Travel Series #06: The Picturesque Tourist Spot In Negros

I had been in this famous picturesque tourist spot in Talisay, Negros Occidental thrice. I was with my close friends . As we headed to the place during my first visit, it amazed me because the car passed thru the fields of sugar cane, it was huge. We rented a car going there to avoid hassle. But there are also other means of transportation going to the ruins. You can take by tricycle or you can take by motorcycle, it's up to you.

The ruins (Talisay) or dubbed as a Taj Mahal in Negros Occidental was the ancestral mansion of the family of wealthy sugar baron Don Mariano Ledesma Lacson built on a 440 hectare sugar plantation in Talisay City, Negros Occidental in the early 1900s in memory of his Portuguese wife Braga Lacson, who died during the birth of their eleventh child. During world war 2, Filipino guerillas burned it down as a countermeasure to prevent the invading Japanese forces from using it as a military office. It burned for 3 straight days.source

As we arrived in the tourist spot we paid Php100/head for our entrance fee then we headed to their comfort room before we set off. And in the comfort room we laughed out loud as we saw the statue near the comfort room's door. Ok, let me explain first why we burst out laughing. We Filipinos are known as conservative because our ancestors influenced us but it gradually change. We rarely see this kind of statue here except the iconic symbol of the University of the Philippines. It is visible in front of the Universities' compound. Other than that we just rarely see it in our daily lives. My friend asked me if she can took a photo of me standing on that statue, well since it's not a big deal to me so I made a pose, it's a souvenir photo. I admired the Management's creativity, they really captured the tourists' attention. We haven't started our tour yet but we had already started to collect a happy memory.

Next we headed to the front of the ancestral mansion where the fountain is located. We just stayed there and enjoyed the moment taking photos of the fountain while waiting for the perfect timing because at that time there were many tourists who kept moving around just to took a perfect angle of the mansion. As much as possible, we wanted our photo souvenir without a photo bomber so we waited the perfect timing. Have you also experienced that? I constantly experienced that.

But we were failed, even we've tried our best but see there was still photo bombers. But well, that's the disadvantage of travelling during peak season. So behind us is the well-known grand mansion of talisay. Although it was already ruined but you can still see the beauty of it, it had been proven that the materials being used was of high quality. It was burned for 3 days but because of the strong foundation, the mansion was still able to stand, up to this period of time.

After we attended my friend's wedding we headed to the ruins because one of my friend haven't visited the ruins yet so we brought her. This is the view during daytime.

This is also part of the ruin's compound. It is huge.

If you felt hungry while strolling around the huge compound of the ancestral mansion, no worries because they have also their own restaurant located beside the building with delicious foods and other refreshments. If got tired, well you can just sit or you can lie down on the well-maintained bermuda grass while watching the blue sky. The staffs were accomodating and they will always ensure that everyone has a wonderful experience of their visit in the Taj Mahal of Negros Occidental.