Rambutan Fruits and Coffeeshop in Mailum, Bago City

Hello again lovely Hivers! How are you all doing?

At the first week of September, we had our first trip. It wasn't that fancy or glamorous, but at least I can say that it was fun and enjoyable. We were filled with excitement as we traverse the route from Bacolod to Barangay Ma-ao, Bago City this weekend. We tagged along with a friend who lives there. Their place was farther from Kipot Twin Falls, near at a military base camp called Barracks.

^{This photo belongs to The Happy Trip.}

Let me borrow these photos from the website of The Happy Trip for you to see a glimpse of this mesmerizing place. We passed by this bridge, and the path to the falls are down there to the right. Unfortunately, the path to the falls isn't passable to heavy vehicles anymore and not even recommended to tourists to visit. The path was old and will possibly collapse if it handles more than its current capability.

At last, we're finally here after an hour or so of traversing. Difficulties on the road made our travel time longer than usual as we're dealing with lots of one-way roads for the other part is still under construction. Also, the location's topography may add to its hindrances as it's sloping route adds more difficulty when going upwards and motor vehicles need more force to reach their destinations.

It didn't took us long to confess our intentions straightforwardly to the owner. She just laughed at us seeing how excited we were to climb the Rambutan tree and harvest its fruits. She even gave us a bamboo pole with a hook at the end to help us get the fruits that were out of our reached.

Here are the fruits of our own labor. The owner said that they couldn't eat it all, so they're happy that we visit bring some of it back to Bacolod. Likewise in our case, we're happy as well as we harvested four (4) eco-bags and five (5) kilograms of rice. A great help as the rice value per kilo in market have reached up to Php 60 per kilo recently.

After lunch and eating lots of fruits, we went to a coffeeshop near their house. The weather was fine and windy making us feel drowsy as we explore the place even though boredom didn't tap our backs.

The name of the coffeeshop here seems like saying "Tinikal eh!", in the Hiligaynon dialect which is an expression used by speakers pertaining to an exaggerated statement of another speakers. It's funny when you think about it, the owner must have a creative minds to think for such an aesthetic name derived from a local expression.

The view from the second floor of the coffe shop is marvelous. You can see different attractions in every directions you face. The back of Mount Canlaon on the east side, the city on the west, the terraces of Rice fields below, and mountain ranges going north.

Somehow, it makes me wonder why most of nature beautiful spot attractions are hidden in the outskirts and difficult to reach by people. You have to give your all out efforts before it will finally paid off, and sometimes you even have to risk your life just to reach the summit of a mountain to see the picturesque view below.

They have a playground below beside a pond, and anyone is welcome. Swings, see-saw, and monkey bars, people of all ages can play or just sit around while watching the kids play. Well, we did and we almost have fallen asleep for its calming and quiet nature.

Though the coffeeshop is still open for everyone, unfortunately, it's not open for everyone to have a cup of coffee and snacks there anymore. Their daily operations stopped after pandemic, but it is said that they are still accepting bookings for reservations and gatherings.

We went back to Bacolod when the sun sets as we were not prepared when we visit. We haven't packed clothes for an overnight, not even an extra shirt. Moreover, my cousin and her colleague have work tomorrow, and I, too have backlogs to finish.

We planned to visit again here next time and bring extra clothes, so we can stay longer. I really wished to see the Kipot Twin Falls personally, and explore some of the attractions here. That's the end of my weekend experience, by the way. I hope I have shared something interesting that made you enjoy my little virtual tour in our local area.