we all met up at the cebu pacific terminal and even before boarding the plane, i already knew we would have loads of fun. first of all, janice made the mistake of mentioning that it was going to be her first time to ride a plane. good luck.
meet janice. ang birhen.
let's just say i'm sure janice will never forget her "first time". airplane virgin! to give you an idea, we were the noisiest in the plane, laughed all throughout the 40 minute plane ride, and cheng even won the game held inside. mayhem.
upon landing in bacolod, we all immediately felt the laid back atmosphere of the place. we hung out at alice's cousin's place for a while then had dinner at pala-pala, their local version of the dampa. my diet was obviously put on hold for the night. i don't think i could ever resist freshly cooked scallops and other seafood. we then semi-toured around the city kahit gabi na. we dropped by a really nice dessert place called calea. this place was so good that we all became converts. we all now swear by their cakes. afterwards, i decided to sleep at the back of the car kasi i came from work and wala pa akong tulog while we continued the semi city tour.
since we all realized that everyone in bacolod didn't want to go out on that particular saturday night, we all headed to a local festival called the panaad festival. lo and behold! it seemed as if everyone in the entire island was there! it was basically one big tiangge, exhibit, and rows of food stalls all in one.
here's cheng with the costume of one of the performers.
the next day, we all prepared for the beach. we first went to mass and then visited the most beautiful mcdonald's store i've ever been to. by far! we then drove a few miles north of bacolod and saw fields and fields of the crop that makes negros famous: sugar cane. the vastness of the sugar cane fields is insane. and during this entire road trip, only one word was coming out of our mouths: "azucarera!". it means 'sugar mill' in spanish. don't ask us why 'coz we don't know how it started either.
the resort we were going to was on a different island so we had to take a short boat ride. lakawon island is simply perfect. of course, i am aware that our country offers better beaches but for me, it was exactly what we all needed at that exact moment in time.
the resort, just like bacolod, is very laid-back. electricity was available only at night (imagine) and the island itself is friggin' small. but there were the manangs who cook food and the readily available airconditioned cottages. and of course, the beach was marvelous.
well it'd be futile to share all the kwentos we had but even though we just spent one day at the beach, it was pretty much worth it. cheng's posing posing. alice's moments ("baka ma-alice ka!"). and rina's sunbathing. not to mention... "the KORS"... i.e. the koreans. hehehe!
do it like the kors.
the day after, we all headed back to bacolod to buy the requisite pasalubongs and eat authentic chicken inasal at an area called manokan. go figure. apparently, food in bacolod will never fail you. that was one of the best chicken i've ever tasted. it reminded me of the first time i ever tasted authentic cebu lechon, but that's for another story.
after a few hours, we all found ourselves on a delayed flight back to manila and back to urbanity as we know it.
visiting negros and going around bacolod honestly made me love our country more. that's precisely why i'm in love with traveling. there's nothing like meeting new people, discovering new places, and experiencing the thrill and adventure that comes with it all. i have officially resolved to attempt to visit a different island in this country every time i go out on a vacation. but if fate puts my feet back in negros, i wouldn't mind.
more pictures at http://benariel.multiply.com
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