They say that as you face the new year, you have to start it right so I started mine with a nice vacation to my beloved hometown the city of SUGARLANDIA – Bacolod City which is renowned as the city of smiles because of the colorful and spectacle parade of smiling masks every second week of October commemorating the festivity of the city. We had a peaceful flight on the way to Bacolod but my heart was a little sad leaving my Cheebah behind for merely 10 days. Upon arrival, I was amazed with the new Bacolod airport protruding amid the mountain range of Northern Negros and the vast land of sugarcane haciendas. It was great seeing my family picking us up at the new airport. Newly built structures are evidently rising in Bacolod including the costly starbucks. We went straight home to unload our things. My mom cooked an Ilonggo style nilaga (beef with young jackfruit, batwan and tanglad) for lunch, Teejay loved it.
Day 1 was spent at Uma Cafe beside L’Fisher Hotel, we had a fabulous dinner with Cell – Teejay’s former officemate who happened to be an Ilonggo also. Uma Cafe’s pizza and pasta are to die for. Their espresso based drinks are also great combined with a tiny piyaya that is great with a big cup of cappuccino best served with muscovado sugar. All in All it was a delectable treat. We then went to Majj at Mayfair Plaza where we expressed our whiny demons through a delicious red wine and a delightful platter of buffalo wings. Had a few great laughs while our spirits are surreptitiously dancing in the sound of house music. My place is located in the suburbs so it’s not advisable to travel late at night so we checked in at Business Inn located at the heart of the city. It’s an inexpensive hotel that offers a good comfortable sleep and a lounge that shows a live band at night while you are sipping a highly delectable Kansi (bulalo).
We had lunch at Lions Park restaurant on day 2 with my cousin and sister. Relax though, as it is not a literal Lions Park. For me, they have the best Inasal in town. We feasted on Chicken Inasal (pecho – breast, paa – legs, baticulon – gizzard) and a bowl of fresh oysters best served with tangy and spicy sinamak (vinegar with chili). We have enjoyed every second of it. We then went to SM City for a little shopping and came back to the hotel for a power nap. Evening came and we went to Pendys for coffee and chocolate cake. We then went to Pala Pala, it’s a local seafood market where you can haggle for fresh catch of the ocean and have it cooked by the restaurant. It’s just an array of nipa huts that doesn’t resemble any ostentatious design nor an elaborate facade but the way they cook the Tinola nga Isda (Sinigang na isda – boiled fish) is to die for, with unique ingredients only famous in the islands of Visayas. We had Sinigang na manumbok, half a kilo of buttered prawns and half a kilo of grilled native squid. We only paid Php 750 for everything. We then went back to the hotel lounge with a full stomach. We watched the live acoustic band, had some tea and relaxed with the gentle pour of the rain.
We checked out from the hotel on Day 3, we spent the rest of the day at our store in the market as it was the concluding day of the year which means, it’s the busiest day for our store. We helped my mom at the store, Aldolito enjoyed selling fruits and toys and taking random pictures at the same time. We had lechon (roasted pig) for lunch. We went home late afternoon watched some dvd and waited for the new year to come. As the first hour of the first day of the new year came, we went out to watch the festive lights of the fireworks. We then feasted on lechon manok and fruits as our media noche. we didn’t prepare any special food as all of us were dead tired, it was fun nevertheless.
Day 4 was filled with adventure, want to know why? We had breakfast at Pala Pala once again. We then went to a place called The Ruins in Talisay.“The structure of The Ruins is of Italianate architecture with neo-Romanesque columns, having a very close semblance to the facade of Carnegie Hall in New York City.
The mansion was built in the early 1900’s by the sugar baron, Don Mariano Ledesma Lacson (1865-1948) and was home to his unmarried children with his first wife, Maria Braga Lacson (+1911), a Portuguese from Macau. The mansion was the largest residential structure ever built at that time and had in it one of the finest furnitures, chinawares, and decorative items, as the father of the Maria Braga was a captain of a ship that sailed across Europe and Asia and would cart with him these items. One of their daughters maintained a beautiful garden of lilies in and around the 4-tiered fountain fronting the mansion, all brought in from abroad.
One of the sons supervised the construction of the mansion making certain that the A-grade mixture of concrete and its pouring was precisely followed.
The mansion met its sad fate in the early part of World War II (1942) when the USAFFE (United States Armed Forces in the Far East), then the guerilla fighters in the Philippines, burnt the mansion to prevent the Japanese forces from utilizing it as their headquarters. It took days of inferno to bring down the roof and the two-inch wooden floors.
To this day, the 903 square meter structure still stands tall amidst sugar plantation and continues to awe both local and foreign tourists. Truly, a picture-perfect backdrop and a magnificent sight to see.” We made a little joke while we were on our way to see The Ruins, Aldolito said that it is only right to call it The Ruins because you’ll get ruined as you enter the road that leads you to the place. It’s a long, narrow, unpaved and undeveloped road that made our ride downright bumpy. But once you get there, you will be amazed and say to yourself that its all worth it. After taking numerous pictures, we then went to Silay to see the heritage houses and had lunch at Manokan Country and went striaght to SM City. As we were strolling down the mall, we decided to watch Ang Tanging Ina Niyong Lahat.
Day 5, we had coffee at Cafe Uma and took advantage of the free wifi brought by the nearby L’Fisher Hotel. We headed to Goldenfileds Commercial Complex to have some Kansi for Dinner – our very own version of bulalo. After a brief greasy dinner, we then went to MO2 to see my friend Cynthia. We had a few drinks, watched the live acoustic band and had a run-of-the-mill talk with Cynthia. It was nice seeing college friends like her still kicking it in the city. We ended the night at McCafe for a cup of coffee and a chocolate cake.
Day 6, we had lunch at Chicken House in Singkang for a different taste of Inasal. We then crossed the street and bought some fresh piyaya for dessert and drove around town for sight seeing. Evening came and we stopped by at Robinsons place and had a nice hot chocolate and some muffins. We then went to the supermarket, grabbed some pringles, breads and doritos and headed back home for a fun evening. We had chicken tinola for dinner and it was very satisfying.
To be continued…….
