Updating My Travel blog

It's hard to maintain a blog and work a full time job. I've traveled quite a few times already since my last blog post, and unfortunately I was not able to write my experiences. Hopefully in the next few days I will be able to write again.

A few out of the country trips that I was not able to blog yet are my trips to Hong Kong, Taiwan and Malaysia.

For my Philippine trips, I will try to write about my trip to Siquijor and insert videos of their wonderful beaches. Also, I revisited Dalitiwan resort and will provide an update to the amenities of the resort.

Balay Negrense

After 30 years, I had a chance to go back to Bacolod in 2014. As a child I had no interest or knowledge of the Spanish ancestral houses in Silay. I do remember passing by a big house in 19th (or was it Lacson st., I can't remember or be sure) when I was a child and as with any child's imagination, be scared of it. I imagined the house full of ghouls and ghosts and other monsters. I would take the longer route to school than pass by this house. But that was me, when I was a kid.

Balay Negrense, or the Victor Fernandez Gaston ancestral house, is one of the 28 ancestral houses in Silay, Negros Occidental. Many of the ancestral houses survived World War 2 because the Japanese were awed by the beauty of the architecture of the houses. Balay Negrense also survived pillaging and bombs, but after the war it was abandoned and left to neglect.

The house is now open to the public as a museum. Since it was abandoned by the family, most of the furniture that is on display are either loaned or donated by other families. You will see the various antique furniture donated by the wealthy families of Silay.

What I love about this ancestral house is the bay windows. Built to adapt to the humid and tropical weather of the Philippines, when opened it provides much needed light and fresh air that goes through the house.

The house tour usually takes around 30 minutes and is just one of the many houses that you can visit in Silay.

Boljoon Cebu ~~ For Non-swimmers Like Me =)

I had made a mistake in booking our Cebu trip that we would be there for just two days and one night. My other wanderlust friend suggested that upon arrival we take the south-bound buses and just stay in one of the resorts there. But doing this mean that we would need to forgo the City Tour, which my companion wanted to see. Plus, we both were not in the mood for beach bumming in spite of Cebu's famous or known beaches.

So on our first day we did the City tour and also visited Temple of Leah. You can read about our DIY tour from here. Then I happened to come across Boljoon as I was checking Google Maps and my curiosity piqued.

Getting to Boljoon will take about two to three hours from Cebu city depending on the traffic. The buses going to Oslob from the Cebu South Terminal passes by the the Church. Fare is about P150 each, one way. The bus ride is a treat by itself as it will pass by the picturesque coastline of South Cebu. We suggest that you take the Ceres liner as it is more comfortable than the other bus companies plying the same route.

The Church of Boljoon, or the Nuestra Senora del Patrocinio de Maria Church was first built in 1599. This church still has it's original Tisa or Clay roof. Now, why, you may ask should you visit this centuries old church? Because it is 90% in it's original state. Meaning what you get to see inside is how the Spanish friars built it 300 years ago.

Beside the church is the rectory which has been converted into a museum. Entrance fee is P30. The National Museum in Manila has designed the gallery and is managing the museum. Boljoon has been discovered to have a settlement predating the Spanish era and you will see the artifacts here, including gold necklaces, pottery and human bones. This also means that the artifacts like the gold necklaces are inventoried by the National Museum.

Though we were not able to see it, the church boasts of an antique santo brought by Spanish friars from Spain decked in gold, silver and precious stones. The curator/museum guide told us that they used to bring out the image during the town fiesta, but they stopped doing this for preservation purposes.

One thing I also like about the place is that it has a clean restroom. There is an old statue of Archangel Michael in front of it.

We were not able to get in the baluarte or watchtower as it was closed when we visited. Across this would be Escuela Catolica.

One more point of interest is the old cemetery on the right side of the church. It still has the old stone gate with skulls and crossbones designed on it.

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We wanted to roam around the town as there are historical houses, but sadly time was not on our side. After an hour roaming around we hopped on the bus to go to Carcar to buy pasalubong or gifts.