Cebu (Day 1): Getting Used To The Place

As more often than not, the night before flying off somewhere was
a flurry of working,
passing out in front of the computer,
waking up in a mad rush,
packing like a bind person on crack,
and rushing to meet Cheesie on time!

Made it unto the plane,
and i must say,
it’s been some time since i flew a comfortable airline

Seats were comfortable!
Plush and holiday-colourful!
AND
There was FOOD.
No nonsense like trying to sneak food unto plane!

It takes 5 hours to fly to Cebu:
KL > KK = 2 hours
Transit in KK = 50 mins
KK > Cebu = 2 hours

I was starving when we got on the plane cos we didn’t have time to grab food
And breakfast was served right away *CHOMP*

I was reading before i ate
but promptly passed out after eating

After transit in KK, the pilot alerted us to Mt. Kinabalu on our left
So i stared at it in wonder,
thinking about the time i was right at the top of it

More food while flying from KK to Cebu 

As we were approaching the island,
we looked below and got super excited at how beautiful it looked!

For the first night, we decided to stay in the city before moving to the Hilton that’s at the beach the next day
So we stayed at this super budget place which is still fairly new – Granprix Econotel Cebu.
‘Twas only 1,200 pesos a night = RM42 per person

Taking taxis around Cebu is fairly easy,
most taxi drivers run on meter so we didn’t get cheated

And most of them, due to the Philippines’ strong Catholic society,
had rosaries, Santo Nino and Mother Mary figurines in them.

Which i found rather interesting to snap.

Cebu City grew from a Spanish settlement,
and is dubbed “Queen City of the South”.
It was already an important port for centuries,
before Ferdinand Magellan landed on the island in April 1951.

Traffic jam in Cebu is fairly bad
Not as bad as Jakarta or Bangkok,
but still enough to mention!

These group of boys were SCHO CUTE when i lifted my camera up to snap them,
they immediately broke out in poses.
Most definitely got their inspiration from a black rap group!

I must say that you cannot expect to shop in Cebu
There was nothing in the malls that interested me
(me, the person who can shop in any town/city?!)
and we didn’t stumble into any markets selling clothes like in Jakarta or Bangkok

I kept on looking out for bundle shops,
but didn’t spot any

First evening, we went to check out SM Mall
cos it was getting dark.
Tried some local food and i find that in overall,
food in Cebu tends to be slightly salty.
Not in a bad way, just more salty than usual.

We had some fish in soup, minced meat,
bitter gourd, etc.

We walked along the road near our hotel after dinner,
to looksee at the locals preparing food.
A lot of people were staring at us -_0
I think it was fairly obvious we were tourists!

Then we risked our lives crossing a main road to get to a roundabout
to take a picture of a waterless fountain

Before going to Cebu, i tried googling for great bars, restaurants and shopping spots,
and Z Bar was one that kept on coming up in my searches.

Located next to The Tinder Box, Z Bar was designed by Kenneth Cobonpue
(who has fans like Brangelina)

We had some pretty great cocktails there,
before leaving to call it a night.

Next day, we had lunch at this roadside place which was really cool
(but i forgot the memory card in my cam -_- so Cheesie has the pix)
Before checking into the Hilton Cebu Resort & Spa

Super lush and pretty!
These pictures required no colour editing whatsoever.

Our room 

I, then, of course colorized the room how i always do – holiday style!

The gorgeous view of the beach on our left:

And inland on our right:

More to come! I’ve already edited pix of all the tourist spots we went to,
and the BEACH, so patienceeeee 

I edited like over 100 pix today -_-
Feel damn pei

* * *

This trip was made possible by Malaysia Airlines.
It’s the only airline available to fly from Malaysia to Cebu, Philippines; with 2 flights a week.

PassedOutBen’s Bday @ Somo

POB had his birthday celebrated at Somo @ Mont Kiara last night.

He didn’t choose the place tho,
Samantha did, and none of us would tell him where we were going,
much to his irritation 

Forcing POB to drink the femes Tokyo Rush

At one point, i accidentally knocked over my own pint of Guinness with my handbag
and its 3 quarter contents splashed all over the place.
“My shoes!” wailed Jinny
“My Guinness!” wailed i

POB got a really cool present -
Ah Hoong drew the outlines of a vector art piece for him,
and everyone contributed by painting it in.
If you didn’t know, Ah Hoong was part of the team responsible
for all those amazing Zouk flyers that were printed in its earlier years.

Ah Hoong

While friends painted, POB drunkenly went around picking up bottles
(dunno for what)

And started waving them at us…

I wrote: <3 you always POB!
And i heard someone ask, “What is that ‘less than 3′ thing…”

-_-

After posing with it, they took it away before he accidentally destroyed it

Chic POP Street Market!

HOLA!

Lots of good things have been happening lately!
A half-page spread on me came out in The Star yesterday,
alongside Fashionation from Singapore, and Bryanboy from the Philippines.

I had totally forgotten about the interview which i did earlier this year (thank you Robert!)
and ’twas Daddy who emailed me asking, “Why can’t you give the newspapers a better picture than that blonde crewcut of yours?”

0_-

It was Kevin Yeoh’s Birthday yesterday,
And PassedOutBen’s birthday TODAY!
(and i have to rush off to his surprise drinking session NOW)

Just wanted to blog real quick about Chic POP,
the FIRST fashion flea market we’re throwing at Zouk KL

For more info, click on the FB event page HERE!!!

Cebu: Day 1

I’ve edited some other pix to put up, but i’m really REALLY sleepy and tired right now
I stayed up till 4:30 last night doing some side stuff
And i realise – i’m not as sprightly as i used to be,
where i can sleep at 4am and still wake up all bright-eyed for work the next day.

No.

Now, it’s sleep at 4,
DIE the next day.

-_-

So i’ll pacify my blogging habit with just pix for now.

Will add on to it tomorrow. Or the day after.
(cos trow i have 2 events and i question my energy, not to mention sobriety, when i get home)
* all pictures below taken at the Hilton Resort & Spa Cebu *

“There are 2 types of people…”

“There are 2 types of people,” someone said to me recently.
“What?” i asked
“The ones with Berrys, and the ones without  “
” “

The whole BlackBerry phenomena has been hitting my social circle real hard.

Those who have it,
are constantly singing praises of it and trying to get people to convert to using one (aka Goldfish, FaiTheMai, PassedOutBen)
I kid you not, i think Goldfish (he was the first to do so during a Levi’s shoot in Dec 08 spent a full 15 minutes showing me his BB in all its glory.
I can still remember he kept on showing me what it could do and enthusiastically going, “Look! You can do this! And this!”

I got the point, i really did.
And he did a pretty good job at selling all those USPs to me cos i never forgot them.

Then my father got one.
Then my aunt got one.
Then my brother.
Then FaiTheMai.
Then PassedOutBen.
Then DidiBuli.
Then ClaudiaOnCrack.
Then SmallSerena.

Then it seemed everyone else who loved being online,
and i started feeling left out…
COS I LOVE BEING ONLINE!

The worst was when FaiTheMai and POB got theirs.
They wouldn’t frigging get OFF it and pretty much got told off for being so immersed in it.
All the girls around them complained.
And they complained to me too, tho i would end the conversation with,
“Well… i was thinking of getting one too…”
“Really??” Their tones spoke as if i was about to join a cult.
“Yeah. I’m always twittering… and i’m always running around, or will be more very soon, so i can keep on checking my emails la!”
“Hmm yeah i guess it makes sense for you.”

See what i mean about the Ppl with Berrys Vs. Ppl without Berrys?

The non-Berry ppl have beef with those who do!

But i have to say, those two (Fai + Ben) are damn OTT with all their personal BlackBerry jokes la
-_-

I admit i put aside plans to buy one a month ago,
and even wrote it down in my Moleskine under Things To Do.
I even knew which package i was going to go for (Xpax) cos FaiTheMai and DidiBuli told me it’s the best.

And just last Wednesday…

I cradled my new Blackberry Curve 8520 in my hands

Just in time for my trip to Cebu too!
It was so easy to set up, i was afraid i wouldn’t be able to use it there,
but ’twas super easy,
and i managed to get my emails and twitter installed before taking off.

PassedOutBen said i was insulting its intelligence by putting twitter in first
-_-
I didn’t okay! I put my emails first! Hmph.

Anyway, i managed to Tweet things as and when i went around Cebu!
Like on the way in the taxi to Hilton Resort & Spa,
the pink drinks that greeted us there,
showing Kenny how he shoulda joined us,
visiting Fort San Pedro,
and how i liked peeing in the sea (with map attached ha ha!).

People were replying how gross it was to pee in the sea,
and i said how can nobody agree with me?
But i digress.

Point is, i had connection WHEREVER i was.

Earlier this afternoon back in KL,
i was a bit annoyed that the connection in my house had been down all day.
So i went to get a pedicure while msging on my Curve at the same time with FaiTheMai and POB.

“At last,” one of them msged, “We can have REAL conversations.”

+ + +

If you’re interested in joining our cult,
Xpax is gonna launch the first prepaid Blackberry program.
It’s not launched YET but you can pre-register at xpax.com.my!

Cebu: I’m BAKED

Woke up at 7am today but it felt like 9am
Philippines runs on the same time as Msia,
but the fact that they’re so much further in the East from the latter,
makes it obvious why the sun rises at 5:30am here

0_o

So we’ve been up and about in the sun
running to two island spots
Snorkeling is a bit shit here (in my opinion) cos the waves are really high
and keep on getting into the pipe
Plus i prefer not having the life jacket or fins,
and end up using a lot of energy to keep afloat and still in strong current

-_-

But weather today is amazing

Taking a break from the sun (been out in it for 7 hours!)

Then will go back down