ok.. so it's a monday and i'm back at the office.. my 9 day vacation i'm sad to say is now officially over.. just when things started to get better..

here's a quick recap of the things i did while i was in cebu:

monday: jars of clay concert at B.R.I.G.H.T academy.. way fun and super cool!! thanks jp for treating me and cathy to the concert :) too bad they were down a man.. one of the band members had to go back to the states because something came up in his family :(

tuesday: watched "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events" with war and jp after having dinner at ayala mall.. we watched the last full show.. got back to the hotel past 11..

wednesday: woke up at 4am to get ready for the moalboal trip.. we were supposed to leave at 5am.. but uhmm.. someone had to wake up late (aherm!) so we ended up leaving around 6:30.. had breakfast at mc donalds then we took a shuttle to moalboal (which took like 2 hours).. from the town of moalboal we took a trike going to the resort.. the first resort we went to was not the resort we had in mind.. we had to pay to pee and to take a shower.. there was no "food" (which is a must for me) soooo went scouting around for another resort..

we ended up at CLUB SERENA RESORT, an extremely beautiful place where you can just laze about by the pool or get a tan on the beach.. check out our measly attempt to take pictures using a cellphone (note to self: BUY YOURSELF A DIGICAM!!!)

beach view from the resort:



the pool at club serena:



in my owange bikini:



war and jp by the "serena":



the hermaphrodite:



more pictures of the resort:





now didn't that look relaxing? spent the whole day basking in the sun and getting a tan (mission accomplished!!).. i plan to go back there probably by january (i'll be going back to cebu for the sinulog festival and hopefully i'll have more pictures of my vacation to show, ehehehe)

oh yeah.. i went through this guilt trip 'coz i asked the trike driver to pick us up at 5pm at the first resort we were dropped at 'coz there was no other way to get back to the town proper.. but then when we moved to the other resort.. well.. we kinda liked it.. so .. we didn't go back to the first resort anymore.. so then i guess the trike driver was waiting for us there at the said spot and we never showed up.. i'm sorry man.. really i am.. (batts eyelashes) it's just that we had so much fun at club serena.. oh well..

thursday: woke up at around 10am then went to the mall to grab breakfast.. spent an hour surfing the net then went to have lunch at casa verde.. spent the rest of the afternoon at the ayala mall and grabbed a rasberry frap at starbucks.. did a little shopping (hehehe.. yes.. little indeed..)

friday: met up with doogie and herb for lunch at SM and we ate at this place called... vvv... yes, call us corny.. but we were sooo hungry and that was the first resto we saw.. we couldn't find any restos that only cebu had to offer so we went with 3V..

after lunch we went to two tourist spots.. magellans cross and sto. nino church (pictures to follow).. headed of to ayala mall to do more shopping then went back to the hotel..

had dinner at cafe adriatico (thanks war!! happy birthday!!) then checked out a supposedly "reggae" bar called KAHAYAG.. well i guess they weren't in a reggae mood 'coz when we got there this alternative rock band was playing.. oh well.. better luck for me next time.. the place was really cool though.. nicely decorated and really cosy.. oh yeah, and its smoke free!!

saturday: checked out of the hotel and brought our stuff over at jp's house.. went to ayala mall to do some last minute shopping then met up with some filzam's after dinner.. joan and joseph anin (from Luansya) picked me up at around 10pm then we headed to KAHAYAG.. it just wasn't my lucky day at kahayag 'coz another alternative rock band was playin (atleast they sounded better then the other band.. LOL).. we decided to go to boss grill to meet up with the teschs' (mark and mike, somemore childhood friends from zambia).. Mark is the PR manager for lighter records a cebu based record label (think urbandub) and they were holding the kick off of the four-stop concert tour "Plan B - Attack of the Giant South" at boss grill.. got in for free (thanks mark!! hehehe) and watched some of the best local "indie" bands of cebu (Nuncyspungen, The Ambassadors, Faspitch, Picture Filled, Hatemail, Pointblank, Powerspoonz, Pupil and of course my newest fave indie band URBAN DUB!!!).. thanks to mark i got to meet some of the bands' members.. (cute tisoys.. i just can't remember what band they were in though.. too bad..) and also Gabby, the vocalist of urbandub (yes.. another chance to take pictures and dang! no camera!! arrgghhh!!)

my vacation ended with a blast though 'coz gabby sang the song that i requested him to sing.. we were just about to leave (coz i was gonna be late for my flight back to manila) when i hear the first strums of "sailing".. i was like "wait!! it's my song!! who cares if i miss my flight!!" (LOL) so we stayed till they finished their set and then after, it was time for goodbyes.. but i'm not a sucker for goodbyes so it was a "see you guys soon!!" and "hope to catch you guys at a gig in manila"..

met up with war and jp then off to the airport we went.. was on the 4:00 am flight back to manila..

things i noticed and learned while i was in cebu:

1. loads of guys are sporting the "long hair" look.. according to joseph there are lots of rocker dudes in cebu.. so that explains the look.. hehehe

2. loads of "mixed couples".. when i say mixed.. an older foreign guy and a young "exotic" looking filipina.. i'll leave it at that..

3. every road, street, side road has a store selling chicken.. fried, roasted, chopped, whole.. you name it.. they got it.. i'm in chicken heaven and i never got to eat a piece during my stay (oh yeah.. only one teeny tiny half of a buffalo wing.. but that started the itching again..)

4. the food is really affordable.. for example.. a honey glazed doughnut costs 25 pesos at starbucks.. in manila it would cost around 50 pesos..

5. say "plete" when you pay for the fare in the jeep and "lugar" when you wanna get off the jeep..

6. i learnt how to say "i'm lost or naliligaw ako" in visayan.. but i'd rather not place it here.. just ask a cebuano how to say it.. ahehehe.. wink wink..

7. jeeps in cebu are number coded (14-D goes to AYALA mall.. 21-B goes to SM.. those are the only two i can remember :p) and i never experienced standing around for more than 10 minutes waiting for a ride (well, exept for the time war and i decided to go to SM by ourselves.. we stood by the shed for more than 10 minutes and we never saw one dang 21-B.. why? turned out we were standing on the wrong side of the road!! ahehehe)

8. cute cebuano's come in the "tisoy" form..

so that's it.. that was what happened during my cebu get-a-way.. what can i say about cebu? well.. it's not that far from what manila is like, but it still has that air of difference.. maybe it's because people speak in visayan or maybe how the jeeps look like (really colorful mind you.. hehehe).. or maybe it's just that i know that i'm in a place where i know only a handful of people.. or maybe it's just that the people are very honest there and the life seems so laid back.. in other words.. i've fallen in love with the place and maybe i wouldn't mind working there.. maybe i'd find my SO there too.. ahehehe..