Jays Days Away

Diving Days

2009-05-08T14:30:00.000+08:00

My office.

Since I became certified as a dive instructor, the past month has been my first solid month of working solely on the beach as a freelance dive instructor at Genesis Divers. So, how is it?

Generally, it’s great. Relatively low stress, my own schedule, active lifestyle, meet people from around the world, and my office is on a white sand beach where the water ranges from 27C (80F) to 30C (86F). I wouldn’t say the lifestyle is glamorous or absolute paradise, but for now, it’s the closest to paradise for me. My average day goes like this if I don’t have any planned diving:

7 am to 9 am - Wake up and make breakfast, depending on how much I partied the night before.

9:30 am to 10:30 am - Drive my motorbike 8 km (5 miles) to Genesis Divers on Alona Beach.

9:30 am to 4 pm - Help out at the dive shop if needed which includes moving equipment and helping people find stuff. Do 1 or 2 dives if I can.

5 pm - Break out the beer.

6 pm to ??? - Eat dinner somewhere and hang out at the bars.

Since my schedule is flexible, I sometimes just take a day off and go into Tagbilaran city to the mall and go shopping or watch a movie.

Jr and Noel on the day trip dive boat. Lunch break on the boat is the best.

The best part about being a dive instructor is being able to go diving often and for free. The best part about instructing is seeing your student learn to overcome their difficulties. The worst part about instructing is dealing with student difficulties. So, quite easily, the worst part of instructing can turn into being the best.

For example, I had a student who was frightened to take out his regulator and put it back in his mouth in just a meter of water. This is one of the basic skills you learn besides just breathing from a regulator underwater. I worked diligently on getting him comfortable doing his skills, and was patient. At the end of the day he wanted to quit the course but his brother and I encouraged him to practice the skills. On the fourth day of the course, he completed all his required skills and dives to become a certified Open Water Diver. The next few days he dived locally and then went to another island to dive more. He now loves diving and wants to come back.

Clownfish in his host anemone.

It's times like these where being a dive instructor is the best job I can think of. I'm outside, on the beach, meeting people from around the world and showing them another world and experience underwater. Becoming scuba certified can be life changing. To think what I teach people can change their lives and understanding of the underwater realm is awesome. For me, getting scuba certified was the biggest life changing decision I made. It was one of those things I just wanted to do in my life - checked off a checklist of things - but since then, I went further with it and became an instructor.

- jason

Cabilao diving

2009-03-11T10:42:00.000+08:00

Lush corals and fish at Cabilao Island.

A few pictures from two great dives at Cabilao Island. The visibility was very good (20+ meters) and there were plenty of fish and lush coral to salivate over. As usual, in the middle of the second dive, my camera ran out of batteries despite recently charging them. I'm beginning to think that my recent camera problems (Canon A620) is related to being near the beach because I didn't have any problems with it while in the city of Cebu.

Family of clownfish in anemone.

Large frogfish resting on a coral.

Feather star on coral.

Lately, I've been teaching a few dive courses so I've been busy with those. I'm going to try to do more courses and less work in front of the computer in Cebu because diving and teaching is so much more fun.

- jason

Co-hosting a Radio Show and Coincidences

2009-02-28T22:18:00.000+08:00

Jonna setting up her playlist for her "Dream Lounge" radio show.

A week has already gone by since I experienced my first on-air radio experience at a large radio station - okay, that’s somewhat a lie - I once was broadcasted on KROQ 106.7 FM in Los Angeles when I called in to request a song. This was two hours of being on-air though. This week, my friend Jonna and I have our own radio show. It’s actually more of Jonna’s because she gets to play her music and I’m only in the city for a week longer. I get to co-host at least.

Jonna and I on the air.

Our show, called “Dream Lounge”, airs on Saturdays from 7-9 PM. We arrived at Monster Radio station at 6 PM to hang out and learn a little bit about how to DJ before actually going on the air. Rick showed us the ropes of adding music to their playlist and which buttons turn on the mic and the music, etc. Sound design, engineering, whatever you call it is very foreign to me. I’m more of a visual type of guy.

Despite not feeling too nervous on the air last week, I was very nervous this time. Perhaps because now Jonna and I had the responsibility of pushing buttons and making things work. There were a couple times where I did freeze up a little while speaking on the air. Oh well, that’s the fun of it. I wish I could have heard it on the other end.

Jonna, Me, "Doc Phil", and the rest of the crew at Monster Radio.

Sitting around in the studio with whoever dropped by was fun. “Doc Phil” hung out with Jonna and I a lot to help us out if anything went horribly wrong. He’s a nice guy with a funny and happy demeanor. We mostly played House/Lounge music as opposed to talking like on Rick’s show. Two hours later, we ended the show without any major problems. Afterwards I felt like a celebrity while walking around. You think in your head and wonder who could have been listening to your show. After about an hour or so though, that feeling soon wears off as you realize most people weren’t listening.

Connie, a girl who was a stranger to me when I met her 5 months ago, is also the sister-in-law of a dive instructor I work with.

The pool table at the house party.

Rob, Jonna, and Biboy making funny faces after too much Red Horse beer.

Later that night, Jonna invites me out with her friends - Liel and Biboy - to one of Biboy’s friends’ birthday party. I had a weird set of coincidences there. At the party, I met a girl that recognized me from when I took a trip to Camiguin (several months ago). She said that she asked me to take a picture of her and her friends while I was on the beach in Camiguin. Weird. Out of thousands of people in the city of Cebu, plus being on a different island, I ran into her! If that wasn't enough, I later find out that I work with her brother-in-law at Genesis Divers on the island of Bohol. He's a dive instructor like me and I just recently met his wife (my new friends' sister). Oh, also, she is the sister of Jonna's friend Biboy. How crazy is that?

- jason

On Air Experience

2009-02-21T16:40:00.000+08:00

The microphone to Cebu.

Last night, I met up with two friends who are DJs at one of the Cebu's largest radio station - Monster Radio BT 105.9 FM. They invited my friends Jonna, Rob and I to be guests on their radio show the next day (today). We agreed to go.

I woke up late from partying a little too hard the night before. I got a text from my friend who was taking a taxi somewhere:

"Do you guys know someone on the radio - we just randomly heard a guy on the taxi radio talking about jason, jonna and rob and about a girl who stole your tooth brush - wtf?" - Ryan

Jonna and I couldn't stop laughing after receiving the text from Ryan. "I guess we have to go to the radio station" I said. Rob needed to work and decided not to go. Jonna and I ate breakfast at 4:30 pm just before Jonna and I were to go on as guests to my friends radio show. Across the street from where we ate was the radio station. Guided by text message directions from my DJ friend "Ricky" (on-air name), Jonna and I eventually found the radio station.

For such a large and popular radio station, I was surprised by how small and simple the place was. You can see the DJs talk on the radio from the hallway outside. No receptionist, security guard or anything, anyone can just walk right in and go into the sound studio. Jonna and I walked straight into the studio and greeted my friend. After plugging in some headphones for Jonna and I to use, we were setup to talk on the air.
The radio show we were guests on is hosted by Ricky and his co-host "Dame on Fire". The theme of the show revolves around love and relationships and in-between they play music. This evening, Ricky was playing songs from movies and the topic we discussed was on what is flirting. It's a little like the radio show "Love Line" in Los Angeles, but there isn't any doctor that gives medical advice.

Jonna and I on air.

I was nervous at first being on the air but I quickly got used to it because it felt like I was just casually chatting with friends. This type of "public appearance" isn't as bad as others - standing in front of people and giving a speech or something like that - because you don't see or hear your audience's reaction to what you're saying. As long as you don't say anything too horribly wrong, there aren't any immediate consequences - nobody talks back or laughs at you or gives you a dirty look. It's an interesting thing to be able to broadcast your opinion and thoughts to so many people with almost no reaction. There were times when I forgot I was talking into a microphone.

"Dame on Fire" and "Ricky" goof off while on air.

My two hour experience on the air was extremely fun and exciting; too bad the time went by quickly. We listened to music, talked about flirting and about anything that came to mind. It was like hanging out with friends at a cafe (I had instant coffee) but with a microphone in front of you. The whole thing was very casual and easy going. It can be a little too casual though, especially when asked about one's personal life. By the end of the show, my DJ friend asked Jonna and I if we wanted our own show. Uh, really? We have only a couple hours experience on the air!

Jonna agreed to host a show featuring House music. I agreed to just hang out and co-host a couple shows since I'm only going to be in Cebu a couple weeks. Jonna is going to start her show next week and will need to bring in some of her music to play on the radio. The best radio station is your own music! I kind of want to play some of my own music (non-House) to show Cebuanos more creatively interesting music than the popular "Top 40" corporate American Pop/R&B junk everyone listens to here.

- jason

The Present, and Future Updates...

2009-02-10T14:13:00.001+08:00

Waiting for my flight back to Los Angeles from Hong Kong airport.

Yes, I'm still alive... It's been a long time since I've updated my "daily" blog mainly because I've been busy with other things and the blog was consuming too much of my free time. Perhaps one day I will get re-inspired to document my daily life. For future updates though, I will update when great things happen. I think I will shoot for at least a weekly update of things...

A little warning before going back to Los Angeles.

Typical LA scene. Santa Monica, CA, USA

Vilma hangs out with friends at Suede. Los Angeles, CA, USA.

Photograph of eyes on Scott. Las Vegas, NV, USA.

Wine tasting with Vilma. Santa Ynez, CA, USA.

Drinking a coffee with Rob at Balcony Cafe. Santa Monica, CA, USA.

So what happened for the last couple months I've been absent? In early December, I traveled back to visit friends and family in Los Angeles, California, USA. It was good to see old friends again and to revisit doing things I liked doing when I was in LA. I also tidied up some belongings and got rid of things I knew I don't need. I was quickly reminded of all the things I didn't like in LA and after only a couple weeks of being there, I wanted to go somewhere else—Brazil.

After a few weeks in LA, my friend Eric whom I was staying with asked me if I was interested in going to Brazil with him and his family. I didn't want to go at first because I didn't want to spend more money. Thinking about it a little more though, I figured it was going to spend at least the same amount, possibly less, in Brazil than in Los Angeles. Brazil is cheaper than the US and so the really only additional costs would be accommodations. Another friend that was also going to Brazil with Eric said he saw airfares for around $800 USD; he paid $1500 USD.

Man attentively listening to his radio. Ubatuba Beach, Brazil

Christo Redentor - Christ Redeemer. Rio de Janero, Brazil.

Old monk church lined with gold. Rio de Janero, Brazil.

A less crowded beach. Florianopolis, Brazil.

After adjusting dates to find the cheapest airfare, I found a roundtrip ticket from Los Angeles to Sao Paulo, Brazil for only $783 USD total. With very little hesitation, I bought it. My vacation on a vacation to Brazil was great - excellent and cheap food, great live Samba and Bossa Nova music, big beaches, beautiful people, and good nightlife. Brazil was surprisingly more developed that I thought - or Philippines is relatively far less developed than I thought. After visiting Brazil for 3 weeks, I went back to Los Angeles for 10 days to tidy up my belongings, see people I haven't seen yet, and get a last taste of modern America before going back to the Philippines.

Snorkeling around Alona Beach. Alona Beach, Philippines.

Oops bar girls at their 8th Anniversary. Alona Beach, Philippines.

Oops fireworks. Alona Beach, Philippines.

Alona Beach, Philippines.

Right now, I'm back in the Philippines working as a dive instructor on Alona Beach while occasionally going to Cebu for visual effects work. It's nice to be back on the beach in warm, sunny weather and to see old friends from here. The adventure continues....

- jason

Saving the World from Bad Coffee

2008-11-09T11:09:00.000+08:00

Sunset on Alona Beach.

Did laundry, ate breakfast and then I went into work at Genesis by 11:30 AM. Not much was happening at all at the dive shop. Gina offered me some leftovers from the night before for lunch. I ate with the local boat crew which was nice. After Luer came back from his dive, I went to Coco Vida to do Internet and chill for the day.

In the evening, Greg managed to find me and chat a little bit. Him and his girlfriend Emma needed to do something so we agreed to meet up at 7:30 PM for dinner at Powder Keg. I ordered the Chili con Carne which was average American style chili with beans. I ate it with rice which was an odd combination. Afterwards I wasn’t sure what to do—should I go home or hang around. I decided to hang around Alona Beach so I went to the bank and then checked out Trendis. There wasn’t anything going on at Trendis so I went to Oops bar where I had a drink.

I was tempted to give the Oops bar cafe another try after recommending a few tips to the barista in training. Of course, she did nothing I told her and as a result the cappuccino she made me was what I expected—bad. In fact, my failed latte I made myself the day before tasted better. Of course, one may say that judging good coffee is completely subjective. To a certain extent, yes, however, making a good espresso based drink is highly reliant on the occurrence of certain chemical and physical changes during creation in both the steamed milk and espresso. So, proper technique has a major influence on the flavor and texture of the final cup of coffee.

While having a coffee at the Oops Beach Cafe, I managed to have a conversation with Peter, the person in charge of training the young baristas there. While talking with him about coffee, I acted a little naive so as not to offend him and to see what he really knew about making espresso based drinks. I’m not admitting to being a master barista myself, but, I have studied and practiced techniques considered correct by the general professional barista community and top baristas around the world. From what I learned, I’ve concluded Peter is a good salesman for coffee equipment and roasted beans to the naive—the only topic I really agreed with him on was cleaning an espresso machine.

There are so many problems with the way they are making coffee I’ll write a book by the time I’m done writing everything. Well, I’ve got time, lets give it a try. Warning: This is a big digression from just my blog of day to day activities. But, since I’m in the mood to try to save the world, why not start with coffee?

Coffee Bean Freshness
Peter’s big sell is that the coffee he imports is fresh from Germany. Italy, France, Central and South America are far better known for good coffee. I talked to him about this and asked him how often he imports a shipment of coffee beans to Alona Beach. He said it takes 8 weeks to ship the fresh beans from Germany! Additionally, there’s the couple weeks the coffee sits around to be consumed. And, he said he “thinks” they ship the beans the day they roast them. The general coffee community agrees that coffee goes stale after about 2 weeks. From this comment alone, I knew Peter doesn’t really know how to make a good espresso because you can’t!

Extraction Time
When the barista-in-training extracted a shot of espresso, water flowed out of the portafilter (the thing with a handle that you put coffee grinds into) far too quickly to even produce something worthy of being called an espresso. To my surprise, Peter said that was the perfect extraction rate; I would have thrown it away and started over myself. It took about 5 seconds to produce 2 ounces of “coffee” whereas the general rule of thumb is that a double espresso shot should take 25-30 seconds to produce 1.5 ounces of espresso.

Tamping
Tamping is when the barista puts pressure on the coffee grinds in the portafilter before extraction. This packs in the ground coffee which creates a seal and resistance for the pressurized hot water to flow through. The general rule is to tamp with 30lbs of pressure. Water passes through the coffee grinds too fast if the coffee isn’t tamped hard enough whereas the opposite is true if one tamps too hard. If the tamp is done at an angle other than perpendicular, then extraction will be uneven as water flows down the path of least resistance. At the Oops cafe, the only tamper they have is the one built into the grinder which is useless. It’s too difficult to get an even 30lbs of pressure with it. I probably can get a better tamp with the bottom of an espresso cup.

Heated Portafilter
The portafilter should be kept attached to the machine via the group head to keep it heated. A simple and easy thing to do that’s not done. It’s important because espresso extraction is very sensitive to temperature changes which can deteriorate the taste and texture of the espresso. When the hot water comes in contact with a cooler portafilter, crema, texture and flavor are deteriorated. That’s why it’s also important to heat the cups a barista extracts to.

Steamed Milk
It’s generally best not to reuse leftover steamed milk but hard not to when running a business with high volume. The Oops cafe reuses too much leftover milk (almost 100%) and should at least combine it with fresh cool milk. The reason why is because it’s hard to create tiny, mirco-bubbles when making foam (texturing) with warm pre-steamed milk. Who cares if the bubbles are big or small? Large foam bubbles, also known as “sea foam,” robs the drink of flavor because of the large air pockets in the drink. It’s like eating a fluffy chocolate cake versus a more dense one; which one will have more flavor per bite? Also, the fine texture of tiny bubbles is usually nicer than big bubbles.

Why Do I Care?
I would love to have a good cafe to hang out at where I can enjoy a decently good coffee on Alona Beach. I was asked by the owner of Oops Bar to train and advise the staff before they opened but couldn’t because I was out of town in Cebu. Now I see the one cafe that has so much potential is going the wrong direction with regard to making good espresso coffee. It’s still early enough though to make the proper corrections; they just need to be made.

Ok, enough ranting. Didn’t I warn you not to talk to me about coffee?

- jason

Finally, Fun Diving

2008-09-27T11:00:00.000+08:00

Junior leading the dive.

I did two dives at Arco and Kalipayan today with my camera for the first time in a long time—I needed to test it out to see if it still works. Thankfully, it worked fine. I dived with Gunther and Phil but the dive eventually turned into a solo dive because I was taking pictures.

Coral spiral.

A snake eel alongside a moray eel.

Scorpionfish takes cover.

Fresh sea urchin lunch was not worth the pricks or the effort.

Sponge corals.

Clownfish in their home.

For lunch, on the boat, I tried eating raw sea urchin with the boat crew. I was surprised that there was so little meat to eat in each urchin. It was a little salty and I did prick myself with spines. I prefer someone else to do the dirty work for me.

After diving, I hung out at the dive shop with Gunther, Phil, and Ingrid. Ingrid is a friend of Sander whom met in Fiji. She’s a nice half Filipino half Swedish girl who’s really into pygmy seahorses.

Milo and Stephanie party it up at Oops bar disco.

Ingrid and I at the Oops disco.

For dinner, I went home to try cooking dried Danggist fish again. As usual, the fish reeks when you cook it. This time though I cooked it better and it tasted better than last time. After dinner I hung out at home and watched more of The Unit and then went to the Oops bar disco.

- jason

Hadlok, Stormy Weather, and Drinking the Worst Beer

2008-09-26T10:43:00.000+08:00

"Hadlok"—scaried—tries to escape his transport container.

Hadlok is ready to be transferred.

The weather for teh day was stormy. When it's like this, most people stay inside and do very little.

A slow day, Elna plays a German word puzzle game.

New happy hour beer—Beer Na Beer—was absolutely the worst beer I have ever had. I wasn't able to finish off the beer because it was so bad. Though, people say it's more drinkable when it's ice cold.

Mae steps up to help a customer.

Marilen and Ethel playing Liar Dice at Oops bar.

Mutant Fish

2008-09-25T10:23:00.000+08:00

Alona Beach palm trees.

My good friend Ren of Coco Vida.

My dinner—two backboned fish?

Bartenders at Coco Vida.

- jason

Back Home to Bohol

2008-09-24T21:42:00.000+08:00

Taeko drinking one of her last mango drinks before she goes back to Japan.

After a late night clubbing, I woke up at 8 AM to go to the pier to catch our 9:20 AM ferry ride back to Bohol. Coincidentally, I saw Teresa whom I met in Boracay, then Cebu, and now going to Bohol. On the ferry, the movie they played from their iPod was Mission Impossible 3. Once we arrived in Tagbilaran, we took a tricycle to Island City Mall where we ate at Mongul Bowl. We still had some more time before Taeko and Yuhka had to catch their flight for their journey back to Japan. We shopped at the supermarket where Taeko and Yuhka bought some last minute souvenirs.

Saying goodbye to Taeko and Yuhka in their tricycle bound for the airport beginning their journey back to Japan.

Traditional Filipino dance competition.

More dancing.

Since I was at the mall already, I decided to see the movie Righteous Kill which wasn’t as good as I thought it would be. Back to Alona Beach I hung out at Genesis for a little bit. Elna, a kitchen staff showed me some Filipino cooking. Being inspired to cook my own Filipino food, I went home and cooked some dried Danggit fish and rice. The fish reeked but tasted good with some rice and vinegar. I wanted to chill out at home so I just watched some episodes of The Unit on DVD.

- jason

Visiting Cebu Nightlife

2008-09-23T21:36:00.000+08:00

Nightlife in Cebu.

I met up with Taeko and Yukha for breakfast at their resort. I ate pancakes and had some fresh fruit juice. After breakfast, we went to Genesis to do another dive in Doljo. I guided Taeko while Yukha was guided by Noel. The dive was good and there were no problems. We rushed back to Alona Beach, cleaned up, and got ready for a night in Cebu city.

Yuhka in Cebu.

Taeko after some coffee and dessert.

We took an afternoon ferry to Cebu city from Tagbilaran and then took a taxi to my second job at HPI. There, Taeko and Yuhka got to meet all my coworkers there which was really nice. Afterwards we went back to the condo where we were staying to drop off our bags.

Pump disco and the girls that dance there.

At night, we ate at Golden Cowry which I feel is a good place to go to get a good taste of various Filipino foods. After that, we went to IT Park where we got some coffee at a nice little pastry shop. Then, we went to Loft lounge to have some drinks and then finally we went to Club Pump where we stayed out late into the night. Fun times.

- jason

Surfing to Diving

2008-09-22T16:22:00.000+08:00

Surfing in Alona Beach? Locals take advantage of the waves to surf. It's very rare that there are any waves to surf in Alona Beach.

Taeko, Yuhka, and I went to Alona Beach from my place because Taeko wanted to do an introductory dive and Yuhka wanted to do a refresher course; they’re basically the same. Since there was a tropical storm off the coast of Alona Beach, we had to do the dives on another side of Panglao Island—in Doljo beach.

Che dancing for Taeko and I.

Palm trees blow in the wind. "Hangin Kaayo" - very windy.

We got our gear sorted, and I did an extended dive briefing with Taeko and Yuhka which ran a little late. Once we got our equipment sorted, we took the Genesis truck to Doljo beach which was only a few minutes drive from where I live. The new instructor Ricky came along with us and wanted to watch me do the course. Conditions were better but still not good to practice shallow water skills.

For someone who barely knows how to swim and whose second language is English, Taeko did exceptionally well doing the dive skills. She had no problems clearing her mask, equalizing, or breathing underwater and she was completely comfortable underwater. I was impressed. Yuhka also was really good underwater also and needed little assistance. During our Open Water dive, I can tell Taeko was interested in a lot of the things she saw underwater because she would always try to swim off to things she saw. Several times, I had to hold on to her to slow her down. I didn’t mind, I got a free ride while she could towed me around.

Even Janet doesn't like the wind so much.

Elna frying fish for dinner.

Jolie gets ready to pour the Flaming Lamborghini.

Taeko and Yuhka drank the drink so slow the flame melted their straws.

Taeko, done with the drink for now.

In the evening, I hung around Genesis where Elna showed me how to cook fish Filipino style. Quite simply, you just deep fry fish in oil and eat it with rice. I like simple and open to any way to eat more cheaply. I hung out and watched Elna cook until about 7 PM when I met up with Taeko and Yuhka at Oops bar. There we had some drinks, played a lot of Genga, and Taeko got drunk. Good times.

- jason

Wind, Rain, and Mud Water

2008-09-21T16:11:00.000+08:00

Pig heads for sale at the local market.

Weather windy and bad.

Tropical storm just off the coast.

Possible typhoon.

For brunch, Taeko and Yuhka wanted to make ramen they brought from Japan. We first needed to get some eggs, and green onions. Since its Sunday, there’s a great local market just 5 minutes from my house in the town of Panglao. I’ve never seen it and it was the perfect time to check it out. All three of us drove there on my little motorbike.

Mostly live baby moray eels sold at the local market in Panglao.

The market was busy and there was a lot of fresh vegetables and even a small area for seafood and meats. Additionally, there were household goods being sold from different vendors. Taeko really wanted to buy fresh mangos because she fell in love with them. She told me that sweet mangos in Japan cost $300 USD! She better stock up now. Oddly, we couldn’t find a lot of fresh mangos.

I wandered off and visited the meat section of the market. I actually was a little disgusted of what I saw—pig heads, and live but dying baby moray eels slithering about. It was depressing to see the eels which were suffering and also to see so many of them when its already hard to find enough of them diving in the ocean.

Back at my place, Taeko and Yuhka cooked some very good pre-packaged ramen from Japan. It was so good, it was better then most ramen restaurants in Los Angeles. I was impressed. After lunch, we went to Alona Beach to see what was going on.

Lots of wind makes the look like mud.

Taeko at Oops.

Unfortunately there was a storm just off the coast and so there were a lot of surf which stirred up the water which made it look like mud. Not the best timing. Regardless, the sun was out at least which made it a windy but sunny day. We all just hung around the beach until nighttime where we went to Oops for some drinks and hung out with Ricky who’s a new dive instructor at Genesis.

- jason

Taeko Visits from Japan

2008-09-20T15:43:00.000+08:00

Tropical storm off Alona Beach threatens to become a typhoon. Weather sucks, windy and muddy waters.

It was raining heavily in Doljo and the surf was rough on Alona Beach. I went into Genesis by 9 AM where they were diverting their dives to Momo Beach. I waited at Coco Vida for my friend Taeko and her friend Yuhka to arrive from Japan.

Taeko arrives with her friend Yuhka from Japan. A very joyous moment.

Walking along Alona Beach Taeko is very happy.

Yuhka, Taeko's friend is also very glad to be on the beach.

Taeko and Yuhka arrived at 10:30 AM and Taeko was so excited to see me. Its been about 5 months since I last saw her when I visited Japan. When they arrived I bought them fresh mango juice at Coco Vida and then took a walk with them along the beach. Again, it was a little surreal to see a friend visit me in the Philippines.

They booked a room at Oasis resort for two days after they stay at my place. For some reason they really wanted to stay at my place even though it was 8 kilometers away. Their room was on the beach and was a nice 2 story condo type place. They really wanted to eat at local Filipino food so I took them to a little eatery on the beach that I’ve only eaten a few times but I always see locals at. It was decent, regardless, I think they liked what they had.

Hanging out with the dogs Bella and Rambo at my house. It was great to see the dogs immediately get along with Taeko and Yuhka.

Taeko and Yuhka take a afternoon nap.

To get to my house, we had to hire another motorbike driver to drive us to my house. There, they immediately fell in love with the two dogs—Bella and Rambo. They also were very happy about my place. We hung out at my house until dinner when we decided to go eat at Oops bar. I figured we should at least eat on the beach for the first night.

Yuhka analyzes Taeko's dinner.

Taeko already happy after a few San Miguel beers (SMB).

Yuhka removing a piece and hoping it doesn't topple in Genga.

There, we had happy hour drinks and stayed around for the Saturday night disco. At the bar, Yuhka and Taeko played lots of Genga. They seemed to have a great time.

- jason

Exploring Doljo

2008-09-19T15:22:00.000+08:00

Quiet Doljo beach.

I felt a little adventurous and since work on Alona Beach has been really slow lately, I decided to take a slight detour before going to Alona Beach and visit Doljo Beach near where I live. For some reason, I’ve never visited the beach and figured I should at least see what it’s like.

Grazing goats on the beach?

Doljo is a nice quiet beach with tables for sitting and eating but not much else. It’s a white sand beach with goats grazing grass patches just before the beach.

Shy Strawberry from Coco Vida.

Marilen balances a piece in Genga.

On Alona Beach, I hung out with Greg and ate lunch with him at Oops bar. Since work was slow, I checked out Oasis Resort with him to try and figure out a place to recommend to my friend Taeko from Japan. I was quite impressed by the resort’s professionalism, organization, and design. Greg and I then decided to play a few games of pool on the beach. As usual, he beat me quite a bit. In the evening I hung out at Coco Vida and Oops bar.

- jason

Working and Seeing Norman

2008-09-18T18:27:00.000+08:00

My new office.

Had a nightmare last night—dreamt I was getting married for some reason. It was stressful as it was only a couple days before the ceremony. Despite the nightmare, it was a beautiful sunny day in the morning. I went into work at Genesis by 11:30 AM. It was a slow day again.

Bartenders at Oops bar have a little fun.

A vender selling wooden boats on the beach that have no relation to any boats of the Philippines.

I worked on my photos on my laptop and ate lunch at Coco Vida to use their Internet. I later went to Oops bar where Phil was. We chatted a little bit before I went back to Coco Vida to kill time because I was waiting to meet up for dinner with Norman, who was in town from Cebu.

I met Norman and his coworker at Kamalig—the best Italian restaurant in Alona Beach. Dinner was good as usual and it was nice to hang out with Norman.

- jason

Doing a Few Things

2008-09-17T18:18:00.000+08:00

Journaling for my blog at Coco Vida.

Editing a photo of Joan at Oops bar while she wonders what I'm doing.

On the way home from Alona Beach, I passed a local carnival which just closed. I inquired when it will open next day but the lady said not until next season.

Ocean Education

2008-09-16T18:13:00.000+08:00

Some of the kitchen staff at Genesis.

"Janet", the mother of most dogs on the beach.

I went to work at Genesis by 11 AM. Shortly after arriving, I ate a native lunch with the staff there. It was delicious. I went on the Internet a lot because there were really few customers and work was slow.

After work, I went to Oops bar for a happy hour drink. There I watched Deep Blue on my laptop with a lot of the bartenders at Oops. They were more interested in what they saw than I thought they would be. I was happy to show them the video to help educate them on the animals of the sea. Hopefully they will appreciate respect the sea more.

After we watched Deep Blue Lori, one of the bartenders at Oops really wanted to watch Iron Man. I didn’t really want to see it but we saw it regardless. The staff at Oops were really happy to watch the films and the owner realized this so he gave me happy hour drinks for the entire night.

- jason

Grace Leaves

2008-09-15T17:39:00.000+08:00

Just another day at the beach.

Having lunch with Grace before she left to continue her journeys.

"Hadlok (scared)", the adopted Genesis cat takes a nap on the chair next to me.

Preparing cherries for the nights drinks.

Not much interesting happened today. I woke up late and tired. I managed to meet up with Grace to eat lunch with her and see her leave Alona Beach. For most of the day I hung around Genesis where things were slow. In the evening I went to Coco Vida where I stayed fairly late—11 pm. I got sick of being on the computer and simply just went home, watched a little of The Unit on DVD and then fell asleep.

- jason

Back to Tag and Reconnecting Old Friends

2008-09-14T19:42:00.000+08:00

Eric reconnecting with our mutual good friend Zac.

I left Cebu by 3:35 PM on a ferry to Tagbilaran and then hired a motorbike to drive me to Rubi’s place. There, I picked up Rubi’s motorbike which I rent when I’m in Bohol. Once I found Rubi and got her motorbike, I drove back home to clean up and settle in a little. I wanted to meet up with Grace who was visiting Alona Beach so I drove there to meet up with her and Greg. We ate dinner at Hayahay and happy hour at Oops bar.

At Oops bar, I met a dive instructor, Eric, who used to work at Genesis Divers years ago. I happened to ask him if he knew of my friend Zac who also worked at Genesis at around the same time. In a weird coincidence, Eric said the he did know Zac and they used to be best friends. We reminisced on stories Zac told me in the US of his times with Eric in Alona Beach. It was fun reminiscing on stories they both shared because it reminded of me my fun times with Zac.

Eric hasn’t talked with Zac for a long time so I gave him Zac’s recent contact information. Eric impulsively called Zac and left a message on his phone. Eric called again and when Zac answered, he didn’t know who was calling him until Eric insulted him, jokingly, in a Filipino dialect. It was great seeing Eric reconnect with Zac; I think Zac was quite happy to hear from him.

Grace, quite happy after some rounds.

After Oops, we went to Trendies with Grace for a late night drink and pool.

- jason

Pirate Shop Dancing

2008-09-13T18:25:00.000+08:00

Downtown Cebu. A good place to go shopping.

Burn Belly Exotix Bancing

In the evening, Reggie drove Suzette and I downtown because Suzette wanted to get some bootleg software and DVDs. The neighborhood was a little shady and Reggie said I should take my camera with me—I took it anyways.
On average, a bootleg DVD movie costs 50 pesos ($1 USD) and are usually decent quality. Some DVDs have themes like all Bruce Willis films and contain many different movies related to that theme. Since those DVDs have to compress the movies a lot, quality is usually bad. I ended up buying Wall-E, Hellboy 2, and The Unit Seasons 1 and 2. I don’t normally watch TV but Suzette said I would like The Unit which is based on a US Delta Force military unit that does covert operations around the world.

A nice chicken soup at Golden Cowry.

After work, HPI took everyone out for dinner and drinks. We all ate at Golden Cowry which is a traditional Filipino restaurant which was very good. In fact, I think it was the best Filipino food I’ve had out here. I didn’t realize there were so many different dishes—I was used to the common bbq dishes you’ll find on the street.

Rob, looking a little alien.

Suz.

HPI Cebu.

Dancing at Mashiro's.

Teresa and lucky me.

Disco ball dancing at Formo.

Lounging at Formo.

Next, we all went to Mashiro’s Lounge where we had some drinks and did a little dancing. After Mashiro’s, we went to Formo again for more dancing and late night partying.

- jason

Ferry Formo

2008-09-12T17:43:00.000+08:00

One of the major fast ferry websites when looking for ferry schedules.

I worked all day today and ate dinner down the street at what locals call “the shack”. I ate green beans, rice, soup, and two spring rolls for only 29 pesos ($0.60). It was all tasty. I tried to find ferry schedules because I planned on going back to Alona Beach on Sunday. Ferry schedules always change and one has to check them frequently.

Girls lounging at Formo.

In the evening I went to a club/lounge called Formo. Drinks were horribly but the atmosphere was nice.

- jason

Filipino Mexican Food - No, It's Not Fusion

2008-09-11T18:21:00.000+08:00

Mike minutes before Reggie took him to the airport bound for Los Angeles.

Today I went to work at HPI and my American co-worker Mike left Cebu bound for Los Angeles. For dinner, I went to Mooon Restaurant with Maartje, Anniek, Rob, and Reggie. The restaurant serves Mexican inspired food. I was curious to see what Mexican food in the Philippines was like—I wasn’t expecting much.

Chimichanga was decent and was probably the best "Mexican" dish at the restaurant.

Mexican Filipino fish taco. The tortilla didn't taste good and had a weird texture to it.

Rob drinks some beer.

Maartje laughing intelligently with her glasses.

Beer tower with tap brought to your table.

I ordered a chimichanga, burrito, and a taco. It sounds like a lot, but in the Philippines, portions are smaller compared to Los Angeles. The burrito was slightly bigger than a tequito which is tiny compared to the “dos manos” (two handed) burritos you can order in Los Angeles. Generally, the food was really bad. The tortilla was unexplainably bad—it was thin and flakey and didn’t taste like a tortilla. Even the generic mass produced bad tortillas in Los Angeles were better. Similarly, the “nachos” were also bad. The beer towers you can order tough were good.

After dinner we went to a nice cafe which served properly made espresso coffee and well made pastries. It was exciting to see some interest in the culinary arts in the Philippines. After a cappuccino we all went to Loft—a bar lounge—where we had a few beers on the patio with another friend Walter.

- jason

Lounging Around

2008-09-10T18:12:00.000+08:00

Local co-workers lining up for lunch—fried pig intestines. Yum.

Not much out of the ordinary happened today. Work as usual. At night, everyone at HPI went to a bar/lounge called Mashiro’s for Mike's farewell dinner. Food was decent, atmosphere was nice, and the band was really good. Very mellow, lounge atmosphere.

Reggie and Shaun having a good time.

The crew at HPI in Cebu.

Anna's burger was huge for Filipino standards. I think it was the largest I've seen here.

The band which reminded me of the mellow sounds of Fiona Apple and Astrud Gilberto.

- jason

Leaving Camiguin

2008-09-08T17:51:00.000+08:00

Morning view of a volcano from our resort.

Today was our last day in Camiguin. Our itinerary was to leave by ferry to Bohol, take a van to the port and then take a fast ferry to Cebu. Despite all this traveling, we would still arrive in Cebu about the same time as if we took an overnight ferry the night before. Someone said to me Camiguin also means “Come again”.

Momo and Anna on the ferry out of Camiguin.

Jagna in Bohol, where our ferry arrived.

A Filipino kid.

The ferry ride to Bohol was fairly comfortable and only took 3 hours. The port town we arrived in on Bohol was Jagna. It was a nice small town with a good market. My local friends and I ate at a local restaurant which had good cheap food; Suzette and Mike didn’t want to eat the local food and walked around. After lunch, we found a van that the driver packed with at least 15 people in it. Thankfully it was only an hour ride to Tagbilaran. I ate with my local friends at Jollibee while Mike and Suzette went off to McDonalds. It’s funny to see the contrast in the local and foreigner choices.

Momo, catching up on sleep on the fast ferry to Cebu.

Suzette and Mike catching up on sleep as well.

From Bohol, we took a 2 hour fast ferry ride to Cebu City. There we went straight to the office to work a little. After work, Reggie, his friend Rita, Suz, Mike, and Rob all went to the wineshop for some drinks. Some time around 3 AM, Reggie, Rita and I went to a local eatery where we ate pig blood, fried pig intestines and rice. It wasn’t as bad as it sounds.

- jason

Exploring Camiguin

2008-09-07T16:54:00.000+08:00

Tree at Katibawasan Falls.

For the day we hired a private multicab (jeepney) to take us around Camiguin. Our plan was to get a taste of the island visiting several cold springs, hot springs, waterfalls and beaches. I was excited to see the island that I’ve heard so much about.

Titan triggerfish. Looks scary above water and is scary underwater when they become territorial and chase you.

Seats to a local eatery.

Momo and Anna about to shoot Shaun.

Our driver first took us to Old Volcano which is one of the several dormant volcanoes on the island—there are seven volcanoes on the island where six are dormant. It was a beautiful view which reminded me of the coast of California. Around the Old Volcano we made a stop and a few people did a little souvenir shopping. Next we went to a sunken cemetery which was submerged underwater in the mid-late 1800s.

What sums up a lot of the Philippines. Pop culture and Catholicism are big cultural influences.

A giant cross marking the location of the sunken cemetary and old Camiguin capital.

A large cross marks the location of where the cemetery once was. The cemetery was part of Camiguin’s old capital which was buried by several volcanic eruptions from Mt. Vulcan. In the late 1800s, gravestones could still be seen during low tide until another eruption buried everything 20 feet underwater.

Ladder and old Spanish church wall.

A close up the wall made out of coral.

The next place we stopped at was an old Spanish church where the walls were made out of coral; not a good thing environmentally, but, they didn’t know. It was interesting to see a little bit more of the history of the place. Following the church, we visited several cold spring pools which were disappointingly just public swimming pools. After a couple swims, we went to Katibawasan Falls which was impressively tall. Lastly, we visited a hot spring which wasn’t as hot as I thought it would be.

One of the many cold springs we visited. Before arriving at the Soda springs, I joked it was sponsored by a soda company. Of course, the sign is sponsored by Coca-Cola.

Katibawasan Falls.

After a day of adventure, we were scheduled to leave Camiguin and take an overnight ferry back to Cebu. None of us were really looking forward to this because the ferry to Camiguin wasn’t comfortable. Last minute, Mike persuaded our company to have us stay one more night in Camiguin and take the fast ferries back to Cebu via Bohol. It was nice having one more night on the island.

- jason

White Island Diving

2008-09-06T15:24:00.000+08:00

Arriving at 7 AM to Camiguin. One of the volcanos of the island pierces through the clouds.

From the overnight ferry we arrived at Camiguin at 7 AM. It was refreshing to see land so we can just get off the ferry. Once we got of the ferry, we were driven straight to our resort—Para’s Resort—which was the nicest one on the island. Mike didn’t want to stay in the same room as the Cebuanos had to book another room. For some reason it worked out that Shaun and I stayed in the family room which had two separate bedrooms and a couple beds in the living area. It was by far the best room having the most space, best location, and a patio.

Our resort with a beautiful pool and view of the ocean and White Island.

The resort was very nice. The view of the water was close where we could even see the famous White Island. Camiguin is a volcanic island so it’s mostly black sand beaches so White Island really sticks out. After a short swim in the swimming pool I decided to try out the local diving and booked two dives in the early afternoon Johnny’s Dive ‘N’ Fun dive shop. Before that though, we all took a short speed boat ride to White Island.

The beach at White Island contrasts with the colors of the sea.

Mike and the girls hang out in the water on White Island.

A fisherman and his son paddle by the island for a look.

Half of White Island connected by a thin strip of sand that submerges itself in high tide.

White Island is small but impressive. The sand is slightly coarse but very clean. The white sand contrasted with the volcanos in the distance was different from most other places I’ve visited in Philippines. The water was a nice picturesque turquoise color too. White Island is basically two larger pieces of land connected by a thin strip of sand that disappears in high tide. Snorkeling isn’t good but I did find a baby scorpionfish in only a few inches of water. It’s kinda dangerous because they’re poisonous and anyone could have easily stepped on it.

Our seriously fast and fun speed boat ride back. It might have taken only a minute to get back.

Girls rinse off after White Island.

After a seriously fun speed boat ride back to the resort, I made my way back to the Johnny’s dive shop where I signed up for two dives. I didn’t bring any of my personal gear except my mask and snorkel so I had to be fitted with everything else. For the dives, it was just me and my dive guide. We dived first at “Old Volcano” dive site and then at “White Island”. “Old Volcano“ was a nice dive site with nice underwater rock formations, good schools of fish, and lots of nudibranchs I haven’t seen before. It was also nice in that the sand was black which made the overall look of everything different from other places I dived in the Philippines. ”White Island“ dive was good but there wasn’t anything too out of the ordinary. There was a nice turtle that swam by though.

My shadow and I hang out on White Island between dives.

Whtie Island and the mainland of Camiguin.

For dinner, Shaun’s aunt (Shaun grew up in Camiguin) offered to cook everyone dinner. So, Shaun, Mike, Shaun’s cousin and I went into downtown to the local market to get some food. We ended up buying some tuna and another fish, and some other things. After Shaun’s aunt cooked everything up, Shaun had to sneak the food into our room because the resort wanted to charge us extra for bringing food into the resort.

Downtown market for some groceries.

Late in the evening everyone just hung out at the bar at the resort. People sang karaoke and had some drinks.

- jason

To Camiguin—Island Born of Fire

2008-09-05T16:54:00.000+08:00

Bunks under lights. It wasn't the easiest thing to sleep under the light.

Today everyone from my work sans Rob were planning on going to Camiguin for a work paid weekend vacation. I was excited to go because I heard good things about the island and the island is slightly different from others around—it was volcanically created. Generally, during the day, I hung out with Suz, Mike, and Reggie at Ayala mall, Bo’s Cafe, and HPI.

Suzette cringes after noticing bugs on the bed. Hm, they didn't tell me until after the trip.

Shaun, Momo, and Suzette line up for a picture.

Anna and Momo enjoying the cool breeze outside while we were leaving the harbor.

Momo and Annie in bed getting ready to sleep.

We boarded our overnight shipping ferry at around 7 PM. I was quite content when I took the overnight ferry from Tagbilaran to Cebu with Eric, Vilma, and Kenny but this ferry wasn’t as nice and we were housed in non-business class—which means we slept in a room with at least 150 people. It was bunk bed style, and I had the top bed right under a light that never turned off. It was hard to sleep.

Lights in the sky.

The nicest thing about the ferry ride was leaving Cebu harbor and seeing the city lights reflecting off the water. The fresh are breeze was also nice.

- jason

Thai Work

2008-09-04T02:23:00.000+08:00

My taxi ride to meet with Teresa to another side of Cebu in Lapu-Lapu.

I planned to leave Cebu to Bohol within a few days so I wanted to hang out with Teresa before I left. She agreed to meet me for lunch near where she lived, in Lapu-Lapu, at a Thai restaurant. The restaurant was a nice clean place with a lot of authentic Thai dishes—much better than the average Thai restaurant around where I lived in Los Angeles.

Decorations at the Thai Restaurant

The Thai food was delicious. It actually reminded me of the Thai food I ate when I was in Thailand.

Teresa whom I just met in Boracay and then randomly in Cebu.

We ordered a lot of dishes including a 5-spiced fish that I was really excited to eat. The food was excellent and it was good to get a taste of Thai food being away from it for more than 6 months. Afterwards, Teresa and I walked around the small mall the Thai restaurant was located in and got a nice coffee.

Ginesa and Arlyn get a moment to smile at Wine Shop—the owner is so anal they fear to have any personal interaction with customers.

While at the coffee shop, I got a text from HPI asking if I could work immediately. I finished my coffee in no rush and went back to HPI to work. After work, as usual, we went to the Wine Shop.

- jason

Talking to Zac

2008-09-03T08:36:00.000+08:00

Bokeh with my 50mm lens.

Went to the HPI office in the morning with Rob. I wanted a coffee so I went to Coffee Dream for a little bit. In the HPI office, I decided to do something productive and call one of my best friends in Los Angeles, Zac. He’s a Filipino dive instructor and was the primary influence for getting me to move out to the Philippines. In fact, the dive shop I work for in Alona Beach is the same one he worked for. Our chat was quite good and he seemed quite happy to hear from me. I miss him a lot.

Finger print entry required to get into HPI. Very geeky.

Work.

Mike making the tasty pork belly sauce.

Lunch at Neo Neo again with Mike. I really can’t get enough of the BBQ pork belly. The evening activities including doing the usual—going to Wine Shop.

Arlyn from Wine Shop.

- jason

No Work Then Maybe Work

2008-09-02T17:25:00.000+08:00

Waitress at Vienna Kauffehaus posing for a picture while Mike takes a bunch of pictures with his camera.

My boss for HPI in Los Angeles, Bryan, said that he doesn’t have work for me anymore in Cebu—I don’t mind a few days off. For lunch I went to a chain BBQ restaurant called Neo Neo. There I ordered squid which was okay. After lunch, I hung out at Coffee Dream and had a coffee. There I read a good article about Lomography—a photography cult who primarily use toy film cameras to achieve unpredictable and sometimes chaotic results, and whose basic philosophy is to “don’t think, just shoot.”

This article interested me because this is the type of photography shot with when I was in Los Angeles for several years. It’s a little disappointing to see how what was once a niche and alternative style of photography is now going mainstream. Reading the article really made me long for shooting with film again and shooting with my Holga, Fisheye, and Speed Graphic. Oh I miss flim. Digital can be so boring.

Looking out the window at the HPI office just catching up on things because there wasn't any work.

Mike at Wine Shop.

Martini glasses at the Wine Shop.

For the rest of the afternoon I just hung around HPI office to journal and browse the Internet. At night, I went with the usual group to Wine Shop for a few Red Horse beers. We ate dinner at Neo Neo where I ate a delicious BBQ pork belly for only 70 pesos ($1.50). After dinner, I went back to HPI to hang out even more. There, Bryan chatted with me and told me that there might be more work for me after all. Shucks, I was enjoying my freedom. Back to Wine Shop for a little bit and then home.

- jason

Back to the Office

2008-09-01T17:09:00.000+08:00

The beach looked much better than when we first arrived. Back to the concrete jungle.

Today we had to leave Bantayan to go back to work. Mike, Suzette, and I actually planned on going straight to the office to work. In the morning we paid for the room and the motorbikes that we rented the night before. By 1:30 PM, we boarded the ferry back to Cebu. At the port, our van was waiting for us to leave. During our van ride back to Cebu City, we stopped by a Jollibee fast food to eat lunch. I ordered a Cheesy Bacon Mushroom burger which took 15 minutes to make because they didn’t have any available. This is fast food?

A lake reflects hills from the road back to Cebu City.

For most of the 3 hour drive to Cebu City, everyone just slept. We got into Cebu City by 6:30 PM which is a lot later than I wanted to start work for the day. Fortunately, Rob texted me to tell me that all the local workers did all the work and there was no work to be done. This worked out perfectly because I didn’t want to spend a late night at work just after coming back from our trip.

Back in the office Annie and Momo pose for a picture. Is it grey shirt day?

After checking into the office, Mike, Suz, and I went to the SM mall where Suzette was looking for sunglasses. I ended up buying a pair of 90 peso ($2) sunglasses. I needed a “cool” pair of sunglasses.

- jason

Island Hopping Karaoke

2008-08-31T21:22:00.000+08:00

Longanisa sausage with rice and an egg.

I ate a Filipino breakfast with Mike at our resort at around noon. Shortly after breakfast we all went on our island hopping tour via banca boat. The island that we hung out on was very picturesque. Reggie brought some pork belly and chicken he bought in the morning for lunch. We snorkeled, ate a tasty BBQ lunch and just hung around the beach for two hours. The beauty of the place made up for the slight disappointment of Bantayan. After the beach, we set off to go to another island.

Rain in the distance passing by.

Banca boats parked at the beach.

Mike walking back from a little swimming in the water.

Reggie and Suzette snorkel in the distance.

Suzette taking a nap on the beach.

The second island was not as nice as the first because there were a lot of fishing boats around and debris on the beach. Also, someone was playing typical top 40 Filipino dance music really loud. I wouldn’t mind if they were playing Reggae music to give the area a more island feel; hip hop dance music does the opposite and gives the island a more urban feel.

Mike and Suzette hire horses to ride on the beach during sunset.

A young boy looks around at a mooring post in low tide.

Back on the island of Bantayan, we cleaned up and settled in a little. Mike and Suzette hired horses to go horseback riding on the beach at sunset. They enjoyed it a lot. Afterwards, everyone was really tired from the days activities so we all took a nap. At around 11 PM, we rode motorbikes to Zen Zebar again to eat dinner. The cook wasn’t around so one of the workers at the bar borrowed Mike’s bike to pick up the cook. I felt bad we had to drag the cook out but the bar had no problem with it.

Singing "3 Little Birds" with Reggie and Mike. That was a hard song.

Returning home at 5:30 AM from karaoke at Zen Zebar.

Throughout the night we just sang karaoke, danced, and drank lots of beers with some local girls. I sang “Creep” by Radiohead and also tried singing “Three Little Birds” by Bob Marley; the latter was hard to sing but it was nice to have backup from Reggie and Mike. It was a fun night and we ended up leaving the bar at 5:30 AM when the sun started rising. So much for a relaxing weekend.

- jason

Weekend Trip to Bantayan

2008-08-30T13:55:00.000+08:00

Our expensive van drive up to the port to take a ferry to Bantayan wouldn't be complete without a stop to Jollibee.

Today Mike, Suzette, Reggie and I went off to a weekend trip to Bantayan. This required us to drive for a couple hours in a really expensive van and then take a short ferry ride to the island. We arrived in Bantayan by around 4 PM and made our way to the resort. We booked one of the more expensive resorts on the island because a few people wanted to stay in comfort. When we arrived at the resort, I was a little unimpressed with the beach and the resort. The resort was average and the beach was a little dirty with mostly organic debris.

Arriving at the pier in Bantayan.

View from our resort when we arrived.

The lifeguard of the beach.

Mike and Reggie wanted to rent motorbikes which I was slightly opposed to do because it was almost night time and it seemed like a waste to rent bikes for a day rate. Since there was nothing else to do, we rented three bikes. We decided to bike into downtown to do a little exploring and to see the oldest church in the Philippines. The drive to downtown was fun and the seeing the church was nice. Downtown had a good amount of life and was fairly clean and nice. For some reason, we didn’t stay in downtown very long.

Fueled by Coke—A small store selling gasoline by the liter in Coke bottles.

Bantayan Church in downtown Bantayan. It's the second oldest standing structure in the Philippines and is made of coral.

Somewhere between our resort and downtown—which is a long distance—we ate at some all you can eat restaurant owned by a French guy. The food was diverse and quite tasty. After dinner we asked a few locals where a good bar was and they drove us to one called Zen Zebar. When we got to Zen Zebar, a girl outside greeted us and encouraged us to come inside.

The band that played at Zen Zebar was great. The guitarist really rocked it out and the singer, and her voice, was beautiful.

Inside there were no customers and the band was just hanging around. We sat down at a table, ordered some beers, and the band started to play. It was like our own private concert. The band was quite good and the manager of the bar was very hospitable. The guitarist of the band was really talented. When the band went on a break Mike and I went outside and got to meet all the band members. It was great chatting with them and learning a little bit about them. They all have different jobs during the day and are all locals to Bantayan.

- jason

Exotic Food

2008-08-29T13:43:00.000+08:00

Exotic menu—turtle, moray eel, snake, and wild boar.

We worked hard today to meet our deadline so we could take a weekend trip to the island of Bantayan. After work, Reggie took Mike, Suzette and I to a nice restaurant with more exotic cuisine. The restaurant sadly was serving turtle which I think is horrible because there’s so few in the ocean already and they seem so innocent and gentle. Some of the other exotic menu items are moray eel, sizzling snake, and wild boar. Thankfully, they also served other more normal food that isn’t as detrimental to the environment.

Mike Rama, Vice-Mayor of Cebu.

Mike Rama sings with Suzette.

After dinner, we went the Wine Shop to hang out a little. There the vice mayor of Cebu, Mike Rama, was singing. As usual, he wasn’t that good and despite this would walk around the bar singing. He even walked up to Suzette and tried to get her to sing.

- jason

Fixing my Latch

2008-08-28T16:48:00.000+08:00

This taxi driver likes grapes.

I went for my second attempt at getting my laptop lid’s latch fixed. This time I had to go to the Banilad Town Center to the iStore there which is an Apple Authorized Service center. The mall is fairly far away and a very small and boring mall to visit. At iStore, the technician was out to another mall so I couldn’t get any concrete estimates as to when the repair can be done. I was scheduled to leave Cebu fairly soon and so I was on a little time restraint.

The very bad Banilad Mall.

Work.

"Hanging rice" or "Puso" in Visaya language. Rice wrapped in leaves.

Mike, after some BBQ.

Suz having a laugh while eating some BBQ.

For dinner Reggie took Mike, Suzette, Rob, and I to AA BBQ Restaurant. The food and setup is similar to Martia’s BBQ place we went to but the ambiance was a little nicer; the food though wasn’t as good as Martia’s.

- jason

Beagles, Mangosteen, and the Devil's Cross

2008-08-27T16:54:00.000+08:00

Suz taking a good look at the beagle being sold.

Suzette really wanted to see some beagle puppies that were advertised for sale at a restaurant nearby so Reggie picked us up from the condo and took us there. The restaurant had only one puppy left which was a pure bred with all the proper vaccinations and papers. The puppy was energetic and ran all around the slippery floor at the restaurant. It was it just discovered freedom. The puppy costed about $300 USD.

The inside of the souvenir shop.

Picture of an old Filipino woman. I was interested to see how Filipinos looked like a long time ago.

Reggie next took us to a small but charming souvenir and breakfast place. The place had various products from around the Philippines including organic mangosteen jelly, coconut wine, and various other interesting little snacks. We got to get samples of pretty much anything we wanted. I’ve been looking to eat a fresh mangosteen for years since I heard about them in Belize and this is the closest to actually eating one. I bought one jar or mangosteen jelly.

A wood carving on the church door.

Statues outside the church.

Suz and I in front of the church.

Frame "666" in my camera. Also the first picture I shot of the cross. I was hoping something supernatural would happen after that but nothing happened.

A better angle of Magellan's cross.

Reggie then drove us to downtown Cebu where there’s an old church, Sto. Niño Church, that houses Magellan’s cross—a Portuguese explorer that planted the cross in 1521 to celebrate the baptism of the island chief and 500 followers into Catholicism. The architecture of the church was quite nice and I’m always interested in old things. Ironically, the first picture I took of Magellan’s cross was frame number “666” on my camera.

Oh, work.

Chicken on skewers ready to be cooked.

Reggie with his mouth full.

Rob probably picking apart his BBQ.

For dinner, Reggie took us to what he called one of the best BBQ places around. He took us to Martia’s BBQ which had all sorts of meats to be BBQ’d. The food was delicious and my favorite was the pork belly. After dinner, we went to a place to shoot some pool.

- jason

Good Food Day

2008-08-26T16:03:00.000+08:00

Taxi driver is a fan of fast cars, slow cows, and religious statues.

In contrast to yesterday, today’s highlight was all the good food I ate. For lunch, Suzette and I went back to Ayala mall where I wanted to eat at a Vietnamese/Thai restaurant I saw the day before. The restaurant is called Lemon Grass and is a clean, stylish place with fresh looking food and ingredients. It looked like a typical quality oriented restaurant from hippest parts of Los Angeles.

Chicken wrapped in leaves were delicious and well presented.

Vietnamese spring rolls were good and plentiful.

My Vietnamese pho was good with lots of fresh ingredients.

I was excited to order the Vietnamese spring rolls, a Thai iced tea, and Pho bo. The last time I ate Vietnamese food was when I was living in Los Angeles 6 months ago so it was exciting to try it again. Suzette ordered some chicken that was wrapped in some kind of leaves. The food was better than I thought it would be. It was actually better than the usual Vietnamese restaurant I normally ate at in Los Angeles. Food presentation was great and everything was tasty. Overall, the prices weren’t too expensive—sure, it was more than eating at a little family owned eatery, but it was equivalent to eating at a place along Alona and much cheaper than Wineshop.

Work.

The Lapu Lapu at KK's Restaurant was some of the best fish I've had in a while.

For dinner, Reggie took Mike, Suzette, and I to Walter’s Malaysian restaurant—KK’s Restaurant—at the IT Park area. IT Park is a clean, perfectly groomed but sterile area that reminded me of the city of Irvine in Orange County, California. The food we ate at Walter’s place was awesome. The best dish we ate was the steamed Lapu Lapu fish. It was fresh, moist, and tasty. It actually reminded me of steamed Chinese catfish. It was so good, Reggie and I persuaded Suzette to eat a piece of fish. It was only her second time eating fish and she said she liked it.

- jason

Ayala Mall and Bad Food Day

2008-08-25T15:45:00.000+08:00

Furniture at our condo.

Woke up around 9:30 AM and waited for Suz to cleanup before sharing a taxi to work. When we got into the office, there really wasn’t any work to do because we were waiting for feedback from the client about the shots we just finished. I caught up on email and general Internet things before going to Coffee Dream for a coffee.

I had a really bad cappuccino at the coffee shop. I anticipated this judging from the barista’s technique for the customer before me. I really wanted a coffee and I had nothing else to do so I requested the same fate as the previous customer. To accompany my bad coffee I had a slice of banana bread.

Parents controlling their kids at the mall.

Since I broke the latch on my laptop in Palawan, I really wanted to get it fixed in Cebu and decided it was the right time to look into this. I read that there is an Authorized Apple reseller in Ayala Mall—iStore—which meant I could get my laptop fixed under its Apple Care extended warranty. I went there to learn that they didn’t do service at that branch and only in their other branch in the Banilad Town Center mall. My typical luck of course—nothing is right the first time.

Micro-Extinguisher. Extinguishers are so small here, you can't see them.

Plastic wrapped laptops to keep them fresh.

Escalators along Ayala Mall.

Suzette eventually met up with me at the mall and we decided to eat lunch together. She chose Kenny Roger’s Roasters which I agreed to eat. I ordered the pork belly dish which turned out to be the worst food I’ve had in a long time—it wasn’t fresh, it tasted bad, and it was expensive! Suzette agreed that the place was lousy.

Out somewhere drinking Red Horse.

After work at night, Suz, Rob, and I decided to go out. Another one of the owners of the company, Reggie, came along with us. I don’t remember where we went but I do know I drank a Red Horse.

- jason

Slowly Slowly

2008-08-24T15:34:00.000+08:00

Demon-boy. By far one of the hardest photos to look at that I've shot. Around a certain street corner in Cebu, kids, mothers and their babies often walk up to your car window soliciting food or money. This kid's blank stare haunts me.

The sun rose by the time I finished working from the previous night—I worked all night. That wasn’t fun. I’m not going into work early today. I got home from work by 8 AM and slept until 1 PM. Back into work. All the shots I worked on were approved by the client. That doesn’t mean I can take a vacation now though. I helped Mike out with his shot.

Ginesa at Mike.

For dinner Suzette, Mike, Ginesa, and I went to an area called IT Park. We ate at Patio Ecila which seemed like a nice place to eat. I ate baby back ribs and a seafood soup which were delicious. Afterwards we went back to the condo to just hang out and relax. Suz’s friend from Spain met up with her at the condo and they stayed over. They raved about their experiences in Palawan and especially at a small island called Coco Loco just off Roxas. The pictures they had of the island were beautiful.

- jason

No Joy in Work

2008-08-23T15:30:00.000+08:00

The outside world from inside our condo's garage.

I had a big deadline for work today. I had to rotoscope—or trace—Hugh Jackman’s fast moving blurry hands. There was no joy in doing it.

For lunch I went to Vienna Kauffehaus again and ate the butterflied pork which was really bad. It looked completely different from what the picture in the menu showed.

The highlight of my day was calling my friend Sara in the Netherlands via Skype. I hung out with Sara in Bohol a lot and for a little more than a week we traveled around Palawan with some other friends. It was good to hear her voice and to catch up with things and how our other mutual Dutch friends were.

The wine we had at Wineshop.

I worked all day and late into the night. The only decent respite I got was dinner and some drinks at the Wineshop. Suz and I tried a wine that was on sale and was supposed to be decent. The wine we got I think was from Spain and was just okay. It was a little light and I prefer a more full bodied wine.

Working the work.

Back at work, we worked very late. While working, I realized how glad I was to have left this kind of work in Los Angeles. I really don’t have any passion for doing it and am only doing it because it will help me a little more financially. I need to save up money to travel more.

- jason

Great Food then Balut

2008-08-22T17:42:00.000+08:00

Mike at work.

For work, I finished working on one part of my shot and now moved on to making a mask for Hugh Jackman’s character. For lunch I went to Vienna Kauffehaus again with Suzette. I tried their ox tongue dish which was decent. After lunch I went to the Coffee Dream coffee shop to get a cappuccino which was surprisingly good. Now being in a major city here, I’m experiencing a lot of good coffee shops. Coffee shops that are above average from when I was in Los Angeles. It’s strange because when I first arrived in the Philippines I thought all they drank out here was instant coffee.

Rob and I, feasting on the good food at Chick-an.

A pile of chopped up lechon (roast pig). It was delicious.

Pork blood was tasty, and went well only with rice.

After work, Norman—one of the owners of HPI—organized and took us out for a great dinner. A bunch of co-workers and I went to Chick-an which was a good Filipino restaurant. The ambiance felt like a good authentic Chinese restaurant in Los Angeles. Food was well prepared, in good proportions, cheap, and very tasty. Some of the things we ate were lechon (roast pig), buttered scallops, pork blood (like Chinese style), various chicken dishes, garlic crabs, and large mango banana shakes. I thought there was little to be said for Filipino cuisine from what I experienced around, but this restaurant disproved my belief.

Back at the QC Pavilion at the "philippinelifemates.com" suite, a worker falls gently asleep.

Suz, going to light one up.

Rob, thinking really hard if he wants to eat the balut. He lost a bet with someone and had to eat a balut, eventually.

After debating about if he should eat it, the chick in Rob's balut flopped out. That made his decision not to eat the floppy, slimy, dead chick. Notice the beak and legs. It's more like a 18 day old chick than a 16 day.

Bartender Ginesa at Wineshop has a chat with Mike.

Next, we drove back to Wineshop where we had a few drinks including a Tanqueray and tonic, and some beers. The guys there even managed to get me to eat another balut! It was the hardest one to swallow this time tough because I saw how nasty Rob’s balut was. He ended up not eating his and apparently I ate a part that I wasn’t supposed to eat so I chewed on the nasty thing for about 10 minutes. Talking to others, it seems the balut I ate was more of a 18 day old (21 days they develop feathers and bones) than a 16 day. I think that’ll be the last time I eat that stuff—too nasty.

- jason

Feeling Like Poo

2008-08-21T17:41:00.000+08:00

Suzette's laughably sad looking filet mignon was more like a steak at Denny's. I felt sorry for the steak.

I got into work by 10 AM with Suzette and didn’t feel good at all. We checked in and went to eat breakfast across the street at Vienna Kauffehaus. I sought out to eat the greasiest food and to drink strongly caffeinated coffee—two things good for hangovers. The hash brown that came with my breakfast though was so greasy it was soggy. It was nasty.

At work, I didn’t feel good at all. I had the chills and stomach problems which led me to believe I wasn’t suffering from a hangover but rather I was sick with something. Slight food poisoning perhaps?

For dinner, we went to Wineshop again. Honestly, Wineshop is overpriced and the food is mediocre. The main reason why we tend to go there is because Mike likes the bartender there and it’s close by. I had a Tanquaray and tonic drink which I haven’t had since I left the US. It was good. I also drank a Screwdriver drink which was made with Tang and Ginesa gave us a free Tequila gimlet. After dinner and a few drinks, we went back to the grind of work.

I worked until 3 AM. I’m starting not to like to work late and a lot. Lately I’ve worked 12 hour workdays which reminded me of why I left that lifestyle in the first place to work out on the beach as a dive instructor. If it wasn’t for the money, I wouldn’t be doing the job in Cebu.

- jason

Good Coffee and a Singing Vice-Mayor

2008-08-20T18:13:00.000+08:00

A banner next to a construction area at Ayala mall. I think this guy forgot his smile.

I woke up around 8 AM and slowly got ready because I had a late night last night. I took a short cab ride with Rob and Suzette into work. It’s weird to talk about going into work because I haven’t had a consistent full time job for about 6 months.

The barista wasn't too happy when I took a picture of him. Suz was though.

A Bo's cappuccino. It was good. I don't remember the last time I had really good coffee. And no, there is no good instant coffee.

For lunch I went with Suzette to the Ayala shopping mall which is quite nice and modern. We ate at a Persian restaurant which was decent. Afterwards, we dropped by a Bo’s Coffee Club which is a chain of coffee shops of Filipino origin similar to Starbucks but way better. Some of you who know me regarding coffee and Starbucks are probably thinking: “Oh boy, here he goes again!”

Being a chain, I was pleasantly surprised that the people who worked at Bo’s cared about the quality and presentation of the coffee they were making. Foam was nice and dense, espresso flavor was decent, and my barista even attempted to make latte art on my cappuccino. Also, the barista’s technique for extracting the espresso was fairly good, but not perfect—he didn’t tamp the grinds hard enough and so extraction was a little too quick. I digress.

Bartender Ginesa makes good drinks and good smiles.

Rob chatting with Mike.

Suzette is obviously looking at something.

Vice-Mayor of Cebu Mike Ramo sings his songs.

I ate dinner with Rob, Mike, and Suzette at the Wineshop. There was live music where the Vice-Mayor of Cebu, Mike Ramos, sang a few songs. To be honest, he was a horrible singer, regardless, everyone—including me—applauded him afterwards and even asked him to sing more. The night was fun because a lot of other people were drunk having a good time. One drunk lady danced with Suzette and a really drunk guy kept flittering and trying to dance with her. Of course, Mike and I provoked him a little.

Suzette's finger of approval for encouraging the other girl to dance with her. Ah, she had fun.

Suzette with her new drunk friend and Aryln.

After hanging at the Wineshop, we all went back to work to work late into the night—I left by 3:30 AM.

- jason

From the Beach to the City

2008-08-19T16:59:00.000+08:00

5 AM in the morning at Alona Beach, I had to drop off the keys to Rubi, the person I was renting it from.

I woke up at 4 AM to catch the 6:50 AM ferry to Cebu. For some reason I didn’t sleep that well. Maybe too many things going through my head. I got a ride from my friend Nic to the pier in Tagbilaran. As usual, the 2 hour ferry ride was cramped, cold, but on time. In Cebu, the company I was to work for—HPI—sent a driver to pick me up.

Sunrise over construction at Alona Beach.

A person passed out from too much of something to the Police (Pulis) station.

I was dropped off at a building called the OC Pavilion where I was told to go upstairs. Despite not having a sign for their name, I was able to find the right place. Shaun, a local, let me in inside where I met another local named Jean. The studio is a small, dark, clean place lined with nice iMacs and large Wacom tablets. It mimicked a typical visual effects or creative studio in Los Angeles.

Arriving a little later, I met Rob from London who is the 2D supervisor and my friend Suzette. When Suzette arrived, we went across the street to Vienna Kauffehaus where I had a nice “native“ style breakfast including longannisa, garlic rice, a fried egg, fresh mango juice, and a good brewed coffee.

Back at the office, I learned a new rotoscoping (roto) and paint program called Silhouette and started rotoscoping my first shot. It didn’t take me long to realize that Silhouette is much better for roto than what I’ve used for the last 6 years—After Effects. The movie we were working on is ”Australia” directed by Baz Luhrmann who previously directed Moulin Rouge. It was a little exciting to work on a film that people will probably watch.

For dinner, I went with Rob, Mike, and Suzette to the Wineshop which was across the street. Everything at the place was expensive relative to anywhere else I’ve gone to in the Philippines. I ate the pork in peppercorn sauce which was decently good. After Wineshop, I planned on going home to our condo because I was tired from a lack of sleep.

Walking back to the office, I heard someone scream out my name. I looked around shocked because this was my first time in Cebu and I don’t know anyone else here other than the people I was with. To my amazement, it was Teresa—the girl I met a couple days ago while waiting for my delayed flight. Cebu is large and the chances of me randomly bumping into her are slim. Despite my tiredness, I agreed to hang out with her and Rob and go out.

Rob, Teresa and I went to an area called IT Park where Rob knew a friend, Walter, that owned a restaurant. Walter is a slightly intimidating, well dressed guy that seems to know key people in Cebu and the hip places to go. After eating a little food at Walter’s brother’s restaurant and passing by a few clubs, we settled on club Juliana’s in Mango Square.

The club was fairly good. It was moderately crowded at first until about midnight when a lot more people came in. There was a lot of dancing and people drinking at their tables. We managed to get a table and order a lot of Red Horse beer. The club was quite lively especially for being on a Wednesday night. Walter was nice enough to drive Rob and I back to our condo and Teresa home.

The condo is big and clean with fancy old looking furniture a wealthy old lady would buy. Despite being nice, the place is a bit sterile. There’s no character as the furniture didn’t match the style of the rooms. Unfortunately, there was nothing to cook with, and few plates and utensils. It felt like being in a nice college bachelor pad with three other roommates (Rob, Suzette, and Mike). The best amenity of the place was its bathroom with plenty of water pressure and hot water. Oh, and the maid that cleans the place and does laundry almost every day is a plus too.

- jason

Decisions

2008-08-18T16:45:00.000+08:00

Beach vendor strolls Alona Beach.

Toast with peanut butter for breakfast. In to work at Genesis by 11:30 AM. The staff at Genesis told me that someone was looking for me. I assumed it was Charles and Lucy who said they would be in Alona Beach by this time. While at Genesis I got a call from my friend Suzette who already went back to Cebu. She said that the visual effects company she works for there, HPI, needs help with some shots for a movie. Arriving from Cebu just a couple days ago and just meeting up with Charles and Lucy, I told her I will think about it.

Evening juggle on the beach.

I decided to go back to Cebu and to take advantage of the opportunity. I need to make up some of the money that I spent on diving and getting this job in Cebu would really help with that. It’s quite nice to get paid like I was in Los Angeles but have the low cost of living in the Philippines. I unfortunately had to tell Charles and Lucy that I was leaving for Cebu and I couldn’t go out and dive with them. They only wanted to dive if I was to do it with them. I planned on traveling to Cebu the next day which meant I had to pack, book a ferry, return my motorbike to Rubi, and pay rent and bills before days end.

New friends Tyler and Kendall hung out for dinner and drinks.

Charles and Lucy whom I first met in Boracay waiting for my delayed flight. They were really friendly and cool.

The live band at Jasz plays for an anniversary celebration.

I planned to meet up with Charles and Lucy at Oops bar at 6 PM. When they came, I met their friends Tyler and his girlfriend Kendall. We all agreed to eat dinner at Oops. Lori—a waitress at Oops—mentioned to me that because I brought four other people, I get a free dinner. I actually forgot about this instructor “benefit” and was quite happy to have it. By 11 PM, we walked over to Jasz restaurant where they were having an annual celebration with a live band. I had to go home early because I was planning on taking the early 6 AM ferry to Cebu and I still needed to pack.

At home, I packed and slept by 12:30 AM and planned on waking up by 4 AM

- jason

The 15 Minute Drive to Vacation

2008-08-17T18:27:00.000+08:00

Suz drinking a Kenneth Aria drink for breakfast. They were delicious.

I met up with Suzette and Mike for breakfast at their very expensive resort on Panglao called the Panglao Island Nature Resort. I’ve never visited the resort before and didn’t know too much about it. I drove my motorbike to the resort and when I got there they charged me 400 pesos admission to the resort. The resort was the nicest resort I’ve seen in the Philippines. I had no idea a resort like it was on Panglao.

The "infinity" pool at the resort almost merges the pool with the ocean.

A well furnished room at the resort.

Even for American standards, the resort was paradise. They had an “infinity” pool which looked like it was part of the ocean when viewed from a certain angle. The resort also had their own island, that depending on the tide, you can walk or swim to. Of course what fancy resort wouldn’t also have their own private white sand beach. Service was great, everything seemed well organized, and the amenities were well thought out. The rooms were very nicely furnished. It was odd, I felt like I was on vacation but I was only a 15 minute motorbike ride away.

Breakfast was buffet style which included both native and westernized food. There was even a chef that would cook you an omelette if you wanted. I drank a Kenneth Aria drink for the first time which was delicious. After breakfast, Suzette, Mike and I went down to the water to snorkel. I had to swim out quite far just to see some decent coral and fish. Though, in fairly shallow water, I managed to find a banded sea snake.

Tarsiers have big eyes to help them see in the night.

Suz and a sleeping tarsier.

Tourists surround the tarsiers for a easy picture. When do the nocturnal tarsiers sleep if they're disturbed by tourists all day?

Later in the afternoon I drove Suz around Bohol on my motorbike. She wanted to see the tarsier—an endangered small monkey-like primate native to Bohol. I vaguely knew where to go so driving around was also an adventure for me. We found where the tarsiers were kept in cages which was not the preferable place to see them. Though, it was the only place I knew where to find them. The place was littered with tourists taking pictures of the nocturnal creatures. I felt sorry for the tarsiers because they couldn’t sleep with all the tourists touching them and taking pictures of them.

A tarsier mother with her baby at the more eco-friendly tarsier sanctuary.

Afterwards, Suzette and I decided to be adventurous and to get lost and explore around Bohol. On a map, we found a road that eventually led back to Tagbilaran City. We vaguely knew the direction of it and just set off driving in that direction. Along the road, I spotted a tarsier sanctuary. People have told me about it before but I’ve never knew where it was. Suzette and I decided to check it out.

The sanctuary was nice in that it had some nice education materials about the tarsier and had a large area where the tarsiers stayed. In a way, the tarsiers were still caged but they were sectioned off in a much larger part of the forest. We hired a guide to walk us around and show us some tarsiers. The hike took about 20 minutes to do but was well worth it. We got to see a mother tarsier and her baby. I dont think I will ever go back to the other tarsier place.

By the time we made it back to Tagbilaran, it was almost dinnertime. I suggested that we eat Korean food in the city. Suzette agreed to try it out. At the restaurant, Seoul of Bohol, we ate Bimbimbop which I felt was fairly “normal” food for Suzette to eat. It included rice and various vegetables. Despite this, I don’t think Suzette enjoyed the food.

Boats at low tide. Low tide allows people to literally walk to the resort's island.

A distant island as seen from the resort's island.

Mike snorkeling and finding a starfish just off the resort's small island.

Sunset at the private beach at Panglao Island Resort.

Back at Panglao Island Nature Resort, Suzette wanted to treat me to the spa there. She said it was the best spa she’s gone to and really wanted me to go. If you know me, you know I’m not really a spa type of person. In fact, I’ve only gotten two massages in my life and have never been to a spa. The spa was better than I thought; it made me feel like royalty. Service was excellent and everything about it was very posh. Afterwards I felt very relaxed.

By 10 PM, I went home to my little humble house in Doljo.

- jason

Friends from Boracay to Bohol

2008-08-16T17:22:00.000+08:00

People play on White Beach.

Today I left Boracay to go to back home to Bohol. This basically required me to take a domestic flight to Cebu and then a fast ferry to Tagbilaran, Bohol. Originally, I was planning on working at a newly created visual effects company in Cebu for a few weeks before going back home to Bohol. They said that they didn’t need my help anymore so now I had to go back to Bohol.

Kenny leaves for Manila.

Packed up and ready to go. A last check before I leave my resort room.

Kenny left before me to go to Manila and then to eventually go to China. I left the resort I was staying at, La Isla Bonita by 9:30 AM. It was raining hard and I had to time my leave when there was less rain. To get to the airport, I had to take a tricycle to the dock, a banca to the main island, and then another tricycle to the airport.

I checked in at the airport to learn that my 11:20 AM flight was delayed until 1:20 PM. The airline provided a separate lounge area to stay in while I waited for the flight. The lounge was a small clean air conditioned room with a lot of chairs and a few tables. I sat at a table where I met an Australian and his girlfriend Teresa, Canadians Charles and Lucy, and Don a local from Boracay going to Cebu for a job interview.

I first chatted with Teresa’s boyfriend who met Teresa on an online dating website. Teresa was a friendly, energetic girl who lives in Cebu. They were in Boracay for vacation and now the boyfriend is going back to Australia for work and Teresa is going back home to Cebu. Teresa was going out to some clubs in Cebu tonight and wanted me to go with her. It was tempting, but I planned on going back to Bohol to see my American friend Suzette.

Sitting next to me, I also met Charles and Lucy who were really cool. They were also in Boracay for vacation and were planning on going to Cebu for a little bit and then to Bohol. I gave them some advice on where to stay and what to do in Bohol. I even told them that if they were interested in diving, I can do an introductory dive with them. I told them I was working at Genesis Divers and for them to look me up when they get to Alona Beach.

Our flight was delayed until 2 PM. Coincidentally, on the flight, I sat within a row of Don, Charles, Lucy and Teresa. Don sat one row up next to Teresa while Lucy and Charles sat in the same row as me. How odd is that in a plane that holds a couple hundred people? From the airport in Cebu to the pier, I managed to hire a really annoying taxi cab driver. Even though I made sure he used his meter only for the taxi rate, he insisted I pay him more because gas is expensive.

I got to the pier around 4 PM and the only available ferry ride to Bohol was at 6:20 PM. The port had a big lounge area with a lot of seats so I just sat around and waited. I ate dinner at a small little eatery which was okay. The ferry ride was slightly miserable. It was crowded, seats were cramped, and it was freezing cold. I couldn’t sleep and so had to resort to watching Zohan, a really corny movie.

My friend Suzette from Los Angeles and I at Oops bar.

From the pier in Bohol, I took a tricycle for 40 minutes to Alona Beach where I met up with Suzette and Mike. I didn’t recognize Mike at first until Suzette reminded me that he used to work with me. We met up at Oops bar which was having their disco night. We had lots of fun and even afterwards we walked to Trendies to hang out even more.

- jason

BBQ Coffee Drinks

2008-08-15T22:15:00.000+08:00

A great morning coffee.

Today Kenny and I really didn’t do that much. It rained hard today, but not continuously. The electricity on the beach was off so our air conditioning in our room was too. I walked around the beach with Kenny and we ate at a BBQ place where I ate fried chicken and rice for 60 pesos. I found a nicely furnished coffee shop called Cafe del Sol. The cappuccino I ordered was delicious and well prepared. It’s nice to have access to good espresso based coffee.

Dive equipment ready to be loaded onto the boat.

Kenny and I just hung around our room after lunch. I cleaned up a little and got bit by lots of mosquitos. Dinner consisted of eating at the same BBQ place but getting soup and pork belly. The pork belly was delicious. After dinner, Kenny and I just walked up White Beach where we got a drink at Zeouk Bar—a small bar with a few people at it. We befriended a local there that told us the best places to go at night.

Sunset low tide on White Beach.

The local guy we met at Zeouk Bar.

Kenny taking a nap.

After the drink, we went back to our room because it was too early to go out to the bars. There I packed a little and wrote in my journal. Kenny took a nap and we ended up just staying in our room because it was raining a lot.

- jason

Exploring to Puca Beach

2008-08-14T21:39:00.000+08:00

Eric doing the very Asian photo pose.

I dreamt I got a fancy Corvette in America. It was stressing about it though because it was too nice and I didn’t want to get rain in it or get the paint scratched. Despite falling asleep to dream, I didn’t sleep well because I was overly concerned about if Eric, Vilma and Kenny were even enjoying their vacation with me. We didn’t really do much, Eric and Vilma wanted to return to America earlier than planned, and everyone was concerned with planning what to do after the Philippines. For me, relaxing on a white sand beach is vacation—it’s what I came out here for.

Despite its reputation for being beautiful, White Beach can have its bad days too.

The ugly fences along White Beach serve a purpose at a cost of making the place look ugly.

Eric, Vilma, Kenny, and I went to the crepe place again to eat breakfast. I had the blueberry crepe which was better than the mango. After breakfast we all went back to our rooms where Kenny did his laundry and Eric and Vilma packed because they were leaving for Manila in the morning. After Eric and Vilma left, Kenny and I decided to explore and walk to Puca beach.

Walking on White Beach towards the end of it.

Willy's Rock in Station 1 of White Beach.

Kenny shooting a dead crab on the beach at Station 1.

The sun was intense, weather was hot, and Kenny and I had no idea where we were going. We basically walked in the general direction of Puca beach from a map we read somewhere previously. After walking 2 hours in the hot sun and up hills, we found Puca beach.

Puca beach is famous for their Puca shells which can only be found at Puca beach. At the beach, locals are often seen collecting the shells.

Puca beach was a lot more quiet and cleaner than White Beach.

The beach is a nice white sand beach that’s not infested with ugly bamboo wind walls, annoying vendors, and too many tourists. Kenny and I walked around, took pictures, and ate at a small place called Ton Ton. I had a delicious fried squid adobo dish. Kenny and I decided not to walk back to our resort and instead treat ourselves to a tricycle ride.

We shared a tricycle with a Japanese girl and her platonic English friend. They were an odd pairing and if they were actually together it would look strange. Kenny and I went back to our room where we hung out until dinner time drinking some rum and Coke. For dinner we ate ramen at a Japanese restaurant called Hama. The ramen wasn’t anything special and is definitely nothing to write home about; though in a way, I’m kinda writing home about it in this blog.

"Station 1" at Boracay. The three different sections of Boracay beach are actually quite different in character. We stayed at Station 3 which is the quietest part of the beach. Station 1 was the most beautiful.

Shooting pool at Summer Place.

After dinner Kenny and I wanted to experience some good Boracay nightlife since we missed the opportunity when we fell asleep in our room the day before. We asked around and ended up walking up to “station 1” part of the beach—northern section with a bigger beach and more disco clubs. There we hung out at Club Paraw which had less happening than a Barnes and Noble bookstore. It had nice music though and the bartender made us some nice strong drinks. After a few drinks, Kenny and I walked to “station 2” to go to the recommended Summer Place.

There we watched a live band and shot some pool. At the bar, we sat next to some girls that we started talking to. There was some flirting going on until Kenny signaled to me that we had to leave. Kenny told me later that the girls we were talking to were actually bayats—lady boys. Damn, that was too close.

- jason

Powerless Midgets

2008-08-13T21:34:00.000+08:00

Veronica and Susan post piercing.

It rained all day which kinda sucked. On top of that, power was out along the beach in order to save electricity. In the morning, I desperately wanted a nice strong coffee but couldn’t get any because the power was out. Veronica, Susan, Kenny and I ate crepes at a small restaurant along the beach. I had a mango crepe which was better than I thought it would be.

Because none of us wanted to hang out on the beach in the rain, Kenny and I went back to our room. There I wrote tried catching up with my journal and when I got sick of doing that I watched a BBC film called Deep Blue. Seeing life in the ocean made me crave going diving again. I wanted to get out of the room now.

We got a hold of Eric and Vilma and we all went out to walk around the beach. The others needed to looking into booking some flights to other places so we went to a tourist center. Afterwards, Kenny and I walked over to a bar called the Hobbit House. I was told this bar is set up like a Hobbit’s house based on the Lord Of the Rings and all the waiters are midgets. To be honest, I wasn’t too impressed by the bar as I only saw one midget; I think we went to the bar too early.

The very unimpressive "hobbit" from the Hobbit House. Good idea, bad execution.

Storm clouds in the distant.

Just across the Hobbit House, Kenny, Eric and Vilma and I ate dinner at a burger place called “Bite Club”. There, I ate a half pound burger and fries. It was good especially for being out here in Philippines. While eating, the others mention that they prefer “cities” rather than beaches or mountains. I thought they wanted to come out here to be on nice white sand beaches and away from the city! I hate cities, especially Manila, and haven’t heard anything good about Cebu. I begin to feel that they haven’t enjoyed their trip. I wish they told me they preferred cities beforehand.

Back at my room, Kenny watches a movie—Suicide Circle—with Vilma and I. I try to stay awake but fall asleep watching the movie; that’s normal for me though. Kenny takes a nap after the movie because we planned on going out to a bar or something later in the night. His nap turns into sleep and I fall asleep too. We never made it out to the bars that night.

- jason

Immigration, Piercings, Tattoos, and Rain

2008-08-12T17:33:00.000+08:00

Some people have the "half empty" type of attitude. I'm more the "all empty" type when it comes to Tanduay rum.

Since I couldn’t get my visa extended in Tagbilaran because the Immigration office was closed, I had to do it in Boracay. Kenny and I walked to an area in Boracay called D*Mall where we found a nice little modern market with a meat department. It was the cleanest market I’ve seen here in the Philippines.

Boats not usually seen around Philippines a frequently seen on Boracay.

Wood on beach.

Unfortunately, a majority of Boracay's beautiful white beach is occluded by ugly fences to reduce wind, rain and to shade the annoying vendors.

Nearby lake just off the beach in Boracay.

Extending my visa for another two months was fairly painless. The air conditioned room was the best part of the experience. The officer helping me wasn’t very nice and had the sense of humor equivalent to a brick. After the Immigration office Kenny and I met up with Eric and Vilma to eat lunch at a Korean restaurant. The bimbimbop wasn’t as good as another Korean restaurant in Tagbilaran.

Apparently, Boracay has the "best transvestite show in the world".

Pinoys in the sand.

Camping on the beach.

The rest of the afternoon I spent with Kenny looking for a good free wireless Internet spot. It was a chore and we had to settle for just using some Internet cafe. I wanted to use my laptop because I needed to upload photos for my blog.

We met up with Veronica and Susan later in the day and saw that Veronica got her lower lip pierced and Susan got the bridge of her nose pierced. Susan decided to let the two piercings in her nose she got the day before seal up; what a waste, all that pain for nothing. Well, I guess you learn a lesson or two. In addition to the piercings, Susan got two tattoos on her wrists.

Kenny at Yellow Cab Pizza.

The evening was quite uneventful because it rained a lot. We ate dinner at Yellow Cab Pizza which is a chain restaurant. The 18 inch pizza was enough to satisfy Eric, Vilma, Kenny, and I. Back at my room, I passed out by 9 PM.

- jason

Exploring Boracay

2008-08-11T17:31:00.000+08:00

Lifejacket demo. I couldn't have done it any better.

I slept better than I thought I would in the overnight ferry. In fact, I was quite happy we took the ferry because we didn’t need to find a place to stay in Tagbilaran. The ferry arrived in Cebu at 3 AM but we were able to stay onboard until 6 AM.

Boracay beah is a nice fine white sand beach with vibrant turquoise color water. It looks like uh, a postcard.

Eric, Vilma, Kenny and I planned on going to the airport and booking a flight to Boracay island. We took a 10 AM flight to Boracay and once there found a room at La Isla Bonita for 700 pesos/night total. I shared a room with Kenny while Eric and Vilma had their own. It was nice being in an air conditioned room. I found out about La Isla Bonita because Veronica and Susan, who went to Boracay ahead of us, said they are staying there.

Susan anxiously awakes her first piercing.

Susan's second piercing after the first one was pierced in the wrong location.

We all had lunch on the beach with Veronica and Susan. Susan had an appointment to get her nose pierced in the afternoon and we all went with her to watch. It was painful to watch the piercing as the man stuck a needle through her nose and then seeing Susan cringe and scream. After the first piercing, Susan wasn’t happy with the position of the ring and had to get it done again in a slightly different location. This was even more painful than the first and bloodier.

My spaghetti dinner, "cooking".

Kenny, enjoying his balut—fertilized duck egg.

In the evening Kenny and I hung out at our room with a Red Horse beer and some rum and Cokes. Veronica and Susan joined us and we managed to finish off a full liter of rum and Coke. For dinner we ate at a small vender stand on the beach that had the worst spaghetti I’ve had—it was pre-made that was just reheated in a small oven. For the rest of the night, we just walked around the beach, got a few more drinks, Kenny ate a balut, finished off another bottle of rum, and eventually swam in the sea sometime after midnight. Good times.

- jason

Diving and the Rush of Traveling

2008-08-10T12:07:00.000+08:00

Warning signs in the bunk room of the ferry.

I had a busy schedule today because I had to do a dive with Eric in the morning to afternoon and then get ready for a trip with Eric, Vilma, Kenny and I planned to Boracay. We needed to be at the pier in Tagbilaran by 4:30 PM which meant we had to leave Alona Beach by 4 PM.

I did an intro scuba dive with Eric this morning because he wanted to see the local reef at Alona Beach. He dived before, but needed a refresher on some skills he’d forgot. Eric did fine in the water as he’s comfortable in it. We dived at the local Sanctuary in the early afternoon which was quite nice. We first descended into the shallows to make sure he was comfortable. Then, we went over the wall and descended right above a large school of jacks. It was awesome and he was impressed by all the fish. At the end of the dive, he seemed quite happy to have done the dive.

2 PM: After the dive, I had to clean up, drive back to my house, and pack for our trip to Boracay. Everything was a little bit of a rush. Preparing for a short trip to a local island is easy but I was planning on possibly staying in Cebu after Boracay for a job my friend in the US got me in touch with. I planned on being away for about a month so I had to give my landlord an early rent check, clean up my place a little, and pack most my stuff sans scuba gear. After packing, I drove back to Alona Beach where I had to go to the bank and drop off my motorbike to Rubi who I was renting it from. Too much to do in too little time.

A restaurant near the pier during sunset.

We were able to take a van at 4 PM to the pier which was a lot faster than taking a tricycle. At the pier, all the ferries were sold out and 5:30 PM was the last scheduled trip to Cebu. What do we do? Someone we met mentioned taking an overnight shipping boat over to Cebu. This didn’t sound that comfortable to do but it was our only logical option. We decided to take a boat that would leave at 10 PM and arrive in Cebu by 3 AM but we can stay and sleep on the boat until 6 AM.

Eric buying tickets to the overnight ferry to Cebu. The ferries are actually large cargo ships with bunk beds.

There was about 4 hours of time before we could board the boat. We “killed time” by eating dinner at a Swiss restaurant and taking a tricycle to BQ mall where we watched the latest Mummy film. The movie was cheesy, the theater was cold, and I fell asleep in most of the movie. Back at the pier we boarded the boat which was a large cargo shipping boat with hundreds of bunk beds. It was clean and comfortable enough to sleep in.

- jason

My Birthday

2008-08-09T11:58:00.000+08:00

The surprise birthday cake.

Today’s my birthday, and there’s no better place to spend it than in the city of Tagbilaran at the Immigration office. Kenny and I planned on going to Tagbilaran in the morning to renew our visas, get money at the bank, vaccinations at the hospital, and to try out Jollibee—the McDonald’s fast food chain of the Philippines. I normally avoid fast food unless forced to eat it but since it was my birthday, I decided to try something different and make an exception.

My first "Yum" burger at Jollibee—the Filipino equivalent of McDonalds.

We got to Tagbilaran by around 11 AM and were already hungry. Our first stop was Jollibee where I had the 1/3 pounder hamburger with fries and a soda. It took about 15 minutes to get our food because they had to cook it which actually wasn’t a big deal. I like cooked food. The burgers were okay and weren’t as bad I heard them to be. Generally, Filipinos like Jollibee better than McDonalds while foreigners like the opposite. I personally like McDonald’s better because Jollibee puts a sweet sauce in their burgers which doesn’t taste good with the salty meat patty.

After lunch we went to the local ATM to get money and then walked to the Immigration office. My luck, the Immigrations office was closed because it was a weekend. I haven’t had much luck getting to banks and government offices on days they’re open. It’s no big deal, I have time to renew my visa and Kenny’s visa was already expired.

A doctor preparing the HepA and B shots for Kenny and I.

The next chore I needed to get done was to get my last HepA and B vaccination shot. I drove Kenny and I to Ramiro Hospital where I eventually found my way to the doctor’s office I previously used to get vaccinated. That doctor wasn’t in because it was the weekend and she takes a half day. I found another doctor who was friendly to talk to and gladly administered the shot to me. Kenny decided to get the shot also because he planned to travel to other Asian countries after Philippines.

After going home, changing and cleaning up, Kenny and I met up with Eric and Vilma at Alona Beach by 4 PM. We decided to eat dinner with Veronica, Susan, Mae, and Ren at the best Italian restaurant around Alona—Kamalig. Food was good, we had drinkable wine, and Mae and Ren bought a cake for me. I was very surprised they went out of their way to get me a cake. Good friends and good food—good times.

Mae and Ren went out to get me a cake from Tagbilaran. I was pleasantly surprised.

Susan shares her cake with Kenny. Sharing is caring.

Ren and I continue the celebrations at Oops.

Celebrating Swedish style.

Eric and Vilma at Oops.

After a great dinner and little birthday celebration, we walked over to Oops bar to get a few drinks and to go to the disco there. Sander joined us. Fun, fun, fun, times.

- jason

Snorkeling Olympic Style

2008-08-08T20:48:00.000+08:00

Masks and snorkels hanging to be dried at Genesis.

Hangover.

Eric, Vilma, and Kenny drove motorbikes to the Chocolate Hills while I stayed around Alona Beach and worked. Felt really lazy today. While passing by Coco Vida, I sat down and chatted with Yoeri and Barbara mainly about my crazy annoying landlord. They agreed with me on how odd and illogical she is.

Sitting around during the day.

There wasn’t much to do at Genesis but I hung out there and wait for customers. I got a lot of mosquito bites while there which was discouraging because I thought I was finally immune to them. I was sick of sitting around so I got my fins, mask, and snorkel and snorkeled out far to a buoy. I love being in the water, and need to take advantage of where I’m at—beautiful white sand beach with warm water. Surprisingly, on my way to the buoy, I saw a small moray eel in only a meter deep water. Cool.

Kenny and Veronica watching the Olympics at Oops.

Happy hour Olympic rum and Cokes.

Olympic Swedish drunken dancing.

At night Kenny, Eric, Vilma, Veronica, Susan, and I all met up at Oops to watch the Olympics opening ceremony. I had zero interest in watching it. After Oops, at around 11 PM, Kenny, Eric, Vilma and I set of to go to a disco club—Laser—in Tagbilaran. Sander was going to join us but didn’t. We hired a van to take us out to the city because we didn’t want to worry about drinking and driving back late.

The disco was better than I thought it would be. Fairly good music, lots of locals dancing around, and it was cheap to get in. We stayed out dancing late into the night and then took our van back to Alona Beach.

- jason

Bite Me at Mag-Aso Falls

2008-08-07T16:26:00.000+08:00

There were some beautiful rice fields along the way to Mag-Aso Falls.

In the morning, the maid where I live gave me a note from my landlord saying that she wants to charge me 100 pesos/day more for having Kenny stay at my place. I previously agreed to her to pay extra for utilities, not rent. I wasn’t too happy that she wants to charge me almost 50% more in rent.

Kenny and I met up with Mae, Ren, Eric and Vilma in the morning because we planned on going to Mag-Aso falls about an hour motorbike away. I’ve never visited the waterfalls and I was happy to have Kenny, Eric, and Vilma see something new. The motorbike ride was fun except for driving in traffic in Tagbilaran.

Ren takes a look at the falls from above.

Ren and Mae spar at the falls.

Eric checks out the water at Mag-Aso Falls.

Vilma at Mag-Aso Falls.

Kenny, magically floating on the water.

A caretaker of the area who cleans up leaves and litter.

View of Mag-Aso after climbing a really slippery, steep, and scary cliff.

The waterfalls was fun and refreshing. The waterfall wasn’t impressive in any respect but swimming around in the water was nice. However, all around the water there were a lot of small, gnat-like bitting insects. It was bearable at first but by the time we ate lunch the flies almost literally drove me insane. We moved to higher ground away from the water but that didn’t help much. The only thing that helped was to constantly move around like a lunatic. We left early because the biting flies were too annoying.

Eric taking an evening smoke.

In the evening at around 6 PM, Sander, Veronica, Susan, Kenny, Eric, Vilma, and I met at Oops bar for dinner and a couple beers. We sat around Oops until midnight, of course.

- jason

Fishing Fish

2008-08-06T16:24:00.000+08:00

Susan and Veronica take a nap between dives. Such hard work it is.

In the morning, I tagged along on two dives with Noel to learn more about the dive sites and so I can be more effective at guiding. We took the big boat out to the Arco and BBC dive sites. Veronica and Susan came along on the boat along with some other guests.

The dives went well and I learned a lot about where certain fish were and where to go. My buddy for the dive was Trevor who hasn’t dived in a while. I kept a close eye on him and made sure he was okay; that instructor part of me. Throughout the dives, we saw some nice sea life including scorpionfish, a uniquely white nudibranch with orange spots, giant moray eel, several smaller moray eels, and a walking and fishing frogfish—fishing by waving his “lure” around trying to attract prey. The fishing and walking frogfish was the coolest thing—I’ve never seen that in person before.

Peeking for the shot.

The resident Genesis cat gets a pet from Vilma.

Later in the evening Kenny, Eric, and Vilma got massages while I just hung out and “worked” at Genesis. Dinner we all went to eat lechon manok (BBQ chicken). Back on the beach, I went to Coco Vida to plan with Mae our trip the next day to Mag-Aso falls in Bohol.

Cheers.

Of course, the night wouldn’t be complete without going to Oops bar for some happy hour. Kenny and I went with Veronica and Susan where we drank way too many rum and Sprites. While we were there, we met Robert and Lidia who are divers at Genesis and who joined our table. Robert is a free diver while Lidia is a glass blower. We stayed at Oops even until after they closed up and turned off all the lights.

Susan decides to sit in the waves.

Kenny carrying Susan away into the sea.

Veronica frowning in the late of the night.

- jason

Eric and Vilma Arrive and More Peanut Throwing at Swedish Girls

2008-08-05T17:17:00.000+08:00

"I love LSD", remnants from the night before.

I’m surprised by how many friends from Los Angeles want to visit me out here in the Philippines; it’s really cool actually. Today, my friends Eric and Vilma from Los Angeles were scheduled to fly in and arrive at Alona Beach by around 9:30 AM. Kenny and I decided to wait for them at Coco Vida. By 10 AM, Eric and Vilma arrived and everyone was happy.

Eric after just arriving from Los Angeles.

Vilma after traveling from Los Angeles.

It was good to see Eric and Vilma. I haven’t seen or talked with them since a few days before I left for the Philippines in February. They were up for about 24 hours since they left their house and were tired and hungry. We decided to eat breakfast at Hayahay where we mostly ate their Filipino breakfast. After breakfast I helped them look for a place to stay by walking up and down the beach. After going to a few resorts, they settled on a place off the beach.

Kenny and I agreed to meet back up with them by dinner time while they cleaned up and got some rest. We ate dinner at Pyramid grill on the beach which was nice. We had lots of fresh grilled fish. Afterwards we went to Oops bar, got a table and had some happy hour rum and Cokes. We saw Sander, Veronica, and Susan eating there and they joined our table after they ate dinner.

Ammo.

Sander demonstrates the very Filipino raise your shirt expose your belly to cool yourself technique.

The Oops girls.

There are Swedish massages, and then there are Swedish hugs.

Sander gets a Swedish foot in your face kick.

Eric happily chilling after some rum and Sprites.

Good thing Susan had head protection.

Sander sucking, uh, Susan's leg.

Susan lighting it up with the oil lamp. Use what you got.

After several rum and Sprites, someone started throwing peanuts at each other again. Eventually, we goofed around so much, Lori, a waitress at Oops, told me to “behave.” Fun times at Oops bar. By midnight, we left and went home.

- jason

Working Happy Hour Swedish Style

2008-08-04T17:25:00.000+08:00

Pulling the boat out and onto the beach to drain required lots of people.

I decided to go to work at Genesis today because I felt bad I haven’t worked there in a while. Kenny wanted to go out to ICM mall and to the Hinandago Cave on Panglao. I was happy that he wanted to explore a little of Bohol because I didn’t want him to be bored sitting around Alona Beach with me when I had to work.

Sander poses for a portrait because he complained I posted too many bad pictures of him.

There wasn’t much going on at Genesis so I walked over to Coco Vida to go into the Internet. Genesis has Internet but it’s not wireless, and whenever I use the line inside I always get bit by mosquitoes. At Coco Vida, I called my friend Chie in Los Angeles via Skype. My call was completely unexpected and she for a while didn’t believe it was me. I love hearing my friend’s reaction when they realize it’s me. It was good talking to Chie and catching up on things. It’s good to hear she is doing well.

Unscrewing the drainage screw was almost as big a chore as lifting the boat out onto the beach.

I went back to Genesis to see if there was anything to do. The whole staff was trying to push one of their boats onto the beach in order to drain it of water. I helped out but I’m not sure how much I really helped. Eventually, we did get the boat on the beach. This was the hardest I worked today.

Sander pets the new resident Genesis cat.

Hanging around Genesis with Sander, I meet two Swedish girls who are staying and diving with Genesis—Veronica and Susan. They’re nice to talk with and very friendly. Sander, Veronica, Susan and I went to Oops bar for a little happy hour and dinner.

Susan drinking a SMB with a snorkel mouthpiece she bit and broke while diving.

My rum and Coke actually tasted salty after a while. I didn't finish it.

Kenny and the Swedish girls.

We got a little silly after a few happy hours.

Veronica and I happily at the bar at Oops.

Later in the night Veronica, Susan, Kenny and I migrate to the bar at Oops and order a few rum and Cokes. After drinking through two different happy hours, we get to a point where we start throwing peanuts at each other and each other’s drinks. Then, for some reason unknown to man, I asked the bartender for a permanent marker. Everyone started writing random, and sometimes obscene, phrases on each other—“I love Ikea”, “I’m drunk”, “Dive deeper”, etc. Ah, good times.

Kenny drove home.

- jason

Calling Julia and Doing More Wala

2008-08-03T13:34:00.000+08:00

Kenny, waking up at Coco Vida.

Today I did more of doing nothing other than hanging around Alona Beach. I ate oatmeal for breakfast again. Early afternoon, Kenny and I drove to Alona Beach to just bum around. We basically hung out at Coco Vida for several hours. There though, I managed to call my friend Julia in Los Angeles via Skype.

Ren working the day shift at Coco Vida.

The mother of the fluffy cute dog lots of people like on Alona Beach.

Sander walking back from the boat after a dive.

I love cold calling friends with Skype because they have no idea who is calling them because the caller ID they see says something unusual. When I called my friend Julia, she had no clue who I was. When she found out I was calling her, her hysteria was laughably entertaining. Talking to Julia was the highlight of my day as for all I did the rest of the day was hang out at Genesis and watch the sunset. Don’t get me wrong, sitting on the beach is quite nice in itself.

- jason

Wala - Nothing

2008-08-02T00:36:00.000+08:00

Toasting bread. At first, I realized I didn't have a toaster. How do you toast bread without a toaster? Throw it on the pan I guess? It seemed to have worked out.

I tried to make swirly coffee foam art with my instant coffee and creamer; similar to latte art on espresso based lattes. It's nice, though, it dissipates too quickly. Plus, it's instant coffee so it tastes bad.

That's what happens when you bump a flimsy plastic table with instant coffee on it.

I did almost nothing interesting today. Actually, to think of it, I did nothing interesting today. Try not to fall asleep reading this. For breakfast, I made toast with peanut butter and scrambled eggs. I then watched some TV. Wrote in my journal. Went outside to pet the dog.

Rambo, the dog, after I pet him.

I have two can openers which are horrible at opening cans; or, the cans are horribly designed to accommodate the openers. Regardless, I had to butcher my can to open it.

At 3 PM I cooked corned beef from the can and ate that with an egg and garlic rice. Kenny ate it with me which I’m hoping he was okay with. Journal. In the late afternoon, I got so sick of journaling I tried to watch TV. There was nothing on TV so I went back to journaling. I tried something different and started reading the “The 4-hour Workweek” book.

The book was interesting and was more interesting than I thought it would be. I don’t normally read books but this one caught my interest because it’s something I want to try doing and that I’ve witnessed someone else do. It talked about figuring out a way so that you can work only 4 hours a week (or less) by outsourcing most of your work and automating it. It talked against the idea of working hard to save up for retirement; instead, it suggested taking mini-retirements as you work at something you like doing. For me, this is pretty much what I’m trying to accomplish.

Sander looks on to the dance floor during Oops disco.

Kenny and I decided to go out and have a little social life and go to Oops bar by 10 PM. We missed happy hour so we went to Coco Vida. Later we met up with Sander and stayed around for the Oops bar disco. That was about the most interesting part of the day.

- jason

Briefly, Party Eating Balut

2008-08-01T18:55:00.000+08:00

Briefly

Day off

Bought eggs across street

Paid rent

Made pancakes

Laundry

Swam in pool

Journal

Instant noodles for lunch

Kurt’s farewell party at Genesis

Ate lechon, fish, and lots of other things

Drank punch, SMB/Tanduay/Coke drink mix Filipino style

Ate 16 day old balut

Oops for a Jaeger shot

Threw up

Drank liter of water

Coco Vida, ate another balut

Kenny drove home

Amore, posing again and probably laughing at me.

Lechon, or roast pig, was delicious. The best part is the crunchy skin but the moist meat is also tasty.

Mixing the beer, rum and Coke concoction and drinking it Filipino style—one glass, one shot per person, passed around.

The man of the hour, Kurt.

Luer, drinking some of the concoction.

Kenny tries some of the strong but fruity punch.

Nic approving of the night.

The 16 day old balut (fertilized duck) I ate. If it weren't for the dark and being a little drunk, I don't know if I would have eaten it.

Kenny takes eats a balut. He actually liked it. I thought it was okay, but a little chewy.

Amore and Ren late in the night at Coco Vida.

Kenny finishing off balut number 2.

Dive "Guiding" and Fishing

2008-07-31T18:30:00.000+08:00

Oatmeal—breakfast of champions. Simple, tasty, healthy, and cheap.

Today Kenny and I dived the Arco and BBC dive sites where I was guiding the dives. I’ve dived the sites several times before but several months ago and as a customer being led by a guide. Now, I was the guide, and wished I paid more attention to where my guide was going at these dive sites. To be honest, I only knew vaguely where to go so I had to get lots of direction from Noel who was leading another group.

I decided to bring my undertwater camera so Kenny can play around with it and we can document his dive.

Head spin breakdancing underwater.

Kenny exhibiting perfect buoyancy. He must have had a good dive instructor.

Kenny exhibiting bad buoyancy though at least he's resting and not overexerting himself.

Despite my lack of direction at the dive sites, the dives went well and Kenny and I got to see a lot of life. At Arco, we saw a lot of white eyed moray eels, a big green moray eel, two lionfish with one swimming midwater, a scorpionfish, and several nudibranchs. At BBC, we didn’t see as much interesting sea life but had a lot of fun playing around in the sandy areas. During our dive, I dived in the wrong part of the wall (deeper than 12 meters) and so we entirely missed the Jeepney wreck that was at 12 meters deep. Oh well.

Captain Fredo killing his catch.

Eric grilling freshly caught fish on the boat.

Between dives, everyone at lunch on the boat. The boat crew generously invited Kenny and I to eat with them. I was excited to eat more like a local. On the boat, the crew brought a bowl of charcoal which they managed to heat up and turn into a BBQ. While they were waiting for us to finish our first dive, they fished for lunch with just fishing line, a hook, and bread dough. Captain Fredo and Eric caught several small Sergeant Major fish. They grilled the fish directly on the charcoal and we ate them with rice and soy sauce using our hands. Surprisingly, they were very good. I’d never thought I would eat a fish I could buy at an aquarium store.

Back at Genesis Giso hands me my first pay check as a dive instructor. I only had two Open Water students and one guided tour. Despite the little amount of work, it’s enough to pay for my house and motorbike rent for the month. This dive instructing job just might work out alright.

The very beautiful Amore, probably laughing at me.

Evening activities included eating dinner with Kenny and Sander at Alona Tropical resort which I’ve never ate before. Food was good but a little pricey. Post dinner we went to Oops Bar for happy hour and then Coco Vida where we talked with Vonsh and Amore a lot.

- jason

Balicasag Diving and Certifying Ross

2008-07-30T17:23:00.000+08:00

Ross relaxes after a day of diving and finishing his course.

It rained a lot in the morning and was worried about the dives scheduled for Ross’s course. Thankfully, the rain let up and the day became a cool overcast day. I did the last two Open Water dives for Ross’s course at Balicasag Island, which was awesome. Visibility was great and among other things, we saw a moray eel and a great berracuda. Ross did well in all his required skills. I love dive instructing on these types of days—beautiful scenery and relaxing dives.

Kenny surfaces just after a dive.

Kenny is happy to be on the boat.

Kenny sleeping during our lunch time break.

Kenny decided to go on the boat to Balicasag with us but was buddied up with Noel. Noel has a fun personality and is great at finding small things underwater. I was glad Kenny came out especially on a nice day of diving. He seemed to enjoy himself and was impressed by Noel’s low air consumption.

Ross goes over some of the sea life we saw at Balicasag.

Sander finds a new cellphone and load to go with it.

When we got back to Genesis, I did the final paperwork for Ross and he was a certified Open Water Diver. Not only was he excited about it, but I was too because it marked my first student at Genesis I didn’t know beforehand. After hanging around Genesis a little bit with Kenny and Ross, I went to Coco Vida with Kenny until dinnertime. For dinner I made my only Filipino dish I know to make—chop suey.

Night shooting rain and lightning.

The sauce came out too thin because I didn’t thicken it long enough. Regardless, the food was good and I guess Kenny enjoyed it too. Later in the night it rained very hard and Kenny and I took the opportunity to try taking photos of the rain and lightning.

- jason

Work with Ross and Greg's Birthday

2008-07-29T15:42:00.000+08:00

Girls from Genesis staff broom the beach of debris.

Today I scheduled to do Confined Water (CW) 4 and 5, and Open Water Dive (OW) 2 with Ross today. I met up with Ross in the morning at Genesis. Before the dives, as usual, I went over his homework and explained anything he didn’t understand. He then watched some videos and did a quiz. The dives went fine and about the only problems was Ross having problems with his leaky mask.

In the afternoon we went on Ross’s Open Water dive 2 where we dived at the House Reef. The dive went fine and there was a lot to see and we even managed to avoid any Titan triggerfish. After the dive I gave Ross his final exam which he did fine on. After I cleaned up, I just hung out at Genesis and then went to Coco Vida to go on the Internet. Greg and Kenny were hanging out there so I joined them.

Waiting for dinner at Powder Keg.

Greg taking a shot at Trendies.

It was Greg’s birthday so we celebrated it by going to the Powder Keg restaurant for dinner. Kenny came along as well as Emma, Greg’s girlfriend. Dinner was good but took some time to get to us. This was expected though so it really wasn’t a big deal. After dinner, we walked down to Trendies to shoot some pool. Greg seemed like he had a good time as he did everything he wanted to do for the night.

- jason

Working with Ross, Eating Like Gluttons

2008-07-28T20:22:00.000+08:00

The lonely gecko at my house.

I was awake by 7 AM today to prepare and meet up with my OW student Ross at 9 AM. While preparing for class, I noticed there was a small, almost unhealthy looking gecko sitting near my side door. I thought it was dead but it was alive. Kenny made bacon, eggs, and toast for breakfast.

I went to Genesis by 9 AM, made an instant coffee and went over Ross’s Knowledge Review 2 and 3 homework. He did well in it and only made a few stupid mistakes. Afterwards we went over to Hayahay where I had him watch the corresponding videos to his homework. I went to Coco Vida and to go on the Internet while he watched the videos. When Ross finished the videos I had him do the quizzes for sections 2 and 3. So much classwork, but, he had to do it.

In the early afternoon, I did Confined Water dives 2 and 3 with Ross. As usual, we did shallow water skills in the shallow and then moved out to deeper water to do the other skills. It’s a little of a challenge to sequence the skills in the proper order so the student doesn’t do a shallow water skill in deeper water, vise versa, or a complex skill before learning its sub-skills. PADI sequences the skills by requiring the instructor to do each CW session in order—one, then two, then three, etc—but the skills within each session needs to be sequenced by the instructor. That was confusing probably, but, I’m to lazy to explain it better.

Ross generally did well on his skills in the water. He had a few minor problems that were easily fixed by a little repetition. Though, there were a few instances that I learned not to assume everyone knows how to do even the simplest things I’ve taken for granted. For example, for some reason, Ross had a problem securing his fins on his feet. He could never tighten them enough so that his fin straps would stay on.

For the deeper CW skills, we went to an area where there was a 3 meter deep sandy area adjacent to a reef wall which went to a depth of about 20 meters. At the surface, before we swam to shallower water to descend, Ross casually tells me his fin fell off. “What?“ I say out of disbelief. I look underwater,and see one of his fins slowly descend towards the deep blue water off the side of the wall. I tell him to stay at the surface, put my regulator in my mouth, deflate my BCD, and descend about 3 meters to fetch his fin. After the CW dives, we went back to Genesis and hung out with Kenny and some others.

While chatting at Genesis, the topic of Ross teaching English in Japan and Korea came up. This naturally led to the topic of how good Korean and Japanese food is. Kenny and I both got the craving for eating either one of the cuisines. I miss the great food in Japan. Since there isn’t any good, known Japanese restaurant in Bohol our only option was Korean food. In the Philippines, there’s a fairly large population of Korean people. I asked Giso, the owner of Genesis, who’s lived here for about 20 years, where there’s a good Korean restaurant. He suggested trying a new place he’s only seen an ad for—Seoul in Bohol.

Some of the best Bimbimbop Kenny and I have eaten and it's in the Philippines!

Kenny and I decided to let our stomachs lead the way and so we drove all the way to Tagbilaran for dinner. I’ve never on my own driven to Tagbilaran for dinner so this was a first. The place was easy to find because there was a big bright colorful sign advertising it. Inside was very nice with dark wood furniture and a clean atmosphere. The restaurant is almost certainly Korean owned which was encouraging.

Kenny and I ordered like gluttons. We ordered bulgogi, kimchi pancake, soju, and a bimbimbop for each of us. In addition to those dishes, we got 6-8 small dishes of appetizer-like dishes and a soup. Kimchi was good. The soju was nasty because it tasted like rubbing alcohol but it got better along with food. Overall, all the food was good except the bulgogi which wasn’t grilled but boiled. The bimbimbop was the best Kenny and I have ever tasted.

Pay, then go home.

- jason

A Busy Day at Work

2008-07-27T12:36:00.000+08:00

Just before sunset, from Trudi's restaurant.

I had to wake up early to be at Genesis by 8:30 AM to begin Ross’s Open Water (OW) course. Oatmeal for breakfast as usual. I was running late to work and had to get gas for the motorbike. Sounded like a stressful morning but really, it wasn’t all that bad. When I got to Genesis, Ross was already there reading his OW manual.

I casually made an instant coffee, and went over his Knowledge Review (KR) answers—questions about the section the student just read—from section 1 that I assigned him yesterday. Any questions he got wrong I had to explain the answer to make sure he understood why he got it wrong. It was simple. Afterwards, I had him watch the video corresponding to the last section he read. While he watched the video, I wrote in my journal at Coco Vida.

I scheduled a Confined Water (CW) dive with the boat crew initially at 11 AM, but we were running late, so I changed it to 11:30 AM. By the time I briefed Ross and we suited up, we were again late into the boat. I felt bad for the boat crew because they strictly eat lunch from 12 to 1 PM and don’t like to get interrupted. Ross and I did some simple skills in shallow water before going into deeper water.

When walking out to a sandy spot in the shallows, Ross was overly concerned about stepping on a sea urchin so I was excessively concerned to point out any I found. There was a good amount of surge in the shallows which made it difficult to stay in one place. Ross though had no problem clearing his mask and recovering his regulator. Thankfully, Ross was comfortable underwater.

In deeper water, Ross’s mask frequently leaked and fogged up. Lucky for me, he was able to easily clear his mask and wasn’t too bothered by it. After doing some skills, we swam around the reef to get him more used to swimming around. Even in the deeper water, there was a good amount of surge because it was low tide. We surfaced after about 40 minutes underwater.

For lunch, I ate a chicken fillet sandwich which is my new favorite dish from Hayahay. Not only is it tasty, but it’s only 100 pesos. After lunch, I debriefed Ross and we scrubbed his mask with more toothpaste so it wouldn’t fog up anymore. Mask manufacturers put a protective film on the glass of masks to protect it but it prevents the mask from defogging. At 2:30 PM, I went with Ross on his Open Water dive 1.

The first Open Water dive doesn’t require any skills to be performed other than general diving skills. In other words, the first dive is a “fun” dive. We went to the Sanctuary dive site which is close by and a fairly straight forward dive as long as there aren’t any aggressive Titan triggerfish. We started the dive off slowly in the shallows and eventually swam over the water to deeper water. I did see one Titan triggerfish but it ignored us because we were too far away. Visibility was bad and there was a decent current. To avoid any further triggerfish encounters, I swam away from the wall.

Ross’s mask frequently leaked which concerned me during the dive. I always worry that others aren’t having a fun time underwater and feel bad when it’s spoiled by equipment that should work correctly. Every time Ross cleared his leaky mask he would ascend about a meter and then attempt to deflate his BCD. He did this regardless of his BCD being completely deflated. He wasn’t overweight because he would still sink. Why was he doing this? 37 minutes underwater and we surfaced to big swell—it felt almost like swell in Southern California.

Back at Genesis, we cleaned up and I debriefed Ross on his dive. He told me that when he looked like he was deflating his BCD it was just his way of descending a little after he cleared his mask. It’s a little weird to do it that way, but, well, I guess it’s better than him thinking he’s underweight. For homework, I told Ross to KR 2 and 3 and have them ready tomorrow.

After work, I went to Coco Vida to go on the Internet and meet up with Kenny. For dinner we went to Trudis’ where I ordered a broccoli and squid dish. It was cooked in a Chinese style sauce and was delicious. After dinner we went home, watched a little TV, and I fell asleep by 7:30 PM! I’m getting old or something.

- jason

Out One Student, In Another. Disco!

2008-07-26T12:15:00.000+08:00

Ren lights one for Kenny.

Today was Kenny’s last two Open Water dives (3 and 4) for his Open Water course. After he completed these dives, he will qualify to be certified. I signed us up the day before to go on the big boat out to Balicasag Island. When we got to Genesiis in the morning though, there weren’t enough people signed up for that boat to go so we went to the Kalipayan dive site at 9:30 AM instead.

For the dive at Kalipayan, I wanted to have Kenny do the Controlled Emergency Swimming Ascent (CESA) skill but couldn’t find a suitable vertical ascent line. This line is a requirement for the skill. I had to do this skill on the next dive I guess. During the dive, we did all the required skills in the shallower water before going over the wall to 18 meters deep. I’ve dived the dive site several times before but couldn’t remember what direction the dive guides always go. I decided to go left with the wall being to my left. The dive turned out to be fine and among other things we got to see a sea snake, sand eels, and nudibranchs.

After the dive Kenny and I hung out at Genesis for lunch. I ate instant noodles which I previously bought for the longer boat ride out to Balicasag Island. Additionally, I drank a lot of free instant coffee. While sitting around and waiting for the next boat to go out for Kenny’s last skill dive, someone came into the shop whom I helped out. The man was looking into signing up for an Open Water course and ultimately decided to sign up with me. Wow, another student, pretty consistent work. He wanted to start today but told him we couldn’t and that he can start tomorrow.

At 1 PM, I went out with Kenny on his last Open Water skill dive. We went to the local Sanctuary dive site which we’ve dived several times before. In the shallows, he was able to do his skills easily. We swam over the wall and to the left to about 18 meters deep. Swimming along, I noticed a Titan triggerfish in front of us who was looking and swimming toward us. These triggerfish are known to aggressively defend their nest by attacking divers where they can bite chunks of flesh out of people, through their wetsuits.

I slowed down, put my feet forward. Kenny looked back at me and I signaled to him the sign for triggerfish. He turned around, put his legs forward, and the triggerfish aggressively attacked him. While it kept on attacking him I tried signaling to him to swim back. The triggerfish was frightening looking as it attacked him and would occasionally look at me. We must have swam 30 meters before we were out of its territory and turned away. I signaled to Kenny that we should go the other direction—towards where we started from.

Going the other direction I noticed another triggerfish swimming around but it didn’t see me. I was debating whether to go above the wall and out to avoid it or sneak by it hoping it wouldn’t see me. I decided to sneak by it. Looking around, I didn’t see it anymore and proceeded to swim cautiously forward. Out of nowhere, I the triggerfish darts towards me and scares me causing me to flinch. Quickly I turned my fins toward it and swam away. I signaled to Kenny to ascend over the wall and out. We cautiously ascended and surfaced. Even at the surface I checked below to make sure it wasn’t still looking at us.

Back at Genesis, we hung out with Luer, Sander, and Kurt. I debriefed Kenny and filled out the remaining paperwork for his certification. Kenny was officially PADI Open Water Scuba Diver certified! My first full Open Water course (my first did all his homework online beforehand) and course at Genesis. It was a landmark occasion for both of us. We celebrated with beers of course.

Dinnertime, Kenny, Sander and I went to Powder Keg restaurant. I was a little reluctant at first because the last two meals I ate there weren’t that good. I ordered the calzone that Sander said was good—I trust his opinion on food. Of course, the calzone was good and just enough. I finally found something at Powder Keg that I like.

After dinner, Kenny and I drove home to clean up. I took a shower, relaxed, and reviewed some PADI standards in preparation for my Open Water course with Ross, my new student. Ross will be my first Open Water student I’ve not known beforehand doing a full Open Water course at Genesis. It seems like with every student there’s something new.

Sander sporting his new pink hair clip.

Mae balancing with my large helmet.

It’s Saturday, which of course means disco night at Oops bar. Disco doesn’t really get going until around 11:30 PM so Kenny and I decided to hang out at Coco Vida before disco. We went there by around 10:30 PM, had a few drinks, took pictures of the bartenders, and then went over to Oops by 11 PM. At Oops, Sander joined us, someone gave us peanuts, and we started throwing them at people. Of course along with the peanuts we had a few rum and Cokes.

Laser light disco Filipino style at the local basketball court.

Shortly after 2 AM, Kenny, Sander and I decided to go to a disco that was happening at a basketball court nearby. I felt it would be good to go because Kenny hasn’t experienced a typical Filipino disco before (Oops doesn’t count). The disco simply was an outdoor basketball court setup with large speakers, a DJ, and dancing lights. Kenny and I had to pay admission even though I don’t think there was an official entrance fee. The “bar” was a folding table with bottles of San Miguel Beer under it.

The disco was moderately crowded but fun. Of course, the Filipino top 10 dance music comprising of “Low Low Low”, “Superman that Ho”, and “Dangerous” helped get the dance floor moving a little faster. Kenny managed to impress a group of Filipinos with his good dancing moves. I had a good time and I think Kenny did as well. We left the disco sometime around 3 AM. Fun times.

- jason

Writing, Calling and Diving

2008-07-25T17:43:00.000+08:00

Genesis boat being used to transport used tanks and other things.

Today we took it nice in slow in the morning. I made breakfast which was peanut butter on toast and coffee. Ants got into my Jif peanut butter container! It was no big deal removing the ants from the peanut butter though because all I had to do was put water in the peanut butter container and all the ants floated to the top. The peanut butter is oil based so it didn’t mix with the water.

At my house, Kenny and I wrote in our journals a little before going out. We wanted to go out to Coco Vida fairly early though to make some phone calls over the Internet to a few friends back in the US. The last time I tried calling a lot of friends via Skype, only one of them answered because the number that was displayed on their phones was suspiciously unknown. I called one of my best friends, Jeremy, who is in Los Angeles and said the next time I call him he’ll answer.

Talking to Jeremy and hearing his stories of what has happened with him and our mutual friends was refreshing. Though a lot seems to have changed over the past 6 months, there were still a few things that haven’t which reminded me of the good old times. Hearing my friends’ voices and mannerisms I’m familiar with makes me feel like I’m in the same place as them. It brings back the past and reconnects it with what has happened since. Talking with someone you haven’t heard from in a long time and finding out everything new about each other is exciting. I don’t miss America but I do miss my friends.

Early afternoon, I scheduled Kenny to do his Confined Water Dive 4 and 5. There weren’t many skills to do and Kenny was able to do them in very little time. For the rest of the dive, we just swam around the shallow reef enjoying the sea life. It’s good experience for the student to practice their buoyancy and general underwater skills. Kenny, though, didn’t need much practice and looked very comfortable underwater. After the dives, we just cleaned up and hung around Genesis a little bit where Kenny did his final exam for his course.

At around 6 PM, we went to Oops for a short happy hour. Shortly after that, Kenny and I went home relatively early. At home, we eventually made some rum and Cokes and went swimming with them in the pool. We casually chatted and then it started raining very hard. Nice night to take a break from all the happy hours at Alona Beach.

- jason

Ants, Internet Phone, Farewell Kimoko

2008-07-24T16:56:00.000+08:00

Kenny, studying hard..

I woke up around 8:20 AM and made toast and oatmeal for breakfast. Surprisingly, ants infested my large bag of oatmeal while I was eating breakfast only about an hour after I left it out. Do these ants not eat anything in the wild? I had to store all my food—uncooked rice, oatmeal, and spaghetti, sugar, etc—into my refrigerator. The ants even infested a jar of used cooking oil. Oddly, they don’t try to infest my jar of Nescafe instant coffee; at least they have good taste.

I drove alone to Alona Beach because Kenny wanted to walk (8 kilometers) and take pictures along the way. I got to Genesis by 9:15 AM to see if anything was going on but nothing really. I hung out at Genesis for a little while before going to Coco Vida to use their Internet. Using Skype, I tried calling several friends in the US to say: “hi” and catch up but the only person that answered their phone was my friend Rob.

It was exciting hearing Rob’s voice, catching up with him and our circle of friends. I miss all my friends and family but I’m glad I’m not in Los Angeles anymore because everyone there generally seems stressed about something. It’s repulsive, and makes me want to stay abroad even longer—further justifying my decision to leave America. Life out here in the Philippines is a lot more slower paced and carefree. I talked to Rob for about 18 minutes and then I called Cathay Pacific Airlines about rescheduling my return flight back to the US.

My return flight back to the US is scheduled to return in 5 days—July 29. I can extend the ticket for up to six months (Feb. 12) for a fee of $350 and the ticket booking will be open. This, to me, is the best option since I don’t know exactly when I would want to visit Los Angeles again. Most likely, I will visit around December for the holidays.

Bored from being on the computer too long, I went to Genesis to work and help out with anything. Sander was there and so chatted with him. Kenny came along and “worked” on his bookwork for his course but ended up sleeping a whole lot. He needed to finish reading some chapters before we could get back into the water.

Praying mantis hanging at Genesis.

Someone found a large praying mantis around the reception area of Genesis. I’ve always liked praying mantis’s ever since I was a kid and never saw one in its own environment. Interesting! I hung out at Genesis until the evening when Kenny and I decided to go home and cook some spaghetti to save some money, chill and relax.

Dinner of champions.

Early night, Kenny and I went to Coco Vida to hang out before going to Oops bar. There we got some rum and Sprite drinks and played a few games of foosball with my friend Lawrence who works at Coco Vida. I thought I was decent at playing foosball until I played against Lawrence. The first game we bet on a drink to the winner of the game. I lost by one point and bought him a beer. The second game I lost by 7 points out of 10.

Kimoko, after a few drinks.

Chi-Chi and Lawrence at Coco Vida.

By around 8:45 PM, Kenny and I went to meet up with Kimoko at Oops bar because it was her last night in the Philippines. Greg and Emma joined us and we just hung out at the bar drinking lots of rum and Cokes. It was good to party with Kimoko before she left. She drank a lot and was very happy; I feel sorry for her though because she had to leave for her flight at 5 AM the next morning. By 1 AM, Kimoko went back to her room and Kenny and I went to Coco Vida to see what was going on there. We hung out there until 2 AM and then went home. A late night but a fun one.

- jason

Working Internet Calling Vilma

2008-07-23T18:41:00.000+08:00

Rain leaked into Genesis and soaked some papers.

I spent the most of the morning writing in my journal. All my free time I have I'm trying to devote to writing in my journal and catching up. A daily journal is hard to keep up to date because if you just miss one day you're already behind. It's nice though, because you get to look back on your days and take note of the subtle things that one would normally forget. For the remainder of the morning, I reviewed some PADI standards for Kenny's Open Water course.

By noon, Kenny and I went to Genesis because he needed to do some exams and his second Open Water dive at 1 PM. The dive was a nice dive at the Sanctuary where we saw mackerel, a school of jacks, and a school of yellow fin barracuda among other things. After we cleaned up and i debriefed him on his dive, we went to Coco Vida to get on the Internet.

My mom told me that my credit card company has been trying to get a hold of me and they say it’s important. They sent me a letter and gave me a collect phone number to call. To prevent having my credit card put on hold, I decided to call my credit card company using the Internet based calling technology Skype.

I have to say, calling using Skype was easy and exciting to use. Skype simplifies calling internationally by providing all the country codes and weird symbols when you dial; I’ve never really understood calling internationally. Calling rates are also very cheap, and paying for calls is as simple as just crediting your Skype account. Skype has made something so difficult to do here in the Philippines—calling—a lot easier. I couldn’t be more excited. Damn, I sound like a Skype advertisement. Ok, I digress.

So, I called my credit card company’s fraud protection service. They were concerned about some purchases I made in Puerto Galera at Asia Divers and El Galleon Resort. I wish I could tell them that I didn’t make the purchases because they were relatively expensive—diving, courses, and costs for all the food I ate at El Galleon during my stay. While its good that credit card companies try to protect their customers from fraud, it’s a little bit of a hassle to continually tell them you’re abroad and that the transactions are normal. They’re like a parent that worries too much.

Palm trees near my house at sunset.

Kerstin and Kimoko at Oops bar.

For dinner, I went to Oops bar with Kerstin, Kimoko, Sander and Kenny. Besides my usual reasons for going to Oops—eating and happy hour—I wanted to say goodbye to Vilma because it was her last night living in Alona Beach—tomorrow she’s moving to Tagbilaran because she’s expecting a baby soon. It’s sad to see her go but life moves on.

San Miguel Beer (SMB)

Vilma and I on her last night at Oops for a while.

- jason

Tag and a Busy Day at Work

2008-07-22T09:29:00.000+08:00

Rambo, one of the dogs at home.

Today is the regional holiday—“Bohol Day”—which apparently nobody knows why its celebrated. It’s not unheard of in the Philippines to have holidays that are almost made up and or changed out of convenience. I went to Tagbilaran with Kenny at 9 AM to get a run errands. Kenny also needed to exchange some money and I told him that someone showed me a good money exchanger in the city.

"Bohol Day" in Tagbilaran.

We went to the Bombay Money Exchanger that was no better than the money exchanger in Alona Beach. It was a little disappointing because my friend that told me about them before was reliable in everything else. After getting some money exchanged, we went into BQ mall to buy the power converter, some towels, and then get a massive amount of food including vegetables, pork, ground beef, pancake mix and other things. We left Tagbilaran by 11 PM which was the shortest time I’ve ever spent in Tagbilaran. At home, Kenny cooked a noodle, vegetable and pork lunch. It was good and quick to make.

Lunch. It tasted better than it looks.

After lunch we went to Genesis because I planned on doing Confined Water dives 2 and 3 with Kenny at 1 PM. I briefed him on what we were going to do before going into the water. We went out to a buoy where the depth of the sandy bottom was only about 3 meters. There we did all the skills required and then did some other skills in the shallow water on the way back to Genesis. Considering it was my first time doing these Confined dives in the ocean, I was surprised everything went well.

Greg lounges on the beach with Kenny and I watching the sunset.

Teddy, the resident dog at Genesis enjoys the sunset with us.

Back at Genesis, after we cleaned up, we grabbed some chairs, some beers, and just sat in the sun on the beach. It was a nice end to the busy day at work. Greg found us and joined us on the beach too. While we were relaxing, Luer went off mountain biking so I was in charge of any dive related inquiries at Genesis. I actually helped a person.

By 6 PM, Greg, Kenny, Kimoko, and I went to Hayahay for dinner where everyone had pizza while I ate a squid adobo. Post dinner, we went to Oops bar for a happy hour San Miguel Beer (SMB). Once the rain subsided a little, Kenny and I decided to go home to avoid driving in the rain. At home, we made some rum and Cokes but I was so tired I went to sleep right after I finished my drink. A busy day at work so I fell asleep by 7:30 PM!

- jason

Rain, Work, Eat, Drink

2008-07-21T14:24:00.001+08:00

Instant coffee in the morning.

Kenny looking like a mango, enjoys a mango juice at Hayahay.

Coffee in the morning. Kenny and I planned on going to Tagbilaran in the morning but it was raining a lot so we didn’t. I really didn’t feel like getting too wet again. By 12:30 PM, we went to Alona Beach and ate lunch at Hayahay. We went on the Internet at Coco Vida where I had a calamansi juice and a banana shake. Kenny did a couple chapters of book work for his Open Water course and then we went back to Genesis where I gave him his first two quizzes.

Lin poses at Coco Vida.

We just hung around Genesis with Luer, Sander, and Kerstin. When it was happy hour time at Oops, Luer, Kenny, Kerstin, Greg, Greg’s friend Tomoko, and I went over there for whiskey sour drinks. I’ve never drank one and I’ve also never had a drink with Luer before; I guess it was a historic day. The drink was good but a little too expensive to have often. Tomoko is a Japanese diver out here for vacation that was very friendly. For dinner, we walked over to Pyramid Grill where I ate grilled chicken, chorizo sausage, and garlic rice. Kenny pigged out and ordered about twice as much food as me.

Vilma

The dinner made me really sleepy and so we went to Oops bar for only one round of rum and Coke then home.

- jason

Open Water Dive, Cold and Tired

2008-07-20T13:52:00.000+08:00

Today, I tried something new—I made oatmeal and coffee for breakfast. It may seem painfully boring to eat but I actually still enjoy it. Its simple to make, tasty with brown sugar and butter, is good for you (without the brown sugar and butter), and gives me a good amount of energy. After breakfast, I went with Kenny to Alona Beach.

I hung out with Kenny at Coco Vida to go on the Internet while he was watching the PADI Open Water video. We had some time before his Open Water Dive One at 1 PM. For lunch, I ate noodle soup at Genesis which was quite good and cheap. It really hit the spot because it was a slightly cool day. Just before I went out with Kenny on his Open Water dive, I briefed him on what we will do. The purpose of the first Open Water dive is just to get the student used to the water so there really isn’t any skills; it’s a fun dive.

The dive was great. We went to the Sanctuary dive site a minute boat ride from Genesis. There was a lot of fish and visibility was great; among other things, we saw a school of barracuda, a large grouper, and a needlefish. Kenny of course had no problems underwater. When we got out of the dive, I was actually a little cold because the sun wasn’t out and it was raining a little. I think it was the first time I’ve ever felt cold in the Philippines. I didn’t bring a towel to dry off with nor an extra set of shorts.

While waiting around Genesis trying to dry off, I was pleasantly surprised to see Greg visit me. The last time I saw Greg was in Puerto Galera while I was getting my instructor certification and internship. Greg left Puerto Galera to start up his own dive resort in Malapascua. Unfortunately, there was management issues with the owners of the resort and Greg had to close shop. Now he is planning on living in Bohol as a dive instructor with his girlfriend Emma. It was great to catch up on things. Its also nice have a good friend that is staying around more long term as opposed to traveler friends that leave after a couple weeks or months.

Kenny and I decided to drive back home to clean up and dry off. I never like sitting around wet despite it being hot or cold. After we cleaned up at home, we went back to Alona Beach where we ate dinner at Kamalig with Greg and Kerstin. After dinner we went to Oops for a few happy hour drinks and then to Coco Vida where I began falling asleep.

- jason

Kenny - My New Student Disco

2008-07-19T14:21:00.000+08:00

Vonch, an instructor that grew up in Switzerland that now lives in Philippines. His hair reminds me of Bruce Lee.

Kenny made breakfast using instant noodles, eggs, and leftover ground meat. I made coffee. Breakfast was good. Just before we left for Alona Beach, I finally talked with my landlord about our noisy night swimming. She wasn’t as mad as I thought she would be and just told me what I already knew. She doesn’t want anyone she doesn’t know to use the pool or anything at the house. She seems quite paranoid about other people which is obvious from her two guard dogs and gated in house.

At Alona Beach, I checked in to Genesis to see if anything was going on but there was not much happening. I didn’t feel like just sitting around so Kenny and I went to Coco Vida to use their Internet. Kenny ate some pancakes while I worked on my journal. At 1 PM, I ate lunch at Coco Vida.

Kenny wanted to buy a mask, snorkel, and fins so I went with him to Scubaworld. There he bought a Tusa “Liberator” mask, snorkel, and small snorkel fins using my instructor discount; I think he’s benefitting more than me by me being an instructor. We then went to Genesis to hang out.

At Genesis, we met a nice German girl named Kerstin who was staying and diving with Genesis. Fairly spontaneously, Kenny signed up for an Open Water Scuba Diver certification course with me. Even more spontaneously, he wanted to start immediately and jump in the water. I gave him some books and had him fill out some paperwork. It was already a little late in the afternoon to start—3 PM—but we managed to setup his gear, go through a Discover Scuba briefing and do the first Confined water skills in the shallow water before it got dark. I at first thought I might need to prepare for the lessons beforehand and didn’t want to start the course so quickly but it all turned out fine. I think having previously done the instructor internship at Asia Divers has helped me prepare for my courses a lot more.

Like my first Open Water student during my internship, Kenny was completely comfortable and confident at what he was doing in the water. And again, I felt a little silly demonstrating skills to him that I knew he could do if I just told him to do it. He wanted to move quickly through skills while I wanted to move slowly to be sure I was doing everything correct and according to PADI standards. I needed some time to stop and think because I’m still new to this.

For the Confined Water session, I was used to and trained doing them in a swimming pool. Genesis doesn’t own a swimming pool so we had to do it in the shallow water ocean with “pool-like” conditions, in front of Genesis. PADI terms this a Confined Open Water environment. We did some simple skills in a shallow sandy area that was no more than 1.5 meters deep then swam far out to a distant buoy. It was a pain swimming out to the buoy because it was low tide and we had to go through sea grass with a lot of sea urchins in it.

The area around the buoy was nice though because of a large sandy bottom and lots of fish. Visibility was great and I have to admit it was the best damn “pool” I taught in. About the only thing about the area around the buoy that resembled “pool-like” conditions was the relatively shallow depth of 3 meters. After Kenny did his required skills, we swam around the area so he could practice buoyancy control and to get used to diving. Kenny did really well in the water. We swam back to Genesis where we cleaned up and hung out and decided what to do next.

Rums and Cokes.

Kenny and I decided to eat lechon minok (BBQ chicken) at a local eatery with Kerstin. We were hungry so we ordered two whole chickens with rice and a large San Miguel Beer. Food was good and it turned out to be the perfect amount. After dinner, we drove home where I cleaned up a little and reviewed the PADI standards and procedures. I needed to figure out what skills to teach Kenny tomorrow and maybe do a little planning for the course. Kenny and I decided to go back to Alona Beach to Oops before happy hour was to end at 10 PM. We ordered a full set of rum and Coke to get the evening started. Sander and Kerstin hung out with us at Oops bar. Later we went to Coco Vida and then back to Oops.

- jason

Flat Tire Snorkeling Batman Landlord

2008-07-18T13:59:00.000+08:00

Kenny getting ready for the day.

I woke up with a hangover from the night before. Kenny did his laundry. We decided to leave for Alona Beach by 10:30 AM. While we were leaving my place, the landlord’s helper told me that the landlord was very mad. It was no surprise to me and wanted to offer an apology but she wasn’t around. When we got to my motorbike, we noticed that the rear tire was flat. We decided that Kenny and Mae find a ride to Alona Beach while I find a person to repair the flat tire.

At vulcanizing shop getting my flat tire patched.

You can’t just simply go to the local gas station to get a tire fixed. You have to find a shop that advertises itself as a “vulcanizing” shop. I went to the local gas station to ask where I can find a vulcanizing shop; there was one across from the church. I had no idea how much a flat tire fix normally costed so I had to text Mae about it. She said it should cost about 40 pesos. I paid 100 pesos because there were two holes in the tire.

Alona Beach water looked good.

When I eventually made it to Alona Beach, I met up with Kenny at Coco Vida. We decided to walk to Genesis and go snorkeling in front of it. We swam quite far out until the shallow reef tapered off into deep blue water. The water was warm, clear, and generally beautiful. Back near shore though there was an unusual amount of debris on the surface of the water. After snorkeling, we hung around Genesis a little bit and then went to eat lunch at Hayahay.

Early in the afternoon, Kenny and I decided to drive to Tagbilaran to do a little shopping and maybe watch the new Batman film. We went to BQ mall and was about 10 minutes too late to see the film. We decided to watch the next showing and to just shop around at the computer, hardware, and department store in the mall. At the mall, I noticed I got a text message from my landlord asking when I planned on being back at the house so she could talk with me about our noisy night in the pool. Is it that much of an emergency? Around 4:30 PM we went to the theater to watch Batman.

Timing to watch a movie in the theater is a little tricky. The cinemas here tend to play the previous showing up until only like 10 minutes of next showing. This is bad because if you go into a theater too early, you might accidentally spoil it by seeing the ending. We went into the theater about 10 minutes before our showing only to see the credits from the last showing. The film was good but wasn’t as good as I thought it would be. I’ve been looking forward to the film for a long time and just think my expectations were too high.

After the movie, we decided to drive back to my place where I was planning on talking to my landlord about the noisy previous night. She sent out another text to me which was hard to understand because it was really broken English. Not surprisingly, she basically complained about how noisy we were late in the night and how she doesn’t want me to bring guests over. I was getting a little nervous about what she wanted to talk about because she’s making such a big deal out of it. While driving home, I noticed that we had another flat tire on the same tire I had patched today.

Since Kenny didn’t think it would be safe for both of us to be on the bike while we looked for a vulcanizing shop, he ran ahead while I drove the bike. After several blocks and lots of asking around, we found a place. The mechanic said that we needed to replace the inner tube with a new one. I didn’t mind to do this because at least I will know the tire is fixed.

At Oops chilling out during happy hour.

Happy hour!

Kenny playing Genga with Marilen.

When we got home my landlord didn’t want to talk because she was busy watching TV and it was a little late at night. By 9 PM, Kenny and I decided to go to Alona Beach to partake in the Oops bar rum and Coke happy hour. We started off with a total of six rum and Cokes. At Oops we played Genga and then went off to Coco Vida for a few more drinks.

- jason

1st Day of Work, Kenny, Trouble

2008-07-17T15:31:00.000+08:00

My new office on my first day of work. Life's a beach.

Today I was excited about the arrival of my friend Kenny who is visiting me from the US. Like me, he quit his job in Los Angeles and decided to take an extended amount of time traveling around and exploring. He was scheduled to arrive in Tagbilaran at around 6 or 7 PM and I planned on meeting him at Coco Vida. In the morning, I cleaned up my place a little because Kenny was planning to stay at my place. I got an inflatable mattress from my landlord for him to sleep on.

After I ate lunch at home, I went to Alona Beach to go to work at Genesis. At first, I wasn’t really sure if I needed to there at any particular time. I noticed Sander pretty much makes up his own schedule as to when he wants to go in. From my understanding, I can go in whenever I want to unless I have something scheduled with a student or diver. Of course, if I don’t go into work I can’t get work from customers. I definitely like the casualness and non-bureaucratic nature of the job.

Since I wasn’t sure exactly when Kenny was arriving, I decided to go to Coco Vida early at around 4 PM. There I just went on the Internet and wrote in my journal. By 7 PM, I heard a loud noise and saw a big smile; it was Kenny! He arrived and still had all his bags with him. It was the weirdest feeling seeing a friend from back home out in the Philippines with me. I immediately bought him a rum and Coke.

Kenny and his first Tanduay and Coke.

I introduced him to all my friends at Coco Vida including Mae and Ren. He was so excited to actually meet them because he’s only read about them on my journal. With a few rounds of rum and Cokes, we caught up on a little on what’s been happening in Los Angeles for the past 5 months since I’ve left.

After Coco Vida, Kenny, Mae, Ren and her two friends, and I went to Trendis to shoot some pool. I ordered a large beer to share with everyone. On the pool chalk board at Trendis I noticed Martine, Sara, and Erich’s name still written on the board; seeing their names was nostalgic. Behind the bar, I noticed a schedule of movies that Trendis shows everyday.

Remnants of my good friends Martine, Sara, and Erich playing Killer before they met me in Palawan.

What caught my eye was that they scheduled to show the movie “The Big White” which was a film I did visual effects for at my last job. It’s a movie with a lot of good well known actors, a good story, but never sold to a major studio so it went straight to DVD. I was surprised to see it on the list because I haven’t heard of anyone who’s heard of the movie. I would have never imagined to find the movie being shown in the Philippines.

Mae taking a shot at Trendis.

While playing pool, one of Ren’s friends had issues and left abruptly. Ren followed and so it was just Kenny, Mae, and I playing pool. We played for a long time and well into the night. It was raining so we tried to schedule a time where we could leave without getting too wet. I cautiously drove all three of us back home on my motorbike. It was a little scary to do in the rain with two others and Kenny’s large backpacks. Back at the house, we decided to go for a swim in the pool. My landlord wasn’t too happy about us in the pool at 1:30 AM and complained we were too noisy. Oops.

- jason

Tagbilaran and My New Job

2008-07-16T15:29:00.000+08:00

Into Tagbilaran.

I needed to go to Tagbilaran today to get a haircut and buy some supplies from the grocery store. Laura mentioned she wanted to go to the city to take pictures of people so I agreed to meet up with her at 11 AM at Alona Beach. There, we hired a tricycle to take me to BQ mall and to take her to Ramiro Hospital. I walked around BQ mall looking at CDs at the music store and iPods at the computer store.

Stamp maker in Tagbilaran.

At about 12:30 PM I met up with Laura for lunch. We ate at a Mongolian BBQ Bowl fast food restaurant where I ate a spicy pork bowl. It was good but not quite enough for me. I can’t really complain though because it was only 58 pesos for my lunch. After lunch, I went to the grocery store to get food and miscellaneous supplies. Laura went out to take more pictures. Laura met up with me at McDonalds where we went outside to hire a tricycle back to Alona Beach.

The painfully slow tricycle ride with Laura.

The tricycle we hired was painfully slow. I honestly think that I could have gotten out of the tricycle and ran faster than it. Definitely, if I had a bicycle, I could have pedaled faster than the tricycle. Despite having all my groceries in my bag, I went to Alona Beach and hung out at Genesis for a while.

At Genesis, Luer officially tells me that I can work at Genesis as a dive instructor. I was very excited. He was very casual about the whole thing and made me think that I should have expected it. There was no official paperwork or orientation; I was just part of the crew now. Sander was kind enough to orient me a little with how they work and Mike was nice to offer me the opportunity to hang out with him in any of his courses.

Bella the guard dog.

I couldn’t stay long at Genesis because I had perishables in my backpack so I went home and cleaned up. For dinner, I cooked a lot of spaghetti with the beef I just bought. I had a lazy night of watching TV and journaling a little. Only a few hours after I cooked dinner, I noticed my dry rice was infested with hundreds of ants! I didn’t know ants like uncooked rice; I guess they’re truly Asian ants. I stored my rice in the refrigerator.

Ant rice.

- jason

Errands and Wine Headaches

2008-07-15T13:14:00.000+08:00

Coconuts and debris litter the beach.

For breakfast I made toast and scrambled eggs. For all of the morning I just tried catching up on my blog journal. For lunch I at instant noodles which is cheap and good. I decided to go to Coco Vida to use their Internet to email, journal, and catch up on news. I also needed to figure out what’s my best option for either rescheduling or canceling my flight back to the US. My original return flight back to the US is scheduled on July 29, 2008, which I know I won’t be making.

Unfortunately I couldn’t find any way to reschedule my flight online at Cathay Pacific’s website. I had a bad experience dealing with local travel agents and airlines and wasn’t looking forward to dealing with it. Calling places is difficult and expensive in the Philippines and it looks like it’s my only option for me to reschedule my ticket. If calling in the Philippines was relatively inexpensive, communication would improve, and doing things would be more efficient. Damn phone companies.

At Coco Vida, Ren loves to pose for the camera.

After doing my errands at Coco Vida, I walked over to Genesis to see if anyone wanted to eat dinner. I met Laura along the way who was going out to eat dinner. She really wanted to try out Kamalig, an Italian restaurant which is one of the best restaurants around. There I had two glasses of red wine, pork steak in pepper sauce, salad, and mashed potatoes. It was a great dinner.

I had a couple drinks with Laura at Coco Vida until I got a headache. I don’t normally get headaches while drinking but think it was the two glasses of wine. I was surprised because I used to be able to drink a bottle of wine on my own—about 5 glasses—just fine when I was back in the US. After Coco Vida, we went to Oops bar but I didn’t have any drinks because of my headache. Home to sleep.

- jason

Friends, Photography, and Guns

2008-07-14T13:01:00.000+08:00

Eggs over buttered toast. Yum.

I woke up around 7:30 AM. It was nice not having a schedule where I needed to be anywhere at anytime. My morning was slow and lazy. I decided to make toast with an egg “sunny-side-up” on top. I’m not sure where I got the idea for this from but I think it was from the movie V for Vendetta. It’s an English thing I think. I realized I don’t have a toaster. How do you toast bread without a toaster? Ah, I’ll use a frying pan.

Breakfast was very experimental. I melted butter on the pan and put a slice of bread on it and turned up the heat. The butter soaked into the bread while the outer part of the bread became crispy. The dish turned out surprisingly good. I love discovering simple and satisfying dishes to cook. For most of the morning I just stayed home to journal and relax. Slowly slowly.

By 1:30 PM I walked down the street to look for a motorbike driver to take me to Alona Beach. I wanted to see my friends there and pick up my motorbike I was renting from Rubi. I didn’t find any motorbike drivers on the road so I stopped by a small snack stand (sari-sari store) to ask where I can find a motorbike driver. The guy behind the counter offered to drive me for 100 pesos which I bargained down to 80 pesos. He closed and locked up his shop and drove me to Alona Beach. I later found out I should have only paid 50 pesos. Damn.

Good to be back on Alona Beach, my home beach.

My "sis", Ren.

It was great seeing familiar faces and places at Alona Beach. I first stopped at Coco Vida to visit anyone there. Ren and the security guard were there. I found Rubi and got the keys to her motorbike. Next I went to Genesis Divers where the usual kitchen staff was and Sander. Giso, the owner of Genesis, went out on an Open Water dive which I’ve never seen before. By 2:30 PM the boat crew and a few others came back from a dive. Several people congratulated me on becoming an instructor which was very nice; the people at Genesis are like family to me.

For lunch I treated myself to a big German geschnitzel lunch. It was good and hardy. For the rest of the afternoon, I just hung around Genesis talking to Sander and others. Sander assumed that I will be working at Genesis as an instructor even though I haven’t officially asked Luer or Giso since I became an instructor. Sitting around, I met Laura, an American guest staying at Genesis who is a professional photographer and just got her Open Water certification today. Being the photo geek I am, I almost immediately talked to her about photography.

Laura is into travel photography and photographing people of different cultures. I’ve always enjoyed travel photography but never was good at photographing people largely due to fear of being yelled at or insulted. I asked her about several things and basically found out that ones approach to shooting people is highly dependent on the subject and the context they’re in. If the person you’re shooting gives you a dirty look just move on.

Oops staff.

In the evening, Luer, Sander, Laura, and I had two rounds of beer at Genesis. For dinner, Sander, Laura, and two Danish girls staying at Genesis went with me to Oops bar. It was good to see the Oops girls again. Not much has changed there except there is a new girl named Marilen. During dinner, there was a slightly heated discussion with teh two Danish girls on the topic of legal guns in the US.

The Danish girls are psychology students so they tried to analyze why a person would want a gun in America. Fear of being harmed? Their thought was that America is a dangerous place where most people had a gun and carried it around with them because they feared being harmed. Interestingly, I’ve met other foreigners who had the same ideas of Americans. Being American myself, I know this isn’t true.

The girls didn’t see why America just ban guns and felt that it was stupid that nobody was doing anything to work towards this. Of course, it’s not that easy to do especially since the right to bear arms is in our constitution and the issue to bear arms has been debated for a long time. I’m not going to get into the debate right now because it would take too long. Its just really interesting how other people view America and its people. Non-Americans view America as being dangerous while I know a lot of Americans who view foreign countries as being dangerous. I have a feeling the media has a big influence on this thinking. I digress.

Sander of the Netherlands.

After Oops bar I went to Coco Vida to have a few drinks with Sander, the two Danish girls, and instructor Mike.

- jason

Saying Bye and Going Home

2008-07-13T12:38:00.000+08:00

Erich has a coffee before we leave Coron.

I had to wake up early today to catch a 8 AM shuttle ride with Erich and Sara to the airport in Basuanga. The van we packed into was of course overcrowded Filipino style. If you ask a Filipino how many people they can fit into a car they’ll say “always one more.” A goofy outspoken guy in our car who was almost annoying turned out to be the manager of the airport in Basuanga. Well, I guess we won’t be late to our flight.

At the airport we passed through security which was simply a guard casually checking the contents of people’s bags. The security check was a joke because the guard didn’t check everything of mine but then again it was a small airport with low traffic. I checked in my dive bag and hiking backpack which was 15 kilos overweight. These overweight charges are costing me a lot; when I get back I’m going to have to re-evaluate all my stuff and throw some things out.

Sara and I have a coffee with Erich but on the other side of the table.

Waiting to board our plane.

We had plenty of time before our flight was boarding so Sara, Erich and I walked next door to a small family owned snack stand. There we got some coffee and drank it on what felt like their living room table. About 10 minutes later, a lady tells us the plane is boarding soon. We walked pass security—no check this time—to a waiting area. The plane we boarded was a small twin prop plane that seats about 150 people. The flight was easy and comfortable lasting no more than an hour.

Scenic islands around Palawan.

After landing at Manila airport and getting our bags, we all had plenty of time before our next flights out. Sara’s flight to the Netherlands was scheduled to leave around the same time as mine—around 3:30 PM. Erich’s flight to Austria wasn’t scheduled until early the next morning so he planned on spending the night in Manila. We were all hungry and decided to eat lunch at a cafeteria type place serving expensive Chinese food. For some reason, we had to pass our luggage through security which was a pain for me because I have two large bags, a heavy day pack, and my laptop bag. Additionally, we had to leave a passport to get a visitor pass.

Traveling heavy—60 kilos: 1 full set of dive gear, 1 hiking bag of clothes and misc, 1 day pack with camera equipment, batteries, and chargers, and 1 Macbook Pro.

I ate too much; the Chinese food was good and tasty and my eyes are definitely bigger than my stomach. We hung around the cafeteria a little bit but felt the urge for some coffee. By around 1 PM, we went out of the building and hung around outside drinking coffee while sitting on our bags. Sara and I needed to get cash to pay for any silly airport fees and other things so we found an ATM nearby.

Last moment before Sara leaves for the Netherlands. =(

By 2:45 PM, I said my goodbyes to Erich and Sara; it was sad to see them go. I’ve gotten to know both really well traveling around Palawan and living in Alona Beach. It’s nice to meet so many different people from around the world but the only problem is that they’re traveling so you only get to know them for a relatively short amount of time. Hopefully I can save enough money and have some time to visit them in Europe.

Your standard issued flight.

My flight to Tagbilaran was uneventful. I drank coffee and had a overly sweet chocolate mocha cupcake in the plane. After I landed in Tagbilaran, I hired a tricycle for 250 pesos to Doljo. After the driver dropped me off, he wanted more money because the house was farther than he thought. I refused to give him more money because he agreed on a rate and I usually pay too much because I’m horrible at bargaining.

My landlord opened the gate to her complex with her helper Cheryl and her two dogs Bella and Rambo. It was good to see familiar faces. The dogs didn’t bark or attack me which I guess meant they still remembered me. I was afraid to see how dirty my house was but also excited to see what has changed. My house was cleaner than when I first moved into it; my landlord and her helper cleaned it before I came. After sitting down and relaxing a little bit, I finally realized that the house I’m in is my home; it’s a place that’s familiarly comfortable to me that gave me that sense of being “home sick” when I was away. It was good to be home.

I unpacked a little bit to let my dive gear dry and to let my bags air out. I watched some TV and had a relaxing lazy evening. Wilhe, my landlord, was unusually nice to me and gave me a loaf of bread, some instant noodles, eggs, and butter. She even cleaned some of my clothes that I left behind before because she said it started smelling bad. I ate the instant noodles for dinner. I wanted to visit Alona Beach to see my friends there and see what’s changed but I didn’t have my motorbike and was lazy to find a driver. Enough for a day I guess. Sleep.

- jason