Northern Negros Day Trip
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With some chips, soft drinks and water we left Bacolod at 9:15 am for our Northern Negros Day Trip. Our plan is to drive to San Carlos City via Don Salvador Benedicto and go back using the coastal road – just to have a break.
The weather was sunny and nice—we were driving at a relatively slow speed to enjoy the beautiful scenery especially after Murcia proper. I enjoyed taking pictures when we spotted an incident scene from afar. We were approaching Don Salvador Benedicto when saw a blue school bus leaning down towards the cliff. We wanted to stop and take some pictures, but some officers were giving us signals to continue and not to block the way. We asked some bystanders if there were people hurt but he said, there was none – so we just continue driving.
A few meters away from the incident scene is Lion’s monument with a viewing deck which is the mark that we were already at Don Salvador Benedicto. We pull over for some photo ops. I’ve been in the place several times, but it’s my niece’s first so I just volunteered to be the photographer. The viewing deck offers a good view of the place…Small rice terraces and a river in the valley offers an interesting feature of the place. 2 cars stopped after us for photo ops as well. Indeed, this Lion’s monument is now an important part of Don Salvador Benedicto.
The town of Salvador Benedicto is located at the mid-center of the hinterland of the entire north of the province of Negros Occidental. It lies 47 kilometers from the Provincial Capitol.
Beautifully-grown pine trees lined the main thoroughfares of about 1.7 kilometer stretch of road from Barangay Igmayaan to Poblacion proper which gained recognition for Don Salvador Benedicto as the well-maintained and “pot-hole-free” road for the third quarter of 2002 in the whole Region 6.
As we go along we’ve noticed beautiful houses being constructed along the highway. With all the pine trees, beautiful mountain scape, cooler temperature and most especially the very good road from Bacolod and from San Carlos who would not think of putting a vacation house at Don Salvador Benedicto. I wouldn’t be surprised if one of these days hotels and outdoor facilities will be constructed at the place. This will also give a good compliment to the very beautiful La Vista Highlands resort in San Carlos which we already featured in our previous articles.
After a while, we stopped again for another viewing deck and this time for MALA-TANDOG FALLS. Again, I took the pleasure of taking the pictures of my niece, my bro and his wife and one of our staff which we tagged along with us.
Public School and Library
We went off to have our lunch at San Carlos City. We couldn’t find a place to eat so we went to Gaisano Mall to eat at Jollibee. I love San Carlos City because it’s quite and peaceful and most especially I adore their very colorful Pinta Flores Festival. But not this time. When we entered Jollibee the air con was not working, staff was not really that smiling, no greetings(even at the counter) and the service was super slooooow. But in fairness the toilet was clean,it has some tissue paper and liquid soap. I hope Jollibee can do something about this. Besides it’s not only in Sa Carlos that I’ve experienced bad service at Jollibee . Sorry, this should not be part of any “The Happy Trip” Articles , but they need to know.
Gaisano City Mall at San Carlos City
After our lunch, we passed by our subcontractors for our furniture and fashion accessories in Calatrava. We spent a number of hours in Calatrava and went home 5:15 PM via the coastal road.
That was already in Sagay City area when rain shower starts. Quite difficult to drive because the road construction was still ongoing and it’s getting dark already. But the heavy pour of rain started when we were in Victorias City. We cannot see the road…we almost stopped but were scared also to stop in the middle of nowhere. So my brother drove very slowly.
We felt some relief when we reached Silay. But the road lights were not lit—BROWNOUT! The rain was still heavy and that was around 8:30 PM already. We’ve decided to pass by Golden Food Park to eat our dinner and wait until the rain subsides. The rain also stopped after we ate, so we decided to go.
That was one whole day loaded with a roller coaster of mixed experiences. Those experiences we had along the way made that trip memorable for us. As what Greg Anderson said:
“Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it.”
Going to Don Salvador Benedicto:
Take a bus ride from the North Negros terminal in Bacolod. The buses travel in intervals, so if you’re running late, you could always catch the next one. But going there on a private is the best so that you can stop at any destinations . A lot of rent car services are available in Bacolod City.