Hey..Andrew, I just scored us a Tricycle for 350 Peso's!

Well, a one hour flight and a short, rickety boat ride has landed us on the island of coconuts, rum, and white beaches..Boracay!

Since our last blog, we have done everything and nothing all at the same time. Our three nights stay in Moalboal was a nice little intro to island life. The island was full of Koreans, divers, and independent travelers looking for a quiet little nook to relax in while soaking up the wicked hot sun. We didnt leave ourselves enough time to get our diving certificate, so we settled for finding a little nook to call our own. We walked the narrow "street" (more like a walkway, hidden in between shacks, restaurants, and dive shops)avoiding the many Filipino's offering their Tricycles and motorbikes for rent. We found a great little restaurant with killer chicken fried rice (Andrew of course added his specialty..hot sauce!) and fresh mango juice. The locals working on the island range in age from 8 to 80! Little girls selling jewelry, and woman cooking chicken and rice on a fire. We rented a motorbike for the day (and yes, we survived the crazy driving!) and cruised around where we were staying, Panagsama Beach, and the 8km over to White beach. We stopped at a resort called Blue Orchid on White beach for lunch, where the finish resort managers introduced themselves, and sat down for a chat. After lunch we did a little snorkeling and then dryed off in the sun.
We also found a great little spot for breakfast called The Last Filling Station, where we had fresh fruit with yogurt and muesli.

Luz and her nephew Omar picked us up on Friday, and we headed back to Cebu for the night. We tried a few strange Filipino foods while staying with Luz, such as Bibinka, which is sort of a cross between a bread and rice pudding. It is made with rice, coconut milk, vinegar, and sugar. Didnt taste too bad, but the vinegar threw me off a little. Andrew isnt picky AT ALL, so I don't think anything would throw him off ;) Chicharon is another food we tried. Widely sold on the streets, it is "crispy pig skin" as Omar described. Him and Luz were eating it like chips! It looks a little like puffed up corn chips, with a very crunchy texture. The odd piece had what we guessed was meat on it. Again, not too bad tasting.

Our next stop after spending Friday night in Cebu was the Island of Bohol. We booked a ferry for saturday, with a return ferry on Monday. Our short trip there was mainly to see the Chocolate Hills, just outside of a city called Tagbilarin. Bohol is a lot less commercialized then Cebu, and has more of a jungle feel. Our hostel there came with a motorbike, which worked out really well seeing as we were about 5 km from the main beach and strip of restaurants. This part of Bohol is called Panglao Island. Weather was again really good to us, with only a little lightening threatening for a storm one night. Andrew swore we would get soaked on our way home from supper, but the rain never came. Sunday we hired a driver to take us to see the
Chocolate Hills, and the Tarsiers sanctuary. Tarsiers are a teeny tiny bug-eyed monkey. About the size of a rat, these nocturnal monkeys are one of the main tourist attractions for Bohol. The Hills are the islands second attraction. It's hard to really describe the Hills without stating the obvious...it's literally just miles of old grassy hills, that brown in the dry season, making them look like mounds of chocolate.
We met a friendly Filipino restaurant/hostel owner, who gave us his life story over a San Miguel, and an American turned Asian traveler. We got tons of advice from our American friend, as he lived in Thailand for 9 years, and now lives in the Philippines. Over all, it was a great couple days in Bohol.

Back in Cebu yesterday, we bought a deck of cards(an essential we forgot to pack!) and taught Omar how to play the games Golf, and Crazy Eights. It was so much fun, and he caught on quick. We also spent some time showing Omar pictures of what we like to do at home. Sledding, quadding, hiking etc. He was amazed! He asked "you've seen Twilight?" we said yes, and he goes "you live in same place, like Edward and Bella!" Haha! He told us it was like looking at pictures from a movie. We told Omar he should come to Canada and we will take him to all those places :) We have even more of an appreciation for our home country after that.

Our last activity in Cebu was a big round of Tennis with Luz and her friends. Unfortunately tennis is neither mine, nor Andrews sport, so we knew it would be interesting. And that it was! After 2 hours of being coached by about 10 different men, Andrew was soaked to the bone with sweat! I sat on the sidelines at first and giggled as one man shouted "bend, bend!" while another yelled "follow through sir, yes, better sir!!" I could see the beads of sweat on his face, but a smile remained! Then of course I got a little taste of it as well, when one of the boys came over to fetch me for a lesson. It seemed every time I moved, my grip changed and I had a different guy come over and re-show we how to properly hold the raquet. The younger boys, or the "runners" caught all our side-line balls and laughed when I hit the ball straight up In the air. I caught on a little by the end, but I'm far from being game-ready. It was a good workout anyways, and one of the little boys asked us to adopt him as we left.

We loved our stay in Cebu city, and can't thank Luz and Teo enough for everything they did for us to make us feel at home. We will miss our Filipino mom Luz, and her family and friends. We are hoping that by the time we get back to Canada, she will be there too!

It's 11:55am here in Boracay, and we are itching to get out and explore our new home for the next week! We have 6 nights booked at a hostel called Isle Gecko. Newly renovated and family-owned, we have a feeling we will fit right in here. Jimmy, Joey, Jane, and Joy have already made us feel comfortable! We will fill you in on the rest to come!

Good Morning, Good Evening, or Goodnight!

Love and hugs


Ps to explain our blog title for today... Tricycles are one of the forms of transportation here in the Philippines, and act as a taxi for locals and tourists alike. After getting off the ferry in Bohol, we were looking for a taxi to take us to our hostel. We were both in a bit of a daze from the ferry ride, and were surrounded by people. After a few minutes I nudged Andrew from the side and with an air of confidence proclaimed I had found us a Tricycle for the wicked price of 350 peso's!...Unfortunately for me, a tricycle should cost no more then 100 peso's and is basically a motorbike with a rickety side car,leaving little room for us and our big backpacks. Needless to say, we ended up going with a car for 400 peso's, and Andrew and I had a good laugh about it later.

Jet Legged and Sun-drunk

Hi Everyone!!

It is currently 3am here in a little sea-side town called Moalboal (moh-al-Boh-al. We layed down for a nap and slept right through. Think there must be a little jet leg left to get over.

It has been a busy few days here in the Philippines so we'll start from the top!
Our flight was long, but movies and books/sudoku made time fly, 23 hours and 2 days later (due to the 14hrs ahead time difference) we arrived in the hot and humid Cebu City. Andrew works with a man named Teo at ATCO in Grande Prairie and Teo's family still lives in Cebu while he lives in Canada (it has been 5 years since he has seen them!). The two arranged for Teo's wife Luz to pick us up at the airport. After fetching our bags we made our way to the exit, the whole time wondering how on earth we would pick out a woman we had never seen before among hundreds of other women..most Filipino and Korean. Fortunately for us we were greeted with a cute little Filipino woman holding a sign almost as big as her reading, "WELCOME TO CEBU ANDREW BELYAN AND CHELSIE" Oh happy day!
We spent our first night in the hotel we booked online, which turned out pretty nice, although quite hard to find. Luz picked us up the next morning around 9am and told us she was our driver for the time we would spend in Cebu-Apparently Teo wanted to make sure she took good care of Andrew and Chelsie. We spent the day touring the city,checking out some of Cebu's nicest resorts, walking the narrow streets, and even stopping for a delicious sea-food feast. The restaurant we stopped at didn't look like much from the start, a little shack with baskets of raw seafood, giant coconuts, and 3 Filipino men pointing out our choices for lunch. Calamari? Shrimp? Lapu Lapu? Luz helped us pick out a few things and then we followed her to the back and up a set of stairs to an open balcony. We had rice, calamari, garlic shrimp, and sweet and sour Lapu Lapu(a fish that Andrew thought very similar to pickerel, except red). It was all delicious. The best part is that for 3 of us to eat all that, including a San Miguel beer for Andy,and a coconut for Luz and I, it was only $20.
After a busy day Luz brought us to her house and announced we would be staying with her! The area she lives in is very safe and everyone is so friendly. The houses are all skinny and tall with no room in between them. Every house is a different color and there are banners and flags hanging everywhere. Luz introduced us to her son Dennis and his friend Omar(who have insisted Andrew play basketball with them when we get back to Cebu city). We relaxed with a beer and a coke and chatted with Omar and Dennis for the night.
Before I move on to our trip to Moalboal I have to talk about the food. Filipino's eat. A lot. Our "snack" was a bowl full of pasta, bread, hotdogs, and mangos. Then a few hours later Luz cooked us supper consisting of bbq'd pork on a stick, "hanging" rice, some kind of potato and meat mixture, and left-over pasta from lunch. We fell asleep that night with full bellies.
The next morning(so Tuesday) we had planned to wake up at 5am to drive 3 hours to a town called Moalboal for a few days. Luz ended up waking us at 330!! So we got up to a...breakfast...of hot chocolate and cookies, haha. We passed on the cookies at 4 in the morning. Then we were off to pick up Luz's friend Romi who would be doing the driving. By about 5, with a stop to KFC first (At 430am! Luz parked, told us to stay put, and came back with burgers, popcorn chicken, and frys! All we could do was laugh..silently to ourselves) we picked up Romi and were on our way. Turns out, it only took us 2 hours, so we arrived at 7 am..slightly carsick and craving breakfast. Luz and Romi dropped us off and will pick us up on Friday.
Little side note here.. The driving is absolutely ridiculous! It is a free for all. There are lines on the road, but they might as well not be there. There is a lot of honking and not a lot of signaling. But with that said, no one gets angry! Here, there is no such thing as road rage. Once we got over the fear of crashing into an oncoming vehicle, it is quite entertaining to watch the weaving and crossing. It is a mastered skill really.
Now, Moalboal. After enjoying some fruit and yogurt we ventured around looking for a place to stay. Finally found a good room for 700 pesos a night (about $12) dropped our bags and headed for the ocean.
Today we are renting a motorbike and driving 8km to the nicer part of Moalboal, White Beach. Do some snorkeling, beach-bumming, and just relaaax.
We'll have a beer for ya!