ram and i finally found ourselves walking along the streets of silay, another town of negros occidental which is one of the top 10 tourist destinations in the philippines when it comes to cultural heritage, according to one of the tour guides we met there. because the town is as old as, i don’t know. but on every block you can see old houses and buildings. every block, i kid you not. if i remember correctly, there are 30+ old houses in silay that are are considered heritage houses. they probably have that many of those houses left because the japanese troops bypassed silay during the war. leaving the town at the mercy, not of the battle, but of the vices of time.

if you’re into architecture, you will surely appreciate the structural designs of the houses and buildings. some of them look really grand from afar, kind of like the feeling that you get when you see some of malaysia’s mosques and old buildings. i’m talking about how intricate the designs are, and how so much planning and labor must have been spent in order to achieve something close to perfection that can withstand the degradations of time. an antiquated reminder of how things were when life was so much more slower and simpler.

but while the old buildings stand there in silent calmness, all around it, modernization is buzzing. jeepneys, people, the traffic. life goes on.

they say that when you go to silay, you should not miss el ideal’s guapple pie. a bakery which started in the 1950’s, i think. it is also located in one of silay’s heritage buildings. but inside, there is already an airconditioner. and a cash register too, of course. lol. it may look old on the outside but it sure is adapting well on the inside.

so anyway, the guapple pie. it was good. i loved the first few bites because it was sweet and warm and soft, with a trace of crunchiness to it. i’m not really into sweets all that much so i had to ask ram to help me finish the entire slice off, lest the servers there would think i did not appreciate their finest delicacy and hurt their feelings in the process because well, we were seated near them. and they knew it was our first time there (me and my big mouth) so they were kind of like eyeing us for any signs of ecstasy over a slice of their famous guapple pie. but it was good. i’d probably give it an 8.

and contrary to what i presumed, guapple pie is not made of a combination of a guava and an apple filling. it’s actually made of those really huge guavas that people call guava apple? yep. that. now i know. hehe.