Exploring Doljo

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

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

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

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

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