Grace Leaves

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

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

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

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

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

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

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