Moments after arriving in Tanjay City, we went a little bit farther to the north. We rode a tricycle until we reached one of the most famous tourist spots in Bais City.

Old Baldwin Train

We have arrived at our destination. This is the century old Baldwin train, used back then for transporting goods, specifically, sugar cane. Unsurprisingly, it’s right next to a sugar cane field, where maybe it was abandoned. Over the years, it has been a head turner for passersby, so they refurbished and renovated the place. The tourist spot is a great place to hang around, take pictures and maybe even have a picnic.

Mojon Church

Just across the highway, we saw an eerie-looking church. Somebody then said that it was going to be our next stop, so we took pictures and all that stuff. We took a lot of pictures, even from a tree just next to it. We couldn’t go inside though for some reason.

“Just inside the southern boundary of Bais with Tanjay, this church is often overlooked because drivers’ attentions are concentrated on the blind curve in the road. The inside, with it’s gracefully curving screens and woodwork and finely carved mahogany altar pieces, is prettier than the outside. Next door are some fine, large colonial houses sheltering beneath a canopy of mature trees with epiphytes growing on them.” [from Wikivoyage]

Tanjay City is located on Negros Oriental. It was only recently converted from a municipality into a city in 2000s. It’s only a 30 minute drive (1hr on PUVs), north of Dumaguete City. Tanjay is said to have been named after a Chinese trader and from a tall tree, ‘Tan Hai’. Just like the rest of Negros Oriental, the population speaks Bisaya or Cebuano dialect.

Tanjay City is well known for a specific delicacy. When you here the word Tanjay, the thing that comes first into your mind is “Budbud.” What makes Tanjay’s Budbud unique is the thin strip of chocolate wrapped around the sticky rice delicacy. It is served together with home-made “tsokolate” and usually eaten for breakfast or meriendas.

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“The City of Festivals”

Tanjay is popularly known as such because of the abundance of various festivals celebrated in the city for each year. All the festivals they are celebrating have connections to their history, religion and culture. Some of these are Children’s Festival, Festival of Hearts, Sinulog de Tanjay, Paaway sa Kabayo, Budbod Festival. Try picturing out what’s it like to be celebrating almost every other month.

Recently, on October 19, 2018, we went to watch the Buglasan Festival Showdown. To no surprise, there were a lot of participants from Tanjay representing each of their festivals. While watching, you can really feel what their culture and history was like.

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sources: http://www.islandsproperties.com/places/tanjaycity.htm

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Kamanggahan Garden Resort

A little bit further from the center of the city and we arrive here, at the cozy and relaxing place called Kamanggahan Garden Resort and Hotel. They have multiple pools, some for kids and another for adults. The pools have a lot of fountains as well. Mango trees are all over the place, which is what the place is built on, a mango farm, hence the name. They also have cottages, a resto bar and a hotel. The entrance is ₱100 for the whole day. It’s affordable, but the only problem is that we have to take into account that it’s far from the highway, much more from the central city. Overall, it’s a must visit place when you’re in Tanjay City.

Our experience during our adventure was so memorable because we were able to witness how beautiful Tanjay City is. Because of that experience, I realized that God’s creation is for our own benefit and it is one of the reasons why we are still striving to live life to the fullest. Moreover, I was able to mingle with my friends and was able to deal with them despite of those busy circumstances that we had when it comes to our projects.