The world is so global

Ok yes, Boracay has a Starbucks, which is really sad...though kinda cool since it is from Seattle I guess, but we actually topped that Seattle connection. As we got on the glass bottom boat the other day, they were playing songs from a radio show. Noel and I were kinda singing along, 'Weak in the Knees' by SWV, and then it got to the DJ in between songs which sounded really familiar, and then there it was the show promo song "share some love songs with Delilah"!!! OMG!!! Itwas a syndicated show FROM SEATTLE!, on a little boat of the shore in the South Pacific with all the passengers speaking Tagalog or Chinese, and all I heard was Delilah talking to us from Seattle. Hilarious! Bizarre! This world is getting smaller and smaller, so global, with technology and cultures sharing and mixing.

Watching the OSCARS was another example. We watched it live in the Philippines (7am Red Carpet and 9:30am the show) and simultaneiously facebooking with friends

commenting on the dresses and such on the other side of the world (which was the night before for them). How friggen cool yet bizarre. I had continual discussion via satellite with Juliana

in Puerto Vallarta, Heidi in Seattle and Richie in LA. WOW.

As for the Academy Awards themselves, Noel and I loved Anne Hathaway as host, but not James Franco as co-host; There were some amazing dresses; We loved the opening monologue using the Inception elevator for Anne and James to zip through different nominated m

ovies; We were ecstatic that 'The King's Speech' and Colin both won; and the best part is even though we were in paradise it was raining so we didn't feel guilty being inside all morning till 1pm.

Anywho, lets see...a couple of other random notations on the island.

There seems to be a trend with the many Japanese here...last night we counted up to 10 couples who were dresses like twins. Straight couples wearing the same hoodies, knit shorts and even matching bad Bo Derek '10' beaded hair. And the man would always be the one carrying the woman's over-the-shoulder handbag. Totally funny, and incredibly stupid. We so have enjoyed spotting them. It's become kind of a 'slug bug' when we see another couple, and Noel is far more bruised than I. Can't wait to see what we see tonight on our last night on Boracay.

Another observation is that the beach merchants somewhat like the ones in Vallarta, are are passive and not agreesive except the boat cruise guys. But the we

irdest thing is unlike Vallarta where all the beach vendors would be wear Corona tees and sandals, the vendors here all have tees that say 'Keep Boracay Clean', 'Please don't litter', 'Thank you for not smoking' and such. So funny.

Yesterday afternoon after the warm rain had stopped, we met up with Gordon, Chip and Chips siblings and cousins. We all walked into town and after all having 3 rum drinks at a bar that looked like the bow of a ship with mermaids and all, we all staggered off to take siestas. Some people rose again at 8 and 9pm and some people did not. We've been forcing ourselves to get up after naps and stay up till midnight since we are both finding it hard not to go to bed at 7pm and get up at 3am. So Noel and I had some coffee and spaghetti at 9pm and rallied and met Chip and fam. We has some Red Horse beers and did a little dance at Epic and got home at midnight to watch a little Jersey Shores (always good for a little drunk watching).

This morning (Tuesday March 1st) Noel and I had a reoccuring breakfast buffet at the hotel with the garlic rice, scrambled eggs, pork tocino (like Judy Fu's candy chicken), and pineapple everything...and waited for a little tropical rain to pass. It is now 11:30am and the sun is SOOO out! Off to the beach...

We found Nemo!

We went on a glass boat snorkling cruise...and it was awesome! The day was cloudy this Sunday, and then starting to rain, a very warm rain. We thought we may as well snorkle since we'll be wet anyways. So we jumped a boat with 15 others and went around the other side of Boracay. The glass bottom was cool. Once we anchored Noel and I were the first in the water. We saw probably 20 different types of colorful fish in the clear blue water amongst the coral. And then...We found Nemo! A couple adorable Filipino Clown Fish.

We then got back from the boat and it was raining pretty hard, but we were already wet so we continued to walk around the White Beach boardwalk/village in the warm rain. It was kinda romantic. Then we ended up (cover your eyes) at the island's Starbucks. Yes, there's a Starbucks here, I heard there's one on the moon too. We only wanted a Boracay mug since sadly we collect them and just in the last two years have acquired the following mugs: Toronto, Vancouver, Puerto Vallarta, Guadalajara, London, Paris and Portland.

Now we are on our way to dinner at a Mongolian Grill (authentic since China is literally a puddle jumper away)...

...Going to bed now after a nice long walk on the beach under the stars and a pina colada nightcap serenaded by reggae. Getting up at 7am to watch the OSCARS live!

Please turn over 'Sir'

I've never been called 'sir' so much in my life. Normally I'd feel old but in Fliplandia it's a sign of respect and politeness. Every server, every door person (and there's one on every door), and every massage therapist (yes we're on our 3rd session)..."Please turn over sir". The women workers in Manila and Boracay are all so petite, beautiful and soft spoken, but their hands...DEAR GOD! The grip and poke and squeeze of a big man!

Let's see other DEEP THOUGHS BY JACK HANDY (or Pinoy observations by Scooter Handy):

CHINA: The island of Boracay has been taken over by Chinese nationals. Watch out Seattle, we could be next. There has seriously been an invasion in the last 24 hours of Cantonese speaking packs of 30 plowing through the beaches and shops. Their tour guides are translating everything from restaurant menus, to what a 'I heart Boracay' t-shirt means. It's like those annoying tour groups in a museum that block a painting you want to see, but you're in a swimming suit instead just trying to get passed.

US POP: The Pinoy love Rihanna and Gaga and most anything from the states to Taylor Swift (who was just in Manila last week) to Kayne. But they REALLY love Rihanna...she's in the malls, the restaurants, the beaches and the bars. Hmmm.

CHEAP: I want to live in a world where the taxis are 100 PH pesos across town ($2 US), and the vodka drinks are 120 PH pesos ($3 US), and the liter bottled water is 35 PH pesos (70 cents US). Our huge plate of sizing huge prawns on the touristy beach last night were 500 PH pesos... Where in Seattle can you get something in as close for $8 US?

BILINGUAL: I decided that the way the Philippines are set up with signage/marketing/tv all in English but the spoken language most all Tagalog that the Pinoy aren't necessarily bilingual like I thought but instead they just speak and learn and know both in tandem to communicate. So its kind of all one language, they just know to switch only to English when they need to (like when they see me).

XOXO from Sir Scooter.

Kitesurfing in the South Pacific

What a day. I am actually writing this drunk and 2am (just to preface). Long story short we started our day with breakfast in our hotel. We then walked over the island from west to east to get to the other side, Bulabog Beach. After walking passed the tourist area we then walked into the traditional Filipino village where to the workers and others reside.

Bulabog Beach was super deep and windy. We watched the kitesurfers and windsurfers zip around the amazing blue waters. So fun. Especially when they got air. It was a cool sight with Pinoy, Dutch, Aussies, Kiwi, German and American's filling the bay with what had to be 30-40 kitesurfers. Very global feeling. Evidently this is where the International windsurfing finals have been held since 1988 too. Hmmm.

We then walked back to White Beach and had a great lunch and laid out till 4pm. Yes, I do have quite a healthy red glow about me now (stop laughing), and yes my lips are all f*cked up again (stop laughing Sharon). I also haven't got very far on my book 'The Devil in White City' since I seem to fall asleep everytime in the sun, and/or am distracted with all the goings on.

After having a dipped in our pool, Noel then ordered up a room massage. OMG these two little Flip girls showed up in their little uniforms with tight red pants and logo'd white shirts. Very soft spoken the both said 'sir, please take off all and lay down on the bed' (we have two very hard queen beds in our room, which was perfect for more crazy Swedish and Shiatsu). She laid a sarong across my ass, and then next thing I know is literally kneeling on my lower back/butt and jabbing under my shoulder blades with her pointing sharp albows....AYE YA!

We finally, after freshening up, went out and ate dinner on the beach. We had these huge prawns (with their heads included in the sauce) and grilled pork belly...YUM! Noel was in heaven. Then we moved down the path to our favorite singers and stayed on the beach. This trio was so good, singing things like Jason Mraz, Neil Diamond and Creed but in a Reggae beat and style. It was awesome in a dark candle lit atmosphere on bamboo low sofas and tables intermidst the palm trees on the sand.

And then we cockatailed down the beach. And ended up at a disco of sorts called EPIC. There are no gay bars here but Epic pretty much turns into one after 11pm. Picture 30 gays, 15 Euros/Aussies/Kiwi, and 15 very confused Chinese.

Bali High, my special island...BORACAY!

We zipped to the airport early in the morning from Makati in Manila, and flew off on Cebu Pacific Air to Caticlan in central Philippines. From there we took a water taxi to the little island of Boracay.

What a cool, beautiful, strange, exciting island in the South Pacific! Our hotel Le Soliel de Boracay is awesome and right on the beach. Our room is right off the pool with big wall fountains...good times. We walked down the beach and found a cute Mexican/Filipino/Fruit shake restaurant, and after a couple San Miguels sitting on the sand we knew we had arrived!

Then...

SWEDISH MASSAGE + CHINESE ZEN ROOM + COUPLES SESSION + BIG STRONG FILIPINO WOMEN + POST-BEACH SUN = HEAVEN!!!

After our amazing 1-hour body treatment we then walked up the center of the narrow island, where the Flip workers were and had an eyeopening experience.

Later we walked the island's strip and and had a fun night of dinnering, people watching and a little dancing on the sand!

It's Cory Aquino Day!

Well our second full day in Manila was awesome. Noel was feeling much better which is great...so downstairs we went again for the amazing buffet breakfast.

We then met Magic, Noel's sis, at the Ayala Museum. A lovely little museum where I learned about 1000 years of Philippines history from the tribal people panning gold and making beautiful jewelry, to the Spanish colonization, and all the way up to modern political history with Cory Aquino's rise in 1986. This week they are celebrating 'The Lady in the Sunshine Yellow' and Ms.Aquino's life...it is also the 25th Anniversary of the the modern revolution and kicking out the Marco's reign, so tomorrow (Friday 2/25 is a national holiday).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cory_Aquino

The three of us then went across town to see a 400 year old church, The church of Guadalupe in Bernadino. It was really beautiful though in a seedy neighborhood so my first introduction to be scarey and hiding my wallet and camera. While we were on the church grounds we realized they were filming a movie in and out of the church. There was a famous Flip actress in a beautiful red touled wedding dress though I didn't know who she was.

Tonight we went up to Quezon City and had a lovely wedding reception with Noel's immediate family and all his cousins and such. It was a great feast of yummy Flip food, and lots of laughs meeting everyone. Everyone were real nice. If you know Noel's laugh, I found out where he got it...you should have seen and heard the whole family...hilarious! It made me very happy.

Tomorrow we are getting up at 5am to get to the airport by 6:30...for our flight to the island of Boracay. More to come...

Philippines or bust!

We made it to the Philippines after 13 hour flight to Seoul, Korea and then a 3 hour flight to Manila. How bizarre to go over the International Dateline and lose a day...making it 16 hours in the future from Seattle.

(I'll attempt to retro-blog about our last week of wedding festivities later, from the Wedding Pub crawl 2/12 to my Bachelor Party on 2/16, to the Wedding Mixer on 2/18, the Wedding itself on 2/19 and the Outta-towner brunch on 2/19)

Anywho...So Noel's sister Magic and brother Jun picked us up at the Ninoy Acquino International Airport at 11pm and by the time we got across town and checked in to our Mandrin Oriental Hotel it was passed midnight (which is 8am in Seattle). We were starved so got room service at 1am and watched Oprah of all things. They rolled in a fancy cart with china, silver and crystal...and we had pancit, beefsteak and Processeco. Noel has a huge arrangement of flowers waiting in our room when we arrived; beautiful lilies, roses, orchids, gerber daisies, and my favorite mini-kermit pom poms (which we also had in our wedding and on our cake).

We got up 10am and got down to the lobby restaurant in time to catch the last of the buffet from heaven: American breakfast, Omelette bar, French boulangerie/patisserie, Chinese dim sum, and crazy good Filipino food.

Off to shopping we went. I immersed myself into the 88F degree warm lightly humid weather which felt so nice. We walked down Makati Avenue to Paseo de Roxas all the way to Greenbelt, which is like Bellevue Square and Cosa Mesa malls combined. It was massive and had every store and designer imaginable from Louis Vuitton and Tory Burch, to Bally and Dolce&Gabbana, from Puma to Juicy Couture...and even random northwest places like The Northface, Columbia, and Seattle's Best Coffee. What??? Okay, so I know this is the only time I will see such a thing on my trip and it is not how 95% of the 88 million Filipinos live, but it was a lovely transition.

We then went home and had to cancel our Spa appointment that Noel made because he felt sick. I think the jet lag, and stress from the last week had got to him. He took a 3 hour nap while I read about the Philippines further. We then had a quick dinner at a lovely Chinese restaurant in our hotel. We took a taxi at 9pm to Quezon City where Noel's parents and 3 siblings live. What probably would have taken 20 minutes to do, took almost an hour. There was crazy traffic on the side streets and the freeways. Our beaten up taxi was driving down the shoulder, and in between trucks and cars and bikes, but this is what they do here. Many roads had no lines on them, it was a free for all, which was extra fun with no seatbelts. We then got to a place on the highway where the whole road U-turned the other way...Seriously THE ENTIRE HIGHWAY U-TURNED! What the?

The country is so funny. All the roads and neighborhoods have Spanish names, All the signs and directions and advertisements are in English, but everyone speaks Tagalog to each other. The TV commercials are all American English but all geared to Asians. Just picture everyone of our commercials in the states and switch out everyone for Filipino or Chinese actors. Trippy.

MEET THE FOCKERS - So we got to the Caraig's house, and met Noel's Mom and Dad for the first time. I hope they like me. I think they do. Noel was so cute, like Santa Claus he divied out all the loot he brought from the US for them: running shoes and watches for his two brothers and sister, Raisins and Splenda and lotions for his Mom, Iron Man toys for his nephews, Bratz for his neices, and even a Dept.56 House for his Dad.

Back to our hotel at midnight again, and I'm pooped. It's now 1am (which means you Seattlites are just getting to work at 9am)...have a great Wednesday work day...I'm already in Thursday!!! Good night (or is that good morning?)