Breakfast was at 8 this morning. Church was at Mana Hermenia’s today and we needed to leave around 9. Mayette made us breakfast, we got ready for church, and headed out.

There were 13 or 14 people at Mana Hermenia’s for church. We had 3 songs, Edward brought an opening, and a good Sunday School discussion. Brent had the message and I shared a few extra thoughts.

Lunch was served shortly thereafter: pork, fried chicken, pancit, fruit salad, and cake.

After lunch we visited a while, then we younger people started singing. We sang about 20 or 25 songs and took a little break for some refreshments. Then we started again and when we ran out of inspiration from the books, we started singing pdf sheet music off our phones. We kept that up til about 5:30 when Jordan’s and Jordy showed up. Jordy had spent the night at their place. Edward and Sherrylaine and KC went along with us for then for supper.

We had told Jordy last night that he was buying supper so we loaded up the mission car and headed into town. Jordy was pretty sure he would have help paying for supper but wasn’t sure yet, but Brent and I were kind and offered to help him out.

Leyte Park Hotel and Resort was chosen for the supper venue. We had beef, chop say, fish, shrimp, and rice. The food was very good and the atmosphere was a little higher end. By American standards it was still inexpensive though at basically $6 per person,

We ate at the red table at the end of the room. It was dark so we couldnt see much of the resort, but it looked like smaller cabins with the swimming pool in the center.

Plus we obviously had mango shakes, although only one a piece this time. I guess I didn’t mention how Jordy and Brent each consumed 3 mango shakes during a short overnight stay at surf camp. Also Jordy had had a mango drink of some sort from Robinsons before they picked us up!

We decided to celebrate Jordy’s birthday tonight so Ford put one of Jordy’s shirts that had been laundered into a gift bag and took it along for his present. Jordy was a little amazed to pull his own shirt out of his gift!

We made our plans for the morrow and headed towards Robinsons to look at snorkel gear. The plan was to not be back at Ford’s til next Sunday so we packed our stuff and went to bed.

Today wasn’t a day of alot of activity, but these days mean alot to me, just being with friends and not only having fun, but also sharing and discussing Christian life, which really encourages me.

We woke up early at the surf camp. We wanted to try surfing and swimming in the surf. The goal was 6:30AM to have a couple hours to try it out. There were some guys surfing down the beach aways and I walked down to watch them. There is a river mouth and something about how the currents met must have made better waves.

Jordan got us some surfboards lined up and we took them out to try it. Jordy has surfed before so he told us how and we paddled out. It really didn’t work for any of us. The waves were breaking almost on the beach and coming in fast and there was just not much we could do without some experience. We would paddle out to where it looked like the waves were and then they would be breaking some where else, which meant paddling back in. There also was a very strong current pulling down the beach and we ended up way down from where we started. A guy told us when we got in that the wind was coming from the wrong direction too, although that probably didn’t affect us that much!

So we turned the boards in and headed for breakfast at the restaurant. We ordered fish, carabo, eggs, and rice. Jordan had talked a little with another white man there who claimed to have worked for Micheal Cohen, owned a private airline in China, and maybe more. He also told the ladies at the restaurant that we would pay for his breakfast! Which did not happen.

I’ll describe surf camp a little. There are several cabins with two sets of bunk beds like we stayed in, another cabin with 2 or 3 bedrooms, the restaurant, and a number of little pavilions for sitting by the beach. The cabins are a couple hundred yards off the beach and there is a large grassy sandy area leading to the beach. The beach is black sand and drops off quite quickly into the water. It is really beautiful and definitely worth the $10 or whatever a night that it costs.

The next stop was the youth gathering. It was held on Ross and Rhonda Dirks’ patio. Ross’ have a house there and a with a large covered patio which is perfect for deals like this.

There were around 26 or so youth there, from Leyte and Samar. The first item on the agenda was a planned CE program and everyone had a part. I think everyone had to share an experience of some sort, an answer to prayer, listening to the Holy Spirit, sharing the gospel, ect. There were also several special songs including a trio by us visitors. It was a very warm meeting with the sharing of hearts and struggles and encouragements.

Next up was lunch: rice, pork, poppyseed chicken (by Rhonda), pancit, fruit salad, and bars. After eating, the youth leaders had some games planned. The first was a reflex game where the leader would shout Walk! or Stop! and you had to do the opposite. Then they added Run! and Jump!, again doing the opposite, and finally, Clap! and Name! which meant to say your name. Then it was elimination and the last person who could obey those commands, in reverse faultlessly, won.

The next game was a relay where you took a paper plate and a paper fish and tried to move the fish to the other end of the patio only by moving air with the plate. When you go it to the end, you took it back for the nnext person on your team.

Last, was a game Jordy said is called Drop the Bacon at home. Two teams line up across from each other and everyone gets a number, starting at the front of the line. The leader held a rag at one end and called out numbers. When your number is called, you run up and try to get the rag to your base and if you get tagged while carrying the rag, the other team gets a point. So the rag spends most of the time on the ground with people furtively grabbing at it so as not to get tagged while touching it!

The games were fun and involved everyone and the youth all seemed to enjoy it.

After the youth deal, Jordan came and picked us up to go to their house for supper. He had bought some pork and he wanted to grill pork sticks for us. Edward and Sherrylaine and KC went with us, too, for supper. Jordan and Jordy grilled, and the rest of us just visited for an hour or two til Ford and Mayette arrived. Supper was pork sticks, fried chicken, rice, sweet potato greens maybe, a pork adobo, and fruit, papaya, rambotan, and lanzones, Dessert was some thing called mango float; a layered mango desert that I can’t realy descride but it was delicious!

After supper, we sang a little, played spoons and charades, had devotions,and then it was time to head home. Jordan drove us back to Tacloban, all 10 of us in the mission car, and dropped everyone off where they belonged.

All told, it was a very good day. With the encouraging youth meeting and just being with friends old and new made it awesome.

Now bed…

Today was a very laid back sort of day. Our late night (or early morning maybe) gave us the desire to sleep in so breakfast (with fresh mangos again!) was at around 9:30.

Our plans for the day didn’t start til afternoon, so with nothing on the schedule for the morning, we just sat around the table and visited. It was really good to just take it easy and relax and enjoy the day.

Lunch was around 1 and we topped off fried rice and fried chicken with mango homemade ice cream again, which was just as delicious as last night.

Ford’s had some visiting to do in Tigbao and the youth were playing volleyball in the afternoon so we prepared to go there. Ford’s were spending night so Jordan’s offered to take us to the surf camp in Dulag, Sabang Daguitan Surf Camp. We packed up our clothes for a night or so, and left the house.

We caught a jeepney at the corner and rode it downtown to the van terminal. We got our tickets, waited a few minutes, then headed for Dulag.

In Dulag, we switched from van to motorbike and rode that back in to where the youth were playing volleyball. The volleyball court was muddy so they had put down rice hulls. It was soft but still slippery. We played til dark then ate banana-Q. Jordan’s showed up about then with the mission vehicle which is being rented for a few days. When Jordy had finished out the banana-Q, we hit the road for Ford’s stop. After dropping them, Jordan headed us out towards the surf camp.

I believe the camp was built as an investment for the community and is operated by locals, with the profits going back into improving the camp. It was dark when we arrived, so I’ll describe it tomorrow. It cost us $20 for a room with 2 sets of bunk beds and a bathroom.

We ate supper at the restaurant on site: fried calamari, a native chicken in cocoanut milk dish, pancit, rice, and mango shakes which was all wonderful.

We went out to the beach for a little while then headed to the cabins (Jordan and Bev are here too but in their own cabin somewhere else) for showers and bed. The beach closes at 6PM so we are getting up early to try some surfing or boogie boarding in the morning.

Morning found us waking up on Ford’s living room floor while Mayette was starting breakfast. Eggs, pandesol, mangos, and coffee were the menu for today.

Jordan and Bev had spent night at Mana Lilia’s so they could go with us today. They showed up around 8:30 with a borrowed Ford Everest so we could all ride together and not worry about public transportation. The plan was to leave at 8 and we left around 9, per normal for this kind of situation.

Jordan has been driving while are here so he piloted us safely to our first stop at Sohoton Caves and Natural Bridge Park. We paid our entrance fees and got our plans and schedule figured out.

The guide told us a little about how the cave formations are formed and then toured us around the cave. As we went through, the guide pointed out different formations and what they looked like to him: a mother and baby elephant, an eagle, a bouquet of flowers, a baby’s foot, the Great Wall of China, a spot that looked like the Chocolate Hills, the Banaue rice terraces, and some small stalagmites that looked like people mostly representing people of the Nativity, in particular, Joseph and Mary and Jesus. His imagination was vivid but once he explained his ideas you could actually see the object in the rock. It was definitely the most unique cave tour I’ve ever been on! The cave was really neat, maybe not the most beautiful I’ve ever seen, but definitely a worthwhile stop. Oh, there were a few bats in there, too.

One other good story that gets told here: the guide shut the lights off while we were in the cave so we could hear the noises of the cave. Click! The lights go out. Silence. Rrrumble, goes Jordy’s stomach.

After the cave, we loaded onto kayaks, two tourists and a guide on a two man open top kayak, and they paddled us upstream 15 minutes or so to the Natural Bridge.

We estimated the top of the bridge to be 60 feet. Almost all the way to the top on the inside we could see a railing and on the outside there were steps disappearing into the woods. Apparently there used to be a trail up to there with access through a cave or something. It is supposedly unsage now so we didn’t try getting up there but if you could it would be an amazing view. We swam a while, jumped off a rock, and then loaded back onto our kayaks and headed back to the dock at the cave. From there we road the motor boats back to the lodge.

The river is really neat too. The banks are limestone and there are small caves and tunnels and overhanging rocks and ledges. Some places we estimated the walls to be 250′ high.

Back at the lodge, we feasted on fried milkfish (very bony but excellent flavor), fried chicken, vegetables, rice, banana-Q, and Coke.

After lunch we headed up the road a little farther to Balantak Falls. It’s a ten minute hike from the parking lot to the falls and the trail “paved” with rocks. It made a cool walkway, but was a little treacherous after the rain because the rocks got slippery.

Balantak Falls are another beautiful piece of Samar. The waterfall is 50′ or so high and there is a pool at the bottom to swim in, which we did for a while. It is definitely a spot to visit if you’re in the area.

By then it was 4 o’clock and time to head back to Tacloban. Jordan again got us safely home, even in the busy traffic in town. Ford’s had invited a few people over for supper so we needed to get back in good time.

Jordan and Bev and KC were here for supper. Mayette made pork, rice, lumpia, and mango homemade ice cream!

We sat and talked a while then walked to Mana Lilia’s house to play games because she has more room on the floor. We played dutch blitz, spoons, and heart attack then sat and talked til about 12:30! Then bed…

Jovan woke us up at 4:30. We had to be to the corner very early to catch the first bus to Ubay, the port for the ferries to Leyte. Jovan’s folks were up to see us off. We had a little wait at the corner for the bus but it showed up and we got on. We did get a gorgeous sunrise through the palm trees while we waited though!

I can’t report much on the ride because I slept most of the way. From where the bus stopped to the dock took a squeezed tricycle ride, with three white guys, a Filipino, our backpacks, and the driver. At the dock, we purchased our tickets and said goodbye to Jovan. He needed to leave to catch his bus back.

We rode the Leopards ferry, a big Filipino style boat with benches to sit on. We were early for the 9 o’clock departure so sat for a while and relaxed on the boat. A few more people got on, but it wasnt nearly full. Close to the departure time, the crew came through and made us all put on life jackets. A coast guard guy walked through the boat, got off, and everybody removed their life jackets!

The view from the boat was beautiful, too, but I spent some time sleeping there too. The ride was a little over 2 hours.

The boat lands in Hilongos. When we arrived, we needed food so we got adobo at a little restaurant by the road, and got a ride up to a van to Tacloban.

We did pretty well on the van. They never packed it really tight and so we were almost comfortable. It took about 2 1/2 hours to get to Tacloban. The driver was in a hurry and hit 125 kph at one point! The van dropped us at Robinsons and Renford met us there. We grabbed some food at KFC (chicken nuggets and spaghetti) and headed to Ford’s house. Ford and Mayettte live just a couple blocks from where Ford’s house was last time I was here.

We visited a while, then left by pedicab for Sharon’s house for singing. Sharon’s girls, KC and Sherylaine who is married to Edward, Ford’s mom Mana Lilia, Mayette’s mom Mana Hermenia, and Mayette’s sister Jesamine were there for singing and Jordan and Bev showed up in time for refreshments. The house was full and it was an awesome evening of singing, laughing, and visiting.

Back at Ford’s, some I did laundry til late and went to bed.

Jovan woke us up at 5AM, which was about 3 hours too early. We needed to be to the beach where the boats are early and Roger, a brother from the area that drives tricycle from Panglao airport to town for a job, was there to pick us up. All 5 of of piled on and it took about 30 or more minutes to get to the boat. I think that here is where

we boarded our boat, maybe one of these is it?

The first stop of the trip was dolphin watching. We drove for maybe 45 minutes ans didn’t see anything. The waves were rolling between 2 amd 4 feet trough to crest and the driver thought maybe they dolphins weren’t out due to that. But about that soon we saw a few, first just breaking the surface, and then jumping. I would estimate there were 20 or 30 boats in a big cluster where the dolphins showed up.

After the dolphins, we headed to Balicasag Island for snorkeling. There was a rain cloud on the horizon and we beat that in and ordered some breakfast. About then it started raining and we took our time eating til the rain quit.

The snorkelling place is definitely a tourist spot with lots of Chinese again and a few white people, and I think I even heard some American English!

If your not familiar with Philippine boats, ours we rode on was about 30 feet long, 40 inches wide, with bamboo outriggers about 6 feet off each side. There was a bench on each side to sit on, built on the outright supports so through the slats in the wood, was the ocean, about 20 inches down! It was powered by a 15ish horse gas engine, which looked like an old Briggs, and the propeller shaft is direct drive off the engine shaft. Sometimes they have a reducing gearbox but the system is the same. When its on its going forward, and if they need to back up, there are paddles or poles for pushing. The rudder has a bamboo pole attached to it. And they seem to prefer them with no muffler, possibly for a lower idle speed.

This actually look almost identical to when we got there. The big boats from Bohol and Cebu park like this and the little boats that get paddled out for snorkelling go underneath the outriggers. Another guy paddled us out to the reef for snorkelling. We snorkelled about at the pin.

Where you can see the bottom, its shallow, maybe 6 feet deep, but the dark water is deep. Like you can only see darkness below deep. The fish were on the ledge and varied in length from 1 inch to one I saw was probably 2 feet. Also we saw some turtles. They told us to take crackers and if you crumbled them underwater, the small fish would come right up to you to eat. And we saw lots of blue starfish!

The beach is all shells and coral which I thought was pretty cool.

Back on the island, we ate lunch at Yellow Star Eatery. Grilled shrimp, pork, rice, and Coke hit the spot after swimming.

The ride back to the mainland was even rougher than the ride out. The waves had built to 4 to 6 feet and made for an interesting ride.

Roger was waiting for us and took,us back into Tagbilaran to Island City Mall (Hi Uncle Mark!) to Chowking for large halo-halos.

Then we walked to the bus stop, said good-bye to James, and got on our bus to Carmen. I’m typing on the bus and its so rough its hard to type! But we did just go through the man-made forest again and the wind blowing in the window was cool and felt amazing!

Back to the keyboard… Jovan did a little shopping in Carmen when we got back and we took a tricycle to their house. They wanted to make chicken for supper with a couple of their tame flock gone wild that still come back to roost in the tree by the house. The goal was to hit them in the head with a slingshot. Jordy and I both got one although neither of them were head shots.

Marlin, the neighbor man, fishes in the freshwater creek behind the house and Jovan goes quite a bit, too. They also get frogs there. So we went with them and walked across the rice paddy dams in the dark and waded the creek for a little while. The natives were quite adept but the white people had a little trouble, not being used to walking down rivers barefoot. Marlin got a fish and Brent found a giant leech.

We had fried chicken from town and fresh stewed chicken and rice and Coke and Sprite for supper, delicious as usual. We visited around the kitchen for a while then got ready for bed. The plan for the morrow is to go to Tacloban and the Leyte boat leaves Tagbilaran at 9 so we have to get up bright and early.

I got up around 7. The butchering was almost finished and soon Jovan threw some meat on the grill for breakfast. The meat was delicious and I even tried the liver which was fine but maybe not my first choice.

The head and feet had been ordered by someone and needed to be delivered. We were going to go along but it got a little late and Frankie took it instead.

We headed down to Carmen and jumped a bus to the macaque preserve. The monkeys are fairly small, the 28 year old king is only maybe 2 feet tall. There were also some very small ones and most sizes in between. They were well trained to interact with humans. You could buy peanuts at one of the visitor centers and the monkeys definitely put people together with peanuts. You hold your hand out and they come sidling over for a handful of peanuts. They also could store an amazing amount in their cheeks. A monkey with bulging cheeks would still come get more food. Meanwhile, there were others leaping and swinging and it looked like falling thru the trees but I suppose the falling was actually very controlled. I believe you can spend night at the preserve also. The yellow pin is the road back to the monkey preserve.

We got on another very full bus and ride down the road a little ways to the manmade forest, at the blue dot. There is an area that was replanted by a university to mahogany trees, and it was beautiful. It actually reminded me of the woods up north, with the tall straight trees and fairly open under the trees. There were also a number of tourists along the road taking pictures in all sorts of poses.

We waited a few minutes for the bus to Tagbilaran, but it did come. It was also very full. We rode it to town then caught a multicab to Shakeys pizza. I had forgotten how short multicabs are. My head wasnt so far from the ceiling just sitting, without trying to walk in and out. But it’s all part of the experience!

We ate lunch at Shakeys, a delicious pizza joint that is very similar to American pizza. We got a Cheesy Chicken and the Manager’s Choice, both great.

After lunch we ran across to the mall so Brent could get new flips. His ripped out on Sunday.

This was out next stop, the house of Salvador (Bodon) the fisherman we were planning an excursion with. We visited at their house, then went to the house of a brother who had passed away on Saturday. His casket was in the house and we sat around the room on chairs and sang to his widow, who is an expelled sister. They think he died of a heart attack in his sleep. James’s mom and sister were also along, since they were here for the funeral tomorrow. There is a small congregation there, maybe 8 members or so.

Bodon borrowed a larger boat for all of us because his could only haul 5 Filipinos, not a bunch of big Americans. He spent a little while getting it ready and loading his gear while we sat in the hut at the end of the bamboo pier that leads out to the bamboo rafts where the boats dock.

That spot is Bodon’s house.

This is basically where he took us to.

We left the dock almost sunset, and headed out to this area. When we were at the right spot, he let his net out. It is roughly 400 ft by 60ft and the water was around 250ft. The current carried the net out into a gradual curve. The next step was to wait for the fish so some guys laid on the boat, I stood on the back and admired the stars a while, we visited, and waited for about an hour and a half.

Bodon pulled the net in and by watching it looked like hard work even for him, and he does it every day. I think it would be a gill net, the net just hangs in he water and the fish hit it and get stuck. He pulled in only maybe 20 fish, which would be a poor catch unfortunately. When we got back to the house about 9:45, his wife made us fish and rice which were awesome, and another raw fish dish that was ok, but not as good as fried! Brent liked it tho.

After supper we took a tricycle to the Pantawan Guest House for night to be

ready for snorkeling tomorrow. Jovan and James are also here with us.

Cebu Pacific Airlines (slogan: Cheap flights for every Juan!) has a lot of reviews that say they run late. And they were true to form, we were almost an hour late getting into Panglao. Jovan and James, another youth guy from Bohol, were waiting for us with a sign with our names on it at the airport so we found them easily.

Panglao is a brand new airport that has only been in service for a month or two. The building was very nice and seemed like a very serviceable place. There is alot of tourist traffic going to the resorts in Panglao. Alona Beach is maybe a big tourist place.

Back to Manila before our flight. They had a gate with two flights leaving the same gate by bus within minutes, our flight to Panglao and one to Cebu, so all those people were milling around the tiny boarding area, Filipinos and white people alike, trying to figure out which plane to be on and it was chaos. There was a white guy trying ot get the same flight as us and we visited with him for a while. He was from Amsterdam, a psychologist, has been on the road for a few weeks already, and had spent time in New Zealand with his girlfriend who had to go back to work already so he was traveling alone. It was interesting talking with him. There were a number of other couples and younger people backpack traveling, too. They were just about all European or something though because I heard very little English.

We boarded a bus at the airport which took us to Tagbilaran to the bus station there. The bus was very full, to where the lady taking ticket money could hardly get through.

In Tagbilaran, we got on a Toyota Hiace, a van that holds 18 passengers plus the driver, in a space that feels like a Chevy Astro. It’s not quite that bad but you sit 4 across and the seats are so close together that my knees do not fit without pushing hard into the seat in front of me. I got to sit on the stool that made the fourth seat in the back row, so I leaned against the back door and slept most of the way, albeit a little squeezed.

The van took us to Carmen, which is close to where Jovan lives. It had been raining softly and wasn’t letting up so we got on the Jovan’s motor with a sidecar, and headed out. Jovan’s dad, Frankie, was in town and he rode their other motor.

We were welcomed warmly into their house. The family is Min. Frankie Esto and his wife Jubilene, Jovan, Princess, Nicole, and the twins Gilbert and Kenneth. We unloaded our bags, got settled in a little, and they served us a delicious supper of rice, chicken, adobo, and Coke. After supper we sang a few songs, played a few games of Mexican train, and went to bed.

Sunday- We slept in a little bit and got up to breakfast of rice, eggs, and hot dogs. We got ready for church and walked the 5 minutes to church. Not every one was there yet when we arrived so we walked back down the path a little ways to Frankie’s rice field and Jovan explained the rice growing process to us.

Church was a very normal service. There were a few congregations songs before Sunday school, an opening, and the discussion. After that, the children had a couple parts and the youth had a song. Then Jovan translated and I shared a few words. Another song, some discussion about a brother that had passed away, and Jordy had the benediction.

After church, the ladies had brought lunch so they set it up on a couple benches in the front of church. When the meal had been blessed, they sang happy birthday to Brent. Oops, I had forgotten about it even tho we had discussed it a few days earlier.

We went back to the house after lunch and got there just as the rain started. We were locked out so Gilbert and Kenneth pulled the glass out of one of the louver windows and climbed through so they could unlock the door. We played a few rounds of Mexican train, then hailed the neighbor Marlin to cut some coconuts for us. Jovan wanted the young coconut, buko, so we could try it. First he chopped a hole in the top to drink the milk, the cut it in half to get to the meat. Buko is soft, kinda like jelly, and a little bit sweet. We dug it out with spoon cut from the husk. Coconut milk is slightly sweet, clear, and has an almost salty flavor.

Jovan wondered if we wanted to try driving their motor with the sidecar. First Jordy took us for a ride to the high school a few minutes down the road, then Brent, then it was my turn. I have only driven a bike a little bit but was game to try. The side car pulls it to the right and I dropped the wheel off the road a couple times, forgetting how far out it stuck! Then Jovan said we could go down to Carmen and the Chocolate Hills were only a little ways past town. So off we went, with me driving. It all went fine until one bad downshift on a steep hill (also 5 people and the bike was a 100 4 stroke) and I let out the clutch too fast, it pulled the front end up, and we veered onto the grass! I wasnt very concerned, we werent going fast, but the others were a little surprised! I started downshifting more gently and we got all the way to the Chocolate Hills entrance with no more incidences.

We walked up the hill to the viewing area at the top of one of the hills. The Chocolate Hills are beautiful. It is sort of a valley with a lot of round Hills on the flat. Some grow trees and some appear to only grow small greenery, making them look like green domes. They are supposed to be made of coral or shells, and millions of years ago the island of Bohol was pushed from under the sea leaving these hills. It is a big tourist area, with lots a Chinese and white people at the top, even a couple we rode the bus with yesterday from the airport. We stayed for the sunset, unfortunately there were low clouds, but it was still beautiful, with haze in the valley.

Jovan drove back to the house in the dark and we played Mexican train, ate supper, visited a while, and went to bed. Jovan raises a few pigs and they were butchering at 4AM.

I will try to update tomorrow sometime. We have virtually no service at Jovan’s place so I can’t upload a post, or even load a voice message on WhatsApp…

Today started by sleeping in a little. Our original plan had been to go back to Dubai Mall and just wander for the day til it was time to fly out but yesterday the mall had seemed kinda overwhelming and we didn’t feel like lugging backpacks through the hallways. So we slept in, ate breakfast at the hotel again, and finished packing.

I was wanting to find some traditional Arabic coffee cups for souvenirs and last night a man told me to try the Gold Souq. My phone wasn’t working and I didn’t trust myself not to get lost without a map so I did not look go.

Arabic coffee is served in a dallah, the brass pot in the center. The coffee is a light roast and is prepared by boiling it for like 10 minutes with cardamom. It’s a little spicy and bitter but actually finishes quite well. The cups are filled about half full to cool it faster and to keep the host interacting with the guests, although we were rarely served more than one cup, probably because we were never in a formal setting. Maybe I’ll try making it when I get home.

We walked back there this morning hoping for a successful trip, but discovered Friday is some sort of holiday and a good half of all the stores were closed in town. I asked a shopkeeper guy where I could find them and he first took me to a coffee shop so i had to explain I only wanted the cup, not the coffee. “Oh, just the gawa!” Yes, exactly. Now I knew what to call them also! 🙂 I believe he said they sold them at a wholesale store but they were closed today. So no luck. “But,” he said, “Come look at my store!” We went back to his store with him. He sells spices and let us smell lots of them and told us what they were good for and what they were not good for. Some were blends he had mixed and some were boughten. It smelled amazing and I think if you sould buy them locally it would be fun to experiment with them. Then he had his buddy go out and get an incense burner and he put some mint crystals of some sort on the charcoal and let us sniff the smoke. It would be a wonderful cure for sinus congestion, if you needed it. After all that I felt I owed him a sale so I bought some Masala Chai tea he mixed himself.

We walked back to the creek and rode an abra across to try to find the coffee museum. But the Friday closings also affected the coffee museum and we were not able to visit. It would have been very interesting though.

Close to the coffee museum is the Arabian Tea House, a local breakfast and lunch spot. The dining area was outdoors under trees and little canopies and other places they had thin white and blue fabric stretched over the tables for shade. I feel like it was maybe a little higher class people there, lots of the men and women were wearing traditional dress, and just looked classy. We were seated at a little wicker table and ordered black tea with saffron, which is amazing. Maybe a little spicy, it’s not hot like a cinnamon, but definitely delicious. I hadn’t had saffron, so I took my opportunity. The tea house was full of people, probably close to a hundred, and there were like only 2 other tables with white people at them.

The tea house and coffee museum are located in the Al Fahidi district, which I believe is maybe actually where the old city was. There are a few sections of the old city wall still preserved there. The buildings are either old, or at least meant to look old, built with very narrow alleys between them, and are all tan stone and stucco. The walkways are all a sort of small flagstone. The area housed several cafes and art galleries and seemed geared to the upper class or at least tourists.

On a side note, our tour guide yesterday said the men wearing ankle length white kanduras, are natural citizens and very likely have money. I noticed on the street, the poorer men in traditional clothes usually had knee length robes and pants of the same color, which was usually white, blue, brown, or tan.

We still had time to kill so we walked down the creek til we could see the cruise ship docks. There were four there, if I counted correctly but were a long ways from anywhere so maybe they have a good bus system for the passengers who want to tour around, i don’t know.

We ate lunch at the Blue Barjeel and had a table right on the water. I dined on grilled chicken, with yogurt and a green leafy herb on the side. The yogurt was not something I expected to enjoy, but it was really good with the chicken and herb dipped in it.

After lunch, we walked through the touristy market a few times and got accosted a lot of times. I hadn’t really paid much mind before, but those guys know the right words in a number of languages to get tourists to stop. I heard one talking maybe Japanese, I think German, and Spanish. Its like this; “Hello, sir, where you from? You want scarf? Cashmere? Spices? Perfume? What you looking for?” all along the street, one right after the other. If you tell them you’re from the US, “Ah! California? New York? Washington?” or “Barak Obama! You like him?” One man informed us he was from Chicago and Washington and I think he said California, too. Or a man might step up and offer you Rolexes or IPhones.

Then it was time to head to the airport. We boarded the metro one last time and rode to terminal 3, checked in, and rode the glass elevator up past the multi-story waterfall in the lobby.

I’m typing on the plane. We just finished a meal of garlic chili noodles with prawns, a pasta salad of orzo with black beans and sweet corn, a rather tough roll, crackers and cheese, and milk chocolate mousse with cherry compote and a chocolate garnish. It was very good food for airplane food! The WIFI doesnt seem to work though so I’ll have to finish at the airport. Currently, we have 4.5 more hours to manila…

I’m back… After a too short nap on the plane, confusing immigrations, and breakfast at Chowking, we are waiting to leave Manila for Bohol! Our flight this time is on Cebu Pacific.