Accommodations in Langub Beach, Sipalay

After an overnight stop at Dumaguete City, 3.5 hours on the road, and a short pumpboat ride (Php 300 for 6 pax), we reached Langub Beach (better known as Sugar Beach) in Sipalay City.

The kilometer–long cream–colored sands (salt and pepper color upon close inspection) of Langub Beach brings out the lazy in me. Although there are other activities such as scuba diving, stand up paddleboarding, island hopping, kayaking, and exploring (there is a langub or cave a few minutes walk from the beach, thus the name Langub Beach), I chose to do the lazy: Sleep, swim, eat, wait for sunset. Repeat.

My feet sinks in this sand

But it wasn't all laziness. One morning, I peeled my butt off the hammock and walked the kilometer–long beach. It was a difficult walk...the sand would swallow my feet with each step. But I trudged on just to gather contact information of all the resorts for your benefit!

When facing the beach, these are the resorts from the leftmost end down to the last resort along the stretch.

Langub Beach Resort
0999 880 6610
AC Room for 4 pax Php 1500
Fan Room for 8 pax Php 2500
AC Room with kitchen for 12 pax Php 6500
Extra pax for fan room Php 150/head
Extra pax for AC room Php 200/head

Langub Beach Resort

Sulu Sunset Beach Resort
0919 716 7182
mail@sulusunset.com
All fan rooms
Rooms start at Php 650

Buenaventura Beach Resort
0947 328 2771 / 0939 927 1210
Fan Rooms start at Php 390
AC Rooms start at Php 1390
Note: Buenaventura Beach Resort is about 50 meters farther behind the beachfront resorts.

Big Bam Boo Beach Resort
0999 671 6666 / 0908 454 4600
bigbamboobeachresort@gmail.com
AC rooms Php 1500 (low season) / Php 1700 (high season)
Fan rooms start at Php 500 (low season) / Php 700 (high season)
Dorm beds (fan) at Php 300 (low season) / Php 400 (high season)

Big Bam Boo Beach Resort

Driftwood Village
0920 900 3663 / 0919 236 7055
driftwoodvillage@mail.com
All fan rooms

Green Garden Beach Resort
0946 677 9302
Family Cottage for 4 pax Php 2500 (one bedroom is AC, the other fan)
AC Room for 2 pax Php 1200
Fan Room for 2 pax Php 800

Family Cottage for 4 pax at Green Garden Beach Resort

Tawhay
0921 611 2039
All fan rooms
Room for 2 pax Php 900 to 1000
Room for 4 pax Php 1200

Didai's Garden Resort
0939 624 8350
AC Room for 2 pax Php 1600
Fan Room for 4 pax Php 2100

Experience: We stayed in the fan room—a huge cottage—with its own toilet and bath (but the door to the toilet and bath was just a curtain!). There is WiFi for a fee of Php 100 for the entire duration of stay (I noticed this is the norm in all resorts in Langub Beach). Meals at Didai's Garden Resort are cooked by Didai's son, Edison, and I could say he's a really good cook!

Fan room for 4 at Didai's Garden Resort

Bermuda Beach Resort
0920 529 2582 / 0919 591 3805
Rooms start at Php 1050

Memory: This is where we stayed in 2008 (back then there were only five resorts in Langub Beach) and there are two things I remember: the boat–shaped bed and the geckos in the room. The geckos kept us on our toes (nobody wanted a gecko stuck on himself!).

Takatuka Lodge
0920 230 9174 / 0920 679 2349 /0915 628 3516
relax@takatuka-lodge.com
Rooms start at Php 1275

Experience: A colorful and artsy resort with decors made from recycled materials. On our first visit in 2008, we often had our meals here. On our recent visit (2016), we wanted to eat here but was turned away (they prioritize in–house guests)....rudely.

After the walk, it was back to being lazy again. Swim, eat, wait for sunset, sleep. Repeat.

Swim in its crystal clear waters 

Watch the great ball of fire

Three days of this lazy cycle wasn't enough. We wanted to stay one more day. All resorts were fully booked but it wasn't crowded at all and this is what we loved about Langub Beach.



Road to Sipalay
Recharge, Refresh, Refuel in Dumaguete
How to Go to Sipalay City, Negros Occidental
Accommodations in Langub Beach, Sipalay (you're here!)

How to Go to Sipalay City, Negros Occidental

Click to enlarge

From Cebu City, Cebu

Go to the South Bus Terminal and take the one and only direct bus to Sipalay at 5AM. (The return trip from Sipalay to Cebu is at 5PM.) The trip takes about 8 hours.

If you miss this bus, you can opt to go to Dumaguete City in Negros Oriental or Bacolod City in Negros Occidental. You can do this by air (Cebu Pacific flies direct from Cebu to both cities, and Philippine Airlines flies direct from Cebu to Bacolod) or by land and sea.

To go to Bacolod City by land and sea, at the North Bus Terminal take a Ceres bus bound for Bacolod. There are four routes:

• Cebu - Toledo - San Carlos - Don Salvador - Bacolod
• Cebu - Toledo - San Carlos - Canlaon - Bacolod
• Cebu - Toledo - San Carlos - Escalante - Bacolod
• Cebu - Tabuelan - Escalante - Bacolod

To go to Dumaguete City by land and sea, at the South Bus Terminal take a Ceres bus bound for any of these three:

• Dumaguete.
• Bato, Samboan. Then take the ferry from Bato to Tampi, Amlan, Negros Oriental. From Tampi, take a bus going to Dumaguete.
• Lilo-an, Santander. Then take the fastcraft to Sibulan, Negros Oriental. From Sibulan, take a jeepney to Dumaguete. If you miss the direct bus from Cebu to Dumaguete, this is the next best option.

To go to Dumaguete City by sea, take a ship (Cokaliong Shipping Lines) direct from Cebu to Dumaguete.

For information on schedules and fares, contact:
For bus: Vallacar Transit (Cebu), better known as Ceres Liner (032) 345 8650
For fastcraft to Sibulan: Cuadro Alas Navigation Lines 0922 423 2400 / 0922 985 8234
For ferry to Tampi or Sibulan: Maayo Shipping 0917 710 7080
For ship to Dumaguete: Cokaliong Shipping Lines (032) 232 7211 to 18


From Bacolod City, Negros Occidental

• Take a direct bus to Sipalay (4-5 hours).

For information on schedules and fares, contact Vallacar Transit (Bacolod) at (034) 446 0861.


From Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental

• Take a direct bus to Sipalay at 1PM (4 hours).
• Or take three buses to get to Sipalay:
• Dumaguete to Bayawan (2.5 hours)
• Bayawan to Hinoba-an (1.5 hours)
• at Hinoba-an take a bus bound for Bacolod, and get off at Sipalay (45 mins)

For information on schedules and fares, contact Vallacar Transit (Dumaguete), better known as Ceres Liner at (035) 225 9030 / 225 0406.



Road to Sipalay
Recharge, Refresh, Refuel in Dumaguete
How to Go to Sipalay City, Negros Occidental (you're here!)
Accommodations in Langub Beach, Sipalay

House Hunting in Silay City

We had obtained a heritage map of Silay City at the airport and our goal that morning was to see each and every house on the map. Because we are OC like that.

Silay City Heritage Map (click to enlarge)

Photo from RJDExplorer

But not before filling up our tanks with breakfast and pies at El Ideal and then putting on puppy dog eyes so that the kind people of El Ideal would take pity and keep our heavy backpacks for us while we went on our house hunting tour of Silay City. (Our puppy dog eyes worked! On second thought, I think the people of El Ideal were just too kind.)

Guapple Pie (tasted like apple pie because of the heavy cinnamon) and Buko Pie from El Ideal

Ancestral homes of (clockwise from top left): Digna Locsin Consing, Teodoro Morada, Jose B Gamboa, and Alejandro Amechazura.

We strolled every street on the map and gaped at over twenty grandiose houses of yesteryear. (Silay City reminded of the town of Taal.) Of the more than twenty ancestral homes we found, only three are open to the public.

Balay Negrense

Cinco de Noviembre Street, Silay City

Tuesday to Sunday 10AM to 5PM

Admission fee Php 60

Balay Negrense was completed in 1901 and was the home of the sugar baron Victor Fernandez Gaston.

It's been two years since my last visit to Balay Negrense, and I am guessing there's nothing new this time (because everything in this house is old!)...except for the admission fee which had increased from Php 40 to Php 60. So this time I chose to stay at the foyer and wait for a ghost to say hi while my two friends explored the house. (No ghost came to say hi.)

Manuel Hofileña House

Cinco de Noviembre Street, Silay City

10AM to 5PM

By appointment (034) 495 4561

Admission fee Php 60

Two blocks from and on the same street as Balay Negrense stands the Hofileña House which was built in 1932 by Manuel Hofileña. His son, Ramon, currently resides in the house, but visitors and strangers are welcome after 10AM, though it is recommended to have an appointment (but we were lucky to have been welcomed in without one).

I have been in the Hofileña House before, so while my friends toured the house, I just sat in the living room. Not to wait for a ghost (because it didn't smell like a ghostly, musty house) but instead to keep my eyes peeled for somebody living, like Mr Ramon. (I spotted Mr Ramon and he did say hello.)

Bernardino Jalandoni Museum

Rizal St., Silay City

(034) 495 5093 / 0907 726 5940

Tuesday to Saturday 9AM to 5PM

Sunday 9AM to 4PM

Admission Fee

Php 60 adult

Php 30 student

Photo from Out of Town Blog

The Bernardino Jalandoni house (or as the locals like to say, the "pink house") was built in 1908, and like Balay Negrense, it is now a museum.

This time I joined my friends in touring the Bernardino Jalandoni house (because I have not been here before!).

The living room, dining room, kitchen, study room, toilet, and bedrooms were all on the second floor. The tour guide didn't really say much about the history of the house nor about its owners, but just showed the different things in the house that were from another country (like the embossed tin ceiling, water filter, and glassware) or things that were older than me (like the piano, gramophone, and...most of the things there).

On the ground floor there was nothing much to see, just horse carriages; a gallinera, which is a bench with a chicken coop underneath (I thought those were for shoes not chickens!); a collection of dolls; and old photographs of Silay and Manila. Typical of houses in the 1900s, the ground floor served as the garage. 

Left: Gallinera, a bench with a chicken coop underneath
Right: Caromata or horse carriage

Photographs of the ancestral homes in Silay

Had I not joined my friends and had I chosen to stay at the ground floor, I think I would have had a good chance of finding something otherwordly. Especially in the dark backroom where all the dolls were kept.

Either I should stop visiting old houses or stop watching horror movies. If they find out I'm chicken, it would be to the gallinera I go.

Napoleon(es): Bon Pasalubong

When I say Bacolod, what comes into mind? Chicken inasal? Piaya? Bongbong's? Tired of the same old pasalubong, we set out to find something different to bring home.

First up: Merci Bakeshop. Why? Because it was just a few steps from Saltimboca Tourist Inn. Scanning the shelves, it was the same old fare: piaya, barquillos, mango tart, meringue, etc. Vaguely remembering napoleones, something I received as a pasalubong years back, I asked if they had any. Unfortunately, the answer was no. They had run out of napoleones (and it was just 1PM). Not finding anything interesting, we decided to head back to the inn, pack up, and get ready to go to the airport.

At the airport, with some minutes to spare, we stopped by Bongbong's Pasalubong Center. Lucky us, we found half a dozen boxes of napoleones piled on a table. There were pieces without the white icing which turns out to be their sugar-free ones.

A box (12 pieces) of Bongbong's napoleones costs Php 150 at the airport. I am guessing it is cheaper at the branches in the city. Merci Bakeshop also has a stall inside the airport terminal and there they had some available for 5 pesos cheaper than Bongbong's. Virgie's, another pasalubong center in Bacolod, also has napoleones. Yup, napoleones is pretty popular in Bacolod.

There's probably a question that's been gnawing on your brain two and a half paragraphs ago: What are napoleones? These are sugar glazed puff pastries with custard inside. Probably a close relative of mille-feuille, also known as napoleon.

The napoleones from Bongbong's are melts-in-my-mouth-heaven. Merci's aren't as soft as Bongbong's and it's sweeter (in fact, it is too sweet for my sweet tooth). Virgie's is at par with Bongbong's.

To whoever goes to Bacolod and thinks of getting me a pasalubong: Forget the piaya! Forget the barquillos! Remember napoleones! :-) Thankyouverymuch!

Navigating (a bit of) Negros Occidental:

Silay Home(s) Invasion

Hot and Cold Waters of Mambukal

Saltimboca Tourist Inn

Belly Bursting Bacolod

Not for the Diabetic

Brain Food in Negros Museum

Art About Town

Napoleon(es): Bon Pasalubong (you're here!)

Art About Town

My stomach is bursting. My sweet tooth is smiling. My left brain is burping.
 Right brain, it's your turn. Let's go art gawking in Bacolod.

What luck, I met an artist at the Negros Museum. This was my chance to feed right brain with some art. I tailed this artist to his little art studio called Incubator and, in the process, also learned of another gallery called Gallery Orange.

The Incubator Studio

Dela Rama Drive, City Heights Subdivision, Bacolod City

At the time of my left-brain-feeding (June 2012...sorry for the late post; I admit, I am a procrastinator), the exhibit was Amorsecos y las Falsas Promesas y Valores Equivocados de la Ciudad Amurallada, which Google translated as "False Promises and Misguided Values of the Walled City". In short, it was about Manila's imperialism.

Map to Incubator (click to enlarge)

Gallery Orange

2nd floor Annex Bldg. Lopue's Mandalagan, Bacolod City

(034) 709 0604

2PM - 9PM Monday - Saturday

On exhibit at Gallery Orange were the works of Dennis Ascalon entitled Dekahon...

 

Mr. Ascalon's works were all carved and painted. Brilliant!

 

 ...and an art installation, by Jay-R Delleva, called The Waste Land Apparition.

In the complex, where Gallery Orange is located, there are also many artsy things to stare at.

 

How feeding Mustachio's right brain cost him:

Nothing!

Just the jeepney fare going to the studio :-)

Navigating (a bit of) Negros Occidental:

Silay Home(s) Invasion

Hot and Cold Waters of Mambukal

Saltimboca Tourist Inn

Belly Bursting Bacolod

Not for the Diabetic

Brain Food in Negros Museum

Art About Town (you're here!)

Napoleon(es): Bon Pasalubong

Brain Food in Negros Museum

My stomach is bursting. My sweet tooth is smiling. My brain is screaming.

Screaming from hunger.

Don't worry brain, I hear you!

I will feed you. Both sides of you.

I will treat left brain to a visit to Negros Museum.

And some turista photos on the way to the museum.

The Negros Museum

Gatuslao St., Bacolod City

(034) 433 4764

10AM-7PM Tuesday to Saturday

9AM-6PM Sunday

Cinco de Noviembre Exhibit

Sugar & Other Negros Tales

Be sure to ask why the men painted on the wall have sacks over their heads (upper right)

JGM Gallery of International Folk Art & Toys

For only Php50, left brain had its fill of Negros history and toys from around the world. Hands were also busy taking pictures in the museum. Yes, this is allowed...except in the Folk Art & Toy Gallery. I just sneaked some clicks of the toys while the guide had his back to me. I'm sorry, Mr. Guide, I just think toys are fascinating.

Negros Museum library

While you digest the chicken inasal and sweets during your food trip in Bacolod, I suggest you give Negros Museum a visit. Spend an hour or two at the museum (do ask for a guide for he can tell you about what you are staring at) and give your brain something to digest. This is why I did not write anything about the exhibits, because I want you to check it out yourself! You are also welcome to browse and read in the museum's library.

How feeding Mustachio's left brain put his pocket on a diet:
Negros Museum entrance fee Php 50


Navigating (a bit of) Negros Occidental:

Silay Home(s) Invasion

Hot and Cold Waters of Mambukal

Saltimboca Tourist Inn

Belly Bursting Bacolod

Not for the Diabetic

Brain Food in Negros Museum (you're here!)

Art About Town

Napoleon(es): Bon Pasalubong

Not for the Diabetic

Negros Occidental is a dangerous place for diabetics. Bacolod City, particularly, is teeming with sugary goodness. Like moths to flame, we couldn't help but be drawn into Bacolod's cafés and pastry shops.

Felicia's Pastry Cafe

6th Lacson St. DOLL Bldg., Bacolod City

(034) 433 6586

Felicia's mouth-watering cakes and goodies

Swiss chocolate (left) and cream puff (right)

I wanted to try as many as I could but I was still so full from the cansi lunch at Sharyn's that I had to resign myself to cream puff (Php 90) and travel bud to a slice of Swiss chocolate cake (Php 80). The cream puff looked delicious but did not live up to its looks. I liked the filling, but, on the whole, it disappointed me. I couldn't finish it. The Swiss chocolate cake was a different story. It was gone in sixty seconds.

Cafe Bob's

21st Street, Bacolod City

(034) 434 2409

Bob's baked bounty

Gelato aplenty

Cab Gelato's dark choco in a waffle cone

Cafe Bob's is just across 21 Restaurant and that's where we skedaddled to after slurping our bowls of batchoy. With stomachs not having enough space for a piece of cake, we just fed our eyes with Bob's display of cakes. Off on the left side of the cafe, we admired Cab Gelato's array of colorful cold goodness. I gave in to the temptation and bought a cone of dark chocolate gelato (Php 95). Expensive, yes, but truly delicious.

Calea

Balay Quince, 15th Street, Bacolod City

(034) 435 8413

My sweet teeth are aching just looking at this wide selection!

 

Floating Island (left) and lemon meringue pie (right)

A visit to Bacolod would not be complete without having a piece of Calea. Though I have always liked their chocolate cake, I thought I'd try something new this time: Floating Island (Php 75) and lemon meringue pie (Php 75). Floating Island is like brazo de mercedes that's not put together right physically, but tastes even better. Lemon meringue pie was perfectly lemony, complete with real lemon strips. One can never go wrong with Calea.

Milk + Tea

Balay Quince, 15th Street, Bacolod City

Click to enlarge menu

Almond milk tea with black gulaman

The milk tea craze has also reached Bacolod. We found Milk+Tea just above Calea in Balay Quince. As a last hurrah, I bought a large almond milk tea with gulaman (Php 100)... something to sip while we wait for our flight home. How was it, you ask? Let's just say I've had better. And for a hundred pesos, it was expensive.

How devouring desserts made Mustachio's sweet teeth ache:

Desserts at Felicia's Php 170

Gelato at Bob's Cafe/Cab Gelato Php 95

Desserts at Calea Php 150

Milk tea from Milk + Tea Php 100

Navigating (a bit of) Negros Occidental:

Silay Home(s) Invasion

Hot and Cold Waters of Mambukal

Saltimboca Tourist Inn

Belly Bursting Bacolod

Not for the Diabetic (you're here!)

Brain Food in Negros Museum

Art About Town

Napoleon(es): Bon Pasalubong