From Lakawon (previous post) we went to Mambukal Mountain Resort about two-hour drive from Bacolod City on the same jeepney that ran at 40kph. Mambukal is known for its hot springs with sulfuric soda water in one of them.It has a bath house with spa, famous among Asian tourists, particularly the Japanese. Each spa is supplied by hot and cold water from the springs on the mountain sides. Tourists who suffer from body fatigue and want to release stress, dip in the spa for its alleged therapeutic treatment.
We skipped the swimming pools as well as the spa and chose to climb the rugged mountain trails to see the waterfalls. We took the trails because our nieces Lala (right in photo above) and Bernadette (front right), who often travel to other tourist spots in and outside the country, wanted something different from the usual beaches they had gone to. (Others in photo are, from left, my in-laws Lericita and Josie, me, my wife Marilyn and daughter Maria Angeline.)
There were seven waterfalls but we skipped the two further up toward the mountain top because we took so long dipping in some of them and had forgotten about the time until it was almost dusk. At 68, without a heart problem and other serious ailments, I joined the climb through the mountain trails. The trails were sometimes steep and there were times that my better-half and I had to crawl on our way up. A hanging bridge (picture above) offered an easy way for P50 per person but we were more attracted to the challenge of the rugged trails. Besides, we did not have much faith in the strength of the hanging bridge.
Manbukal Resort lies at the peak of about 1,200 feet or 355 meters above sea level and serves as a gateway to Mount Kanlaon, one of the Philippines' active volcanoes and is the highest mountain peak in the Visayas or the central Philippines. Mount Kanlaon itself hosts several waterfalls, the most noted of them are the Quipot and Sudion Falls. The mountain volcano is visible on the way to Mambukal from Bacolod City.
Before we climbed the mountain trails, we took lunch in one of the cluster of small eateries beneath the archway at the starting point of the trails. Up in the sky, bats flew in droves from yonder trees and then back where they clung to the branches like black spots. We left at about 2 pm and went down before dusk fell. The right picture shows one of the seven water falls. In upper-right photo, the bats flying in a clear sky are seen from one of the eateries where we took lunch. Photos of the water fall (right) is from TripAdvisor. The rest are by
Al Rico Mayor.
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