubborn mountain egos, I guess.) We passed by this small hut, who were selling flowers, and saw that they have two motorcycles. We asked the lady if they offer habal-habal services back to the town proper for a price of PhP 50/head. And they agreed, so we were able to make it to the town proper around 5:30 pm but there was no jeep bound for Valencia anymore.

We just ate some street ice cream (c/o Victor) and some isaw (PhP 3.50/stick which we bargained to be 3 sticks for PhP 10). Then we rode a tricycle from Valencia to the next town (PhP 10/head), switched tricycle to get to Dumaguete town proper (PhP 10/head), and another tricycle to get to Harold's (PhP 10/head), where we cleaned ourselves up and get ready for dinner.

We met up with Leo, who was working at a coffee shop nearby. While waiting for him, we ate some pasta and got some shake in its partner cafeteria, also known as food stop 1. Then we moved to the coffee house part, and ordered some dessert and cookies, also known as food stop 2. Still, we want some real dinner (and Leo was still working), so we decided to try Hayahay Seafood Restaurant, rumored to offer the best seafood. We already tried the top 1 restaurant according to Trip Advisor (KRI, which we all agreed to serve great food). The restaurant was actually a bar, and there were bands playing, people hanging out and drinking beer. We want to be able to talk, so we went to Lab-As where they served Japanese food. Since the owner was the same, we were also able to eat seafoods from Hayahay. The food was ok, usual delicious-ness.

Food Stop 3: Lab-As (Japanese) Restaurant

Food Stop 4: Shrimp and Mushroom Pizza at Hayahay

As we were going out, we passed their tarp showing some weird seafood pizza combinations such as mushroom and oyster... Hence, we stopped and ordered a round! Hehe It was delicious (And sa lagay na yan, kakakain lang nmn ng dinner hehe) 

By that time, it was around midnight, and we were really tired, so we opted to get some sleep.

Expenses:

Trike to Valencia Jeepney Stop - PhP 10

Valencia Jeep - PhP 12

Habal-Habal to the falls - PhP 100

Entrance fee of Casaroro Falls - PhP 10

Entrance fee of 370 steps - PhP 10

Halab-Habal to Valencia Town Proper - PhP 50

Isaw - PhP 10

3 trikes back to Harold's - PhP 30/head
Food trip 1: Pasta and shake - PhP 80
Food trip 2: Cookies - PhP 30

Food trip 3 & 4: Lab-As and Hayahay - PhP 140 (I think)