Random Detox » Travelogue

In the Land of Smiles 5: Dinner and Condoms

Gim — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 14:10:57 +0000

Population growth. The scourge of the developing world. The root of that famous vicious cycle that causes impoverished countries like the Philippines to be stuck in their respective economic quagmires. Not so for Mechai Viravaidya, who founded Thailand’s most successful non-profit, non-government agency, the Population and Community Development Association (PDA). Through the PDA, Mechai shared his belief that for any family planning program to be successful, condoms and other contraceptives should be as accessible and acceptable to the people as vegetables in the market- thus the concept for Cabbages and Condoms was born.

Cabbages and Condoms, a really decent and homey (think casual dresses) resto located at Soi 12, Sukhumvit Road, Bangkok (Between Nana and Asok BTS stations) is a restaurant with a mission: promote family planning and population control. Proceeds from the resto go straight to the to the PDA which then promotes and develops projects geared towards family planning in the provinces. This goal has garnered a lot of publicity for the restaurant, even makingit on Time’s must do list in Bangkok.

Of course, we wouldn’t have passed up the chance to experience the place during our stay. We ordered the house special of Soft-shelled crabs, Pork Spare ribs with honey, and rice. For dessert, we had banana fritters with ice cream. Though a bit pricey (average dish costs around 200-300 Baht), the fact that we were contributing to a cause made it easier to part with our money. Besides that, the dishes were really good, although spicier than we actually would have liked. But overall, still a pretty good eat.

Spicy Soft-shelled crab

Pork Spare ribs- we demolished this in five minutes flat

After Dinner pose

Of course, a night at C and C wouldn't be complete without posing with the famous condom mascots!

Now it's Flishi's turn!

After Dinner Freebies- yes, they give out free condoms

Tags: Bangkok, Travel, Travelogue

In the Land of Smiles 4: Chatuchak Market

Gim — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 16:18:11 +0000

Ah, the famed weekend market of Bangkok; Chatuchak market wasn’t all that hard to find. All you have to do is ride the BTS Skytrain all the way to the last station, Mo Chit and follow the crowds. Yes, the crowds. Occupying a huge plot of land adjacent to Chatuchak park, the market itself is made up of a labyrinth of shops, food stalls and sidewalk vendors (including those that sell cute baby gifts).

Amidst the crowds- tired but still managing a smile

And it’s packed with people- tourists and locals alike jostle one another to shop, haggle, and shop some more for more merchandise than you can possibly handle. The reason for the crowds is all too clear- dirt cheap clothes (I bought a nice casual shirt here for only 30 Baht! The decent, really-OK-for-work collared shirts can be bought for 150-200 Baht apiece), pasalubongs and street food (you just have to try the marinated duck with flat noodles- scrumptious!).

I dunno what's it called- all I care about is it's scrumptious!

Fli, that's so masarap!

Needless to say, with items this cheap, we burnt a lot of Baht for a day at the market. On the other hand, we came home with loads of clothes and trinkets!

White collared shirt- 30 Baht, Black formal coat- 100 Baht, Levi's straight cut jeans- 400 Baht, Chatuchak experience- Priceless!

Tags: Bangkok, Chatuchak, Travel, Travelogue

In the Land of Smiles 3: La Table de Tee

Gim — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 15:43:40 +0000

Foodies. That’s what we like to call ourselves. And it’s pretty obvious why. I love to cook. We both love, love, love to eat. Our time spent together is like one loong food-trip. We just love sampling new food (specially if they are served in those really nice contemporary coffee tables)!

Proof of this is the fact that the first thing we did on arrival in the Land of Smiles is buy 70 Baht worth of Thai food minutes after disembarking off the plane. OK, fine, so we bought the food from a 24-hour convenience shop inside the airport. But it still was Thai food after all.

So it was that we were excited as starving chickens (pardon the pun, we really were excited for Thai cuisine) when our mutual friend Chu, invited us for a dinner out at La Table de Tee, a French-Thai fusion gourmet resto located at Saladaeng Road, Silom, Bangkok. Conveniently located around 5 minutes from the Bangkok BTS Skytrain (Thai version of our MRT, just waaay better) Sala Daeng Station. A full 5-course meal costs a very reasonable 750 Baht (That’s affordable, considering that it *is* a Michelin grade place). True to our foodie nature, we took pics of each and every course we ate!

Japanese Pumpkin and Garlic Soup! Very creamy with a hint of lime

Sweet potatoes and Basil- astonishing how they made the potatoes taste like mozarella cheese!

Seafood and Couscous- savor de marisco galore!

Pork Sirloin and Ginger- Sizzling pork with bit of bacon and drizzles of honey! Yum!

Choco Fondant and coconut ice cream- Pure Bliss!

And here’s us, satisfied and happy. I’m soo looking forward to my next La Table de Tee experience!

(L-R) Chu, Flishi, and Me

Tags: Bangkok, Japan, Travel, Travelogue

In the Land of Smiles 2: Cambodia Illegals

Gim — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 13:16:56 +0000

To visit the famous Wats of Bangkok, you have to take the Chao Phrya river boats. A round trip, get on- get off ticket costs around 150 Baht per person (Some of the boats are really classy with beautiful patio chairs). The boats will take you along the Chao Phrya river, which, we found out, also functions as a major water way thoroughfare. The Wats are found along both sides of the river.

Wat Arun opposite Tha Thien Pier

So after an entire afternoon touring the Wats, we waited on one of those numerous piers along the river for a boat to take us back to Saphan Thaksin station. After waiting for quite some time for a boat going back to the main pier (and finding none- there were a lot of boats but they were all going back on the opposite direction- away from Saphan Thaksin), we decided to ride one of those boats thinking that they would surely go back to the main pier.

How wrong we were!

Anyways, we got on one of those boats and settled comfortably in the seats, enjoying the sights and sounds of the river. After about an hour and a half, we noticed a change in scenery- the soaring buildings and skyscrapers of Bangkok were soon replaced by flat plains and rundown buildings. So I decided to ask the captain if the boat when the boat would turn back. His answer surprised me.

“No” he said; “No, go back. We going Cambodia. Passed border few minutes ago.” I was mortified. Cambodia! Shit! How in the world do we get back? To my immediate relief, he said- “Another boat going back Bangkok. Go down this pier (indicating a nearby pier). Wait for last trip back Bangkok.” And then he slowed, dropped us off and told us to wait. Barely had we sat down when the boat going back stopped by. We hastily boarded it and about two hours later, tired, hungry and exhausted we arrived back in Saphan Thaksin at last.

Note: I really wondered whether we actually did cross into Cambodia. A quick Google search of the Chao Phrya river reveals that it empties into the Gulf of Thailand. If you look at the map of the river, there are no tributaries even remotely leading into Cambodia. So perhaps I misunderstood the boat’s captain. *sheepish grin*

Tags: Bangkok, Travel, Travelogue

In the Land of Smiles 1: The Wats

Gim — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 05:00:36 +0000

The Wats. We’ve all heard about them. Angkor, Wat Pho, Wat Arun… Well, OK, so I’ve only heard about Angkor. And that reclining Buddha made popular in Capcom’s Street Fighter, where it features prominently in the background when you fight Sagat in the Thailand stage. To be honest I wasn’t all that keen on seeing the Wats at first- thinking them very similar to the Chinese temples I’ve seen in Cebu. Of course, I wanted a few pics but I wasn’t that too into it, if you get my drift. But everything changed when I actually got to SEE them up close (tip: be in protective clothing, specially one that keeps you away from the heat!).

They were just BEAUTIFUL. Perfectly symmetrical, soaring and glittering in the afternoon sunshine; they really were a sight to behold. I really enjoyed posing for pictures and taking in the sights. But as our friend Dee says, touring these awesome ancient structures just drains your energy. I felt really tired, thirsty and sweaty after touring just one wat- Wat Phra Keow and the adjoining Grand Palace. Well, Don’t let my blabbing tire you out, just check out these pics!

Tags: Bangkok, Travel, Travelogue

Arriving in the Land of Smiles

Gim — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 05:51:08 +0000

I can’t believe how fast time flies. It seemed barely yesterday when we traipsed through immigration at Suvarnabhumi International airport, eager and excited to see the Land of Smiles (with camcorder from digital camcorder reviews at the ready). It’s been exactly 36 hours since we landed and here are a few really random thoughts off the top of my (and Fli’s) head:

As the plane was coming in for a landing and the city lights of Bangkok came into view: “Whoa, they’ve got really big highways!” (They were actually bigger than we expected them to be, plus they drive on the left side of the road!).

Chancing upon a group of people milling around one of the numerous cafes and restos in the airport: “Hey, Gim, there seems to be a lot of Filipinos in Bangkok”, then we heard them talking; “They’re not Filipinos, Fli! They’re Thais!” (They really do look like us, except that the women wear eyeliner that sort of curls up on the outer edges).

After exchanging currencies at the foreign exchange counter and being greeted by the traditional khob kun mak ka with hands pressed together in prayer by the bank teller: “They are soo polite! No wonder they have the reputation for being so respectful and hospitable.”

So far we’ve seen Sukhumvit avenue, dined at this posh French-Thai resto (La Table de Tee) and spent most of our time lounging around our hotel. Today, it’s off to see Thailand’s famous Wats (temples). More posts (and pics) later.

Tags: Bangkok, Travel, Travelogue

Travel Zamboanga to Dapitan

Flisha — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 07:56:00 +0000

To travel Dapitan, Zamboanga (Philippines) and vice versa, you can go three ways: by air, land and sea.

Via Air

The safest option is, of course, via air. But as there’s no available direct flight from Zamboanga to Dipolog (but feel free to correct me if I’m wrong), you would have to fly from Zamboanga to Cebu, then Cebu to Dipolog via Cebu Pacific. From Dipolog airport (do a little bit of shopping in Dipolog if you need to, you won’t be able to do it in Dapitan), you can take a tricycle straight to your destination in Dapitan for an exorbitant fee of Php150. Alternatively, you can walk to the street right outside of the airport, flag down a passing (not waiting) tricycle and get a ride to the bus terminal for only Php7. Then get on an Evergood bus and it will take you to Dapitan for Php20.

Via Sea

If you choose to go via sea, make sure it’s not the rainy season (August – December) because boats tend to capsize around this time of the year. If you have to, bring a vest and a snorkel. (I’m not kidding.) A little ferry from GP Lines travels from Zamboanga to Dapitan and vice versa, and costs less than Php1000 per passenger. The length of the trip is usually around 24 hours. From the port of Dapitan, you can take a tricycle to your destination for some exorbitant fee like Php200 (make sure to haggle heavily to lower the price!).

Via Land

The most common option for people traveling from Zamboanga to Dapitan is to take the bus. A one-way trip from Zamboanga to Dipolog on an airconditioned bus costs about Php400, while a non-AC bus costs Php300. From the Dipolog bus terminal, switch to the Evergood bus which will take you to Dapitan.

Via Stupid

The crazy and lifethreatening way to travel from Zamboanga to Dapitan is by motorcycle. It’s a four hour trip to the “nearby” city of Ipil, then another five hours to Dapitan. And that’s if you don’t stop periodically along the way because your butt is hurting so bad you want to kill your boyfriend for ever suggesting the trip as a “joyride”.

However, there are some nice spots along the way that you just have to stop and take a picture of, because. Like, for example, a rainbow over the ocean. Sometimes, a rainbow is just a rainbow. But when you have travelled for over two hours in the pouring rain on a motorcycle wearing a bright pink plastic trashbag that you bought for twenty pesos from a fisherman, got mud splattered all over your favorite green cottonskinned backpack and staining your pretty blue rubber shoes, and are carrying a large duffel bag about 10 kilos worth of rainsoaked garments on one side, your laptop and your backpack hanging from your aching back that hasn’t rested for seven hours running, plus your camera on the other side…. Sometimes a rainbow is not just a rainbow. Sometimes a rainbow is a calm capresso from God telling you that murder is not the answer, and that this too shall pass.

Not that I ever endured those things because my mother specifically told me that I should be taking the bus to Dipolog, and she even mandated earlier I should take an airplane even if she had to pay my fare but I lipbitingly declined because I really shouldn’t be taking her money and instead should be responsible for my own expenses. So… I was. Via… erm… bus. Not via my newly bought refurbished Honda XL named Bastian (because I sold Pao a long time ago, and he wouldn’t have survived the trip anyways) that my boyfriend drove to Dapitan in both hours under the pouring rain and hours under the burning sun that scalded my skin and soaked all my clothes. Nope, ohno she didn’t.

P.S. The waves were wonderful.

Tags: Dapitan, Dipolog, Photography, Travelogue, Zamboanga, Zamboanga

Offline Data Entry with ScribeFire

Flisha — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 10:49:00 +0000

ScribeFire is a must-have browser plugin for all travel bloggers out there.

It’s the solution for bloggers who are often without Internet access (like me!) and have to blog offline. You can write up your posts through ScribeFire’s blog editor, save them, then publish them whenever you get Internet access.

I use the Blogger CMS, so I can verify that ScribeFire works with the Blogger platform. It also works for other free platforms like LiveJournal, Drupal, MySpace, WordPress and others. All you have to do is have a compatible browser like Firefox, download the plugin, then run it.

Once installed on your browser, a little notepad icon sits in your browser status bar, waiting for you to click and start writing.

When you click on the notepad icon, the ScribeFire window comes up, occupying the lower half of your browser window. You can set the size of the window by dragging it up and down.

You can add your blogger platform account on the right toolbar, so that you can later on publish your entries easily from the ScribeFire window, without ever visiting your platform’s blog editor. If your platform uses categories, you can also set or add your post’s categories via the ScribeFire window.

The timestamp can be set as well, especially for bloggers who like to write posts for later publishing. ScribeFire can also ping to Technorati, Weblogs, Blo.gs, Blogrolling, Icerocket and other ping services.

It’s been very useful to me, as I don’t like to spend a lot of time writing posts when I’m paying by the hour. So I just write them when I’m offline, then publish when I finally get online. There are probably other blog editors that do the same job, but I don’t think any of them measure up to ScribeFire, especially when it comes to including photos on your blog post.

A little known fact among blog publishers is that they can use ScribeFire’s advertising platform that’s similar to Google’s Adsense. However I haven’t gotten around to making a ScribeFire Quick Ads review yet, so anyone who’s tried it, please feel free to comment.

Download ScribeFire here. (Works only with Firefox, Flock and SeaMonkey. Sorry IE users!)

P.S. If you’re using ScribeFire with the Blogger platform on a custom domain, you may run into some image problems. Solution here.

Tags: Blogger, Google, Travelogue

Buklod sa Dapitan

Flisha — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 10:17:00 +0000

A friend alerted me to this new website called Buklod sa Dapitan. It’s a travel agency dedicated to touring Dapitan.

It costs P2,700 per person for a Monday-Wednesday tour and P3,700 otherwise (minimum of 10 persons though). Included in the package are tours of Gloria de Dapitan and the famous Rizal Shrine plus a 2 night stay at Dakak Resort.

Airfare / Landfare is not included in the package of course, but bus transfers from Dapitan to nearby Mindanao cities are provided free.

Tags: Dakak, Dapitan, Travelogue

Marine Curiosity: Silliman University

Flisha — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 12:48:00 +0000

Dumaguete is the a tiny university town. It has a land area of merely 34.26 km² but hosts a total of seven universities and colleges. The biggest institution in Dumaguete is Silliman University which is already 0.61 km² all by itself.

We visited Silliman on our short stop at Dumaguete, and took a look at its many marine life museums.

Here come the pics!

Here I am standing beside the bones of a whale. That’s one enormous animal! (The whale, not me.)

Blowfishes! I think. Heh. I wonder how the students were able to preserve these fishes in their blown-up state?

Gimmi and the Blowfishes.

Silliman’s collection of starfishes.

Er… I think this is a shark. Am not so sure.

Starfishes in all their forms and sizes! Do you know, not all starfishes are pretty? Some are evil, like the ones we have over at the Sta. Cruz Islands in Zamboanga. Those evil ones eat corals.

But I’m sure these here are pretty and harmless.

Gimmi under the bones of a whale.

That’s a scary looking skeleton!

Preserved turtles in swimming action.

Just me, wistfully wishing I were really swimming underwater.

Pretending I’m in the forest.

And in the sea again!

Under a whale skeleton.

Why would we find an intact whale skeleton underwater anyway, Gim?

Gim patting the dead turtles.

No. They didn’t fall while Gim was there.

Looking at baby clams!

And shells and mollusks.

These are giant clams!

Whale bones. And Gim. Creepy.

Gimmi in the middle of a massacre.

And then me.

Silliman University apparently likes to collect whale bones.

This is a WHOLE whale.

A crocodile!

Gim looking at crocodile particulars.

A croc lurking in the mud.

A croc on land.

This is an aquarium. Boy I want that in my future home!

Pretty corals.

Sea anemones!

Corals?

A sea anemone close-up!

Nemo, is that you?

Yes it is!

End of tour.

Tags: Dumaguete, Photography, Travelogue, Zamboanga

Yesterday I Swam

Flisha — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 12:19:00 +0000

Gim and I were supposed to head on home to Zamboanga, but we couldn’t go home without once using our newly bought snorkel gear. So we postponed the trip to today and happily went to Dakak Resort (except that we overslept and had to postpone it again to tomorrow).

Habal-habals (motorcycles that carry passengers on rough terrain for a fee) in Dapitan charge an exorbitant P200 ($5) per head for a 15-minute round-trip ride to Dakak Resort. I insisted that my boyfriend find me a cheaper ride.

So he asked a local tricycle (a passenger three-wheeler common in the Philippines) driver whether anyone was offering a motorcycle for rent. The driver answered his friend had one, and he charged us P200 for the use. Great, Gim said, and took him up on the offer.

Later the driver insisted he himself drive the motorcycle. Much later we learned he wasn’t used to carrying two people on a motorcycle. Much much later we learned he wasn’t used to driving on rough terrain. Nearing the end of our horrible, horrible, life-threatening trip because he was a horrible, horrible driver and a horrible, horrible person, he stated he had never been to Dakak Resort and it was a good thing we knew the way, because he didn’t.

So yesterday I swam. I have never swam in my life. I don’t know how. And I’ve always been scared of drowning. But with the aid of the snorkel, I breathed underwater. With my masks, I saw clearly underwater. And with my Gim’s encouragement and teaching, I learned to float on my belly and swim the breaststroke.

To celebrate my second life (or third or fourth, I don’t know, I’ve so nearly lost my life too many times I can’t remember), I needed to swim.

I never knew it could be so easy. But it was! And so fun! I wanted to do it for hours and hours! And we did. Gim took me to the reefs and we snorkeled over corals of so many colors! Green and red and orange and violet! And we saw sea anemones moving beautifully and a clown fish just like Nemo hiding inside! And then the father clownfish saw us and stared at us angrily and tried to get us to leave, haha! It was so cute, their little family. I saw rainbow colored eels and I saw flat fishes and fishes that looked like stone and fishes that looked like sand.

And the whole time I was swimming all over the reefs, with Gim protectively swimming by my side.

It was such a wonderful day, yesterday. I swam.

P.S. Thank you, Gim.

P.P.S. For the return trip, Gim had our horrible motorycle driver bring a friend and an extra motorcyle so Gim would take me home himself. I no longer wanted to ever ride with that horrible man on the helm. We paid the same amount as if we had rode the habal-habal. I hope that horrible man will have terrible karma for his horrible driving!

Tags: Dakak, Dapitan, Travelogue, Zamboanga

ManPuku Bento in Ayala Mall, Cebu

Flisha — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 09:19:00 +0000

I’m a fan of Japanese food. Save for the raw stuff like sushi and sashimi, I eat it all. All the ~yakis like okonomiyaki (fried vegetables) and takoyaki (fried octopus). I love the ~dons too like the gyudon and the katsudon, mmm!

I have yet to visit a Japanese restaurant in the Philippines that authentically captures the taste of real Japanese food. (Most dishes are flavored to suit the Filipino palate, that is to say, sweetened.)

Still I never fail to try to visit any new Japanese restaurant I see. While travelling in Cebu, I happened upon this Manpuku Bento food stall in a mall foodcourt. So of course I had to try it.

As expected, the dishes didn’t quite taste like the ones in Japan, but still I enjoyed them.

I ordered the Pork Katsudon, since I was thinking it’s hard to go wrong with anything fried.

Gim meanwhile ordered some noodles (I made him do it, because I wanted to try some but they weren’t that good).

He got some sushi, too. California maki and salmon. He loved them, but me, eww, no not so much. I’ll stick to the cooked stuff, thank you very much.

They look pretty though.

He and I will be travelling to Cebu again in November. We both got free tickets from Cebu Pacific’s last 0-fare promo. To get the zero fare, we had to eschew our baggage rights and travel insurance rights as well.

I’m fine with not lugging around any baggage. We’ll be staying only two nights in Cebu anyways. But I’m kinda regretting we didn’t get any insurance. I know nothing’s gonna happen during the flight, but the worrywart in me insists we have some protection JUST IN CASE.

I searched the web for some sort of add-on insurance and chanced upon this travel medical insurance. I’m not sure it’s what I’m looking for, since it caters to travel abroad not domestic travel. But it’s a bookmark I’m keeping anyways just in case I need some protection for a future overseas trip (it covers medical insurance and terrorism insurance, among others).

Anyways, I am sure looking forward to another trip to Cebu. Our last visit there lasted only a day and we only got to do some malling in Ayala and SM Cebu. Maybe this time we’ll get to do some sightseeing instead of just face-stuffing. ;-P

Tags: Cebu Pacific, Foods, Japan, Photography, Travelogue

Bohol Tour Part VII: Statues and Churches

Flisha — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 20:23:00 +0000

One of the most famous landmarks in Bohol, Philippines is the Sandugo site, also known as the Blood Compact site. It happened in March 1565. It is where the Spanish explorer Miguel Lopez de Legazpi and Bohol tribe leader Datu Sikatuna made a pact of friendship by cutting their left arm with a dagger, mixing both their blood in wine, and drinking it.

It is said to be the very “first international treaty of friendship between two people of different races”. This event is important in the history of the Philippines because it marked the first time that Spain successfully established a settlement in the country. Spain had sent five other expeditions before this, and all failed. The most well-known explorer in the Philippines is Portuguese Ferdinand Magellan (serving under the Spanish crown), the first to successfully circumnavigate the Earth (reaching Asia by sailing West). However, he died before he reached his goal, the Spice Islands of Indonesia (a country away). He died in battle in Mactan, Cebu.

Okay, enough of the history lesson. Just look at the pics!

Gim is so silly, pretending he’s one of the Spaniards! Hehehe. I think he looks more like Datu Sikatuna. Hehehehe.

Afterwards, we visited the oldest Church in Bohol, Baclayon Church. It is the second oldest stone Church in the Philippines, and was built in 1595.

It is extremely large, one of the biggest Churches I have seen, and very very beautiful.

Inside the Church, you almost pretend you’re living in the 16th century. In those days, the officiating priest would not sermon at the altar, he would pray on the balcony, above the people. This is because, back then, the priest did not preach to or engage with the crowd in prayer. He would pray by himself, and the people were there merely to join him in his prayer.

Nowadays, of course, prayer is communion. So the priest stands at level with the people, on the altar. And he prays with the people as the people pray with him.

More pictures of the beautiful Church…

And here’s a photo I particularly like, Gim standing in front of the altar, while the rays of the sun, filtered through the colored glass panes, paints the floor.

Baclayon Church also hosts a museum, but we weren’t allowed to take photos inside so I just have this one stolen shot from the balcony of the museum.

Here I am below the church tower. Gim likes to experiment with angles. I like to model. Hehe.

We encountered another old stone church along the way and stopped to take some pictures. I don’t know what the name of the Church was, just that I liked how it looked, with all the columns and old stone. I don’t think it was famous, though, because it was very quiet and isolated.

More of the beautiful columns and arches.

That’s it, one last post on Bohol next week, abangan…

Read the other Bohol posts…
Bohol Tour Part IV: Hinagdanan Cave
Bohol Tour Part V: Panglao Island Beach Resort
Bohol Tour Part VI: Philippine Tarsiers
Bohol Tour Part VIII: Snakes and Flying Lemurs

Tags: Bohol Tour, Cebu, Photography, Travelogue

Bohol Tour Part VI: Philippine Tarsiers

Flisha — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 22:00:00 +0000

When you hear the word Bohol, the first thing that comes into mind are the Chocolate Hills. Did that last year.

The second thing are tarsiers.

Tarsiers are found only in Southeast Asia.

The Philippine Tarsier is, of course, found only in the Philippines, and most famously in Bohol.

It has often been called the world’s smallest primate and the world’s smallest monkey, but it is neither. However, it does carry the distinction of being the mammal with the largest eyes.

Due to the rising human population and the rampant deforestation, the population of the species is dwindling. In fact, it’s conservation status is defined as threatened.

The tarsier (the animal on the left) is nocturnal, which means it sleeps during the day and wakes up at night to hunt for food. It eats insects, mostly crickets and grasshoppers.

It was late afternoon when we got to see the tarsiers. Manong Driver dropped us off a place few tourists passed by, so we were able to get up close shots of the tarsiers.

As much as I preferred them to sleep while we looked on quietly, our steps inevitably woke them up, and for that I felt horrible.

The tarsier keeper, upon seeing them awake, decided to give them some food. He held up a stick with a pierced cricket up to a tarsier, and after a bit of prodding, the tarsier decided to take cricket.

Later on, the tarsier keeper asked us if we wanted to hold the tarsier. I was very uncomfortable (you can probably see that in my face) because tarsiers don’t like to be touched by humans (you can see that in the pictures too).

At the same time I really wanted to hold the tarsier… I know!!!! I am a horrible person!!!!

So I said, only a little while. (And don’t worry, we didn’t use flash the whole time.)

I didn’t want to be KJ (killjoy) too… there were other tourists looking on, and really it was only for a little while, then we let the little critter go back up the tree.

But, oh, I felt so sorry for the tarsiers… They don’t live long in captivity. Most of them die by their own hands, like drowning themselves or beating their heads against their cages. These tarsiers aren’t in cages (the practice is illegal, but there are still very bad people who do that), they’re free to roam around the trees, but still, the entire area is very small… they’re still captive…

I was relieved when we finally returned them to their branches. I hope they weren’t too stressed by our visit. I hope someday, their population will return to a stable size. They’re very good for the community. They don’t harm people, and at the same time, they prey on insects, which is a good thing because insects eat crops, and Filipinos are very dependent on rice.

Before we left, we had to take these silly pics of ourselves as tarsiers. LOL.

I was very happy to finally see the tarsiers. I’d always wanted to see them ever since Gim went to Bohol many years ago and told me all about them.

I hope to see them again someday, perhaps in a more natural time and habitat.

Read the other Bohol posts…
Bohol Tour Part IV: Hinagdanan Cave
Bohol Tour Part V: Panglao Island Beach Resort
Bohol Tour Part VII: Statues and Churches
Bohol Tour Part VIII: Snakes and Flying Lemurs

Tags: Bohol Tour, Filipinos, Photography, Travelogue

Bohol Tour Part V: Panglao Island Beach Resort

Flisha — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 09:53:00 +0000

Infinity pools. I only see them on MTV Cribs.

But someday, when I am filthy rich, I shall have one too!

Of course, a pool can’t really be infinite by itself (can it?). It needs the help of a larger body of water, like the ocean, so you can pretend your pool extends all the way to the horizon and beyond.

Well I can say I finally have bathed in an infinity pool! Yay me!

After getting all sweaty and smelly (of bat poo) at the Hinagdanan Cave, Gim and I badly needed some refreshment! We had two choices. Bohol Beach Club or Panglao Island Beach Resort. We were only in Bohol for a day, so we couldn’t choose both. Panglao Resort was right beside Hinagdanan, so that made the choice much easier. (I recently saw some pictures of Bohol Beach Club and it’s amazing, so we’re definitely reserving that for next year.)

Panglao Island Beach Resort looks very ordinary from the outside. We weren’t planning to go inside, we just stopped by to take a picture before we headed on to Hinagdanan, so I could post it on my blog and say I’d been there but I really hadn’t.

I know. I am awful blogger. I was gonna lie to you all.

Thankfully, Nards, our guide from the cave, told us Panglao was a very nice resort, with an infinity pool.

I was sold. By these very words. And because it was cheap, too. The entrance cost P350 ($8) per person, very cheap! P200 of that was consumable. So the entrance was really just P150.

There was a shoot going on when we got there. There was this very pretty girl with a skimpy two-piece bikini on, lying on the edge of the pool against a backdrop of infinite water and she was oiled and slutting it up for the camera. And NO, I did NOT take a picture of her.

There was a large tripod and a huge camera pointed at her, and a director barking orders at the crew. At the same time placating the star.

I was quite disappointed they were there, because I didn’t want to ruin the shoot by jumping into the pool or anything. *Heh* It was tempting. Very very tempting. So Gim and I just sat on the bamboo benches and laid out our stuff.

Then we changed into our swimwear… Hee. It was my first time to wear swimwear. And even then, well, it wasn’t exactly swimwear. I wore shorts and a sports top. Heh. (Trust me, you don’t want to see me reveal anything!!!)

Thank you, water, for enveloping me very nicely. Anyways by the time we’d finished changing, the shoot had wrapped up so we were free to splash and play and jump into the pool! But shower first, of course! And then — yipee!!! Splash, splash, splash!

Here’s the breathtaking view. Click the pics for bigger resolutions!

Beautiful, huh? And the great thing was that we had the place ALL to ourselves! Nobody was there but us! (Since the shoot people were done.) It was so much fun just lying around and playing in the pool! There were these little jets of water that shot from holes on the pool wall, they were soooo much fun…. And NO it was not THAT strong.

Then I asked Gim to pose like that girl in the shoot. Hee hee hee hee!!!! So he did.

Isn’t he the cutest???? LOL!!!

He’s gonna kill me for posting these. Hehehe!! So I’ll pose one he likes. He thinks he looks very sexy and “manly” here. Hee hee hee!!

Some more pics of him trying to look “manly”.

Hehehehe!!! And then we have the “clambering-up-over-pools” pics. Just because. Haha.

Oh and the pool is made up of smaller pools but they all share the same water. I like the parts that are right beside the plants, like these:

Oh and now it’s my turn for picture-taking! Humor me while I hide underneath the water.

And since I duly embarassed Gim in the pictures above, I will allow a bit of embarrassment for myself. Hee. (Gim made me do it!!!!)

And since I cannot swim, nor float in freshwater, well, er… this is the way I enjoyed myself.

Whee! Hahahaha.

Oh and another thing that’s cute about the resort is that it has a snack bar right at the edge of the pool, where the bar stools are cemented right inside the pool! How fun! Loved the concept!

Unfortunately forgot to take a picture of the seats. But we did get the snack bar girl to take a pic of us! Don’t we look cute? Hahahaha!

More?

Hehehehe. We wanted to have lunch at the snack bar but we couldn’t. It was only for snacks daw. Hmph. We had to go to the second floor to eat lunch. But we were so hungry we didn’t mind.

Here’s what we ordered.

Fried chicken! Mmm!

Mmm, pasta with clams and garlic, and garlic bread! And mango shakes! It was a great meal!

Here’s my Gim!

And then there’s me!

Then afterwards we went right back to the pool again!

And I’ll not say the part where I wanted to pee so much I almost ran towards the toilet which I thought was a shower but it wasn’t, it was just a toilet, and there wasn’t any place to put my clean clothes anywhere and I was soooo in need I peed all over myself but there was no water (which is so kainis, hello it was a toilet!) so I gingerly sneaked out, made sure nobody was looking, carefully closed the door behind me so no one would smell anything and then, head help up unnaturally high, walked steadily to the shower room.

The end.

Read the other Bohol posts…
Bohol Tour Part IV: Hinagdanan Cave
Bohol Tour Part VI: Philippine Tarsiers
Bohol Tour Part VII: Statues and Churches
Bohol Tour Part VIII: Snakes and Flying Lemurs

Tags: Blogger, Bohol Tour, p1, Photography, Travelogue

Bohol Tour Part IV: Hinagdanan Cave

Flisha — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 23:50:00 +0000

In 2007, when Gim and I visited Bohol, Philippines, we took the Bohol River Cruise, explored the Loboc Museum and visited the Chocolate Hills. All in a day. And by public transportation, no less.

This time around, we ditched the open-air buses and contracted an airconditioned van to tour us around for the whole day. We explored the Hinagdanan Cave, burned ourselves sunning in Panglao Island Beach Resort and visited the site of the famous Sandugo (Blood Compact) site where Spanish king conquistador Miguel Lopez de Legazpi and Bohol native Datu Sikatuna drank each other’s blood as a sign of friendship.

We also stopped to take pictures of tarsiers, an enormous snake (and his very interesting keeper), a lemur and some birds. Oh and we visited Bohol’s oldest church and another really old church. It was a very fun day, and like last year, we only spent a day in Bohol. The next day we went on to Dumaguete (but we’re already planning the Bohol Tour of 2009!).

Our first stop in Bohol (after dropping our things off at the hotel) was Hinagdanan Cave. This wasn’t part of the plan but I saw the site on a flyer in the hotel and asked what it was. As Gim and I are both spelunkers (no, seriously, we are!), the idea of visiting a cave outside of Zamboanga intrigued me, so we had to go.

The Hinagdanan cave was discovered in the 16th century by a haciendero (land owner). It says (in the sign behind us) that he saw two adjacent holes in the ground, threw some stones in and heard a splash. He made a ladder (hagdan) and that was how people got inside the cave for a long time. Later a big tree died and decayed, leaving behind a hole leading down into the cave (the present entrance).

This is the present entrance of the cave. Careful, Gim! The steps are steep and narrow… And both Gim and I happen to have very big feet.

Now I’m going down, too. But wait! Shoot a picture first!

And we’re in! Nards, our guide, takes a pretty picture, doesn’t he? He was one of two men waiting outside the cave, and generously led us down the cave and started touring us, without us having to ask him to. He was such a nice person! And he turned out to be an excellent photographer, too. He took the camera off my hands, fiddled around with the settings (settings I didn’t even know what to do with!) and expertly took TONS of pictures of me and my boyfriend, no questions asked! He was SO nice.

Same scene as above, without me and Gim. The two holes on the roof of the cave are the original holes the haciendero found on his land. Below the holes are some foreign tourists enjoying the cool brackish water (it’s part seawater, part fresh).

Nards says that scuba divers actually start their dive from this point. They swim underneath the rocks and then it will lead them out to sea. How cool is that! Nards is a scuba diver, by the way. He’s a lifeguard, too. In fact, he was the one who told us to go to Panglao Island Beach Resort, because it had an infinity pool.

Here’s a view of the entrance of the cave, and the manmade stairs used to go down into the cave.

It’s an awfully big cave, isn’t it? The water looked so tempting. Gim was begging me to let him dive in, but I wouldn’t let him. Manong Driver would kill us we if sat in his very nice van dripping wet! We had to content ourselves just dipping our feet in the water.

Here’s Gim and me, directly under a hole, light shining through and all that.What did I say? Nards is a great photographer, huh? You have to understand, it was DARK in the cave. I tried to use my flash to take pictures of the cave, but since the cave was so big, the flash didn’t go far. My pictures turned out terrible. But Nards made the cave look bright and colorful!! He had very steady hands…

And another awesome light-rays-shining-down-upon-us pic from our genius guide! He said he learned to take good pics from all the years he spent giving tours. I think I envy his life…

Here’s Gim pretending to be holy. Yeah right, Gim, your days of innocence are long past gone. (I rid him of it!)

Just more pictures of Gim and me… Gim’s sweating a whole lot in the pics, if you notice. I guess since I’m fairer, I don’t show it, but I was sweating profusely too. It was hot inside the cave! And Nards had us climbing slippery slopes, walking over sharp rocks (barefoot!) and crawling on the muddy cave floor just to get the our shots! Hahaha. It was hard work, modeling. ;-P

Here are some paintings on the cave walls. Before you think there lived any ancient peoples here, let me tell you this is fake. Haha. These paintings were created for a movie (that’s what Nards said, anyways). I felt really sad about that. It’s cave desecration, plain and simple. *tsk, tsk*

Here’s a close-up of the cave roof. You can see some birds living in the holes (their nests). These are the birds that make nido, from which Bird’s Nest Soup is made of. Nido is actually the saliva of the bird, which the birds use to make their nest, hence Bird’s Nest Soup. It’s a prized delicacy in the Philippines, and quite pricey.

This is one of the cave holes, shot from above ground. Nards showed us not only the inside of the cave, but also the surrounding areas.

This is the back of the cave, and as you can see, it faces the ocean. The water from the cave is fed partly by this sea.

Beside the Hinagdanan site is Panglao Island Beach Resort, where Nards lifeguards on a part-time basis. He also told us about another resort that was the direct competitor of Panglao Resort, the Bohol Beach Club or something. He said the shore was wider and much prettier there, but the facilities so-so. Well, I can see pretty shores anytime, what I wanted was an infinity pool! So we had to choose Panglao Resort, hehe.

But that’s Bohol Tour Part V…

P.S. I’m naming this post Bohol Tour Part IV because I have yet to post the pictures from the Bohol Trip 2007, my bad! So I’m reserving Part I, II and III as prequels to this post. Just like in Star Wars.

Read the other Bohol posts…
Bohol Tour Part V: Panglao Island Beach Resort
Bohol Tour Part VI: Philippine Tarsiers
Bohol Tour Part VII: Statues and Churches
Bohol Tour Part VIII: Snakes and Flying Lemurs

Tags: Bohol Tour, Photography, Travelogue, Zamboanga

Sunday Kamayan, Dapitan’s Best Kept Secret

Flisha — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 10:31:00 +0000

On a Sunday in Dapitan, there’s no better place to eat lunch than Kamayan ni Manay’s (literal translation: Eat-with-your-bare-hands at Manay‘s, Manay being a general term for an older lady).

Every Sunday, Kamayan holds an all-you-can-eat buffet lunch that costs only P250 ($6) per person. This includes a lunch of lechon (roasted pork), chicken, crab, shrimps, talaba (oysters), vegetables, fruits and salads. Dessert is fruits and ice cream (yummy!). Oh and don’t forget the bottomless iced tea. It’s a fiesta fit for a king. In my opinion, no other all-you-can-eat buffet can ever top this sumptous feast from Kamayan (and believe me, I’ve tried a lot of other Sunday eat-all-you-can’s!).

For a restaurant in a pretty small town, Kamayan is packed during Sundays! The buffet lunch starts at 10:30 AM but by 10:00 AM, there’s already a line of people outside waiting to get in. It’s that good.

Without further ado, here come the pictures!

My first plate. I got a lot of fried stuff. Fried shrimps, fried talaba, fried chicken. Some salad (I thought maybe the healthy would cancel out the unhealthy). And lots of lechon! I was lechon-starved when I came to Dapitan. (In Zamboanga, Sunday usually equals to a lunch of lechon. And I hadn’t had that in months because I was exiled in Manila!)

My second plate. I realized the crab was really, really, really good! So I got a whole lot of it. The crabs were small but boy they were bursting with meat. Gim and I surmised they must have come from a farm, because each and every crab we ate was really fat and tasty. It was so much fun eating them, unlike the time we ate crab in Dakak and felt like we were mining for gold in a gold-starved cave! I also got a lot of chopsuey and, erm, took a lot of quail eggs (too bad for the later guests, hehehe!).

Doesn’t the crab look divine?

This crab reminds me of a ninja. A very tasty ninja.

Bottomless lemon iced tea, yum! And the waiters were very prompt! They filled our glasses even when we didn’t ask. Not like other places (especially in Manila) that offer bottomless iced tea and then hide their waiters afterwards, or look at you like you’re being very greedy for consuming more than two glasses of their supposedly limitless drink.

Even our trash looked good, haha. We had two piles of this after. Full of crab and oysters. Loved the crab so very much. I got around six halves or so. I shared them with Gim, I swear! Hahaha. I didn’t like the raw oysters that much, though… I don’t like anything raw. The fried shrimps tasted more of flour than shrimp, so did the fried oysters. But who cares?? There was a lot of crab!!! Hehehehe.

More trash. And still a lot of crab behind the trash, hahaha. I really enjoyed the crab. Did I mention that already? Hahaha. I went there for the lechon, and the lechon was great. But the crab was better. Haha.

Awww, and we’re done eating. I ate so much crab I couldn’t finish my chopsuey. Too bad because I happen to love chopsuey. I ate all the quail eggs, though. Heheh. And do you notice that in every picture, the glass of iced tea is always full? See? What did I tell you about the great service? I must have downed 4 or 5 glasses of that stuff.

I wish I could have taken more pictures, especially of the individual courses. But I was too excited to try all the food. And to cram as much crab down my throat before it ran out. Hehe. I am such a glutton. I don’t have any pictures here, by the way, because Gim ate with his bare hands!!! Well, it was Kamayan. And I did benefit from it because he was able to crack the crab and give me the meat. But that also meant he couldn’t handle the camera. Poor me.

I, meanwhile, hate using my bare hands to eat. Even in a Kamayan restaurant (a lot of restaurants in the Philippines are Kamayan‘s, I guess because it’s cheaper to just use banana leaves instead of washing utensils, haha). Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy feasting with my bare hands. Food tastes much better that way, I’ve noticed, hahaha. My mom used to feed me and my sisters like that before. And sometimes I can get Gim to feed me like that, too, when I’m feeling babyish. Haha. I just would rather keep my hands clean so I can use my camera, get my wallet, wipe my face, etc. Hehe.

Gim got really tired after eating, as you can see in the pictures. Hehe. Our tummies were full to bursting. He’s getting the baboy (pig) syndrome here. It’s where he feels lazy and sleepy after eating a huge meal, just like a pig. Haha.

And here’s him asking me, “And how are you?” And I answer, “I’m fine, thank you Gim!!!” I’m thanking him because he introduced me to this Kamayan place. But we didn’t know about the Sunday all-you-can-eat buffet until we bumped into one of his doctors (teachers) one Sunday around noontime and he told us we were too late for the buffet. We were very disappointed that day, because we saw all the empty food trays, haha. That’s when we decided to go there again, much much earlier, during my last Sunday (before I would come back to Manila).

Here’s how the place looks. Very simple. Very native-looking. Wooden chairs and tables. Flower arrangements, roses and ferns, on each table.

No airconditioning, just electric fans. And big pretty balls of light above.

And look it’s our bill! For everything we ate, just… 500 pesos! Yay! Hehehe. See, food is really cheap in Dapitan. That’s why I love going there. And then whenever I go back I’m significantly heavier. Hehehe.

Okay, I’d like to insert some pictures of our food that Sunday we went there and didn’t get to try the buffet since it was already past twelve. (The buffet ends at 1PM formally, but after 11AM, the must-try trays like the crab and lechon are already gone. So it’s important to go early.)

So anyway, for that particular Sunday, we ordered sizzling squid (my all-time favorite, and it was the best I’d ever tasted), spring rolls (turned out to be just a reworded fried lumpia, and we thought it was going to be something new hahaha) and pork ribs (mmm, just okay, not as good as I’d hoped). Lots of garlic rice, yum. I like garlic rice better than fried rice. I’m a glutton for anything garlic, I swear. Oh and a mango shake for me. It was really, really tasty, that mango shake.

Here’s a closer look at the lumpia and ribs. I like my lumpia fresh rather than fried, but these rolls weren’t bad. They were pretty good, really. Filled with vegetables and shrimps, I think. But the ribs seemed a bit out of place in our meal, so I didn’t enjoy them much. I mostly left them for Gimmi.

I focused on the heavenly squid. Yum. These were grilled very lightly, just the way I like them. And cleaned very well, too. No ink whatsoever. (Some places serve it with the ink, you have to tell them not to. It’s a delicacy, I guess.) What made this squid so much better than the others I had tasted was the garlic. Lots of garlic all over my squid, wow! And lots of tomatoes and onions filling the hollow, yum! Definitely must try this if you’re at Kamayan.

A closer view of the squid. Looks good, huh? It was very very good. I loved the tentacles, too. I’m not sure which part of the squid I love best, the tentacles or the body. Hmm, I love them both the same! (But I don’t like the head.)

The mango shake tasted very fresh and milky, and definitely not watery. Also one of the best mango shakes I’d ever tasted. It tasted like a homemade mango shake, that’s how I would describe it. ‘Coz when you’re at home making a shake yourself, you place a lot of milk and mango, right? You don’t scrimp on the ingredients. Well, that’s how it tasted. Loved it!

And while waiting for our food, what did Gim and I do? Well, what we love to…

Take pictures of ourselves! Hahahaha! Oh by the way, if you want to go to Kamayan ni Manay‘s, it’s right beside Gloria de Dapitan. Happy eating!

Tags: Dapitan, Foods, Manila, Travelogue, Zamboanga

Bohol Tour Part VIII: Snakes and Flying Lemurs

Flisha — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 19:15:00 +0000

Who would think one day in Bohol would spawn so many posts? Well, it did fly by so fast. Let me introduce you to Prony.

Prony is a python. A big python. Very big. Too big for it’s age that even veterinarians are stumped.

I could tell you all his stats but -ahem- I left the video back home (with my boyfriend). Didn’t fit my flash drive. ‘Coz I wasn’t supposed to place it in my flash drive. Was supposed to burn to DVD but my boyfriend’s laptop was only CDRW. Durn.

Anyway, basta he’s enormous. Although I’ve never really seen another python to compare. The last time I saw a live snake was back in high school when I ran screaming from my bedroom in the middle of the night because I found a long green snake slithering underneath my bed. (You would think I’d get a phobia from that incident, but surprisingly, no.)

As interesting as Prony is, I found his keeper much more so.

Here is Marimar. She is a drag queen. Ya. If not for the awful hair and makeup though, you’d think she was a girl. Except when she opened her mouth, that is.

She’s a hoot. And yes, she is named after Marimar, the super popular Mexican telenovela starring Thalia. Can you tell from her appearance?

Nah, me neither. Heh.

Marimar doesn’t technically take care of Prony. Her older sister does that dirty job. She’s in charge of the entertaining Prony’s foreign visitors.

For example, she loves to tell her clients that she once won a (gay) beauty pageant, using this very interesting swimsuit that she made herself!

Do you know what it’s made of?

It’s made of Prony’s shedded skin. Yah.

All togeher now, Ewwwwww!!!!!!

Hahahahaha! I wish she would have worn it so I could photograph her haha.

She says it’s very uncomfortable to use. Itchy, she complains.

I wonder where it itches most.

Ok, let’s go back to Prony. Here are a few pictures of the snake with its fans.

Yes. Those are people INSIDE the cage. TOUCHING Prony.

It’s a good thing Prony already had his meal a few weeks ago or else he might think twice about letting people fondle him so carelessly.

I kept my distance and stuck to taking pictures, nevertheless.

Look! That thing’s even bigger than my Gim!

Freaky.

It’s apparently in hibernation, as Marimar tells us. That’s why she let us inside the cage for a little meet and greet.

It eats live chickens.

I wish we could have seen the feeding…

Anyways, enough of Prony.

Let’s have a look at a flying lemur and it’s baby!

Here they are!

I know, it’s kind of an awful picture. But it’s the only way I could take a clear picture of the baby.

Can you tell where the mother ends and the baby begins?

Can you even tell those are two separate animals?

Yeah, I had trouble at first too. Haha.

The mother is hanging from the branch, by all four legs. In between’s her little baby. Aww.

Here are more pics of the two feeding on some leaves.

I don’t know why they’re called flying lemurs, though. Maybe they can fly when they’re in the wild. Oh, I do hate animals being caged.

Except for Prony. I don’t think it would be a good idea to release him into the wild.

Or Marimar.

Well! That concludes my series on Bohol. Until my next visit!

Read the other Bohol posts…
Bohol Tour Part IV: Hinagdanan Cave
Bohol Tour Part V: Panglao Island Beach Resort
Bohol Tour Part VI: Philippine Tarsiers
Bohol Tour Part VII: Statues and Churches

Tags: Bohol Tour, High School, Photography, Travelogue

Funny Door Sign in Dakak

Flisha — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 07:35:00 +0000

Found this outside our cottage in Dakak Resort. This is what is said on the front:

…and then on the back:

Gim and I dissolved into laughter after reading it. Hahaha. (Nice way to rephrase “sleeping”… or did they mean something else???)

Tags: Dakak, Travelogue

Funny Instructions in Dakak

Flisha — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 07:30:00 +0000

Phone Instructions:

To call cluster A, B, C, Beachfront, Presidential Suite, and other outlets, please press [key] or [key] then dial the corresponding phone number of the room.

To call cluster D from cluster A, B, C, please press line 2 or 3 above, then you hear TOT… TOT… TOT…

Tags: Dakak, Travelogue