CANLAON CITY IN A DAY

THINGS TO DO IN CANLAON CITY
By Henry Libo-on 


After spending a few days at Siquijor Island, we went back to Dumaguete to take the bus for Bacolod. From the port, we went straight to the Ceres Bus Terminal.  One of us stayed in the terminal to watch our things while the rest of the group went to the downtown Dumaguete for souvenir hunting.  I stayed in the bus terminal.

The port of Dumaguete.  It is the link between Dumaguete and the rest of the Visayan Islands and Mindanao.

After an hour, my travel companions arrived at the bus terminal with a plastic bag full of boxes that bears the name Sans Rival Cakes and Pastries. I knew that this yummy product made Dumaguete famous.
At about noontime, two De Luxe Ceres Buses were scheduled to leave for Bacolod.  Parked near these buses is one that was bound for Canlaon and it was an air-conditioned bus.  My travel companions decided to ride on this bus and to make a stopover at Canlaon City.  So, we jumped into the bus and off we go to the unexpected destination - Canlaon City.

Facts about Canlaon City

According to Wikipedia, Canlaon, officially the City of Canlaon,, is a 4th class city in the province of Negros Oriental, Philippines. According to the 2015 census, it has a population of 54,509 people. It is located 168 kilometers north from the provincial capital Dumaguete and is bordered on the east by Vallehermoso and on the south by Guihulngan. Canlaon is home to the highest peak in its own province and its corresponding island, Kanlaon Volcano, which is 2,465 meters above sea level at its highest point.

From Canlaon City, it takes three hours to go to Bacolod City, passing the towns of Magallon or Moises Padilla, down to Bacolod City. 

City Hall of Canlaon.

After 5 hours of travel, we were tired and wanted a bed to sleep.  I was preoccupied with something to eat as I was hungry.  Remember, I was left in the bus terminal in Dumaguete and had not eaten anything for lunch.
Knowing the urgency of my travel companions for a place to stay, I hailed a "habal-habal" and asked him to take me to a nice hotel.

F & C Guesthouse.  At first, I think this is owned by the giant jewelry store.

The driver told me that there is one, a walking distance from the Canlaon Bus Terminal.  So, I told him, "ok, thank you, I will just walk".  But he was quick to respond, "Sir, you need to ride, it is a bit far for you to walk."  I had this impression of "dool ra sa pikas" so, I thought it was just a walking distance, you know. But upon his insistence, I rode his scooter and off we went to the hotel.

I looked at the façade of the hotel, inspected the reception area with my eyes and asked the clerk for the "Tarifa" or hotel rates.  I selected a room with aircon and requested for two extra beds.  My travel companion used his SC card that entitled us a discount.  Isn't this nice? I decided at that time to come back someday. 

(That "someday" came but I was a guest of the Jandoquile Family, my BFF Jo Segundino and husband Francis. Actually many moons ago, I joined the Kanlaon Safari where our jump-off point was the elementary school there and after a night at the "Abaga sang Vulkan" or Margaja Valley, we visited the house of Don Diego Perez at Masulog? He has plenty of ducks and of course, "balut".  In one instance, my friend, the son of Mayor Romualdo Eusebio of Calatrava, invited us to his farmhouse in Canlaon City and we had a nice picnic at Masulog River the next day. That morning I also visited Mayor Cardenas in his house where we had coffee and talked about the possibility of an airstrip in the city.  Actually, I joined him, I guess to the area where the proposed airport will be constructed.  Nice memory.)

The Reception Area. To the right are the Bar and Restaurant.  

After billeting, my companions rested for a few minutes, then we went for a short walk of the nearby stores.  I decided to order lunch at the hotel's bar and restaurant.  For less than a hundred, I filled my hungry stomach with a decent lunch at half-past five.

F & C Guesthouse

This is the name of the hotel where we stayed for a night in Canlaon City.
The room was clean and the air-con was as cool as the newly opened freezer, I will repeat, freezer.  Actually, the first room the front desk gave us was really hot because the air-con is triple "o" - out of order for short, lol.

Wifi and Reading area.

F & C has, I guess, 12 rooms, a reading area or shall I say, a wifi area, and a huge event area or social hall on the top floor.  I like the reading area because it has the ambiance of a home away from home. From there, I took a very good shot of Kanlaon Volcano that morning.

The Bar and Restaurant are located on the ground level annex to the hotel.  The restaurant is wide with several tables spread all over its big space.  The bar is located near the entrance. It is stocked with selected wines and liquors and a Barista on duty.  When I took this picture, he went away. Maybe, he does not want to show his face on this blog, haha.

F & C RestauBar.

At the inner area of the bar and restaurant is an air-con room for private meetings and reception.  At the other end is a KTV.  The price ranges from 4K consumable and down.  It depends on the need of the customer which can be arranged with the floor manager.

This is not the floor manager.  It is me, Touristang Pobre.  The Manager is busy cleaning the tables with soap and clean wipes.  I noticed, she does not rest.  She's always on the move.

The menu contains choices that really suit the travelers' budget.  F & C Guesthouse is just a nice home, away from home, for travelers like me and those who considered Canlaon City as their jump-off point to their next destinations.  In our case, it is our jump-off point to Bacolod City.

Taran.....my beautiful travel companions, Divine my BFF for life, Chito our classmate since Kinder, haha... & Tin our youngest daughter who just arrived from Guam and will be staying with us for vacation.

The next day. we had breakfast at the hotel's restaurant.  The breakfast consisted of the following choices: fried rice or bread, eggs or corned beef or chorizo, and a choice of coffee, fruit juice or tea.  I paid less than a hundred pesos.  I had enough energy to last me for that morning.

F & C's grand ballroom is a nice venue for weddings, parties, conferences or conventions.

With a great sense of nostalgia, I forlornly took this picture of my dear Kanlaon Volcano, haha...I climbed its hills, slept on its Margaja Valley, scaled its shoulders and reached the Crater twice, one in 1979 and another in 1988. In 1978, prior to my first climb, I strongly believed that I cannot reach the crater because people told me it was arduous and very difficult. and very dangerous. I did not listen. I joined the Negros Mountaineering Society and my friend Edwin G. When I reached the crater, I felt that something inside of me suddenly left my body.  It was my fear and negative thoughts that left me and set me free.  

There is nothing in the world more difficult to conquer than fear itself.  

Since then, I do not fear anything or anybody....errr....except my wife....haha...

Copyright close up photo of Kanlaon Volcano from the window of F & C Guesthouse. 

I photographed so many sunrises in my life. This one was taken from the window of F & C grand ballroom.

Running tour of Canlaon City was our next activity since we were planning to go home by 11:00 a.m. when the Ceres Air-con bus from Cebu will pass by Canlaon City on its way to Bacolod.

We decided to hire the tricycle, which I arranged that afternoon of our arrival in Canlaon.

Our first itinerary was the OISCA Farm.  The Organization For International, Scientific and Cultural Advancement of Japan.  It has been operating in Negros for many years.  They have one in Bago City and this one in Canlaon.

Borrowing the idea from the Bontocs, farmers anywhere in Negros Island use irrigated terraces to plant rice.

As we were nearing the OISCA compound, the road turned rocky that my companions suggested we just go back. I do not want to call that road as an "abortion road", because as a backpacker, anything goes for me. This is one way I can experience how the locals travel from one place to another. The driver told me that we were actually in the farming community of OISCA but the main project house is a bit far.  Whatever "bit far" means, my companions were determined not to pursue.

So, without any hesitation, I signaled to the driver to go back.  On our way back, I took several pictures of the rice fields, trees, vegetables and flowers along the way.  The abundance of Calla Lily reminded me that the official flower of the city of Canlaon is Calla Lily.

My comment: 

Actually, I decided to go back to OISCA Farms and the Century Tree a year later, I guess. My friend Jo Jandoquile Segundino and Francis invited me to join them on their Canlaon trip to Cebu. That allowed me to continue the "aborted" trip to OISCA and the Century Tree.

The first time I looked at this photo, I thought this is the green region of Africa or Bali in Indonesia. But, of course, this is Canlaon.

The Tricycle Driver was, I think, going crazy with our sudden decision to go back to the midtown or Poblacion. Upon approaching the city, the driver took us to the farmers market and we observed the landing of vegetables from different villages of Canlaon as well as the bulk purchase by buyers from other parts of Negros Island.

Our next stop was Canlaon City Hall.  We took several pictures of the building.  Green must be the official color of the city, I just guess.

After visiting the Market, the driver took us to the Ceres Bus Terminal. As usual, I did not show any opposition or surprise to why we're at the bus terminal.  I thought the driver will take us to another tourist spot or whatever.  

My comment:

Basi na sense ka driver nga daw ma kisi-kisi na pauli pa Bacolod ang akon mga upod, pero ako ya ga pensar pa ma suroy-suroy sa Canlaon, hehe.

In September 2015, I went back to Canlaon and visited the century tree and the Inland resort at Malaiba.  I found out that the century tree is the next place after OISCA.  As the saying goes: "you will never know if you will succeed if you quit".  You can read about my 2015 adventures at Canlaon here on this Blog Site.  Just go back to the Homepage and click the blogs about Canlaon City.  Thanks.

I was told that there is an "incero", a cockfight that day.  These fighting cocks are conditioned for this "incero".

Would you believe that this shoe repairman has been repairing shoes in Canlaon for a long time?  If I correctly recall what he told me, almost 20 years.  Here, he is shown fixing this rubber water container. 

When we arrived at the bus terminal, it was about half-past nine in the morning and the eleven o'clock arrival of the air-con bus from Cebu that will proceed to Bacolod was like, a long wait.

In 1967, Liwayway and Hiligaynon were our Mills & Boons.  There was no internet and Kindle but we have these magazines to entertain us.  Later on, Bisaya was published to cater to the needs of Cebuano speaking readers.  This magazine stand is found at Canlaon.

The next bus that will leave for Bacolod is De Luxe, meaning, it is non-air-con.  It will leave at ten in the morning.  Knowing that it was better to be on the road by ten in the morning than wait for the next bus, we jumped into the 10:00 o'clock bus and chose the rear seats.  Later, we discovered that these rear seats of the bus were comfortable and the air from both windows make that area cool. After about three hours of travel, we arrived at Bacolod City at a little past one in the afternoon.

For some, travel can be stressful.  For me, travel can be a challenging experience.  I do not expect anything when I do my backpacking adventure. So, I am not easily discouraged when something turned out to be not the usual way, I think, it should end up.

Resting in the comfort of my home and feeling the cool wind gushing from the air con, I concluded that I must set myself again for the next destination.  When that time comes, it will be - Bacolod-Dumaguete-Santander, Cebu; Oslob, Boljoon, Argao, Carcar, Cebu City, Mactan Island, Bantayan, Camotes and Malapascua Island. I guess. I might do it in 2017. 

(My update I visited Santander, Boljoon, Mactan, Cebu, Camotes, Bantayan, Malapascua, Siargao in 2017 as I projected.)

Our stay at F & C Guesthouse was a pleasant experience as well.  When the air-con of our room did not function, the front desk immediately moved us to another room where the air-con was as cool as a newly opened freezer.

A small thing like this can make our travel and adventure a pleasant and memorable one.

The next time I will go back to Canlaon City, I will go to the city's man-made lake, the falls, Camp Maput entrance, and probably a brief meeting with the mayor and the widow of my once-upon-a-time friend Mayor O. C. Many years ago, I interviewed him about the possibility of constructing an airstrip on a property not far from the city proper.  I visited that proposed site of the airport where sugarcane grew.

When I go back to Canlaon, I will still choose to stay at F & C Guesthouse.  I feel comfortable there.  It was like a home away from home. And boy, the staff are friendly and courteous.

Things to do in Canlaon City

There are a few interesting things to do in the city of Canlaon.  The following is a shortlist of what you can probably do:

1. Kanlaon Volcano Safari
2. OISCA Demonstration Farm
3. Canlaon Century Tree
4. Inland Resort at Barangay Malaiba
5. Trekking to Mt. Talinis
6. Quipot Falls
7. Sudlon Falls
8. Vegetables Farmer's Market
9. City Tour starting at the City Hall
10. Take a bath in the river with your local friends.  I did this in a river at the outskirt of the city before reaching the property of Don Diego Perez, whom I met many, many years ago and hosted us for a night's stay in his beautiful cottage where lots of ducks laid eggs to be cooked as "balut"

Other things your heart may desire...like Karaoke and nightlife at F & C Bar and Restaurant.

My Tip:

PLEASE COORDINATE YOUR TOUR OF CANLAON CITY BY VISITING THE CITY TOURISM OFFICE.  Have a nice adventure in Canlaon. 

Copyright photos by Henry Libo-on of Touristang Pobre.

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For an additional info about Canlaon City, you can visit my Blogs hereunder: 

1. This is about the Century Tree in Canlaon City  - PHILIPPINES CENTURY TREE INHABITED BY THE SPIRITS?? COOL WATERS OF INLAND RESORT AND BEAUTIFUL OISCA FARM - Touristang Pobre

2. OISCA: JAPANESE ASSISTED FARM IN CANLAON CITY - Touristang Pobre

3. LA BLANCA RESORT: HIDDEN HIDEAWAY IN CENTRAL NEGROS ISLAND? - Touristang Pobre

Nore: La Blanca Resort is along the Masulog-La Castellana Road. The Resort is about 7 kilometers to Canlaon City. So, malapit na lang pa Canlaon. 

 

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Have a great day!   Ciao.

Updated on 07 June 2018.
Updated on December 10, 2019. 

Reviewed on May 17, 2023.