Samboan Adventure

For a change, I will not show you pics of the devastation of "Milenyo." =)

Last March, we took advantage of the Cebu Pacific promo and booked us flights to Cebu. We opted to go this September for my mom's hometown fiesta in Samboan.

For me, this trip was more than just time away from work. To be honest, I'm not a kamag-anak person. Most of my extended relatives, I haven't even met (met but probably forgot). I only knew them through my mom's stories. This was the perfect opportunity for me to get to know my roots.

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Day 1: September 27 (Wednesday)


Joven and I left for the airport earlier than my mom and sister. Since the flight schedule got screwed up, we ended up going to Cebu a few hours earlier than the two of them. We killed time by reading our pocketbooks, throwing dagger looks at the "malikot" man sitting on the far side of the bench, eating lunch, donuts and coffee, i.e., spending a fortune on airport food and Joven trying to install (to no avail) NBA 2006 in his laptop. While we were waiting, heavy rains were starting to pour. Fortunately, the rain gave way before we boarded the plane.

The plane ride was smooth sauf the turbulence that made one of the ladies on board shriek and Joven more tensed (he hates plane rides).

We waited a few hours in Mactan Airport for my mom and sister to arrive. Soon we were picked up by our very accommodating uncle, Tito Aguinaldo or Tito Agi as we call him.

Earlier, he made arrangements for us to stay at an inn in Llorente St. The inn (Apple Tree) is relatively new, clean and comfy. The staff were very courteous too. Tito Agi left us for a few hours to settle down. He promised to come back because he wants to take us out to dinner.

The front desk called us since Tito Agi was at the lobby already. Instead of him, we were met by his beautiful wife, Tita Joanne and daughter, Kid (Kid has an exceptional voice by the way, like her sister whom we haven't met yet).

Dinner was at Golden Cowrie in Salinas St. One word: Delicious!

We were so surprised by the prices, we just had to take a pic of the menu.


Food pics here.

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Day 2: September 28 (Thursday)

The day started early. We wanted to cover much of the city (and buy pasalubong as well) before we go to the outskirts. We had breakfast at Jollibee where we learned that they serve "Super Breakfasts" there. Joven was quite apprehensive to approach the counter because he might not understand the cashier. =P

After breakfast we went to Magellan's Cross and the Basilica del Sto. Niño de Cebu. Like any other tourists, we snapped away.

Since SM Cebu is quite far from where we are and Tabo-an is nearer, we decided to head there for the pasalubong. The sight and smell overwhelmed us. After getting over that, we began to order what we want (with haggling for the prices on the side). With two boxes of pasalubong in tow, we decided to call it quits.

We got back to the inn and was immediately helped by the bellboy. I think he got a good hint of where we came from and volunteered to put the boxes in their office and not in our room to prevent the smell from spreading. Hehe! After sometime the smell seemed to linger, we later realized that it was us who smell! Yikes!

After freshening up, we decided to eat lunch at Orange Brutus (they still have it there!) and eventually check out from the inn. We wanted to ride the bus to Samboan right after lunch because according to my mom, the bus ride will take about 3-4 hours. We got to the South Terminal (bus station) via taxi. Joven and I were so shocked when the porters opened the car door and began grabbing our stuff. Scary! I asked Joven to follow them while I pay for the cab. They were soo aggressive. Later, they asked us to pay P10 for each baggage! Grrr!

We rode the bus to Samboan, me pumped with Bonamine (I'm not so fond of land travel), for 3 and a half hours. The sights were beautiful! I wasn't able to get shots of the scenery because the bus was moving too fast and I was getting groggy.

We arrived in Samboan a little after 5pm. Tita Nora, Tito Boy and his kids (Hershey, Joshmer and Jairuz) welcomed us with sumptuous merienda.

The rest of the day was spent in settling down, freshening up and getting to know our new housemates (or I think it was the other way around).

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Day 3: September 29 (Friday)

The first day of the town fiesta! We had a full breakfast (bread, peanut butter, tinolang isda, rice, puto - which was totally different from the puto we all know, hot chocolate/coffee). Grabe! I'm still in awe on how Tita Nora cooks all day. Her kitchen, with two househelp, opens at 5AM and closes at past 8PM. They cook all day and serve us great food almost every two hours! Wow!


Anyway, Tito Agi arrived early from the city. He volunteered to tour us around the town after lunch. Lunch, by the way, includes the delicious Lechon Cebu courtesy of Tito Boy. Yummy!


After lunch, we strolled around the beautiful town of Samboan. We saw their big municipal hall, old stone church, beautiful beach (which was being quarried, tsk tsk!), busy market and one of their secrets... Aguinid Waterfalls!

The hike to the waterfalls was fun. Funny though, the two kids - who are from there, met small catastrophes... one kept on falling on her butt, the other one lost his slipper after the current took it from his foot. The bakasyonistas were formidable. Hehe!

We went home and ate (again) dinner. The kids kept on bugging us to accompany them in the perya (carnival) nearby. I have never been in a perya before and I was just as excited. The kids pleaded for them to ride the ferris wheel. A bit reluctant for their safety, we agreed only because they told us they rode the ferris wheel the night before. The P10 ride was the longest ferris wheel ride I've ever seen. It seemed that they were there for more than ten minutes! After the ride, the kids busied themselves playing some of the games. I joined the color game and won two pesos. Joven, on the other hand, lost seven pesos. Haha! The kids capped the night with fruit shakes and street food. =D

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Day 4: September 30 (Saturday)

Our flight was not until 10pm so we decided to maximize the day. Another delicious breakfast started our day. We went to the old church to hear mass. Cardinal Vidal officiated the mass in Visayan. The churchgoers were very much different from those in Manila. They dressed well (decently, that is) and brought their family with them (including the men - I don't see a lot of men in Manila churches except for those in the altar).

After the mass, we had a quick lunch and waited for the bus that would take us back to the city. The bus ride was uneventful except for the surprisingly low fare. During the bus ride, I was constantly texting my former officemate who we will be meeting at the terminal. She promised to take us around the city while we're killing time before the flight.

She initially took us to her place (so that we leave our stuff for the stroll) and told us of our itinerary. She said that there was a nice park under the new bridge she wants us to see. I was beginning to feel tired that I asked her to take us to SM Cebu. =P

SM Cebu's quite big. Since they were on a 3-day sale, we got VCDs for a good price plus his and hers souvenir shirts. Hehe! =) Dinner was at CnT (the best Lechon Cebu in my opinion). Yummy!

Thanks to Tito Agi and family for helping us find our way. Tita Nora, Tito Boy, Hershey, Joshmer and Jairuz for fattening us and making our trip really worth it. Evelyn and Dessa for the warm send off.

We had a wonderful vacation. We had all the elements present: beautiful sights, warm people, great food. We hope to be back soon. =)

(More pics here.)

Wicker, Birthday, Badingsta

Last movie we saw last weekend was The Wicker Man. Joven didn't like it because of the ending. While I liked it because of the ending. Cool! Hehe! I know I have an evil side. =D All in all, it was worth the time. I won't mention the details on how we saw it or who we saw it with. Hehe!

Summary of that:
Walter Mart movie theater - Wow!
Kitaro - Never again!
Cafe Mocha from Starbucks - Pfft! Compared to Vanilla Latte of Coffee Bean
Dome cake from Starbucks - Yumyum!

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Last Saturday was a road trip to Pampanga. I got to see the Larin clan again. =) In all honesty, I enjoy really seeing them.

It was Dominic's 10th birthday. I still can't believe he's only 10. We were received by the gracious Bapa Juan, the great cook Tita Bebeth, and the excited birthday boy, Dominic. As always the food was superb! I was surprised when I was handed a plastic bag of goodies before going home. Nice!

Pics here.

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Sunday was grandparents' day. Mommie was visited by our super kulit nephew, Jef. The morning was reserved for Sunday mass and grocery while the whole afternoon was kept for lounging around. Since Jef's mom went to her office to check if any of her stuff was damaged by the flood (it's been raining heck these past few days), we were tasked to take care of him. He insisted in going up to our room (his current favorite place) to play there. Joven and I were coaxing him to sleep but he'd rather play computer games.

After he got tired of the computer, he insisted that he wanted to go downstairs. Joven finally gave up sleep and called him. Jef's going crazy over Batista (since he recently saw the guy on TV). I don't remember whose idea it was for them to wrestle. I ended up as the referee cum announcer (yes, he wanted to be introduced). Most of the time, I ended up laughing instead of doing my duties. Hehehe! We called him Badingsta a number of times because while wrestling Joven, he would playfully pull Joven's shorts and look at his "drip" (briefs). Apparently, he was amused seeing a big "drip" like that. Hahaha! The teasing made him more aggressive in showing Joven that he is not a bit girly. Jef definitely knows how to kick a$$! Joven ended up bruised, bitten, scratched and almost hairless. All the while, Jef was insisting that what he's doing is within the legal limits. =D

Honeymoon Kwento (2 of 2)

June 15

Before sleeping, we asked the receptionist for a call-time of 630AM. At around 615AM, both Dionne and I were already up. We were both excited to go to Panglao Island Nature Resort.

After having breakfast at the hotel, a taxi took us to a the resort. The drive was quite far. We had to cross a bridge onto Panglao Island. The meter ticked in PhP 100. Dionne graciously gave the driver a 50 peso tip. She found it weird that the driver wasn't happy with it. We only learned later that we would be asked to pay double the fare since the cab won't have any passengers in going back to the town. Oops, our bad.

By 8AM, we were already at the resort. There were hardly any visitors there. We had the resort all to ourselves! Another stroke of luck was that the sun still hasn't appeared at that time. That was one of the reasons why we wanted to be there early, to avoid being tanned too much, as requested by Daddy.
After changing into our swimming attire (all of us except Dionne bought ours at the BQ Mall the night before), we went into the seashore. We waded through the water towards the resort-islet. But as we were nearing the islet, we bagan to notice that some areas along the way were deeper than the expected slope. Because I didn't know how to swim, I didn't push any further. Instead, we just took pictures. =)

We then went to the swimming pools, which were "architecturally designed to have an overlooking view of the sea". There are 2 main pools at the resort. One's a constant 4.5 feet deep, while the other had a gradual 3-4.5-6 feet depth. I spent most of the time at the small kiddie pools which had bubbles/jaccuzi-type outlets. Free massage!

Dionne even tried to teach me how to swim... Unfortunately, even at just 3 feet deep water, it's just not my element. =(

We even have a picture of us walking along the shore... but we dare not post them yet. Not until I have edited the image to hide unwanted fat exposure. =P

By lunchtime, we were on our way back to the hotel. We spent the rest of the afternoon sleeping. Hehe.

That night, we had dinner at Gerry's Grill at BQ Mall (sorry, we forgot to take pictures). After which, we watched the 2006 remake of The Omen. I think there were at most 10 of us inside the cinema.

When we got out, true to what Dionne mentioned before, most establishments were already closed. We got a little disoriented because we came out via a backdoor. Thanks to the helpful security people, we got our bearings into place and got to the hotel in one piece.

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June 16

As usual, we got up earlier than our wakeup call... It was our last day in Bohol. We had a wonderful time there. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a great vacation spot. =)

Balik sa Bohol, balik!

Honeymoon Kwento (1 of 2)

Finally, here's what all of you have been waiting for...

THE HONEYMOON KWENTO!

*clap* *clap* *clap*

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June 14


We were already awake before 6AM as our flight for Bohol was leaving by 8AM. By "we", I'm referring to me, Dionne and her parents.

Yes, Daddy and Mommie were with us during our honeymoon. The newlyweds and the 40-year-weds. =)

Dionne was able to book us through PALakbayan. We would be staying at MetroCentre Hotel.

By 7AM, we were at the Centennial Airport. Daddy was impressed with this new terminal. It's much better than the international one and even some of the airports in the US! But this is exclusive to PAL flights only...

A few minutes before 8AM, we boarded the plane. During the flight, I had a slice of marble cake and a glass of super-sweet orange juice. Dionne gave me her merienda since she was still full from our pre-flight merienda of kababayan-like bread from Delifrance. Then, Daddy waved at us their merienda as well. No, I didn't eat all of them. =P We packed them into our merienda bag, for later consumption.

At around 9:20AM, we were already at Bohol!

Mang Rod, our tour guide/driver was already there to meet us. And so, our tour of Bohol began.

First stop, the "supposed" Blood Compact site.

Next was Baclayon Church. There's also a museum here that displays relics from the Spanish era, like candelabras, missalettes (sheets made of cow hide daw), and even the clothes (abito) worn by priests made with threads of gold.

Along the way, Mang Rod showed us the real Blood Compact site. It only has a marker which is probably why tourists prefer the site we first visited rather than this one.

By this time, we were quite hungry, just in time for the lunch at the Loboc River. Buffet for PhP275 each... Sulit, kasi ang sarap ng pagkain! What made the cruise more enjoyable was the man serenading us with Cebuano folk songs, and even some pop songs. Daddy and Mommie enjoyed his singing very much that they each gave him a hundred peso tip!

As we were traversing the river, we saw some kids swinging from some vines into the water and making their way to the floating restaurant. Some kind tourists, like Mommie, even gave them money. I think she gave them PhP20 each. And then another kid showed up. Having lost track of whom she had already given to, she just asked them in Tagalog. But then they conversed in Bisaya, which Mommie understood much to their surprise.

At the far end of the river was a singing group with rondalla waiting to serenade the boats. Some of the tourists even had pictures with them. Not us. Dionne, Mommie and Daddy were enjoying the view while I was still having some barbeque and dessert. Hehe.

Unfortunately, we didn't have time to visit the Loboc Church nor see/hear the Loboc Children's Choir... I do think this alone merits another visit to Bohol.

After lunch, we drove to a nearby place with captive tarsiers.

And then there were the real ones, with Mommie and Daddy, hehe:

Up next was a long ride towards the Chocolate Hills. Along the way, we encountered the man-made forest which was planted in the 1960's.


At the viewing point, we had to climb some 200+ steps to get to the top. Good thing there were sheds every 50 steps where people can get some rest before continuing the climb up.

At the top, the view was breath-taking!

We were lucky enough to have gotten down when the rain started to fall. We bought some souvenirs from the stores before heading out to our hotel. Dionne then made arrangements for our Panglao Island trip the next day.