Panaad Sa Negros

It is known as "The mother of all festivals" in Negros Province. It is a conglomerate of 32 festival from the cities and towns in Negros. Held in Panaad Park and Stadium in Mansilingan where you can see the history, culture, trades, tourism and agriculture.

There are many booths where you can buy different kinds of flowers and orchids. And ofcourse Kiosk where you can eat and drink. In the first day of the celebration is the opening of the booths . We already know that Negros is very rich in history, culture and arts. You can see it through the booths of cities and municipalities of the province. They have in booths their products. 

There are many activities in the festival such as "Lin-ay sang Negros", Annual derby, Organic forums are always there, elohym musical contest, Rondalla competition, Taekwondo, Latin dance sport competition, hip-hop dance competition, boxing, dog show, drum and bugle competition, folk dances competition, popdance showdown, and cultural show in ilonggo. And every night there are many live bands.

They also celebrates the farmers day. And ofcourse there is the Festival dance competition, participated by differents groups of different towns and cities in Negros. At the last night of the celebration theres a fireworks display.

Babaylan Festival

It is a festival in Bago City Negros Occidental, celebrated during the month of February. It was based on the rituals performed by Babaylan ( filipino believes that they are persons who is gifted to heal the spirit and the body), just like making ritual of marriage, baptish, healing and harvest. And they believe that they get their powers from the unseen spirits.

During their celebration they have many activities. In the opening night of the festival they have Fireworks display. Their are many events in the Bago City public plaza like Hip-hop dance showdown.

They have a pageant called "Diwata sang Bago" for women and the "Mr. Most Muscular" for men.

They also have a cooking competition using rice, the Dog Walk Exhibition, and Cock derby.

They also celebrates the farmers day as a part of the festival. Street Party is always a part of a festival that many people really enjoys. And some local artist also visits the City during the festival.

And ofcourse the most awaited part of the festival is the Babaylan Festival Street Dancing Competition, where the groups are competing for their costumes and performances. Its like they are performing with rituals. And at the last night of the festival there's also a fireworks display.

You have to witness the Babaylan Festival ang you will surely enjoy it.

Filipino “Kakanin” derived from the word “Kanin” means rice.

   Biko – it is a Filipino rice cake made from sticky rice (malagkit rice), brown sugar, and coconut milk. First, rice must be cooked and then put the sugar in rice and mix it. Now make latik (coconut milk residue). If the Bikos is already cooked put it in a banana leaves and top with latik. 

Puto -  most favorite “kakanin” of Filipinos. It is also made of rice. You just have to wash the rice and mix it with cooked rice and add water and let it stay for about 5hrs and then grind it. After grinding mix it with sugar, milk, baking soda, little salt, coconut milk, and cheese. And you have to use steamer for cooking. Put a mixture in a cupcake cup and put it in the steamer and wait until it was cooked.

Bibingka – it is also made of rice sometimes all-purpose flour with sugar, milk, coconut milk, baking soda and cheese. If you will use malagkit rice you have to used grind rice, add the sugar, milk, cocnut milk, baking soda, cheese and ofcourse water and mix it. Then get the baking cups and put banana leaves and then put the mixture, you can add cheese as toppings and bake it. Then your bibingka is ready.

Maruya – made of banana. First slice the Banana (saba)  and make a mixture of all-purpose flour, sugar, little salt, and water. Then put the sliced banana in the mixture and you can now fry it in a boiling cooking oil. And after frying, put it in a plate and put some sugar then it’s ready to eat.

Carioca – this pinoy food is made from sweet rice (malagkit rice), dough or galapong that is rolled like a ball and deep fried in a boiling cooking oil and then dipped in a sweet coconut syrup before skewering in a bamboo stick.

Sapin-sapin it is a layered ground rice. It is made from rice flour, coconut milk, sugar, and cocnut flakes sprinkled on top.  It is a dessert that I layered and for its layer it has different colors. It also sweetened and flavored with coconut milk.

Bitso-bitso - delicacy that is crispy and sweet outside but chewy inside. It is made with fried rice flour then coated with muscovado sugar syrup, usually the the dough was twisted and deep fried. Then it is placed in the mix of muscovado sugar and dried out. Then when its already cooked the sugar became crispy coating for the fried rice flour.

Buenos Aires Mountain Resort

Bago City was rich with beautiful resorts, one of those is the Buenos aires mountain resort.
It is one of the many tourist destination here in Negros Occidental because you can see there the beauty of nature. Its a very beautiful place and it was maintained by the Bago City local government thats the reason why the place is so clean.

You can see there many kinds of trees around and variety of flowers that you will surely love. And also the wind is cold. They offer open cottage for day time stay and at the hillside hotel  they have so many rooms with various sizes available for large or small group to choose if you want to stay overnight.

Has three swimming pools supplied with cold mountain spring water. They have an Olympic-sized swimming pool, kiddie pool and also a 4ft-6ft deep pool.There's also an river where for sure you will enjoy. You can do camping because its a very safe place. Its also has function halls where you can held seminars, retreats, parties and other special occassions.

Dont hesitate to go there because it is really a beautiful place.

Entrance fee:
Adult: P50
Children: P30

Overnight Rooms: P1,000 - P3,000

Daytime Cottages:

Pavillions : P500 - P1,500

Picnic Huts : P200 - P400

Filipino Delicacies

 Bukayo - it is made from young coconut strips cooked in boiling sugar syrup then stir until thicken, it is one of the most popular pasalubong of Filipinos.

 Suman - is a Filipino dessert made of "Malagkit Rice" (sticky rice), coconut milk and brown sugar. ou just have to cook the rice with water then when the rice is already cooked just put it a side. Pour the coconut milk and brown sugar into a pot and stir until sugar and milk blended and become thick. Then mix the coconut milk and sugar mixture to the cooked malagkit rice. Then let it cool and you can serve it the way you want.

Barquillos - it is the top Bacolod's goodies, its like thin wafers, spinkled with sesame seeds and rolled into a tabular shape, it is crunchy so you will surely enjoy eating it. Its perfect to pair with ice cream. There are different flavors such as plain, ube, pandan, and strawberry.

Linupak - mixture of boiled unripe saba bananas, grated coconut, sugar and butter. Bananas should be pounded using a big native mortar and pestle.

Pinasugbo - it is an unique saba banana slice thinly soaked in water with salt and then fry it directly. Then melt muscovado sugar with water and simmer until it gets thick to make sugar syrup, dip the fried bananas to sugar syrup, just dry it and sprinkle sesame seeds. You now have the pinasugbo.

Piaya - is a flat unleavened bread filled with muscovado or raw sugar. It is very famous in Negros because we all know that Negros is the sugar capital of the Philippines. It has two flavors plain piaya and the ube piaya.

Sinulog Festival (Kabankalan City)

There are many festivals in Negros Occidental and one of those is the Sinulog Festival in the City of Kabankalan. Celebrated during 3rd week of January. This Festival honors the Patron Saint (Sto. Nino) they dance as a ritual that they believe as acceptance of Christianity. 

As opening of the festival there is an fireworks display. Udyakan sa Kabankalan, it is a presentation of the history, culture through songs, dances and also drama.

There are many activies in the festival such as Beauty Pageant called "Lin-ay Sang Kabankalan" (Sinulog Queen) where you can see the beautiful ladies of Kabankalan City, competing for their beauty and brain. 

There's also an Fireworks display competiton. Battle of the Bands that was participated by different groups of musicians from Kabankalan. Mardigras parade, just like they are competing for their costumes with the participants enjoying the street dancing. And the most awaited event is the Grand Tribal Competition, held at the Kabankalan City Public Plaza, it as a native dance competition, the participants came from different Barangays in Kabankalan City they call those groups as "Tribu" (Tribe) . They dance just like interpreting their beliefs.

The most fun part in this festival is the "Bulinganay" it is a tradition of the festival, they mix a coal with water or oil creating black mixture that they rub to the faces of every individual thay they see in streets.

Most Favorite Filipino Foods

One of those is the "Dinuguan" it is made of pork, pork lungs, kidneys, intestine, ears, heart, liver and ofcourse the pig blood, cooked with vinegar, salt, garlic, bell pepper, and chili. Many people dont like what it looks like but try it because it taste really good.

"Chicken Inasal " its a grilled chicken meat that is marinaded with soy sauce, garlic, salt, calamansi, sugar and other spices. The best chicken inasal is at Bacolod City. There are many restaurants in Bacolod that serves chicken inasal and one of those is the Manokan near SM City Bacolod.

"Bulalo" (Beef Stew) One of the most favorite food of Filipinos, it is also called beef shank soup. Cooked beef shanks with leafy vegetables like cabbage, petchay, corn, garlic, onions and other spices. It is really good to eat when the weather is cold or when its raining.

"Chicken Adobo" is an authentic Filipino dish. It is made of chicken meat cooked with soy sauce, vinegar, salt, sugar, garlic, onion, bell pepper, dried bay leaves, and whole pepper corn. It is very easy to cook, just like stewing chicken in vinegar and soy sause. Sometimes it was cooked with hard boiled egg. 

"Lechon Baboy" It is the Filipino version of Roast pork. It is very popular during special occassions and festivities ( fiesta). The ingredients are, 1 whole native pig, salt, pepper, and soy sauce. Shave pig's hair and remove innards and clean the inside part of the pig and rub it with salt and pepper. They also put lemon grass, garlic, bay leaves, and green onions inside the pig and brush the outside part with milk for it to be crispy. The best lechon is in Cebu City.

"Balut" A very popular Filipino delicacy made of duck egg with nearly developed embryo inside, about 15-20days old, salt, vinegar and it is bolied. Most Filipinos love eating this bolied duck egg because it is high in protein. And also a duck egg that not properly develop, about 9-12days is called Penoy and it looks like just an ordinary hard-boild egg.

"Halo-halo" perfect food for hot weather. Crushed ice with ingredients like bananas foster, sweet potato, corn flakes, sweet beans, sweetend garbanzo, coconut gel, coconut string, palm fruit, sweetened jackfruit, sweet ube, sweet corn kernels, ripe mango and rice krispies, milk, sugar, ice cream and leche flan. It is very easy to prepare, just half-fill a glass with ingredients, fill with crushed ice and top with an scope of ice cream and slice leche flan.

18th Street Pala-pala Seafood Restaurant.

If you love seafoods the 18th Street Pala-pala Seafood Restaurant is the best place for you. 18th Street Pala-pala Restaurant is located in corner 18th and Aguinaldo Street. It is known for its affordable and great tasting foods. Pala-pala is a seafood grill and restaurant that brings the experience of dining in a beautiful and traditional Filipino atmosphere.
They have air-conditioned function rooms available for private parties. There is an seafood selection area where you can choose what you want and the seafoods are really fresh. You can specify how you want your seafood to be cooked, the most favorite ofcourse is the tinola style , sinugba, sizzling  and even steak. The fish kinilaw, shrimp lusgos, sizzling squid, and calamares, are just some of the many specialties.

There are also three ways to order, they call it Pala-pala or Paluto, Alacarte or Ready to cook, and Turo-turo or Ready to eat. Except of seafoods they also serve vegies like laswa, ginataang langka, pinakbet, and many more. They have grilled dishes to choose from, like fish, scallops, crabs, lobsters, also chicken and pork.
Want to try the famous Filipino seafoods? You can now dine at 18th Street Pala-pala Restaurant
with very affordable price and delicious foods.

Caribbean Waterpark Hotel and Resort

Welcome to Caribbean Waterpark Hotel and Resort located right in the heart of the city of Bacolod at Goldenfield commercial complex that has many attractions nearby. Has three pools and an outdoor jacuzzi, main pool has a pirate ship, the pool depth is 4feet, the depth around the pirate ship is 2 1/2 feet for the kids to enjoy. And another kiddie pool with slide and mushrooms showers.

The first and biggest slide pool in Bacolod is in Caribbean. There are two slides the one is 20feet high water slide and the other one is 30feet high slide that makes more adventurous that you will surely enjoy. There are picnic tables with umbrellas around the pool (first come first serve and it is for free) , native huts and air-conditioned rooms for overnight. And a function halls for parties and other special occassions. Lockers are available for guests to use. After a swim, enjoy a meal at the picnic areas in the resort. And of course, they also have a fully air-conditioned pirate chamber inspired restaurant which is open 24 hours a day. 

Hotel facilities:

Meeting/Conference Room
Massage and Spa Treatment RoomWireless Internet Access

Coffee Shop

Barbeque Grill
Smoking Area

Room facilities:

Shower Tubs/Hot and Cold Shower

Cable Television Channel

Separate Dining Area

Refrigerator

Direct Dial Phone

It is open 7:00am - 10:00pm

Entrance fee:

Adult - 120php

Kids - 60php (kids under 3yrs of age are free of charge)

Nipa hut : from 300php - 400php

Room rates(overnight) : from 2,000php - 5,000php depends in the room type and size.

Its so easy to go there.

For Commuters : From Bacolod City downtown ride in a jeepney at Bacolod City Public Plaza the route is Pta.taytay-Central Market and tell the jeepney driver to drop you by in Golden Field Commercial Complex. And you can also ride a taxi and just tell the taxi driver that you are going to Caribbean Resotel and for sure he knows where it is located. 

Go to Caribbean Resotel and enjoy!! :)