"Ooh, you can dance write, you can jive blog
Having the time of your life..." 🎜🎶💃📓✎
I can, ABBA. I can and I will. Hahaha.
Ready for the continuation? You gotta brace yourself for this because this may make you famish afterwards.
Manokan Country houses Aida's which boasts of the authentic and most delicious chicken inasal (grilled) in Bacolod City or if not in the whole archipelago! Believe you me, this is carb loading at its finest!
I ate with my hand in a plastic glove to really savor the local dishes. The kansi
completed our hearty lunch. Burp! And another big and long BUUUUURRRRRPPPP!
A little heavier from our lunch, we proceeded to Negros Museum but without dropping by at La Consolation College where Arthur's eldest and only daughter, Krisha Marie, recently earned her BS Architecture degree. I joined in his pride as a parent and had a photo in one of the famous Catholic schools in our country.
Arthur and I could now feel the effect of the high heat index, thus our next destination was the best choice.
A museumgoer, I derived so much gratification from the tour in spite of being on my own as it educated me about the rich cultural history of Negros Occidental.
Let me digress for a while. Just wanted to highlight this realization since this is the first non-agency guided tour which I availed of. As you can see, the big advantage of hiring a local guide is that one is not rushed when exploring a particular place. This is my case with Arthur. He gave me the leeway every time we reached a certain tourist spot. Dropping by the Negros Occidental Provincial Capitol, we roamed around it noon time. It was freaking hot! Despite the rise in the temperature I did not notice irritation or impatience on my guide's facial expressions while I fleeted from one location to another to take a snap.
Both sweating now, we seemed to have a telepathic connection when we decided to go to Calea Cakes and Pastries, the famed bake shop in Bacolod City.
My pupils dilated and my sweet tooth... er... teeth....tooth...teeth...tooth was in a frenzy upon entering this iconic store! *guffaws*
"Coffee crunch, chocolate mud pie and black and white mousse PLEASSSE!!! And brewed coffee! Make that for two please!"
My happy tooth was contented but forgot that my blood sugar as a prediabetic might spike in 3...2...1! Boom!
Oh, Calea, Calea! You got me at first taste. Wish I could bring home one whole chocolate mud pie, but for sure it would melt into Magnolia Chocolait drink even before departing for Manila.
Softly whistling a joyful tune briefly after pigging out on cakes at Calea, I checked the list for our last two destinations in Bacolod: BongBong's Piaya Making Facilities and Bacolod City New Government Center. Arthur suggested that I could already buy pasalubongs at the former before driving to Silay City.
The latter would be the last place to visit since it's near the hotel. It would also cap our tour. This is a logical reason from a competent tour guide.
After almost an hour, we headed for Silay City. It gave me an opportunity to see part of the marathon route for the next day as Arthur pinpointed it out when I asked him about the street names which I remembered.
As our trip commenced Arthur asked me whether I still wanted to drop by El Edial, another pasalubong store and Bernardino Jalandoni Museum. I was quick in responding that we could skip these two sites because what we'd be touring in Silay are museum-like ancestral houses. To add, entering another souvenir store is dangerous to my health...I mean wallet. *winks*
We reached Barangay III in Silay City before 3:30 pm. It was roughly an hour road trip from Bacolod City. I think this part of Negros Occidental hasn't gone through the torturous carmaggeddon.
Once I set foot in this community, felt like I have to unleash the Gabriel Silang spirit in me.
To be continued...
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