A typical Thursday night in Bacolod.

The cathedral may be quite fancy on the picture above, but the real night shot of it should show a little more people selling clothes and other stuff at bargain price and a little more smoke from the Jeepney engines surrounding it.
But of course i'm not saying its a bad place or something like that.
I just realized that life is pretty damn simple here, not like the cool and pretty intense picture above. And honestly, that's the way I like it.

A fresh memory from the ride I had earlier was the smell of engine smoke combined with the smoke from Chicken barbecues right beside the Libertad market. The mix was...  Intoxicating and also somewhat delicious. I just looked at the different types of people buying from the Barbecue-han. Some dressed simple, like they just got up from bed with that "pam-balay" look. Others were in their office wear just getting off from work. Seeing that the "Pa-a" or "Pecho" they are going to serve for dinner is littered with dust and engine exhaust debris made me cringe. But still, you can't deny the fact that Chicken inasal made from Bacolod is to die for; Either cooked clean inside a grill in your garden, or even right beside your busy neighborhood street.

When you think about it... it is a marketing strategy, really. You're sitting there in the jeepney after 8 hours of hard work. It's 7pm and you need a hot meal ASAP. You get to this street and you are greeted with the sweet, enticing aroma of a chicken leg roasting in an open grill, brushed with a sauce that has all those special herbs and spices unique in every inasalan.
If I had P40 in my wallet, I would have ended up at my Gf's house with a chicken leg wrapped in brown paper inside a plastic bag... "IF" I had P40, that is...
Yay for poverty! My diet is saved again! :D
-Leo
(photos are not mine, BTW.)