Jan
16
2010
SINULOG@30 2010 BLOG 1: Getting There
This is going to be a series of blogs and photos for Sinulog 2010.
So Joepi is now in Cebu to join in again on the fun and immerse herself in the sights and sounds of Sinulog as it celebrates it's 30th anniversary. I didn't know until I arrived that the festival was created the same year I was born. Pretty cool!
So here's how the trip started…
First I stopped to have breakfast at a cafe called Chaikofi. Chaaaay! In gay-linggo that's what you call a friend. It wasn't the friendliest place in the world, but the gay waiter and cashier were both friendly enough and they had wifi. So I was happy. What was weird was the color of the cafe. It was all yellow – as in SUNFLOWER yellow and black. I think I know now how a bee feels like when in a honeycomb and all you see are those colors. I hadn't had much to eat for the past 12 hours so I got myself a frankfurter sandwich. I thought it would be good and filling. I was disappointed. For $3 I got a thin sandwich with mostly onions and 8 puny slices of the damn sausage. I paid my bill. Thank you for the sandwich that went with the wifi. :-p
I went on my way to the gate as the time for boarding was nearing. Lo and behold I have a celebrity on my plane. Childstar turned Rapper Billy Crawford was there in his red leather cap. His presence just reminded me of the pageantry and pomp I was about to witness for the weekend.
As I boarded I don't know why I had to pee real bad. For the first time I was a little bit ashamed to have to go against everyone who was boarding as I pushed myself to get to the loo. Too much water and coffee to wash down the damn onions I guess. While the cargo was being loaded, I watched the activity below and saw a lady guard doing a body check on one of the baggage guys and she was cuppy-feeling EVERYTHING and I mean every INCH of the poor guy. I bet she was enjoying. I'm sure he was too. Then I glanced as the last cargo haul pulled up and unloaded at least 7 cages with big bunny rabbits!
As I got to Cebu, I was greeted with raindrops and cool sleepy weather. I'm usually grumpy when I see this kind of weather but for some reason I welcomed it. I guess because I was already feeling sleepy and was welcoming the bed weather, but I was also put in the mood to pay my visit to long time family friends who have lost their beloved grandpa – Papa Genio. As I rode my Php300 cab ride, I looked around at Cebu's wall art and noticed one weird one among an environmental series of murals. It had a huge globe drawn on it cracked in the middle with a band-aid and it said "Heal the World." But what made it weird was the figure in the middle. A man with a black hat, white gloves and posed like Pop King MJ (feet together, one arm out) BUT he was dressed in JC's white loin cloth. Talk about weird. Before I got carried away in analyzing the image, I felt my tummy growl and decided to attend to my human need to eat properly and to have dimsum and "steamed rice" (a fantabulous concoction of rice and toppings and some secret sauce) which always brings me back to my childhood recollections of the Chinese restaurant we frequented here in Cebu as a little girl. After my cup of Steamed rice, 3 Shrimp Balls and 3 Mushroom Shiomais, I was ready to go again and on my second wave. But not after a quick cup of coffee and another weird sight: a girl had her sweater on backwards!
And here's another sight on the road – which depicts my current state:
I was picked up by my mum's youngest brother, Uncle Weng (pronnounced as Wing) and we headed to Rolling Hills Funeral Homes. I was greeted by another funny sight. I saw a wheelchair through the window zipping back and forth. It would have scared me to death but I let out a sigh of relief as I saw that it was my friend's son in the chair having the time of his life wheeling around in the lobby of the funeral home. Sheeesh. As I got inside, all the grandmas were praying and we waited around outside with Mr. Wheely and some wifi. Prayer meeting over, I went in and said hello to my grandma and the rest of the folks. I ended up giving my earrings to my grandma and having a nice little catch up with her from the time at the chapel to all the way to my hotel. I am amazed at how strong she still is and how good her memory is. We were talking about travel, her first experience on a plane (which was in 1949 from Manila to Cebu), her boat experiences (how she went through storms and got absolutely drenched INSIDE the boat), what do I love most about traveling, what food in what country do I enjoy most, and Singapore's clean city and Vietnam's fresh food. I had to cut our convo short as I was already at my hotel. I wish I had more time. I think I will come by again on another weekend and just spend time with her.
I am now in my modest little hotel and absolutely ready for bed! I will be awake when the sun goes down and the party lights switch on! More to come on tonight's activities in Alejandro's where 2 celebs await! Snap snap! More photos to come!
So here's how the trip started…
First I stopped to have breakfast at a cafe called Chaikofi. Chaaaay! In gay-linggo that's what you call a friend. It wasn't the friendliest place in the world, but the gay waiter and cashier were both friendly enough and they had wifi. So I was happy. What was weird was the color of the cafe. It was all yellow – as in SUNFLOWER yellow and black. I think I know now how a bee feels like when in a honeycomb and all you see are those colors. I hadn't had much to eat for the past 12 hours so I got myself a frankfurter sandwich. I thought it would be good and filling. I was disappointed. For $3 I got a thin sandwich with mostly onions and 8 puny slices of the damn sausage. I paid my bill. Thank you for the sandwich that went with the wifi. :-p
I went on my way to the gate as the time for boarding was nearing. Lo and behold I have a celebrity on my plane. Childstar turned Rapper Billy Crawford was there in his red leather cap. His presence just reminded me of the pageantry and pomp I was about to witness for the weekend.
As I boarded I don't know why I had to pee real bad. For the first time I was a little bit ashamed to have to go against everyone who was boarding as I pushed myself to get to the loo. Too much water and coffee to wash down the damn onions I guess. While the cargo was being loaded, I watched the activity below and saw a lady guard doing a body check on one of the baggage guys and she was cuppy-feeling EVERYTHING and I mean every INCH of the poor guy. I bet she was enjoying. I'm sure he was too. Then I glanced as the last cargo haul pulled up and unloaded at least 7 cages with big bunny rabbits!
As I got to Cebu, I was greeted with raindrops and cool sleepy weather. I'm usually grumpy when I see this kind of weather but for some reason I welcomed it. I guess because I was already feeling sleepy and was welcoming the bed weather, but I was also put in the mood to pay my visit to long time family friends who have lost their beloved grandpa – Papa Genio. As I rode my Php300 cab ride, I looked around at Cebu's wall art and noticed one weird one among an environmental series of murals. It had a huge globe drawn on it cracked in the middle with a band-aid and it said "Heal the World." But what made it weird was the figure in the middle. A man with a black hat, white gloves and posed like Pop King MJ (feet together, one arm out) BUT he was dressed in JC's white loin cloth. Talk about weird. Before I got carried away in analyzing the image, I felt my tummy growl and decided to attend to my human need to eat properly and to have dimsum and "steamed rice" (a fantabulous concoction of rice and toppings and some secret sauce) which always brings me back to my childhood recollections of the Chinese restaurant we frequented here in Cebu as a little girl. After my cup of Steamed rice, 3 Shrimp Balls and 3 Mushroom Shiomais, I was ready to go again and on my second wave. But not after a quick cup of coffee and another weird sight: a girl had her sweater on backwards!
And here's another sight on the road – which depicts my current state:
I was picked up by my mum's youngest brother, Uncle Weng (pronnounced as Wing) and we headed to Rolling Hills Funeral Homes. I was greeted by another funny sight. I saw a wheelchair through the window zipping back and forth. It would have scared me to death but I let out a sigh of relief as I saw that it was my friend's son in the chair having the time of his life wheeling around in the lobby of the funeral home. Sheeesh. As I got inside, all the grandmas were praying and we waited around outside with Mr. Wheely and some wifi. Prayer meeting over, I went in and said hello to my grandma and the rest of the folks. I ended up giving my earrings to my grandma and having a nice little catch up with her from the time at the chapel to all the way to my hotel. I am amazed at how strong she still is and how good her memory is. We were talking about travel, her first experience on a plane (which was in 1949 from Manila to Cebu), her boat experiences (how she went through storms and got absolutely drenched INSIDE the boat), what do I love most about traveling, what food in what country do I enjoy most, and Singapore's clean city and Vietnam's fresh food. I had to cut our convo short as I was already at my hotel. I wish I had more time. I think I will come by again on another weekend and just spend time with her.
I am now in my modest little hotel and absolutely ready for bed! I will be awake when the sun goes down and the party lights switch on! More to come on tonight's activities in Alejandro's where 2 celebs await! Snap snap! More photos to come!
I finished brekky, brought my coffee to go and headed off to work by 10pm. I was a little bit worried about encountering some stray fire power from reckless idiots who still believe fire crackers are fun to throw and set off. Surprisingly, the roads were very very quiet in my side of town. Even the usual town idiots weren't around except for a few. People are either getting smarter or getting poorer. I'm afraid it might be the latter. Anyway, I got to work and prepared a few slides for a Powerpoint presentation for a meeting with clients at 1am (I guess I know what 2010 will look like for me!) I was glad to see that the agents showed up though. I know there were a lot absent (and a lot to be reprimanded!) but I was also very grateful to those who showed up. As we neared midnight, we made sure everyone got their free food from Friday's and got ready for a countdown. I watched the fireworks go off outside my office.
Then we started the countdown…. 10… 9… 8… 7… 6… 5… 4…3…2…JUAN! Happy New Year Pilipinas!
Time to learn to travel light (on the pocket.) I've been spoiling myself in 2009. I will be more careful in the travel and dive financials for 2010.
