On To Sagay City

I departed from Victorias City, Negros Occidental
As said in the previous story, my travel schedule was muddled, because I detoured to see the 'Angry Christ Chapel' in Victorias, which I did not know about, therefore not part of the itinerary on this trip!

But I was not at all disappointed, because I saw and learned about some things new!

Anyway, the 'original plan' was to hop to the next town or city going north then east. But, I had to skip the town of Manapla and Cadiz City this time, since I had a 2PM 'eyeball' with a contact at Sagay City. No worries though, since I could still drop by those two places on my return to Silay, then the airport.

I already said this in many of my stories.., in Central and Western Visayas, 20 minutes is usually the longest you need to wait, until the next Ceres Bus (or others) pass by. And when my trike from VMC reached the "canetown crossing", there was one on its way to Escalante, so I hopped on! Aircon sya!

My ticket fare read P145 for 62 kilometers. Hmm, really? But my map estimated it at just something like 48kms or so. Ah, no time to argue. I already liked the "cool" confines of the bus. So sige, gogo ra!

While I didn't drop by Manapla and Cadiz this time, the sights and scenes along the way, just passing-by, already afforded me wonderful previews about the two localities - very much worth taking note of!

Like just outside of Victorias, I saw this construction and overheard my fellow passengers..,

They were mentioning that that is going to be one end of a diversion road that bypasses the city/town centers so it would be faster to travel from place to place all the way to the airport in Silay. Interesting!

Oh, for this bus ride, many of my pictures were taken from the back of the bus since I sat on last row!

Yep, last row because the front seats were already occupied while the last two rows were not. Thus, I actually had a multitude of views - left, right and back! Kakaibang vantage, yet excellent just the same!

One cute note on riding airconditioned buses by the way, if you like taking good pictures of where you are passing, the front row seats are not actually really 'front', since there is the stairs, the door and the conductor's seat on the right (blocking your 'front seat view'), while there's the driver on the left. Unlike in ordinary, non-aircon buses, where if you grabbed a front seat, your face is almost by the windshield!

And as I said earlier, Negros Occidental is/was a 'sugar land', it teems with views of fantastic plains..,

There is only one significant high-elevation terrain in northern Negros, and that is Mount Mandalagan or Mandalagan Volcano. That's the sloping dark haze you see far in the background, under the clouds.

Manapla, Negros Occidental
Entering Manapla, this road signage stunned me a bit, but I squinted my eyes and saw the finer detail!

Sagay City, my destination on this bus ride is not 411kms from this place. It's just 41.1kms away. Why do they have to put those decimal numbers on a road sign? May pagka-"hello" rin itong si DPWH, ano?

That should be another 'notable note' on traveling in the Philippines, especially for you my friends who like driving instead of commuting! Careful what you read and how you read them. They could not just be misleading, but may become road hazards too! If you don't slow down to make sure you're reading the numbers correctly, you could misread or misinterpret them. But if you suddenly slowed down on a highway because you want to read numbers clearly, pwedeng *kablag*, ayun binangga ka na sa likod!

Anyway, that signage is right side of the road, and that's Heaven's Gate Memorial Gardens at the back. Across them, to the left of the road is the Gustilo Hospital and Northland Resort, on the road entering Manapla town proper. No pics on that side of the road, since the signage above grabbed my attention!

My bus went straight on the highway (not entering Manapla), so I saw Bulak's Highway Restaurant!

A friend who knows Manapla once told me Bulak's is the best in this town, esp the 'puto at dinuguan'.

Oh, and by the way, the friend who insisted that I visit the Angry Christ Chapel, also told me to visit the "Chapel of the Cartwheels" located in Manapla. But I was just passing-by. So, maybe pagbalik nalang.

Moving on, still traversing the highway, and still in Manapla, I noticed that not all of the vast fields are planted to sugarcane (anymore?). Equally vast tracts in these fields are now rice plantations, and this:

I'm not sure if those are part of the almost 3,000 houses supposed to be built by the National Housing Authority in this town alone - as a response to Supertyphoon Yolanda's wrath! Hmn, was Manapla that ruined by Haiyan that many folks are now homeless? Ah eh, aba ewan! The NHA knows better, I think!

You know what I heard from the news? That in this province alone, because of the Haiyan devastation, they are building 8742 houses in Cadiz City, 7850 in Sagay, 2964 in Manapla, 2018 in Escalante, 2321 in Victorias, 1167 in EB Magalona, 1992 in Silay, 1138 in Calatrava, 1457 in Toboso. Ye ganun kadami!

Hmm, on one part of the highway, I was amazed to see a heavy traffic of mostly-tricycles and "single" motorcycles going southwards. And the more aliw that most trikes had humans riding on their roofs!

I wasn't sure, but just imagined it must have been some kind of a parade or motorcade or something.

Yeah, even some jeeps were also loaded with people riding "top-load" (meaning on the roof).

But the vast fields are a wonderful sight to behold. I really loved looking at them..,

Hey, this town might be considered small in Negros as it has only 12 barangays. But in terms of total land area, I think Manapla is probably even wider than all Pasay, Parañaque and Las Piñas combined!

Onwards, I saw another farm.., not just another ordinary farm.., yes, a Solar Farm!

Whoa, judging from the panels I saw on both sides of the highway, this farm must also be vast!

I'm no expert on these 'new to us' technology, but I think it can collect enough energy to power a town.

But I know a bit of how they operate. They sell their generated power to the 'grid' (electricity provider).

They don't really seem to have any impact on a town or province where they sit, as electricity charges do not decrease anyway. But if we think of how "kuryente" is now produced, it's good for mother earth!

Interestingly, the next thing that caught my attention was this.., another kind of farm! Oh di ba?!

Aba oy, farm din kaya ang tawag dyan - a cock(fighting) breeding farm! Sabungeros know that, surely!

Cadiz City, Negros Occidental
Alright, I was not even sure, but I think the bus was entering Cadiz City when I saw these new houses:

Can you see the houses? Yes, back there, at the edge of the sugarcane plantation, before the trees!

There are so many of them! I think I saw a signage that said Villa Luisa.

Let us just hope they do not encounter the usual issues of NHA built housing projects - they really just literally make houses and award them, without a care if there'd be water or electric power connection!

This bus did not also go into Cadiz city center. It turned right at this intersection on the highway.

I was lucky to have hopped on this bus. It was as if the driver knew I had a 2PM meet-up at Sagay!

As we cruised by the outskirts of Cadiz City, I saw things similar to what I have already seen along the way. Like they also have hundreds of "pabahay" (NHA housing) near the highway, fairly new memorial park, still a lot of sugarcane fields, a vast solar farm too, haciendas, sugar mills, new roads, and so on.

Sagay City, Negros Occidental
Then I saw this place that had my chinky eyes grow wide I even wanted to scream "stop" to the driver!

I think I saw a locomotive. Yes, the front (engine) of an old train. Wow! I wanted to get off the bus and have a closer look. But "no can do", so I just noted the factory name, it says Lopez Sugar Corporation.

Anyway, so here we were na nga, entering the city proper of Sagay City, going right...

I asked the bus conductor what might be that place to the left (since the road looks good)

He told me "Cabahug". So I further asked what it is. Oh okay, a bypass road that makes travel faster.

Here is something cute, that I did not get to take a picture of. Not far from that junction of the highway and the Cabahug bypass road, I saw signage that said "Eco-Zone National High School". At first I said "oh really now"? But I guess it's really named so, because I saw in that board, the School ID is: 305800.

Wow, what a name 'no? Kakaiba!

Onwards, and more amazing still, I saw this building left side of the road - Sagay City Sports Center!

I started doubting its 'true color' when I saw so many motorbikes and tricycles around and beyond the place. Even if I said there might have been a 'sports festival' or 'tournament', something in me still said "hindi ito normal na sports center". True enough, I asked the conductor, he told me it's a cockpit arena!

Just like anywhere in these islands, they can call it sports arena, stadium, sports complex, and/or any other 'sporty' sounding word. But in reality, it is just a cockfight area - a sabungan, a gambling arena!

Is cockfighting really a sport? It is gambling! It should not use the word "sport" or "sports". Teka, bakit umiinit ang ulo ko? Nagsusulat lang ako ng travel notes ko ah! Ah eh, I just don't want it called a sport.

Anyway.., so my bus arrived at the transport terminal and I alighted, now what?!

I looked around to get my bearings, crossed to the St. Joseph Parish Church, cannot enter, there was a wedding of some bigshots (I say that since there were so many people inside). So I hailed a tricycle!

Meet-up (per my request) was to be at the new city hall, even if far and on a Sunday - so I could see it!

Nice building, nice breezy surroundings. We had our meeting under one of the big trees at right. Aliw!

Behind me (when I took that photo) was a wide grassy lawn surrounded by more trees then a hospital. To the left, that's going to city center, after those trees, is another big edifice called 'Balay Kauswagan'. I was told it has accommodations, swimming pool, and the preferred event/seminar venue of the city.

Though out of topic, I 'sporadically' asked about things to see/do in Sagay and my ka-meeting obliged! So, I learned some things that might be worth coming back to in Sagay. One is Carbin Reef. Another is Vito Church. Mangroves at Molocaboc are worth considering, I guess. And, I still want to see the train!

Here's a confusingly funny thing: the friend in Metro Manila who knows this part of Negros also texted me not to miss a church named "Vito". She said it is miraculous and frequented by most people. When I hailed a trike and said I wanted to go to "Vito Church", driver laughed and said it's about 20kms away!

Natawa rin ako syempre as driver continued to say 'it's already near the boundary with Escalante City'! I told him "just bring me to St. Joseph Parish Church" (so I can just peep and cross to the bus terminal for my onward trip). Driver nodded and proceeded. But OMG was I surprised when we arrived at this..,

Eyes stunned wide, all I could say was "hindi 'yan, sa St. Joseph Parish Church"! But the manong driver said this is it, he is a catholic and comes to attend mass here with his children every Sunday morning!

I don't know why instead of being alarmed (since this wide vicinity has no houses no people), I was on the verge of laughing out loud. So I gathered my wits to calm down and explain that what I meant was the church near the bus terminal. I showed him this and he said something like 'aw ah, ang luma pala'!

We both laughed as he turned back and turned left near Balay Kauswagan. We passed by these:

So the big malls are also on this fairly new development near the City Hall. The city is expanding fast.

Unfortunately (or fortunately?) as the tricycle emerged unto the highway, by that street from the malls (beside the church and the national high school), there was a Ceres bus already out of the terminal on the way to Escalante. I instinctively asked manong trike driver to stop the bus, and I excitedly boarded!

So wala na, I didn't get to see the old parish church na. Goodbye Sagay na, and Escalante here I come!

But let's do that story in my next installment!

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