Travel diary: Bacolod

I love traveling. I realized that it's really one of my passions. While I love being home, being in a different place just gives me a very light and happy feeling. It can be a local destination, an international one, or even just another city that's an hour away from home. My family really loves overnight stays and with all these crazy deals online, our family escapades have become more frequent. Aside from my family, I also love traveling with friends and my boyfriend of 6 years (yey!). Again, this is just a re-post from my old blog. I'll be going to Bacolod again this coming September so I'm pretty excited to see these places again after 3 years.

My boyfriend and I went to Bacolod for my birthday celebration 3 years ago. I know it's a long time ago but I just want to share our itinerary and experience with everyone. :) Anyway, it's a 1-day trip 'coz my parents are pretty conservative haha! Honestly, I don't think I'll be doing that kind of trip again. It's very, very, VERY stressful (yes, it deserves 3 "very"s). It's like playing Amazing Race under the scorching heat! It's fun, yes, and an adrenaline upper but I don't really recommend it, not just because of the stress factor because that I can handle. The thing is, I think it wouldn't have been as stressful if we were able to leave the airport on time. That's really one of the things I super hate about our airlines. Flights are almost ALWAYS delayed. For 1-day trips like this, it's more vital to really leave on schedule because an hour makes a huge difference. Anyway, enough about this and on to our Bacolod adventure circa 2011! Hahaha! :D

obligatory airport shot

We arrived at the Silay International Airport at around 10:30am, an hour and a half delayed. There was no time to waste ranting though. Tricycles, cabs and jeeps can easily be found outside the airport so getting around was a breeze. We went to Talisay and headed for Manukan Country where the authentic and best Chicken Inasals are found. Chicken heaven! Being a chicken lover, I made sure to include this in our list of must-dos. Best paired with toyo and calamansi (for some, with a hint of sili).

authentic chicken inasal

We didn't know any of the shops so we just picked a random one because there really was no time to dilly-dally. The food was really good! They made Chicken Inasals in Manila seem like rip-offs. :( Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take note of the store's name, but I'm sure any of those are good. Based on online reviews though, they say Aida's Chicken serves the best.

From Manukan, we went to San Sebastian Cathedral. It was well-maintained and had this really grand aura to it. After saying our prayers and taking photos, we went strolling at the Central Market and the public plaza. These 2 places were packed with people, it was crazy! Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take photos of the 2 latter locations. :(

We were supposed to walk to our next destination but we just couldn't find the right street. We also had a hard time communicating with the locals since many didn't speak Filipino and/or English. Since we were running out of time and patience, we just rode a cab to ANP Showroom. ANP stands for Association of Negros Producers and sure enough, this place was a pasalubong haven. They had statues, keychains, pens, food and lot of other knick-knacks. Of course, maskaras of different sizes and colors were everywhere. For those who don't know, the MassKara Festival is one of the more popular festivals celebrated in the Philippines. From Wikipedia, "The word 'Masskara' is a portmanteau, coined by the late artist Ely Santiago from mass (a multitude of people), and the Spanish word cara (face), thus forming MassKara (a multitude of faces). The word is also a pun on maskara (Filipino for "mask"), since a prominent feature of the festival are the masks worn by participants, which are always adorned with smiling faces." Here's a wonderful display of the maskaras.

colorful maskaras

From there, we took a cab to The Ruins. Just a brief history from this site: "The mansion was built in the early 1900's by the sugar baron, Don Mariano Ledesma Lacson... The mansion was the largest residential structure ever built at that time and had in it one of the finest furniture, chinaware and decorative items..." The structure was burned down in World War 2 by guerilla fighters but to this day, the structure, albeit burnt and "ruined", still stands beautifully. Looking at it, you can't help but be awed. A lot of pre-nup photos are taken at this very place. It's breathtakingly beautiful. Definitely a must-visit. To enter, you just have to pay P50, which most probably goes to maintenance.

After The Ruins, we went to Balay Negrense. It was a house built in 1897 and was turned into a museum in 1990. It housed interesting items from the old times so it was really kind of an inspiring place, for me at least. Walking around, it made me feel blessed and at the same time sad to be living in this time. Life seemed so easy back then... Although I really couldn't imagine living during those times with the war and all that. Plus, no gadgets! How shallow! hahahaha! Of course, being in an old place, we couldn't help but feel creeped out. I was a bit scared to go through my photos from this place, for fear of seeing something or someone that shouldn't be there haha! I'm such a chicken. There's just a minimal fee of P40, again, probably for maintenance. Here's a bunch of photos from the house.

The whole time, I was dreading to see something scary. Haha! What can I say, I just find old places really spooky. I mean, just look at these photos!

Final stop: El Ideal Bakery. This was a pretty popular place and it was listed as one of the must-visit places in Bacolod. It's quite near from Balay Negrense and the airport so we decided to grab a quick bite before heading to the airport. Their most popular dish was the Guapple Pie. Sounds weird, I know. It's like apple pie with guava. Hmmkay. I still prefer apple pie but for a unique experience, I think you guys should try it as well.

For foodies out there, here are 2 other places we weren't able to visit but also had great reviews: Calea's and Felicia's. They're both located in Lacson Street so if you have time and are staying for more than a day, try to visit these as well. Let me know how their food is!

After El Ideal, it's back to the airport for us! What a day! Vans that take tourists to and from the airport stop near El Ideal so it's very convenient. These vans are likely your Bacolod version of Manila's UV Express.

That's it for our 1-day getaway! Hope you enjoyed this post. :)