Bacolod & Mambukal
We're back from another excursion in the Philippines. This trip took us to the area around Bacolod, on the opposite side of Negros from Dumaguete, which we visited earlier this year.
The first few days we spent outside Bacolod at the Mambukal Resort near Murcia.
The resort is near a sulfur spring and has natural spas in which we relaxed and soaked. There are a couple of non-hot pools as well, so we spent some time bouncing between the hot and cool.
We took plenty of walks around the surrounding jungle and nearby lagoon.
Mambukal is also a wildlife sanctuary and we saw lots of megabats (yes, that's a thing). The bats nest in the trees near the pools and can be seen flying overhead while you dip.
I think we were seeing the Giant golden-crowned flying fox, which is only found in the Philippines. Contrary to stereotypical bats, these large bats don't use echolocation, have good eyesight, and eat fruit.
After a relaxing time in Mambukal, we headed back into Bacolod for the last day of our trip.
First on the agenda was to make a stop at the highly regarded Calea Pastries & Coffee for some delicious cake. Their cold brew coffee was also quite good.
In the evening we visited The Ruins, a pre-WW2 mansion which was burned out by the Allies to prevent the Japanese from using it as a garrison. The history before that is interesting in its own right, and worth reading.
We toured the gardens around the mansion ruins which were lovely at twilight.
Being made of concrete, the skeleton of the mansion is very much intact. It was quite crowded, being a great spot for photos.
Bacolod itself is a pretty big city (~650k people), but we very much enjoyed this trip.
It's nearing the end of summer here, and heading into the rainy season, so we might be limited in terms of outdoorsy type activities soon.