Enter the Dragon (year of)

Revellers, Bacolod.

Sunday, New Years Eve of the Year of the Dragon was another fairly relaxed day preparing for the evening's festivities.  When night fell and I went downtown, I could not believe there could have been any more people thatn the Saturday but there were, it was completely rammed.  The security guy recognised me so again it was ramble round at will and take a few photos, some of which I shall include here.  Although the guys above might look like the Philippino answer to Boyzone, they are absolutely nothing to do with the band.  They are merely random members of the audience who jumped up onstage.  Neither the band, roadies nor security seemed in the slightest concerned.  Imagine that happening in UK, not a chance.

Access all areas, Bacolod.

The image above is just to prove I really did get backstage access.  Naturally, the fact that the young lady singing had a pair of skintight shorts on and the posterior to fill them had nothing whatsoever to do with it's inclusion!

Although the photo below is not the best (I hate using flash) it gives an idea of the general merriment and also the Philippine love for posing for the camera.

Revellers, Bacolod.

The young lad here was really getting into the swing of things and also demonstrates an interesting cultural thing in the Philippines.  Ask a young Philippino to pose (they take little persuading as I have mentioned before) and it is about an evens chance they will give a two-fingered peace sign.

Reveller, Bacolod.

I have made enquiries about this and have been given two theories.  First is that it was a sign adopted during the peaceful revolution in the 80's when Cory Aquino came to power and the second is that it is an import from Korea.  Either is possible as there is certainly a big Korean influence in the Philippines.  Only a couple of nights ago I was eating delightful homemade Kimchi (Korean pickled vegetables) in a bar here.  The Korean owner is a mate, but more of that later.

Revellers, Bacolod.

This is just to give an indication of the scale of the whole thing.  This is probably about half of the main street and there was another huge crowd off it beside and around the lagoon, it really was a big deal.  Interestingly, it is not touristy.  If I saw a dozen Westerners all weekend it was the height of it.

The Man, Bacolod.

Age seems to be no barrier to enjoying Bacolodiat.  I saw babes in arms and pensioners about and I simply had to take a photo of this guy.  He just didn't stop all night, he was the original Duracell bunny.   Unbelievable energy which I suspect was mostly Tanduay rum fuelled.

At some ridiculously late hour the festivities were still going strong but I had had enough and took off to walk home.  I had become bored of my usual route and thought I was fairly well orientated so I decided to try an alternative route based on general directions.  How difficult can that be?  Well, difficult enough apparently, although as so often happens to me it turned out to be rather interesting as I stumbled into the public market.  Regular readers will know that I am a complete sucker for Asian markets, I just love them.  The following images show how wonderful they can be.

Fish stall, Bacolod public market.

Fish stall, Bacolod public market.

Fish stall, Bacolod public market.

Butcher, Bacolod public market.

Vendor, Bacolod public market.

I did get some rather strange looks, I must say.  Westerners are at a premium in Bacolod and one of them wandering through a backstreet market at about four in the morning must be unheard of.  Still, the usual smiling, gesturing and generally acting the silly Westerner got me through with a few laughs along the way.  It is incredible how much non-verbal communication you can manage if you need to.

Do not panic, dear reader, I eventually found a landmark, re-orientated myself and got home to a late but welcome bed in good order.

I'm on a roll now, so I'll post more in a little while.

So much to tell, so little time.

It's hard to beleive that I am so far behind with this blog, but I am.  Any internet time I get when I am not actually doing travelling things seems to be taken up with writing tips on Virtual Tourist and that can be time consuming, to say the least.  You might want to check there for a few of the things I have done.  I shall, however, dedicate a few hours on this gloriously sunny Saturday in San Miguel, nursing a San Miguel to telling you some more of my rambles.  OK, I only wrote that last sentence to make my European readers jealous, sorry guys.

I had left you at the completely washed out first night of the Bacolodiat / Chinese New Year festival and the hope that the Saturday would be better weather.  Well, it was and after a fairly uneventful pool and wandering around day the seun set, as it does regularly at 1800.  I don't understand it but in Southeast Asia, no matter what the month it always seems to be sunset at the same time.  A quick bite to eat and back into town for the night's festivities.  Turning into Lacson Street, the first thing that caught my eye was the local car club displaying their wheels.  This one particularly took my fancy and also shows the powerful effect of the Roman Catholic Church here.  I have no doubt that in Europe this would be a semi-dressed woman or some such.  It was very impressive though.

Custom Car, Bacolod.

The next thing of note was a couple of pretty impressive inflatables.

Inflatables, Bacolod.

Saturday was very much of the same as Friday only moreso.  Another stage had been erected, the fireworks seemed even better and the revellers more raucous.  One difference was that the additional stage featured some very talented youngsters performing various dances.

Dancers, Bacolod.

I had to include this next photo.  She had a voice like an angel but what in the name of all that's holy was her wardrobe consultant thinking?

Fashion Disaster, Bacolod.

I could not help but have a mental vision of her train concealing an air line to keep the whole contraption inflated.

I don't know if I have mentioned before the quality of Philippine musicianship, it is universally high.  Youngsters who appear to be in their mid teens knock out note perfect covers of pop songs.  I have had the privelege of playing with a few local bands and they really are the business, even managing to cover me which takes some doing.  There as a good band playing at one of the stages, so I had a bit of a word with the security guy and it was "Access all areas" for yours truly.  Bless her, the young female vocalist even started playing up for the camera as you can see.

Vocalist, Bacolod.

The firework display, as I mentioned, was again impressive.  I can never seem to get a good photo of fireworks, I don't know why, but this is the most presentable of a very bad bunch.

Fireworks and lanterns, Bacolod.

After a couple of beers and a couple of games of pool (Won 1, Lost 1) it was off to bed and prepare for the Sunday night which was the actual New Years Eve.

Chinese New Year.

On my first night in Negros, I had been out with friends as described in the last posting and eventually, pretty tired and weary but very happy, I was deposited at my hotel, the Circle Inn.  I had booked it online and it looked OK but at about £15 a night I wasn't expecting the Ritz.  What a pleasant surprise.  Very smart armed security on the door, charming reception staff and the room was very pleasant, as the images show.

 

The coffee shop / restaurant area looked pretty  nice at a glance.  It was only the next day when I discovered the decent sized pool and well-stocked carp pond that I decided it was a steal at that kind of money.

Next morning was time for a bit of an explore of the town, and it is as pleasant in daylight as it had been in the dark.  It is well laid out and very clean and tidy.

First stop was a small zoo affair which specialises in endangered species from the Visayas region including the Visayan Warty Pig (lovely name) and the Visayan Deer.  Here is a link to my VT page about it which shows more images and explains it all.  Just a couple of photos here.

Visayan warty pig.

Here is our warty friend.

Visayan writhed hornbill

Well, look at me, I have just learned to do captions after about three years of keeping this blog.  Quick learner, eh?

On a serious and sadder note, both these animals are officially critically endangered which means that without serious intervention they will be extinct in five years.  Yes, five years, it hardly bears thinking about.  Almost all the species here are either critically endangered or endangered which gives them an extinction timeline of ten years.  It is very sad really.

After the ecological centre, I had a refreshing lime and ginger drink in a little cafe.  I'd never had this in all my Asian travels and I am definitely going to try to replicate it at home.

Lime and ginger drink.

Nest, it was on to the grandly titled Negros Occidental Museum which is really a restored sugar baron's home with a few tableaux etc. in it as well as an art gallery.  Interesting enough and it passed an hour or so.

Negros Occidental Museum.

Musicians at the Bacolodiat.

Revellers, Bacolodiat.

Off for a quick bite to eat and then it was party time.  The Chinese New Year celebrations here last for three days and the city puts on a huge party which they delightfully name the Bacolodiat.  The main drag (Lacson Street) is shut off with large stages erected at either end, there are excellent fireworks displays and general drunken revelry.  The Philippinos love drinking and it is hardly surprising when you can buy a full bottle of Tanduay rum for about one pound.  It is proper deisel but the good stuff is only about two quid.  It is bizarre that a bottle of beer in a bar is about the same price.  The Coke to mix it with costs more.  Here are a few images of the first night.

I had selected a foodstall and had ordered some food.  Everything was going swimmingly and then the Heavens opened and it rained as it can only rain in Asia, at which point everyone was damned near swimming literally.  A proper tropical storm that went on for over an hour.  The kitchen closed as the woks were filling with rainwater so I resorted to a cocktail.  It was quite amusing as everyone was trying to cram into the food tents to avoid the deluge, it was bedlam but all very good-natured.  This is what it looked like.  People complain about the rain at Glastonbury, it has nothing on this place.

Sodden festival goers.

Rain had obviously stopped play so it was off to bed

 and hope for better weather on Saturday.