A couple of little observations before,I start on today:
Everything here is "old school" and "simple" and for the most part it works really well. For example Novie's used a white board posted at registration so they could track who was in what room and when rooms were coming available etc. It was interesting to see as they also included where guests were from and how they had booked their room. Another example is where we currently are and there is just a little desk in the corner of the dining area that is where all the resorts business is taken care of....no office needed. An example of less efficiency caused by the old school methods was at the ferry terminal where tickets were purchased across the street from the terminal in a separate lineup. At that line they wanted you to take a little piece of paper and write down names and ages of travellers as well as destination, ferry time, and whether you wanted aircon seats. You then give that paper to someone who prints off a ticket and takes your money. From there you cross to the terminal where you stand in another line to get your ticket validated and then you have to go through yet one more line where your validated ticket is confirmed and finally you line up to get onto the boat. Definitely a make-work project!
Here we are at the end of day two of doing pretty much nothing at all and it feels darn good! We've just lay by the poolside (in the shade of a pomelo tree) and gotten up only to climb into our massive (and it really is huge) saltwater pool. Today we were the only people who stayed back at the resort so we had the place all to ourselves and it felt like we truly were living the life of the rich and famous.
Actually, we did do one thing today....we learned how to play a local game. It is a game that is popular in many Asian countries and Africa too. I'm not sure of the name of it but it is the game where there are a bunch of "holes" in a piece of wood and two players move rocks from "hole" to "hole" in their bid to win the game. Today Lynda and I played two games and we each had a turn at winning. The really funny part is that neither of us really knows quite what we did to be able to win our game but heh....maybe the strategy light bulb will go off with the next game. :)
Tonight we ventured out to Alona Beach, the touristy area of Pangleo island. Alona is like a metropolis compared to our little resort oasis. As busy as it was we enjoyed our time at Alona as we people watched and had a nice dinner at the Last Horizon resort and restaurant. The meal was good but the entertainment was sooo pleasant. It was a band that consisted of a keyboard player, a drummer, and two singers. All of their music was the good old easy listening stuff....the tunes from the crooners and that big band era. It was perfect! Our ride to and from Alona was a shuttle from our resort so we didn't even have to pay for our transport. Our resort is only about 6 km from Alona but it takes about 15 mins to drive there. Remember often roads are gravel and although there are no posted speeds....it seems like the average is maybe 15-20 km/hr at most.
One of the things we saw en route to Alona was an old church that was devastated by the earthquake a couple of years ago. In fact Bohol was right at the centre of that 7.2 earthquake (that had more than 3000 aftershocks) and then it further suffered from an even more devastating typhoon just a few weeks later. The resilience of the people here is phenomenal!
Oh ya....and last night I held bar tending class. Yep, felt like déjà vu and it was fun. Bartender here is husband to Wynne (hostess who met us at arrival) and he is son of the family who owns this resort (resort staff are pretty much all family). Anyway...bartender is self taught and lacking in confidence so it was fun to answer his questions and to give home a few little hints that I can already see are being incorporated. It was reminiscent of the first time I went to Troncones (Mexico). They are still using the procedures I suggested to enhance efficiency for the bar staff at Roberto's (a restaurant there). Guess that bartending I did all those years is coming in handy as I leave little tidbits of that learning in my wake.
Tomorrow is our tour day and so we've pre-ordered breakfast and our driver will be here to pick us up in our private (air conditioned) van at 9:00 a.m. The cost of our full day tour is 2500 pesos plus we'll have to pay our own entrance fees into any of the attractions we want to visit. Each of them is only 100-300 pesos so all in all the whole day will be less than $100 for the both of us to be able to see and do everything there is to see and do on Bohol! Lucky us! :)
Before I sign off I must tell you about every time Lynda and I come back into our room. I like to keep the air con on so there is that immediate respite when I open the door. Lynda on the other hand has to don her parka and scarf to go to bed! It really is hilarious and I truly appreciate that she is such a great sport....putting her winter clothes on to go to bed and all. :)
Lynda just relayed something I need to share with you too.....she said I look pretty funny right now. I'm wearing my p.j.'s that say "so tired" on the front of them and I'm sitting on my bed with the keyboard on my lap and my iPad propped up against my pillow to my left so I'm looking over my shoulder. She says she should take a photo cuz it looks so crazy but I won't let her so you'll just have to let your imagination do the picture for you. :). I now have a crick in my neck and the only reason this keyboard is staying on my lap is because it is stuck to the sweat on my legs...yes....Lynda is wearing a parka and I'm still sweating! We are on the equator after all people....sweating here makes a lot of sense!!! :)
Till next time,
L & L
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