Twin Lakes Balinsasayao---A Second Chance in Life

As Ed Sheeran sings "Maybe we found love right where we are" in my housemate's player, I wish I could sing "Maybe I'll find my job right where I am now!" :-D Yes, I'm talking about the dream job, but it seems very elusive at the moment. I knew chasing it would never be easy, but my encounters lately proved that doing so is, indeed, difficult. Difficult is even an understatement as I almost broke into tears the other day. Since I got a second chance in life, there should be no room for weakness!:-P

The challenges lately remind me so much that giving up isn't an option especially after the unfortunate fall I experienced during the last holiday I had. From the south of Cebu to Siquijor, my travel buddy and I continued our summer adventures in Dumaguete and one of the things we did was "trekking" the winding road going to Twin Lakes Balinsasayao in Sibulan, Negros Oriental. 

HOW TO GET THERE?

There are numerous ways on how to get to the site. You may take the Ceres bus from the provincial capital, Dumaguete City, and get off at the crossing going to the lakes in Sibulan. The entry is already close to the next town, San Jose. The fare is less than Php 50.00, but from the crossing to the lakes, you will need to take the motorbike with your own driver, which is locally called as "habal-habal" for Php 500.00. If you have your own vehicle, that'd be better, but make sure you got a good driver with you and the unit, I would recommend, must be checked before going as the road can really be quite dangerous. It's concrete, but the terrain is cliff-ey and there are boulders too.

Since we wanted to make the adventure truly us, we rented a motorbike from Dumaguete. The rental ranged from Php 200.00-250.00 for 8 hours. It took us 20 minutes going to the crossing from the city central and I think, almost an hour going up to the lake entry. Our way up was quite challenging, since it was mostly an uphill climb and being the driver, I knew I exhausted the accelerator quite a few times. We managed to reach the top though safely. For locals, the entrance fee is only Php 10.00, while for foreign tourists, believe it or not, it's Php 100.00. :-(

THE FIRST LAKE

Guests can view the first lake from a view deck, which is part of the restaurant in the area. We also spotted a posh-looking native restaurant en route to our destination. We even wanted to drop by if not for the misfortune that we encountered going back. Just a few hundred steps going down, I think, from the restaurant, you will be able to reach the first lake where you can see cottages that can be used if you went there to swim or to have lunch or snacks.

There are also boats for rent for only Php 250.00, which can take you to the other lake and back. We spotted other tourists who went there for a swim, some just to look around, some on the boat, and some cooking their lunch (Persian-looking guys). It was a bit cloudy when we were there, which was quite a surprise because it's summer. Eventually, though, the skies started to clear. 

THE SECOND LAKE

There was not much to see on the second lake area. By the way, there are two ways to get there. First, the one I shared earlier, by boat. And second, by trekking the jungle, which was the route we took. It wasn't my choice, by the way. If the authority was mine, I would have opted to take the boat going to the other side. :-D See? I'm not that adventurous actually especially if we talk about places where snakes could possibly thrive. We didn't spot any snakes though so you may take the same path as we did and at some point, I have to be honest, it was fun despite the unstoppable throbbing in my chest.

According to Lonely Planet, tourists can be lucky if they can spot a deer in the forest, which in our case, I must say, we weren't one of the lucky ones. :-D We also hoped to see native or indigenous people there as mentioned in the book who are the original inhabitants of the area, but they never showed up. We just went to one viewpoint and then walked down to see the calm water up close. Though the experience was exciting, I still found it scary after hearing sounds of animals and for the thought that we'd  have to go through the jungle again to go back. :-D

THE UNFORTUNATE FALL

When were still in the city, I could already notice that the hand break of the bike wasn't properly working, but I thought it was okay since the foot break worked. After we finished our drinks to quench our thirst after a long walk, dried my sweat-wet shirt, and ate our chocolate cake, we readied ourselves to go back to the city. The fulfillment was there after we enjoyed the calm, soothing, and visually satisfying tourist spot until the scariest part of the trip happened.

While we were going down the steep road, which I thought was not really steep based on my experience, the breaks just failed. When my buddy was screaming that I should stop accelerating, I had already stopped before he said it and I knew in my mind there was already something crazy going on in that bike. When both the hand and foot breaks obviously stopped working, my buddy instinctively jumped off while I had to crash the bike to the other side to avoid the cliff. I thought it was the end of me, but I was more concerned about the person I was with more than anything else. So I just stood up right away with my abrasions bleeding and checked on my buddy to make sure none of his vital parts were affected. Luckily, he only had minor wounds and abrasions too.

A SECOND CHANCE IN LIFE

We even debated about what could be the best and most apt title for this entry. "The Calm Before The Storm" was suggested, but I thought personally, a second chance in life would be the most appropriate. In fact, it should be the fourth already as this was my third motorbike crash. The first two was because of robbers. I wonder where they are now. But having minor wounds and bruises is something we are truly thankful for. We were sad as our condition could have hindered us to go for the next adventure, which was a day tour to Apo island. However, it pushed through thankfully.

Every time I think about giving up now because my dream job is still so out of reach, and the challenges in getting it are just unimaginable, I think about this incident. I wouldn't be alive and blogging now if He allowed us to fall off the cliff and die. There's a reason why I could still stand up right away after falling. My wounds are still about to completely heal. There will be scars one of these days. But all of these will remind me that (we) I survived for a reason. And I have a big dream to fulfill! 

XoXo

Red Eye

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