Coming To Manila, Day 6: First Full Day In Bacolod

So for the first time since we arrived, breakfast did not mean the Jeepney Cafe. I woke up, saw TJC was still asleep, and decided to walk around the house and check it out in daytime.

Everyone else was up already, including Tito Bamboo, who was busy working on his Christmas Village. I joined Tita Thelma at the breakfast table, and while we were eating and chatting, Manong Tinong arrived. Manong Tinong is a cousin of my dad's, and his parents, My Tito Pai and Tita Son, are two of the dearest people my grandparents and their kids have ever known. When we were younger, every summer when we went to Bacolod, we would spend about a week in Payao, the rural town where Tito Pai and Tita Son lived. It was such fun times and fun memories, and I will never forget their kindness and generosity.

It was fun catching up with Manong Tinong; he lived with us in Manila for a few years, and it was great to see him again. TJC finally woke up and joined us at the breakfast table, but soon after Manong Tinong had to leave to take care of some business and pick up his wife, Manang Edna. As he left, Tonton - Tito Tony's son and Tanya's big brother - arrived. Tonton is about a year and a half older than Ronron, so there is always that connection in my head between the two. Was not able to talk to Tonton that long however, as Tita Ma and I (accompanied by TJC) had to hurry up and go to the Metrobank nearby to take care of some matters for my folks.

Before that though, Manong Bulilit (Manong Tinong's brother) stopped by, and it was a bittersweet moment to see him. I missed him, of course, but he is going through a life threatening illness at the moment and I wish the circumstances of our reunion were better. I do hope he makes it through this.

The 5 minute walk in the heat was brutal, and I was glad to feel the powerful humming of the air conditioner when we walked in to the bank. After that was done, we went back to the house, and then the three of us, along with Tito Bamboo and Tito Tony, drove to the SM Mall which was right behind our house practically, to look for some accessories for Tita Ma's new stereo system which they were installing at the house. That took a couple of hours, and we then went home. Was not feeling that well, so I slept and rested for the next 3 or 4 hours. I think all the hubbub from the past few weeks finally caught up to me, and my body was again telling me to get some rest.

When I woke up around 7, 8 PM, I was finally allowed to go upstairs to check out the Christmas Village. I walked up to the 2nd floor and got treated to the full Xmas Village effect; music, lights, the whole works. Here are some pictures









FYI: The next post will have more history and detail about the Christmas Village.

TJC and I really enjoyed the sneak peek at the Village, but I'll be honest with you, in my mind's eye, that second floor will always be my Lola Tiba's domain. As pretty as the Christmas Village is, when I walked up there, the first thing that came rushing to my head was the image of my Lola, walking around the 2nd floor, with a beer in one hand and some tobacco to smoke in the other, ready to play mahjong. That or her in the 2nd floor kitchen, cooking our next meal; Lola, like I have mentioned before, had no compare as a chef.

After we checked out the Village, Tito Bam showed us the other renovations done to the 2nd floor. There was an exit leading to the terrace, and from the terrace, there was a room being built (for me supposedly, :-D), and there was a balcony from there overlooking the little garden we have. Here is the view of the garden from said balcony:



After the tour was done, we went to the garden, and grabbed some beers with Tito Tony, Tito Bam, Tita Ma, Tita Bec and Manong Tinong. As the beers kept on piling up, Tito Tony, who is hilarious when sober and extra hilarious when drunk, started talking about marriage, relationships, etc. And I swear to you, he suddenly had this moment when he either was channeling my Lola Tiba, or she was speaking through him, but he suddenly turned deadly serious and (I'm paraphrasing here) said: "Ted, let me share with you a piece of advice your Lola Tiba gave me back when she was still alive. Marriage is a lifelong period of adjustment. It's just the beginning of you adjusting and changing for your partner, and vice versa. Never forget that." What was left unsaid just had as much impact as what was, and considering what I had gone through the year before, it felt like my Lola finally got a chance to give me the advice she couldn't give in person.

Tito Tony eventually got cabin fever and wanted to show us around Bacolod at night. Since he was in no shape to drive, Manong Tinong took his car keys and drove him, TJC and myself. First place we went to was Goldenfield, the night time social area of Bacolod. While driving around there, we saw the 2 nieces of my mom's best friend, and one of them was with her boyfriend. Tito Tony had a blast teasing them, saying their aunt will surely find out now (they are deathly afraid of their aunt, hahaha). Since we could not find parking over there, we drove around some more and went to this new grill which opened up just that week, close to the Bob's we ate at the night before. Had some chicharon bulaklak (deep fried pork intestines) and some soda. The place was sold out of basically everything. The first time I ordered, they came back about 5 minutes later and said they were all sold out of that. So I ordered something else and 5 minutes later they came back again and said they were all sold out of it also. I wasn't ordering anything funky either, was ordering your run of the mill Gulaman at Sago and what not.

After we finished up there, we finally headed home as it was about 1, 2 a.m. already and it was time to go to bed. Tomorrow night was going to be the soft opening of Tito Bam's Christmas Village after all, so we had to get ready for that!