Surigao to Siargao

Day 4 of 24Suh-ri-gow vs. Shur-gowSo the way to Siargao is through Surigao. Two different islands with similar names. Shur-gow is a little more remote, so it takes a bit of traveling to get there. The typical travel route is to fly into Suh-ri-gow and ride a 2 hour ferry to Shur-gow. After a stressful check-in at the airport (our hand carry got denied because it was filled with bottles of face wash, shampoo & lotions) we finnally got to our gate. Man, the sun was relentless. It was so freaking hot.These island travels are always on smaller planes, so we had to get shuttled to the plane. Usually those kind of planes scare me, but this wasn't too bad. Small planes always bring back memories of how famous people died like Ritchie Valens (the La Bamba guy), Aaliyah, DJ AM & JFK Jr. Thank God, we made it. 🙏🏼 Dad's old childhood friend picked us up from the airport and he kindly took us in. He housed us for the night at his rental homes, which have beautiful views of the water and the mountains of Leyte. For lunch he fed us some interesting fish. Apparently it's a trigger fish. After our meal, he opened up a bottle of Johnny Walker Blue Label and we just chilled until it was time to go to the beach. They have a little doggie that looked like Caramel & just sat around lazily like her too. RIP my little G. 🙏🏼 The rest of the evening was spent at Looc Pebble Beach. The entire beach was of pebbles, big & small instead of sand. The water was clear, cool and refreshing, like a lake - only salty. Of course the views were amazing, especially as the sun was setting. Locals were out swimming around. Most of the people around here or anywhere really in the Philippines who live near the water, don't realize that they live in paradise.Then the drone spazzed out and took a nose dive into the water. It was heartbreaking to watch, but I was able to use my 360* view full face diving mask. I'm not a strong swimmer, so Mom pulled me back in and was able to talk to one of the island kids to try and find it. After about 20 minutes of holding our breath, he finally found the drone. Its critical fate is still yet to be determined. The drone is currently trying to recover in a rice bath.Dad's friend told us the ferry for Shur-gow leaves at 5am, so tomorrow our next adventure will start at 4 in the morning.

Filipino Malls

3 of 24Still fighting jet lag, but it's not as bad as I expected it to be. Everyone has been wanting me to be alive to do things, but sometimes my body just fails me and it instantly knocks out. I can't even fight it.When in the Philippines, one of the places that you always end up at is the mall. The malls here are like mini cities on its own. If you think the Galleria in Houston is big, it's nothing compared to the malls here. There are at least 4 (sometimes 5 or 6 if you want to include the garage) levels to these malls and hundreds of different shops. I mean... they have everything here from designer clothes, groceries, salons to even labs where you can get your feces analyzed! 😂 What's crazy is that you'll find these malls everywhere! It's like having 5 Houston Gallerias to choose from and yeup, not all of them have the same stores. For a 3rd world country, their big cities sure do have a lot of fancy stuff.

Anyway, we had last minute things to purchase at the mall today because we're headed out to Siargao Island tomorrow. I'm not exactly sure what to expect because they keep telling me that depending on where we plan on staying, the nearest point of civilization is about 1-2 hours away. I just hope we are able to visit Cloud 9, one of the top surf spots in the world. I'm not trying to surf it (it's a reef wave) but I really want to see it's beauty!Who knows where we'll end up staying, but I have my mosquito net and bug bracelets ready. I found these bracelets at Academy that are supposed to last for 7 days and it keeps the bugs away from you. We'll see how well it works, I'm not trying to get dengue fever.This will be the first place I get to visit on this trip and my family's 3rd. I have a lot of beach catching up to do! Hopefully I'll get some sort of signal and am able to update the next few days.Shout out to my Sticky's Team in Houston holding it down while we're in the Philippines! While we are here, Karrueche made a visit to Houston and of course, she hit us up for food! It never gets old when she asks for food. We love you, K! <3

Food & Family

Day 2 of 24Boodle fight is a military style of eating in which food, piled on top of banana leaves laid out on long tables, is to be taken with bare hands washed with water from jugs prepared on the side.Explained HereSo one of the things on my list when we went to the Philippines in 2016 was to have a boodle fight. We never had time to, so my loving family made sure that I got it this time! This is what greeted me as soon as I walked through the door.It was pretty impressive and yes, it's as good as it looks. This was an awesome way to get the family together and just laugh over a great meal, I honestly don't think life can get any better than that.... good food surrounded by your loved ones. This explains why I love Sticky's so much. I love gathering people over good food and just have a good time.Food in the Philippines is really outstanding. I wish everyone can experience its deliciousness.With a full belly, jet lag hit me hard and I knocked out for at least 5 hours. After getting re-energized we spent the rest of the evening bonding with our cousins over drinks, music and more food. 🤤