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colonial

Exploring the UNESCO World Heritage Town of Luangprabang

December 12, 2010 by Bino 4 Comments

The 8-hour car ride from Vientiane was one of the bumpiest I’ve been in. The driver couldn’t speak English but seemed as if he was on a mad dash to see who could get to Luangprabang first. Our van literally jumped every few minutes as it also had to contend with the relatively poor state of the roads. We came ahead of many other buses and vans plying the same route – and ended up arriving in the town a good 2-3 hours earlier than most. Not too shabby, except that our driver kept at this speed despite the harrowing cliffs that were prevalent in the few hundred kilometer journey.

at luangprabang night market

Luangprabang was literally our first real destination in this trip. We took a short plane ride to KL, where we also spent the night. Next day, our flight to Vientiane got delayed because of an unexpected massive downpour – and we spent that night in Vientiane. So by default, we were on “transit” for 2 nights, albeit in different places.

I had high hopes for Luangprabang – given that it is a UNESCO World Heritage Town after all and I heard quite a lot of rave reviews about it, both from friends and from independent travel magazines. But after we had crossed into the city limits, it looked like any provincial town in Southeast Asia. The town is quite spread out, but the overwhelming majority of the attractions are actually situated in the main street called Sisavangvong Road….

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Filed Under: Laos, Luangprabang Tagged With: asia, colonial, french, laos, luangprabang, luangprabang itinerary, luangprabang sights, luangprabang travel, photography, Southeast Asia, temple, temples, travel, xieng thong

Step Back In Time

October 10, 2009 by Bino 4 Comments

The flight from Manila to Bacolod had a few quirks. Although sleepy from having to wake up at 5AM, I was perked up by an inflight bring-me game, or in our case a raise-your-hand-if-you-have-the-object-game. It was my first time to encounter something like that during a flight.

a notable mansion that's been turned into a museum

a notable mansion that’s been turned into a museum

The flight took barely an hour. I arrived in Bacolod at around 10AM but didn’t go to Silay until about 4:30PM. The few hours before that were spent traversing through Bacolod’s sprawling Central Market, browsing the scrap metal/coin galleries in the hopes of finding something rare for my numismatic collection. I left empty-handed, though it was interesting to see the sort of coins they had for sale.

I managed to catch a jeepney from Bacolod going to Silay and it cost me just 12 pesos (around 30 US Cents). The 20 minute trip was stretched to 45 minutes since the driver was still waiting for more passengers. It was interesting to see how the tout would go about getting more people to ride. The skill is akin to any salesman’s ability to convince his prospects to buy his wares. We would stop in just about every populated corner and the toutwould spend around 5 minutes going through the sidewalk telling each and every passer-by where his jeepney was going while pointing towards our direction. The tout does this until the jeepney is filled like a pack of sardines. It was also interesting to find out just how many people they can fit inside the jeep. Basically the rule of thumb is that the jeep only gets filled when it gets to the point that passengers inside can’t move anymore. On the way to Silay, there would be around a dozen stops and the tout would announce them all for our convenience.

the famous el ideal bakery

the famous el ideal bakery

And so I arrived in Silay – once the home of affluent sugar barons – a good hour before sunset so the lighting was still pleasant for picture-taking. I walked around the main square and found this “city” really slow-paced. Although there were an abundance of students and teachers in the sidewalks, and tricycles roaring the streets, Silay somehow seemed bare and trapped somewhere back in time. I saw no sparkle of ambition in the eyes of the city folk who swayed and talked in sync to the slow beat of this town. It felt very relaxing. But I think I’d go crazy if I were to live here.

The colonial buildings are of course, what I came to see. Most of them are aging and in dire need of a fresh coat of paint though there are a few which are still quite attractive and pleasing to the eyes. Some of the old mansions have been converted to museums and visitors can actually see how people lived back then at the turn of the 20th century.

nice colonial building

nice colonial building

Before going back to Bacolod, I stopped by this cafe called El Ideal which is supposedly over a hundred years old. While that may be the case, I am glad that I won’t be able to say the same about their pastries. I decided to go for something called “guapple.” It’s actually guava filling coated inside a pie that is styled similar to apple pie – complete with cinnamon and all that.

As the sun was already setting and there wasn’t much left to do, I boarded the jeep bound for Bacolod and paid the tout 12 pesos. At least on my trip back, it didn’t take him a lot of effort to fill up our jeepney.

this fairy adorns the entrance of a beauty parlor in Silay

this fairy adorns the entrance of a beauty parlor in Silay

interiors of one of the mansions

interiors of one of the mansions

probably the main shopping center in this sleepy city

probably the main shopping center in this sleepy city

Filed Under: Negros, Philippines Tagged With: bacolod, colonial, negros, Philippines, silay

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Hi, I'm B, a part-time wanderer and a Singapore-based travel blogger. In this site, I share with you my top travel itineraries. Along the way, I also provide travel guides and tips, recommendations on awesome food to try and impressive hotels to stay! Read More…

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