Unexpectedly Falling In Love with Silay City

We arrived really early morning in Negros Occidental for our Bacolod trip. The airport is in Silay, and this is what greeted us when we arrived:

As we will really be passing by Silay City on our way to Bacolod, I decided to devote our first morning to explore Silay. I was pleasantly surprised at what Silay had to offer. Idyllic is what comes to my mind every time I will remember my short stroll in Silay. It will remind you of simpler times, of simpler living. Compared to Bacolod, which is more progressive by conventional definition, Silay is far more laid-back and its people chooses to keep its old ways, where its unique charm comes from.

We had to ride a shuttle from the airport which would pass by a field, giving an instant probinsya feel. Upon arriving at the Silay town proper, we first heard mass at the San Diego Pro-Cathedral to give our thanks and ask for guidance for our trip. 

Silay's set up is typical of Colonial town setting where the Church is at the town center, and then the plaza is right in front, and surrounding the plaza is the municipal hall, the school and the shops. It was a thursday morning so there were kids going to school, and at the town plaza, there was an exercise class of some sort. It was a typical day where people were just going about their usual business.

I made sure I made a pitstop to El Ideal, a famous food shop identified with the town. We even had breakfast there like what I wrote previously.

We walked around further into the town to visit the colonial homes which have been turned into museums. I originally wanted to go to Balay Negresense, sadly though it was still close around that time, and was due to open in another hour or so.

The caretaker told us to go down the street, which was interestingly called Cinco de Noviembre, where another house/museum might already be opened. So we did just that, and along the way we saw the town supermarket with interesting details. It was still close at that time though.

We then arrived at our destination - Hofilena Museum. It was a very interesting house, with lots and lots of details reflecting bygone days. I'm contemplating writing up another post on this house with all the things we discovered inside, so I will just post this picture of the house for the meantime.

After a tour of the house, we walked some further more around town until it's time to go to Bacolod. It was a morning well-spent and reminded me so much why I love travelling. Every new town you visit gives you a glimpse of the lives people led elsewhere in the world, and elsewhere in time. This will always leave me the desire to travel more places, and learn more about people because really, it's a huge, huge world out there.