Ambot ah!

Due to some unfortunate circumstances, it turns out I’ll have to cancel my Aklan+Boracay trip because it’ll be in the same week as my Bacolod-Silay trip. I guess I’ll just have to make the most of my trip in Negros Occidental.

I and a bunch of my classmates are actually going to Bacolod to study the organizational structure of Riverside Medical Hospital for a requirement in our management class but since we can’t resist to make it a semi-vacation at the same time, we just had to plan an overnight stay in the mountain of Silay, particularly in a place called “patag.”


September 7, 2007 (Friday) 3:00 PM

We arrived at Muelle Loney, the riverwharf of Iloilo City, where the Iloilo-Bacolod fastcrafts are docked. Bought a Sea Jet ticket for only P120 one-way and waited until 3:45 for the vessel to arrive. After about an hour of travel, we already arrived at the BREDCO port in Bacolod.

I always liked the BREDCO port because it is so organized and spacious, unlike its counterpart back home. From BREDCO, it was just a P10 tricycle ride to SM City Bacolod, where we met up with some of our groupmates. I like SM Bacolod too, although quite small, the design is not at all like most boxed-type SM Malls. What I like most is its fiesta strip, because all of the restaurants have an outdoor area, which you can go to when you’d want to enjoy your meal while taking a breath of Bacolod’s clean air.

Muffins at Bob’s Cafe

Our first night was spent in the enjoyment of Bacolod’s nightlife places. Had fun. I’ll just leave it at that since unwanted lurkers might know what I was up to

Visit at the Capitol lagoon after the nightout


September 8, 2007 (Saturday)
Waking up early was always the hard part after a nightout but the thought of going to Patag made me come out of bed immediately. Patag is the name of a mountainous place in Silay. Fortunately, we already have our own private transport to take us directly to Patag but if you would like to commute, there are regular bus trips from Silay City proper.

The ride starts at the city proper, where you’ll be able to see why they call Silay as the Paris of Negros.

For most of the ride, you will pass by miles and miles of sugarcanes planted in red (volcanic) soil. The view of the majestic mountains of Northern Negros is quite overwhelming. When you get high enough, you can even see Iloilo including the steep cone-shaped island of Pan de Azucar (Mt. Manaphag) on a clear sky.

You will know when you’re in Patag when the view suddenly changes into a sight of verdant landsapes full of tall ferns, moss-covered vegatation, and a canopy of old trees.

A view of the new Bacolod-Silay Airport from Patag

After arriving and settling down at the guest house we were going to spend the night in, we set out to explore the immediate vicinity. I noticed that there are quite a number of nice rest houses in the area, how I wish I also have my own cabin in these parts in the future. There breeze was cool and we saw a lot of interesting plants, flowers, and insects, which looked like hybrid beings to us.

We went to a small resort called “Lad lad” and swam in their natural spring pool. Twas so icy cold that after a few minutes I decided to go out of the water, else I could have died of hypothermia.

To make things worse it even rained and those darn clouds blocked the sun’s heat out. After minutes of turmoil, the rain eventually subsided and a rainbow greeted us before we embarked on our quest to the first waterfall we intend to visit.

From the main road it was a grueling 30min hike to the fall. It was worth it. The waterfall was quite tall but narrow. It fell on a semi-enclosed small pool, which has not very deep. You could go under where the water fell directly (my friends tried it) but it was at the risk of breaking a few bones or inflicting brain damage due so I didn’t do as they did.

We then returned to our new home and prepared ourselves for the evening. I had brought a tent with me anticipating the probability that we might not have a big enough place to sleep in. We did have a big place that can accommodate us but I slept in the tent anyways thinking that it would be fun.

I was wrong, it was so friggin cold felt like my internal organs had stopped functioning, so don’t do it unless your tent has a heat-generating feature.


September 9, 2007 (Sunday)

After breakfast, we set out again to go to this place called “Pulang Tubig”, which our guide described as the biggest waterfall in Patag. It was a 1-hour hike this time but upon seeing how big it was, felt instantly rejuvenated. It looked like it was as tall as a 10 storey building and the water fell with a cascading effect pa.

We had returned to the house before lunchtime to pack our bags because we we’re going to eat lunch in Silay City Proper. Since some of my companions had to return back to Iloilo already, we had to accompany them to the port. During the afternoon, we had to find a place to stay for the night in Bacolod City. We found a pension house, which charged us a non-aircon room for P80/head and an aircon room for P140/head. Cheap huh? we rented two rooms because there were 9 of us and they only allow a maximum of 5 persons per room. We planned to use the non-aircon room to use as a storage room for our bags and just stuff ourselves in the aircon room for sleep.

After going around the city a bit, I went to Sorrento to catch up with some of my friends who were having dinner there. We stayed in a resto called “Pepe’s”. I ordered their baby back ribs with honey glazed sauce. It was so good and the prices were relatively cheap, if I only had more time in Bacolod I would surely explore more of their menu. Totally, two thumbs up!


September 10, 2007 (Monday)

The next day we conducted a study of organizational structure of Riverside Hospital as a requirement in our management class. Ma’am Alabado, the director for nursing services, answered all our questions and lead a tour of their institution. Compared to our base hospital, their hospital was lightyears ahead. Our gov’t hospitals is in such a sorry state.

Chocolate Coffee Drink and Bibinka at McCAfe along Lacson … both of them tasted aweful btw

Coffee at Kuppa near Hua Ming
This was our last day at Bacolod. During the trip home, we decided to take the RORO, which only cost us P40 for a Bacolod to Dumamgas trip. From Dumangas we then rode one of the buses, which was also in the RORO, bound for Iloilo City.

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