Lands of Dried Mangoes and Pomelos

I went to Cebu last Thursday to present my newest baby and our new business proposition to our BMs and the ABM of Visayas. The flight was quite uneventful, I only had a near-mishap when I couldn't recall the directions to our Cebu Area Office. I said to the cabbie, "Kuya, basta po 'yung (Bank name) sa may Osmena Blvd., yng papuntang Colon...pasensiya na po kasi po alam ko naman talaga kung saan yun, yun nga lang kasi hindi ko alam yung papunta ron kasi hindi naman po ako taga rito..." Thank goodness I had a good cabbie. He didn't even charge me the full rate from the airport to any point in Cebu City (which was about P250). He was charging me only about P175, and since I was feeling generous I gave him P200.
Our lunch was great! My favorite viand was pork and bananas with caramelized sauce. I asked Ms. Lanie the name of the viand, and of course I forgot its name as I am writing this now. Add to that the fact that I left Spiff in Manila, and I was two steps away of feeling like a complete ditz on my first day out. I lost too many great photo ops. Nakakainis. The view from the air was absolutely fantastic, I nearly broke the rule about not opening handphones inside an aircraft, since the camera I had was on my phone. Hayop talaga ang 'Pinas. I just can't understand why majority of the Filipinos want to leave this country. I really don't get it.

As my plane was touching down on Mactan, I was enthralled at Cebu's beautiful shoreline. It had underwater marshes that looked like submerged islands that even had canals going through it. Ay nako, basta. Nakakabuwisit.

They took us out on Ayala Center Cebu to go window shopping, and we saw this really cute, miniature scooter that seemed to be made for kids. Ang cute talaga, pramis. Kulay red pa. And then we walked around the mall. Yung shop na Loalde pala sa Cebu nag-originate, and there I was thinking that it was an international brand! Haha, Go Pinoy! Their clothes are cool. I bought a shirt from another store called USA Sports, and I think that it will become one of my favorite shirts. It's white and has a small, simple logo in front. At the back there's a phrase that I know most gals will love, in BIG LETTERS pa: GIRLS KICK BUTT! I'm gonna wear the shirt sa gym for body combat. Hehehe.

Davao was great! My boss and I visited three of our four Davao branches after we ate a sumptuous buffet lunch in...shucks, was it Aling Neneng's? Or simply Neneng's? Ang lakas ko talaga kumain, seryoso. Sa sobrang sarap ng mga pagkain sa probinsiya nakakalimutan ko yung tawag sa pagkain nila saka yung mga kinakainan namin. Ayan, kasi...katakawan! It doesn't show in my body nonetheless. Wehehehehehe.

For dinner in Davao, we went to a place called Suka at Sili (Vinegar and Chili), which turned out to be owned by the sister of Jaypee, my college mate. And, as usual, sa mga matakaw na katulad ko, everything was delicious. I ate kuhol, well, actually it was suso, but everybody's calling it kuhol. It looks like a green worm once you've sucked it out of its shell (and I found out that I was a good sucker. Wahahahahahah *evil grin*) I ate about a dozen of them. Then there was the tuna sisig that was so salty, the bulalo, the kilawin ( which I didn't eat because I don't like the stuff) and...dyaran-dyaraaaaaan...the crispy tuna tail. Oooohhhh, gastronomic delights. The tuna tail is infinitely better-tasting than crispy pata and it's healthier, too. And then there was also called the bulubol, which is essentially fish fat. It's the counterpart of the liempo's fat, and again, it's better for our health as well.

After dinner, my boss and I went back to the hotel lugging three cases of pomelos which Ms. Jean absolutely refused to let us pay for. I kidded her, "Naku, ma'am, baka hindi na ako payagang pumunta ng Davao ng mama ko kapag nalaman niyang di ko to binayaran...sige na, pumunta pa nga po siya sa room ko sa Cebu para lang ibigay yung pambili niyan, sayang naman yung pagod niya pag di niyo tanggapin..." (Yup, my mum went to Cebu as well, but she left a day earlier than I did, so we weren't able to share a room. Whew!) But of course, it was all futile. You gotta love Davao's hospitality =).

Of course, since Jaypee was already based in Davao, he took me out on its finest bars and resto after I finished watching the last episode of Hiram. First we picked up Chard, his friend and then went to BluGre, Starbucks' counterpart in Davao (Cebu has Bo's Coffee Club) where I got to meet two of his female friends, Caca and Lyn. Jaypee introduced me as his girl kabarkada with balls, hahaha, eh sino kayang nagturo/nag-expose sa akin sa lahat ng kabastusan at kabulastugan??? Yep, that's what I got for hanging around Gabs, Jaypee, Jayvee, Jae and Law. But they're really nice, seryoso. They're just...horny most of the time. So what I know about green-mindedness all came from those five guys. Oh, yeah, I can't leave Rosei out, so that makes them six teachers, majority of them, I believe, only taught me theoretical knowledge. Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

We went to Pop's first, and upon entering I noticed a guy who was the spitting image of Marc Nelson. Since Jaypee knew the people the guy was with, he got introduced to him. Me, I just smiled and stared straight ahead (haha, lumabas ang pagka mahiyain ko). After we left, I asked Jayps if the guy was indeed Marc Nelson. He replied, "No the guy's name was Don." Oh, false alarm, then. We went over to Caca, Lyn and Chard's table and I asked Caca, "Hey, the guys back there looks like Marc Nelson." Caca replied, "Dear, I think that's really Marc Nelson..." I turned back to Jaypee and said, "Jayps, ano ka ba, si Marc Nelson kaya yon..." To which Jaypee replied, "Well, akala ko Don yung pangalan niya eh, saka hindi ko naman kilala yun, lalaki yun eh..." Hay nako, typical guy reply. Of course, Jaypee served me two glasses of hard drinks that he conveniently, or rather, intentionally forgot to tell me the contents thereof. Afterwards we went to Liquid at the Apo View, and Jaypee gave me a third glass of who knows what, which I drank with difficulty already. After a few minutes the alcohol was rocking my world and voila, it was time to go to the bathroom for me. Ick. I'm never trusting Jaypee again, hwahahahaha Ü