Hey everyone, this is Mike and I'll be guest blogging today. I've never blogged before so hopefully my stories make sense.
First, I'd like to give a brief summary of the trip from my viewpoint then I'll get into some new stories. So we arrived in Manila about 1.5 weeks ago and almost immediately started participating in The Philippines' favourite past-time...eating! It's been a non-stop eating ride since we got here! Priscilla and I met up with my cousins while Kevin and Melissa met with Melissa's cousins. Priscilla and my cousin, Vera, got their hair and nails did while I went with my cousin Von to go to a tailor and get suited up.
The next day during breakfast I learned the single most important phrase of the trip so far: "Mango Shake, no milk". Also, Priscilla and I learned the fine art of bargaining. Get this, a pair of pyjamas at the market was listed as P200, but I managed to bargain them down to...P200! I did get better at bargaining though. In Boracay I bought a shirt that was listed as P239, but I scored the shirt for only...P230!!! I was looking for the cops as I exited the store because the price I got was straight stealing.
Okay, now onto the new trip details. So, after Cebu, we all met up with Tito Clemente and Joe's brother Randy (BTW Joe, Randy said that he could still whup your butt in a fight) and made the trip to Matagok for the Matagok Fiesta. The trip there was pretty scenic, and when we pulled up to the village in a boat all the children came out and helped us with our luggage, so that was pretty cool. That afternoon we all had front row seats for some good ol' Cock-fighting! How good were our seats? Let's just say that we had a bunch of Rooster blood-stained clothes to clean after the fights. Watching Cock-fighting was similar to watching UFC, if the fighters were allowed to bring knives into the octagon. The next Fiesta event was a town basketball game. Kevin and I dominated the game Canadian style! Imagine Shaq and Kobe but with more dunking and you get the picture. The next day was the big Fiesta dance, where Melissa, Priscilla and I each danced the Cucaracha. The rest of the night was a blur of Tanguay rum, San Miguel Beer, chuba (Coconut wine), Tito Clem dancing tango with the girls and Kevin dancing the robot. Oh, and Nanang's house was really nice!
Today we made the trip up to San Fernando which was about a 6 hour drive. After arriving we ate a great lunch prepared by Tito Richard and then went into town to do a little shopping and see the city. Currently we're at Tita Normita's place (which is very nice) getting massages. Yup, so far the trip has been amazing, hopefully Melissa and Kev will let me write another one of these later on. Bye!
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Land of the Dried Mangoes
Friday, January 4, 2008 - Ahh.. oh Cebu. Where Mangoes taste a little bit better. Where the streets seem a little bit cleaner. And where the air smells a little bit fresher... just a little bit. I think I've developed asthma while I've been here or maybe it's just the smog.
We left Boracay on Wednesday at 9:30am to head to Cebu. I, Melissa, woke up at about 6:30am because the front desk had lost Dave. Well not lost, he chose to leave the place himself.
Dave was arranged to be picked up at the hotel for the airport at 5:30am. Since the hotel escorts came late, Dave decided to find a way to the airport himself. Remember, it's not that easy to get to Boracay. Let alone Dave had to find yet another airport to go back to Manila himself.
We, on the other hand, were to travel to Cebu. It's weird we had to leave Boracay from another airport than we had arrived in. Although it took us longer to get there, the aiplane we took to Cebu was new, a lot cleaner and a lot bigger.
Our first destination in Cebu would be Shangri-la Mactan Resort. Let me just say, we felt like movie stars. The place is amazing! Well, for the high price of one night it had to be! The four of us stayed in one room that was supposed to accomodate only 3 people max. Instead, since the rooms were so expensive, we decided to secretly share the room between the 4 of us. Everywhere in the resort you had to give them your room number. We felt like they were suspicious that we ate dinner for four, rented towels for four, ate breakfast for four, and went to the gym with four. Yet, there was only 3 people in the room.
We wanted to go to Bohol (Chocolate Hills) the next day we arrived in Shangri-la but it rained, so we said we would go the next day. And then the next day, it rained again. What luck.
Now we are in Plantation Bay Cebu. I get free internet for half an hour and I think I'm almost done. If you want to know what it looks like here, Kevin describes it as an amusement park.... think Universal Studios with salt water pools.
Tomorrow, my dad is meeting us and we're heading to Matagok at 6:00am in the morning. Why did he pick such an early time? I have no idea. So I have to make the most of this place while I can.
We left Boracay on Wednesday at 9:30am to head to Cebu. I, Melissa, woke up at about 6:30am because the front desk had lost Dave. Well not lost, he chose to leave the place himself.
Dave was arranged to be picked up at the hotel for the airport at 5:30am. Since the hotel escorts came late, Dave decided to find a way to the airport himself. Remember, it's not that easy to get to Boracay. Let alone Dave had to find yet another airport to go back to Manila himself.
We, on the other hand, were to travel to Cebu. It's weird we had to leave Boracay from another airport than we had arrived in. Although it took us longer to get there, the aiplane we took to Cebu was new, a lot cleaner and a lot bigger.
Our first destination in Cebu would be Shangri-la Mactan Resort. Let me just say, we felt like movie stars. The place is amazing! Well, for the high price of one night it had to be! The four of us stayed in one room that was supposed to accomodate only 3 people max. Instead, since the rooms were so expensive, we decided to secretly share the room between the 4 of us. Everywhere in the resort you had to give them your room number. We felt like they were suspicious that we ate dinner for four, rented towels for four, ate breakfast for four, and went to the gym with four. Yet, there was only 3 people in the room.
We wanted to go to Bohol (Chocolate Hills) the next day we arrived in Shangri-la but it rained, so we said we would go the next day. And then the next day, it rained again. What luck.
Now we are in Plantation Bay Cebu. I get free internet for half an hour and I think I'm almost done. If you want to know what it looks like here, Kevin describes it as an amusement park.... think Universal Studios with salt water pools.
Tomorrow, my dad is meeting us and we're heading to Matagok at 6:00am in the morning. Why did he pick such an early time? I have no idea. So I have to make the most of this place while I can.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
BBQ sticks & mango shakes
Finally, we're in Boracay. The plane ride from Manila to Caticlan was a little sketchy, but we made it. After geting to the airport we had to take a tricycle (motorcycle with attachment) to the boat which took us to Boracay. From there we hopped in the back of a truck and headed for the resort area. The truck dropped us off near the market area and we had to walk the rest of the way (about 15 minutes). Luckily, the resort provided workers to help with our bags.
We checked into the hotel, The Red Coconut, and scoped our new digs for the next 3 nights. It's right on the beach, like every other resort here, and very nice. We're staying in the garden villas which all have double doors that open onto a nice size patio.
Everyone seemed to be pretty tired, i guess the jet lag was kicking in, but we decided to take a walk up the strip and check out everything we could. There's no roads here it's just one long sand walking path along the ocean filled with trendy on-beach restaurants, shops and cafes. There's also street vendors selling anything from food to jewellery to massages. We decided to eat and we picked a Hawaiian BBQ place. We found a table on beach and shared multiple plates of anything that can be BBQ'd. We had to call it a night.
Second day started at 7am, as Melissa and I grabbed breakfast at the hotel. We set out to get massages to start the day proper. We found one on the beach and splurged for the 1 hour full body massage. This cost us 700 pesos ($18) for both of us! After that we went into the market grabbed some iced coffees, and explored the markets. I got flip-flops for 200 pesos ($5) and Melissa got a beach dress to wear later for our New Years party. We met up with Mike, Priscilla and Dave and we sat down for another BBQ lunch (are you seeing the trend here?). We were going to eat at the Hobbit House but felt it was just wrong.... let me explain, it's loosely based on The Lord of the Rings, and from what we could tell the only employment requirement was that you had to be a little person... seriously.
Lunch was followed by an ocean swim and a powernap to recharge for the countdown. We all met up and decided on a beach buffet and bottomless margaritas for dinner, then we went back to the hotel to have a couple more drinks. We got to our 'White Party' (everyone had to wear white) at about 11:50pm. 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 ... HAPPY NEW YEAR!! fireworks went off down the whole stretch of Boracay and horns were blowing for good hour after the new year had officially started. Needless to say, our drinking saw no limit and the street side bbq stands for were never to far out of reach. I grabbed a couple of glow sticks from a young entrepreneur and somehow these got labeled as 'Weng-Wengs'. A weng-weng is a local drink which consists of about 16 different shots of alcohol with a touch of orange-pineapple just to make it edible. Anyways, you can probably see the connection between the term Weng-weng and an 8 inch glow stick, so I won't go into any explicit details. We ended the night with pork bbq sticks and mango shakes.
This morning was not pleasant, but I think I'm on the road to recovery.
Happy New Year!
Kev
We checked into the hotel, The Red Coconut, and scoped our new digs for the next 3 nights. It's right on the beach, like every other resort here, and very nice. We're staying in the garden villas which all have double doors that open onto a nice size patio.
Everyone seemed to be pretty tired, i guess the jet lag was kicking in, but we decided to take a walk up the strip and check out everything we could. There's no roads here it's just one long sand walking path along the ocean filled with trendy on-beach restaurants, shops and cafes. There's also street vendors selling anything from food to jewellery to massages. We decided to eat and we picked a Hawaiian BBQ place. We found a table on beach and shared multiple plates of anything that can be BBQ'd. We had to call it a night.
Second day started at 7am, as Melissa and I grabbed breakfast at the hotel. We set out to get massages to start the day proper. We found one on the beach and splurged for the 1 hour full body massage. This cost us 700 pesos ($18) for both of us! After that we went into the market grabbed some iced coffees, and explored the markets. I got flip-flops for 200 pesos ($5) and Melissa got a beach dress to wear later for our New Years party. We met up with Mike, Priscilla and Dave and we sat down for another BBQ lunch (are you seeing the trend here?). We were going to eat at the Hobbit House but felt it was just wrong.... let me explain, it's loosely based on The Lord of the Rings, and from what we could tell the only employment requirement was that you had to be a little person... seriously.
Lunch was followed by an ocean swim and a powernap to recharge for the countdown. We all met up and decided on a beach buffet and bottomless margaritas for dinner, then we went back to the hotel to have a couple more drinks. We got to our 'White Party' (everyone had to wear white) at about 11:50pm. 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 ... HAPPY NEW YEAR!! fireworks went off down the whole stretch of Boracay and horns were blowing for good hour after the new year had officially started. Needless to say, our drinking saw no limit and the street side bbq stands for were never to far out of reach. I grabbed a couple of glow sticks from a young entrepreneur and somehow these got labeled as 'Weng-Wengs'. A weng-weng is a local drink which consists of about 16 different shots of alcohol with a touch of orange-pineapple just to make it edible. Anyways, you can probably see the connection between the term Weng-weng and an 8 inch glow stick, so I won't go into any explicit details. We ended the night with pork bbq sticks and mango shakes.
This morning was not pleasant, but I think I'm on the road to recovery.
Happy New Year!
Kev
Monday, December 31, 2007
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
As I type away, Canada just celebrated their New Years festivities. We, on the other hand, celebrated over 12 hours ago. Since I usually celebrate New Years with family, this was unlike anything I have ever experienced. Kevin aka "Wang Wang" will tell you about it later.
Instead, I will describe the first few days of our adventures in the city of Manila...
The night we arrived, I found it difficult to sleep. Was it jet lag or was it excitement? Instead, I woke up around 6:30am and stood on Tita Mila's fourth floor balcony decorated with flower beds and other assorted plants. I grabbed our camera and began shooting away, as roosters and men selling Tuho yelled from every direction.
When we got up, Tita Mila prepared our authentic Filipino breakfast of rice, omlette and filipino Hot Dog (imagine a VERY red hot dog). While waiting for Tito Mon to take us to the Philuscan office, Tita Mila guided us through what she kept explaining to Kevin is the 'real manila.' Few steps from her small yet very tall townhome we explored the Market. The smells of fish, diesel and smog followed us through the streets as we were eyed hard by squatters. One of Tita Mila's friends commented that if she had married an Americano, oh how she wished he would look like Kevin. Just to complete the trip, we rode a two minute Jeepney ride back to her area just so we could say we did it.
Tito Mon drove us to the Philuscan office when we arrived. Tina and Christine's niece escorted us to the condo where we would be staying. Since it is very close to the malls and shops, we realized how CHEAP everything is here just as people say it is and how Kevin feels like a fatso since he has to buy pants that quote 4 inches bigger than he's used to.
Wait, let me clarify this CHEAP business. Bargaining in the Philippines is the way of life. I've managed to score some crazy deals on Grade A fake Bags, logoed t-shirts and flip flops. Yes, I should feel bad that the difference of 10 pesos is chump change, but like I said, it's the way of life and it's kind of fun!
That's it for now. For all you Kevin fanatics, he will be updating the blog shortly with details on our adventures in Boracay.
Instead, I will describe the first few days of our adventures in the city of Manila...
The night we arrived, I found it difficult to sleep. Was it jet lag or was it excitement? Instead, I woke up around 6:30am and stood on Tita Mila's fourth floor balcony decorated with flower beds and other assorted plants. I grabbed our camera and began shooting away, as roosters and men selling Tuho yelled from every direction.
When we got up, Tita Mila prepared our authentic Filipino breakfast of rice, omlette and filipino Hot Dog (imagine a VERY red hot dog). While waiting for Tito Mon to take us to the Philuscan office, Tita Mila guided us through what she kept explaining to Kevin is the 'real manila.' Few steps from her small yet very tall townhome we explored the Market. The smells of fish, diesel and smog followed us through the streets as we were eyed hard by squatters. One of Tita Mila's friends commented that if she had married an Americano, oh how she wished he would look like Kevin. Just to complete the trip, we rode a two minute Jeepney ride back to her area just so we could say we did it.
Tito Mon drove us to the Philuscan office when we arrived. Tina and Christine's niece escorted us to the condo where we would be staying. Since it is very close to the malls and shops, we realized how CHEAP everything is here just as people say it is and how Kevin feels like a fatso since he has to buy pants that quote 4 inches bigger than he's used to.
Wait, let me clarify this CHEAP business. Bargaining in the Philippines is the way of life. I've managed to score some crazy deals on Grade A fake Bags, logoed t-shirts and flip flops. Yes, I should feel bad that the difference of 10 pesos is chump change, but like I said, it's the way of life and it's kind of fun!
That's it for now. For all you Kevin fanatics, he will be updating the blog shortly with details on our adventures in Boracay.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Finally, a new post!
We're here!
Sorry it took so long to put up a new post. My dad's office in the Philippines has blocked blogger so we haven't had a chance to update this.
Since you've all been anxious to read about our adventure - and it's been about 4 days we've been here - let me give you a brief overview of our flight details.
1) My cousin's flight to the Philippines was cancelled and he had all the contact numbers here in the Philippines. I had to call his place while we were in Japan and probably pay $20 for a 3 minute call.
2) In Japan we also realized that we forgot our pin number to our Philippine money card, so we would have no money when we arrived.
3) After waiting an hour in the immigration line, we were to find out shortly that the airline had lost one of our luggages. It took us another hour to fill out paperwork. We made Tita Mila and Riza wait 3 hours later than they needed to. We got to their place at 4am. Just as we thought about some shut eye, the roosters began yelling "Happy New Year.. (inside joke).
We'll get back to about the rest when we have time. We're currently in Boracay and we have to meet up with the gang to sip delicious Mango shakes and eat BBQ sticks. Let me provide you with a picture: beautiful white sand, clear blue water, mango shakes, BBQ sticks and couches on the beach.
What happened on the flight again?
- Melissa
(Kevin will write later Rachel).
Sorry it took so long to put up a new post. My dad's office in the Philippines has blocked blogger so we haven't had a chance to update this.
Since you've all been anxious to read about our adventure - and it's been about 4 days we've been here - let me give you a brief overview of our flight details.
1) My cousin's flight to the Philippines was cancelled and he had all the contact numbers here in the Philippines. I had to call his place while we were in Japan and probably pay $20 for a 3 minute call.
2) In Japan we also realized that we forgot our pin number to our Philippine money card, so we would have no money when we arrived.
3) After waiting an hour in the immigration line, we were to find out shortly that the airline had lost one of our luggages. It took us another hour to fill out paperwork. We made Tita Mila and Riza wait 3 hours later than they needed to. We got to their place at 4am. Just as we thought about some shut eye, the roosters began yelling "Happy New Year.. (inside joke).
We'll get back to about the rest when we have time. We're currently in Boracay and we have to meet up with the gang to sip delicious Mango shakes and eat BBQ sticks. Let me provide you with a picture: beautiful white sand, clear blue water, mango shakes, BBQ sticks and couches on the beach.
What happened on the flight again?
- Melissa
(Kevin will write later Rachel).
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Ready for culture shock?
Part deux of travelling the world.
Melissa and I, along with her best friends (Priscilla and Mike 'da' Mancini) and our cousin (Dabe), will be travelling to the Philippines to seek bounty and adventure. We'll be in Boracay for New Years' then hitting various locations visiting relatives and taking advantage of our Canadian dollar.
We plan on updating this site with our stories along the way and possibly pictures if technology permits. Please check back frequently, so we don't feel so homesick!
O, sige, aalis mo ako = Okay, I'm leaving now,
Kevin
Melissa and I, along with her best friends (Priscilla and Mike 'da' Mancini) and our cousin (Dabe), will be travelling to the Philippines to seek bounty and adventure. We'll be in Boracay for New Years' then hitting various locations visiting relatives and taking advantage of our Canadian dollar.
We plan on updating this site with our stories along the way and possibly pictures if technology permits. Please check back frequently, so we don't feel so homesick!
O, sige, aalis mo ako = Okay, I'm leaving now,
Kevin
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