Day 8 – 13

In Manila, we also went to Greenhills which is like an indoor market. Shops closely packed together selling every conceivable kind of clothing, shoes and bags. It was like an agrophobic’s nightmare. The place was sooo packed with shops and people and sellers trying to get your attention. Of course, as soon as you ask how much it is in English, the price gets bumped up. Then you try to haggle for something that you really want, and still not satisfied with the price, I walk away hoping they will miraculously drop the price a bit….sometimes they do, but more often they didn’t. I didn’t buy much as I couldn’t tolerate the crowds. I’m too impatient with crowds bumping me left and right. I almost wished I had a whistle to tell people to get out of my way. I even wished for traffic lights or one way lanes because in a tiny aisle of say 3 feet, there were people trying to jostle past in both directions!! We made our way to the outside of Greenhills for some open space to eat in and found a seemingly nice modern place called Gerry’s selling Filipino food. The service was terrible, they were slow in giving us our menus, we ordered our food and drinks and when they set the table, somehow they missed setting the end of the table where Joseph, Jeromel and I were seated. So by the time the food arrived, we had to ask for plates and cutlery. Then they only brought 2 sets and we had to ask for another set and that took another few minutes. I was already irritated with the market…and was sooo not in the mood for bad service. The food was ok…nothing to rave about….it was tasty and edible but I much prefer Aristrocrat which we had the previous night. Needless to say, I only left them a mini tip…..as in loose change.

Traffic on the way back to the hotel was horrendous….the morning trip took about 40 mins only and the way back took more than an hour and a half. I was so glad that we had booked the driver and the van for the trip back instead of taking a taxi. By the time we got back, everyone was exhausted and we didn’t re-emerge till close to 7.30pm and no one could mustle enough energy to even think about what to eat, so we went around the corner and had dinner at Wendy’s which is similar to Hungry Jacks. Food there was quite ok….different things on the menu like a shrimp burger with a big shrimp fritter in the middle and you could actually see big pieces of prawns!!! And service there was excellent. In the Philippines, there are ‘security guards’ everywhere…just about every shop has a security guard who also doubles as the doorman. Usually they are very stern looking, but the security guard at Wendys was really friendly and helpful. Since we went upstairs, he brought us our meals and drinks upstairs and was extremely helpful. We tipped him very well when we left.

Day 9-13

We left Manila on Monday 17^th Dec on another Cebu Pacific flight. This was the free flight which they owed us as Cebu was our initial destination. The flight was delayed by an hour and by the time we got into Cebu, it was already evening. Joseph’s cousins came back with us….so we were a group of 12 people traveling together. We had a fabulous Filipino dinner at a restaurant near the city called AA in Pardo. You basically pick which ever fresh fish and/or marinated meat you want and it gets cooked for you. We had beautiful clam soup, fish soup, bbq pork and beef ribs and charcoal grilled fish. All delicious.

National fish of the Philippines…..the Milk fish or Bangus as they call it. It’s usually very boney….but here it has already been split and deboned for us to enjoy. Yum!

Clam soup…..sooo delicious. Jeromel loves shellfish and really enjoyed these clams.

 

By the time we got to Joseph’s home town Carcar, it was close to 9pm and we were so excited to see our rented house. The house is very nice compared to the standards of the houses there. But to our disappointment, it wasn’t fully furnished. The upstairs has 3 air conditioned bedrooms (2 double beds and a single bed) and a small living area with a bamboo lounge suite and a small bathroom/toilet with hot water. Down stairs has a spacious lounge area with a bamboo lounge set, dining area has a 6 seater dining set, bathroom/toilet and a minimal kitchen. What’s a minimal kitchen??? Benchtop, cupboards and nothing else. No refridgerator, no stove, no kettle, no cutlery, no crockery…..nuffink. Maybe I shouldn’t even call it a kitchen. We ended up borrowing an electric urn from the caretaker. Another family member kindly offered to lend us their small refridgerator. Joseph quickly went to the convenience store to get some disposable cups, cutlery and plates, bread, water etc…..and came home with a big tub of ice cream!!! Hehehe….the ice cream was so hard that we couldn’t get at it with the plastic spoons so had to borrow a real spoon from the caretaker. LOL

Having said all that, we are so grateful to have this house.  It is actually owned by our friends Willie, Mila and their son Mark who live in Melbourne.  It’s their investment property and we happened to have asked at the right time because we were able to rent it for the 3 weeks that we were there.

 

Photo taken from the gate….looking into the two apartments.  We are renting the apartment at the back which is pink

Loungeroom looking up at the stairs which lead upstairs to the bedrooms 

This is me….loungeing around…waiting for everyone to get ready so that we can go out! 

Our view from the upstairs balcony.  Very very lovely and green

View of the left hand side, you can see the long driveway leading up to the gate.  Great security.  On the otherside of the tall fence which was extended (grey bits) while we were there….you can see some of the tricycads parked behind the trees. 

 

Night time view from the balcony…..it’s sooo beautiful.  The yellow star parols lead up to the barangay (council ?) hall.  And a few times a day, music will blare from the hall…which is nice because we don’t have a radio.  LOL 

Our little guard dog friend, Kim, who belongs to the caretaker Roy.  He is little….but he’s a great guard dog. He used to bark a lot at us for the first couple of days and then he got to know us and we fed him some fabulous food…so he got quite friendly with us. 

We have absolutely no wifi here….and there are a few internet café’s…but I haven’t been so I shall run through the next few days quickly.

The day after we arrived, MIL, myself and Joseph’s cousins went to a mall about half an hour away to get the things that we need. We had to buy floor mats, kitchen wipes, cling wrap, plates, cups, pillows, towels, things to clean the ‘kitchen’, bathrooms and toilets. We had to buy hangers and pegs, a big basin for Jeromel to bathe in and to wash clothes in. When it came down to buying groceries….I was brain dead. You have no idea how draining it is to shop in another country. In Australia, with everything, I know what brands to use and which to steer clear of….here I have no idea as well. So I had to ask about everything. Sometimes I just picked things with pretty packaging and Joseph’s cousin would look in my trolley and say….oh that’s no good…use this one. LOL So by the time I got to the groceries…..I had a huge headache….just tooo overwhelmed, too much to take in. Just bought a few bags of groceries to last us a few days until I can go again with Joseph. LOL…now another little tidbit about Philippines. Using credit cards here is quite rare here and it must have been a totally new experience for this checkout chick. So when I asked her if I could use credit card to pay, she replied it depends what it is. I told her it was a mastercard and she said she had to look at it. In my head I’m thinking….a mastercard is a mastercard, no mater what it looks like. It’s universal. So I hand it over and she looks at it with a very quizzical expression on her face. And she said….oh I haven’t seen this before, I am not sure if you can use this. I told her in very bad cebuano that it doesn’t matter what the card looks like…as long as the mastercard symbol is there….it’s a mastercard. She consulted two other people before letting me pay with the card. And they’re soooo not set up for credit cards that she had to walk to the supervisors office to swipe it. And naturally safety conscious me had to tail her. LOL

Jeromel and his little cousin Inday Ritchel.  They can’t communicate very well…but they sure do have a great time playing with each other!!  One of their favourite things to do was to draw on our disposable paper plates and turn them into pizzas. 

Our next few days in the Philippines was spent settling in, and doctors appointments for our laser eye surgery. We went in on Wednesday morning and had our assessment which took an hour and a half each. It was extremely thorough and omg this place is fabulous. As soon as we walked into this office, it was like we had left Philippines. The staff spoke English extremely well, were very patient, softly spoken, professional and explained every step to us. After our assessment, we went into see the surgeon who would be performing the procedure and his office is really something….it’s like it’s sooo futuristic….totally a gadget lover. To our delight, he did the calculations and we are all good candidates for the laser eye surgery.

With Joseph and myself because we’re both at the age where we need reading glasses, the surgeon suggested that we have one eye corrected for reading and the other for distance. It takes a while for the brain to learn to interpret different images from each eye but apparently for people at our certain fabulous age, doing it this way gives more lasting results. Surgery was set for 6 hours later at 7pm, so we decided to go to a nearby mall for a late lunch, catch a movie (Golden compass) and catch up with Joseph’s cousins who have just returned from Netherlands. BTW…the cinema was fabulous. It was huge, sooo modern….comparable to a vmax cinema in Australia. It was 120 pesos per person which is about A$3!!!!

We got back to the hospital at 6pm and they were running ahead of schedule so we were ushered in straight away. Jordan went first followed by myself and Joseph. We were prepped and donned our surgical gowns, our shoes were covered, our hair was covered, faces sterilized, anaesthetic drops were given as well as a 5mg dose of valium to help us relax. Jeromel was with us as well and he was really good and amused himself. The laser procedure was very straight forward, I was taken into the laser room, asked to lie down, more drops were given, eye was washed, prepped, and each eye only took about 2 mins!! It was over before I knew it and then it was back to the comfy chair to keep my eyes closed for half an hour then checked. We have to wear these safety like glasses for 2 weeks at night, we can’t get our eyes wet or go swimming. The goggles aren’t very flattering or comfortable, so for vanity’s sake, the next day we went out and bought some sunglasses. And I also bought a pair that are pretty much clearish to wear indoors. The day after the surgery, we had our post op check and Jordan and Joseph’s are fine but my right eye cornea is a little wrinkled….as in the flap has moved a bit…so I had to go back into the surgical room to get my eye flushed and get the flap straightened and then a contact lens was put in to keep the cornea wrinkle free. That was removed the day after (which was yesterday).

So….results. Jordan now has 20/20 vision and is rapt with the results. Joseph and I are still getting used to both eyes seeing differently, so some things are a bit hazy for us. Simple things like looking at the mobile phone or this laptop is a bit challenging but I know that it takes a while for the brain to learn. I am extremely pleased with the results. I can see distance well and although I am still wearing these clearish sunglasses to protect the eyes from dust and to prevent me rubbing my eyes accidentally, I totally have no regrets. Totally highly recommend this surgeon and this surgery to anyone who is not happy wearing glasses. The surgery cost us each 40,000 pesos which is about $1200 which is very cheap compared to the $4K it would cost to get it done in Australia. So pretty much you can have a holiday and get eye surgery done. LOL

Pic of us and our Surgeon who did the Laser Eye Surgery for us. I’m still wearing my protective glasses….wish I wasn’t though! Can photoshop fix this? Anyone?

Yesterday we went to SM Mall and the kids had a fabulous time there. They have a huge kids play area which is like timezone on a huge scale. There are heaps of arcade games, computer games, carousels and rides and dodgem cars and all oh soooo cheap!!! It’s 6pesos for a token which is like 20cents. We also had 4 of Joseph’s nieces and nephews with us, so they all had a ball and got lots of tickets which they exchanged for prizes and lollies. The kids were there for HOURS with the 200 pesos we gave them each.

Photos of our fabulous lunch at the SM Food court…all soo cheap, fresh and tasty!!!

Seaweed salad – very very unusual seaweed with bubbles on the stems…..they’re so tasty when they pop in your mouth as you bite on it. Dressed simply with calamansi lime juice, some red onions and tomatoes. When it’s not dressed, you simply dip it in some palm vinegar and yum!

Another type of seaweed salad. This kind of seaweed has a more of a crunch on it…very refreshing. Again simply dressed with some calamansi lime juice and green tomato.

One of our favourites which I also make at home. It’s eggplant which has been grilled whole until the skin is blackened…let it cool then just pull the skin off…..flatten it slightly, dip in beaten egg and then pan fried. Eggplant omelette I suppose?

A Filipino favourite Leche Flan- their version of creme caramel except it’s steamed instead of baked. Yummy…..this one was tasty but not very well made because there were steam holes in the leche flan.

There are two kinds of meats on skewers here….there are two chicken bbq skewers and the round one is actually like a chorizo – sweet cured pork mince.

Fresh Lumpiah – or fresh spring rolls. A huge favourite with Filipinos. Very very tasty!

After lunch, we met Joseph’s sister Ying Ying and her daughter Dana for the very first time.

Another tidbit about the Philippines, you can buy fireworks….not just little firecrackers, but real fireworks….just from roadside stalls and from shopping centres. So of course….my man had to buy some for new years eve. I got a king size sheet set for 1250 pesos which is like A$40! I’ve just sent it to the laundry place this morning so will see the results after it has been washed. We’ve hired a maid to work part time for us while we are here. She does the cleaning and some handwashing and runs errands for us. Of course this house doesn’t have a clothes line so we’re using a laundry service in town for most of our clothes…..cost? 30 pesos per kilo of washing. I sent a huge bag the other day and it only cost me about A$7. It comes back smelling great and folded up very neatly. Wish there was such a service in Australia!!!

Today, we’ve finally set up the gas cooktop that someone has kindly lent us so that the helper can do some cooking for us….then of course realized that we have no pots or cooking utensils. So we’ve bought some cooking utensils and borrowed a pot. The other day we realized we had all these fruits, but no knife…..and all these can foods but no can opener. LOL….seriously had lots of laughs.