Squeamish me

Ren's aunt, Ren, and her cousin

My friend, Reneli, previously said that her aunt had a house for rent and that today we would check it out. It was out of my price range (15,000 p/month), but I decided to check it out anyway in case it turned out to be something exceptional. At least it was half the distance to Alona than the other house I checked out in Doljo.

We hired a motorbike driver to drive us to her aunts house. I thought it might take only about 20 minutes to look at the house but Ren told the motorbike driver it might take us a couple hours and to don’t worry about coming back to drive us back to Alona Beach. Really? A few hours?

Ren’s aunt and uncle were very welcoming of me. They lived in a small Filipino styled (wooden, thatched) house which was the size of a small studio in Los Angeles; a kitchen and bedroom. The bathroom (comfort room), was outside. The uncle mentioned they rented the place for only 1,000 p/month.

We sat outside because it was cooler and hung out for an hour waiting for someone to arrive at the house that was for rent. Ren’s uncle gave me “Filipino food,” which was a partially frozen fruit salad with cheese and some other things in it. I’d have to admit, I felt quite uncomfortable sitting outside and eating something where I wasn’t sure what was in it.

The large living area in the house for rent

I’m very squeamish about dirt and what I come in contact with. For example, at Genesis, it took me a while to get used to walking into the bathroom barefoot, and even still walking in the shower. I don’t like the feeling of walking on things when my feet are wet. So, waiting at Ren’s aunts on the muddy ground wearing just flip-flops, with patches of weeds, trash, and swampy mosquito infested puddles of still water made me very uncomfortable. I must have looked extremely tense and uncomfortable to everyone else. This is something I need to overcome.

One of the rooms came with home defense

Ren, her uncle, and I eventually took a ride to the house they were renting out. I was impressed by the cleanliness and size of the place but there were no furnishings, the bathroom was outside, and the “kitchen” was a wooden stove outside heated by wooden sticks. Ren kept on pushing me to rent the place like a car salesman and her uncle kept on asking me if I wanted it. I had already made up my mind that I wasn’t going to rent it and told them that it was too much.

We went back to Ren’s uncle's place and sat around outside again. He asked what I want to eat for lunch. Being uncomfortable, I didn’t want to stay around and eat but out of respect I accepted their offer for lunch; generally, it’s not good etiquette to refuse food when offered it.

Ren's uncle and the fresh crab we ate

We ate fresh crab, BBQ chicken, fish kinilaw (raw fish in coconut milk), and rice Filipino style (with our hands). It all tasted very good but I was still squeamish about the cleanliness of the food (I noticed Ren’s uncle touching his feet, then cooking... and at one time a piece of crab dropped on the floor and they just put it back on a plate). I ate a decent portion, but Ren knew it wasn’t enough, but I was content with the amount.

After we got back to Alona Beach, I went to Coco Vida to plan more IDC and schedules in general. Daniel joined me and afterwards we went to Oops to celebrate his last night on Alona Beach. Since Daniel likes tequila, I tried to have the bartenders make a tequila gimlet. First one had too much lime, but the second one was much better. Throughout the night, we played darts, ate popcorn, and drank rum.

- jason

The future is not set

Today I hung out didn’t do much except hang around Alona Beach. I went to Trendi’s (bar, internet cafe) with Daniel and Mae because they wanted to go on the internet (30 pesos/hour). It was very hot walking back from Trendi’s so I decided to take a swim on the beach. It was refreshing and felt nice drying off in the hot sun.

After cooling off, I went to Coco Vida to go on the internet more and try to plan out what I’m going to do for the next few months. In particular, planning for the PADI Instructor Development Course (IDC), Japan, and when I will need to rent a house. I checked for the best prices for the IDC and required materials. I spent a good amount of time trying to figure out what I need for the required materials--lots of books, some of which I already have, but in the US. It’s okay though because I can probably find someone to borrow them from.

Since the IDC is going to be held in another town, Puerto Galera, I also needed to plan out how to economically schedule when I’m going to go to Japan, move out of Genesis, rent a house, and travel to Puerto Galera. I’m planning on staying in Puerto Galera at least three weeks so I can have enough time studying. However, I might spend several weeks more as an intern if I pass the Instructor Exam (IE). That would mean I might be away from Alona for about a month. Though by this time I will already be renting a house and possibly motorbike for a month where I wouldn’t use them; what a waste. At least rent will be relatively inexpensive compared to if I was renting a place in Los Angeles.

Eh, I hate planning things out.

- jason

Return of Cabilao

Morning commute was peaceful

I did an early dive (7 am) trip to Cabilao Island today. It was Daniel’s last day of diving before he leaves for Dumaguete; too bad, because he was a good dive buddy.

Daniel gingerly walks in water

The dives were nice because they were different from the dive sites around Panglao Island. Kevin and Andy dived with us as well. Previously, Kevin witnessed a school of hammerhead sharks at Cabilao. We didn’t see any this time, darn.

Shrimp poses for the camera (why can't the pygmy seahorse do this!)

After we got back to Genesis, we cleaned up and hung around the dive shop until dinner time. We met at Oops for a quick happy hour beer and then went to the Italian restaurant. There I met Lauren and Stu from England.

A fairly large, un-camouflaged, nudibranch

- jason

The un-budget budget

Pygmy seahorse turns away from the camera, all the time, making it hard to photograph.

Great diving at Balicasag Island today; it has been a while since we had decent visibility and seen a lot of interesting things. For the first time I’ve dived out here, I saw 2 turtles. This doesn’t mean they’re not around, they just haven’t been around when I was diving -- other people have seen them on days that I took off from diving. Additionally, I saw a very large school of jacks and two pygmy seahorses.

Frogfish looks frightened as Daniel looks at it.

After the dives, I went to Coco Vida because Mae texted me that I forgot to pay the bill. That’s odd, I remember contributing a third to Daniel’s bill. When Mae showed me the bill for 1,550 pesos I was shocked. Turns out that all the expensive drinks for everyone plus some rum and cokes went onto my bill. That, plus the me giving Daniel 300 pesos blew past my budget for food and drinks for almost a week. Thanks guys... oh well, I shouldn’t stress over it too much.

A very well hidden stonefish.

Later in the evening, I met two guys from England -- Kevin and Andy. Kevin has been visiting the Philippines for the past 18 years and Andy looked like a typical fashionably trendy lady’s man. I was excited to dive with Kevin and learn from him because Daniel said he was like a professional photographer.

Orangutan crab hangs on bubble coral

While making my way back to my room with my laptop bag, Luer complained to me that I was using Hayahay internet too much and threatened to charge me 20 pesos per hour. Hayahay and Genesis customers are supposed to get free internet access! I was a little annoyed by this considering I’ve done 50 dives, stayed a month and a half, and ate their food and drinks. They can’t give me free internet after all of this?

Thankfully, Giso -- the owner of Genesis and Hayahay -- supported me by telling Luer that I wasn’t using internet that much and that he could tell who was connected. I don’t know if this was true or he was just saying this because I am a loyal customer, but, it ended the conversation immediately. I think I will use Coco Vida’s wireless internet now.

In an effort to try to save money, I ate BBQ chicken with Daniel which costed me 90 pesos. Afterwards we had a few cocktails at Oops! Bar where we played Liar Liar. Bob, the manager, dropped his dice and had to buy everyone a round of whatever they wanted. I unfortunately lost the game, and had to buy everyone a round of what they were currently drinking. Damn, so much for budgeting.

- jason

Daniel, Daniel, and Daniel

Mona Lisa serves Eileen a calamansi

Pretty much hung around coco vida all day to do internet. In the evening, I hung out at Genesis and met Rachel, Abi, Daniel, and Daniel; they’re all from England but teaching English in Hong Kong now. They’re a fun bunch of people and Daniel (Swiss), Glenn, and I ate dinner with them and went to Coco Vida afterwards for drinks.

Daniel's Tebori style tattoo from Japan

One of the Daniels had a really interesting tattoo on his shoulder down to his elbow. He originally had it partially made by some master Japanese Tebori tattoo artist in Japan. Years later, he went back to Japan, found the same tattoo artist, stayed at his place for a few days, and got his tattoo added on to. He originally wanted the tattoo applied the old traditional way (by hand, non-machine) but it would have taken too long. Instead, the artist used a machine but mimicked the look of the old method.

Rachel's picture taking technique - Don't think, just shoot

Rachel had an interesting style of taking pictures with her digital SLR camera -- randomly without looking from hip level. This style of photography reminded me of the Holga/toy camera method where their motto is to “don’t think, just shoot” when taking pictures. I asked Rachel about it, and coincidentally she has a Lomo toy camera. She says she gets more interesting photos by shooting the way she does.

Daniel, Eileen, Daniel and I

At Coco Vida, we had several rounds of expensive mixed drinks and had a generally great time. It’s unfortunate that I just met these guys because they’re fun to hang out with and they were leaving the next day. Good times.

- jason

Shopping for planes and houses

Steve just before he left

Steve left today back to Hong Kong then to England. I wasn’t diving today so I woke up early to see him good bye. He was a nice guy and it was good diving with him. Afterwards, Daniel and I set off to go to Tagbilaran to look at plane tickets, get money, shop around, and take advantage of the mall’s air conditioning. We hired a tricycle to take us to Island City Mall (ICM).

"Harmless (decaf) coffee". Where's the "Harmful" coffee?

When we arrived at ICM, I went to the bookstore there and picked up an English to Cebuano (Filipino dialect here) conversational book and a travel guide to Tokyo. I was surprised to get the travel book at 65% off! After that, I went to the bank to withdraw money from the ATM. Thankfully, the US dollar is getting a little stronger; before, it was 39.5 pesos to $1 USD, now it’s 41 pesos to $1 USD. I found a coffee stand that looked decent and Daniel and I had some ice blended coffee drinks; they weren’t that bad.

After getting money, we went to a travel agent to book flights. I needed to book a domestic flight to Manila to catch my flight to Japan. Unfortunately, it was quite expensive -- 6900 pesos round trip.

When I came back to Alona Beach, I hung out with Mae and she wanted to go to a bar out where her friend was waiting for her. Mae borrowed her friends motorbike and drove me to the bar which happened to be in Doljo. The bar was small, clean, but had more mosquitos than customers. Doljo happened to be the area where Yoeri, a videographer I dived with, rented a house that he said was available.

The nice house for rent

Coincidentally, there was a house for rent ad at the bar which looked very nice. I called the number and later found out it was the same place Yoeri rented. The owner agreed to pick me up and take me to the place so I could see it. Mae and Rubi came along. The owner, is a older German guy with a Filipino wife that spoke fluent German. They seemed pretty educated.

I was impressed by the house for rent which was in the back of a larger houses complex. It was gated, clean, and fairly Westernized. It’s fully furnished with two bedrooms, a living room, and a private bathroom with kitchen. Water is included as well as laundry machine, a pool, and use of the owners outdoor pool table; all of this for 7000 pesos ($175 USD) per month. The only downside is it’s 7 km away (4.3 miles) so it would require I rent a motorbike. I told the owner I will let them know if I want to rent it by Monday (6 days).

- jason

Sunny side up

Noel's scuba protection

I don’t remember much from today so I’ll let the pictures do the talking.

Nice sunny ride to Balicasag Island

Dived Balicasag Island today which was nice. The visibility lately has been bad but this time it was a lot better. We saw quite a few interesting things too. Also, today was consistently sunny throughout the day which was nice to warm up between dives.

Nudibranch

Large nudibranch eating away

After diving, I hung out with Noel and the Genesis crew playing pool. It was interesting, they were playing billiards with poker playing cards. Whatever number you have on your card, you have to shoot that ball in. After that, I did the usual.

- jason

Oops! I ate too much

That's a lot of fish.

We went to some dive sites farther away than normal because water visibility wasn’t that good locally -- Napaling and Dolso. Visibility at these locations were better but at the same time there wasn’t much new things we saw. The overall landscape was still beautiful though.

Beautiful white coral

Lionfish shows off its fins

Later in the night, Oops was having their Easter buffet which I wasn’t going to attend because it was too expensive -- 600 pesos. I went to happy hour at Oops at 6 pm and was impressed by how well they decorated the place. Lori, a bartender at Oops, easily convinced Steve, Daniel and I to attend. Oh well, so much for not breaking my budget of 400 pesos/day!

Oops buffet menu

The menu for the buffet included a lot of tasty dishes. The roasted pig was the best followed by sweet and sour fish, and some chop suey. The pig was moist and tender and the skin was crunchy; it reminded me of Chinese pork. I ate 3 full servings of food, plus to plates of fresh mangos, bananas, and pineapples. By the end of the dinner, I was painfully full. Later in the evening, Oops held their weekly disco night which was also quite fun even though I didn't do much.

One of two roasted pigs

- jason

Looking for Housing

Yeah sure, it's close to the beach...but its not my style.

Today I had lunch with Ren (Reneli) and Mae at Coco Vida; we ate fried chicken. Afterwards I just checked email and updated my journal. I decided to try to be pro-active in looking for a house to rent and walked to Powder Keg (look at postings), Alona Land and Banana Land to inquire about how much it would be. I found a few options but they don’t look all that promising. Alona Land wanted to charge me ($500 USD) for a place with a kitchen. Its close to the beach but about twice as much as I want to pay. Looks like I’m going to have to look off the beach for better rates.

Dios Mio!

This week is Holy week and today is Good Friday. A lot of Filipinos come from Catholic families and so celebrate Catholic holidays. Alona Beach is a lot more crowded with Filipinos going on vacation today. I was expecting the bars and restaurants to be packed with people but once it got dark most people left the beach. Literally, in an hour, the beach was almost empty.

Crowds of people vacation on Alona Beach for Good Friday

I met up with Daniel and Rene at Genesis and we decided to meet up at Oops for a happy hour beer. For dinner we went to an American owned restaurant called Powder Keg which Rene and a lot of foreign born locals go to. I went there before and was disappointed by their food and don’t know why so many people like it. This time around, I had the fish and chips which was okay. Still, I’m not that impressed with the restaurant.

- jason

Budgeting, Cabilao, and Karaoke

Cabilao soft corals thrive in the sand

My intended budget for food and drinks per day is 400 pesos ($10 USD).

Two days ago I decided to try to track how much I spend on food and drinks and try to budget myself out of vacation spending towards saving money because I don’t have a job; I’m already behind. I’m finding it hard not to spend tourist prices because I’m situated in a tourist location hanging out with tourists. Though it may sound bad, and it feels like I am spending a lot, relative to what I was spending in the US, I’m not spending much at all.

I guess the problem is that I’m not looking at the whole picture but rather just how much I spend on food and drinks. Here, I just pay a third of what my rent was in the US, and I don’t have to pay for utilities, a cell phone plan, gas, internet, and even coffee (free instant coffee). I feel bad when I spend $15 USD on food and drinks in a day here. Though, the equivalent amount of food and drinks in the US would easily equal $40-50 USD. I cannot also forget things I’m taking for granted -- like eating, emailing, and writing right on a tropical beach with fresh mango juice. Okay, now I need to stop worrying so much.

I was excited to go to a new dive site location today -- Cabilao Island. The island is a two hour boat ride northwest of Alona Beach. I was hopeful water visibility will be better and I can see some new things. The boat left at 7 am and so I slept a little on the boat ride out. Noel was my dive guide and I dived with Daniel, Steve, and someone else.

A small shrimp hides under the protection of an anemone

I could tell visibility was already better from the surface. The dive site was different from most around Alona in that there were a lot of branching soft corals growing out of the sand. On our first dive, I got to see a small school of squid for the first time. Visibility was excellent and the overall scenery was beautiful.

Dancing to the songs of karaoke

Noel asked me after the dives if I wanted to join him for some rum and cokes and karaoke. I was a little reluctant but since Daniel was going, I decided to join them. We had the usual bottle of Tanduay rum and coke behind Oops bar with a bunch of the Genesis boat crew. Afterwards we went to the same karaoke place I went to before. Shortly after we arrived, Nic, Daniel and I took a motorbike to get some bbq chicken. Daniel and I paid for 2 chickens and rice that was more than enough to feed at least 6 people. We had a great time dancing, singing, and eating good BBQ chicken.

- jason

Tagbilaran health care

Beautiful morning on Alona Beach

I recently realized that I was past due for a booster vaccine for Hepatitis A/B so I decided to go to the hospital in Tagbilaran in addition to running other errands. I also just realized that I burned through $600 USD in only a month here. How did I spend so much? Time to budget more.

I hired a motorcycle driver to drive me to the BQ mall in Tagbilaran for only 150 pesos. This was a surprise because tricycles usually cost 250 pesos and are much slower. In BQ mall, I walked around a little bit but didn’t find anything too interesting. I wanted to eat, so I picked a food stand with the longest line -- a family style Filipino restaurant in the food court. There, you pick little dishes to accompany your rice. Since I’m an American used to big portions, I picked a large BBQ chicken leg, buso salad (seaweed), some vegetables, rice, and bottled water for 86 pesos. It was good.

A tag line from a movie poster at BQ mall

I wanted to experience seeing a movie here so I bought a ticket (80 pesos) to see 10,000 BC (www.10000bcmovie.co.uk) which stars some unknowns but is distributed by Warner Studios. I had some time to kill before the movie started so I walked a few blocks away from the mall to the same barber Nigel took me to before.

All the barbers were out to lunch so I waited 15 minutes. Its funny, I never know what to tell the barber on how to cut my hair. Lately, I’ve just wanted the cut Arnold had in the Terminator movies; I don’t care. The barbers at this barber shop are better than most of my barbers I tried in the US. They’re really meticulous in making sure there are no stray hairs by looking carefully at the cut, using razor blades, large scissors, and electric clippers. At the end of the haircut, they always give a massage on the arms, back, and head. This is all for 50 pesos.

Before the movie, I bought a small bag of popcorn for 12 pesos. The theater was modern and felt like a good theater in the US. Sound was excellent (Dolby Digital), screen was good, print was clean, and seats were comfy. The trailers in the beginning were all of American films -- Indiana Jones, Ironman, etc. The only way you would tell you weren’t in a American theater was by the artificially seasoned popcorn.

Ramiro Hospital in Tagbilaran is good for doing simple procedures

After the movie, I took a tricycle to the Ramiro Community Hospital to get my vaccinations. It took me three visits to the wrong doctors office because nobody knew where I should go for a vaccination. I finally found a pediatrics doctors office. The office waiting room consisted of a few chairs, two people sitting at their desks, and a lady on her laptop. I didn’t know who to talk to at first.

I told the person who looked at me directly that I needed a Hep A/B vaccination. She said they can do it for 2600 pesos ($65 USD). In contrast, when I got my vaccination in the US, they couldn’t tell me how much it would cost until after I got it; it ended up costing $290 USD. There was no wait, so I immediately went into the doctors office, she took the vaccination out of the fridge, and administered it to me.

The doctor suggested I should get a Typhoid vaccination too because a lot of people are getting it. Is she just trying to sell me more vaccinations? Since it was only 1200 pesos ($30 USD), and I didn’t like the idea of catching Typhoid, I agreed. Like a good salesman, she gave it to me for 300 pesos less. In all, I spent only about 30 minutes at the hospital, and paid one-quarter of what it would cost in the US for a vaccination that was made in the US. Why can’t it be this easy in the US?

Dinner at Trudi’s where I had the squid in xo sauce, which was very good. Oops for happy hour drinks where everyone at Genesis hung out. Lisa came by but sat alone and shortly after Mae came by. I sat with Mae as she had a beer and I had a rum and coke.

- jason

Ok, I want to be an instructor

Today I hung out with Mae until noon. I didn’t feel like doing anything. I guess my laziness showed as Luer suggested I do something and go sign up for PADI IDC (Instructor Development Course) to become a dive instructor.

I thought about it for some time and have been leaning to do it. Pretty much all the dive instructors at Genesis Divers suggests I do it. It’s too competitive just being a lower class divermaster compared with all the instructors. It can’t hurt and will help me find a job more easily. It involves taking a course for 7 days and then finding an IE (Instructor Examiner) and doing 2 days of tests and exercises. It’s expensive (about $1000), but I guess in the long run it will be worth it. It sounds like more stress than I want but I want to do it and it will make me stronger in many areas even outside of diving; okay, I’ll do it.

After taking a short swim in the ocean, I went into Sea Explorers to see if they’re scheduling an IDC; yes they are but in 4 months! Time to start doing a little more research elsewhere.

I ate dinner at Hayahay by myself. Crazy lisa drops by with her boyfriend for the time being and annoys me -- she’s still not gone. Had a cappuccino at Coco Vida which was a lot better than Alona Palm Beach resort. Still though, it was nothing compared to back in the states. The owner of Coco Vida, Thomas, asked me what I thought about it. I didn’t want to be too anal about it so I just suggested a few things regarding setting a finer grind. Too bad I can’t get a job making espressos here.

- jason

Dodging Lisa, going with Mae

Branch-like nudibranch

Dived Sand Eel and Sanctuary where visibility was still pretty bad. Saw a snake eel for the first time in Sand Eel and in Sanctuary, saw a large school of jacks, two pegasus sea moths, and an interesting branch-like nudibranch.

Snake eel is a fairly large snake that burrows in the sand

Afterwards, Sander told me that the crazy Lisa girl came by looking for me and wanted her picture of Cesar Montano. Sander, knowing I don’t like her, told her that I had to go into Tagbilaran to meet up with my girlfriend (complete lie). We were hoping this would get her to not come back; unfortunately, it didn’t, though she came back when I was upstairs. The girls in the kitchen told her that I was somewhere else.

Coco Vida girls (from left) -- Ellen, Reneli, and Mona Lisa

Later in the evening I hung out at Coco Vida to see if Rain (Reneli) or anyone else was going to Oops disco night. Crazy Lisa girl was at the bar and nagged me about her photos. I told her to stop bothering me and she distanced herself more. I went over to Oops for disco night and there was the usual crowd dancing. To help confuse Lisa and try to get her to stop bothering me, Rain told Lisa that I had a girlfriend. While at Oops, Mae from Coco Vida came by alone sent by Rain as my “girlfriend.” Mae and I dance and hung out solely to make sure Lisa felt jealous and to get her to move on.

After Oops bar Mae and I went to Coco Vida and joined some other bartenders to go to another disco called “Sunrise”; it’s called this because the area we were in was called Sunrise. We went to Sunrise on motorbikes for maybe 8 kilometers from Alona. Sunrise is an area where a “club” is setup on an old outdoor basketball court; there’s a DJ, dance lights and a large sound system. The “bar” is a fold out table with a palette of San Miguel beers under it. Motorbikes lined the areas near the club.

Mae and I danced to the beats of hip hop, reggae, and some electronica. We saw a bunch of others from Coco Vida and Genesis divers. The crowd consisted mostly of locals which is a good sign. Around 3 am, we left and went to Trendi bar where we had a little beer. Back to Coco Vida, we looked for Rain because we wanted to see if she wanted to join us. Sleep.

- jason

Full time traveler

Deviled scorpionfish has great camouflage

Among other people, I dived with Ryan and Alice at Rico's Rock and Black Forest on Balicasag Island. Visibility was poor and there was a strong current at Black Forest. Rico's Rock was the best site because I saw a deviled scorpionfish and two large schools of jacks swam towards and through me.

School of jacks swim past me

After diving, Alice invited me to play frisbee with her and Ryan on the beach; it was more fun than I anticipated. Later that evening Ryan, Alice, and I hung out around Genesis and there we met Mark -- an intimidating looking Englishman with large tattoos on his body. He turned out to be a really friendly person with a lot of stories from around the world.

For the past 20 years, all he's been doing is traveling around the world. From time to time, he works to support himself. He loves to surf, body board, and occasionally dives. An important thing to remember he said is to constantly remind yourself how fortunate you are and to not take things for granted when you're traveling. I'm living on a white sand beach, diving, meeting lots of new people; how lucky is that!

Ryan, Alice and I decided to eat dinner at a local street vender. Surprisingly the food there was cheaper than I thought. I bought a skewers of chicken and pork were only 8-10 pesos each. I ate 1 gizzard, 1 neck, and 2 pork skewers with some rice. For dessert, next door, I bought a pastry for 2 pesos. It is possible to eat really cheap here and to avoid the inflated tourist prices.

Back on the beach I hung out at Coco Vida then to Oops where Ryan and Alice said they would meet me after they packed for the next day. They never came by.

- jason

Day in the life of Rain

The view from Reneli's house. People would die for this view.

Previously, I asked Reneli, or "Rain," from Coco Vida if she wanted to hang out. Today she had the day off, so I hung with her the whole day. She wanted to go home, so, we took motorcycle about 10 km to her house. I was impressed by her house. She had a long driveway and on it the neighbor's cow was grazing. There were several buildings on their property and they had a spectacular view of the ocean. I met her two sisters, Lovely and Bing, and her stepmom and dad. Despite living a simple life, I don't really know if Reneli knew how lucky she was living on such a nice property.

Reneli's siblings -- Lovely, Bing, and Reneli

We hung out a little bit and I chatted with her sisters. For lunch, Bing, Reneli and I had to go to the market in Tagbilaran to get groceries so their stepmom could make chop suey. Since they didn't have a motorbike or anything to drive in, we had to wait at the jeepney stop and take a jeepney into Tagbilaran; more than 20 people packed into the jeepney. The grocery store was similar to a small grocery store in the US; the produce though wasn't as pampered -- carrots had dirt and mold on them, cauliflower was dirty. We bought pork and a bunch of vegetables which costed a total of 153 pesos.

We bought chicken feet from a street vendor for dinner

After getting groceries, I told Reneli that I wanted to look for contact solution which I was running low on. We went to a few street pharmacies which didn't have it. Things started feeling like my battery search fiasco. Though, we found a more mainstream pharmacy called Mercury Drugstore. There were three armed guards in the front with shotguns and you we had to check in our bag in the front; this place had money. Immediately the girl working the counter knew what I wanted and brought me a bottle of contact solution. For 360mL, it was only 85 pesos.

Reneli's stepmom cooked her chop suey on a wooden "stove" outside fueled by burning branches. It started raining hard but the stove was sheltered. Bing laid out plates, forks and spoons, rice and the chop suey. The food was delicious and all the groceries were enough to feed 6 people. After lunch, we watch a Filipino TV show called Wowowow where there were car mechanics dancing and singing. Even though I didn't understand anything they were saying, it was entertaining watching it.

Reneli and Bing decided to take me to a local karaoke joint down the street. From the street, it didn't look very welcoming as the local people there stared at us oddly (mainly at me). The drunk owner came out and wanted us to come inside and to not worry about the people staring at us. We sat down and looked at the song list while he was annoyingly talking to us. I felt more comfortable when a guy from the staring group came over to me and offered me a brandy and coke shot. This was a sign of acceptance and so I drank it, along with two other shots he brought over.

The drunk owner talked with us a lot and I could tell Bing and Reneli were getting a little annoyed by him. It started raining extremely hard and so we were pretty much stuck at the karaoke place. Bing and Reneli sang around 8 songs total while I sang "One" by U2. The worst time to realize you really don't know a song is while you sing it in public; that is what exactly happened to me.

Walking back to Reneli's home, we stopped at a BBQ street vendor to get some food for dinner. We bought chicken intestine, feet, and pork skewers. We took them back to Reneli's house and ate them there with rice. This time, everyone was eating traditional Filipino style -- no utensils, just with hands. I ate this way out of respect but didn't like it because I didn't feel my hands were all that clean. After dinner we watched some TV while we were waiting for a motorcycle to pick us up and take us back to Alona.

- jason

Tech Support

Cuttlefish

Okay dives. Visibility was okay and didn’t really see anything new except a cuttlefish and a red frogfish. Diving with the new group of divers -- Ryan, Alice, and Ralph is quite different from even just with Patrick. None of the others really take pictures so they move ahead a lot faster than me. For the dives, I really didn’t have a buddy and there was even a point where I was completely by myself.

An all red frogfish is fairly rare to find

After the dive I cleaned up pretty quick and journal a little. Sander joined me and mentioned that his external hard drive was having problems -- he couldn’t see the files anymore after he unplugged it from an internet cafe computer. I said I might be able to help him. I tried fixing the drive with various disk utility programs and didn’t really feel anyone did anything useful. I then unmounted the drive and remounted it and Sanders files were there!

Later in the evening I worked on photos I wanted to put on my website as part of my portfolio. These are photos I took with my 1940s Speed Graphic 4x5 large format camera coupled with an 1940s Kodak Aero Ektar 7 inch lens. This combo is based on David Burnett’s setup, nicknamed the “Burnett Combo,” giving photos a unique look; sometimes miniaturizing objects in a picture.

I had dinner with Ralph whom I’ve been trying to avoid hanging out with because he’s so negative about things. We first tried eating BBQ chicken but the place we went to was closed. So, instead, we went to eat Italian food. Alice and Ryan were there and asked us to join them. I ordered the spaghetti with clams and a glass of the house wine. Ralph talked a lot about his past and himself in general.

Afterwards Ryan, Alice and I hit the tail end of happy hour at oops. I had a rum and grapefruit juice which was good. I feel I need to less or at least healthier. I’m kind of getting a beer belly.

- jason

Patrick's last good dives

Free swimming lionfish

The two dives Patrick and I had today at Arco and BBC were some of the best dives we both had out here. We saw a lot of life in our dives and we both had our longest dive we've ever had -- our dive at BBC was 92 minutes long going 50 feet at its deepest. Highlights of the dives include seeing a pygmy seahorse, several large and beautiful nudibranchs, a dwarf lionfish, large lionfish, a medium sized free swimming lionfish, a moray eel, and at least three scorpionfish and one lionfish within 2 meters of one another. It got to a point where I didn't have enough time to take pictures of all that I saw.

The hard to find stonefish

After the dives I just hung around and thought about what I need to do next. I decided to just stay at Genesis Divers for the rest of the time until close to when my visa expires on April 12th. That way, I can get to know the people at Genesis even more and to get more dives with them. I'm comfortable there, and if I moved somewhere else, I would have to re-befriend the people there and get re-situated. I like Alona beach, I like the people, and am used to everything here. I just have to get out of vacation mode.

A dangling on a thin coral branch

I can easily renew my visa locally in Tagbilaran but I've been thinking it would be a good time to visit some friends in Japan, eat some good sushi, and come back to Philippines with a renewed visa. It would be a nice change of pace and a recharge with modern conveniences (like hot, fresh water showers). Though it will be expensive, it will be a good time to experience Japan especially since I'm so close to it now.

I ate dinner with Patrick at Hayahay which was good. I was thinking of what the next wave of foreign friends that visit Alona would be. After Patrick leaves, I'm not sure who I would hang out with in the near future. After dinner, I went to Oops but Patrick didn't want to go because he needed to pack. I said my goodbyes to him despite the fact that I planned on seeing him early next morning.

Disco night at Oops Bar. I was planning on taking it more easy this time to enjoy the night until late. The crazy Lisa girl was there wanting to dance which I reluctantly did. Additionally, waitresses from Hayahay were there in force wanting to dance with me. For some reason, I didn't really want to dance and wanted to just hang around. Sander and Rene dropped by later which gave me a good reason to not dance and hang with them. I eventually closed out the bar and hung out with the bartenders of Oops. While I was dosing off, they asked me if I wanted to go to Trendi to eat. Hell no, I went to bed.

- jason