But first, some Video Links from the 30 Dec 08
*Kid Carolers - can't really see them since it was dark but you can hear them #1 and #2
*Beyonce's "If I were a Boy" Sang at Idol Grill
*These Kids are awesome: GNR and STARSHIP
31 Dec 08: Wednesday
Banana Plantation vs. Mango Farm….
For New Year’s Eve, we had a choice to go to my family's plantations – the Banana Plantation located in “Kapalong” Davao del Norte Province (North of Davao) or the Mango Plantation/Farm which is located in “San Isidro” Davao Oriental (East of Davao) Province. I had a tough choice – The Banana Plantation is where my Grandmother and Grandfather’s Mausoleum is located (I wasn’t able to come to both of my Grandma and Grandpa’s funerals) but on the other hand the Communist Party in the Philippines was causing trouble in the area and the Philippine Military was currently temporarily based right smack dab at the Banana Plantation. My relatives cautioned us on not going there and with Kevin tagging along he’d be big target for sure. So, it was decided to go over at the Mango Farm instead where my Uncle Leopoldo (nickname: “BOY”) lived along with my cousins – since it was very safe and would be more fun with my younger and boisterous cousins.
Bus Terminal…..
We left Lorie’s house along with Owie around 9:30am to be at the Bus Depot for the 10am Bus. Kevin got to see more of Davao City – the crazy driving, Jeepney’s and Multicabs, Tricycles, Motorbikes, Cyclists, and Pedestrians trying to not get Killed while on the road. We arrived at the Depot 15 minutes early. Arnel and my cousins, Zyra and Leia were already in the air conditioned bus and had saved seats for us. The bus left at exactly 10am – not many passengers yet. The bus had plenty of stops to pick up passengers on the route and terminals, since it was New Year’s Eve – everybody wanted to go home to their respective families for the Fun and Celebration. The Davao City Government imposed a fireworks ban all over in the City with stiff penalties if you get caught – so, Davao is fairly a boring place to be on New Year’s Eve. Uncle Boy had his family already at San Isidro for the big New Year’s celebration. We stopped at major Towns to pick more passengers – in these terminals, to use the restrooms you had to pay the "attendants" 2 Pesos (roughly 5 American cents) to do #1 and 5 Pesos (roughly 15 American cents) to do #2 – which was quite a shock to me – since I didn’t remember paying to do #1 or #2 while I was here in the Islands in 1988. At around 1pm, we arrived at a city called “Tagum” the last ‘big’ city before we hit the Philippine countryside, where life takes a very very slow pace – since its industry are more agrarian – rice fields, Coconut and Banana plantations and Fruit farms. The things that a lot folks in the countryside have are Cell Phones –almost everyone owns one, from elementary kids to grandma’s and grandpas. They do ‘texting’ a lot – most don’t use the ‘call’ feature because it is very expensive to use the minutes. Texting is cheap. Most don’t have contracts with the cell phone companies. They like to use “Loading” – a.k.a – Pre-paid, since you can pretty much know how much you have left and not worry about ‘going over’ the minutes. Every “Sari-Sari” (corner Convenience/Grocery) stores can do ‘Loading’ – or an enterprising neighbor can do a ‘Loading’ business to supplement an income.
*Pictures: On the way to the Mango Farm
5 Hours…
….later, we finally arrived at the last bus stop where the Mango Farm is in the area. We were meet by one of Uncle Boy’s driver and my cousin (Zyra and Leia’s younger brother) – “Anjong”. The vehicle they used was the District’s official vehicle – a Multicab for use only by the “Barangay Captain”. My Uncle Boy is currently a “Barangay Captain” (District Captain) at the District where he currently lives in. The story was that he moved there several years ago and made some improvements at his district. The town folks wanted him to run for the “seat of BC” – but he’d always refused because it would restrict his schedule – But a few years ago, the Incumbent BC had some “bad words” to say about My Uncle with regard to being an “Outsider” and that he’d never win if he does run for office. Of course, my Uncle Boy said we shall see and he did run for that seat and won. Cie la vie. It took us 20 more minutes to be at Uncle Boy’s disconnected ‘3 houses’ when I say 3 houses – there are Mini-houses right next to each other – kinda like a mini-compound – One had the Master Suite Bedroom with its own bathroom and a mini-store that is currently closed and an open 1st floor veranda, the 2nd House had my cousins sleeping quarters on the 2nd floor, a dining room on the first floor and an open bay with a roof where the “Videoke” machine is located (I’ll write about the ‘Videoke’ machine later). The third house is the “Kitchen”, this thing is basically a big “Open Kitchen” – it had “mini”-houses connected to it also – one was for hot cooking and another one is an open-air prep hut with a thatch roof over it with a water-pumping station. There’s an “Outhouse” in the back area together with the “Rooster” houses – Uncle Boy has “Rooster” stallions for ‘cock-fighting’ which is legal through-out the Philippines, except in Davao City proper.Hungry Stomach….
The journey to Uncle Boy’s house took us about 5 and a half hours – we didn’t have breakfast nor lunch – only snacks e.g. Dunkin Donuts and Minty Candies – we thought the trip would only be 3 hours long – So, when we arrived it was already 3:30pm and our stomachs could be heard for miles! We hopped on Uncle Boy’s SUV and drove to a restaurant that was still open on that New Year ’s Eve – other places were closed. We ate a ‘cold’ meal – since the resto was preparing to close and the only remaining things were in “tray ternos” and the ternos weren’t even lit. Foodies wouldn’t be impressed by the selection but we didn’t complain – we ate it all. Hungry stomach sated – we decided to go to the local public open market (more like a Farmers or Flea market) to buy more fireworks and noisemakers. Upon getting out of the SUV, Kevin elicited curious ‘stares’ – They don’t see much “foreigners” back there, especially Caucasian ones. Leia was determined to find a particular noisemaker so we had to circle the whole market scouring for that. Zyra on the other hand was hunting for big juicy watermelons for snacks. Owie bought 3 packs of ‘rapid fire’ missile fireworks. Leia couldn’t find the noisemakers she wanted and got frustrated and with that, we all decided to go back to Uncle Boy’s house(s).Countdown….
Waiting for the midnight hour to ring in the New Year was quite fun. As mentioned earlier – Uncle Boy has a ‘Videoke’ machine – it’s basically a ‘Karaoke’ machine housed in an ‘Arcade’ gamers box type of deal and will play music videos (e.g. MTV Videos/VH1/CMT etc.). Uncle Boy’s Videoke machine can play 5000 songs/videos and had to be updated every couple of months to keep up with new music. My cousins had a run of it –– this thing’s volume was turned up so high – the other neighbors Videoke/Karaoke machines (oh yeah, the whole neighborhood had competing videoke/karaoke’s that night) couldn’t match Uncle Boy’s power – they were all drowned out. After the kids were tired of “Singing” – they decided to put the ‘videoke’ in Video Mode – with Dance Music playing. Leia and Zyra wanted the full ‘disco’ effect and they were trying to find ways how to have the overhead light change colors – it was then decided to just turned off the lights and have the videoke machine as the source of light – problem solved. Hip-hop, Techno, and House Music were all played that night. We learned a new ‘Dance Step’ thought by Owie, called ‘Side Step’ – Kevin had difficulty in learning it but I got it in two tries – yep I’m a dancing machine. We had lots of merriment and lots of drinking and eating ‘Kinilaw’ (Filipino Style Sashimi). Uncle Boy showed Kevin his ‘gun’ collections: a handmade ‘Kalashnikov’ rifle that Uncle Boy made himself, a Winchester shotgun and a 9mm gun (which was loaded but on safe mode) – since Uncle Boy is a public official – the Regional government encourages them to have ‘protection’ with at all times. As midnight comes near – everyone was anticipating the Fireworks – Uncle Boy bought a lot of them and he was preparing them right outside on the road (which incidentally the only road that is concrete/cemented in the area – it only encompasses the territory that’s within the confines of Uncle Boy’s property – the rest of the area had Dirt Roads – so when it rains…it’s muddy and when it’s not, it’s dusty). Close to midnight, the Kids were all excited to see the fireworks – I guess the Adults as well.
*Pictures: Uncle Boy's Compound, Arriving at their house up to the Fireworks!
BAM! Heavy Lidded eyes/Bright Morning Sun…
Midnight arrives and Uncle Boy had his helpers fire up one Flare to illuminate the sky, then the explosions started from the firecrackers and missile fireworks, then the second flare was launched and the kids were screaming for more explosions – that’s when a barrage of ‘em started…it sounded like a firefight at Iraq! Lots of ‘bang-bangs’! Uncle Boy then fired up his hand gun and blasted the ground so that the bullets does not stray and hit someone. Good thing. Half hour later, things had somewhat settled down, though other houses and their neighbors are still letting fireworks go – Uncle Boys kids were all looking for ‘socks’ – Kevin and I were wondering what for – but it all came apparent when they swarmed Auntie Annie asking for a New Year gift – MONEY! Auntie Annie was trying to say - She didn’t have enough but the kids did not believe her excuses, so they continue to wave their ‘socks’ (some were dirty!) right at her face. One of the Kids got a big prize – we think it was ‘Ging-Ging’ cuz the other Kids were following her right away. I went to bed right after everything calmed down, but Kevin continued to enjoy the rest of the night – drinking and partying with the other Kids.
*Video: Fireworsks (Kevin didn't know that when taking a vid in our Camera it has to be horizontally taken)
01 Jan 2009: Thursday – New Year’s Day
A Cock Crows….
7am - I woke up early and felt fine – no hangover even though I was drinking heavily the night before – must be the water chasers I was drinking along with the Alcohol. It worked. Most of the helpers were already up along with Uncle Boy and Auntie Annie. They were cooking breakfast already. Arnel was grilling some ‘Bangus’ (Milk fish that most Flips like to eat) and Eggplants. The lechon leftovers were cooked again and served. Mangoes, Bananas, and Watermelons were also prepared. An hour later, almost everybody was up and hungry. We ate breakfast, except for Kevin since he was still fast asleep. The plan for the morning was to travel to the ‘hills’ where the Mangoes where farmed. Unfortunately, the Mangoes weren’t in ‘season’ so, we were just going to go there to see the area and harvest some fresh Coconuts. Kevin finally woke up around 9am, he felt fine, ate breakfast. 10am rolls around and everyone hopped onto the Multicab to ride over to the Mango farm. Nice rural scenic views. 20 Minutes later we arrived at the Mango Farm. Uncle Boy also had an area where a big rock about 20x40 feet is situated – he showed it to Kevin and I. Uncle Boy has plans to open up a mini-resort with a kiddy and adult pools. Uncle Boy’s farms is right on route to Mt. Hamiguitan where the not yet famous ‘Bonsai Fields’ are located. They said that these trees are only 3-5 Feet in height and are centuries old. It is just now attracting ‘tourist’ mainly from Japan, Europe and Australia. It is about a 12 hour hike from Uncle Boy’s Mango Farm – no vehicles are allowed to go there. With this in mind, Uncle Boy is planning a rest stop for the weary travelers coming or going back from seeing those midget bonsai trees. I (and hopefully Kevin) would like to visit those midget trees next time in May ’09 for my mother’s big 80th b-day bash. We went back to Uncle Boy’s old ‘house’ where they used to stay – now being rented out to other people – to harvest some coconuts in the property. One of the helper was already ‘plucking’ the coconuts by using long bamboo stems with a hook knife at the end. Everybody kept clear – falling coconuts can be dangerous. After the harvested coconuts were gathered – each of us was given a freshly cut open one to drink its juices. Kevin never tasted fresh coconut juice – and he said it was delish. After the juice was all drank up – the coconut was then split open to get to the soft fleshy meat – ‘buko’ in Flip terms. Kevin was given a fresh coconut husk shaped as a spoon to scrape the coconut flesh to be eaten. Once again, Kevin liked the coconut meat. He likes everything! Once everything got eaten up – we all gathered our things and trekked back to Uncle Boy’s main house to get ready for the trip back to Davao City.*Pictures: Trip to the Mango Farm
*Videos
**On the way to the Mango Farm
**Soon to be Mini Resort
Trek back to the city…
8 People rode back to the city on a small SUV – 2 sat in the front seat, 3 in the back seat and 2 on the ‘trunk’ – the driver made it 8. The trip took only 2 hours this time. The driver also took short cuts. There were parts of the travel that were a crawl because of pockmark potholes all over the road – but otherwise, it was short compared to the travel by bus. We got dropped off at Lorie’s house and my cousins went on to their house in the city. I and Opet decided to go shopping since Kevin and I didn’t brought enough clothes with us (not nice ones anyways) while Kevin tried to take a nap. We went to Gaisano Mall, which currently has the biggest mall in Davao (but will soon be overtaken by others in the next few years – Flips love their Malls). I couldn’t believe how cheap the prices were and it has the same quality as sold in the U.S. – this ain’t cheap knock-offs either. So, I bought shirts for myself and for Kevin and a couple of footy socks. I told Opet that we should leave right away; otherwise I’d buy a lot of stuff that Kevin and I couldn’t carry onto our luggage. We got home and Kevin was still ‘indisposed’ and Lorie was back from grocery shopping for the beach excursion to happen in two days. Owie came back from his wife’s place. He and Opet were going to take Kevin and I to meet my two nieces (my sister Maridel’s daughters).
Two pretty ones….
I haven’t seen my other two nieces since I left the Philippines. Christianne (oldest) practically grew up around with me in Chicago. Christianne’s sisters are: Jazzy, the middle sister, while Ebo is the youngest. I saw Jazzy last in 1988 and she was only still a baby (about 1.5 year old). I haven’t met Ebo until this day. We left Lorie’s place a bit later than planned since Kevin was still taking a Nap. It was about 5pm when we left and took a taxi. We got to Maridel’s (yea, my sister has houses in Davao City) house in Executive Homes Subdivision 20 minutes later and they were all waiting for us. The girls are so pretty! They both have similarities in looks to Christianne. Ebo is currently pregnant and is due this coming March to a baby boy – they already have a name for him: ‘Damaise Patrict Isidore’ – the first and last names are from both Grandfathers and the middle one is from St. Patrick since Ebo was born on St. Patty’s Day. Jazzy was a bit tired that night – I didn’t know that she had to be on night ‘Duty’ at the hospital she works for. She followed my sister’s footsteps to become a Nurse (also Ebo, but she’s still on Nursing School). Mitty, Maridel’s sister-in-law, her husband Dan was there as well as Arnel’s mother – ‘Bebe’. Bebe was our caretaker when I was a kid and now she’s doing the same thing for Jazzy and Ebo – hired on by my sister – and has been with them since they were babies. We, Opet and Owie ate dinner there – had some rice, ‘Pansit’ (Filipino noodle dish), Sweet n Sour Chicken and some delicious Mangos (Those Mexican mangos sold in the US doesn’t hold up against Philippine mangos or even Asian mangos for that matter). Kevin was entertained by Mitty, Dan, and Opet while I was catching up with my nieces. Owie left after dinner to be with his wife and Son. We left Jazzy and Ebo, and promised to see them again come this May for the b-day bash of my Mom.02 Jan 09: Friday
Gym, Eden, Grave, Jack Ridges Treks...
We woke up early at 6am to go to the gym – it was our plan to continue our gym routine while travelling – otherwise, we’d be bloated baleen whales by the time we get back to the U.S. Also, the plan was to meet one of my relatives that was also visiting from the U.S. whom I haven’t met named “Jimmy”. Owie arrived early to start us off. 7am rolls and away we go. Took a while to get a Taxi since it was still early on a Friday morning, besides a lot of people are still in that two week holiday – x-mas through New Years. We arrived at the gym by 7:20am – Metrolifestyle –and paid the day pass. The gym was pretty modern – a lot better than our gym (the YMCA) in Minneapolis, they had a Spa and Massage Department and ….a FACIAL SLIMMING Clinic! You can have Mesotheraphy injections very cheap, as well as other ‘esoteric’ slimming machines e.g. Slimtone, Skinroll (??) while having a facial! And it’s very cheap, but alas, we were only there for a day – to work out. I did circuit training while Kevin did his regular work-out. Owie was waiting to learn the basics of Kick-Boxing, but the class did not start until an hour later – so, he did some work-out too. We got done with our weights and decided to do cardio on the treadmills. These treadmills was set to 20 minutes only by the gym for the “peak hours” however, there was no one using those things. 35 minutes later, my attention was diverted by someone poking me, it was Owie – Jimmy was there with his wife and daughter, ready for the Jaunt to EDEN Nature Park. Kevin and I, had to hurry and get off the treadmills and shower. The plan was to do a tour on Eden Nature Park, visit the grave of my Dad and go from there. We had to go back to Lorie’s house to retrieve our Camera and bring Owie’s brother Opet with us.
Eden then Jack…
The trek to Eden Nature Park took about 45 minutes. This Park was man made comprised of 60 acres of land on the steps of Mt. Talomo. It was built in 1974 and only completed in 1997. The builder basically planted the 100,000 pine trees, beautiful gardens, orchards, animal sanctuaries and other flora and fauna thriving in their natural environment. Since, it was situated in the foothills of Mt. Talomo, it was somewhat cooler – the Pine trees provided shaded areas. Jimmy’s wife Aster, arranged a 45 minute tour at the park, via one of those Multicabs – the tour encompasses the Hydrophonics garden – veges and other edible plants grown with-out soil, lots and lots of flower gardens, a garden for a variety of herbs (I didn’t know there was so many types of basil species), more gardens, a manmade falls using natural rocks but the water is pumped from the bottom up, a ‘bahay-kubo-lolas garden’ ( traditional Filipino house with grandmas garden), a wishing well, bird zoo and others (see picture link). The tour included a lunch buffet – since, no one ate breakfast – everyone was hungry and queued for the food. It was raining while lunch was being eaten – it was hoped that the rain would abate so that we could go to Malagos Park (CHECK INFO) further up north to the biggest/largest bird of prey in the world – the Philippine Eagle a.ka. the Monkey-Eating-Eagle (no, not a Monkey eating an Eagle…), However, in these parts when it rains it pours – it was decided to forego the Eagle tour since going up north involves uphill driving on dirt roads – now probably turned to mud from the rain.*Pictures: Eden Nature Park
Graveyard Jack….
After leaving Eden Nature Park the group visited the grave of my father – the last time I visited the grave of my Dad was in 1988. We paid some kid to clean out and trim the grass overgrowth on the tombstone. After it was cleaned, we put up the fresh flowers and lighted the candles. I did some reflections and then said my goodbyes – I’ll see the grave again in May. The group trekked back towards another ‘resort’ – Jackridge, where it is located next to the “Shrine of the Prague” another religious site. Stations of the Crosses are all along the road on the way to Jackridge Resort – I remembered when I was young, my mother used to drag me during Holy Week to do the “Station of the Cross” prayers – and these Stations are all going uphill – difficult to do if you’re a little kid or if you’re old. The Jackridge resort overlooks Davao City and is surrounded by big colorful houses down below. The resort basically is for chillin’ – Pomelos were bought by Aster and shared to everyone (I once again ate my fill – I can never get enough of this fruit – which is sweater than grapefruit).*Pictures: Davao Memorial Park and Jackridge Resort
*Video: Tombstone Trimming
Golden David…..
On the way back to Davao City, a detour was made to a giant replica of a statue of David, by Michelangelo. Davao holds the fifth place where all giant replicas are situated: London’s Victoria and Albert’s Museum; Queensland Brisbane, Australia; the Appian Way Shops at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. But Davao’s statue is a bit ‘odd’ – it is painted in gold color. There’s a story that that statue caused a lot of ‘controversy in Davao with politicians – some called it garish, some amoral and blasphemous and others called it Art. A fig leaf was made to cover up David’s jewels, but the ‘leaf’ was never put on – instead it lays right down the pedestal where the big D stands – unpainted. This pavilion also houses a Shark pool – lots of sharks swimming about. After the sightseeing, the group decided to call it a day since we planned on going out that night with the Girls n Boys for some booty shakin’.*Pictures: The 'David'
Party like its 1999…..
It was planned a few days ago that Friday would be another jaunt into the bars – this time the Dance Clubs. Owie and Judy left their son in the care of Lorie for the night (nice to have babysitters – especially Grandmas!). Kevin, Owie, Judy and I took a cab to the Rizal Area – where the Dance clubs are. The Scene wasn’t happening upon arrival – not a lot of peeps - it was already almost 11pm. Owie and Judy wondered why it wasn’t hoppin’ – it was again probably because of the holidays. A ‘club’ was picked that had tables outside to sit and wait for Zyra, Leia, and Arnel – beers were ordered for Owie and Judy, while K-Bob settled on Cocktails. The ‘club’ chosen had some ‘go-go’ girls dancing by the windows – they weren’t that good dancers upon inspection. Around 11pm, the rest of the Group arrived – Zyra and Leia brought a childhood/neighbor friend of theirs and Arnel. More drinks were ordered. Still people weren’t coming in – the scene was getting boring – so a change in plans got put forth to go to an out of the way Club called 183. This Club had better atmosphere – more people and had good vibes. The Club entrance fee included one free beer – so that was a plus. Kevin and I ordered Cosmopolitans all night along with Owie and Judy. The rest stuck with Beer. The music was definitely hoppin’. There were a lot of Korean Expats and surprisingly a few Americans at this Club. Apparently, Korean nationals are making Davao their stomping grounds for partying and merrymaking because it’s cheap. It was definitely fun. Kevin and I elicited curious furtive looks – because of our ‘weird’ Dancing . The night kept on truckin’ with good music and free-flowing Alcohol, by 2am it was decided that the group should stop partying and go home because the next day is the trip to SAMAL Island – home to resorts with white sand beaches. It was 3am when we got back to Lorie’s house.*Pictures: Club 183 fun!
02 Jan 09: SAMAL ISLAND
Chillin’ at the beach….
We woke up early to prepare for the beach – No hangovers. Lorie prepared all the food we were going to bring the night before – it was a lot cheaper to do so than eat there. @10am, Owie, Judy, Ax and K-Bob (Lorie and Opet stayed behind to cook more food for the beach trip) left the house and headed to the ‘landing’ beach in the mainland to take to Samal Island. This Island is home to some of the best beaches outside of Davao City. Paradise Beach Resort where chosen by the group since it’s where the locals (Davawenyos) go and it’s cheap and it’s closer than the other high falutin resorts. A ‘Lantsa’ or ‘Pamboat’ (Depending in which Bisaya word you choose – a powered motorboat with outriggers made of bamboo on the sides) from Paradise was ready to leave by the time we walk to the landing beach (Mainland side). Travel between the Island and the Mainland only took 20 minutes - a very short trip. Leia and their friend were already there waiting for us. They had commandeered the tables and a lounge chair for the group. Owie started grilling the meats at the grilling station that the resort provided – he was up there for a while – lots of meat to grill. Kevin and I are liking the water and went for several dips. Lorie and Owie finally arrived with the rest of the food. My sister’s husband “Lolot” (Real name – Damaso) was with them. Lolot and Kevin pretty much spent time talking together. Everybody was hungry by noon. Owie finished grilling the last meat, so lunch was started. It was a delicious lunch for sure. Kevin and I went for another go at the ocean. The resort also has several Aviary, Mammal, and Reptile pens – some of the group went to explore these area. There were a lot of colorful Pheasants, Song birds, birds of the parrot family, variety of doves, and lovebirds. The mammals on hand were the Asian Deer – these animals look pitiful since their pens are so small, so they developed some type of behavior – just walking back and forth the same way. The reptile area only housed one: a Boa Constrictor. The handlers had this snake out for people to touch. They were encouraging the group to touch and handle the snake. I dared everyone to have the snake drape over their shoulder but no one would go, so I conquered my aversion to snakes, walked over to the handler told him to drape the snake over my shoulder. For about a minute, I was posing for Cameras (Show Off). I then dared Kevin to do it – Kevin finally did after several convincing talks. The last person to do it was Owie, he was really nervous and scared. He made several attempts at trying but would just pull away at the last minute. Finally, he stilled some courage in him and put the snake over his shoulder. Both Kevin and Owie posed for pictures (see picture link at the bottom). The girls opted not to participate. The group went back to the tables to talk some more with Lolot. After an hour, the whole group decided that it was time to pack up and leave the resort. When everything was packed, the group got back on the “Lantsa” and headed back to the mainland. We said their goodbyes to Leia and Lolot since we won’t be able to see them until next May. The rest of the group went home to Lorie’s house. Nothing was planned for the rest of the day since we had to leave for Kuala Lumpur the next day. We said goodbyes to Judy and Ax at Lorie’s house since they were leaving with Owie back to their place. The rest of the day was just chillin. Dinner was served at 6pm, food was the left overs from lunch. Kevin excused himself after dinner to go to bed – he was tired and was a bit under the weather. I continued to catch up with Lorie, Opet and Owie who came back after dinner bringing “pasalubongs” gifts and fruits: Mangosteens and Durian. I went to bed at around 1am.*Pictures
**On the Way to Samal Island
**In Samal Island - Paradise Beach resort
**Wildlife in Samal Island
*Videos: On the way to Samal Island
4 Jan 09: Day of Departure. Next stop: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
We woke up around 6am to pack our baggage for our flight to Cebu City (the 2nd largest city in the Philippines in the Visayas region. We ate breakfast at 8am. Since Kevin went to bed early the night before – the Durian wasn’t opened until that morning. He could strongly smell it. Owie opened the durian and the stench was just overpowering to me – who doesn’t like durian very much (they say either you hate it or you love it – I am among the former). I asked Kevin if he liked the smell, he said it was okey (yea but his face told another story!) Owie gave him a fork to get a taste of it – he was brave enough to take two bites but no more after that. Kevin liked the Mangosteen though. After Breakfast, we said our goodbyes to Lorie and promised to see her again this coming May. Since it was Sunday traffic was minimal, the drive back to Davao International Airport was quick. We said our goodbyes to Opet and Owie. I was sad to go. Checking in was Easy. Kevin wanted to check CEBU PACIFIC to see if they could verify his Credit Card. We tried to use them to fly from Manila to Davao, but they couldn’t use our American Issued credit cards, We would have to use Asian issued credit cards or had someone to pay Cash – big flaw on their business. CEBU PACIFIC flatly told Kevin that it would be useless to talk to them about it – it was management, not the workers decision. PAL will be getting our business from now on since they accept American issued credit cards. Check-in was easy, we are flying AIR PHILIPPINES, who has an alliance with PAL. It was just an hour’s flight to Cebu Mactan International Airport. The International Departures of the airport was still closed to passengers, so K-we hang around the shop area. Kevin called his Parents and Neil (who is a close friend and currently watching our house) who was with Lance (Kevin’s brother) while I tried to organize this “blog” content – which was way behind. At 12noon, the International Area was finally open, we had to queue again to get in. There were lots of Japanese. They said that Cebu is a haven for Japanese tourist while Davao had the Koreans, an interesting useless factoid. We had fly out of Cebu to Kuala Lumpur via Malaysia Airlines. The counter for Malaysian Air was not open yet – We were told that we had to wait another 2 more hours (2pm) since our flight out was on 4pm. At 2pm, the Malaysian counter opened, we got checked-in and baggage ticketed in. As we walk to pay to get the Airport tax, the lady at the check-point kiosk stopped me from going further and told me that since I was using my Philippine passport I had to pay TRAVEL TAX and pointed to the Travel Tax Counter to pay, this irritated me a lot because I didn’t know that if you possessed a Flip passport and you travel outside the Philippines you had to pay this “TRAVEL TAX” – I was wondering ‘What it was used for’ – my irritation was mounting at this point for another of the Flips annoying tendencies to not tell travelers what to do (basically this Cebu Airport isn’t organized, there were lots of irritated passengers) – not even a signage. We didn’t have enough Philippine money to pay for this Travel tax, we only had enough to get through for the Airport tax. Lucky for us, Kevin had some American dollars to get exchanged. Finally, the taxes were paid, customs area cleared, we were now in the boarding area. They boarded the plane at 4pm.KL via KK, loser = iPod….
Malaysian Airlines had very colorful seats, their Flight attendants were wearing their traditional Malay dresses, interestingly enough the Men flight attendants were just wearing plain green blazers with black ties. We settled onto our seats which were again seated aisle to aisle. I took my newly purchased iPod nano and put it inside the seat back pocket in front of me. Kevin got special treatment because he mentioned that he didn’t have Lunch yet to one of the pretty Malaysian flight attendants. She gave him some treats to tide over until they served dinner. The flight to KL (Kuala Lumpur) had a stopover at KK (Kota Kinabalu) a burgeoning city in Northern Borneo (A Malaysian Province). When the plane landed at KK an hour later, the Crew notified the passengers bound for KL to stay in the plane, but when all the passengers for KK got out, the transit passengers were told then told to disembark as well, so we hurriedly gathered our backpacks to get out. With this rush, I forgot my iPod – that I put inside the back seat pocket. We and the rest of the KL bound passengers waited outside the boarding area – the plane was being cleaned out and re-stocked with food. 45 minutes later, we were boarding again. As I sat back on my previously assigned seat – I remembered my iPod right away and looked at the back seat pocket where I put it. No iPod. I raised the alarm right away, one pretty flight attendant named Ernee notified security to see if the cleaning crew turned it in. No luck, she then notified the Male lead flight attendant about the situation. Since, they couldn’t call the cleaning crew back and the plane had all the passengers in, they told me to make a complaint to Malaysian Airlines. Ernee was very helpful, she provided the complaint form and the other flight attendant took my name as well to make a report. I am bereft. I hadn’t broken that iPod in yet, since it was still newly bought. I will now be forced to talk to Kevin on our work-outs for this entire trip! Darn! I quickly de-stressed since it’s only an iPod, I was more excited on seeing KL.
KL, KLIA, Express…
The plane landed in KL at approximately 10:45pm KL time. We got processed at customs relatively hassle free and quick. The language barrier wasn’t a problem either. English is widely spoken in KL. I told Kevin that Malaysians tend to have the British accent with an odd South African inflection and an Australian penchant of using “yea yea” - then again, Malaysia was governed by the Brits in the old days so it made sense that they have the more posh English accent. The Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) was a far cry above than the Ninoy (Manila) International Airport in the Philippines. It definitely is a world class airport (but not sure if it compares to Singapore or Hong Kong – we will have to see). We proceeded to get our baggage. Kevin took some money out of the ATM for some local currency. The KLIA Express to the central terminal downtown was also near the baggage claims – all in all, the airport was well designed and organized. We, got our tickets from the express train kiosk, boarded the train and were transported to downtown KL in approximately 28 minutes (takes 45 minutes on taxi and more on regular buses). When we got to KL Central (where every public transport meets), we were trying to find the station to the Monorail system of KL. This would take us close to our hotel. We spent a considerable time trying to find the Monorail Station until we asked some vendors in the fruit stand inside the Central Station. They told us that it was outside. We proceeded to go outside but seemed looked confused – therefore was accosted by a friendly drunk Indian guy. This drunk Indian peg us coming from America right away and congratulated us on electing B. O’bama. He then asked where we were trying to go and we proceeded to tell him about the Monorail station – he kindly led us to a pathway leading out the Central Station. Kevin at this time was thinking that this drunk Indian guy might lead us to some area where we would have some bad things happen so, Kevin was hesitant and lagging behind – while I happily talked to this Indian guy, a few moments later, the Indian guy pointed to an elevated structure with red paint. We heaved a sigh of relief and thank the Indian guy profusely, however, the Indian guy then asked for some help in giving him some money. We politely told him that we didn’t have any change. The Indian guy graciously says “no problem” and sent us with some blessings.
Medan Tuanku, Tune us in….
After paying for the monorail fare, We proceeded to get up the elevated platform to station Medan Tuanku where our hotel is close by. We got off at the Medan Tuanku and proceeded to walk to the hotel two blocks away. The hotel was easily recognized – it was painted in red and white colors with lights pointed right at it - the hotel’s marquee – Tune Hotel. I booked this hotel months in advance; I only paid $63 for the whole 3 nights. This hotel is currently setting a trend in Asia and that would be the ‘no frills’ hotels, where you pay the amenities: towels with soap and shampoo, AC, internet connection, room with its own bathroom or communal showers. Tune hotel was the pioneer of these so called no frills hotels and it’s first one was the one we were staying at. The room itself was adequate though small; it did have a queen size bed. The room card key had a computer chip embedded like those ones used in Credit Cards issued in Europe and Asia. This chip controls the room’s electricity. The key card must be put on a slot right inside by the door where the lights and ceiling fan control is located – once the key card is inserted on this slot, power is on, so it must stay in that slot at all times when you’re in the room (This will also tell the lobby and housekeeping that there is someone in the room). I also purchased the AC option. It was a good thing because KL is humid but not as humid as the Philippines. We had the room cold in no time with the ceiling fan going. We liked the room with its unique advertising on its walls. On the headboard, they had a McDonalds poster and on the wall where the collapsible mounted desk is located, it had a Bus advertisement right above it. Tune hotel has advertisers sponsor each room and each floor, even the elevator had advertisements. Our floor had the men’s designer company “ORLANDO”. The Elevator had “Mister Potato”. The hotel also had establishments in the lobby: a Subway, a mini-7eleven (KL has a lot of 7elevens), local mini-restaurant, and the Bus/Shuttle Company for tours and transport. Overall we had a good impression of the hotel. Our only disappointment was: the room had no TV! Tune’s other newer hotels had TVs. The hotel also offers a pre-paid Visa Tune Card where you can load it up with money and every time you use it, you accrued ‘Tune Points’ and you can use this Tune Card all over the world. We are thinking of getting this Card so next time they travel in Asia we can use the points to stay where Tune hotels are located and they will be popping up all over Asia sometime soon. We went to bed around 2am.*Pictures - Walk to Tune hotel/Hotel Room with Adverts
5 Jan 09: Explore KL...
Gym Monkey….
10 am! We woke up late. We slowly planned the day’s Jaunt into KL. The day tour of KL started very late - it was about 1pm when we left Tune hotel. First stop was the gym: Clark Hatch Fitness center – located inside the Crowne Plaza hotel. The gym was along the monorail route at Raja Chulan station, so we hopped in the monorail and got there two stops later. After the work out, we decided to go see the KL tower, since it was with-in walking distance from the gym. On the way there, we took pictures (see picture link below) of the Petronas Towers, it was not hard to miss since these two towers pretty dominate much of KL. KL tower is another landmark in Kuala Lumpur (only eclipsed by Petronas), it is about 421 meters high and provides KL its communication and broadcasting network. To get to the KL Tower, we had to pass through a nature park, preserved by the city government – basically a mini-jungle complete with animals. We had to climb up on a set of stairs – very high up (see pictures on link). On this stairs, We heard noises up above the trees…there was a Monkey throwing stuff in the ground. The trek to KL Tower lasted about 30 minutes. We queued to get in the tower. We had to pay to get up to the observation deck where we could see a 360 degree look of KL. The view was somewhat obscured by a haze – KL isn’t smog free – still, the view was good. KL is one big modern city with unique skyscrapers. There was one discovery that Kevin was shocked to learn – watching from the observation deck: Plaza Rakyat, a building he helped designed while he was working at the Chicago firm of SOM – was not yet finished. The only thing that was built was its foundation and nothing else and this was started in 1997. The KL Tower staff had a laugh when Kevin told them he helped designed the Plaza. They said that construction stopped because the money ran out (and they pointed out that they were still in grade school when it started). After doing the 360 view tour in the deck, we went down to explore the base of KL tower. The KL base had some exotic animals on display, a zipline, and a bunch of souvenir shops. Just right outside, there is a winter park for Kids to explore. We went back to the hotel and stopped by “The Coffee Bean” café to eat some sustenance. We were planning on exploring Chinatown or the Colonial/Indian area. We choose the colonial KL/Indian area walk. Most of the buildings were built during the British occupation and later were settled by Indians – some areas intersect with the Chinese settlement, so there are some Chinese Temples scattered all over the place. The colonial walk took us about 3.5 hours, by this time we were hungry and decided it was enough sightseeing for the day and decided to walk back to the hotel. We ate at an Indian restaurant close by the hotel. It was a very long day and we were exhausted from all the walking.*Pictures
**After Gym - Walk to KL Tower to Inside KL Tower
**Colonial KL/Indian Area walk - Starting at Masjid Jamek Mosque
6 Jan 09: Architectural Scene on the KL
We woke up early around 6am that day; we were planning on running around a park – but upon looking at map, the park was out of the way from public transportation – we’d have to get a taxi if we do. So, the running exercise was axed. Instead, Kevin decided to ‘pay’ bills online and do some budgeting, while I went back to bed. It was again 10am when we left the hotel – we were planned on visiting the Petronas towers and going up to the Skybridge. When we got there, all the lift tickets were already sold out for the day, we were bummed! We then plan to do it the next day and get there early. Since Petronas was attached to a big shopping complex, we decided to do some shopping. This shopping center happened to have the “TOP SHOP” clothing store, popular in Asia and in Europe (New York City will be the site of its first store sometime this year). I bought two t-shirts (one for Kev) and a ‘skinny’ jean – since it’s the thing that guys are wearing in Asia nowadays (as well as Australians). Kevin bought shirts for himself. The shopping center (KLCC) pretty much had every clothing brand name’s you could think of. Since, we had to see things, we proceeded to leave the shopping area and took the LRT to our next stop: the Mosque Masjid Jamek. This mosque was Malaysia’s national mosque before 1967 (See Picture). This Mosque is the oldest in KL. We didn’t go in since, we wearing shorts – pants must be worn inside mosques. The next stop: Dataran Merdeka – Independence square, a historic site for Malaysians – where they gained independence from Britain. It is surrounded by a heritage building called the Sultan Abdul Samad – built in 1867 of Moorish design. Our planned 3rd stop was the Malaysian Royal Palace called “Istana Negara”, which the guide book says it’s difficult to get too. It proved to be true. We had a hard time trying to find the place, once we got there we couldn’t even see it because the perimeter was surrounded by a two meter cement wall and when you do see breaks in between with metal bars, there are trees to obscure the view – so we gave up. We did see other architectural and sights on the way to the palace – the white edifice of the Dayabumi Complex, the National Mosque, hotels, etc. (see picture link below). Since our visit to the Royal Palace was aborted, we decided to head out to Chinatown to see what it was like. It was another long walk to get to that area right along Petaling Street. Chinatown is like any other Chinatown, it’s full of Chinese wares being hawked at to people. Fake merchandise from brand names was all over the place. Kevin bought cuff links and I bought sunglasses – which Kevin had to bargain for from 95 Malaysian Ringgits and brought it down to 15. Kevin’s a hard bargainer. But then again, most stuff sold there are way over inflated prices and you are expected to haggle to bring it down. We also bought a cheap North Face imitation small bag for our new camera which has a lot of scratches already from being mixed in with our phones and things on our side pockets. The fake merchandise was actually quite good – though some are so cheap looking that you’d know it was a fake. We were afraid of buying more since we are still flying into Hong Kong and they said HK’s customs enforces piracy strictly and with huge fines. We will have to wait till we get to China. We spent a lot of time just window shopping in Chinatown. We went back to the monorail station at Chinatown to ride back to our hotel - we got off at 'Imbi' station - to check out the "times square area" where mainstream shops are located. It was already late and we were hungry. We walked by a resto called 'U Cafe' - and that's where we ate dinner. After dinner, we decided to just head to the hotel because we have been walking for about 7 hours that day. Once we got to the hotel, I had to reserve another night for our room because we would have to wake up really early the next morning to pack our stuff and do more sightseeing – check out time was @ 10am, we still wanted to experience the skybridge at Petronas Towers and we haven’t seen any Museums of ‘anything’. We went to bed around 10pm.*Pictures: Petronas Area, Dataran Merdaka area, Walk to Chinatown
*Videos
**Petronas Tower
**Dataran Merdaka Area
7 Jan 09: Last Day in KL.
Our plan for the day was to go work out again at Clark Hatch, walk over to Petronas Towers, take the LRT to Istana Budaya (National Theater) it was also located near the National Art Gallery of Malaysia, and our last stop was going to be the “Batu Caves” – a Hindu Pilgrimage site with 242 stairs going up a cave. We woke up around 6am, got to the gym around 7am and work out for 2 hours. Afterwards we walked to the Petronas towers for the skybridge lift. When we got there, the ticket ladies gave us two tix to go up the skybridge at 1:30pm – Kevin told them he had a flight out of KL that afternoon and he has to be at KLIA by 1:30pm. One lady told us to step aside to see what she could do. She conferred with the other lady next to her – 10 minutes later they told us to go in and be with the group with a 10am slot. We were happy. The group was shepherded into one large elevator that shot us up 432 meter (1,483 ft.) in under a minute – that was fast. We were told that we only had 10 minutes to walk around the skybridge. The view was good. We took pictures (see pic link below). 10 minutes later, we were told that our jaunt was over and to head back to the elevator. It was already 11am, Kevin and I were debating whether to scratch out the Theater and Art Gallery or the Batu Caves. The Batu Caves would take about 90 minutes travel time excluding the sightseeing – since Kevin had to be at the airport by 1:30pm – we dropped the Batu Caves trek and just walked over to the National Theater and Art Gallery. We took the monorail to get the station closest to the sites – Titiwangsa station. After getting off Titiwangsa station, it was another 20 minute walk to the Theater and Art Gallery. We went in at the Art Gallery first. We saw lots of interesting art in all media – too bad cameras weren’t allowed. We spent an hour looking at ‘art’, and then headed out to walk over to the National Theater which was right next to the gallery. We walked in the Theater look around a bit and were told that we couldn’t take pictures either so we left. We did take pictures of the building which is based on Malay design. We walked back to the monorail station and headed back to our hotel so Kevin can pack for Australia. We ordered Subway and bought another WiFi privilege so I could download picture into Shutterfly. My flight wasn’t until after midnight (yea, Kevin and I are flying separately to go to Australia). Kevin is using his mileage from American flying via Malaysia Air while I purchased mine on Air Asia, low cost carrier. Kevin left at 12:30 via monorail and KLIA Express. He texted me that he might be able to make the 2pm Check in time since he had to wait for the KLIA train. Two hours later he texted me back again and say everything was fine. Since my flight was still 7 hours away, I was debating to go out and do a little sightseeing by myself, but I was tired from all the working out and the walking that morning, I decided to take a little nap and more downloading of pictures – WiFi at our hotel was slow…so, it took a while to download all the pictures. @7pm I got a text from Kevin that he was in Jakarta Airport, Indonesia for a layover. He asked me if I’ve reserved my bus to take me to the low cost terminal (15 minutes away from KLIA) – I texted back that yes I did. An hour later, it was my turn to head out. I reserved a van to take me to the LCCT (low cost carrier terminal). I was the only one so the van company instead hired a taxi to take me there. It took an hour for the drive. LCCT is like “MIDWAY” airport in Chicago in the old days when it wasn’t renovated. It looked like a long warehouse. I was there 3 hours before my flight. Air Asia’s counter closes 60 minutes prior to departure, and check in has to be 3 hours before the flight time. But we did have to wait for check-in because the flight to Perth had delays and Air Asia had only 4 counters open that night. It was already 11pm when the Melbourne flight was allowed to queue at the counters – surprisingly, it went fairly fast. As soon as everybody was at the departing lounge, we were ushered right out to the airplane. We had a long walk from the terminal and to where the airplane was parked. I was on the Air Asia X route, basically the ones going to Australia – a newer route for them –so, they had still have kinks to be ironed out. Boarding the plane was easy though.*Pictures: Petronas Skybridge and Walk from Titiwangsa Monorail Station to Art Gallery and National Theater
Next Stop: Cities of Sydney and Melbourne, Australia
Okay you two - it looks like you aren't haveing ANY fun whatsoever ... actually I enjoyed reading about your adventures and truly enjoyed all the photos and the backstories ... it looks like you are both having a wonderful time ... I can't wait to hear about all of your travels and of course to see many more photos! And now that I have your site I will be sure to check in often .... travel safe and we look forward to seeing you guys soon!
ReplyDeleteHugs from Minnesota - where it is actually 24 degrees ABOVE zero today! Whoo-hoo!
Rebekah, Jason, Jaden & Charlotte