A Glimpse of Negros Occidental (Part 2 of 3)

Murcia

Travelling to the resort was not as near as I expected. It's located in Murcia and the resort is the last stop of the mini-buses. I find it really weird when the guy parker would then announce the next intersection if someone would want to get off. It would not just wait for passengers to alight the bus.

It was an hour and a half of travel, passing by very vast sugarcane plantations, houses in rural areas and realized later on that the only way to get to the resort is through this type of transportation.

Mambukal resort is government-owned and the government may have given a great chance for the mini buses to earn in this particular route (35/head).

The resort's entrance is P50/head. It was only when I saw the map that I realized how big the resort is. We only have a few hours to explore this place and the whole resort is fully-booked.

It has 7 falls and the lady informed us that we can tour the resort starting from the 7th falls then going down. We can go up through a motorcycle. Well, we followed what she had instructed and never really expected what we would experience next.

While waiting for the motorcycle, we toured the ground level of the resort. It was really huge because a lot of things can be done at your stay there.

When our driver arrived, we hopped in his motorcycle and started our journey to the top.

It was not an easy ride, mind you. We passed through private properties, VERY rough roads and for the very first time in all my travels, I felt so unsafe. There were no gears to even protect us and we trusted all of our lives to a stranger driver. My Gosh.

After getting off at a certain spot, we had to hike to the falls. You should be on your slippers by then because you will have to walk and cross rivers. After a few minutes of walking, we managed to arrive in the 7th falls.

We agreed to stay there for a few minutes before descending as it was getting late and we needed to catch the last trip back to Bacolod City which was around 5 pm. So, as you can see, we haven’tbeen to the other falls because of time constraints. We would have really loved to visit all of those spots in Mambukal.

Our initial plan was to be in Talisay City before sunset. We would have loved to see The Ruins during this time but we could not control everything, so we opted to visit the Ruins right after we freshen ourselves.

Talisay City

After dropping by the hotel and changing, we directly went to The Ruins through a taxi. This was far from my DIY plan but since it was getting dark, we needed to be there fast before it closes as there’s no more time.

Luckily, we were the last guests of this very popular tourist destination. Actually, I’m kinda glad we came in late because aside from one group, we had the place on our own. Plus, it was a very good sight at night. The entrance fee is P90 each.

The Ruins was one of the sets of then hit tv series Ikaw Lamang. This was actually an ancestral house of Don Mariano Ledesma Lacson, a Spanish-Filipino sugar baron for his Portuguese wife. This was burned down during the World War II and what remains of the mansion are pillars and great staircase that would leave you in awe. An architectural delight, indeed.

We would have had dinner in The Ruins but as we came in late, both restaurants in the area have been closed already. So, we went back to Bacolod for dinner.

Bacolod City

We were so hungry and did not anymore search for must-eat places. We were walking alongside the street of Lacson and just looked for a place we thought could fill the starvation we were experiencing. Haha.

It was a delight to walk past a lot of restaurants and finally settling with Balboa Restaurant.

The food will always be great if you have an empty stomach. Haha. But it was really good and the interiors of the place made us all feel relaxed.

After spending some time in Balboa, we decided to have desserts in Calea. One of those

 "must-eat" places here in Bacolod we wouldn't wanna miss.

This restaurant has so many patrons you would really expect high of their offers. Since we are not actually into sweets, we ordered two cakes only, Blueberry Cheesecake and White Choco Cake.

Blueberry will always be my love. And I'm always biased on my reviews. Haha. So, I would rather say, it has passed my expectations. 

The White Choco Cake was also a delight. It was not as sweet as we have imagined. We really loved it!

Whole day of activities drained all of us. So, after desserts, we decided to call it a day and returned to the hotel. What a day indeed!