Bacolod: The City of Smiles

Around the third week of May, the office embarked on another working trip to the City of Smiles – Bacolod City in Negros Oriental. Thankfully, our flight this time wasn’t very early so we weren’t pressed to get up in the wee hours of the morning like in our previous ‘working trips’. Office meet-up was set at around 7 am, we had time to eat Mcdo muffins and coffee for breakfast before leaving for the airport some 30 minutes later. We boarded the PAL Airbus 320 Flight PR 133 in Manila at around 9:30 am and landed in Silay City airport an hour later at 10:30 am. First impression of the city was that it was so hot…well, considering that it was summer – it was to be expected, but I am glad when we finally entered the hotel which was to be our home for the next four days… Planta Centro Hotel, located right at the heart of Bacolod city.

The hotel itself was quite a sight to behold – recently inaugurated in March of this year – the place was sparkling clean and the staff very friendly…after all, that’s why they’re called the city of smiles – because of the friendly people. And so for the next few days, we got busy and stayed mostly inside the cool comfort of Planta Hotel. Even the food they served was great!!! It seems they had an Italian chef and so each day we were served a different kind of pasta dish – so I am able to gorge on my fave food much to my heart’s content…Even their breakfast spread was superb because they offered so much variety even if their space was a bit too cramped. Well, anyway one can always choose to dine al fresco by the poolside although I never did try because even in the morning, the temperature was already quite sizzling!!!

But after three straight days of hotel food (no matter how good!) one would still feel quite bored with such type of fare so it was quite a welcome treat for all of us to finally be able to step out of the hotel (when our two-day workshop was finally finished) and eat their famous chicken inasal. But first we had a city tour with a guide from the city government to take us around. First stop was to buy another Bacolod famous delicacy – napoleones… the resto (Pendy’s, I think) offered free taste and we all bought many boxes for pasalubong. Then we visited a museum which featured their very colorful history…just too bad we weren’t allowed to take photos inside…they also had a toy museum that had so many toys (wish my kids could see it! but alas still no pics...) Then we visited another souvenir shop where we were able to buy many trinkets like masskara keychains and ref magnets, bracelets, others bought colorful bags and even tshirts. Then, we visited another food shop – Mercy’s where we bought still more food delights for pasalubongs – it seems Bacolod had so many treats for foodies like me! When we finally satiated our pasalubong shopping spree (and when our money ran out already), it was already time for our dinner!

The same local contact recommended that we eat at IMAY’s and we were rewarded with their delicious array of specialties including Bacolod’s famous inihaw na manok. We also had their seafood kare-kare, tofu veggie, sisig, and so much more… we felt so full after eating so when we returned to the hotel we didn’t sleep all at once but decided to hang out and eat (some more!) but only chips and soda this time while the boys had beer at the presidential suite which the madam did not use… check out the pics --- it’s just so cool and fun to be President!

The next day we had originally planned to visit this other famed Bacolod tourist site - the Mambukal Mountain Resort but based on our discussion last night with the group that went there ahead of us, it wasn’t so spectacular and even a bit overrated… and so we decided to just stay inside the comforts of our room and sleep a wee bit later than usual. We all took our sweet time having breakfast, some went across the street for some more last minute shopping --- that’s another beauty of Planta hotel, there were also souvenir shops just across the street so one can really do all the shopping without venturing too far from the hotel…we wanted to take in a little bit more sana of the city but we were unable to go anywhere else but the church, SM and the pier so by 11 we decided to have our lunch at another recommended resto – ABOY’s which is near the old Bacolod airport.

Sated and quite drowsy with all the good food we just ate, we lazily trudged back to the hotel to finish packing so we could proceed to the airport. As our plane prepared to taxi out of the runway, I looked down wistfully at the City of Smiles and as with other ‘working trips’ we had, made a vow to return once again – to fully savor all the city had to offer – maybe a visit to their famous sugar plantations, their sugar beach in Sipalay, the Masskara festival, mountain resorts, waterfalls, and so much more... truly one can never get tired of visiting the numerous beautiful islands of our country ...