April 2013

April will be memorable for being the month when I used up most of my leaves. A few days was happily spent in Shanghai with high school friends (blog entry to follow). It's been years since we last hang out together and it's amazing to see the three of us still on the same wavelength of craziness. Nothing much has changed, I guess. I'm happy to have gone on the trip with them. I do hope we get to travel again soon.

And then I had a choice on whether to go back to Xiamen for 20 days or to go to Palawan to join the annual excavation at Ille. I just visited Xiamen in December last year and I haven't been to Palawan before so naturally I chose the latter. Had I chosen the first, I would have immersed myself in an educational tour for 20 days--- and it must mean being with kids younger than me. I certainly do NOT want to be the eldest because the responsibility shall fall on me. NO WAY! Besides, I have been building up my Chinese vocabulary with the help of Chinese TV series and songs, so I think it would be a waste of time to be with the young ones and be on the same level as they are in.

Palawan is just paradise. Two and a half days spent in Puerto Princesa, five days in Ille, and one day in Calitang made my summer complete. Never mind the sunburn layers this produced. I was able to visit one of the seven natural wonders of the world--- the Subterranean River Park. The limestone formations are just magnificent. The tour is doubly fun thanks to the funny guide who paddled the boat we were in during the  tour. The trip to Palawan wouldn't be complete without Honda Bay, of which the most memorable is the Pambato Reef. (Too bad I don't have an underwater camera.. huhuhu!)

After two days in Puerto Princesa, I took the bus to El Nido. The six-hour ride was enough for me to sleep. In addition, the bus served as a moving hotel for this miser. My first day in El Nido is spent buying vegetables and other stuffs at the wet market. The second day was the most fun as we climbed the Ille Rockshelter and visited the 14 Waterfalls. It has always been a dream to visit the Ille excavation. I admit though that I doubt if I can survive more than 2 weeks in Ille. It's just so far from the city and the comforts of life are few. (Will write a blog entry about my Ille experience soon... if time permits.)

The camp at night during a full moon. Note the presence of the Philippine flag.

Aside from my travels, April 2013 shall be remembered for being the month when I finally started to watch Game of Thrones, one day after searching for what to watch next after Hataraki Man (review to follow). I instantly fell in love with the GoT and up to now I cannot comprehend why it took me two years to watch this. (Yes, it's been on my bucket list for 2 years...) It won't be complete without reading the book itself from which it is based, so I finally downloaded George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones.

Aaaaand, I finally got to dine at my restaurant: Melo's. Okay I am far too ambitious, it's no restaurant of mine, but it does share my nickname. Had dinner there with my sisters. No doubt the ambiance was nice, the service impeccable, and the food lovely, with the exception perhaps of Fisherman's pasta which has disappointingly very little seafood and which doesn't live up to what I imagined it to be.The porterhouse steak we had was cooked medium-rare as requested by yours truly and the little fat it had melts beautifully in the mouth. To this day, I still dream of that. The buffalo wings are missed a lot, too, which means one thing: they are good. (And my stomach is grumbling as I type...)

Buffet dinner at Seoul Garden is a big disappointment. I hate that the smell of meat pervades the whole place. It feels like being inside the wet market. Bibimbap is a major letdown, being poorly prepared. So far, the only decent buffets I've been to are Buffet 101 and the one in Las Casas de Acuzar.

And Operation Budgetarian still in progress because I still haven't saved even a centavo this 2013.