Month: May 2017

I had meltdown on this day. Char. It could really get tiring on nth day of road trip especially with 3 kids: packing-unpacking-packing, loading-unloading-loading. Though kids are big enough now to do them on their own, and all I would do now is bark at them. 

Anyway, I love pocket cities. I dunno if there’s that term “pocket cities” but it’s how I categorize “smaller cities” in my mind. 

Pocket cities are like small enough for me to watch the whole city in a corner. Really, I just want to people-watch. People-watching is probably the equivalent of 10-Things-to-do of other people for me. I think it’s one of the things I like in Brillante Mendoza’s film, they made me feel like I’m people-watching. 

My breakfast corner in Jollibee. Voyeurism at colorful jeepneys, the Donut store, local stores, “recovering” structures from Yolanda, etc.
Lunch at Burgos Street again. This time it was in SurpRice. Sorry, I was not a big fan of it.

We had coffee at Libro before leaving Tacloban for Ormoc. If there’s one thing I love about Libro is it’s their “corner.”

We dropped by at MacArthur Park, our attempt to being culturally/historically relevant. And, The kids kept asking, “why does he have a statue?!?”

My kids are sadly so millenials. But then it made me think, “yeah right, why are we making a grand statue for a foreigner?!? Who were the people responsible making a big deal out of this man yet not much is said about the local Leyte heroes?” But char lang. 

BILIRAN 

I took an early morning stroll before leaving Biliran. There’s a stretch of rice farms nearby the Marvin’s Resort, where we’re staying.

Look happy, kids. 😂 

LEYTE

We stopped by at this hole-in-the-wallish kind of resto Tia Tita’s in Palo, Leyte. 

We stayed in ZPad Residences in Tacloban. The unit we’re staying felt like a demo condo unit.

First stop was for Meg’s red velvet at Burgos Street.
SAMAR

Nothing better to do, we went to the longest bridge of Philippines (right?). BACK TO LEYTEWe stopped by at Robinson’s. We’re planning to have dinner there but the place was so full, and noisy. Noisy like a lot of stores were simultaneously playing loud music. It felt like being “shock-and-awe.” 

The parking lot of Robinson’s was filled up with SUV, which is a sign they Tacloban recovered from Yolanda.

We went back to Burgos Street, and picked one of the many “hip” hole-in-the-wall restos lining up that area. WE probably need a week to try all of them. 

We holed-up in Canto. We ended our day in Leyte with an Italian / American meal.


(My first draft got deleted because internet connection is wonky; it makes living in Cebu feels like a 1st world with a slightly more reliable internet.)

Grinder has been so much part of my life, wether at home or away.Mati is trying to protect his “pan” from the ants.

Kids are now kinda little adults. I really get a kick listening to their conversations among theirselves, or with Mark. Promise, I’m the least “talker” in this family.

This morning’s discussion was Mati’s question: How are twins made?
With their access to internet and all, I think they’re not at all that innocent.
Pool. It was my first time to see them all in a pool for a long time. 

Carenderia or diner to be sosyal. 🙂 Cusina de Salas has became our favorite in Biliran.

It was a rainy afternoon in Biliran. I think not a day passed by in Biliran not raining. And what best way to spend it by going to yet another waterfalls, which was somehome also the idea of everyone in the island.

Fighting for the prime real estate for selfie 😂

Tinago Falls is not that “tinago” (hidden). I think it’s because very accessible that a lot of people tour it.

Prelude to halo-halo

Aside from waterfalls and pinakbet, Halo-halo and pizza are some things that Biliran will not disappoint you. 🙂

At Jelo’s
Dinner is always care of the Marvin’s Resort staff 🙂

Biliran is in the top 5 LEAST populated province of the Philippines. And I guess it’s the reason why there’s no big fastfood chain in the place, which was a big surprise for the kids and a big relief for me. #chos Mati said that it might be a fake city if it has no Jollibee (poor kid 😂).

Cusina de Salas

The easy or the hard path dilemma?!

Of course, we picked the easy path.

Trekking with Mati always ends up with him looking like his bouldering or scrambling. Poor kid, he takes after my physical skills. 

We trek to eat our siopao. And they were not so amused.

We chanced upon an empth Agta beach so we play with sands…

And lounger.

We came home to the home-cooked meal of Marvin’s Resort. 

Lunch at Polambato Port, Bogo, Cebu before getting into the RORO boat for Palompon, Leyte.

Spot the no-longer-baby in this photo, when they’re already annoyed with you taking photos.

Palompon port, Leyte

Someone thought the Biliran bridge is pretty, he took a selfie. 🙂

Arrived at Biliran with a very orange sky, I took as my birthday gift. Orange, my favorite color.

The food at Marvin’s Resort in Biliran is just the ultimate homey. It’s so funny that the kitchen staff remember us as “pinakbet.” Mark and I could not get enough of their pinakbet when we were here last February. It was our default order every meal.

That stage when you get a #meme for a card…