Monkeying Around the World

Ivan and I heard the chickens again early in the morning.  Jennifer put her earplugs in before going to sleep.  Ivan asked if we could move to a room far from the six chickens. 

We settled down on lounge chairs at Crystal Sand on March 2, 2009.  There are many lounge chairs that are in front of resorts.  You can sit on them if you buy drinks.  But, some are more exclusive for the guests of the resort.  Ivan got the menu.  Ivan and Jennifer each ordered a tuna sandwich.  I got a banana and chicken adobo dish.  The food was alright.  Ivan and I ordered a nice banana shake.  Jennifer got a mango shake. 

We chilled on the lounge chairs and read.  Ivan and Jennifer also went swimming in the sea.  The famous White Beach on Boracay is beautiful.  It’s not crowded.  The water is a gorgeous clear blue color.  It’s definitely the best beach we’ve all been to.

Ivan read about the Bamboo Lounge in the Philippines Travel Guide book.  He left his Lonely Planet book at a hotel – so he had to get a new one.  We walked there and sat down.  Ivan thought it would be nice to see the sunset from here.  Since there were many clouds, the sunset wasn’t the best I’ve seen – but it was still nice. 

We did have a nice drink at the Bamboo Lounge.  It was happy hour so the cocktails were 25% off.  A lot of the bars have happy hours on Boracay.  The hours really vary though.

We stayed in the room for a little while.  Soon, we were all getting hungry.  We walked toward D’Mall.  Ivan and Jennifer wanted to eat at the Italian restaurant Aria.  I told them I was meeting up with my friends at Hungry Monkey. 

I saw Roger and Mike waiting at Hungry Monkey. 

They brought along a friend named Nina.  She was a cute monkey girl.  I ordered the sizzling fish with banana. We all had a good time laughing and chatting.  I’m sure you can guess our favorite subject was bananas.  We explained our best banana experiences.  I have enjoyed spending time with my new buddies.

Ivan and Jennifer were happy to eat some pasta.  They started off with a great eggplant dip.  Ivan ordered the fettuccine with garlic and chili.  Jennifer got the fettuccine with a seafood sauce.  The food tasted alright.  The fettuccine is homemade – it’s really light.  They walked back to Frendz.  I was already there dreaming about bananas.

We moved to a new room far from the chickens on March 3, 2009.  The rooms are nice at Frendz Resort.  The staff is very friendly. We walked to Nigi Nigi Nu Noos for lunch.  I had a banana soup and chicken and banana lumpia shanghai (fried spring rolls).  Ivan ordered a chicken and vegetables dish.  Jennifer got the chicken satay.  It was a good meal. 

It was time for more lounging on the beach.  I like chilling on the lounge chairs under an umbrella.  It can get so hot and humid though.  I usually just have a banana shake to cool down.  If that doesn’t work, I spray some water on my face.  Ivan laid down on his floatie. 

He likes to float around and read.  Jennifer likes to swim around and float on her back. 

We went to Bamboo Lounge again.  Ivan and Jennifer each got a mangojito.  I got a banana and mango shake.  The drinks are great here. 

The sunset turned out nice.  We were happy about that.

We went to Shogun for dinner.  It’s a Japanese restaurant that also has shabu shabu.  We ordered the shabu shabu.  Ivan and Jennifer ordered fish balls, mushrooms, mussels, shrimps and chicken with a seafood broth. 

I got my own with chicken, fish balls and lots of bananas.  It’s fun putting in the ingredients and swishing them around.  The shabu shabu tasted great!  It really fills you up too.

We walked to the MO2 Wave.  The band The Boss was playing.  We found out later that only part of the band were performing.  The bass player was singing the songs.  His voice was alright.  The guitar player was awesome though. 

He played the guitar with his mouth.  Amazing!  We were planning to come see the band again.

March 12th, 2009 | Category: Boracay, Food, Philippines | Leave a comment

Ivan, Jennifer and I checked out of Casa Escano on February 28, 2009.  We hopped into a cab heading towards the airport.  We were going to be in Boracay later today.  We boarded the small PAL Express plane going to Caticlan. 

You can feel the movement of the plane more when you’re in a small plane. 

Next, in Caticlan we got onto a boat headed to Boracay.  The guide book says it takes 30 minutes.  Actually it’s only a 10 minute ride.  I’m sure that depends on the water conditions. 

We took a tricycle to Frendz Resort.  We were dropped off on the street. There’s no sign to the resort – so we passed by it.  Ivan asked somebody where it was located.  They should put a sign near the entrance.  There’s one but on the side where you enter from the beach not from the street.  We were greeted by Steve, who’s one of the owners of Frendz.  He said we should come back for a welcome drink.  We placed our backpacks into the room.

In a few minutes, we were back in the common room.  Steve bought Ivan and Jennifer a San Miguel Light.  I had a banana juice.  It was a nice gesture.  The staff also brings out chips and peanuts to snack on.  We chatted with the guests and Steve.  We heard some horror stories that some people have had while traveling. 

A few people from the hostel wanted to have dinner.  We decided to join them.  Steve recommended a Mexican place nearby.  The restaurant was Manana.  We walked there and sat down.  Ivan ordered the chicken fajitas.  I had the tuna and banana tacos.  Jennifer got the chicken enchiladas.  The food was okay.  It wasn’t too flavorful.  Some of the group wanted to get a drink.  We walked to Summer Place and sat down.  Everybody ordered a drink.  It was nice chatting right on the beach.  The rest of the group went back to the resort.  We decided to walk around the beach.  After a few minutes, we walked back to the resort for some sleep.

I think around 5 am or so – we heard chickens making noise.  It was so loud!  I had to cover my ears with my hands.  Jennifer put her earplugs in.  It sounded like the chickens were in sync.  Ivan didn’t sleep much. 

We walked to the beach to get some lunch on March 1, 2009.  We sat down to eat at Hawaiian Bar-B-Que.  Ivan had the fish.  Jennifer got the Mango Chicken.  I got Chicken and Banana BBQ dish. 

The food tasted really good here. 

We walked along the beach.  Ivan heard about the delicious shakes at Jonah’s.  We found it and sat down.  Ivan got the Mango and Banana shake.  Jennifer got the most famous one that has Papaya and Mango.  I ordered a Banana shake with extra bananas – my own creation.  I told the server that she could call my concotion Bananas Overload.  It could be marketed towards monkeys.  I’m sure it would be a hit with the local monkeys!  The server said she would let her manager know.  Wow!  The shakes were so scrumptious. 

It was great for us to walk around – so we could walk off lunch and the shakes.  Ivan and Jennifer went swimming for a little while. 

I decided to check out D’Mall.  It’s a place filled with shops and restaurants.  I found a great place called Hungry Monkey.  It’s the local monkey hangout.  I made a few friends. I told them I would be back later for dinner.  I went back to Frendz.  Ivan and Jennifer were already there relaxing.  I told  them about the cool monkey hangout I found.  They were glad I made some new friends.

I walked back to Hungry Monkey at dinnertime.  I saw my friends Roger and Mike.  There were lots of banana dishes on the menu.  This was monkey heaven for me!  I ordered two banana crepes.  The crepes were delicious.  I talked about my travels with Ivan and Jennifer.  Roger and Mike told me about their life on Boracay.  They’re both banana inspectors for the island. 

Ivan and Jennifer heard about Crafts of Boracay from Steve at the Frendz Resort.  Two guys from the resort asked Ivan and Jen if they wanted to go to dinner at Crafts of Boracay.  The Indian restaurant is located on the roof of a big shopping center.   One of the guys ordered two orders of Vegetable Samosas for the table.  Ivan and Jennifer enjoyed the samosas.  Ivan ordered the chicken korai and naan bread.  Jennifer got the chicken masala.  The chicken in the dishes weren’t boneless.  They didn’t like that.  The food was okay. The portions weren’t that big and the food lacked flavor.  They headed back to the resort after dinner. 

March 12th, 2009 | Category: Boracay, Food, Philippines | Comments (11)

Ivan, Jennifer and I were trying to figure out how to get to Cebu on February 27, 2009.  Ivan and I had breakfast at the resort.  Ivan found out that there’s a ferry to Hagnaya.  Then, we would have to take a taxi to Cebu.  We packed our backpacks.  We checked out of Yooneek Beach Resort.

We needed two tricycles for all the backpacks.  The tricycles took us to the pier. 

Ivan and Jennifer purchased tickets for the Super Shuttle ferry.  Ivan found some snacks for our trip. 

We boarded the ferry.  The ferry holds car as well as people.  It was time to say goodbye to Bantayan Island.

The ferry ride went by pretty fast.  It was an hour and a half journey. 

Everybody was really hungry.  We found a small restaurant for our late lunch.  Ivan had noodle soup with sardines.  Jennifer had chicken adobo.  I just ate a few yummy bananas.

We found a private mini-van.  We hoped that the ride to Cebu City wouldn’t take too long.  Unfortunately, we hit some traffic.  It took almost 3 hours to reach the hotel.  We checked into Casa Escano.  We got a bigger room than last time.  I was happy to get my own bed. 

It was dinnertime.  We wanted something good to eat.  We asked the taxi driver to take us to Asiatown I.T. Park.  This area has lots of restaurants to choose from.  There wasn’t many really nice restaurants – most were casual.  We chose Pier One Bar and Grill.  Ivan ordered a Flaming Volcano and Jennifer got the Pier 69.  The Flamingo Volcano was interesting since they stacked up some glasses and then lit the top.  The alcohol then poured down to the main drink glass.  You can’t see the flame in the picture though. 

It was cool.  Jennifer really liked her Pier 69 drink.  Ivan ordered the tuna sashimi for a starter.  The sashimi was really cold.  It must have been sitting on ice and then they defrosted it.  Ivan ordered the swordfish. 

I got the stuffed chicken dish – stuffed with bananas of course!  Jennifer got the salmon teriyaki.  Our main dishes tasted really good.

We walked to The Loft.  The lounge area was really quiet.  Ivan asked the bartender where the nightclub area was.  He said it was only on Saturdays.  So, we decided to leave.  Ivan and Jennifer wanted to dance.  The guy told us about another club nearby.  We were thinking about going.  But, we opted to head back to the hotel.

March 11th, 2009 | Category: Cebu, Ferry, Food, Philippines | Leave a comment

Ivan, Jennifer and I checked out of Budyong Beach Resort on February 26, 2009.  We walked to Yooneek Beach Resort.  Ivan checked into the room. 

We put all our backpacks inside the room. 

We had lunch at the resort.  I had a banana and honey sandwich.  Ivan got a tuna sandwich while Jennifer had a chicken sandwich.  The sandwiches were okay. 

It was time to hit the beach.  The beach has clear water.  It’s not the biggest beach though.  It’s nice though.  Ivan and Jennifer swam around the water for a bit.  Ivan wanted to get a drink at the Floating Bar. 

Ivan and Jennifer swam to the bar.  I was being pulled by Jennifer.  I sat on a life vest and was hoping I didn’t fall in!   We each had a lovely drink.  I drank a tasty banana & mango juice.  Ivan and Jen swam back to the beach.  I was floating along on the vest.

Ivan wanted to take a drive.  We drove through the countryside again.  It’s great to listen to music while driving around on a motorbike. 

We drove around for a short time.  I was sad that we didn’t see any banana plants around.  Then, we returned the bike afterwards.

We went to the Blue Ice Bar again.  Ivan and Jennifer each ordered the sizzling gambas dish.  I got the Pancit with shrimp and bananas.  It must have been a different chef from the night before – the sizzling gambas didn’t have the same sauce.  Ivan and Jen were disappointed.  The server did bring out some sauce, but it wasn’t the same.  My dish turned out good. 

March 11th, 2009 | Category: Bantayan Island, Food, Philippines | Comments (1)

Ivan, Jennifer and I checked out of Malapascua Island Exotic Dive & Beach Resort on February 24, 2009.  Ivan wanted to go to Bantayan Island.  He set up a boat with Michael.  We boarded the boat about 1:20 pm.  The waves were big today.  It was raining for awhile.  We arrived on Bantayan Island at 3:40 pm.  The driver took us right to our resort.

We checked in to the Budyong Beach Resort.  Our hut was only a few minutes from the beach.

The beach is located in Santa Fe on Bantayan Island.  Ivan rented a motorbike from the resort for a day.  We drove to D’Jungle for lunch.  Ivan had the sizzling chicken.  Jennifer ordered the chicken adobo.  I had a chicken and banana sandwich.  The food was good.

Ivan and Jennifer wanted to find an ATM.  There’s one located in Bantayan.  We took the 20 minute drive across the island.  There’s an old church called St. Peter that was built in 1580 located in the plaza.

It’s a great church with stained glass windows.

They’re trying to remodel it.

We stopped by a school.  The band was practicing.  There was going to be a parade on Friday.

We listened for a few minutes.  It sounded quite nice.

We used the internet cafe.  Next, we went to dinner at Zenith.  Ivan had a tasty fish dish.  I had an okay banana and chicken bbq.  Jennifer got the garlic chicken which didn’t taste very good.

We chilled on the beach in the morning of February 25, 2009.  The weather was sunny and hot.   Ivan decided to keep the motorbike again.  He thought it was really fast.  We started to get hungry.  We drove to Merly’s.  Ivan ordered the grilled fish.  Jennifer got the chicken bbq.

I got a banana and honey sandwich.  A nice employee there talked to us about Bantayan.  She was really nice.  The food was really tasty here.  After lunch, Ivan amazed the staff with a few magic tricks. They loved it!

Ivan wanted to drive around the countryside.  Jennifer loves doing this since you get to see the people and their villages.  The kids are the best part.

They love getting their pictures taken and waving at you.  It’s great to wave at them and see their smiles.  Ivan put some tunes on his iPod speakers and drove around for awhile.

It was really great.

There are a lot of churches on Bantayan Island.  There’s Catholic churches and also a Filipino religion similiar to Catholic.

We went back to our room.  We took the free boat to the Floating Bar.

It’s a bar floating on the sea.  Unfortunately, the weather was bad so we didn’t get a good sunset.  We watched some of Harry Potter 3.

We went back to the room.  We were hungry and decided to drive to dinner.  We went to the Blue Ice Bar.  Our food turned out great!  Ivan had the sizzling fish while Jen got the sizzling gambas (shrimp).   Jen’s dish had a great sauce.

I went for a nice sauteed vegetables and bananas dish.  Afterwards, we drove to the internet cafe.  We all used the internet.  I was looking at different banana plants.  I saw a banana eating race on Youtube.  I would love to enter a monkey banana eating contest.  I think I could win!  The prize should be a year’s supply of bananas.  Then, it was back to the resort for some rest.

March 11th, 2009 | Tags: church, countryside | Category: Bantayan Island, Food, Philippines | Leave a comment

Ivan, Jennifer and I had lunch at the resort on February 23, 2009.  Ivan had the cream of mushroom soup and a tuna and egg sandwich.  I ordered a nice banana and honey pancake.  Jennifer ate a tuna salad and cream of mushroom soup.  The food tasted real nice. 

Ivan and Jennifer put on their swim suits.  They were taking the Discover Scuba Diving course.  They met their teacher Ollie at the resort.  He spoke about how to use the equipment.  He also talked  about breathing underwater.  We all boarded the boat at 1:30 pm.  I came along to read my book on the boat.  The boat stopped on a quiet part of the island. 

There was different things Ivan and Jennifer had to learn before actually going diving.  An important part is breathing underwater.  You breathe through the regulator, your nose and your ears.  The ears part was hard for Jennifer to actually do.  If you don’t do it correctly, you’ll feel pressure in your ears.  There’s also taking water out of your mask underwater.  Another thing, is learning how to find your regulator and put it in your mouth and breathe. 

Ivan and Jennifer were in shallow water at this point.  Ollie would take them under and see if they could do the tests.  Jennifer kept feeling the pressure in her ears.  I think she made her ears pop once.  Jennifer kept panicking and swimming up to the surface.  She said that even though she spit water into the regulator after re-inserting it underwater – she felt like she was breathing the salt water.  That may have just been in her mind though.  Ollie said if she didn’t want to continue it was fine.  She decided to chill on the boat instead.  Jennifer seemed a bit sad.  I tried to give her hug and a banana.  But, she wasn’t having it.  I think she really wanted to like diving.  It was just hard for her to remain calm. 

Ivan went diving with Ollie.  He went underwater about 6 meters deep.  Ollie kept checking how much air in Ivan’s tank.  Ivan was breathing too hard.  So, they came back to the surface.  Ivan enjoyed the diving.  He wants to do the PADI courses so he can get certified.  Ollie told him that this class would go towards credit for his PADI courses.  It was recorded into the computer.  We arrived back from diving at 3:30 pm. 

We stayed in the room awhile.  Ivan wanted to see the sunset.  We walked to Sunsplash.  The restaurant has a great area to sit down on the beach.  Everybody sits on pillows.  Ivan and Jennifer ordered a drink.  I had a good banana and mango shake. 

We ordered dinner.  Ivan and Jennifer got the famous chicken fajitas.  I got a chicken and banana pizza.  Jennifer got a manicure while we waited for our food.  We loved the food again!  Ivan and Jennifer agree that you MUST try the chicken fajitas at Sunsplash if you ever come to Malapascua Island.  The sunset was really pretty.

Ivan and Jennifer had a few drinks.  It turned out to be a great time.

We were walking back to our resort.  We saw a bunch of people sorting fish.  Men, women and children were all helping out.

They caught a lot of fish that day. 

March 1st, 2009 | Category: Malapascua Island, Philippines | Comments (2)

Ivan, Jennifer and I checked out of the Blue Water on February 21, 2009.  We checked in at Malapascua Island Exotic Dive & Beach Resort.  We had lunch at the resort.  Ivan ordered the cream of mushroom soup and a tuna and egg sandwich.  Jennifer got the Pancit Canton (noodles with vegetables).  I had a banana pancake.  The food tasted good.

It was a day of relaxing and reading.  I was getting into my book Around the World with 80 Bananas: One Monkey’s quest to travel the world.  Ivan and Jennifer were each reading a James Patterson book.

We decided to stay at the Malapascua Island Exotic Dive & Beach Resort for dinner.  Ivan ordered the sizzling fish while I got a banana sandwich. Jennifer asked the server if she could get the chicken and pork adobo without the pork.  The lady said no since it’s written like that in the computer.  Jennifer asked if she could ask the chef if it was possible.  A guy came over and said he would ask.  A couple minutes went by and he didn’t return with an answer.  Ivan stopped another person and asked if we could get chicken adobo.  She said it was fine.  Jennifer wasn’t sure why it was such a problem.  I don’t know why the other lady wasn’t very accommodating.  The server said that it would come with chicken, but only the same amount of chicken if it was with pork.  Jennifer said that’s fine.  Jennifer’s adobo came with only three pieces of chicken.  Our food tasted

good.  Jennifer and I were still hungry.  I ordered a banana split and Jennifer decided on a mango crepe.  The desserts were yummy.

We had to wake up early on Feburary 22, 2009.  We were getting on a boat and headed to Calanggaman Island.  The boat left a little after 9 am.  The boat ride was 2 hours long.  We stopped right by the island. Only a few people got off the boat to go snorkeling.  I floated around on a life jacket.  Ivan and Jennifer went snorkeling.

There was only some small fish in the water.  The water is really clear and blue.

The boat landed on the island.  Lunch was being prepared for us.  It was chicken and fish.  I asked the guys to bbq some bananas for me.  There’s a long sandbar on the island.

We walked around the island.  Ivan and Jennifer walked in the water a bit.  It was time for lunch. The food tasted alright.  It was great chilling on the island.

At one point, it started raining.  Everybody found shelter and sat down.  We hoped that the rain would stop.  Thank goodness, it only rained for a short time.  Ivan went snorkeling again.  The crew was gathering everything up.  We left soon after.  We had another long 2 hour ride back.  We got back to Malapascua Island at 5:20 pm.

Ivan and Jennifer wanted Italian food for dinner.  We walked to the other side of the island.  We sat down at Oscar’s.  It’s located on the roof of a dive shop.  Ivan and Jennifer shared the garlic mushrooms. I got the Banana and Chips.

Ivan and Jennifer each ordered the Chicken Au Poivre.

Our dishes were delicious!  We were tired from our long day.  We decided to head back to the resort to get some rest.

March 1st, 2009 | Category: Food, Malapascua Island, Philippines | Leave a comment

Ivan, Jennifer and I checked out of Paragon Suites on February 19, 2009.  We had the front desk reserve a private taxi for us.  We wanted to go to Maya.  From there, we would take a boat ride to Malapascua Island.

The cost for the taxi was 3000 Pesos.  We loaded up our backpacks into the trunk of the taxi.  We asked the driver to stop for lunch first.  We drove down the street at Sideline.

Ivan ordered a bbq tuna while Jennifer got bbq chicken.  I got two bbq bananas.  The food turned out good.

We stopped at an ATM to get money.  There are no ATMs on Malapascua Island.  The car ride would be about 3 hours long.  We all watched part of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban during our long ride.

We arrived in Maya.  The men there said we could take a private boat for 1200 Pesos.  Otherwise, we’d have to wait longer while other people arrived.

Nobody else came.  We hopped on the boat.  There was a passenger on the boat who was real friendly.  Ivan asked him if 3000 Pesos was too much for a trip to Maya from Cebu City.  He said since the price of fuel is low, it should have been 2500 Pesos.  The 30 minute boat ride went smoothly.

Our boat took us directly to our hotel, Blue Water Malapascua Beach Resort.

We walked to our room and put our backpacks into the room.  The room is a big room with a double bed.  There’s air-conditioning, but no hot water.  It’s okay about the water since the weather is usually hot and humid in the Philippines.

We walked to the Blue Corals Bar for sunset.  Ivan got a beer while Jennifer got a Mai Tai.  I ordered a banana juice – which came a little yellow umbrella.

The sunset was really pretty.  We chatted for a few minutes and then went back to the hotel.

We took a short walk down the beach to Sunsplash.  There’s a place to eat on the beach.  But, since it was so late, that area was now closed.  We sat down to look at the menu.  Ivan ordered the house specialty, the chicken fajitas.  Jennifer got the sizzling chicken.  I ordered the chicken and banana adobo.  Ivan thought the fajitas were amazing.  The fajitas come with a garlic sauce and tomatoes and onions.  Jennifer and I thought our food was good.

We had free breakfast at the resort on February 20, 2009.  Ivan and Jennifer got the corned flakes with mango.  I had two pancakes with banana slices.  It turned out real good.

We boarded a boat.  Ivan set up a trip with Michael to go snorkeling today.  Michael is a local who runs snorkeling tours.  Our first stop was an island only about 5 minutes away.

The waves were choppy right near the island.  Jennifer hasn’t really swam around in water like that.  She did have her life jacket on – so it was easy to swim around.  I didn’t want to float on a life vest since the waves would probably throw me into the water.  I was reading my Lonely Monkey book to see if there was any good banana stands on the island.  Ivan and Jennifer went snorkeling.  There was coral and some small fish underwater.

We went to the other side of Malapascua Island.  There’s a sunken Japanese warship from World War II located in the water.

Ivan and Jennifer went snorkeling to see the ship.  Jennifer said the ship was broken up.  It wasn’t a really big ship.  There was coral growing on part of the remains of the ship.  Our guide said there was skeletons.  Ivan and Jennifer didn’t see any though.  I floated on a life vest since the water was nice and calm.  It was great floating around while eating a sweet banana.

Our last stop was only a few minutes away.  It was an area called Garden Coral.  Jennifer thought there was plenty of beautiful coral found here.  They saw small and big fish.  We stayed at this area for awhile.  We all climbed back on board.  Michael took us back to the Blue Water.

We walked to Ging Ging’s Flower Garden.  We were all pretty hungry.  I ordered a banana and chocolate pancake.  Ivan got the sizzling fish while Jennifer got the sizzling chicken.

We thought the food was really nice.  The only bad part was all the flies that kept landing on our table and our bodies.

Ivan read his book on a lounge chair.  Jennifer and I worked on the blog.  Jennifer always helps out with all the details.  I forget sometimes.

We walked to the Malapascua Island Exotic Dive & Beach Resort.  It was happy hour – so Ivan and Jennifer ordered two Exotic Specials.

Jen was really thirsty!

Since it was happy hour, it was Buy One, Get one Free.  Ivan and Jen wanted one each but the server gave them two each.  I got a lovely Banana Daiqurri – unfortunately, without alcohol.  We wanted to see the sunset.  It was too cloudy for a good sunset though.

We walked down to Sunsplash.  Ivan and Jennifer got the chicken fajitas.  I ordered a banana pizza.

Jennifer thought these were the best chicken fajitas she’s ever had.  My pizza was quite tasty, but not my dad’s secret recipe is better.

Ivan heard about the local festival that was happening at the church.  We walked there and arrived about 9:15 pm.  There was lots of locals dancing.  The admission price is 50 Pesos for each person.  Monkeys are free.  The event was only selling beer, vodka and rum.  Michael saw us and stopped to say hello.  He said it would probably pick up around 10 pm.  Ivan decided we should walk back to the resort.  I was too tired and went to bed.

Ivan and Jennifer watched a few episodes of Nighty Night.  They were too tired to head back to the festival.  So, they went to sleep.

February 22nd, 2009 | Category: Food, Malapascua Island, Philippines | Leave a comment

Ivan, Jennifer and I ate the free breakfast on February 18, 2009 at Casa Escano.  Ivan had the oatmeal.  I had the hot banana oatmeal.  Jennifer had scrambled eggs with rice.  We had to check out of Casa Escano because even though they had told us they had an extra night available, it turns out they didnt. We walked across the street to Paragon Suites.  We decided to check in there.

Ivan wanted to get a haircut.  We were going to head to another mall called SM City.  Right away, we went to a salon.  We stopped at the Ricky Reyes salon.  Jennifer got a hair spa and a haircut at a Ricky Reyes salon in Manila.  Ivan sat down to get a haircut.  His haircut only cost 200 Pesos.  Jennifer was getting her hair dyed black.  Ivan prefers her with dark hair.  Jennifer also thought her hair was losing its color and turning more orange.  Jennifer’s hair color cost 1000 Pesos.  The lady who was dying her hair was really nice.  Jennifer said that anything close to her natural hair color would be fine.  The lady picked Natural Black.  It turned out nice.  It’s really darker than her hair color.  I think her hair is actually a really dark brown. 

We went searching for bookstores.  Ivan left his Lonely Planet at Banwa Pension.  So, he was trying to find a new Lonely Planet Philippines.  He wasn’t having any luck at all. He tried several large bookstores, and they had Lonely Planets for every single country in the world…..except for the Philippines!!  He heard another Philippines guide book that was good.  He bought the Philippines Travel Guide by Jens Peter.  The author used to work for Lonely Planet.  Ivan also picked up some James Patterson books. 

We checked out the movie theatre to see what was playing.  We went to see Confessions of a Shopaholic.  The movie was funny.  It was definitely a chick flick.  I prefer funny monkey flicks.  The movie was a little cheesy.

We grabbed a taxi back to Paragon Suites.  We stayed in the hotel for a while just chilling. 

Ivan read in his new guide book about Crossroads.  It’s an area with restaurants, a club and bars.  We got into a taxi, and  asked the driver to take us to Crossroads.  We figured we could find a nice restaurant when we arrived.  We checked out a Japanese restaurant.  But, we saw a shabu shabu restaurant next door. 

We went inside China Royale.  It’s a restaurant for shabu shabu.  Shabu Shabu is where you cook up ingredients in a big pot of soup.   Ivan and Jennifer picked chicken, tofu, crab balls, salmon balls and button mushrooms.  The soup they picked was a chicken broth.  The restaurant also gives you garlic, peppers and spring onions.  Then, there’s three sauces:  soy sauce, chili sauce and teriyak sauce. 

We mixed in the ingredients and let them cook.  We had a man helping us out.  Ivan and Jennifer ordered a bottle of Merlot.  I had a banana shake.   Once the food was done, we’d scoop it into our soup bowls.  I added a generous amount of bananas to my soup.  It tasted so delicious! 

It’s fun cooking the shabu shabu.  We had a great meal at China Royale.

There was a karaoke place in Crossroads.  But, Ivan wanted to pick a place closer to our hotel.  He noticed the day before there was one that had LCD screens.  We took a taxi to Soft Hits! Karaoke.  On the door, there was a sign saying it was a soft opening.  We got a private room.  The remote lets you pick the songs by artist or title.  It’s really easy to use. 

Ivan and Jennifer ordered a vodka cooler.  I got a banana and strawberry juice.  Ivan and Jen sang so many songs.  They really love to sing. 

I was bouncing around on the couches.  The room has disco lights.  So, there were red, blue and green circles going around the room.  It was a really fun time. 

February 21st, 2009 | Tags: shopping | Category: Cebu, Food, Philippines | Leave a comment