RSS Feed (xml)
When I stepped out of the airplane, the province of Negros Occidental already impressed me. The airport, which is located in Silay City (30 minutes away outside of Bacolod), has a tube that connects the plane to it. It is relatively small compared to the Manila’s airport Terminals 2 and 3, but it is of international standard.
Truth be told, I was expecting a grassier, forest-covered, less progressive type of place. Surprisingly, the it is indeed a city. Mc Donald’s, Starbucks, Chowking, Jollibee and would you believe it, too many Mang Inasal branches? I can’t imagine how the chain survives because the food in Bacolod, aside from being unbelievably delicious, are really cheap too. I’ll get into that in a bit.
Getting There
I’m not sure if there is a bus that you can ride from Manila to go to Bacolod City but I strongly recommend to just take the plane. If you are as thrifty as I am, just wait for seat sale to come by and I’m sure you will get a pretty sweet deal that will provide you comfort of traveling to the city for just an hour away from Manila. I rode Philippine Airlines which cost me Php 1,500 for a roundtrip ticket. I believe it is as cheap as you can get for riding a new plane with good enough leg room and great service. Going to the city seemed like going on a trip to Tagaytay, that short. You may opt to wait for Cebu Pacific Sale to get the cheapest deals. Zest Air and PAL Express also fly to Bacolod.
From the airport, there are a lot of locals on stand-by to get you to the city proper. I’m not sure how much it costs but it should not burn a hole in your pocket.
Accommodations
We were supposed to stay at L’Fisher’s more affordable accommodation called Chalet. We were quoted to spend only Php 1,000 per night per room, good for two. Not such a bad deal considering the location is smacked right at Lacson Street (Bacolod’s main road). It is also a stone’s throw away from Calea (which I will create a separate post soon), the famous cake shop in the city. Obviously, the rate of the Chalet was very economical, it was fully booked.
So we decided to go for another hotel named Planta Hotel which was pretty much in the centre as well. It has a nice huge facade to the point that I was intrigued how it looked like inside. We were quoted at Php 1,500 / night. Still not bad, right? But then we decided to stay in a house that is barely used by S’ uncle because he is in and out of the Philippines. From what I gathered, Business Inn and O Hotel are also very good hotels to stay in.
Things to Do
There’s absolutely nothing better for someone to do but EAT! I am not kidding. Unless it is the season for the annual Masskara Festival, eating is the best thing to do. All the good tasting food is concentrated in Bacolod (though some are actually in Silay City). I will have several posts about the numerous food places I have tried but this I tell you… the possibility of you gaining weight during a trip to Bacolod is very high. It is the home to the chicken inasal, la paz batchoy, cakes, desserts, coffee and anything sweet. Everything was amazing! The best thing? The food are mostly half the price compared to the Manila's prices.
I went around the area and saw the city hall which I think was grand and very Malacanang-like (Philippine president’s palace). I also went to the Lagoon which is Bacolod’s park that had a ton of tilapia in its huge pond. I was supposed to check out one of the museums but then it was a holiday so it was closed.
Aside from going around Bacolod, we also went to Silay in a failed attempt to visit several ancestral homes. Balay Negrense was not able to operate. We were informed that the manager was drunk from the festivities the night before and so it was closed. So was Jalandoni which was too bad. But I thought, it was alright because we ended up eating again, haha.
For around a half an hour drive from the center of Bacolod, in Talisay City, you can visit The Ruins. It used to be this really huge mansion built by Don Mariano Ledesma Lacson for his wife, Maria Braga. The family intentionally burned down the mansion for it not to be used by the Japanese as base.
Today, it is a site visited by tourists and a function place where different parties such as weddings and birthdays take place. When we were there, a wedding was about to happen but I would have loved for the grounds to be pretty empty because it is a nice structure to take a photo of (I seriously need an UWA lens). The facade was supposed to turn into a gold shade by sunset but the clouds blocked off the sun’s rays when I was there. It was still beautiful nonetheless.
We went through the road that was enough to make a person agonize a short, 25 minute ride, just because it was not paved. As The Ruins is visited by a lot of people, I do hope they do something about this.
Around Negros, there are also some beaches. I heard of Antulang in Dumaguete (which is Negros Oriental) which is around three hours away. We, on the other hand, went to Punta Bulata which is still in Negros Occidental. It was still 3 hours by land because of the counter flow roads. Should these get fixed soon, I think it will be cut off to just 2 hours. The resort is 156 km away from the city. I should tell you more about this on a separate post.
I have heard of Mambukal, but I haven’t been. I am not sure how far away it is from the city but I do hope to visit this the next time I visit. Drop by once in a while for more Bacolod posts especially about food. Just thinking about it is making me hungry.
L’ Fisher Hotel
14th Lacson St., Bacolod City Negros Occidental, Philippines 6100
(63 34) 4333731 to 39
lfisherhotel@yahoo.com / lfisher@globelines.com.ph
Posts
