Bacolod – The City of Smiles – WANDERING FEET PH

As early as 6AM, we departed Iloilo to catch the 6:30AM boat trip to Bacolod. After 2 hours, we reached Bacolod. Straight from the port, we headed to the Bacolod mansion ruins.

To get to the ruins, go to the Ceres North Bus Terminal. There are ticycles nearby the terminal that takes passengers to the ruins, just ask the locals where they can be found. The ruins is just 15 minutes away from the terminal.

The ruins is a privately owned property. There is an entrance fee which is quite expensive due to good maintenance probably.

Right after, we then looked for a place to stay. There are several inns in Bacolod that are budget friendly. One known is Bacolod Pension House located in 11th street near Lacson street. Unfortunately, the inn was fully booked. So we went and looked for another. We stopped at several budget friendly inns and most are already fully occupied. Then we reached in Java Pension House (formerly known as Bascon Inn) located in Gonzaga street. The place was quite okay and decent for the cheap price we paid.

After we settled our things, we then decided to proceed to Mambukal Mountain Resort. We then went to Libertad public market and had our lunch there. Just ask the locals on what jeepney to ride to get you to the public market.

There are several options in getting to Mambukal. You can take a jeepney near the market that stops right in front of the resort (35php); or you can take a bus that will pass Murcia and have the driver drop you in Mambukal road intersection(33php), then take another motorcycle or jeepney to get you to the resort (around 100php). Getting to the resort usually takes around 45 minutes to an hour.

Upon reaching the resort, an entrance fee will be collected. There are multiple activities you can do in the resort, each with different rates to pay. There are also accommodations on the resort. For us, we went on to their 6-level waterfalls. The trek was quite an exercise, though I cannot recommend it because the falls wasn’t that impressive.

On our way back, we bought some “napoleones” pastry which is my favorite, though it has very short storage lifespan. We arrived by 6PM and just showered and got ourselves cleaned before proceeding with our food trip. We tried the famous bulalo in Sharyn’s Cansi House. We ordered 1 serving each for 270php. It was so good that we consumed more than 2 servings of rice each before finishing the bulalo. Little did we know that each serving of the bulalo is good for 2-3 people, which explains the shocked reaction of the waiters. With bellies almost bursting, we proceed to Calea cake house. Of course there will always be a room for desserts.