Saying Goodbye to Cebu

For some reason, my blog hasn't updated itself despite numerous postings. I will continue to add to it however, in the hopes that Blogger will fix itself and that everything will be all set when I get to Sydney. In the meantime...

My last weeks in Cebu were pretty eventful. When we got back from Malapascua, JR & I filed a leave for the entire week so that we wouldnt have to go to work every day. I ended up going to work about 3 out of 5 days at least. Prior to Malapascua I had been to the doctor - a nice chinese guy at chong hua medical - for my ulcer, triggered again by ice cream and wine (not together, just a 24 hour gap in between). The last week in Cebu, Maui came home with a cold she caught from one of her agents. The next day, she was on antibiotics and I had finished two packs of tissue. A few days later I still felt like shit so I completely missed Sinulog.

Sinulog weekend, the big festival and highlight of Cebu happened on the second weekend of January. The roads were all closed for the event and everyone had to literally walk around everywhere. Banana, Grae & Maui all walked to and from work, still a considerable distance. My friend Joseph walked from Ayala to Crossroads to IT Park to several other places and back again. Grae took some pretty great pictures of the parade. JP walked 7 KM and the rest of the boys posed for pictures with various floats. That night everyone came over for a pseudo despedida. Banana cooked pasta and chicken parmigiana and JP (the L2) bought KFC Chicken. Ashley and Jun, visiting from Manila also came along. We spent a lot of time just eating and taking pictures. Im pretty sure there was some Tequila present but I dont think anyone drank it. We tried to watch the fireworks in Ayala but they were mostly blocked by the building in front of us so we had to content ourselves with reflections on the glass. The evening ended early since I was still tired, so early that Oka and company missed it, even if they passed by later on.

My Side Trip
The next day I left for Davao on an overnight trip to visit my dad. I flew Cebu Pacific, on this tiny plane where my ears got so clogged I couldn't hear a thing for a while after. Dad took me straight to Paradise Island, this resort on Samal Island, 5 minutes away on a ferry. We hung out, ate inihaw and shrimp (dad ate a whole lot) and I took a dip in the clear, clear water. There were fish and starfish, right there. We also saw some houses that belonged to famous people as we came in on the boat and he pointed out the island where the famous Pearl Farm was located.

When we got back to the City, I went to check into my hotel, the Marco Polo while Dad went off to work. Davao is like a small town that became a city. It also surprised me that there were a lot of people speaking tagalog, although Dad says its because it is a regional center and they get a lot of government officials from Manila. Also Japanese tourists golfing. They have holiday taxis just like in Cebu and another "brand" called Maligaya or Masaya. That was cute. My hotel was right in front of where dad worked. Later when he was done we met up and he showed me around there and we had dinner at a chinese dimsum place in gaisano mall. He then toured me around Davao by driving around the one street that went around the entire city. We covered the entire city in about an hour. Then we went home and I excitedly proceeded to watch tv, having been tv deprived for a while now.

The next day, I had breakfast at the hotel where the bacon tasted just like danggit. Then we headed over to the bank to deposit some of the money for my trip. The girl there made us write down every single one of the serial numbers on the money before finally saying that, oops, not all the serial numbers can be verified you have to have it checked in the Central Bank in Manila so we'll only let you deposit half. Gee, thanks a lot. We were off to the airport right after that and we hung out at this cafe - that also happened to provide the food for the pilot's snacks - before I departed. It was sad to say bye to my dad but he promised to visit me.

Eating my way through Cebu

My last days in Cebu were really just spent eating and eating. Chelsea from the office sent a list of all the great places to eat and I made it my goal to go through all of them. That's how we ended up in Casa Verde, this chinese restaurant, Darras & Bowler for my birthday, and Guiseppe's. JR and I loved Guiseppe's so much we ate there twice in one week.

When I arrived from Davao, JR picked me up so that we could go buy guitars. I had to handcarry the money that the bank wouldnt deposit and it was quite an amount so I had it folded in my bra - half in each cup so that it would be even. So there I was walking around Cebu with stuff in my bra, which everyone else found totally hilarious. JR and I went to the road where they sold guitars. Roy and Maui met us there and Roy helped us test and pick the guitars. I kept taking pictures and MMSing them to my best friend Joey, who was getting the guitar. After some deliberation I got him a nice mahogany dark guitar. That night, we had a farewell dinner at Guiseppe's with JR, Maui and Grae.

Getting Home, Somehow

The next day was full of sad goodbyes from my boss, Chie, Maui and everyone else in my house. Hugs went around. I also left my last legacy to the house: naming the second mouse Fletcher, in the spirit of Smith of Sex in the City Season 6 (which everyone in the house watched), where they used a last name as a first name. Maui vowed to eradicate both Gordy and Fletcher before they multiplied further, but in the meantime it was bye bye to them. Prior to this I took a lot of pictures in the office to say goodbye (see previous). Oka also came over and we all finished the bottle of wine that Maui and I had gotten in Darras & Bowler but had forgotten to take to Shang. It was pretty good.

JR came to pick me up promptly after lunch. Oka helped me get all the stuff into the taxi cab and that was no easy feat. JR and I ended up sitting precariously in the cab with one of the three guitars (JR had 2) poking the back of my neck the entire 45 min to an hour. When we got there we tipped the cabbie extra and then off we went to check in. Because we arrived only an hour before - just in time as usually by then they give the seats away - we ended up with seats in the back. We paid almost 2K in overweight, which we were prepared to pay. Everything was so heavy. While we were putting the bags in the security checker thing, someone stole JR's cart and we had to share. It was really heavy. When we got home, we wrestled with the luggage until we got it all set.

When I got to my house I found all my cousins there and that Joey had already arrived to pick up the guitar. And since I had picked up Jen from work, she was there as well. My cousins from Australia, Andrew & Lara were there and mum was hosting a dinner with all the other cousins. It was a fun bonding experience. Afterwards they all went out for drinks while I went to bed so that I could... go to work the next day.

And that was my Cebu adventure.