Some people complain about their hometowns, the traffic, the horrible drivers, the dust and pollution, the noise. I have a number of things that I don't really care for about Dumaguete, but there are some things about this city that just take my breath away. For example, the way the sea becomes a large vibrant swathe of blue under the harsh sun when its an hour or two past midday, how a gentle layer of cool air descends upon the Boulevard right before the sun starts to set, and how the sky turns into various shades of red, orange and purple when it finally does. I love how to lights from the motorcycles, the restaurants, the pedicabs, and the streetlamps that line the shore all come together to turn Rizal Boulevard into a sparkling strip filled with music, conversations, and the relaxed pitter-patter of feet. Last week I found myself hailing a pedicab that would take me to the boulevard after I found out that I didn't have a class for the day. I missed the boulevard, its sounds and its smells. My timing was perfect, since I came across a beautiful rainbow stretched out over the shore. The sun was just about to set, and as it was setting it covered everything in a soft, warm, pink-orangy glow. It is afternoons like these that I will always look for and I know I'll find nowhere but in Dumaguete.
I never thought that I would visit Boracay twice this year. Thanks to PISO fares which JP and a cousin got, I managed to do so. It still hurt my relatively shallow pockets, since going to Boracay, even if you didn't count a hefty plane fare, meant spending money on food, and boy, can you spend on food on this island. What I love most about Boracay is not the powdery white sands or the blue water... it's the fact that all the restaurants are lined up next to each other, and you only have to take a few steps if you want to feast on Italian pizza and another two or three steps if you are craving for fresh seafood. Evenings are the best since all restaurants bring out the tables and chairs and start displaying fresh seafood and the aroma of grilled pork, squid, or chicken star mingling with the sea breeze.

Boracay at night

Jammer's

Deco's
We had breakfast here... nothing remarkable really, your typical eggs and tocino. They're located on Station 2 and just a few steps away from the beach. They say they have the best batchoy in Boracay, but I wasn't able to try it :(

I forgot the name of this place, but it's located right beside the tattoo parlor in Station 2. I know there are a lot of tattoo parlors in Station 2, but this one is near Nigi Nigi, if I remember correctly.

Crazy Crepes
Love. Perfect if you are tired and simply want to sit on one of the wooden beaches at D'Mall and have something cold. A lot of Koreans love the crepes.

Shakey's
I don't know why, but everytime we visit Boracay we end up eating here at least once. And we have Shakey's in Dumaguete. Go figure.

Don Vito Gelato, hazelnut
There's a small stall along Station 2 and they have the most mouthwatering flavors. The chocolate mint is a personal favorite.


The Hobbit House (JP)
This must be the most interesting place I've been to in Boracay. The Hobbit House
has this laid-back feel to it, and the people are really friendly. We came here on our last night in May and tried the drinks.


Cafe Del Sol

Just one of the many lunch buffets...I cant remember where we ate this... again.


D' Talipapa
All the tables were packed when we went for our last dinner on the island so we made a reservation and then bought the seafood from the market. Shopping for seafood is fun. Oysters cost p50 a kilo! I found out after that my personal capacity for oysters is 2 kilos, give or take a few shells :P We gave our purchases to the eatery right next to the market, and they did the cooking. For this dinner we gorged on fresh fish, 2 kilos of oysters, and calamari. It was a good thing it wasn't a buffet since the four of us couldn't finish everything.
There are definitely a lot of places to eat in Boracay, and the list I've compiled is just the tip of the edible iceberg. Andok's and Mang Inasal are really popular, and for quick and cheap eats these two are my favorites. Mang Inasal has P25 sorbetes cups with 7 scoops of ice cream in two flavors (woot!) a real treat especially since the other ice cream places at D'Mall are really expensive.
Eating can really leave a working girl broke, so it is best to pack enough moolah if you are planning on trying as many as the places in Boracay as you can. Other places I would love to try include Cyma and Fridays, but I'll save those for the next trip, hopefully not anytime soon ;)
I'm holed up our room in a dingy inn in Station 2, Boracay as I'm writing this post. The sun is scorching hot outside, so I'm here enjoying the steady hum of the AC, quite ironic when you think that you go to Boracay to enjoy the sun. Oh well.
I came to Boracay in the first week of May, but never got a chance to blog about that trip. The sheer volume of photos made the task quite daunting since I didn't know what photos to include. This time, I'm taking fewer photos although I'm liking how some of them are turning out, considering that I only brought my 50 mm OM Zuiko with me and its practically useless when it comes to action shots. Speaking of photos, here's a nice one taken by my sister using her Samsung Corby 2.

Boracay Sunset
This is our last day, with yesterday spent riding ATVs and touring the other side of the island. We also got to see the entire island from a hilltop observation deck that had a restaurant in the floor below. From there you can see White Beach, the golf courses that surround Shangri-La, and back beach, where there are very few tourists.

The view of the sunset from the observation deck
Our sightseeing was perfectly timed since we caught the sunset while still on the observation deck. We got to see the sun slowly descend as it turned the sky into various shades of orange and red. It was a perfect end to an otherwise tiring day.
Personal {Remembering World War II in a Small Philippine Island}
By joselle - September 17, 2011
Tucked in the foothills of Mount Talinis in Negros Oriental is a small wooden
house that is hidden from the street by tall rambutan trees. This is the mini
World War II museum in Valencia, kept open by
a local who has been collecting World War II relics since he was a
little boy. The house is identifiable to passersby by the small white wooden
sign that bears Japanese characters (which, unfortunately for me, I could not
read).
Visitors who visit this mini museum will be greeted by two large
relics of World War II bombs, more than 5 feet in height, standing guard beside
one wall of the house. Stepping into the first floor of the home, one is immediately
greeted by glass shelves containing everything from old pens to shattered
Japanese bifocals to torn water canisters that World War II soldiers, Japanese
or American, wore on their belts.
The curator is in his mid-40s or 50s and a man of few words,
although he does give helpful answers when asked. He starts the day by wiping
the dust off the displays, polishing the wooden dummy that holds up an old
Japanese uniform, as well as the old brass oil lamps that have probably
provided precious illumination for rebels and civilians in the forest. There is
a small collection of katanas, some complete with their leather sheaths. Only Japanese officers carried katanas, since the
soldiers had to make do with bayonets, the sharp, pointed knives that they
attached to their rifles when closer combat was inevitable. Also in the
collection are two ivory katanas sheaths, covered in the most elaborate carvings
of women in kimonos.
Another interesting discovery would be the collection of
metal water canisters, some with their sides torn off. It is not hard to
imagine a young soldier wearing the canister when a bomb exploded near or under
him, tearing him and the metal canister into pieces. There is a collection of grenades,
lined in a wooden box as if ready for use. In one of the shelves, one can see
empty sachets of soldier’s rations of coffee, toothpaste, and sugar.
The curator and owner is an avid history buff who has been collecting
the items as a child. Today, his collection is so large that it takes up the
entire first floor of his house. There is a donation box near the door, which makes
me think that donations are probably
the only thing that keeps this little museum alive. This is unfortunate, since
the island has also seen its share of significant World War II events. Japanese
soldiers made their way to the mountains here, and people fled to the mountains
for their lives, my grandparents among them.
I can still remember my grandmother talk about how she carried her
sister on her back as they fled from the approaching Japanese, and how they
spent days in the forest, eating nothing but camote.
The relics in this little museum bring that moment to life…
at least a fraction of it. It made me realize that my grandparent’s stories
were real. I forgot to ask the curator if he has made any requests to the local
government for a grant to keep his museum going. It would be a shame if the museum
disappears when he can no longer afford to maintain it.
Note: For now, visitors are what keep the museum. So if you decide to pay a visit, donate anything you can. Another great article about the museum can be read here.
How I Got Paypal to Lift My Limited Access Status in Five Hours
By joselle - September 04, 2011
It is every freelancer's nightmare. Paypal decides to limit access to your account for virtually any reason, as long as they smell something fishy. In other cases, there is absolutely nothing wrong with your account and Paypal decides to limit access just the same. Having this status put on your account can be the death knell that heralds the fall of many a website. For one, a lot of online merchants buy and sell using Paypal. In my case, the company I work for only works with Paypal when it comes to sending out my weekly pay. So imagine my horror when I found the dreaded red banner splayed over my Paypal homepage. At first I didn't know what it meant. Then I scrolled downward and saw the things that you can and cannot do when your account is limited, and my jaw dropped. It was equivalent to having your account frozen-- you can keep receiving money but you cannot withdraw or send. I almost burst into tears then and there, before I realized that I needed to comfort myself in order to look back at this moment and say that I was no crybaby.
So I took a deep breath and started searching for posts on this sort of thing, hoping to find forums where someone successfully lifted the limit. But the more I read, the more I got discouraged. People all over the world were swearing off Paypal after the site limited their accounts. Some even advised grief-stricken online entreps to close off their accounts since it usually takes Paypal 180 days to lift the limitations, especially if withdrawals were involved! The really unlucky ones may even have to accept the fact that they may never get to open their accounts ever again.
MY prospects looked bleak. I didn't know what to do. I contemplated going to the bank and opening a new acount, but that would not do me any good, since Paypal only allows one account per person. I contemplated contacting my editor to tell her that I needed my account frozen so that no money will be sent to Paypal, but I wasnt likely to get any response right away.
I did rermember reading in the forums that you get a better chance of having someone from Paypal look into lifting your limited access status if you call them. This was a problem for me, since I live in the Philppines and long-distance calls can cost you an arm and leg.
My next option was my boyfriend's Skype, since he had free credits and could make overseas calls. When he told me that the credits expired, my heart sank. Again. I was ready to bawl. I was ready to rip my hair out, and that is saying something because lately, I've been taking great care of my hair since they got a severe beating with a recent hair relaxation adventure that we had a few months back.
Then I saw this post. In it the posted details on how you can call Paypal through Skype. For Free! I followed her instructions, and sure enough I got Paypal, but it ws the answering machine. Turns out office hours starts at 6 AM Central Time, and it was thirthy minutes past 5:30 in the morning back in the States. I waited patiently, biting my fingers, crossing and uncrossing them, and generally feeling like I was grasping at straws. Two minutes after 6, I rang Paypa through Skype again. The automated voice, after asking me to say my phone number, connected me to a real person. At last! A real, breathing, live person! A Paypal person! A person who answers phones for PAYPAL! I was never happier to hear from someone who answered the phones, but this was a PERSON!!!! A PAYPAL person! Not a Paypal email address, not a Paypal forum, not a Paypal notification. A PERSON!
Paypal actually had a voice. It was a guy's voice, and he actually sounded very sincere and friendly. I was half-expecting a grumpy voice with an Indian accent, but it wasn't. The guy asked about my Paypal info so he could pull my account off the database, so I provided my email, my phone number, and account number. Then he asked if I could send him a photo of any valid ID, and call back once I'm done. I scrambled to have my PRC ID scanned. Thankfully my brother was there to do the scanning for me. A second call later, I was talking to a woman. She was equally sweet and chirpy, which I attributed to the early hours of the morning... I was guessing the later the day, the more irate customers they talk to, the more irate THEY get. The lady asked me a few questions about my proxy server, and then told me to log in to PAYPAL using a connection from the Philippines. Since Globe was still down at home, I raced over to my cousin's house and connected to their internet there. I changed my PAypal password and security questions, as the lady had ordered, and made the third call.
A third call later, this time I was talking to a young guy. It seems like he already knew what my problem was, and two minutes into the call, he told me that he had already restored full access to my account. (MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR sigh of relief!) I couldn't believe it at first, so I asked him to repeat what he just said, and he did. I thanked him profusely, and not quite believing my lucky stars. And that's how I got Paypal to lift my limited access status. In five hours, no less!!! :D
( this post is in no way an ad for Paypal, haha!)
Why My Account Got Frozen
Although Paypal did not verify why they placed my account on limited access, I think I have an idea. My home internet connection was down (again, thanks to Globe) so I was using Globe tattoo and going online using a proxy. While on this connection I accessed my Paypal and transferred money to my brother's account. I think the transactio triggered Paypal's alarms, hence the red banner.
So I took a deep breath and started searching for posts on this sort of thing, hoping to find forums where someone successfully lifted the limit. But the more I read, the more I got discouraged. People all over the world were swearing off Paypal after the site limited their accounts. Some even advised grief-stricken online entreps to close off their accounts since it usually takes Paypal 180 days to lift the limitations, especially if withdrawals were involved! The really unlucky ones may even have to accept the fact that they may never get to open their accounts ever again.
MY prospects looked bleak. I didn't know what to do. I contemplated going to the bank and opening a new acount, but that would not do me any good, since Paypal only allows one account per person. I contemplated contacting my editor to tell her that I needed my account frozen so that no money will be sent to Paypal, but I wasnt likely to get any response right away.
I did rermember reading in the forums that you get a better chance of having someone from Paypal look into lifting your limited access status if you call them. This was a problem for me, since I live in the Philppines and long-distance calls can cost you an arm and leg.
My next option was my boyfriend's Skype, since he had free credits and could make overseas calls. When he told me that the credits expired, my heart sank. Again. I was ready to bawl. I was ready to rip my hair out, and that is saying something because lately, I've been taking great care of my hair since they got a severe beating with a recent hair relaxation adventure that we had a few months back.
Then I saw this post. In it the posted details on how you can call Paypal through Skype. For Free! I followed her instructions, and sure enough I got Paypal, but it ws the answering machine. Turns out office hours starts at 6 AM Central Time, and it was thirthy minutes past 5:30 in the morning back in the States. I waited patiently, biting my fingers, crossing and uncrossing them, and generally feeling like I was grasping at straws. Two minutes after 6, I rang Paypa through Skype again. The automated voice, after asking me to say my phone number, connected me to a real person. At last! A real, breathing, live person! A Paypal person! A person who answers phones for PAYPAL! I was never happier to hear from someone who answered the phones, but this was a PERSON!!!! A PAYPAL person! Not a Paypal email address, not a Paypal forum, not a Paypal notification. A PERSON!
Paypal actually had a voice. It was a guy's voice, and he actually sounded very sincere and friendly. I was half-expecting a grumpy voice with an Indian accent, but it wasn't. The guy asked about my Paypal info so he could pull my account off the database, so I provided my email, my phone number, and account number. Then he asked if I could send him a photo of any valid ID, and call back once I'm done. I scrambled to have my PRC ID scanned. Thankfully my brother was there to do the scanning for me. A second call later, I was talking to a woman. She was equally sweet and chirpy, which I attributed to the early hours of the morning... I was guessing the later the day, the more irate customers they talk to, the more irate THEY get. The lady asked me a few questions about my proxy server, and then told me to log in to PAYPAL using a connection from the Philippines. Since Globe was still down at home, I raced over to my cousin's house and connected to their internet there. I changed my PAypal password and security questions, as the lady had ordered, and made the third call.
A third call later, this time I was talking to a young guy. It seems like he already knew what my problem was, and two minutes into the call, he told me that he had already restored full access to my account. (MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR sigh of relief!) I couldn't believe it at first, so I asked him to repeat what he just said, and he did. I thanked him profusely, and not quite believing my lucky stars. And that's how I got Paypal to lift my limited access status. In five hours, no less!!! :D
( this post is in no way an ad for Paypal, haha!)
I do not normally post reviews about books or articles I have read, but this time I'll make an exception. It's a Sunday morning, and one of my morning rituals is to browse through my reading list of motivational blogs like ZenHabits and Thinksimplenow. I was browsing through the latter's list of past articles and The Cab Ride I'll Never Forget caught my eye. I remember reading it a few months back, but I couldn't recall the details of the story. So I read it again. A paragraph into the article and fat, large drops of tears were falling down my face. For various reasons, I guess. For the sad reality that there are some people who have nobody in this world, and some of these people are old and frail and could be anybody's grandmother or grandfather. For the sad realization that most of the time I let tiny frustrations ruin my day and I take it out on the people around me, and I end up being unkind and coarse and thoughtless, never realizing that other people are also silently facing their own battles.
(*sigh*) I still get teary-eyed thinking about the story. The story was told by the writer who spent some years as a cabdriver. There's a beautiful realization in this fact as well. To quote the author:
"Twenty years ago, I drove a cab for a living.
(*sigh*) I still get teary-eyed thinking about the story. The story was told by the writer who spent some years as a cabdriver. There's a beautiful realization in this fact as well. To quote the author:
"Twenty years ago, I drove a cab for a living.
It was a cowboy’s life, a life for someone who wanted no boss.
What I didn’t realize was that it was also a ministry."
and as he neared the end of his story he said,
"I didn’t pick up any more passengers that shift. I drove aimlessly, lost in thought. For the rest of that day, I could hardly talk. What if that woman had gotten an angry driver, or one who was impatient to end his shift? What if I had refused to take the run, or had honked once, then driven away?
On a quick review, I don’t think that I have done anything more important in my life.
We’re conditioned to think that our lives revolve around great moments. But great moments often catch us unaware – beautifully wrapped in what others may consider a small one."
I had placed myself in this mindset that you can only be great if you can do great things. And since only a few of use get to do that in our lifetimes, then we somehow must resign ourselves to the fact that our lives may never rise above the mediocre. But this story made me realize that great moments sometimes come cloaked in the guise of small ones, and the smallest deeds of kindness may be great to the one's receiving them.
Happy Sunday everyone :)
The last time I ate at Tandoori was way back in 2007 when the restaurant was still going by Persian Palate. A friend of mine wanted to try the only Persian restaurant in town, and try it we did. I remember having lamb which was grilled and served with a whole tomato. The meat was soft and tasted like it was soaked in milk before it was grilled. I was never too keen on lamb or veal (I'm a pork and chicken person) so the taste was something I had a hard time getting used to. That was the first time that I downed a whole bottle of San Mig Light just to get the taste out of my mouth.
Today the restaurant goes by the name Tandoori, and its a favorite of most expats and foreign visitors who frequent the city. The restaurant changed names, but the decor is still the same, down to the Indian paintings on the walls. We decided to have dinner here because he likes Indian food and I was hoping that they served the traditional Indian sweets that I saw on TV (too bad they didn't). I ordered the Tandoori chicken and JP recommended the samosa, which according to him, is the Indian equivalent of the empanada. He ordered the mutton curry. For something sweet I ordered the strawberry lassi.
Tandoori chicken is chicken which has been soaked in curd and then seasoned with Tandoori masala. This is a traditionally hot Indian dish courtesy of added cayenne and red chili powder. Turns out I couldn't eat the chicken. It came served very hot and spicy, and my first bite almost brought me to tears. Dishes that come with a lot of spices are not my cup of tea, and this particular dish was very hot indeed. One good thing I can say about the chicken though, it was soaked through with flavor. It also came with a side dish of cubed tomatoes and cucumber with their own vinegar dip.
JP's mutton curry agreed to my tastebuds better. We paired it with naan, the traditional Persian flatbread, and it tasted goooood! The mutton was very soft as well, with the flavors of butter and curry predominant with each bite. The strawberry lassi was the perfect compliment to all the spicy flavors.
We also ordered the samosa, which came filled with diced vegetables wrapped in a pastry shell. The entire thing is deep fried to a crisp and served with a mango chutney dip.
All in all, a very satisfying dinner. We finished the lamb curry in a hurry but the chicken tandoori and the samosa left untouched. We decided to bring the two unfinished dishes to the booth area, where the night was going on in full swing. It was August 28 after all, TIPON night and the busiest night of the Founders week.
There is a new coffee shop in town. Located in a portion of what used to be National Bookstore (which moved to Robinson's), Poppy Coffee and Cupcakes is just right across the lawn from my classroom. The coffee shop is airy and spacious with its high ceilings and large windows. I loved the feel of the place the moment I stepped inside. They also have the couch-y type of seating that I prefer over plastic chairs, which really allows you to sit back and enjoy your coffee.


The coffee shop is fairly new so I didn't expect a wide array of choices. For the most part, they have hot coffee, iced coffee and non-coffee blends, a few cupcakes, and sandwiches. I tried the ham sandwich and a hazelnut frappecino for my very first order. The frappecino tasted great, but the sandwich was a little bit on the cold side. I saw that the staff looked a bit frazzled, so I guess everyone was still getting to know where everything goes and how to do stuff. I would expect the service to get better once they have settled in. The cupcakes looked adorable, but I'm not really a cupcake person so I passed.



The coffee shop really struck gold with their location, since it is right by one of the main routes students take to school from various parts of the city center.Personally, I think it's the perfect place for me to get a cup of coffee after work and while waiting for my class. I just hope they start serving pasta soon :)
Although I have never been to Camiguin, I love the Vjandep Pastel that comes from the island. JP brings a box of the yummy treats every time he comes to visit, and we never fail to finish the entire contents of the box in one or two days. The pastels are something you don't find in Dumaguete, and they are only sold in some of the malls in Manila, and often at twice the price of pastels if you buy them from Vjandep branches in Camiguin or Cagayan de Oro. The pastels come in several varieties of filling such as durian, nangka, ube, and monggo, but the most popular is the original custard flavor.
What makes the pastels so delicious is the creamy custard filling inside the soft bun. The custard filling is soft and very much like the homemade yema I like to make when I get my craving for something sweet. At room temperature the custard is soft and sweet, which makes it the perfect compliment to a sugarless cup of hot coffee. You can also pop them inside the microwave for a minute or two so that they come out piping hot.



I'm really wishing that the local Robinson's will start to stock up on these pastels real soon. I
have tried looking for the pale yellow boxes everytime I visit the mall but no luck. It will probably take a visit to Cagayan de Oro or Camiguin before I can buy these pastels myself.
I met this cute little cupcake while killing time with my family at Postrio at the Terraces in Ayala Cebu. The white frosting covered a caramel delight inside... yum! My mom ordered this, although I managed to help myself to a small bite.

I opted for a heavier sandwich, but I forgot its name again. It came with large servings of bacon, tomato and lettuce, and tasted heavenly with generous dollops of mustard...the bread, again, very tasty.
