One Week in Cebu

It would be really too depressing to bid farewell at the airport so I had it planned to go along on their way back to Cebu and spend a week there. 

As it happened, our flight was on Mother's day and a day before the Presidential Elections. The whole election bruhaha was about to end and was looking forward to the end of political posts in my Facebook newsfeed (i miss shallow posts!).

#Halalan2016. 

As it turns out, Rodrigo Duterte won. I failed to vote because of my failure to register. If I did though, my vote goes to Miriam Defensor-Santiago. Even if her chances are slim, i'd still give it to her because among all presidentiables, she was perfect, super-achiever and not corrupt. Though her health was an issue, i do think it will not affect her capabilities to execute such job.

Something Filipino. I love Filipino foods; so it came as a no surprise that every time I go back to Cebu for a break, I always look forward to spoiling myself with it. This amazing photo of a ceiling was taken at Kan-anan by Lantaw. I love their interior and the food was not bad at all. 

Flashback to the 90s. 

These are just the only Sweet Valley Twins' books that I personally bought. The rest of the series that I had read were from the high school library. I was introduced to reading novels because of SVT and  Nancy Drew, while at freshman in high school. Luckily, our school library had tons of teen novels, from Love Stories series to Hardy boys (which I never read), and even old Time and Life magazines in binder files.

My default Cebu phone is a Nokia 105. Bought it brand new in 2013 at less than 3,000 PHP. I bought it because I don't allow my iPhone to do roaming for the charges would be too costly. With this cheap phone, it is functional and inconspicuous. I have been using this for two years now and its basic functions of call and text are all I really need while on break.

Summer is terribly hot and humid in the Philippines. The temperature in Cebu felt like around 33degC (according to my last check). Without even the slightest move and even after a very refreshing shower, I still get sweaty after a few minutes. In Amber's case, she sweats a lot, too; that I end up bathing her for the second time in a day just after dinnertime. 

Inset photo was taken at Plantation Bay Resort & Spa. It was my first time there, and our impression was that it felt like being trapped in an island paradise, like a Disneyland resort even. It's very different from the usual resorts around Mactan. What I love here are the many shallow pools suitable for kids, restaurants are many, and the maze-like feature of  the whole resort allows one to navigate and discover little nooks to hang out.