Some Really Cool Things to Do in Bacolod

I couldn't write so much on my recent travels. After all, for every five days I spend in each of these provinces, I only get about five hours maximum to do touristy things. I am still extremely grateful though --- just being able to have my feet touch the ground of Philippines beautiful places is a blessing not everyone has.

So let me tell you about some places I've been to last time I was displaced out of Manila, when I spent five days in the land of sugarcane and chicken inasal ---- Bacolod.

1. Have the bestest desserts at Calea. I am a dessert person, after being a breakfast person so it was no surprise that the first thing I asked when we arrived (and had a lunch of chicken inasal drizzled with chicken oil) is where to have dessert. Calea boasts of rich cakes, the yummiest tiramisu, creampuffs with the right sweetness and sans rival minus the toothache and lovely capuccinos in little fragile cups.

Just because it deserves to be reposted.

Food porn. And so bad for my diet but who cares?

2. Drop by the Ledesma Ruins. It's quite amazing, the number of old houses and museums they have in Bacolod. My friend R has been able to go through most of them (did you know they have a Happy Meal Museum?) but this is one of the two I was able to see due to time constraints. It's super lovely though, most especially the story behind it. According to the caretaker, the mansion was owned by the azucarera Ledesma clan back in the late 1800s. As it was kinda crazy at that time, someone was forced to just set it on fire to prevent the Japanese from occupying it. Why it remained like how it is now? The cement used to built it was laced with egg whites (surprisingly) and it's still standing now. Filipinos are such bright creatures, yeah?

3. Ogle the Bacolod Silay Airport. I've been to a lot of airports in the Philippines (NAIA 1,2, and 3), Caticlan, Kalibo, Mactan, Naga, Tagbilaran, CDO, General Santos, Davao and Clark but nothing compares to the new Bacolod Silay Airport. Okay, maybe it's still not comparable to NAIA Terminal 3 but I really liked how everything inside was orderly, they had digital destination boards, for goodness' sakes! And they had pretty, clean escalators. I was in awe and felt like I was in some other Asian country. Oh and it helps that when landing in Bacolod, all you see are lots of greeneries as opposed to bare and barren land at some.

4. Best. Chicken. Inasal. Ever. I was never a fan of chicken inasal simply because when the craze about it started here in Manila, I found that it was just well, plain, salty chicken with nothing spectacular in it. We arrived in Bacolod around 10 AM and while I was still very full from my breakfast from Delifrance in NAIA 2, we chose to have chicken inasal from Chicken House and boy, was it the best lunch I had in weeks. What amazes me actually is how there were no theatrics in the presentation --- only honest-to-goodness chicken, marinated in God knows what, doses of awesome, probably. I could sing songs about it right now but then again, that won't be necessary.

5. Trek the Mambukal Resort. I can't believe I'm actually including this in the list as I originally, just like how I felt for the CDO Rapids, discouraged the trip going to it. If you've been reading my wanderlust blog posts, I never plan a trip or join one because of "nature" purposes. I like lounging around, walking around cities and getting baked in the beach. Going up the mountains was never my cup of tea. My colleagues were smart enough to predict I was going to enjoy it at the very end. And enjoy, I did.

During the 1 hour ride to Mambucal from L'Fisher Hotel

The tour guide told us "Patag po ma'am." There we are, climbing up
in flip flops and totally unprepared.

Trying to look decent while sweating. Me at the 1 of 7 Waterfalls.

My "Uy, ayaw pa daw kunwari" photo at the Hanging Bridge.

Making the Gleek sign at the highest point of Mambukal. I made it!

There you go. Those things are my recommendations if you ever find yourself in the lovely and sweet city of Bacolod. 

How is your Monday so far? Mine is surprisingly happy after bouts of boredom and restlessness. But anyway, those may just be my hormones or IDK, Quarter Life Crisis LOL.

Bear hugs and bunny kisses,

Teeyah