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.

Enchanted Kingdom ~~ the Magic Does Live On

Enchanted Kingdom is the first theme park built in the Philippines. It is located in Sta. Rosa, Laguna about an hour or an hour and a half from Manila depending on the traffic.

Their recent addition to the rides and attractions is Agila. It is a flying theater and a tribute to Philippine Eagles. The park ticket rates will depend on whether you will avail of this or just the regular rides. By the way, they have increased ticket prices from last year. You may check the ticket rates here. For Park schedules, go here.

They do offer promos, like if it's your birthday your park ticket is for free.

Here are some of the attractions that you can see inside the park. There are some rides that can be enjoyed by those who are not fans of extreme rides. One of my favorites is the Rialto 4-D theater. I loved it so much that I watched the show twice :) .

How to get to Enchanted Kingdom:
1. By private Vehicle, just ply the southsuper highway and SLEX, take the Sta. Rosa Exit (Coca-cola). Turn right when you see Waltermart and just go straight until you reach Enchanted Kingdom.

2. By Bus, from Edsa ride southbound buses going to Balibago, Sta. Rosa, Laguna. Get off at Waltermart, then take the tricycle going to Enchanted Kingdom. Bus fare is P70 and trike fare is P10.

Restrooms near the gift shop

They usually have fireworks display during the weekends at around 8:30 PM. When we went there, there wasn't much of a crowd so we were able to ride almost all of the park attractions. There are a lot of food concessionaires in the park and please don't bring any food or drinks as these will be confiscated at the gate or entrance.

Baguio Day trip for P1500

My hubby and I skipped spending Valentine's Day due to a number of reasons. The main one being we hated crowds and we knew from experience that most places would be flocked by couples wanting to make this day extra special. Our first Valentine's date as a couple was in Baguio seven years ago. But we don't have the luxury of time as we did back then as we both only had one rest/off day.

So we both decided to go on a day trip. We also did not want to spend that much, so we both agreed to spend P1500 each for this day trip.

The bulk of our expense was with our bus fare. We took the 12:40 AM bus ride to Baguio and it costs P450 each. Travelling at this time gives us two advantages. One is there is no traffic along the towns of Pampanga and Tarlac where the bus will traverse. Two, you get to sleep during the five hour journey. We arrived at 5:30AM.

First on our itinerary was breakfast at Good Taste. The last time we visited this restaurant was in 2012. The prices have changed, but the quantity of their servings have not. I love Baguio's brewed coffee as they are local coffee beans, freshly roasted and ground. And depending on the restaurant, a cup will cost you between P25-P50. We spent P150 each.

After breakfast we walked towards Burnham Park. Carnations were abloom this time and since it's almost Panagbenga there were garden exhibits along the road. There are also stalls selling souvenir items around Burnham park.

From Burnham Park, we exited towards Harrison Road to take a cab to Wright Park. You have an option to take the jeep going there, but it has been five years since I last visited Baguio that I have forgotten which jeep to take. Our taxi fare was P70.

We were unable to take pictures outside the Mansion as President Duterte was there. We simply walked through the park and took pictures. Most people would start from the Horse Tree Area then go up the flight of stairs to exit to the lagoon/the Mansion. What we did was the opposite where we started from the lagoon, then exited Romulo Drive. From there, we walked towards Botanical Gardens.

From Botanical Gardens, we took another cab to Mine's View (P70). The cab driver offered to take us on a city tour for P2500. We declined his offer because not only was it going to blow our budget, we also did not see the practicality of the price as most of the tourist spots in Baguio can be reached using jeeps/public transportation.

We stayed for a while in the Mine's View viewdeck. The place was crowded because it was a Saturday and in time for the PMA alumni homecoming. Then we browsed the shops in Gibraltar road while walking towards Good Shepherd.

Good Shepherd for those who may not know is famous for their Ube Halaya and Strawberry jam. Unfortunately since there were a lot of visitors, we did not queue up to order these goodies. What we did was enjoy a cup of Civet/Alamid coffee for P100 each.

By then it was lunchtime. My hubby and I decided to go to Victory Liner first to buy tickets for our return trip in advance. We took the jeep from Mine's View to Victory Liner for P10 each. After buying our tickets, we ate lunch at the second floor of the terminal. There's a Maxim's tea house outlet there, also KFC. We had congee and siopao for P120 each.

While eating our late lunch we noticed that it looked like it was about to rain. So instead of going to Camp John Hay, we opted to go to SM Baguio. We took a cab (again) for P55. Good thing we did that as it rained hard and we were planning to go to Bell House and the Cemetery of Negativity.

We hung out at SM Baguio enjoying the cold weather. Then when it stopped raining we went to Baguio Museum, entrance is P40 each. You will get to see old pictures of Baguio when it was first developed by the Americans, the different tribes and their traditional clothes. There is also a mummy on display.

At Sunshine Park beside the museum, we were also able to watch kids practicing the local/tribal dances using gongs. Then we walked to Victory Liner terminal.

If it hadn't rained there were still three more places we could've gone to. One of the reasons why we went home early is because we're no longer young people. My tummy was acting up, and my hubby had a tooth ache. So, we were not able to go food tripping (Ketchup community, Volante, Jacks). But it was a day trip we both enjoyed.