Goddess, I Am.

* Flood in Cebu.

* Flood in Australia.

* Flood in Brazil.

* Construction accident in Manila.

* Bomb in Manila.

* Bomb in Moscow.

* Bomb in Baghdad.

No doubt it’s been a rough January.

Photo Credit: manchai

Hang in there, folks! The month’s almost over.

When I was a kid, I wanted a pony. I begged, pleaded, and cajoled, but I never did get a pony. Instead, throughout my life, I got a hell of a lot of dogs, a few cats, a few freshwater fishes (one of ‘em was a piranha named Pete), a couple of sailfin lizards, 3 runaway Philippine hanging parrots (locally known as the kulasisi), and – believe it or not – a squirrel.

I haven’t had a pet in ages, and I do miss having one every so often. It’s just that right now, the house isn’t very pet-friendly with all The Husband’s electronics lying around, and I’m simply too busy to take any real responsibility for one.

But say, hypothetically, we do get a pet someday, I would want one of these:

1. A giraffe. I cannot explain it, but I am fascinated by giraffes. The first time I ever saw a real one in Bangkok’s Dusit Zoo, I burst into hysterical tears. I kid you not.

I know it’ll be a chore to get one in one of those Duramax Storage Sheds, but perhaps I can get away with having one in the (future) backyard? I’m not sure, however, exactly how the neighbors will take to it, truth be told.

2. A capybara. I’m thinking I could probably get away with one easily. I mean, a Labrador-sized rodent should be easy enough to hide, right?

I know I could give them an excellent home; there are no anacondas in the Philippines, after all!

3. An alpaca. Seriously, how cute are alpacas? And they’re pretty handy, too. Apparently, good alpaca fleece can be a real money-maker, so in theory, you have a pet that pays for itself.

I read that there are more alpacas bred in Australia now than in South America. So there really is no reason why they can’t be raised in the Philippines. Or so I told The Husband. Who did not look entirely convinced, by the way.

So right now, it’s looking like we’ll probably end up with a cat, or a teeny bichon fraise, and probably a few fishes. Eventually, maybe.

Picking up from where I left off . . .

Day Three

The night before, we made arrangements for a van to take us back to Legazpi City where we had to catch the 14:40 flight back to Cebu, and since we didn’t have to leave until about 11AM, we decided to sleep in. The Husband woke me up with a shower of birthday kisses and greetings – definitely one of my favorite ways to wake up. We were hoping to wake up early enough to get breakfast, but unfortunately, we got up later than expected. We were sharing the van with 3 others, so we really couldn’t dilly-dally.

Our companions – Fiona and Jade (a couple from Australia) and Rod (also from Australia, I believe) – were quite the fun bunch. We’ve seen them around the resort the whole time we were there, but we never spoke to each other until then. We exchanged stories about our Donsol experiences, and as it turned out, they went out for another morning of butanding interaction just that morning. Now why didn’t we think of that? The Husband and I were pretty bummed about that, especially when they told us they saw nine – nine! - sharks that fine, clear morning. Oh, well. I’d be sourgraping a bit when I say that I needed the extra sleep anyway, but I’ll let the puffy eyes that not even the best under eye cream can sort out speak for themselves.

But I digress. Like us, they haven’t seen Mt. Mayon yet, so I asked the driver to stop someplace where we could get a decent view of the mountain. He stopped somewhere on the highway, but unfortunately, half of the mountain was still behind a thick cloud. But at least we managed to see most of the base this time.

Since we still had nearly two hours to kill before our flight, The Husband and I asked the van driver to drop us off at McDonald’s so we can get some food. After all, one should not be starving on one’s 28th birthday. He dropped us off at a mall in the middle of Legazpi City, and he told us we could easily take a tricycle back to the airport. After 2 days of eating mediocre food in Donsol, I was craving for Chicken McNuggets big time (weird, I know), so that’s exactly what I had.

We walked around the mall for a little bit afterwards. It was like a slightly smaller SM, and it had a Metro Gaisano. The Husband left me outside National Bookstore while he bought me a birthday card. My birthday presents were waiting for me at home, but he just had to get me a card, too, because he can be romantic like that. While waiting, I asked the security guard how much a tricycle ride to the airport would cost us, and he said it was about P50. I automatically assumed that it was P50 per person. When I asked the tricycle driver, however, he told me it was P50 for the whole ride. Wo-ow. He had every opportunity to overcharge us, but he didn’t. Yes, there are still some honest people in the Philippines.

We saw a bit of Legazpi City on the way back, and it was such a lovely place that I couldn’t help but wish we were staying longer. Methinks we’ll be staying in Legazpi longer the next time, and maybe even go on a trek to Mayon. It reminded me a lot of Cebu City when I was younger, back when it was nicer, cleaner, and less crowded.

We made it to the airport in record time. Checking in was a breeze, too, and I loved the no-nonsense staff. Why, they even let me in with my bottled water! Practically all the airports I’ve been in always made a fuss about that, so that was a tad shocking.

We had to wait a while for our flight, but we didn’t really mind because we were sitting in what is officially the most scenic airport in the country. We were literally facing the Mayon Volcano, which was only about 12 kilometers away. While waiting, The Husband sort of kept watch near the windows, waiting for the clouds to clear up enough to get a good photograph of the mountain.

Luckily, it did at some point, and we were able to get some good photos. Why, we even saw the smoke pouring out of the crater! That was really, really cool.

Before we knew it, we had to board our plane back to Cebu, and it was officially the end of what is – without a doubt – one of our best holidays ever! We’re already planning our next trip back. ☺

Here’s a rundown of how much the entire trip cost (for two people):

Rountrip flights (Cebu-Legazpi-Cebu) via Cebu Pacific – P2,821.21 (seat sale, baby!)

2 nights at Amor Farm Beach Resort – P3,600 (P1,800 per night for a standard air-conditioned room with hot and cold shower)

Private Van to and from Donsol – P1,200 (P300 each on a van shared by 5 people, one way; it’s about P60 per person on a passenger van)

Registration fee for butanding interaction – P400 (P100 for Filipino, P300 for foreign nationals)

Butanding Interaction – P1,167 (P3,500 divided by 6 people)

Firefly River Cruise – P500 (P1,250 divided by 5 people)

Meals – about P2,000 (for the whole trip)

Tricycle ride to airport from a mall in Legazpi City – P50

Airport Terminal Fees – P460 (P200 per person in Mactan Cebu International Airport; P30 per person in Legazpi City Airport)

Souvenirs – P300

The total? A little less than P12,500, or nearly US$280. Not a bad price to pay for an awesome life experience, eh?

More photos of the trip can be found on Flickr.

We’ve made some rather serious decisions over the past few days about the life that we’re going live together. Sure, living in the Philippines is easy, but truth be told, it’s almost impossible to make serious money around here. The same goes for the rest of Southeast Asia. So we’ve finally realized (or more accurately, agreed) that if we’re going to have a little nest egg to retire on in 20 years or so, we need to live in the West.

The easiest way would be to get married, of course. Then he can go back to the UK and find work, while I get the proper visas. With any luck, I’ll be in London in 6 months or less. But nothing ever sounds that easy (as if it would be easy to be away from him for months). For one thing, the world economy is in a bad state, so heaven only knows what sort of difficulties a returning British citizen might encounter back home. For another, The Fiance is completely averse to moving back to the UK anyway because Eastern Europeans who work for peanuts are taking the good jobs and all the benefits. We figured the UK would be a last resort.

Instead, we decided not to rely on just one place and weigh our options literally everywhere. Our best chance would be anywhere in the EU, and we’re leaning heavily towards the Netherlands (where my best friend, Kaye is). We also want to look into Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and maybe even the US (though I’m very skeptical about America, to be honest).

So it looks like we’re going to be busy, busy, busy within the next few weeks with assessments and point systems and what-have-yous. We’re also going to start working on the paperwork needed to get married (who knew there would be so many?!?!) so we can do it sometime in March. There’s a lot of uncertainty in the future, but I feel really good knowing that we’re doing something about it.

Wherever we go, I’m going to have to convince The Fiance to part with his gear for a while. It would be much too costly to ship everything out again – a hell of a lot more than the small fortune that we already paid to ship from Bangkok to Cebu. Maybe we can sell them all and just buy new stuff later when we’re more settled, or put everything in self storage – I don’t know yet.

One thing’s for certain: if we’re going to move, we have to be willing to leave a lot of things behind.