Mommy Travels

Medellin on Mother’s Day was Ryan’s B-Day

Gibitngil Island in Kawit, Medellin, Cebu looks serene just before twilight; this boat ferries guests to and fro.

This year’s Mother’s Day fell smack on Ryan’s birthday.  I would’ve wanted to spend my day alone in a spanky hotel room with just me and my laptop.  But as most mothers do, I placed my son’s happiness above mine.

He wanted to spend it in Kawit, Medellin; a little seaside town more than a hundred kilometers from civilization.  It is beautiful there. 

He wanted to meet his former nanny too – Yaya Ellen, who had married and left our employ for a couple of years already.  She now lives in her hometown, Kawit.

 

The beaches in Medellin, Cebu are laden with seashells that the boys love to gather, along with some starfishes too.

Ryan has not seen his Yaya Ellen for quite a while now, and I arranged to have her visit along with some of her cousins.  We saw them step off the tricycle just as we turned to enter the gate (after a three hour journey) and I saw Ryan’s sheepish smile as he saw her.  He was visibly happy to see her.

“She is like my second mom,” Ryan later told me.  And indeed she was, caring for him since infancy, giving him baths and feeding him, keeping him company at sleep times until he grew to be a little boy.

They swam by the beach and later had a mini-party.  I bought a cake during our stopover in Bogo City, without Ryan’s knowledge and the mini-party complete with cake and candle came as a sweet surprise.

That's Yaya Ellen behind Ryan along with her cousins before Ryan blew the candle on his cake.

Raffy, his elder brother, swam with them but later caught a fever.  So he wasn’t at the mini-party, but slept at the room to shake the fever off.  He was very patient about it, having his fever.  I didn’t believe him at first, thought he was just complaining about nothing when he said his head ached and was in pain.  

Blame it on swift temperature changes.  It was an incredibly hot day and riding the car, with a side trip to S&R with him visiting the walk-in freezer, and the beach in the midday heat.   Good thing Daddy remembered to bring along Calpol.

Raffy felt better the next day and we swam again later in the afternoon.  This time they ended the swim catching jellyfishes. 

What is it with kids and the sea?  The bond seems natural and true.

Ryan later set free the biggest one – not without losing two to three tentacles.  “It’s sooo easy to lose its tentacles Mommy!”  Correct.  They weren’t meant to be at the petting zoo, but I didn’t say that.  Heck, the locals eat them raw, with spices on the side.  I didn’t say that either.

Raffy decided to keep the smaller ones till morning – around three of them.  He just loved watching them wobble in the water.  He wanted to keep them as pets!  Of course, I explained they’d die if they were removed from the sea.  But they were to stay overnight in the orange kiddie pail outside the cottage.

Ryan got so incensed at the fact that Raffy didn’t free them and made such a fuss about it.  So upon Raffy’s permission I took Ryan and the hapless jellyfishes back to the shore (at 10 p.m.) and let Ryan set them free.

He whispered to them, “Don’t worry I will take care of you,” and threw them to the sea.  As we walked back I kissed him gently at the forehead and whispered, “I am proud of you Ryan.”

We stopped to admire the stars on the dark sky.  “The moon is shaped like an egg, Mommy!”  Then we laughed and trundled on by the sand.  Both of us felt much better.

Kota Kinabalu for non-climbers

Part Four: Getting Spoiled at Shangri-La Tanjung Aru

Shangri-La Tanjung Aru at Kota Kinabalu is all about relaxation and nature.  Sloth is a must here.

     When my husband got free tickets from Air Asia to Kota Kinabalu, I didn’t hit the roof with excitement.  But it is an amazing treat!  So I figured there must be other attractions in this Malaysian city for non-climbers like me.

     True enough there were other adventures (albeit tamer) that we found to make our four-day stay truly awesome.  Finally the last of four parts, saving the best for last!

Part Four: Getting Spoiled at Shangri-La Tanjung Aru

Luxuriating, relaxing, swimming, enjoying – all these seem like understatements as I try to describe our experience at the exotic Shangri-La Tanjung Aru Resort & Spa.  This 30-year old resort is among the oldest among the Shang properties and it had a homey, rustic feel with a subdued charm that spelt class all the way.  

Our room was the Tanjung suite– a virtual haven for self-indulgent delights.  Sometimes, we get tempted to stay in the room, but that would be a sin!

Look Ma!  Many hands!  It was nice pokin around the suite - sweet!

Coz everywhere we looked, we found picture-perfect sceneries.  So it wasn’t a surprise that nearly every guest was snapping away using cell phones, smart phones, IPhones, IPads, professional cameras and our very own trusty digicam.

Picture-perfect scenes make one click away!  Tanjung Aru has many coves like this one.

Birds of every shape and size have their homes there – black fantails with white streaks, sleek black crows with blood red eyes, cute and chubby, gray ones and the trusty brown Eurasian tree sparrows.  Some even have their nests attached to the resort’s awnings!  You can see them roost as you lounge at the second floor. 

We were in the pool when a couple of white streaked black fantails perched on the calachuchi tree right above our heads.  They looked awesome amidst the pink and white calachuchi set against the clear, blue sky.

I noticed this resort had the usual Shangri-La stamp of customer satisfaction.  Shang staff pre-empt a guest’s needs so well it is almost an art form!  For example, there was an ice-maker at the hallway, which my husband found very convenient.  And a juice dispenser was placed right beside the entrance to the breakfast buffet, which hungry guests found convenient too! 

For those with children, you’d be happy to know that Shangri-La Tanjung Aru is very child-friendly.  The play corner right next to the breakfast patio was huge, filled with toys and pillows.  And the pool area is a kiddie fairyland – a tipping bucket flooded gallons of water on hapless passersby, twisting slides made a child scream with glee and a gigantic chess set added to the play feel.

Our host Diane Liau welcomed us to delectable dinner at Peppino.

 And of course, you mustn’t disregard the food.   I always look forward to the breakfast buffet.  There’s something about the sight of morning gastronomic delights spread out before you. 

I love the vibrancy of seeing nearly all the guests converge to partake of the day’s first meal.  And the aroma of freshly brewed coffee, newly baked breads and pastries, and dozens after dozens of frying eggs, I also find tantalizing. 

I scooped a helping of nuts and gingerly placed them atop my waffles.  I sprinkled in the syrup and spread on the jam of course.

That was after I sampled the local dishes roti canai (flat-shaped bread that can pass for a pancake) and nasi minyak (ghee rice).  Never mind the other delights I stuffed into my poor tummy.  These are the perfect times to commit gluttony!  

To think, my next meal was back in the Philippines for a late dinner.  What a way to bid farewell!  Terima kasih berbanyak-banyak (thank you very much) KK!   But I’m not through with you yet!  Jumpa lagi (see you later)!    

Kota Kinabalu for non-climbers

Part Three: Strolling around Suria Sabah

     When my husband got free tickets from Air Asia to Kota Kinabalu, I didn’t hit the roof with excitement.  But it is an amazing treat!  So I figured there must be other attractions in this Malaysian city for non-climbers like me.

     True enough there were other adventures (albeit tamer) that we found to make our four-day stay truly awesome.  Here's part three.

This was taken from the Suriah Sabah food court. (Photo by Richard Ramos)

Part Three: Strolling around Suria Sabah

"Bomba" (emergency) mean "bomb" and "nude"in Filipino.

Ha! I just find it funny!

Naturally it was important for us to experience Kota Kinabalu for what it is – a city center.  As the capital of Sabah, East Malaysia, KK is a melting pot of sorts.  The funny thing about Borneo is it houses three countries – Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei. 

A portion of Sabah is also claimed by another country – Philippines – but we won’t delve on that.  It cannot be denied however that there are so many Filipino settlers in Borneo – KK included.

My friend Maricor “Coy” Dans advised it best to learn a few Malay words and was kind enough to send me some basic conversational phrases in Bahasa Malaysia!

Thus it was a bit hilarious for me and my husband to notice some signs that had words with similarities in Filipino dialects such as Tagalog and Cebuano.  The most obvious ones were jalan (road), dalan in Cebuano; selamat (good) that means “thank you” in Filipino (salamat).

 Cities can go far if governments got their act together.

So we joked around with the discovery that if selamat is good in Bahasa then Tagalog folks after receiving blessings say salamat with a firm “Good!”; while the Cebuanos say “Ma’y ra!” (only Cebuanos get that joke.)

Kidding aside, we observed that KK was definitely a thriving and fast developing city.  You can see structures being constructed in the outer periphery of the “old” district.  The old district itself had many “news”.

The great thing about our city hotel was its awesome location!  Best Western was right smack in the middle of the "old district". 

Doesn't hurt to take a shot of the cup that fills me with pleasure - taken at our room at Best Western, which we booked at a bargain through Agoda. 

We strolled around its newest shopping center Suria Sabah and enjoyed a pleasant lunch at its food court.  It had an astounding view of the KK bay.

I decided to try the local Satay with the familiar chicken drum stick with plain white rice.  Then I got the local pink guava juice.  Everything cost me only RM12, which proved a very amiably-priced meal.       

Not bad if you're counting pennies!

Just be prepared for their toilets.  You pay RM 0.30 per visit and if you’re a girl, you need to squat to take a pee.  Even shopping centers like the new Suria Sabah had no toilet seats or only two to three seats out of ten squat holes.

The toilets needed cleaning too.  It seems the staff was concentrated on the table up front to collect visitation fees and not to do housekeeping.  So if you can go before you get out of your hotel and hold it until you get back, the better. 

Yet like any other Malaysian City, KK is clean all throughout.  The city’s traffic system is highly organized and never a litter can be seen in the city streets.

Tourist information centers everywhere.  Its taxi system was tourist-friendly too.  Standard rate was RM30 from the airport to the city and RM10 just going around within.  Friendly uniformed men stationed at street corners, seated under a blue picnic umbrella added to a visitor’s sense of security.

All-in-all, Richard rated KK an eight.  Indeed, a most well-kept city with pleasantly good housekeeping.

 

Kota Kinabalu for non-climbers

Part Two: Dining at the KK Waterfront

     When my husband got free tickets from Air Asia to Kota Kinabalu, I didn’t hit the roof with excitement.  But it is an amazing treat!  So I figured there must be other attractions in this Malaysian city for non-climbers like me.

     True enough there were other adventures (albeit tamer) that we found to make our four-day stay truly awesome.  Here's part two.

Mr. Liong of Toscani's joined us for a quick photo.  His restaurant was among those with the most guests.

Part Two: Dining at the KK Waterfront

Your trip to Kota Kinabalu would not be complete without visiting the KK Waterfront.  This esplanade by the sea lined with restaurants of every cuisine imaginable kinda’ reminded me of Boracay, but this was much smaller.

Oversized wooden chairs and tables were laid on the wooden boardwalk with tents as shelter – around 30 to 35 seats for each of the establishments lined on the walk.

Obviously the waiters were used to entertaining guests of various nationalities as they greeted passers- by with au revoir, merci beaucoup, salam sejahtera, selamat jalan, salamat po and see you later ‘mate!

The waiters were extremely accommodating too!  A couple of persons with disabilities rolled in their wheelchairs but needed help going up the walk, which was around two meters higher than the ground, and there was no ramp about.  

They were ably carried up by the waiters who served at the pub beside where we were seated – the Bartzar Bistro & Bar.  Not only that, the waiters took the trouble of placing pillows behind their back and fluffing them up for good measure (not their backs, the pillows!).

Richard and I decided to dine at Toscani’s Wine & Dine Café.  I know, I know, we should have eaten Malaysian, but somehow anything curry and pepper or chili didn’t quite appeal to me.  So Italian it is!

This Turkey Ham Pizza was really gooood.

Richard got the Turkey Ham Pizza, which was delectable in thin crust rubbed with a joyous mix of mustard, mayonnaise, cheese, and basil and tomato paste.   The turkey ham came in generously sized slices sprinkled with pineapple rings (they were more like cubes) and topped with olives.  I got a helping myself of course.

My dish was heavenly but a bit pricey, yet what the heck, we don't get to do this often.

My dish was Sizzling Tiger Prawns with garlic butter (I didn’t choose the spicy-local flavor), and white rice.  We finished it off with a Chocolate Fountain – fresh baked pecan brownie with rich vanilla ice cream (forget the “rich” though, it tasted like it was mixed with whipped cream to make the “fountain” rise) topped with hot, homemade chocolate sauce.

Now here’s an important tip to diners, especially those on a budget.  Always remember to check gram allocations.  The heavenly prawns I ordered had a tag of RM 21.90 - per 100 grams - with a 300 gram minimum!  So that made our bill sky-rocket.

Another thing to consider are the taxes – 6 percent plus 10 percent of the subtotal added (roughly RM22 with our bill). 

So with the Turkey Ham Pizza at RM 26.90, Chocolate Fountain RM 16.90 and drinks, our total bill for a romantic dinner for two amounted to RM 161.13 (multiply that by 13.5 if you’re a Filipino counting by peso).

Good thing we didn’t order wine, who knows, they might also be priced by the milliliter!   

But we didn’t want that bit to ruin our evening.  It was after all, a most treasured experience.  And it was.

Part One:  Shopping at Gaya Street

Our first adventure was the Gaya Sunday Street Market.  All kinds of wares were for sale from the classic Muslim shawl to Sabah coffee and chocolates, to plants and animals including a dehydrated Persian cat.  

The street hawkers displayed their goods on tables under tents all lined up and down the street on a weekly market that is open from six in the morning till one o’clock in the afternoon.

So I asked one seller, “Why do you close at 1 o’clock?”  “Because it’s very hot!”  He retorted.  And indeed it was hot; an excruciating 35 degrees Centigrade.

If you’re looking for things to bring back home as gifts or souvenirs, you would love their chocolates.  We bought quite a bundle in a stall along Gaya Street only to find them sold a few cents cheaper in a Chinese grocer right at the corner.  But the difference is only a few cents so didn’t matter much.

Funny how prices tend to get cheaper farther down the street.  A shawl was pegged at Malaysian Ringgit (RM) 25 at the corner near OCBC Bank, which lowered to RM20 at the next corner.  

A six-pack of nail clippers cum key chains with Sabah and Kota Kinabalu scenes on them started with RM18 on one stall to RM15 on another until we finally got them at RM13 at the farthest end.

You can find these items at shopping centers, others even cheaper, the Sabah coffee that was RM7 was just RM6 and the chocolates that were RM27 were just RM15, but they were of a different kind.

At the airport, the keychains were RM8.90 per piece and the shawl was RM45!

We ended our jaunt with a quick stroll around the local crafts fair Promosi KRAF Malaysia before heading back down the street and back into our hotel.

 

Family out-of-town-trip Survival Tips for Mommies

Actually, happiness comes in bursts of laughing moments.  The boys just love it up north.

     You know what’s funny?  We go out of our way to go on out-of-town trips with our family in the “pursuit of happiness”.  But when we do, we end up with just “pursuit” most of the time WITHOUT the “happiness”! 

     Let me prove my point.  My husband and I packed everything up (including our two kids) in our small compact car to drive four hours up north so we can have a happy, fun holiday.  We ended up enduring the entire drive listening to two boys arguing on just about everything – and that’s not even mentioning the return trip!  

     When we arrived the beach was as appealing as the Pacific Ocean developing a tsunami, and spending time playing computer games in a neighborhood internet café was the highlight of our entire stay!

To tell you the truth, beaches up north are to die for.  This was taken in Medellin, Cebu.

     So if happiness is the real reason why you decide to succumb to torture (and not because you want a good update status in your Facebook page just to make your friends drool) then I have a few tips to share.

     I call them Survival Tips for Mommies Who Want To Be Happy During Family Outings.  Kinda long title, but never mind – it is the thought that counts.

I summed them up to the three P’s that make or break family outings – Packing, Pleading and Pleasing.

PACKING.  Now this is THE deal breaker.  The younger the kids, the scarier the packing.  My husband is an expert at this.   First the medical stuff.  We pack milk, water, vitamins, cough and fever medicines, anti-asthma pills, nebules for asthmatics and nebulizer (yes, the kind that weighs eight tons).

     Then the toys.  There are comfort pillows (the one with their favorite cartoon character that is stinky and never gets washed), stuffed toys, toy cars, beyblades, beyblade stadium – all in two sets, one set  for each kid.

     The clothes, shoes and slippers can come later.  Oh yeah, stuff for me and my husband can be brought along as long as there is space left in the trunk.

PLEADING.  This is the root of all arguments, and arguments are the cause of all evil!

“Mommy, can you pleeease tell Ryan to stop teasing me?”

     “STOP kicking my seat please!  Do you want me to drive back and leave you at home?”

“Boys, stop spanking each other!”

PLEASING.  I tell you Mommies can lose all their hair with this one.  We try our best to please everyone in the hope that everyone will be happy.  Well, I’ve got bad news for you sister, you can never please everyone, especially your kids!

     You give your small boy the last slice of bread even if you were already dying of hunger.  You look in your bag and a smile lights up your face upon finding a piece of candy, but end up giving it to your other small boy.

     You and your husband sleep on the floor because the two beds are occupied by each of your sons.  And earlier that day, you allowed your kids to spend an extra hour playing computer games (and the last of your money) lest they scream and upset the neighbors.                                                    

     Wait, what are my survival tips?  Actually I lied – I only have one tip – bring your ear plugs – it will keep you sane.

     All right, all right, the tips are three P’s too – Plan, im-Pose and op-Pose (give me some slack I just want to stick with the P’s thing here).

Plan what you pack ahead and make a checklist, and make sure you include your undies!  

Imposerules and never sway even with fervent pleading (especially the Puss in Boots look);

Oppose any urge to try and please everyone!  Force them to do things that please YOU for a change!

     I tell you these tips succeeded in making me survive an out-of-town family trip that involved riding an airplane!  The earplugs actually helped my older son Raffy on the plane ride.  But I admit.  The highlight of our stay was still playing computer games in a neighborhood internet café.  Yet hey, we were indeed happy!

The Boracay sands at sunset - awesome :)

Raffy got a sprain so we stopped to rest, of course a couldn't resist snappin' one :)