Meanwhile, Outside Manila

Tagaytay
"Should I stand outside the church and stand guard in case a group of assassins arrives?" Junior asked Daniel and Gay, just before the wedding started, referencing Kill Bill 2. The running joke was that church looked like it oughta be in the middle of tumbleweeds, dusty wind and Mexico. Eric, the best man and who'd never been to Asia (much less the Philippines) before, didn't get the joke and asked me ten minutes later: "Uhhh, does this kind of thing happen a lot here?"

Ah well. Welcome to the Philippines. Where all sorts of unimaginable things are plausible.

Anyway. The wedding and our stay in Tagaytay was somekindofwonderful.

Sonya's Garden was simply amazing. This place is tucked away in Tagaytay, run by a former civil servant who found her calling in creating this space. It is a flower garden, with a bed-and-breakfast, a bakery, small store, arboretum and spa. Flora you'd never seen before, with the prettiest large and small butterflies flittting through it.



Images courtesy of clutteredthoughts

I couldn't get the geography in my head right, but it is full of winding trails with hammocks, day beds and little nooks at random corners. The cool winds above Manila run through bamboo, metal and glass chimes scattered throughout the property. Each cottage and room is an eclectic but lovely mix of wood, colored/stained glass and fabric; with Filipino-Spanish architectural and interior design influences drawing furniture and artifacts from all over the region. The showers are in airy rooms with white cotton curtains and over a pebble and loam ground that soaks the run-off into itself. The food is hearty and the salads are crafted from home grown plants and spices.

Bohol
Currently in Bohol. The hotel has wireless access for free in the lobby, wouldn't ya know. Three sets of honeymooners and a baby. No thoughts, just diving. Hoping to reach the stage where I just close my eyes, or dream, and I'm still plumbing the depths of the deep blue. I miss diving in Tioman, where I knew the lay of the land (or in this case, the sea) pretty well and where my best memories of diving remain. Sitting on the deck of Roger's Wreck with Junior, watching schools of fish wend their way over and above us. The night we tried to establish first contact with a couple of octopi (I was still under the magical influence of the book, Secrets of the Underwater World). The manta ray that swam with us until we finally ran out of air.

Things of note we've seen so far over the past couple of days (unfortunately, am not diving with a camera so will just steal shots from others to approximate).


Black frog fish. Almost didn't see it. It was as black as a singularity. I could only tell that it was alive when it opened its maw and shone its tiny, brilliant white pebble-like teeth.


Dragon fish. Seeing them made me want to draw dragons again, like I did the summer before highschool.


School of barracuda. Hundreds upon hundreds passed within three or four feet of us. I tried to ask them for directions to Sydney but was ignored.