Roads, from heaven to hell

Razel and I went for a tour around the island again today. Just the two of us, on the Yamaha 125cc scooter. Some of the roads in the mountains are amazing. Absolutely spectacular road construction standards, just a bit smaller than you'd expect. Knock-your-socks-off beautiful.

The construction zones were less pleasant. Imagine a football field of soggy, sticky mud... ...on a scooter! I had to wash my shoes when we got back.

Shortwave radio works

BBC World Service only broadcasts towards SE Asia from 6PM to 10PM. This morning I was listening to All India Radio and got some beauty advice from an actual guru, followed by a guitar/sitar recital. The Tecsun R-909 ($23) works well:

Rainy Monday

Quiet day today. Yesterday we circled the island and visited each town. We ended with supper in a local BBQ shop. The power failure made little difference to the cooking-with-wood-fire kitchen. If the weather improves, we will take a day-trip to Apo Island.

View of Negros Island from breakfast table

Cang-Inte feast a success

There must have been 250 guests. Tons of food. The Bation Mobile Disco brought speaker towers that reached almost ten feet high. They strung some disco lights across the basket ball area and the party went until daybreak (some of us left a bit early).

Feast day in Cang-Inte

Let us take a moment to mark the passing of a couple of fat pigs and who knows how many chickens. I may be a vegetarian tonight.

What's going on...?

Razel & I went outside the resort one evening for a lovely dinner date. BBQ pork kabobs and chicken and rice and drinks. Four of us went out for a one hour tour of the reef in the glass bottom boat. It was quite nice, but the photographs couldn't capture it (poor colour saturation due the water). There's a feast in the mountain on Saturday, and in Sunday we will orbit the entire island on a day tour. Middle of next week, we'll take a day trip to Apo Island, a smaller island on the southern horizon. Everything is fine, except Devon has a cold or flu. Not serious. Hopefully cleared up shortly.