Isla Del Fuego

Did you know that the Island Province of Siquijor is called isla Del Fuego by the Spaniards because of its eerie glow? This eerie glow happens to come from swarms of fireflies that hover the molave tree.

Siquijor is the third smallest province in the Philippines (population and land area). It is literally so small that you can tour the entire island in less than a day! Siquijor is popular because of it's reputation as a place of witchcraft and sorcery.


My Super Mowdil friend and I went to Siquijor via Cebu. We flew from Bacolod to Cebu and stayed overnight at the Parklane Hotel near Ayala Center. I love their breakfast buffet!

From Cebu we took one of the fast crafts going to Siquijor. I forgot whether it was Oceanjet or Supercat. The boat ride was close to 6 hours. From Cebu we had to pass by Tagbilaran. Then off to Dumaguete and finally, Siquijor.

Siquijor has three ports. If you are coming from Dumaguete most probably you'll dock at Larena Port. This photo was taken at the port itself.

While in Siquijor, we stayed at the Coral Cay Resort.

They also have an in-house spa and butik (boutique)! hahaha!

This was taken right infront of our cottage

Super Mowdil (Jaf) rented this jeepney for our whole day tour! Sakay Na! :)

Our first stop was this mysterious/mystical church in the mountain town of San Antonio.

Inside the said church.

This is the path going to the Banali-an Grotto. There are more than a hundred steps (I think) until you reach the grotto on top. And believe YOU ME, even if it's cool inside the mini forest, you'll sweat like crazy. I felt like my heart was being squeeze and I had shortness of breathe. I need exercise STAT!

The Banali-an Grotto. Moving up past the Grotto, you can reach the tip of this mountain and have an aerial view of Siquijor. Super Mowdil and Audie said it looks beautiful up there. However, Donits and I had to stay behind because we were too exhausted to move. So, if you're physical fit unlike us, go ahead!

Only Jaf and Audie were brave enough to climb up to the top. You will also find a tower that symbolizes the highest point on the island of Siquijor.

Cambugahay Falls: This is simply breath-taking. Did we swim? yes indeed! Photos of our swimming sessions are withheld because they are not visually entertaining. I don't think you'd like to see human-hipos swimming, do you?

Cambugahay falls: taken at a different angle.

Lazi Convent: Oldest Monastery in Asia

Across the Lazi Convent is the San Antonio de Padua Church:

This island paradise is definitely worth a trip! If you plan to stay at the Coral Cay Resort:
Coral Cay Resort
Solangon, San Juan,
Siquijor 6227
Philippines
(63) 035-481-5024
(63) 919-269-1269

Mongkok for Lunch

We were thirty minutes early. We arrived at Mongkok at around 10:50am. I got excited to try their food. I've heard of Mongkok from my cousins & friends in Manila. They always brag about it but never had the chance to try it everytime I am there. Good thing it is now in Bacolod.

Today was their soft opening. We were their first customers. Menu is posted outside their main entrance so while waiting for them to open we already chose the dishes we wanted to try. Then I suddenly felt hunger knocking inside my tummy. While we were anxiously waiting for the waiter to turn the "close" sign to "open" we opted to have two pieces of triple choco at Mister Donut.

Finally, it was open! The place was empty still. We were the first customers. I always enjoy it when your the first customer to arrive because you have the option to choose your seats. I like the rustic ambience. Very casual. No pretentions. The flooring is just plain cement laid out nicely. It has high ceiling with red chinese paper lanterns layed out by rows.


We ordered the following: Crabstick with seaweed siomai (the white sauce tasted like bird's nest soup, is it?)

Beef Brisket with Cartilage

Shark's fin siomai

Assorted cold cuts: Not over the top but ok

I forgot the name, seafood something... grr... This eyelike!

And of course, their Mongkok Siomai! I heart this! We had four orders, I think.

Soyed Chicken

And of course, we had coke zero to quench our thirsts! Then the memory of my trip to Penang, malaysia in 1998 fashed back. I remember my Malaysian friend Ricky Lew brought me to Chinatown in Penang to have Authentic Dimsum. Ricky asked me what I wanted to drink and when I said "coke", he laughed. He said you drink tea when eating dimsum. Ngek!

Going back:

We assumed that they accept credit cards because this sign was posted on their main door. Then when I asked for my check and gave my card, they said they don't have a telephone line yet and their machine will arrive next week! Next Week! Then, remove this sign to avoid confusion! Hello!

I did not bring enough cash with me. Good thing Donits was there. He was my savior. He paid directly at the cashier. The waiters were already busy. I think there were only three waiter manning the entire place and it was getting packed.

Donny informed the owner that we were in the impression that they accepted major credit cards because of the signage posted on the main door. And politely asked him if they can remove it until they have the machine handy.

He requested for an official receipt and was given an order slip. We have to come back for it next week. Forgiven. This is their soft opening day.

I am still coming back here. I love the food. The service was fast & efficient. Mongkok is located at the ground floor of Terra Dolce Mall, Shopping, Bacolod City, Philippines.

Dinner @ Grandfather's House

We had dinner at Grandfather's House at 6:00pm. I starved myself the whole day so I can eat a lot of lechon come dinner time. Hehehe!

THE Lechon doesn't look picture perfect but it tasted good! The meat was so tender and the skin was crispy - which I guess are the two criterias for a perfect lechon, right?


Grandfather bear ordered food from Apollo Restaurant - His ever favorite Chinese Restaurant in Bacolod City.

We had thier Pancit Canton (is it?) which unfortunately looked like worms because of poor photo quality. I apologize:


Morisqueta:


Beef with Broccoli: Favorite of everyone. At a blink of an eye it was almost gone...


And my personal favorite: Crab Fu Yung: Crab meat sauted with vegetables and mixed with beaten egg and fried:


Apart from the food he ordered, his personal cook, Criselda, made Chicken Pesa, Turbo-ed a whole chicken and cooked shrimps.

Chicken Pesa is a chicken based soup with potatoes, asparagus and cabbage: Another poor photo op taken by me. I'm Sorry... I assure you though that this soup is delish even though it doesn't look visually appealling.


Turbo-ed Whole Chicken and sauted shrimps:


Grandfather marinates the chicken with Knorr Sinigang Mix. He rubs the sinigang mix all over the chicken and let's it stand for at least an hour and stuffs the cavity with lemon grass. Lastly, knorr original liquid seasoning to achieve that golden brown skin onced turbo-ed. Try this at home! You wont regret it.

This is how my plate looked like. I shared this with Audie:


And of course, on a separate plate, ribs of lechon with matching skin!

Senior Citizens Table: (L-R) Lola Pacit Soliven, Behind her (not seen) is Lola Nena (Older sister of Grandfather), their nannies, grandfather bear and Tita Regina Zulueta (the only non-senior citizen on this table)


Lola Nena and her nanny Linda (Did I get her name right?)


Grandfather bear with his own nanny Eli

Yayang Susing: Still on the go at 80 years old! She's the nanny of my cousins (children of my father's eldest brother)

One of the desserts tasted wierd. The syrup of the fruit mixture was tangy. Little did I know grandfather bear put brandy on it. Grrrrr.....

My aunt, Tita Louie, is going back to NYC tomorrow. Have a safe trip and see you again next year!

Home Cooking @ someone else's Home

Was invited for dinner at Donny's house last night (Saturday).

I seldom decline invites like this. I always enjoy eating home cooked dishes at friends houses. You want to try their own version of chicken pork adobo, relyenong bangus, etc...

Donny called up around 4:30pm:

Note: Our conversation was in Hiligaynon; translated in English

Donits: What are you doing?
Me: Nothing. We'll go to your house before dinner.
Donits: Have dinner here.
Me: Can I request for Liempo? (Donits' mom makes the BEST Liempo!)
Donits: No time to prepare it. Next time you must inform me in the morning.
Me: Ok. Anything goes.
Donits: Poca and I will do marketing and cook dinner.
Me: See you.
-end-

Donit's lives in Talisay which is about 6kms from where I live. We got to his place around 6:30pm. Donit was lucky that our old friend Poca Hontas was at his place to help him out.

Donits prepared his own version of pancit and chicken tinola. Poca brought lemon grass for the tinola.

Here's Donits' home-made Pancit which has slices of chinese chorizo. YUM!


Chicken Tinola: Lemon Grass was brought by Poca from Mountaiw View (Subdivision where he lives):


Poca made his own version of burger paties with mushroom-based gravy:


The Perfect Couple: Poca and Donits


After dinner we watched X-Men Orgins: Wolverine then called it a night. We brought Poca home. Poca invited us to go down when we got to his place. There was a party. We were so not dressed to the nines; not to mention that we were so tired. We declined the offer and went home instead. Next time. Next time. :)

Bora Vacation: Day 3

Woke up at 7:30am. Breakfast at 8:00am. The same pinoy breakfast. Swam from 9:30am until 10:45am. Went around the island. Had buko shake at Jones??? Was it Jones??? I needed new slippers so I went to Havaiana's bought black flipflops - nice! Wanted to go past Friday's Resort but was too tired to do so. Went back to Casa Pilar for lunch. We had grilled fish, gambas and pinakbet.

Moi, Mike and Audie: Waiting for lunch!


We were technically scheduled to go back to Bacolod on January 2 celebrating New Year in Bora. However, as fickle-minded as Your Highness is, he changed his mind and wanted to leave Bora on the 31st of December. Well, I said it was perfect at least we can spend New Year's with our family.

After lunch, we asked around what the earliest boat ride out of the island leaves. People said it's at 5:00am. Since we are leaving the following day, we maximized our time sun-bathing. We had to prove that we can get a tan in a short span of time (with the help of our sun tanning lotion, of course).

We rested from 6pm to 8pm. Then, had dinner at our favorite "pang tawid gutom" restaurant, Andok's! As I've mentioned WE HEART THEIR FRIED CHICKEN!!! After dinner, we went back to our hotel room packed our stuff and slept. Woke up at 4:30am and readied ourselves for another tiring trip back home.

We took the first boat out of Bora at 5:00am but it left fifteen minutes late. Upon arrival in Caticlan's Jetty Port, we asked around if there's a van going to Ilo-ilo directly. Unfortunately all vans are stopping in Kalibo. We opted to take the Ceres Bus that goes directly to Ilo-ilo. The worst was about to happen.

The bus we took passed by Antique and the trip that suppose to be 4 to 5 hours ended close to 7 hours! To make matters worse, the bus we took was non-aircon (Because that was the only available bus departing at 6am, the next bus (aircon) is leaving an hour later).

Look how crowded the bus is:


Is this allowed? Is this safe?


We arrived in Ilo-ilo at around 12:45pm. IMAGINE! Took a cab going to the Pier but we made a quick stop at Jollibee and ordered Jolly Yum! Arrived at the Pier around 1:10pm. Good thing SuperCat had a trip going back to BCD at 1:30pm. We availed their promo of P155 return trip by presenting our USED Outbound ticket.

The boat trip was super rough. We were delayed by 30 minutes. Thank God we arrived in Bacolod in once piece. Amen!