BACOLOD CITY - Close to 500 tourists on board M/V Astor, a
176.5-meter, German cruise liner which left France in Dec., touched
port here recently for the tourists to visit for a day.
NN Tours and Transport Corp., an NN subsidiary appointed as local handler of
the visit, initiated the new system of lifestyle tours which made the tourists
feel exhilarated and who vowed to promote Negros Occidental and the three
participating cities as tourist destinations in their country.
Welcomed at the NN-owned Banago Port by the resounding Latin beat from
Pasalamat drumbeaters, the guests disembarked, dancing to the rhythmic
beating of the drums. After which, they were ushered by male and female
guides clad in traditional Filipiniana attire into either colorfully decorated
jeepneys for a loopshuttle around strategic places in Bacolod City, or into
airconditioned buses for either of two packaged tours (one to Northern Negros
covering the Balay Negrense Museum and Victorias Milling Company, and
another to an Hacienda Tour in northern Silay City).
The latter, a newly-introduced tour to Hacienda Luguay, was dubbed as an
exciting discovery for the passengers who experienced three types of rides: a
bagoneta ride through sugarcane fields, fishpond and rural houses, a ride
inside a steam locomotive from the farm to Central Hawaiian, and a ride in
carabao cart while being serenaded by a farm worker.
Against the background of Filipino music from a rondalla ensemble and
colorful dances performed by the residents of Silay, the tourists were
introduced to Silay Mayor Edwin Velez, his wife Ruby and to the owners and
workers in the farm. The tourists admired the intricacies of piayamaking,
loom-weaving and basketry, the steps to sugar, rice, corn, coconut, bamboo
and corngrowing, processing and cooking, and were amazed at the handiwork
of heirloom elegant Filipiniana attire worn by the female family members in the
hacienda.
As the buses and jeepneys rolled in back to Banago Port, they were
welcomed by the rhythm of the drumbeaters and, in the company of Negros
Occ. Gov. Lito Coscolluela, Bacolod City Mayor Oscar Verdeflor, Talisay City
Mayor Anthony Lizares, NN chairman and CEO Daniel L. Lacson, Jr., NN and
tourism officials.
Guests also savored draft beer courtesy of San Miguel Corporation and various
concoctions from sugar-based rhum from Tanduay Distillers, all brewed in the
province.
As the sun began to set, the champion Masskara dancers from Brgy. Catabla
of Talisay City danced, gyrated and swooped tourists into the dancing mood
until the whole port was transformed into a giant ballroom.
Against the backdrop of the M/V Astor, docked beside NN's M/S St. Joseph
the Worker, the historic tourism occasion that brought Negrenses from the
government and private sector to work together once again - from its governor
down to the sugar farm workers - Filipinos, Germans, Belgians, and Russians
were unified by song and dance.
As M/V Astor sailed into the night and bade farewell with three blasts, its
passengers continued to wave from its decks to the equally happy crowd at
the port while the rhythmic beating of the music was still going on.
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