My Negros Oriental Tour: Tanjay City
It was raining again… but your dear PT was not about to desist. I was already in the area, so I thought I’d go forth come rain or low clouds hehe! And I still luvvittt! So after that very educational stop at the ozonized water thing of Bais City, I walked the few meters out to the highway, in front of a bakery (Julie’s?) to catch another Ceres ride back to Tanjay City. I just passed by this city yesterday, remember?! Ah yes, it was already dark and raining, thus skipped it. Well, this time, there I was, going back in broad day light – though still sporadically raining hehe! Oh, the linguist in me again… this city’s name is pronounced ‘tun-high’.
Its not as if there was something in my rough notes to make sure I visit this city’s center. All I actually had written across Tanjay was ‘church’. The rest were outside places like a hot spring and a church in the fields - not very good places to visit during my rainy day tour. Argh! But I was not at all frustrated nor disappointed. The way my roams had been going since I started at Bayawan a few days ago, it looked like there was always something amusing or amazing that I encountered or experienced unexpectedly. Thus, I thought Tanjay would be another splendid discovery as the other towns and cities of Negros Oriental!
So, there I was, let off by the bus at some commercial district where the conductor pointed me to a perpendicular street that leads to city hall and church. Whoa, raining still hehe! I knew it would have been just nearby, so I hopped and skipped across puddles while trying to take cover under the sides of houses or buildings – to no avail hehehe, I still got wet! Reached a corner (Osmena cor. Mabini?) with a fairly new eatery. Yes, 'turo-turo', and there was a bit of space to avoid rain so I ran in. Happy Problem: the aroma of their freshly cooked dishes flirted with my nostrils that my stomach started to brew another rebellion! Hah, couldn’t hold the urge, I looked at their wall-clock and I realized it was noontime, so I went for it!
‘What you like sir?’ came the enthusiastic question of one of the women at the food counter. And I said ‘sosyala ba ninyo, English-speaking’! They laughed and the woman said she thought… ah whatever! Next I started pointing to this and that, this and that. Aw hey, on a cool crazy rainy day, don’t show me a lot of food choices for I
will definitely choose a lot haha! Let’s not name them all, but I definitely loved their ‘pork steak’ the way most homes in this country cook it. Very Pinoy sans the restaurant ek-ek frills… just the porkchop swimming in its sauce garnished with one ring of onion. The ‘kinilaw’ made me wish it were nighttime so I could start drinking beer with it hehe. Am too easy a prey of any sales pitch when it comes to food that looks delectable to me. So I said yes to the ‘budbud’ that they say their city is famous for. Very unfortunately, this eatery called Lola Din’s serves Pepsi products only. Ack! Before I agreed to a bottle of Mountain Dew, I looked over across the street where Chicken Ati-atihan was I thought unusually devoid of customers. The lady was watching me and she told me Chicken Ati-atihan also serves Pepsi products only. Hay naku!
After puffing a couple of sticks to let everything in my stomach settle, the skies decided to spray just a very light drizzle where I saw a lot of people walking every which way. So, amidst the vehement protestations of half of me, the other half commanded my royal self to get moving. Thus, I walked the block towards the park where beyond it is the church. That was some mighty debate inside my royal highness hehe… the lazy half was saying ‘C’mon, I am so full with that lunch of 3 cups of rice, can’t I just slump somewhere? What’s the rush anyway?’ but the other half of me was saying ‘move move move, go go go while there’s no rain, the church is a better resting place if at all you need to slump around’! And so I reached King Arthur’s Castle!
King Arthur’s what? Well, at first glance from outside, the style of this church looks as if it was part of a medieval castle or something that Farquaad owned where Shrek and Donkey might be visiting in a while hehe! Look at the belfry. And on opposite side is like a knight galloping in his horse, right? This church really looks like some potion of a castle if you keep looking up. But I looked down and OMG omegosh, was I in Siquijor again? Ahehe, yes I was in Tanjay but caught the church with an ongoing service for one of their a dear departeds. Thus that ‘car’ ceremoniously parked at the entrance hehe! But I went in just the same.
I looked around the church only from the rearmost pews. Couldn’t get to altar area as the service for that casket in the center was in progress. Hello, one of the dudes just outside entrance even asked me if I was a relative of the dead. Jusko! Relative? In shorts? And roaming around while mass was in progress? Anyway, I smiled and said no hehe! But for some minutes there, I sat at one of the last pews just consuming the look and feel of this big airy church oblivious that the last few moments of an expired homo sapien was being ceremoniously ministered. How wicked of me to say that fact hehe! Well, the ceremony was longer than I expected, and the rain stopped, so I decided it was time to move on.
Hey, that park beside the church that goes all the way to the city hall and a school is a wonderful place. At least I think it is especially during summer. But after the rain, it is never such a welcoming place. Why? Because of the so many big trees surrounding this area. The leaves and trunks and branches have gathered most of the rain water that even if its not raining anymore, the water that drops from the natural canopy above are big aquatic bombardments that can still get you dripping hehe! Example? Well, at one time as I walked towards front of the city hall, a drop of rain that gathered up those trees decided to land on my forehead. I liked the cold splash but it got my whole face and neck real wet hehehe! Good thing no one was watching me for I really had to wet my hanky wiping myself dry hahaha! For a time there, I thought I was a tyke having a day of my life at the park!
And then I was front of the Tanjay City Hall! Gosh! Its so small hehe! I mean talking about facades or whole buildings? The barangay hall over at Barangay Mactan in Lapu-lapu is bigger and more imposing than Tanjay’s City Hall built (2001). Then again, there are a scattering of adjoining and nearby buildings that probably house the rest of the city’s services to its constituents. I like the green and light green colors of the building. It blends well with the surroundings that I must say is arboreal! I mean there is just a lot of trees and plants and grass that I can bet, during a hot summer noon sun, this place must be coolest cool! Oh, I also like the red colored flagpole base and the maroon colored bricks laid out like cobble stones. They match the color of that pickup parked in front of the city hall!
Police! Ah, I think this was one of my greatest finds at Tanjay – the city’s police station! Wow! Its actually nothing but a square squat single-level building facing the right side of the city hall. But OMG wht a sight! The foyer is in the shape of a policeman’s hat. Yeah! Not sure if it is all concrete but I could see that the four posts are. Whoa, the roof area (of the hat visor)even sports the lacey design of an officer’s hat. Plus, there is that emblem/badge of the Philippine National Police! Wowow! Real cute and just unique! I stood at the park looking at it but could not go near to start snapping pictures as them poilicemen might suspect me to be someone they don’t like hehe! I have yet to see a place in this country with such an artistic rendition of a police office’s foyer. Wish all PNP stations in the country will sport the same or any similar clever attractive designs. Wow!
Happy now, I approached the manong who sells candies and cigarettes by the side of the street (yep under the trees in the street sandwiched by the city hall and a school). Yep, he has that usual big umbrella to shelter his wares and I ducked myself in to also avoid the still dripping trees. I asked where I could take a ride to Pamplona. He gave me 3 options – 1. stay where we were and flag trikes passing by hoping for a chance that one will agree for a charter trip, or 2. go to the public market and hop on the lined trikes that ply the Pamplona route – he even cautioned me that drivers wait for the trikes to fill to full capacity – of usually passengers, or 3. go to the junction – corner between the highway and the road that leads to Pamplona where trikes or Ceres maybe waiting or passing by to pick passengers and go without getting full. Took this last option and there I went to Pamplona!
Hey, last part of 'next next' article gets me back to Tanjay so watch out as am sure you’ll find it ‘informative’!
If you want to read the chronology of all stories on this tour, click the following:
01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35
36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65
Its not as if there was something in my rough notes to make sure I visit this city’s center. All I actually had written across Tanjay was ‘church’. The rest were outside places like a hot spring and a church in the fields - not very good places to visit during my rainy day tour. Argh! But I was not at all frustrated nor disappointed. The way my roams had been going since I started at Bayawan a few days ago, it looked like there was always something amusing or amazing that I encountered or experienced unexpectedly. Thus, I thought Tanjay would be another splendid discovery as the other towns and cities of Negros Oriental!
So, there I was, let off by the bus at some commercial district where the conductor pointed me to a perpendicular street that leads to city hall and church. Whoa, raining still hehe! I knew it would have been just nearby, so I hopped and skipped across puddles while trying to take cover under the sides of houses or buildings – to no avail hehehe, I still got wet! Reached a corner (Osmena cor. Mabini?) with a fairly new eatery. Yes, 'turo-turo', and there was a bit of space to avoid rain so I ran in. Happy Problem: the aroma of their freshly cooked dishes flirted with my nostrils that my stomach started to brew another rebellion! Hah, couldn’t hold the urge, I looked at their wall-clock and I realized it was noontime, so I went for it!
‘What you like sir?’ came the enthusiastic question of one of the women at the food counter. And I said ‘sosyala ba ninyo, English-speaking’! They laughed and the woman said she thought… ah whatever! Next I started pointing to this and that, this and that. Aw hey, on a cool crazy rainy day, don’t show me a lot of food choices for I
will definitely choose a lot haha! Let’s not name them all, but I definitely loved their ‘pork steak’ the way most homes in this country cook it. Very Pinoy sans the restaurant ek-ek frills… just the porkchop swimming in its sauce garnished with one ring of onion. The ‘kinilaw’ made me wish it were nighttime so I could start drinking beer with it hehe. Am too easy a prey of any sales pitch when it comes to food that looks delectable to me. So I said yes to the ‘budbud’ that they say their city is famous for. Very unfortunately, this eatery called Lola Din’s serves Pepsi products only. Ack! Before I agreed to a bottle of Mountain Dew, I looked over across the street where Chicken Ati-atihan was I thought unusually devoid of customers. The lady was watching me and she told me Chicken Ati-atihan also serves Pepsi products only. Hay naku!
After puffing a couple of sticks to let everything in my stomach settle, the skies decided to spray just a very light drizzle where I saw a lot of people walking every which way. So, amidst the vehement protestations of half of me, the other half commanded my royal self to get moving. Thus, I walked the block towards the park where beyond it is the church. That was some mighty debate inside my royal highness hehe… the lazy half was saying ‘C’mon, I am so full with that lunch of 3 cups of rice, can’t I just slump somewhere? What’s the rush anyway?’ but the other half of me was saying ‘move move move, go go go while there’s no rain, the church is a better resting place if at all you need to slump around’! And so I reached King Arthur’s Castle!
King Arthur’s what? Well, at first glance from outside, the style of this church looks as if it was part of a medieval castle or something that Farquaad owned where Shrek and Donkey might be visiting in a while hehe! Look at the belfry. And on opposite side is like a knight galloping in his horse, right? This church really looks like some potion of a castle if you keep looking up. But I looked down and OMG omegosh, was I in Siquijor again? Ahehe, yes I was in Tanjay but caught the church with an ongoing service for one of their a dear departeds. Thus that ‘car’ ceremoniously parked at the entrance hehe! But I went in just the same.
I looked around the church only from the rearmost pews. Couldn’t get to altar area as the service for that casket in the center was in progress. Hello, one of the dudes just outside entrance even asked me if I was a relative of the dead. Jusko! Relative? In shorts? And roaming around while mass was in progress? Anyway, I smiled and said no hehe! But for some minutes there, I sat at one of the last pews just consuming the look and feel of this big airy church oblivious that the last few moments of an expired homo sapien was being ceremoniously ministered. How wicked of me to say that fact hehe! Well, the ceremony was longer than I expected, and the rain stopped, so I decided it was time to move on.
Hey, that park beside the church that goes all the way to the city hall and a school is a wonderful place. At least I think it is especially during summer. But after the rain, it is never such a welcoming place. Why? Because of the so many big trees surrounding this area. The leaves and trunks and branches have gathered most of the rain water that even if its not raining anymore, the water that drops from the natural canopy above are big aquatic bombardments that can still get you dripping hehe! Example? Well, at one time as I walked towards front of the city hall, a drop of rain that gathered up those trees decided to land on my forehead. I liked the cold splash but it got my whole face and neck real wet hehehe! Good thing no one was watching me for I really had to wet my hanky wiping myself dry hahaha! For a time there, I thought I was a tyke having a day of my life at the park!
And then I was front of the Tanjay City Hall! Gosh! Its so small hehe! I mean talking about facades or whole buildings? The barangay hall over at Barangay Mactan in Lapu-lapu is bigger and more imposing than Tanjay’s City Hall built (2001). Then again, there are a scattering of adjoining and nearby buildings that probably house the rest of the city’s services to its constituents. I like the green and light green colors of the building. It blends well with the surroundings that I must say is arboreal! I mean there is just a lot of trees and plants and grass that I can bet, during a hot summer noon sun, this place must be coolest cool! Oh, I also like the red colored flagpole base and the maroon colored bricks laid out like cobble stones. They match the color of that pickup parked in front of the city hall!
Police! Ah, I think this was one of my greatest finds at Tanjay – the city’s police station! Wow! Its actually nothing but a square squat single-level building facing the right side of the city hall. But OMG wht a sight! The foyer is in the shape of a policeman’s hat. Yeah! Not sure if it is all concrete but I could see that the four posts are. Whoa, the roof area (of the hat visor)even sports the lacey design of an officer’s hat. Plus, there is that emblem/badge of the Philippine National Police! Wowow! Real cute and just unique! I stood at the park looking at it but could not go near to start snapping pictures as them poilicemen might suspect me to be someone they don’t like hehe! I have yet to see a place in this country with such an artistic rendition of a police office’s foyer. Wish all PNP stations in the country will sport the same or any similar clever attractive designs. Wow!
Happy now, I approached the manong who sells candies and cigarettes by the side of the street (yep under the trees in the street sandwiched by the city hall and a school). Yep, he has that usual big umbrella to shelter his wares and I ducked myself in to also avoid the still dripping trees. I asked where I could take a ride to Pamplona. He gave me 3 options – 1. stay where we were and flag trikes passing by hoping for a chance that one will agree for a charter trip, or 2. go to the public market and hop on the lined trikes that ply the Pamplona route – he even cautioned me that drivers wait for the trikes to fill to full capacity – of usually passengers, or 3. go to the junction – corner between the highway and the road that leads to Pamplona where trikes or Ceres maybe waiting or passing by to pick passengers and go without getting full. Took this last option and there I went to Pamplona!
Hey, last part of 'next next' article gets me back to Tanjay so watch out as am sure you’ll find it ‘informative’!
If you want to read the chronology of all stories on this tour, click the following:
01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35
36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65
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