Meanwhile, back at the beach...

Spent the better part of the morning on e-mail, much of that getting volunteer hours straight. At 11 I went to the thrift shop. There was quite a backlog of books, tapes and DVD's. I was able to clear 95% of it in 4 hours. Then Ms. Chung found a large box of books in the corner with my name on it....
At 3 I drove her to Gate 12, which is where I thought she wanted to go since she said Noksapyong. But when we got there she looked at me like she didn't recognize it. But I assured her it was right around the corner from the gate. I then filled my car with gas and washed the windshield (which it desperately needed). I went home, and had something to eat. Did some Sudoku puzzles, more e-mail. Chris came home and we ate leftovers. Back on the computer, I ordered stuff from Jo-anns latest sale for our group. How did I get this job? Their website wasn't working as stated so I had to make two orders to get the right sale prices. Blog time...

Monday the 7th
I woke up early. I think the rooster crowed all night. Rooster soup, anyone? The bed was hard and my skin hurt. Chris and I took a shower...We dressed for breakfast. When we got to the hotel restaurant, there were no empty tables, so we had to eat downstairs. It was nice too, but the buffet was a little smaller. The omelet station was upstairs only. We passed a pingpong table, some board games, and a dart board. We lingered a while, then went back to the room to brush teeth and decided to catch the next shuttle to market. We went to the lobby at 9:30 to catch the 9:40 shuttle. We shared it with a travel agent and his family. He told us that it was safe to buy the local produce but not the barbeque. In 10 minutes we were at DMart. We wandered through the market streets looking at stalls until we reached the beach. Chris found a place to change dollars into Philippine pesos. We asked about the fabric market and were told it was just past Nigi Nigi. That turned out to be a bar. As we walked along, we were constantly approached by vendors of necklaces (shell and pearl), sunglasses, hats, and boatrides. Although each one took 'no' for an answer, the next vendor was seconds away. It took some walking and looking in stalls for some distance past Nigi Nigi, but we finally concluded that that the fabric was in the form of hand-dyed beach wraps. In one out-of-the-way stall, I got 4 for $15. Nearby I bought some flipflops for $3. They are $20 at the hotel.
Walking back down the beach we passed a massage stand : 1 hour for 350 pp. That's $9. Chris gave me the money, and he and Michele left, while I followed the lady up a narrow and steep staircase. I took off my new flipflops and entered a small room with hanging sheets and an old couch. Since I was getting the foot massage and not the whole body massage (ouch!) she had me sit on the couch instead of going behind the sheets. While she massaged my calves and feet, I asked her what Philippine dish she recommends. She mentioned some kind of Adobo. There were more words to it, but I couldn't write them down because I gave my purse to Michele to hold. At 12:15 Chris and Michele returned. I paid the lady and came down to meet them. As we walked together, we passed a stand selling fresh fruit drinks. I ordered a coconut with a straw. Then we came to an Indian restaurant. They cracked my coconut in half and gave me a spoon so I could eat it. I also ordered a coconut shrimp salad. Michele and Chris split a vegetable couscous. Then we moseyed back to our pickup point. Chris found a place to buy sunscreen, and aftersun lotion. When we got back to the hotel, we used the lotion right away. We watched Animal Planet until I couldn't stand it. I wanted to be outside, and doing something. So I covered up with one of my beachwraps and found a spot to sit, resting my bare feet on the grass, and did Sudoku puzzles. When I got back, we went to supper, spotting a large gecko on the way. I tried to order the mango salad, but the answer was still 'no'. However Michele's flan had a mango adornment. Even though it wasn't on the menu, I asked for adobo. And they had it. It was nothing remarkable, just chicken in a mild sauce. It was this night that I saw fireworks, not last night. Finally we watched TV and went to bed.