Saturday, March 5, 2016
I still haven’t eaten any Filipino cooking yet. As I’m a little under the weather I’m going to pick American specialties such as cheese omelettes for now.
I planned to watch tv yesterday after my trip to the mall, then have dinner at the restaurant downstairs. I was going to get a mild chicken plate for dinner, but my body had other ideas. I decided that I might need a nap so I hooked up my CPAP machine, put on my sleep mask (for only the second time), and laid out on my bed, on my back, with arms spread out like I was doing an Iron Cross. I never sleep this way–just felt right.
I woke up 8 hours later in the exact same position!!!!!! I took off the sleep mask as it was now dark, rolled over, and slept for another 6 hours. For a total of 35 hours of sleep in my 74 hours here….I had darn better be rested and over dehydration / jet lag by now. I feel good and am heading down to get my free breakfast omelette. Yay
10:30 AM
I had the free breakfast in the hotel today–A ham and egg omelette, orange juice (didn’t drink because it had ice in it), and some toast (ate 1 piece…jam was great).
SUCCESS: I walked the streets of Cebu…perhaps a hundred yards without getting robbed, beaten, or stared at (well, a little stared at), on my way to the 7/11 just around the corner. Only one little boy chased me asking for money. It was not too hot a day, And yes, water is cheaper at 7/11 instead of the hotel (27P (0.60$) instead of 80P (1.77$) per liter). There is room for me to put 2 Liters of water in the mini-fridge at a time so saving a little money….
NOTE TO SELF: Playing poker and Fallout 4 for 10-15 hours a day, while not exercising or moving. IS NOT going to prepare you for traveling through a full day.
Evening: My new friend drove over after work and we went to SM mall to buy a phone. The experience was pretty interesting and I’m glad that I had a filipina to guide me through the process. There was half of an entire floor dedicated to phone shops. I purchased a small android clone for $60 so now I can call hotels, taxis, and even text people I meet here. We were out about 2 hours, and I only had one dizzy spell and water cleared that up.
Now, my friend who helped me buy a phone. WOW. A teacher, intelligent, gorgeous, good conversationalist. I see why men can instantly fall in love over here. I could easily spend every day over here with her. However, she figures I’m going to use my phone to call all the other girls I’ve made contact with over here as that’s what most men do when they get here. Actually in my case, NO. This trip is about me, going solo to another country on a whim, and seeing and taking photos of places I’ll probably only see once in my life……not getting a relationship.
So, I’m at the crossroads of getting out and about or being a hotel room potato for the rest of my trip. My plans for tomorrow are to get acclimated to the weather and then actually go somewhere sight seeing the next day. My new friend told me that I need a couple more days to get acclimated because the areas I want to visit (Moalboal on Cebu, Bohol Island) are really HOT. My plan is to mall it tomorrow at Ayala Mall. They have air conditioning, restaurants, and a large central open area where I can sit for awhile in the heat.
Not exciting, but travel exhaustion and overcoming it takes time. Thankfully, I think I’m over it.