The Cubicle is empty!!!

Well, if you know a little about Economic politics, the Greatest 8 countries in the world with the largest economies meet once a year to discuss world trade, trade policies, etc.  Basically, the rich getting richer and globalization.  But this entry will not be about discussing world economics, but the rest of our stay in the Philippines.  The summit of our vacation.  But I think that Hong Kong and China will have something to say about that.

Friday, April 17, Panglao Island, Alona Beach:

Still feeling feverish, but getting better, I decided not to dive today.  Basically slept late and read my dive manual for the better part of the day.  Decided to do the following adventure dives to get my advanced open water diving certification: Deep Dive and Underwater Navigation are required, plus Wreck dive, Drift Dive, Underwater Photography.  Maybe even thinking about getting certified with Nitrox.  In the afternoon, Maria and I went to visit my grandmother for about 3 hrs.  No one was really around except for my uncle and grandmother.  Had some snacks and basically spent time with my grandmother.  Went back late for dinner.  Found a place that did good pizza by the beach.  Not bad at all. Beautifull night, sipped some beers and listened to the waves crashing and called it the night at about 11pm.

Saturday, April 19 Panglao Island, Alona Beach

Got up feeling refreshed and decided to go diving today.  There’s a group heading out at 9:30 from Alona Divers and diving at the sanctuary.  After breakfast with Maria, I went to get my equipment.  Our dive master is Zaldy.  Diving with Ian (a New Zealander) and Micheal (an Irishman).  Ian has travelled the world and worked as a Dive instructor at the Caymen Islands and has taught scuba diving while serving in the NZ Air Force.  Micheal is currently travelling the world.  He’s on his 7th month.  He got certified in Tailand.  He’s planning on travelling until his money runs out.  He worked for Three yrs. after school and quit and travelled.  He’s planning on working in Australia for 1 yr. to fund the rest of his travels to SA and Africa.  The dive at Sanctuary was awesome.  Went to about 20m.  Saw alot of bat fish, nemo’s, parrot fishe, octopus, lobster and others that I don’t know the names of.  It was nice to get down there again.  It felt good.  The highlight was feeding the bat fish.  We had some bread in our hands and the bat fish and others would come and eat them out of our fingers.  Scared that they would bite at first, but relaxed and was fun to do.  Zaldy took his regulator off his mouth and placed the bread next to his mouth and the bat fish would come and eat them, It looked like he was kissing the fish.  Very neat trick!!!  There were others with us.  Al (dive master) led a group of 4 german tourists diving on the same location.

After a nice lunch with Maria, the sun was really out and we just had our siesta and finished doing my homework.  Then took Maria for a motorcycle ride in the afternoon around the island.  She was scared of riding because she does not know how skilled I am with riding an automatic motorbike.  Anyway, the restriction was not to go faster than 30kph.  That’s like 20mph.  Ok.  We did enjoy the scenery.  We went to other beaches and inquired about staying at Bohol Beach Club at Dumaluan beach.  But they were booked solid for the rest of the month.  After spending time walking up and down Dumaluan beach, we headed back before nightfall to Alona beach and had dinner at Lost Horizons.  Tomorrow I start the adventure dives!

Sunday, April 20 Panglao Island, Alona Beach

Today is a big day!  I start the adventure dives which will enable me to be certified AOWD and will be having a big dinner celebration at Lola’s for her birthday.

I started with waching videos about the AOWD certification at Alona Divers.  Then Peter Heberling (a german expat and my instructor) went thru my course work for Deep Diving and Navigation.  We did the deep diving first.  We went to Kalipayan dive site.  We first dropped a reserve tank, weight, and group tables (diving chart) at 3m.  You do this anytime you do a deep dive.  We first went down to 30m.  This is where some people will start to feel the effect of Nitrogen Narcosiss.  This is where PH (Peter Heberling) wrote on his slate two questions and see if I can answer them.  First was 3X33 and second was Who is Arnold Schwarznegger?  I answered by writing in the slate 99 and Austrian, Governor of California, Mr. Universe!  He just grinned and wrote again in the slate 40m?  I wrote back OK!  We then proceeded to 40m.  The limit for recreational diving without further advanced training for decompression stops.  I had no problems at 40m.  We stayed down there for about 5 minutes and slowly started our ascent.  At the 3m stop, I took my regulator off and used the emergency regulator for our 5 minute safety stop.  I then deployed the “sausage” which is an orange thunder stix of sorts for locating divers in open water.  Our whole dive time was 61 min.

After a 3hr rest we did the Navigation  Dive.  We first went thru how to use an underwater compass and some patterns that I have to do underwater (a square and a triangle).  Went to Kalipayan dive site again to about 6m depth only.  There we first tested my kicks.  PH laid out about 100 ft. of line and I counted how many kicks it took for me to cover that distance.  Then I proceeded to do the patterns with 10 kicks on each leg.  PH determined the starting heading and it was up to me to figure out the heading for each leg.  The current was strong, but I completed both with no problem.  Then he tested me with natural navigation.  He placed the sausage marker at a certain location and we swam about.  After 5 min. he told me to lead the direction of the dive.  After another 5 min. he instructed me to find the sausage marker without using the compass.  I knew it was close to the edge of the wall and that it was “behind” us.  Instead of swimming around some of the corrals like we did heading out, I swam over them getting back.  I located the marker in about 1 minute of swimming in the right direction.  Lucky me!  Two down, three to go.

After diving and a little rest, we went to Lola’s for dinner to celebrate her birthday.  She had about 15 of her 39 grandchildren there.  She was happy that we were all there to celebrate with her.  We had quite a spread (Lechon, dinuguan, pancit, humba, and a variety of fruits).  Needless to say we were all stuffed.  We even fed some of the guys playing cards at the Bahay Kubo out back.  It was quite a celebration for her and I was happy to be there.  What a long and happy day.  Maria really enjoyed meeting all my cousins, some for the first time tonight.  Ask her about the pig skin Lechon style.  WOW!!!

Monday, April 21, Panglao Island, Alona Beach

Today I do the underwater photography dive and the drift dive.  Simple dives really.  Both dives went to about 20-25m.  The highlight was during the photo dive, when at the end we went thru a vertical cave that went from 12m to 5m.  That was alot of fun.  Drift dive was just watching alot of fish.  Where we went there wasn’t much of a drift anyway.  Hohum of a dive.   That afternoon, went into Tagbilaran City to drop off laundry and get a haircut.  That was pretty much the day.

Tuesday, April 22 Panglao Island, Alona Beach

Lola’s birthday is actually today and will be heading there for dinner.  But had to do an adventure dive today.  Well things got off to a different theme this morning at the dive shop.  Micheal was back to do another dive with the “german” group.  But the group backed out the last minute.  So instead of doing the wreck dive, decided to do the drift dive and call the drift dive the fish identification dive.  I will also add a fun dive after that.  The three of us, PH, me and Micheal headed out to Balicasag Island to do the dives.  The current were stronger here.  On the first dive we immediately saw a Napoleon fish, Then two minutes later we saw a big Turtle, not 5 minutes after that one, we saw another turtle about 2/3rd the size of the first one.  We also saw a sea snake that scared the bejesus to all of us.  But both dives were fun as heck.  Saw alot with both dives.  When we finished I was finally AOWD certified.  Yeah!

That afternoon, Maria and I went to the ICM (Island City Mall).   Maria got her manicure and pedicure and I just got a shave.  Did a little looking around the mall and went to stop by at Lola’s.

We celebrated Lola’s birthday again with more traditional Filipino food.  Maria even tried calamay, which is a sweet rice jam in a coconut shell.  Some Palabok, anicad, had different fruits.  Star apple, tambis and mangoes of course.  Lola had fun as we all sang happy birthday to her.  She is 88 years young!  It was truly a family night as nearly everyone of my relatives was there.  What a celebration!

Wednesday, April 23 Panglao Island, Alona Beach

Today we tour Bohol.  We hired a driver to take us around for 1800 pesos.  That’s about 45dollars to take us around to see some of the sites for 8hrs.

The first stop was the Blood Compact Site:  This is where the local chieftan and a spaniard conquistador made a compact by drinking a mix of their blood.  Then to Baclayon Church: One of the oldest church in the Philippines dating back to the mid 1500’s.  Made out of corral stones.  Then to Albur town to see the Python:  This snake has been with the family for about 20 or so yrs.  They feed the snake 1 pig per month.  There were pictures there on display that shows this.  It also sheds it’s skin, I think they said about once a month, then they make a bra and panty out of the skin.  Then to Loboc for the lunch river cruise.  We had a buffet lunch at a floating restaurant as it navigated it’s way down Loboc river to the waterfalls.  Then to the hanging bridge of Sevilla:  this bridge deck is entirely made of bamboo.  There’s steel cables that acts as the support and hand railing.  The bridge spans the Loboc River.  Then we went to see the Tarsiers:  Here we posed with the smallest primates known to man, The Tarsier.  Maria fed one after it jumped from her shoulder.  Then onto Chocolate hills:  These hillocks are naturally formed and only known to exist around these parts of the world.  Then to the Bilar for the man-made forest, which were created after WWII by the soldiers.  My grandfather was the engineer that laid out the road thru the forest.  Learned that from my grandmother.  We stopped to see Lola for a bit as it was on the way.  We got back to Alona beach around 8pm.  We were tired as it was a long day of sight seeing.  Got some good grub on the beach and hit the sack.  Pretty much dived out at this point.

Thursday, April 24 Panglao Island, Alona Beach.

Maria and I started out late like around 2pm.  Slept in alittle.  We first went to see St. Joseph Cathedral in Tagbilaran.  This is the church that JoJo and Rommel got married in two yrs ago.  Everything has been cleaned up and the concrete work out front is done.  It looks really nice, especially the altar area.  We then went to pick up our laundry.  Then went to ICM to do some gift shopping.  Got back to Alona beach around 7:30.  Went out and got some dinner and crashed again.  Still tired from the day tour from the day before.  This was our last night at Alona Beach.  We also got some packing done.

Friday, April 25, Alona Beach, Panglao Island

Got up around 7 to start packing.  We’re heading to Manila today flying Cebu Pacific at 1:55 pm.

Wen’t to the internet cafe to check email and get some ID photo taken for AOWD card application.  Mailed that out and wen’t back to pack.  Settled the bill and checked out around 10am.  Hired a Taxi to go to Lola to say goodbye.  Had a great lunch there and talked alittle bit with Lola and autie Diding and Uncle Nonet.  Hired a van to take us to the airport at 12.  It was hard to say goodbye to my grandmother.  Can’t really say when I’ll see her next.

Got to the airport and met up with a guy from Grand Rapids, MI who is engaged to a Filipina from Manila.  They were out here vacationing with her family.  We chatted about Packers and Favre and of course the Lions.  The plane did not leave until 2:30.  Yes, it was late.  The plane ride was smooth sailing for both me and Maria.  She was apprehensive at first, but when she saw the big Airbus jet, her nerves were calmed as it was not a puddle jumper.

We got to Manila and it was pouring rain.  We had to walk from the plane to the terminal.  But they provided us with umbrellas.  We didn’t have to wait long to get our luggage.  Got a taxi and checked at the Heritage hotel again for our only night in Manila before we depart for Hong Kong.  We basically rested in Manila and checking to see if we can get on in an earlier flight to HK tomorrow.  Met with my cousin and went to the Hard Rock Cafe for some food.  Nina was performing that night.  She is supposedly the Mariah Carey of the Philippines.  She wasn’t bad at all.  I would say she was exceptional.  Incidently enough, it was here on my last visit that I saw Ariel Pineda, the new lead singer of Journey! What a day and tomorrow we head to HK.

Until next time, Bahala na!

Thursday, April 17

After a long sleep, we woke up refreshed to start out the new day. 

After breakfast and checking out at Trudi’s place at Noon, we checked to Lost Horizon’s resort down the “road.” 

My first impression was WTF.  I think this plae has seen it’s better days.  But wasn’t bad at all.  I guess we were spoiled by the newness of BBC.  Although the new part of the resort is up and running, our room was on the old section.  They a beach, but was only about 1meter wide during high tide.  They have a pool which is nice.  What made our stay kind of not so good of an experience was that they were painting the building during our stay and the paint smell would linger throughout the day and most of the night. 

Paint smell was bad enough, but the small lizards (Tiki) that are common around these parts are everywhere and would come into the room once in awhile.  This of course would freak Maria out.  So, each night I would patrol the room for these things to make sure all is well.  They are attracted to lights.  So, I turned the balcony light on for the night so they would go there instead of inside the room.  How they get inside the room is I don’t know.  They don’t need much space so I can only think the the doors are the way that they get in.

All in all, it’s an Ok of a resort.  What they lack in amenities, they make up for it in their food.  The food at this resort is one of the best on the strip.  My favorite here is the Pork sinigang!  Absolutely the best, next to my mom’s of course. 

In the afternoon, Maria and I finally went to visit my maternal Grandmother Sotera Magdales.  This was Maria’s first time to meet her.  We were there for about three hrs since that the time we alloted for the taxi hire that we had.  We had a good conversations with Lola.  She was just as thrilled to meet Maria just as Maria was thrilled to meet her.  My aunts and cousins were also there and I had to review with Maria who was who and which family they belong to. 

For snacks, Maria tried some fried bananas and camotes (yams).  They’re always delicious and Maria liked them both. 

After leaving Lola’s place, I wasn’t feeling well as I had a bout with a fever.  It was ok yesterday, but was stuffed up today.

With this condition I delayed my diving class to Sunday. 

Getting back to Alona beach that nigth, we just relaxed by the beach and had some mango and banana shakes to cool us off.

It was an exciting day for both of us.  Maria finally got to meet Lola.  Wow, I never thought that it would happen.   But, here we are.

Until next time, bahala na!

Well what do you know.  I finally found some little time to update the blog.  Sorry for the lateness as things has happened fast and furious, well, kindof.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

This day was a travel day. We had a beautiful last breakfast at the top floor looking at the beautifull ocean!  Maria had the usual mangoes and something else and I had pancakes.  Wasn’t much of a breakfast for me, but I wasn’t really that hungry.  I try not to stay around Maria when she eats mangoes as it just fuels my cravings for them.  She’s done the tease me with the mangoes on the spoon bit.  After some final packing and checking out, we met the owners Ariel and Mimi.  They took a picture of us by the poolside and gave us a copy with a seashell frame as a little memento of our stay at Boracay Beach Club.  They do this for every guests.  Talking abit with Ariel, he is an Filipino-American who attended the Naval Acadamy at Annapolis, Maryland and did some 20yrs in the Navy.  He majored in Electrical Eng.  He said when he got out, he got a little tip about openning a resort in Boracay and the rest is history.  Coincidentally, his son also attended the acadamy and just finished his obligatory 5yrs of active service and is in the reserves now.  But, he’s travelling around the world at the moment.  He was in Australia for the better part of April.

After the chitchat with the owners, we headed out.  An employee of the resort help carry the bags and accompany us all the way to the airport, paying the fares along the way.  A trike ride from the club to the jetty port, bangka ride to Caticlan, and another trike ride from the Caticlan jetty port to the airport and we’re ready for the plane ride. 

The waiting room was small and cramped with tourists from all over the world.  We waited for two hrs.  When we finally boarded, Maria became nervous because the plane is a prop plane.  Well, nothing we can do now.

In the meantime, we couldn’t meet up with my cousins in Cebu so we decided to go straight to Bohol. 

The flight from Caticlan to Cebu was uneventfull, but was nerve racking for Maria as it was hot and loud inside.  SeaAir must not turn the AC to save fuel. 

Arriving at Mactan International Airport, we felt the intense heat of the day as we deplaned and walked to the awaiting bus to bring us to the terminal.  After picking up the luggage, we looked for a Taxi to the Ocean Jet office to buy tickets for a ferry to Bohol.

We got there two hours ahead of time.  The ferry will be leaving at 6pm for the 2hr ferry ride from Cebu City to Tagbilaran City. 

The ferry ride was nice and comfortable.  The ferry was a catamaran type and it handled the waves quite well.  There were lots of passengers and we got seats way at the back close to the door for deferrying(?).  Is that a word?  Anyway, the views were nice and Maria really enjoyed the ride.  The water was wavy, maybe 1-2′ waves at most.  So it was an easy ride.

Getting to Tagbilaran, after deferrying (Is that someone going straight again!!! j/k), we hired a Van to take us to Alona Beach.  At this time we had not secured a place to stay for the night.  We’ve tried to contact the resort but couldn’t get thru.  Plus, we hired the driver from hell as he was trying to make his van fly to Alona beach.  I don’t even drive this reckless.  He was trying to run people of the road as much as he could and constantly beeping his horn.  We did not hire him again for any driving for us.

After getting to Alona Beach, I checked with Lost Horizons about getting our room a night earlier but they were booked.  So was Isis Bungalows and Alona Palm Resort.  We settled on Trudi’s Place.  I checked the room and It was “ok.”  It was getting late and we just needed a place to sleep.

After settling down in our room with a quick shower, we went downstairs for some grub. 

After walking the beach for a while, We hit the sack dead tired.  It was a long travel day for sure, full of uncertainty along the way. 

Sorry for the late report and start updating more soon!

Until next time, bahal na!

 Note:  I’ve linked some pics for the Manila entry.  Check it out!!!!!

 It’s early morning right now, like 5am.  The roosters are crowing(?) right now like crazy, but they do pretty much everytime in the countryside or near the resorts just to pester those that really do need the sleep.

Anyway, yesterday April 15 (Tax Day in the US), was our last full day here in Boracay.  Maria and I woke up early and went for a walk on the beach.  It was cloudy at first, but when we turned to head back the sun was peaking out from behind the clouds.  There was a tropical storm that passed thru the night and was now heading towards China.  Found this out later watching a little bit of news from CNN World. 

Aklan Islnad looked so beautifull as the sun was hitting the eastside slopes while the westside slopes were still dark.  As usual, even this early in the morning, not only are resort workers getting ready for the day, but the vendors and touts for variety of activities are out hawking their services.  We were approached for services like parasailing, boatride around the island, boatride to another island, etc.  Wish we had more time, so we could do those things. 

When we got back to the BBC, we had breakfast at the Veranda Floor and did some blogging and checking the news.  I didn’t have breakfast but Maria had her usual Filipino breakfast (ham, eggs, garlic rice and Mangoes). 

I then went scuba diving at 10am.  Christian (from Germany) and Emily (from Singapore) are diving with me along with Oliver our dive master.  Dove at Baling Hai point.  We got a late start as there was a traffic jam on the pick-up point for “boat” services.   A horde of Japanese and Korean tourists are doing their Island excursions.  We had to wait for 30 min. before the boat for the scuba shop could pick us up.  The dive was fantastic!  Biggest thing was that I saw a few lobsters, an Octopus, Big Wrassers, Trigger fish, and of course tons of “Nemo’s.”  There’s so much more but I don’t even know their names.  We went down to about 70 feet and stayed down for about 45 minutes.  The diving here is fantastic.  There’s probably other better “spots” but I’ll save that for next time.

Maria and I then had lunch after the dive and then it was siesta time.  After siesta, Maria and I went for a walk on the beach looking for sunglasses (to replace the one I lost yesterday), slippers for Maria and use the ATM.  Then we settled down at a bar next to the scuba shop and had a couple of drinks as we watched the sunset.  It was a beautifull view.  Maria got a chance to meet Oliver, the dive master from Boracay Scuba Shop.

Then I went back to the room for my massage.  It was about an hour long and I was streched pulled and kneaded in every which way!  The pressure on the kneading of the muscles (where there are some) and pulling of the joints were just on the high side, but it felt good.  The massage made me very relaxed. 

I’ve been running a fever of sorts, and Maria luckily had some Tylenol and it broke the fever as I woke up two hours later full of sweat. 

It’s been a good restfull stay here at Boracay and can’t wait to come back!  We’re leaving today for Cebu and then onward to Bohol Island.

Until next time, bahala na……………….. 

I’ve run into a dilema, I’m supposed to get a massage this afternoon on our last full day of Boracay, and I’m just not tense enough.  I’ve been here three days, and the air itself is enough to put you in a drug induced-like calm state.  I’m trying hard to get tense, so that the message will be worth it…hummm.  I’m focusing on the rooseters that crow absolutely constantly, from 3 AM to 12 PM….crow, crow, crow, like a competition, like their really struggling….no, just makes me laugh. 

It’s about 8 AM, I just finished breakfast, and the sun is finally coming out.  I had my breakfast on what feels like is our own private veranda, overlooking the ocean.  The only thing blocking my view are those pesky palm trees.  The water is a beautiful multicolor of deep blues, the palm trees are really glowing green in the sun, and I’m pretty comfortable in the shade.  Tension?……I’m trying.  I feel a little bad that we make the waiters walk all the way up to the fourth floor to bring us food, normally they serve in the lobby on the ground floor.  I told Jaime that I’d bring the dishes down when I was done, but he won’t let me.  There are about 15 people working to CONTANTLY keep the place looking nice.  The area between the lobby and the hotel rooms is completely tiled, and the workers are constantly sweeping the sand up that people track in all day long.  When it rains hard, they are constantly mopping it.  Just on going.  There is a pool whose floor is diplaying “Life is Good” and you think…what an understatement!! 

Keep trying…tension….well, yesterday we took a sail boat ride.  We didn’t know what that meant exactly, and I’m the kind of person that is willing to try new things, as long as I have all the details before hand.  We follow a hotel worker down the beach, and we find ourselves in front of a very small sail boat…I’m not sure how we are all going to fit into it.  Then I realize that we are not going to fit into it, only the driver sits in the boat, we each sit on the outriggers, which extends about 8 feet out each side, with about 2 feet wide netting.  The outriggers are blue painted bamboo….slippery, remember, I don’t swim.  They tie the orange life vest to each of us, and I notice the driver isn’t wearing one.  There is one more worker on the boat, very small person, that kind of crawls around and acts as a counter weight when needed.  I mentioned that I don’t swim, right?  So, we go, pretty fast I might add.  And I soon realize, these guys speak a different dialect than Jaime, and NO English…no English is no problem, except when I’m putting my life in their hands.  So our only communication is with smiles, and the waving of their hands to move further out away from the boat…which I realize is for balance and so the sail doesn’t move and knock us into the water….I mentioned that I don’t swim right?  So these guys, who even Jaime can’t talk to, seem concerned and keep saying…”Sunglasses, Sunglasses.”  It turns out that Sunglasses in their dialect means “Sunglasses.”  Even another guy from another boat yelled to us across the way…Sunglasses.  Jaime had his sunglasses propped on top of his hat.  Sure enough, they went into the drink.  Of course, we didn’t totally understand what happened until we were coming back, and I was a little concerned about their concerned looks.  You know, like when the pilot of a plane comes back to use the bathroom and you gage how relaxed he is to determine if everything is okay….okay, maybe that’s only me.  So we’re cruising….fast.  I realize, I don’t exactly know what to expect, but one good bump and I’m going flying.  I’m not strapped on anything, but I do have a death grip on one little piece of bamboo.  The boat rocks a little from side to side, and when it’s down on your side, your bottom gets pretty wet….I’m trying to determine how the boat could actually tip.  I try to relax, I smile, check out the beautiful view of the ocean and shore line!!!  There are some really increadible resorts here…I wonder how deep the water is and how fast they would recover me if I actually fell in.  I’m having some fun….but then finally yell over to Jaime that I’m a little nervous, can we turn around?….So my worldly, Filipino husband, whom I’m entusting my life to, turns to the sailor and says with a motion, “Turn around?”  The sailor smiles, I’m a bit releaved, although I could have done that, and the sailor opens up the dry compartment that we put our belongings to hand Jaime his camera…..Oh NO…we’re not going to be able to get our point across.  Then Jaime tries again, and they figure it out, slow down and make the turn.  I don’t speak the same language, but I’m immagining they realize I’m pretty chicken.  So on the way back they point out Manny Pacquiao (Filipino Boxer, World Champ) place, and we eventually return safely to land.  I am chicken, that wasn’t so bad.  We get back, and with the language barrier I have to laugh, they managed to ask Jaime if those sun glasses where Oakley, and he said “No.”  I’m just happy to be alive.  They said they would look for the glasses….yeah, right.  The ocean’s pretty big.  I focus today now on that near death experience, trying to feel the tension…………no……..It’s just funny today.

Tension……Need a massage…..Need Tension before hand……Yesterday there was a real rain stormduring the day.  Jaime was diving, and I stayed out on our “Private” veranda and read my book.  It really poured hard, you can’t believe how much rain can actually come down at one time, and it rained for hours.  I stayed dry, probably had the best place, I was still outside and dry.  The sound of the rain was hypnotizing, and I was so relaxed while I was reading.  Jaime was still diving and didn’t know it was raining until he surfaced.  I guess that is the reason everything here is so green.  Unfortuantely, it was a neat experience, and didn’t ruin the trip at all…..No tension in that.

Now I know why Philippinos are so laid back.  It’s hard to get tense here, I’m really trying.  Maybe if I focus on how this place will ruin me for the States again.  I mean, I can join to crowd that peels a mango in the States, then sighs and says, “This just isn’t as sweet and soft as they are in the Philippines.”  Or, “Remember how in the Philippines you get up every day and have your Pineapple or Mango or Strawberry Shake?, it’s just not the same in the States.”   And the bananas are really better here too.  Hummm…..no, no tension.  Well, I have a few more hours before the massage, maybe I’ll think of something……..Relaxing away each day, Maria

Ahh, Boracay!  The word alone conjures up an image of fun, sun, beach and babes!  I can tell you, it’s all that and more!

We left Manila on Saturday, April 12 for Boracay.  We flew SEAir, It was a prop plane so that made Maria really nervous.  We were scheduled to flyout at 11am, but was delayed until 12pm.  We got to the domestic terminal at around 9am.  I tried to get on an earlier flight, but that flight was full.  So we will wait for a while.  Lo and behold about 45 minutes later we were called up to the counter and told that we can get on the 10:15 flight to Boracay! YES!  We loaded up and away we go!  Maria is always nervous when we get on these puddle jumpers and this was no exception.  There were a few instances of turbulance but not that violent.  I think she was just happy to land at Caticlan Airport. 

After picking up our luggage, we were met by reps of the resort who help us navigate getting from the airport to the resort.  From the airport we took a tricycle to the jetty, then he got us tickets for the pumpboat ride to the Boracay jetty at Barangay Manoc-Manoc.  Exiting the pumpboat, we got on another tricycle for our final ride to the resort.

The weather was sunny and hot!  After checking in, we rested a bit and settled in on our room.  Later on, I for a swim on the ocean and the water was nice and cool.  After 10 minutes of swimming the rains came in for a shower that lasted 20 minutes.  Then the sun peaked out from the clouds and made things really muggy. So we retreated back to the room and got ready for some dinner.  That was it for day 1 in Boracay.

Day 2, Sunday, April 13, Maria and I went to Puka Beach to get away from the crowds of vacationing Filipino’s on White Beach.  Puka beach was windy and the waves were really crashing to the shore.  We walked along the beach for a while and then found a spot to set our stuff and I went in for some swimming.  It was fun body surfing!  I did this for about 45 minutes and we walked some more of the beach before heading back.  Upon returning to the resort, I went into the swimming pool to do more swimming.  After swimming we rested and went to the 4th floor deck, which has a view of White beach and all the activities people do on the water.  It a nice and relaxing spot.  It always has a nice breeze coming thru, so it’s nice and comfortable.  This is Maria’s favorite spot.  We also started eating our breakfast, snacks and lunches on the 4rh floor deck.

 Day 3, Monday April 14, After arranging for some activities for the day, Dad called and said to expect some rain showers! Huh?  Anyway, after talking to mom and dad, the rains came in buckets.  Coincidence, I think not.  After the rains let up alittle bit, I went scubba diving.  Went thru Boracay Scuba Diving Club.  The dive master was Oliver.  We went diving at Friday’s Rock.  It was about an hour’s dive, went down to 20 metres.  It was fun and exhilirating to be able to dive again.  The diving and the rental cost me about $40.  Saw lots of Trigger Fish and bunch of others that I don’t know the name of except I saw alot of Nemo type fishes.  They’re everywhere! 

After scuba, I went motorcycling around the island for 2 hrs.  Checking other beaches and other resorts being constructed.  Stopping once in awhile to get a drink or two.  It was fun riding a cycle again.  Maria was too scared to ride in the cycle knowing what type of traffic control they have here which is none!  Well not entirely.  But, It will take time for her to get used to it.

Oh, Maria and I woke up at 5 this morning to go for a walk on the beach.  We walk about 3/4 of it and it was nice and peacefull.  People were still at the bar at the BBC partying. 

For dinner we went to Guillys Paradise.  The music was loud, but the grilled platter and San Miguel Beer were good.  The grilled platter consisted of grilled pork, chicken, tuna and squid!  Very Yummy! 

It was a long day, but enjoyable. 

Until next time, Bahala na………………………..

Hello Everyone,

In response to some comments:  The Heritige Hotel in Manila is very nice, and very close to the Mall of Asia and the Airport.  I was happy to stay there…I guess there were a few incidences, like when I first took a shower the head was spraying water all over and I got the bathroom floor soaking wet…then when Jaime took his shower, it came off completely and he took a shower with the remaining hose.  I thought that was so funny I didn’t really count it against them, they came up promptly and fixed it.  The lobby is beautiful and the rooms are very nice as well.  Everyone here is very nice, and greet you with Sir and Ma’am.  I would recommend the Heritige to anyone coming to Manila.

We arrived in Manila around 10 AM and tried to stay awake until night.  I started to feel like we were in a parallel universe, I didn’t even feel tired, just like I was on drugs and having an out of body experience.  When we finally slept, we kind of passed out.  You close your eyes, open them, and suddenly 5 hours can pass by.  We are just now, almost one week here, getting normal sleep.  We did run into a lot of turbulance on the long flight here, and I was pretty proud that I managed to get through it without meds, and Jaime told me afterward that it was the most turbulant flight here so far.  Cathay Pacific is pretty nice, has enough space in the seating, had some good movies too (that was the first time I experienced the movie screen on the back of the seats-really helps), and really treated you nice, but you can only do so much when you stick a full load of passengers in a tin can for 14 1/2 hours and toss them around at 39,000 feet.  It’s like a pychological experiment.  As everyone told me (on and off the plane), it is worth it when you get here!!!!

Last night we passed out way before 10 PM, and got up at 4 AM, which actually was nice, because we can walk on the beach, watch the sun rise and move around before it gets too hot.  Oh, I think is was JoJo that asked what my first impression was, and you’re right – it’s oven hot here.  We got to Hong Kong at 5 AM, and it was like stepping into an oven!  I will still take if over the slow warm up in Wisconsin:)  The heat takes some getting used to, but we’re adjusting, and we just take in easy in the shade during the day.  We are now at the Boracay Beach Club, and it is really nice.  If anyone comes here, you have to consider staying here.  It’s off the beaten path (a little, there are no real unbeaten paths) and the people are really nice.  We found a veranda on the fourth floor, and NO ONE comes up here, probably because they are at the beach.  We feel it is our little private veranda, and have our meals served up here.  We can see the ocean from up here, and the breeze throught the palm trees is absolutely relaxing.  Last night we sat up here as the sun set, and just passed out from the fresh air. 

Borocay is beautiful !!!!!  It was a little strange when we first got here.  I’m a city girl, so I thought the roosters crow at sunrise.  Here, they crow at sunrise until sunset.  It’s actually almost comical, it’s like they are having a competition all day long, crowing away.  You get used to it, but it’s really funny.  They started at 3 AM today.  Also, we arrived on Saturday, and went down to the beach in the afternoon.  It was like walking into a college spring break, tons of young kids on the crowded beach.  Luckily, it’s not always like that.  This weekend though, the kids partied all night, literally.  We came down for breakfast and they were still playing pin ball in a smokey lobby.  We heard the loud music from the beach in our hotel room, but it didn’t hinder our sleep, we were still jet legged.

All is going well, we’re just trying to find out what we like to do.  Jaime is going diving, I’m going to sit on the veranda and read my book.  It’s cloudy and stormy today, but paradise none the less.

Until next time…..Maria

See My Link M 2008 Manila for pics 

Well, looks like Maria found out a way to write entries on the blog and stole the my thunder and gave you all the synopsis of the last 3-days.  But I’ll still write my own version of events as Maria wrote her entry while having a few San Miguel beers.  OK, actually just 1 or two or three!  We couldn’t remember as it was getting late.  But it was really hopping at the bar!

Anyway, we got to Manila and checked in at the Heritage Hotel.  I picked this hotel because it was near the airport (about a 15 min taxi ride), close to the mall of asia (you can see it from our hotel and depending of the traffic, it can take 10 to 30 min. to get to the mall, Luneta Park (again traffic dependent and within a 30 min taxi ride) and same with Intramuros.

After a little rest and relaxation at the hotel, we had to stay awake and “get with” the time change.  We had the lunch buffet at the Hotel, with was really good.  Lots of seafood and traditional Filipino food available.  The desserts are out of this world.  There were basically 30 different types of cake and also a variety of breads and sweets.

With our full tummies, was another period of rest and relaxation as we prepared to go to the Malls of malls.  Mall of Asia.  If you’re interested about the specific of the mall, refer to the 2007 trip, as I wrote about it there.  I won’t bore with the details here.  We wen’t to the mall to just get a few essentials, a pair of slippers for me, some lotion and toothbrushes, etc.  Walked around to see the different shops and see the view of Manila Bay as the sun was setting down.  Very Beautiful. 

We then had dinner at the mall at Max’s Restaurant.  One of the more famous restaurants for the locals as well as for the Balikbayans.  We had the pork sinigang and the world famous Max’s fried chicken.  The chicken is so tender, the meat litterally falls of the bones and it’s not greasy at all, unlike KFC fried chicken.  You can barely see any grease on your plate.  That was a very delicious filipino meal and Maria’s first in PI.  Yeah!!!

We had back at the hotel and had a beer or two at the hotel bar and called it the night at 8pm!  Very tired with the jet lag and the beer certainly helped with getting us to sleep right away.

 The next day Friday, Aug 11.  We woke up around 5 am, somewhat rested.  Even though we had plenty of sleep, it still did not feel right as were still fighting the effects of the jet lag.  But sightseeing we must go.

First we stopped at Luneta park in front of Rizal Monument.  It was really nice day as there was a slight breeze that cooled the air.  But, standing in the sun was very brutal as the temps rose to near 100’s.  After Rizal Monument, we started walking for Intramuros.  Maria was really getting weakened by the heat.  At St. Augustine Church we were approached by a Calesa Driver Ray and his horse Romeo.  He offered a guided tour of Intramuros in his Calesa for 600 pesos an Hour.  You can make it as short or as long as you want.  600 pesos is about $15.  Since Maria was really getting tired of walking on this oppressive heat, We opted to take the tour.  Ray was very informative at every stop.  We saw different parts of Intramuros that I haven’t seen before when I did my own walking tour.  Like walking to the prison cells that the Japanese used during WWII.  or the seeing the remaining gun emplacements from WWII and during the time the spaniards occupied Intramuros.  The location of the old universities and churches.  Intramuros covers 63 acres.  It was the original fort built by the spaniards during beginning of the spanish occupation.  Maria also got to see the Manila Church.  It’s designed like the old european catholic churches with it’s beautiful stained glass that encircles the church.  Oddly enough, people don’t like to get married here because the main door has a column in the middle.  And superstition has it, when couples depart the church the ones the goes to either side together tend to stay married and the ones where the bride goes out on one side and the bride on the other, tend to divorce.  I don’t know if this is true as much, but Ray gave examples of famous actors and actresses that have divorced because they did the “split” thing when leaving the church after the wedding.  But don’t the actors and actresses tend to divorce more by nature, so this really is just a high coincidence, and just adds to the allure of the church?  Anyway it adds to the colorfull tour.  The last place we saw was Fort Santiago at the north end of Intramuros.  This is where Jose Rizal was imprisoned before his execution.  They’ve turned this into a park with a water fountain and a nice flower filled walkway.  We had a nice stroll thu this area.  That concluded our tour and it took us 2 hrs.  It was nice because it saved us alot of walking in the heat and sun and this was really a concern for Maria.  It probably prevented her from turning into a lobster.

 We had a hard time catching a taxi back to the hotel.  But once back we just relaxed and rested.  Then went to lunch at the Mall of Asia with a view of Manila Bay.  The afternoon was filled with shopping and rest at the hotel.

We then met my cousin at around 8pm.  She came directly from work.  We all went out for dinner at the Seafood Restaurant at Diosdado Macapagal Ave.  It was quite a scene as the “Baklas” touts inundated Maria with offers to try their seafood and restaurant.  We picked the one that my uncle took me last year.  We ordered grilled squid, grilled fish (lapu-lapu (a type of grouper fish?)). We also had fresh lobster, grilled shrimps and shrimp sinigang.  That was more than what we needed and my cousing took the leftovers home. 

We called it the night after dinner.  It was around 11:30 by the time we got back to the hotel.  It was a long and exhausting day but was nice for Maria to meet my cousin.  Who happened to have just moved to Manila 2.5 months ago to start a new job.  She’s doing really well and the company is really doing well.  They’re having their company outing at Alona beach later on this year.  Sounds really fun!!!

Tomorrow we leave for Boracay Island!

 Until next time, bahala na………………..

Hello Everyone – Jaime and I are enjoying a San Miguel beer at our resort on the Island of Boracay and it is getting late.  We are doing well, and haven’t been able to get “on line” until now.  We are having fun, it is so incredibly beautiful here!  The trip went well, in that we landed safely, but wow, what a long way to go.  We managed to get through the longest leg, 14-1/2 hours from LA to Hong Kong, but any longer and I wouldn’t have been able to take it.  We occupied about 2-3 hours trying to understand the time difference.  We weren’t alone, you could hear people around us trying to do the same.  It was best to accept the fact that no one was going anywhere until the pilot got us there.

 We spent two days in Manila, took a tour of Intramuros in a calasa (horse drawn cart) with Ray (driver) and Romeo (horse).  Intramuros is the ruins of a large Spanish fort, so we saw a lot of firsts, like first church in Manila, first University in Manila, etc.  We went to the Mall of Asia, which is huge, and borders the bay, so it has many restaurants with great views.  The food is incredible!!!  I’ve heard great things about the fried chicken, and it’s just as people described (we tried it at Max’s in the Mall).  Manila was interesting, we took a taxi just about everywhere we went, and got to experience the traffic.  They have painted lane lines on their streets, but they are just suggestions – cars, buses, moterbikes, calasas, Jeepneys all go between other cars if there is room.  It’s organized chaos, and a thrill from the back seat.  Jeepneys are everywhere, they are extremely colorful expanded jeeps that are made from the left over WWII jeeps.  They expanded them, and use them as mini buses, you can hop on one anywhere and hop off when you get to your destination. 

We met Bing Bing, Jaime’s cousin, out for sea food our last night.  It was great to meet Bing, and she helped us get the seafood we wanted.  Most people speak English, but not everyone.

 It took the two days in Manila to really adjust to the time difference, we were pretty tired during the day, and woke up really early every morning.  After breakfast, it felt like mid afternoon.  So we left Manila in a puddle jumping plane, took a pump boat to the Island of Boracay, and then a motorized trike with side cart to our resort.  We are doing well, looking forward to the Island stay, and relaxing even more.

Unlike Maria’s favorite show “Lost” our plane actually did not split in two in midair and all landed in safety on some unknown island where the first class passengers went crazy and started fighting with the “others” that were seating at the tailend of the plane.  What actually happened is something all too common to those who cross the international dateline to travel to this side of the world.

What we actually “LOST” was Wednesday, July 9, 2008.  And here’s how it happened.  I think.

We left Madison at 1:12 pm to Chicago.  Our original itinerary had us going to Madison to Denver and from Denver to Los Angeles the to Hong Kong to Manila.  The reason we got the earlier flight was that a storm was coming to the midwest later that afternoon.  It actually was raining by the time we left Madison.  We got to Chicago and caught a flight to Los Angeles at 3pm.  We got to Los Angeles about 5pm PST which equals to 7pm CST.  Then we waited and waited for the Cathay Pacific counter to open so that we can checkin and get our boarding pass.  The counter opened at 8:10pm, but lucky us we were third in line, so we got checked in relatively fast.  But our flight from LA to HK did not leave until 11:50pm PST (1:50 am CST, Wednesday morning).  This leg of the transit is 14hrs long.  OUCH!!!  It was a long flight.  I had a hard time on this flight even though I

 tried to sleep as much as I could.  Maria fared better as she was able to sleep some and watched a few movies.  But we both struggled on the last 4 hrs of the flight.  I think we were just ready to get off the plane.  We just didn’t want it to break in half.  We got into HK at 5:30 am  THURSDAY APRIL 10, 2008.  WHOA, Where did Wednesday go? We left LA  at 1:50am CST and it was 3:50pm HK time Wednesday.  So, follow me if you’ve made it this far.  We really commend you for having read this far.  It really means you’re smarter than a third grader because you really want to do this time math thing!  We have 14 hr flight time leaving LA at 3:50 pm HK time on Wednesday, April 9.  3:50 plus 14 hrs equates to 5:30am Thursday April 10.  So what does this have to do with the price of cheese in Chine?  I don’t know, but we “LOST” Wednesday flying over the pacific ocean. 

We then, in all of our tiredness caught our next flight of our transit to Manila at 8:30am, we got into Manila at 10am.   

We got thru immigration Ok, exchange some dollars for PHP and off to our hotel.  The Heritage Hotel. 

The toughest part was trying to stay awake for at least the next 8hrs to get into the sleep pattern at this side of the world.

Until Next time, Bahala Na……………………..