I was in the airport by 2:30 in the morning on Monday, as our flight was at 4:30. I was flying with Jill and Ikey, as Nicco, Nar, and Hendri were to follow the next day. It's so funny how we kept laughing at Ikey's printout of Jill's driver's license and credit card, as it wasn't resized, so it consumed the entire letter-size paper. Anyway, we were hungry by the time we had checked-in, and we couldn't help but purchase those overpriced cup noodles while we wait for our boarding call.
Bianca was already at the airport, waiting for us, by the time we had reached Bacolod. She first took us to our hotel so we can check in and get some more sleep. It took a short while to organize our room assignments, as there were only 3 of us, but considering our arrivals and departures were somewhat staggered, we decided to pick rooms that had 3 beds. But of course, because Jill had told us about this particular room in the same hotel (as she and Bianca had once stayed there before) that had a window beside the tub, we just had to ask to sneak a peek at one of those rooms, hahaha!
Spent the rest of the morning sleeping, then Bianca picked us up for lunch. We ended up in Aida's in Manokan Country. Ah yes, now this is real chicken inasal. So yummy. After lunch, of course we still had room for dessert, so Bianca took us to Calea. Oh my gosh, so many yummy and sinful desserts, and I'm not allowed to eat half of them. Thank goodness for cheesecake. What I thought was a simple strawberry cheesecake turned out to have cherries and blueberries as well, plus little pineapple pieces inside. One of our funniest conversations occurred there, consisting of scary movies and what were the worst scary movies of all time.
We were supposed to check out Balay Negrense next, but considering it was a holiday (first day of the Panaad Festival), the place was closed. So we headed for The Ruins in Talisay, this beautiful structure that we saw on a tarp ad at the airport. Our car had to drive through this long and rocky road to get there, so it felt like we were all bobbleheads during the drive to the place. It was worth it, though. The Ruins was considered the Taj Mahal of Negros, having been once a mansion until it got destroyed during the Japanese occupation. What remained was still a beautiful piece of architecture. We spent quite a while just going around, taking pictures of the place and its surroundings.
Headed back to the hotel to rest for a while, then we got to go to the Panaad Festival in the evening. There was still place where they annually hold this particular festival, and all the cities in Negros Occidental gather here. We got to meet Bianca's family in the Sagay house, as her dad's the city's mayor. For dinner, we were served some yummy food, including some sort of shellfish whose name I forgot. After having our fill, we got to go around to check out the festivities. Each city had their own booth, showcasing their history, culture, industry and etcetera.
It was so funny when Jill, Ikey and I were hanging out in our room that night. We ended up watching the first part of Temptation Island (the original one), and I just had to crack up at all the crazy lines.
Early the following morning, Bianca and Jill picked up Nicco and Nar at the airport, then brought them back to the hotel. They had arrived when Ikey and I were still asleep, so they had to knock on the door several times. They managed to catch a couple of hours sleep before Bianca picked us up again (with sister Bea and Bea's best friend Melissa), because it was beach day!
We piled up in the van, got takeout from Jollibee for breakfast, then had to go to the airport again to pick Hendri up, as he had a later flight, coming from Iligan. Then we were off to Sagay. Bianca had warned us about the long drive, and boy, she wasn't kidding. It really was long, a couple of hours at least.
We went to Carbin Reef in Sagay, this sandbar that's half an hour away by boat. So when we pulled up at the pier, we boarded a small boat, and we were off. For a while, we were going crazy because the water kept splashing us, leaving most of us soaked before we reached our destination. And when we got there, it literally was a sandbar. A strip of sand that was even smaller that day because of the high tide, with a bunch of little huts lined up from end to end. We got to have the big one of the bunch at one end of the sandbar. The wind was still kind of crazy, but it was still fine. Of course some had to tie their clothes on the bamboo poles of the hut, and we all had to insert our slippers between the poles that lined the hut horizontally to keep them from drifting away into the water.
Lunch time at the sandbar! We pigged out on all this food, plus there's beer and Tanduay Ice as well. It started raining while we were eating, but that didn't bother us. It stopped by the time we were all full, so some of us decided to take a dip in the water. What was so funny was that a little later, we were all still holding bottles of (mostly) Tanduay Ice (even while in the water), so Bianca just had to react. "It's like a Tanduay Ice commercial!"
As I'm not really a beach person, at first I just stayed standing by the tiny shore, but even after a while, the water looked kind of enticing, so I just had to take a little dip. Once I was there, the water felt so great. So this is what it felt like, hahaha. Most of the time I just stayed by the shallowest part, keeping all but my head above the water.
By around 2:30 in the afternoon, it was time we had to head back. While I was drying myself off, that was when I realized that I only had one slipper wedged between the bamboo poles along with the rest of the slippers. I think the other slipper wasn't wedged in that well, fell to the sand, and got swept out to the water. I was ready to just go barefoot all the way home, but Ikey had offered to let me use his own slippers and go barefoot himself, so I was grateful for that.
Another long drive back home. We all slept during most of the ride, plus had to endure listening to this CD that was playing on loop since our ride that morning. It was actually of some girl singing some popular covers.
Me: Ang dami na niyang ni-cover.
Nar: Alam mo kung ano pa ang pwede niyang i-cover?
Me: Ano?
Nar: Yung mouth niya.
Hahahahaha!
When we finally arrived at the hotel, it was time for slight room re-assignment. Jill moved to the other room with Nicco and Nar, and Hendri took her place in the room we share with Ikey. Showers galore to get rid of all the sand, saltwater and whatnot, and then Bianca picked us up by around 7:30 for dinner.
We went to this place called Pepe's, where they had mentioned had yummy salpicao. I ended up havng the pesto crusted chicken breast and French onion soup (which I've been craving for since last week). Pretty yummy, and I didn't even get to finish my side order of mashed potatoes.
Of course we always make room for dessert, and wanted to go back to Calea, but when we got there, it was already closed. So Bianca took us to the next best thing, which was Cafe Bob's. Ended up getting another cheesecake, but I have to say, I missed the berry cheesecake I had the day before at Calea. We were all on some sort of food coma while we were sitting around in the cafe, and we still had scheduled massages late that night. So hilarious.
Off to the Grand Royal spa at 10:30 in the evening, and we all got thermal massages. Oh, that felt really good after a long day like that.
Back to the hotel again, and after reading a few pages of the 2nd "Hunger Games" book, I was off to sleep.
Ikey and I had to leave by Wednesday morning (so we didn't get to join the ocular that day, or meet Mito, who would be helping us in our Bacolod run of Children's Letters to God), so it was just the 2 of us on the flight back. By the time we got to the airport, there was this super long line at the entrance, and as it turned out, their walk-through detectors at the entrance was broken, so they had everyone open their bags instead. My goodness. And when we had boarded the plane. both our assigned seats were occupied, and when we had checked each other's tickets, both seats had been double-booked. We had to stand around and wait for the flight attendant who had assisted us to have our seats reassigned to the ones next to the original ones.
I remember mentioning at the beginning of the year that I wanted to travel more. It wasn't exactly a new year's resolution, but I'm glad I really did get to travel more, and to think that half the year's isn't over yet. I can't wait for what the rest of the year will bring.
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