My Pinoy mate, AT, moved to Bacolod, Negros Occidental, after she got married and I hadn’t met her since my last visit to Manila in 2012. I was mulling where to go during Chinese New Year and asked if I could visit to which she enthusiastically said yes. So I redeemed my MAS flypass and purchased return ticket from Manila from Philippine Air Asia (and of course they cancelled the flight and replaced with another that only departed at 21:20, trust AirAsia to always spoil people’s travel plans!). I didn’t want to sit around at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) for hours and decided to see if I could change the flight from KL. Alhamdulillah, I was able to and at no extra charge too.
Saturday, 10 February 2024
I left home after 09:00 and made my way to the airport. I
wanted to ride the LRT to Sungai Besi and changed there for the MRT but for
some reason, trains bound for Putra Heights ran on another platform that
morning and would only go as far as Salak Selatan so I took the MRT from Chan
Sow Lin instead (I was trying to avoid taking the MRT from Chan Sow Lin as the
platform is a few levels underground). Despite this change in plans, I managed
to meet the connecting 10:52 KLIA Transit train, Alhamdulillah. There was an
extended family of about six adults and three kids who boarded the train at one
of the Serdang stations and they were making such a racket. Thankfully they
moved to another coach of the train to terrorise.
I bagged a complimentary Golden Lounge access when I
purchased my flypass so after dropping off my bag, I stopped by the Golden
Lounge before making my way to the gate.
We took off slightly later than scheduled and landed at NAIA
T1 around 16:30. There was an announcement on the plane about visitors having
to fill up Philippine Travel Information System (eTravel) and I quickly
connected to WiFi and scanned the QR code I saw on the wall just before joining
the queue to clear immigration. The process was quick but our bags took a while
to appear. After getting my bag, I went to ask at the Information Counter for
directions to the prayer room. He said the chapel is at the fourth floor.
Chapel? I know the Philippines is a Catholic country but I specifically
mentioned prayer room. I made my way up and some helpful bloke pointed out the
direction to me so I walked over and turned into a corner and another and
walked down a quiet deserted corridor. I wouldn’t say it was eerie but I did
wonder if I was going the right way and even turned back once before
continuing. And then I found the prayer room. Threadbare carpet and no AC but
there was a standing fan. I performed prayers and waited until it was dusk to
perform evening prayers.
After prayers, I went down to find the shuttle bus counter. I registered and was told it’d be a forty-minute wait. The bus came and looked a little worse for wear. Still, it did its job to ferry us from T1 to T2. There’s a separate building for Philippine AirAsia. I went into the boarding area after dropping off my bag. I browsed some food kiosks and restaurant and all had menus with pork in them. Well, Alhamdulillah I packed some sandwich.
We finally boarded and landed about 70 minutes later at
Bacolod-Silay International Airport (airport code: BCD). This time, my bag was
out early and I rushed out to meet AT who was waving excitedly to me. I said hi
to R, her husband, and after loading my bag, we set off. We stopped en route to
watch the CNY celebration – there was some street party with performance on two
different stages and street food being sold. I looked around and saw most of
the Bacoleños looked like Malays.
We stayed for about thirty minutes before making our way to
their place which is in downtown Bacolod itself. I slept at almost 01:00.
Sunday, 11 February 2024
I woke up at 05:20 to perform morning prayers, yes, sunrise
is early in this part of the world. After prayers, I stayed in bed and got up
again at 08:30 to bathe. R’s niece and nephew joined us for breakfast. There
were piaya (a muscovado-filled flatbread), rice cakes, vegetarian fried rice, oranges and bananas,
hash browns. AT really outdid herself!
We left after 11:30 and drove to Bacolod Public Plaza. We
headed first for San Sebastian Cathedral first, one of the two cathedrals in
the whole of the Philippines which Pope St John Paul II visited besides the one
in Manila, before crossing to the public plaza. There is the Unknown Soldiers
Monument, some statutes and a gazebo which has stood there since 1920s and
maybe even before then. Then we drove over to the old City Hall, and the
Fountain of Justice which marks the very spot where the Spanish surrendered the
city to local forces. There was no water in the fountain though.
Next, we drove to the Provincial Capitol of Negros
Occidental and walked around the lagoon in front of the building. It had
started to drizzle then but it was alright as it’d be too hot otherwise.
We then drove to Philistan Restaurant and had halal briyani
for lunch. We then returned to the apartment and I went to perform prayers.
We drove to R’s sugarcane and poultry farm after that and
stopped en route at an Iron Dinosaur, a vintage steam locomotive. Locomotives
were used in Bacolod as a mode of transportation for sugar canes and played
their part in making Bacolod the sugar bowl of the Philippines. The sun had
reappeared then and we drove down to a small creek. We spent some time there
before driving back, stopping at another Iron Dinosaur (a sanitised modern
version this time) at The Upper East. After that, we drove to the New
Government Centre. We walked around a bit before going to Aghaz Briyani for
dinner then returned to the New Government Centre for more photos. We debated
if we should get some massage by blind masseuses but decided not to in the end.
R stopped by the University of St. La Salle to find out about the museum
opening hours before returning to the apartment. AT and I stayed in the
kitchen, chatting.
To be continued
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