Unknown Azimuth

So, today, I'm looking for an apartment again. I planned on checking Mabolo so I walked from my box apartment and rode the first jeep I saw - which is going to Lahug. I am probably really hungry. I alighted the jeep in front of Tonyo's - a drinking place I've been to on my first week here. They serve good sisig but they were full of Saturday-morning-beer-drinkers so I walked a few more steps into the compound and saw Bucket Shrimps/Rasta Piggy Bbq. Only a few tables were occupied and the open space felt like a good start to breakfast. 4 vehicles were parked inside for display. Patrons usually order shrimp here but I decided to get the ribs instead. The wait was quite long. 30 minutes. But it was all worth it. They served the ribs well done with a vinegar with oyster sauce dip. I've never dipped ribs in vinegar before. Today, I learned that ribs and vinegar with oyster sauce works. Definitely coming back for shrimps.

Renting in Cebu City. I was given the address of the temp apartment and it had a village's name on it. I thought I was going to live in a village. Turn's out, this is the slums on the other side of the village. I was given photos of the inside of the house, not the outside. The lady who gets the trash woke me up at 7 in the morning to ask for her fee. Php200 for getting the trash once a week, twice. On the first week, I put it beside the neighbor's trash because this woman did not do her job. Intermittent water supply here. You have no idea what kind of nerve some homeowners who rent their place out have in Cebu City. They price a room with an aircon and little space to walk on for P5300, exclusive of electricity and water, no amenities, no mattress even! Some will claim that they have a studio for Php8000.00 just to realize that it's really a regular sized room with an AC and washroom. They will even go to the extent of trying to convince you that that's w...

It's a nice place to sit.  Food, uhh. Read: 50-peso brewed coffee that tastes like instant coffee. Pasta blah too. I should've tried the cookies.

Manila fastfood feels.

2nd week in Cebu. 2nd week of looking for an apartment. 2nd week of craving for hakaw. I see that it's quite common for homeowners here to take advantage of their location without any investment on their property. Cramped rooms being rented out for Php10,000.00 and rooms in squatter's areas for Php6000.00 because some people want to cash in on the market of yuppies swarming the city. I think it's disgusting. I wish I could find a homeowner with a conscience who I can rent from. Probably might find hakaw sooner... For now, here's a cake from Tablea.

The chocolate was calling me so I went back to Tablea today... I tried the Puto Maya with fresh Mango and Sikwate. I think they call 'puto' what we call 'suman' in Manila. It's sticky rice and the one they have is sweet and soft and served steaming hot. The mango served with it was fresh, ripe and cold - it offered a good contrast. Sikwate is a rich chocolate liquid. I didn't know what to do with it at first coz it was so rich I thought it was a dip. And yes, I dipped the mango and the puto in it and I realized that it's not intended for that purpose so I started drinking it. In addition, I ordered bottled water, buckeye and mini mango cream pie and it cost me P215. Don't leave without trying the Buckeye, it's only P25 and it's chocolate covered peanut butter fudge. I was surprised it was that good.

Today, I woke up at 530am to go to Talisay for a Sunday Morning lechon trip. If one wants to commute to Talisay, it's a 13c-jeep ride to Colonade where you must take the 10F Jeep that will take you to Basak where you'll find 42D jeeps which goes to Talisay. We'd rather not go through all the transfers on a rainy morning so we took a cab and took 20 minutes to get to Talisay for about 200 pesos. Once we were in Talisay, a friend of mine, Jecyl, a local of Talisay, met us and lead us to Larawan Beach where the fun is. Larawan Beach isn't the typical beach you swim in with its gray sand and littered beach but a few locals still swim in it because it's the nearest beach they could get to. To us, the focus is on the Lechon which was then selling at 500 per kilogram. They also have rice, atsara and softdrinks. The meal of 1 kilo of Lechon, 4 rice cups, 3 softdrinks and two servings of atsara was all for P600. Sweet deal for a lechon breakfast. For the tast...

I've been getting back pains for weeks now and today, I was able to get a proper massage from MOA. MOA is located at the second level Gaisano Country Mall and offers different kinds of massages: swedish, chinese and healing. Chinese massage is similar to Thai massage and involves a lot of stretching. The healing massage is a swedish massage using eucalyptus oil. You are welcomed with a calamansi foot wash and acupressure slippers.  I got the 60-minute swedish massage for P350 and 60-minute foot massage for P250.  I'm not so sure how that went because I dozed off. The start of the massage was good though. However, I'm quite uneasy on how long they actually had the massage for because we ended a few minutes before the 2 hours ended and there are periods when I wake up and the therapist is not there.  Still was relaxing though since I slept most of the time. Still a place I will return to. They give you a choice between hot and iced tea. I ended with ...

Today, I went to JY mall to buy hand gloves because I apparently need to do some laundry. I realize that I'm afraid to lose clothes from the laundry shop and my work hours is not very conducive to searching for a laundromat. I decided to buy it from JY mall so I can check out th surroundings as well. I was told there were a few apartments up for rent here. I like the place. It's not posh like Ayala and not as old as Gaisano Country Mall. It's the "in-between," I guess. It's got a few clothes stores; expensive outlet store at the ground floor - I'll probably still shop at sales in Ayala. The grocery ia quite big though. I didnt have time to check on stuff but this should be a good mall to have close to home. On my way out of JY mall, I saw Tablea. I was planning on having a 36-peso breakfast at the office but I couldn't bring myself to leave without trying Tablea -consider the cheapskate that I am. Spent P155 for a spanish sardines meal with eg...

Tonight, I decided to go get Ramen at this Jap place near the office with a sign that says SUSHI BAR at the door.  Of all the places here, this restaurant had quite an intimidating facade with curtains hiding the door as if to ward off outsiders. I braved the intimidation and went right in, credit card shaking with fear. When I got in, three tables were occupied by jap nationals. It was a few minutes past ten and they were getting the last orders as the place closes at 10:30. I was the only Filipino there save for the crew - I could hear my wallet wailing. When I got the menu, my wallet heaved a sigh of relief. Prices were not that bad. Not bad at all. Basic ramen for P250-P350, curry udon or rice meals for around 200-300 pesos and a set meal of noodles, beef, rice and side dishes for P600.  I ordered a hot noodle soup with beef for P330. It had three pieces of beef and thick udon in a savory broth. The soup was amazing. Noodles were good but a tad too many for...

At work now. Price contrast from Manila brought to me by the office cafeteria. In the Manila office, we get served really fatty food for about P80-105. In the Cebu office, I get tuna sisig meal for P36. Wtf. Haha. I hit the jackpot. Savings galore. Possibly will lose weight here too. :)

Before, I thought Ayala and IT park are two names for one location. Haha. I was mistaken. Lost again. I work at the IT park and will be posting more about the place in the future. For now, I'm in Ayala. Having breakfast at McDonald's and lounging around before work starts. I'll need to buy a few clothes for next week coz I didnt bring enough clothes (where are my clothes??) and my weekend will mostly be spent apartment hunting. It's peaceful here in Ayala... Maybe because it's 10 in the morning on a weekday. Mall is pretty polished. I love it here. Real clean :) Plus, everything in the mall is on sale. Woohoo! Got 3 cool shirts from Mango and a jacket from Aeropostale for less than 3k. I got clothes for next week, yey! I'm a happy kid. I'll check out the thrift shops next time :)

I just got to Cebu and will be working here for possibly the next three years. I've lived my whole life in Manila and so in the past couple of days of attempting to roam around the city, I've found myself constantly lost. But that won't faze me. I'm giving myself a few months to master the place and find cool nooks. Today, I checked Life Coffee House and Library. It's a sweet coffee place with a library of children's, non-fiction and a lot of Christian books. It's pretty quiet as it was deserted when I got there. I got myself a P120 coffee shake and burried my face under a Mitch Albom book while I charged my phone. Could've been a lot more comfortable if the airconditioning worked better though - real warm inside - but you probably will forget about the temperature once you get the right book. Life Coffee House and Library is on the second level of Gaisano Country Mall - people call it CMall. So when you hop on a jeep, don'...