Philippine Travel Notes

My Negros Oriental Tour: Bacolod City to San Carlos City, NegOcc Homeward bound,yey! To Cebu that is hehe! As expected, at 30-minutes to departure time, I was sure any of the four front seats would have already been occupied. Yep, they were. So I settled at the next available that was right window side of 3rd row. I was not as excited about the scenery along the way since I passed by them yesterday anyway. Ows?! Really now?! Hehe, okay half of me was disappointed I didn’t get a front seat! Yes, I have seen them wonderful views yesterday, but somehow, I still wanted more on this return trip. “Sir, are you going to Cebu?” came a slender southpaw gay asking. I answered with “yes, why?” and the reply was “boat fare, sir”. Oh okay, so I learned it is paid in Bacolod, on the bus, before departure, even if the ferry crossing will happen yet at San Carlos! I looked at the amount, so I paid P170. I noted too that my seat number on that ferry boat was #175, gosh whatever that was hehe! I have a ...

My Negros Oriental Tour: Bacolod City, NegOcc Yes very briefly hehe! I left San Carlos at exactly noontime and was just about checked-in at Bacolod Pension Plaza before 230PM. That means travel time was faster than 2.5 hours. Probably because there were not so many passengers getting on and off our bus, or probably because there were not so many vehicles along the roads to block our way, or both! Immediately after dropping my things in the room, I opened the box of Napoleones that I picked over at Robinson’s and devoured its contents I finished two bottles of coke to down them all! Pigged out? Hear this… after that a-la tazmanian devil bolt down, I slept like a log and woke up at 8PM hahaha! So I asked around as to where I could find Pipeline Bacolod. Of those I asked, no one could specifically tell me where that place might be. Some even asked me back what it was! So I txtd a crew over at Pipeline Cebu and she told me details. It was actually easy, just took a cab to Rolling Hills (Ba...

My Negros Oriental Tour: San Carlos City to Bacolod City, NegOcc Exciting trip! Goodbye San Carlos and there I was on the way to Bacolod. The trip is on good roads going westward approaching the mountains. I think that posh residential village called South Villa was that one I could see from the city hall days ago. Hmm, nice big houses. Must be one affluent side of the city. Oh yes, there was signage that we were about to cross C1 (circumferential road 1) and it connects to the city hall. Ah, that only means this part of the city is just really near the new city hall complex. Nice place! Onwards, I saw a memorial park and clicked a shot as there were so many fresh flowers and this was definitely not an “all souls’ day”, to the extent that I went into thinking those were all fresh(new) entrants to the cemetery hehe. The conductor saw me ogling at it and remarked something like it won some award. Ack! Even memorial parks now have contests? Whatever hehe! He clarified those were not new g...

My Negros Oriental Tour: San Carlos City to Bacolod City, NegOcc What has Bacolod got to do with my Negros ORIENTAL tour?! Calm down folks, calm down hehe! The impulsive roamer in me, myself and I took the helm again, so there I found myself heading for Bacolod hahaha! It started this way… I was done with my last morning roam of the San Carlos City People’s Park and was checking out of Lola Nitang’s. I was all set for the Ceres bus terminal to ride back to Cebu via Toledo. But the courteous and caring staff at Lola Nitang’s had to remind me with “sir, make sure you check the signboard if the air-conditioned bus is going Cebu as some are going Bacolod”. I said “ok thanks” and remarked that I thought it wouldn’t hurt if I suddenly found myself in Bacolod. They laughed, I laughed… and I think somewhere in my lowly brain that joke of mine was taken all too seriously hahaha! The detour Well yes, I may have been joking at my very own self (I can do that, yes)! But fortunately or unfortunatel...

This topic started with this article Bacolod? Well, who would not know that it’s the city of smiles in Negros Occidental with an interesting and quite lovely Masskara Festival every October! Yes, indeed. But don’t raise your eyebrows if I told you that Bacolod is in the province of Lanao Del Norte in Mindanao and it kisses the tip of Iligan Bay! For indeed it is. The other town that is hehe! This lesser known Bacolod is a quiet little town but it has some nice little beach resorts and waterfalls that your Bacolod City does not have as its all urbanity. There is also quite a bit of history in this little town that can be reached from the cities of Iligan, Ozamiz or Cagayan De Oro. Now, now… is Bacolod town really in Lanao Del Norte or Lanao Del Sur? Ahh yes, there is also a Bacolod in Lanao Del Sur but its real name is Bacolod-Kalawi and that is the little poor town that kisses the Lanao Lake across from Marawi City. At times this little town is even called Bacolod Grande but I guess th...

O ha?! Ayan, nakasulat na sa pader! Intiendes?! At pag sinabi kahit saan that means KAHIT SAAN hehehe! So, when in Bacolod, hold your bladder. Kahit saan! Interestingly, the adjacent segments of that same wall have these... What caught our attention was thinking that it was just one continuous message on the entire length of that wall. Indi gali hehe! Oh well, the amusing random signs of our times!

So we arrived from our interesting roam of Silay. And straight to the public plaza we went. Oops, not after we had a quick snack at Coffee Station. Hmm, I can’t vividly recall how we got ourselves inside Robinson’s Mall. Probably the jeeps from Silay terminated there and we smelled some interesting wafts or saw some interesting brews. Then again, maybe I also said something about Napoleones. Whatever the reason, we were wise for having done so, because we later realized our next meal was to be way past beyond the normal time. But everything was a rush rush until we were once again at the plaza to witness what was left of the Masskara Festival’s Dance Parade – Open Category. And argh! If yesterday the plaza was jampacked, this day it was OMG superlatively more crowded. But we pressed on. And it was not that difficult. Why? Because, we observed, people would usually size you up from head to toe, and when they sense you are a visitor, they actually make way for you to get nearer - even at...

Even with last night’s crazy fun, we woke up early. Like about 10AM? That’s early, right? Hehe, well, we’re only human! We knew that the festival schedule said 1PM was the start of Masskara Dance Parade – Open Category. And that is the biggest of all parades. But our itinerary said we needed to visit Silay City in the morning. It was still morning technically, albeit late hehe. So we proceeded as planned. To appease our ‘festival mode’ mindsets, we all agreed to forego watching the very start of the parade and would catch whatever was left of it over at the plaza soon as we arrive from Silay. Just like yesterday ehehe. Okay, fine! Ah, we just took a jeep going Silay. I told the group that I’d been there once before and it was just a few kilometers away. Some 10 to 15 kms, I imagined. There were too many jeeps plying the route anyway, so everyone was jolly willing to hop on a jeep. Mind you, near as it is, Silay is not the next city north of Bacolod. There is Talisay City in between...

After the performances, we kindly declined the mayor’s dinner invitation saying we had more of Bacolod to roam. Back of my mind, I was asking “who were we anyway”? But one of our friends said “ayan, kasi naman you all look like Japanese, Chinese, Koreans” hahaha. Per our itinerary, we said we should not call it a day if we don’t get to see the “Manokan Country”. So we walked to the place for dinner. Its just nearby to the plaza and the church. I’ve been there before and I told my friends it is like no other. If you have Dampa in Paranaque and Larsian in Cebu, Bacolod has Manokan Country. Similar in purpose but just the same unique! OMG! Even I got surprised when we reached ‘Manokan Country’. First, it is now bigger and wider. It is also cleaner and more orderly. Ah, the stalls are still generally the same, but they all seemed to have gotten help from San Miguel Beer with sprucing up the place. The tables and chairs extend to way out in the middle of the road that has been closed to veh...

A few steps to the right from Chicken Deli, we encountered this building they call Negros Showroom. Nice place, and my companions went like crazy looking at, flipping, examining the various things on sale. Two of us stayed outside to smoke and primed ourselves ready to lend our hands carrying things, for we knew there was some instant shopping spree happening inside that showroom hehe! Then off to the Negros Museum we walked which was also just nearby. We loved it in there. And that should be how a museum is – open during a holiday or festival, since that is the time when visitors are available. So, you museums everywhere, learn from this! Then it was another walk to the nearby Negros Occidental Capitol. Oh my, they have such a grand capitol building. While it looks similar to most I have seen everywhere, this one looks really big and clean it almost shines in the afternoon sun. Plus, there are no wires criss-crossing your view, and there are no stains nor spots on the walls, the pilla...