First trip of 2013!

2013 has just begun, and what better way to start the year than with an out of town trip?

The destination: Matalom, Leyte.

For those of you who haven't even heard of this place, no, I didn't go there on a whim. A friend was celebrating his birthday, and he invited the gang over to his hometown for some food-and-drinkfest.

I could never say no to that! Haha.

I was supposed to go with Xyza and her boyfriend, Dexter, but they bailed on me. Hmph!

Nevertheless, I pushed through. It's not as if I never traveled solo before, and this trip would be relatively easy since I'd gone the same route almost exactly a year before (still for Zarky's birthday).

So I got myself round trip Tourist class tickets on a Roble Shipping boat on Friday, and speedpacked and taxi-ed my way to the pier on Saturday noon for the 1PM trip to Hilongos. I made it just in time for the last shuttle bus from the departure building to the dock! :)

The boat ride took almost 6 hours - though I was told it would just be 5 hours. Meh. No pictures, as the boat kept rocking and I had no Bonamine chewables on me so I was practically strapped to my lower bunk bed. But it was all good as I slept most of the way through, and having come from the night shift, sleep was a welcome relief!

I arrived in Hilongos just as the sun had set, and found my way to the bus headed for Maasin, Southern Leyte. Time check, 6:58 PM. Not bad. It took about 20 minutes before I finally got off at Matalom (the bus stopped once in Bato, and twice after that to let off a couple of passengers). Zarky came to meet me at the bus stop and we made our way to his home where Von was already waiting, having come from Tacloban (where he has recently been transferred to) by car. Surprised to see one other person there, though, who I was not able to identify immediately but later on realized that it was my sister's friend, Jean Lee (full name jud? :P). A surprise, but later proved to be a pleasant one. :)

No Canigao for this trip, as I arrived late in the evening on Saturday, and Sunday was pretty much set for the birthday party/feast. 

Had dinner at the Kiosko. No swimming this time around, the night was pretty damn cold. The food was nothing too memorable, but the scallops were fresh and yummy!

Sick. Aww.. :/

There was a band playing in the middle of the courtyard, and I just had to take a video of this elderly couple dancing to Selena Gomez's "Love you like a love song". Aside from being fun (and cringe-worthy? haha) to watch, anything Selena reminds me of a colleague who is an absolute die-hard fangirl. Lol.

It's really dark, the dancers aren't that visible, yet if you really squint... XD

Went home and finished a bottle of Mojito's on the porch while waiting for midnight.

Apples do not go well with Tequila. NOPE!

Happy birthday, Zarky! Happy birthday, Cisham (who did not drink with us)! --> yes, they're twins :P

After the Mojitos, we walked all around the neighborhood, and ended up at the dock just a hundred meters away from the Milloren home. Found a dog's head (dead, of course) by the stairs leading down to the water (insert Pro-Dog sentiments here!). MY GOD, PEOPLE!!

Tagay og sprite? :)

Yes, I look like I just finished washing the clothes.. :P

Around 3AM, we headed back to the house, washed up, and said good night.

Woke up around 9:21AM on January 6, Sunday, and hurried to bathe and change for church (which was just behind the house haha).

Apparently the only one who got the dress code memo haha

Having the church right behind your house means comfort! :)

Then, it was lunch time! And what a feast we had for lunch!

Happy birthday, twins! ^_^

Friends of the family came for lunch, along with the twins' friends from elementary/high school who came all the way from Maasin to celebrate the special day with them.

This kid tried to open the junk food - from the middle of the pack. Palahubog style! O_O

It was fun catching up with Amelia and Junjun, especially, both of whom I had known on separate occasions via Zarky when they were in Cebu a couple of years back.

Miss Maasin! :D

Junjun's photo technique: how to look slim in an upper body shot :)

Amelia's photo tip: how to appear slim in a headshot :)

The entire afternoon was just spent eating, resting, and drinking.

Before eating..

After eating :P

 Never knew San Mig tasted so good - even without ice haha.

Waiting for the videoke, which never arrived lol

Von and his endless supply of coke haha

And yes, we did sit down again for dinner. :P

Around 9PM, we piled into Von's car and headed to Hilongos. Jean and Lady (Zarky's younger sister) were going back to Cebu first for work and class, respectively, and their boat trip was scheduled for 10PM.

Twin wallet thingies lol

Feeling mularga! :))

Rite Med. Rite.. Meat? :P

After making sure they were both safely on board, we bid adieu and headed back to Matalom, where we started on another bottle of Mojitos. Von brought out his Monopoly Deal cards, and, after searching for instructions online and deciding that we knew enough to play the game, we started playing.

Figuring out how this game worked.. Hmm..

Drunken goodnight message from Cebu XP - yes, fine, we missed you, too! :P

 It got very competitive on the second game! Hahaha!

After 10 rounds (with Zarky being declared the winner with 4 wins - in a streak just after midnight! :O - and me and Von having 3 wins each), the Mojitos bottle was empty (and the other guests and family members drinking nearby had long gone home or out) and we headed inside to eat.

Yes, more oily food at 1AM. Unhealthy diet FTW! Ha! :P

Sleep was more than welcome at this point.

Had a bit of a scare at around 3:30AM, though. My right leg had a sudden episode of cramps. It was very painful that for a moment, I forgot where I was and woke up yelling "Mama!" at least 3 times. It was amazing how none of the other people in the house, least of all the two friends who were with me in the room, didn't wake up because of my shouting :P. It was a good thing that my swimming training way back in high school taught me on dealing with such episodes, and a minute later, the cramp had gone. Whew!

Still, I didn't get such a sound sleep after that, and kept waking up until finally getting out of bed at around 8:30AM. It was our last morning in Matalom. Aww.

Bathed, got dressed, ate breakfast, and finished packing our stuff. Said our goodbyes (Von was heading to Maasin and then to Ormoc for work), and then took a trike to Hilongos (made a quick stop to say goodbye to Zarky's mom at school, and another stop in Bato to get the pre-ordered Moron which wasn't available anymore when we got there because they apparently sold it to some other person like wut!) for our 11AM boat trip to Cebu.

Balikbayan? :P

Now this boat was comfy! It was big, and seemed to be newer than the boat I was on for the Cebu-Hilongos trip a couple of days back. I LOVED IT! Hahaha :P

Larger, cleaner, and with a Restaurant at the top level! :O

The funny thing was how close mine and Zarky's bunk beds were (diagonally opposite), and he swapped with the guy who's bunk assignment was right next to mine.

Newer, and just plain prettier haha :P

The departure was pretty much on time, just delayed by 10 minutes. And it took 6 hours. I really don't know why they keep insisting on 5 hours.

But overall, the ride was pretty comfy. We slept for a couple of hours before I woke up from all the noise these basketball players were making. They were playing card on the top bunks and it was really annoying. They didn't notice my death glare, though, so the noise persisted. Tsk. So I woke Zarky up and we headed to the restaurant for a meal. Sadly, we were too late for the rice and viand stuff. The kitchen apparently closed at 1PM, and it was 1:30PM when we arrived, and all the food was gone! Dang it! So we settled for Nova chips and cup noodles that did not really taste good haha. Special beef my foot!

Back home in Cebu! ^_^

Thanks, Zarky, and ever-welcoming Milloren family for letting us into your home, and having us partake in the feast laid out for the twins' birthday and the 3 kings! :)


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My expenses on this trip:

Php 89.00 - taxi from home to the pier
Php 760.00 - round trip boat tickets (380pesos each way), Tourist class
Php 10.00 - Cebu port terminal fee
Php 50.00 - Bus service from Hilongos to Matalom
Php 10.00 - small bottle of water in Matalom
Php 60.00 - trike from Matalom to Hilongos (with 2 stops)
Php 100 - Moron delicacy (21 pieces, 3 for 15pesos, 7 bundles of 3s for 100 pesos)
Php 11.50 - Hilongos port terminal fee
Php 8.00 - jeep to SM City Cebu
Php 8.00 - jeep to home
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PHP 1106.50 - TOTAL

(Didn't include the food I got at SM haha :P)

Of course, the food and accommodations were taken cared of so I didn't really spend a lot. :)

Not bad for the first trip of the year! ^_^