Photograph by James Ong
Start drinking as soon as you land. You never have to worry about anything anyway. Heavy meals end by lunch. The beer should keep you going from cocktail hour to midnight.
The best chicken inasal is in Bacolod Chicken House located at the back of artist Charlie Co's Orange Gallery, inside the Lopue complex. In Manila, I know there's a branch at Intramuros across the Manila Cathedral.
It's kind of amazing to see the house where they shot Oro Plata Mata, possibly the most stylish Filipino film, and to be able to walk in the second floor area where they shot that fabulous opening sequence. There are three balkonahes in that house built in the '30s (four when you include the ground floor terrace), and I wanted to take a picture of James getting the kuto from Raymond's hair as homage to the scene where Fides Cuyugan Asencio and the rest of the girls were being fussed over by at least three maids each.
The mestizos don't go out a lot. Or I was going to the sakada places.
The Ruins (topmost photo), the remains of what is touted to be the most gorgeous house in Negros had it not been burned by the Japanese, is quite magnificent. But the landscaping of the garden that surrounded it was a little too Hizon's Catering for us. They should have given the job to an art director.
To reach the ruins, you drive through a long rough road lined with tall sugarcane plants on either side. I complained about it halfway to the trip but our companion said even the hacienderos had to go through them. So I kept quiet.
That during those days, people, even the rich ones, slept in beds without cushions, only the solihiya weaves.
Drinking in the afternoon in Bacolod is the best. Well, drinking in the afternoon anywhere is the best.
No point eating expensive Italian food when in short vacation in province where they have a lot to offer. Even if the pasta is good, its a little pretentious.
The pilipit is Bacolod's Pringles. Once you pop...
The kansi (like bulalo but a tad sour) is the bomb. Especially after extended hours of drinking.
The empanada at El Ideal is, well, ideal.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
WHAT I'VE LEARNED ] In Bacolod while half-drunk, half-hungover
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I've been to Bacolod once although it was a blur since I was there for only a day. The image that stays in my mind is the quaint city streets and how it looks like a peaceful and cleaner version of Manila (as seen in the movies) during the '70s or earlier. Somehow, for some unexplainable reason, the images of Vic Silayan, Charo Santos and Jay Ilagan from the controlled violence of the movie Kisapmata spring to mind.
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