I spend most weekends alone, pining for those days when the children were young and my wife was still alive. We always spent it together. That was many years ago. With her gone and both my children married, weekends torment me with melancholia.

So if an opportunity comes to break it, I never let it pass. It came on the last week of last month when my daughter asked if I was interested to go with her and her hubby to Bacolod. In a snap, I said, “Of course, I am.”

And it was a weekend of fun – for a change.

But first things first…

A few things about Bacolod you should know

Bacolod City, or Bacolod for short, is one of the leading business centers in Central Visayas, together with Cebu to the east, Iloilo to the west (see map).

A long drive of fun

Our road trip was not a single-car affair but a part of a 12-car convoy of Toyota FJ Cruisers – those big, expensive cars men-of-means love to drive on or off-road. Most came with family members except for one (or two) who were alone.

The group converged in a McDonald outlet in Talisay City at dawn, two Saturdays ago. After an hour or so of friendly greetings and filling stomachs (and emptying them, too), the convoy started rolling for Toledo City – for a ferry boat ride across the Tañon Strait to San Carlos City.

A member of the group greeted us on the other side, with a sumptuous lunch to boot. After we’re locked and loaded, we started rolling for Bacolod.

Around half-past two, we checked into our hotel, the MO2 Westown Mandalagan. It’s not 5-star, but the rooms are clean and big and the two twin beds were a welcome sight after being on the road for roughly 12 hours.

And I slept…

The total distance between Cebu and Bacolod is only 191.3 kms, but our travel time was stretched because of the numerous stops along the way, i.e. leg-stretching, bladder-emptying and, yes, the photo ops.

But there was never a dull moment. Each car has a kiddie hand-held radio to coordinate with each other and to exchange endless chatter.

The Ruins

My daughter woke me up around 4 pm and told me to get ready as we are rolling. “To where#8221; I asked. She answered “The Ruins.”

The Ruins is an awesome sight to behold. It is dubbed as the Taj Mahal of Negros – with a bit of hyperbole, of course. But it was built for love, too.

Here’s its story…

Maria Braganza was the wife of Don Mariano Lacson. Between them were 10 children. On the last term of her 11th pregnancy, Maria slipped and fell. This caused a miscarriage resulting in her untimely death. That was in 1911.

Her death left Don Mariano inconsolable with grief. To take his mind off his loss, and in remembrance of his beloved wife, in 1920, he built a mansion in his 440-hectare sugar plantation in Talisay, Bacolod (Talisay is now a separate city).

During the Japanese occupation, Don Mariano allowed the invading forces to billet in his mansion. In retaliation, Filipino resistance fighters burned it to the ground in 1942.

It remained in ruins until 1980 when Raymund Javellana, a great-grandson of Don Mariano,  resurrected it as a tourist attraction.

And he did a marvelous job.

In its heydays, this mansion of Italian architecture had 10 huge rooms decorated with furniture from Philippine hardwood and floored with Machuca tiles (handmade cement tiles).

What is left now is an empty shell, albeit, echoing its past beauty and grandeur.

There is a pavilion for functions and conferences and another serving as a diner. A huge,  well-manicured lawn is perfect for guests to stroll around and take photos with The Ruins as a backdrop.

The group was so engrossed with the enchanting aura of The Ruins not to notice that it was time for supper.

Chicken House – Capitol Shopping

Bacolod is probably enamored with chicken. There are so many chicken houses in the city it’s difficult to know which one is the best. In a dilemma like this (especially when one is famished), the best way is to let the locals do the choosing. And he made a perfect choice – the Chicken House Capitol Shopping.

Never mind the awkward business name, but its grilled chicken tastes great. Oh, they only serve chicken. But the size of our group depleted their stock of a certain chicken part those who ordered it had to settle for another part. LOL!

I was so hungry I dispatched mine with haste – keel with garlic rice downed with a cold bottle of Coke – and didn’t take any pictures of the riotous and hungry crowd.

For a nightcap, a few members drove to a new arcade (it’s so new it still smells paint) where the well-heeled crowd of Bacolod goes for a nightcap and conversation. As usual, I had brewed coffee.

Knowing Bob’s

Bob’s is, of course, Bob’s Restaurant and Pastry Shop – the group’s place of choice for breakfast. A Trip Advisor reviewer dubs it as the place that serves the “best burger in town.”

Being an early riser, I was not very optimistic about it. I knew that the group can’t be up and ready before 7 a.m. So I had mine at the hotel – after a few laps of jogging around the parking lot.

True enough, it was past 8 a.m. when the group started trickling out of their rooms.

But Bob’s did not disappoint. Even at mid-morning, the parking lot was already full. The place is well-appointed, the service is good and the patrons belong to the B and A categories.

I cannot say about the food as I only had coffee. My daughter and her hubby had a full serving and later raided the pastry shop to gift some people back home.

We almost missed it

While at Bob’s, word came that our 3 p.m. ferry back to Cebu was canceled for mechanical problems. Phone calls were immediately made to secure a space in Lite Ferries, an alternative carrier.

Once done, we made haste for San Carlos City (after the women made a quick shopping at Bong Bong’s Gift Center).

We arrived way past noon with most restaurants already closed except La Grotta where we had lunch. It is a dainty little Italian Restaurant in the middle of a subdivision. Since we had no more plans to go anywhere, we stayed there until boarding time.

We left San Carlos before 6 p.m., and I got home past 9 p.m. Though tired and hungry,  deep within was a feeling of unimaginable joy for having a weekend of fun.

~oOo~

The post A Weekend of Fun and Wonderful Company first appeared on Age With Charm.

What makes you happy?

I mean really happy even the passage of time cannot diminish the forming of a smile of joyful contentment on your old and wrinkled face each time you think about it?

Call me corny or overly melodramatic, but mine was the superb weekend with my children where we immersed ourselves in sand, sea and sky within a bubble of pure, unadulterated togetherness.

What made it extra memorable is where we spent it in – in Hennan Resort in Panglao, Bohol, Philippines.

For the frequent traveler with guts and desire to try something exciting, exotic, enchanting, yet affordable, Panglao Island in the Philippines is not an unfamiliar place to have them all.

And if you want to put a touch of class to your adventure of discovery, Hennan Resort is the place to go. In fact, it has established quite a name the lobby was full of local, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, American and European guests when we checked in.

My daughter (who made the reservation) nailed the family room we stayed in perfectly. It was not too large, or too small, was well-furnished, and accommodated us all – I, my daughter and hubby, my son and wife, with enough space to move about without getting into each other’s way.

Our room provided a superb atmosphere to foster excellent bonding – something we never had as a family for a long time. And I relished every moment of it.

Hitting the Beach:

After settling in our room we immediately hit the beach

Hennan’s beach front is modest in length but its exceptionally white and powdery sand feels good to the soles of our tired feet, and its clear and clean waters are delightfully refreshing to both body and soul.

Like friends who have not seen each other for a long time, we swam, snorkeled, and shared funny stories and experiences. It was fun.

Every parent has a soft spot for his children and I am no different. My children are the centerpiece of my life and I overflowed with joy to see them connect with each other as flawlessly as a fiber optic cable.

Dining Together Makes the Food Taste Even Better:

The family that eats together stays together.

And when it comes to eating, Hennan leaves nothing to be desired. Its menu reflects the variety of its guests and they are all prepared to make you salivate and throw away your diet plan even just for a day.

More than just the food, was the chance to eat with my children. Since their Mom died, and since they got married, eating together has been as rare as a four-leaf clover. Like any live alone senior, I eat solo most of the time. And it sucks. It deadens your taste buds.

During that weekend, even if I had a poor man’s dish (which I didn’t), it would still have tasted like the food for kings.

Cloud 9 at Alona Beach:

Hennan Resort is along a stretch of white sandy beach called the Alona Beach.

It is not just a stretch of beach. It is where the nightlife of Panglao is centered. Panglao Island and Alona Beach are practically synonymous. You haven’t been to Panglao Island if you haven’t been to Alona.

Along its entire length are bars, coffee shops, hotels and motels, barbecue stands and just about anything anyone wants to see or do in the evening.

And it provided a perfect setting for me and my children to chill out after dinner.

Over coffee (for the women) and beer (for the men), we just hang loose, cozying up to each other with loose talk about nothing and everything.

For more than a couple of hours, I lived the moment – no body pains, no money issues, no loneliness stuff, and no thoughts of my age or tomorrow.

For a couple of hours I was in Cloud 9.

Counting My Blessings:

The Internet is rife with stories of elderly people left by family in nursing homes or retirement homes, forgotten and forsaken.

A couple of weeks ago, a Facebook post showed an old and decrepit man holding a placard appealing to his children in the U.S. – two doctors and two nurses – for help. At the bottom of the placard was written a message saying, “I need help. I spent my entire life working in the Middle East to spend for your education.”

It is uncertain if that was for real (it is so easy to make things like that nowadays). What is certain is that I am more blessed.

Yes, I live alone. I frequently suffer from feelings of loneliness, even depression. But I am never that far away for either or both and their spouses. I am always a part of their lives. Maybe not center stage because they have lives of their own, but never forgotten and forsaken.

We have our altercations every now and then. What parent/children don’t have There are days when I don’t want to talk to my daughter. But we don’t burn our bridges. Not the kind of father to harbor feelings of ill-will towards his children for long, I always put the effort to sooth things out. And that’s probably why my children have not written me off, too.

Children are always beautiful in the eyes of their parents, from the moment of birth, till they breathe their last.

I cannot say anything less of mine. They may sometimes be over felicitous to the point of being irritating, rebellious at times, but those are things expected of parenthood. I never allow these to become a solid wall separating us both.

Nor do I allow these to deprive me of another chance of spending a fantastic weekend with my beautiful children. In fact my daughter is again planning to make another reservation for another up-scale resort in the same island.

That’s how blessed I am.

Are you as blessed as I am as a parent I would appreciate to read of your experience as one.

~oOo~

The post A Superb Weekend of Sand, Sea and Sky with My Beautiful Children first appeared on Age With Charm.