A Bus Ride In The Negros Province

I have ridden provincial buses around the Philippines. From Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, all these bus rides are as interesting as the last one. Why? Because I just love looking out the window and enjoy the view of each province's landscape and sceneries. 

Perhaps, one of my longest road trips in recent memory, from Iloilo City to Caticlan on our way to Boracay Island, allowed me to enjoy the fertile landscape of that side of Panay Island. 

       (The fare for a bus ride with free sighseeing is cheap)

But on this provincial bus ride from Bacolod City, from my window, I could see rows and rows of sugarcane haciendas with workers and their carabaos harvesting the plantation that reflect the typical life in the province which provides sugar to the whole country.

With the fields colored green from the growing sugarcane and the skies painted blue reflecting a perfect tropical horizon, this is also the unspoiled Philippines.

              (My favorite stop in Silay City, El Ideal restaurant!)

                     (The dome of Silay City's cathedral)

(The old buildings in Silay City are part of the city's heritage)

The bus is usually full of passengers who go shopping or entertain themselves in Bacolod City, or students commuting to their schools there. Other regular passengers are those who travel to work everyday, or for some other reasons. 

          (The old water plant of Enrique B Magalona, 
                              or the old Saravia)

And today, as I got on the bus, I deliberately took a comfortable seat behind the driver, so that on this quick ride home from Bacolod City, I could have a clear view of the road and the sights ahead. 

Although I know the route very well, I just lost myself at the sight of the scenery, the people on the road, the old architectures of Silay City, and the other modes of transport sharing the highway. This is sort of a free tourist sightseeing of the northern Negros' landscape. 

And as long as there's no traffic, and the tropical weather is perfect, it always is a good bus ride in the province.