Holy Week in Cebu (part 4)

Day 4: April 12
(Easter Sunday)

We woke-up early and started to prepare our things for our 9am flight back to Manila. We got to the airport early so we decided to have breakfast there.

Tin got the spicy Ramen, while I settled for some pasta. We also got a sandwich. (Hindi din kame gutom noh?)

breakfast at Cebu airport

Wanted: Ramen Thief

After breakfast, we then waited for our boarding call. While there, I noticed a familiar face. I saw one of my French officemates (from a different department)! WTF?! What the hell is he doing in Cebu? Then I remembered one time that we had a group lunch with him, he said that he was taking dance lessons in SG from some Filipina dance instructor. So I'm guessing that's his "Philippine connection". A few minutes later, I saw a lady approach him. Based on her looks, I'm assuming she's Filipina. They were pretty sweet and all, hmmnn... so, sila pala? Hehehe... Chismosang bata!!!

Anyway, soon it was time to board. Thankfully, there were no seat-takeover incidents this time!

bulaga!

pa-cute mode

mahirap palang maging kargador

After about 50minutes of flight, we were back in Manila.

We took a cab to their place. While in the cab, I was trying to psych myself up as I am about to formally "Meet the Anchetas". I met her Dad and Mom briefly when we came back from Abra last March. But this time it's different as I'm actually going to spend a few hours in their house and have lunch with them. O.M.G. I don't remember feeling this nervous before, not even during my college thesis presentation, or any job interview I've ever done.

m9dhatter gave what could be the best (and most obvious) advice ever: "Just don't screw it up!"

I was really praying hard that I don't do something really absurd like randomly breaking dishes or shout "Oh! look! flying pigs!"

Anyway... going back.

Soon as we got to their place, Adrian (a.k.a. Ading), her youngest brother, helped us carry our stuff as we went into their house. Her mom was there watching TV in their living room.

Her tita soon came down from the 2nd floor, and she merrily met me. I've briefly talked to her on the phone for a few times in the past, and it was pleasant to finally put a face on the voice.

Tin helped me pack the things I'll be bringing to SG, her tita and her mom also helped, which was kind of nice and awkward at the same time.

After a few minutes, it was lunch time. Her mom cooked her specialty dish of "Papaitan", which was really good! And I'm not just saying that to make "sip-sip" (so conio!), it was really good!

Her dad wasn't around that time, which kind of lessened by nervousness.

After lunch, we sat again in the living room to watch some TV. Tin suddenly, and "conveniently" went upstairs for a while, which left me and her mom in the living room alone. This takes the cake for being the Most Awkward Moment of My Life Award.

Me and her mom talked about random stuff, and thankfully, I managed to pull-off some decent conversation.

At around 3pm, me and Tin left her house so we can meet-up with her friends in Araneta. Originally, Tin wasn't supposed to come along, and I was supposed to just meet her friends, including her ex. (a very long story. yes, even longer than this one!) But Tin came along anyway to keep me company.

By the time we came, some of her friends were already there. A few more minutes and a few more joined in, including her ex. Looks like we have a new winner for Most Awkward Moment of My Life Award!

Me and the ex went inside Starbucks to buy some coffee. I've talked to her on the phone in the past (part of the really long story), but this would be the first time I'd be talking to her personally. It was actually a pretty decent and sincere conversation.

After a few more minutes, it was time for me and Tin to go, as we need to pick-up my stuff from their house and then proceed directly to the airport for my flight back to SG.

Soon as we got to their house, I saw that her dad is already back and was watching TV in the living room.

I am always more anxious of meeting fathers. I know how protective they can be of their daughters. Like Tin, I'm the only daughter in our family as well, so I should know.

Anyway, going back, while Tin was again, "conveniently" somewhere else in their house, her dad and I managed some small talk. He jokingly asked "ilang taon na naman bago ka bumalik?" And I quickly smiled and responded "ah, hindi naman po taon. babalik din po ako ulit agad". ding! ding! ding! ding! and we have a new winner for Most Awkward Moment of My Life Award! :P

After a few more awkward minutes, we had to say our goodbyes as we headed off to the airport.

It was already getting dark when we reached the airport, so we decided to eat dinner there. Thank goodness the airport has jabee! Sadly, though, they ran out of Chicken Joy, so we had to settle for a burger. We also got dessert from the nearby Mini Stop

dessert from mini stop

We spent a few more minutes just sitting there and talking, but soon I had to board the plane. Since I can't stand seeing her just outside the immigration area, as usual, I asked her to go and leave first before I went in to queue-up for immigration check.

Somehow I find it easier to see her walk away, than for me to see her just standing as I am the one walking away.

Anyway, I watched from the other side of the gate as she waited for a cab. It took her quite some time to get one, but thankfully, after a few more minutes, she got into a cab. I then quickly ran to the immigration area, as my flight is already boarding! And guess what?! the queue in the immigration was long! Great!?!

The airline crew helped us "late-birds" cut the lines since we were already running late. We also hustled our way into the security check. From there, it was like an episode of the Amazing Race. It was quite difficult for me to run as I was wearing flip-flops.

There were a few more people with me on the same flight, and they too were running. And guess what, our boarding gate was the one at the end of the f***ing long hall!!!

Luckily, I made it just in time! It was a mix of emotions. I was happy I made it, but the realization that I'll be leaving again kind of hit me real hard. Back to work and that lonely place called Singapore.

Thus ends Day 4, with awkwardness, anxiety, sadness, and one hell of a work-out!

Holy Week in Cebu (part 3)

Day 3: April 11
(Black Saturday)

We woke-up early as we wanted to go buy danggit at Taboan Market. Before going to Taboan, we, of course, wanted to have breakfast first.

We planned to go to Cafe Bien for breakfast. While walking along Salinas Drive, I had to dig down inside my brain to remember where it's located. I was pretty sure it was very near the hotel, across the road, before the metrobank ATM machine. But sadly, it was no longer there. Even "Space Burger" wasn't there anymore. Burotness!

So we continued to walk towards the IT Park as there were already a lot of establishments there. I remembered "Chowabongga", so I decided it would be nice to have breakfast there. Once we were there, was saw that it was still closed! :(

Since we were already pretty hungry, we just opted to go to the nearest place that had food. We had breakfast at Starbucks. We don't have any pictures since we didn't bring our phones or cameras since we were planning to go to Taboan. Aside from the risk of being mugged, I was afraid the smell of danggit will "linger" on our phones.

Once we were done with breakfast, we went straight to Taboan.

Many things may have changed in Cebu, but Taboan remained almost the same. Especially the smell... same old, same old.

After looking around for better deals, we finally settled on buying danggit in one stall. We also bought some other foodstuff aside from danggit.

Once we were finished buying stuff, we immediately hailed a cab. Once inside, we apologized to manong driver for the stench we brought in. The moment we went inside the hotel, one of the bell hop said..."Taboan" Yes. the stench "lingered" with us! Ah, just like old times!

We quickly cleaned-up ourselves and made sure we didn't bring the smell of danggit everywhere we went. Once ready, we prepared to go to Ayala to buy some souvenir shirts.



We went around Ayala first to see what's new. Once there, we saw that "Bisaya Ispisyal" is still there in it's original place. After looking at T-shirt designs, we decided to have lunch first and then look around further for more t-shirt designs after that. Yes, food will always be the priority in any given scenario.

Foot design at B.I. floor

Since I have always been craving for Crispy Pata, I decided that we should go to Dessert Factory so that we can have their Boneless Crispy Pata.

Surprise, surprise! Dessert Factory has also moved out from their original place. I distinctly remember that it was near Timezone and a metrobank atm machine. Apparently, Ayala now has a section called "The Terraces" where most dining establishments are. The design of the place kinda reminds me of Greenbelt.

New Ayala design. Girlfriend not included.

After checking out the mall map, we finally found Dessert Factory (which incidentaly was beside "Spaghetti Factory")

As expected, we ordered the Boneless Crispy Pata. To balance-out all the fat that we will be ingesting, we decided to order a vegetable dish. Unfortunately there weren't any vegetable dishes in Dessert Factory, so we just ordered a salad.

"Ang daya, bakit salad lang sa akin???"

And, of course, it would be a travesty of sorts if we didn't get dessert in Dessert Factory, right? :)





After that very sinful lunch, we decided to go to Island Souvenirs to buy some shirts. We also went to the Metro Department store since I remembered that they also have souvenir shirts there from other stores. We then went back to B.I. to finally buy the shirt that Tin wanted for her brother.

We continued to walk around the mall, but soon our feet started to ache. So we decided to sit for awhile and have some coffee.

parang nasa bahay lang ah?!

We then continued on to look for other souvenir items. After that, we proceeded to the hotel to drop the things we bought as we prepared ourselves for our next destination: KartZone!

I know there are also Go-Karts in Manila, but since me and Tin are rarely together and we have no other places to go, this would be a good time to do this.

So off we go to ride a cab to KartZone!!!





We got a Go-Cart that had 2 seats. We drove for 8 laps.

This is so much better than hugging Mang Esmer for dear life!

After that quick drive, we then proceeded to Crown Regency Hotel Towers to try the Skywalk and Edge Coaster. (hat tip to Helen and Gloi for the info on this place!)

Once we were outside the hotel, the guard asked us if we were going for the Skywalk. I hesitantly said yes. He then directed us to the proper entrance and soon we were on the elevator to the ticket counters.

Before buying the tickets, we first looked at the TV monitor showing some videos about the ride. I was having second thoughts, primarily because I'm f***ing afraid of heights and that I wasn't very sure if it was safe.

After much prodding from Tin, I hesitantly queued up for the tickets. We then rode an elevator to the 38th floor, to the Edge Coaster.

My dear, there is no need to rub it in...

So there I was, being a sissy and all, while Tin anticipated all the thrills she'll be getting out of it.

We first tried the Edge Coaster.

Aba, nakaka-ngiti pa?!

A few seconds in to it, I realized it wasn't that scary afterall. I actually enjoyed the night view Cebu city had to offer. It was just stunning! But amidst all this beautiful and serene landscape, there was a certain someone who was screaming out her lungs. Clue: It wasn't me. :)







The ride ended too soon. It would have been nicer if it was a bit longer.

Up next was the Skywalk. We went down 1 floor and queued-up. We then suited-up and got some instructions and reminders from the Skywalk Instructor.

Ginyu Forces?!

Waaaaaaaag!!!

Anong akala nyo sa akin? Duwag?! Tama kyo!!!

I'm guessing they won't be using this as promotional material

Nasan yung Cancel button?

The orange suit kind of reminded us of Dragonball Z, and of boyoyong clowns, but we figured this pose is much more dignified compared to acting like clowns

Parang picnic lang ah?!

After Skywalk, we ate our free "sky meal", and headed back to Ayala in the hopes of buying CnT lechon.

Sadly, the moment we got to the food court, all the lechon was gone... waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.... BUROT!!!

With heavy hearts (OA noh?), we went back to the hotel. We rested for a little while as we were planning to eat dinner at Golden Cowrie.

Since this was our official 6th monthsary, I went out for a few minutes to buy her flowers. JY Square was closed, so I asked a taxi to take me to the nearest flowershop he can think of. Luckily we found several along Archbishop Reyes.

I went back to the hotel to prepare for dinner. However, Tin wasn't feeling very well (i guess from all that screaming in the EdgeCoaster... hehehe... pish!), so we just decided to order dinner in the hotel. We watched some weird foreign movie and called it a night.

Thus ends Day 3 of our Cebu Adventure.

Holy Week in Cebu (part 2)

Day 2: April 10
(Good Friday)

For this day, we originally planned to go to Kawasan Falls. But the long trip and the fact that we had to wake-up really early discouraged us. So we just opted to do our City Tour and visit churches, since it was Good Friday anyway.

We woke-up around 7am. Tin admired the view from the veranda.

The view from our veranda.
Isang talon lang, swimming pool na! (if you're a high-jumper!) :)

While I admired a much better view:

naks, senti-mode...

We walked around the resort once more, taking pictures and thinking of other things to do, aside from eating. (which I ALWAYS suggested)

happy about swings?

poster child for "bully-able" kids

We continued to walk along until we finally hit the beach-side.

mainit ba? ha? ha? ha? mainit? mainit?

si ate, nag-senti na naman!

impulsive decision of the day: uy! mag jetski tayo!

Yes. That's right kiddies. We decided to go for a jetski ride when one manong approached us.

So off we go with manong to ride a small boat to the area where they have the jetski parked.

No, this is not me after swimming and too much buffet. This was the manong, whose name I have already forgotten due to my memory gap, who took us to the jetski via small rowing boat

Tin enjoyed the boat ride:

"Yey! Water!"

Which I couldn't say much about me:

"Kelangan ba talaga sa dagat mag-jetski?!?"

So I just tried very hard to admire the view from the boat.

view from the boat

E ang babaw naman pla e?! Ano kayang ginagawa ni manong? hmmnnn...

The little kid and the puppy that puts my nearly non-existent swimming skills to shame

Once we reached the "jetski parking area", we wore the provided life vest.

Excited ang bata

Syempre picture muna

Manong Esmer was our jetski instructor for what was supposed to be an hour of "driving". He took us first to the safe place where we can go around without hitting people who were swimming (although the idea of which sounded kind of fun. :P) and taught us how to use the jetski.

Manong Esmer drove like mad! I thought he was drunk, but I didn't smell any alcohol. Hmmnn... must be drugs then. (like that's any better!)

It's Mang Esmer, Me, and Tin, in seating order. I jokingly said to Manong while he was driving like crazy, "Manong, baka gusto nyo lang akong yumakap ng mas mahigpit kaya nyo binibilisan ang takbo!?! Yakapin ko na lang kyo ng mahigpit, bagalan nyo na lang. Hehehe..." The bastard drove faster!

Once we were in safe zone, manong gave us instructions on how to drive the jetski. After the quick "use-this-and-don't-do-this" session, I was the first to give it a go. So in seating order, it's me, Tin, and Manong Esmer, cruising around the sea.

I didn't want to wander around too much because I have these nagging fears
1. that they forgot to put enough gas in the jetski
2. that the jetski will breakdown in the middle of nowhere.
3. that the instructor will get amnesia and forget how to go back.
4. that we'll turnover and Manong Esmer will use me as "salbabida".
5. that magical mermaids will abduct me. (which come to think of it, this may not be so bad... depending on which half of them is the "fish", of course. :P )
6. that we'll hit a lost baby dolphin (yes, I feel no remorse in hitting human heads with a jetski, but lost baby dolphins?! that's just heartless! :) )
7. that we'll encounter pirates (if Keira Knightly is along, I won't mind... she'll need to eat though, man, that woman's thin!)
8. that we'll be lost and trapped in some deserted island, with no food. It's the fat one that gets eaten first, you know.

Yes, 15 minutes of driving a jetski and all I can think of are those.

After about 15 minutes, I asked Tin to drive. We switched places, which was also scary.

Tin may have taken the same drugs Manong Esmer took! :) She started out smoothly, driving around. But soon, she was driving like hell. Let me tell you, my buttcheeks have never clenched a seat that hard before! At one point, Manong asked her to go back as we were going too far.

After about 15 minutes, Manong asked to stop the jetski and he suddenly dove underneath it.
The thought through my mind at that moment: "Great! I knew it! We're out of gas and he's ditching us!?! Now, where are the magical mermaids?!"

Apparently, something got stuck underneath and he had to pull it out. (And no, they weren't my shorts... some seaweed or plastic, i guess... the sea is filled with unimaginable floating stuff these days)

He took the control of the jetski and headed back to base. But instead of going straight to the "parking" spot, he had this insane idea of going around certain areas with boats and little islands.

After all these "stunts" and further "butt-cheek clenching", we went back to base to park the jetski. The agreement was to ride for 1 hour, but when we checked our watches, it was actually about 30minutes. Instead of complaining, we just let it slide. I was too tired (and hungry) to complain.

After that jetski adventure, we went straight to the buffet table. Now this is my kind of sport! :)

I've never been happier to have breakfast!

After breakfast, we cleaned-up and rested for while. After some time, we started packing our stuff to prepare for check-out.

After checking-out, we went around the resort to look for a place to have lunch. We would have wanted to go to another place for lunch, but since it was Good Friday, we knew that most dining places were closed.

Since we were still quite full from breakfast, we opted to just get dessert. We got one order of "halo-halo" and one order of the maribago dessert platter, which was good for 4 people. (yes, we were supposedly "full")

have you seen a bigger smile???

fight!!!

After lunch, we proceeded to get a cab to our next temporary home in Cebu. This place was very close to my heart as I spent most of my "Cebu life" few years back. Where else, but Cebu Northwinds Hotel!



Either Northwinds became much worse than what I remember or I had very low standards then. I didn't remember any ants back in the days. Now they're all over the place. (ok, that was an exaggeration, but there were really a lot!)

Anyway, we checked-in and rested for a little while. After preparing our stuff, we went to Basilica de Sto. Nino.



It was very difficult to get inside the church because there were too many people around.

We went outside to light some candles.






No trip to Cebu is complete without going to Magellan's Cross.

siga ah?!

Typical tourist as we were, we wanted a picture with the cross. I had my camera on a timer and placed it on the floor. To add the needed angle, Tin placed the camera on top of the camera strap. So there we were, readily posed for the perfectly-framed picture, doing a countdown. As the timer reached 1 second, guess what happens?! The camera falls down from the strap it was sitting on, so what we got is this:

Me: "Burot!"
Kuyang Epal sa picture: "Anong pinag gagagawa nitong mga 'to?!"
Tin: "Bahala kyo, mag po-pose pa din ako?!"

After our "pictorial session" at Magellan's cross, we ran out of places to go. So we just wandered around. We decided to eat some street foods.

We saw some "quek quek" so we immediately asked Manong for some. After several quail eggs later, Tin wanted some squid balls, but we couldn't find any. Our quest for the very elusive squid balls led us to the Cebu Cathedral.

The Cebu Cathedral

We saw several images which were either getting ready for the procession or just finished it.









After taking their pictures, we proceeded to continue our search for the squid balls. Soon it became apparent that Cebu has no supply of squid balls, thus we searched for an alternative. Of course I suggested Jabee!!! :)

After searching around and asking a manang tindera, we found a Jabee near the Basilica de Sto. Nino.

The place was packed with people, but we managed to get some seats. We had chicken joy with rice and palabok!!! Yey!!! We were both excited to eat that none of us bothered to take a picture. :)

Since all that walking exhausted us (damn you, squid balls!) we went back to the hotel. Once in the hotel, we just watched a movie since all the other places to go to were closed.

By dinner time, we ordered some food from the hotel. We also had some left over chicken from Jabee.



We also wanted to order some champagne so that we can celebrate our 6th month once the clock strikes 12. Unfortunately, they didn't have any.

So we just ordered 2 shots of tequila. hehehe...

Much to our surprise when the order came in... It was tequila in a wine glass???

eh?

Fine, sige, kunwari na lang wine...

I'm not much of a big drinker, so as expected:

bangengeng bata!

Thus ends Day 2 of our Cebu Adventure.