Hello #hiversph. I hope everybody is doing fine today.
My partner had to attend a significant event in Visayas, particularly in the City of Smiles, Bacolod. And since I haven’t been to Bacolod, I was very excited when he said that he bought two plane tickets for him and me. A week before the day of travel, I started to pack my things for the four-day vacation out of town. Nah! I was that excited hahahahha. And decided to bring just a backpack with four pairs of jeans and t-shirts, I only had 7 kilogram luggage allowance, same with him.
On the day that I was waiting for, we had our first flight from Ozamis City to Cebu City, we had a connecting flight. At exactly 8 in the morning, we touched down in Cebu City, and the next flight would be at 12:45 Cebu to Bacolod. At 9:30 AM, we had some pizza that served as our breakfast from Shakey's inside the airport. By the way, our flight from Ozamis to Cebu was a bit disturbing because of turbulence, but thanks God, we arrived in Cebu safely.
We waited for our next flight in the departure area and decided not to eat lunch since we didn’t feel hungry until noon. It was about time to board the plane when I felt a bit hungry, but then we decided not to eat as we thought that the Cebu-Bacolod flight would only take 45 minutes. We thought of eating in Bacolod when we arrive. Just when the plane took off, after around 5 minutes that I felt hungry, same with my partner, who said he was so hungry too. The flight had a lot of disturbing turbulence that made me a bit nervous, and I started to feel my hands were cold. I don’t know if it was because of hunger or of scare. After another minute, we saw the flight attendants starting to distribute water and guisantes. Guisantes is a snack of baked green peas mixed with small cubes of dried mangoes. Our minds said, “Thank you God, for these guisantes. This will save us from ulcer hahahah”.
We safely arrived in Bacolod, though the air pressure on the landing ground was terrible. In the arrival area, a group of young people wearing their Mascara Festival costumes danced while welcoming the passengers. They danced, and people enjoyed taking photos and videos of them. That was very accommodating.
We arrived at the hotel at around 3 o’clock in the afternoon. The room was spacious and the hotel crew was very welcoming. It was then that they recommended that we install and use the Grab app, for it would be hard for us to navigate in Bacolod without the Grab app. And yes! Grab was our help for the four days we stayed in the City of Smiles. From booking car rides from place to place, to food, Grab was there, and we were satisfied with the services Grab can offer.
Bacolod is a big city. It is a modernized city with great malls and other establishments. The best of Bacolod, which is the Chicken Inasal, is simply the best. The meat is cooked naturally without food colorings and other artificial seasonings, which made it simply the best grilled chicken I have ever had. They also have this soup that is a bit similar to sinigang, but it is a beef soup that is so savory and so delicious.
The first spot that we visited was the historical San Sebastian Cathedral. San Sebastian Cathedral is a cultural and religious landmark that draws visitors worldwide to Bacolod City in the Philippines. Built in honor of Saint Sebastian, an early Christian martyr, the cathedral has a rich past and stunning architecture that continues to captivate and inspire people to this day. San Sebastian Church's current structure was completed in 1891. The two larger bells by Fr. Roman Manuel Locsin and Fr. Mariano de Avila eventually became a cathedral in 1933.
We did have a great time in Bacolod City, and I am still hoping to go there again one of these days.
Thank you, Hivers, for reading this story. Until next blog, see you.