The long and winding route from my house to Victoria Beach House
When my friend Jack asked if I could take him home for the Holy Week holiday I said yes and booked a few nights stay at Victoria Beach House in Alimanguan. Sadly Jack's sister was rushed into hospital as we were about to leave so he was unable to come . His sister ( 24) is still unconscious so my thoughts and prayers are with him and the family.
As soon as we got to Alimanguan Chester went for a swim!
We stopped twice on the way, once opposite Astoria where the advertised American breakfast ( Bacon and egg) was not available so we just had coffee. An hour later we stopped at Cecile's, just north of Roxas where they have a new unit by the lake.
Ever had one of those days where everything goes wrong. I also realised I had left Chester's lead at home and some guests at the hotel complained there was an over excited Labrador running everywhere! The hotel lent me some rope to tie him up! When Jhoanna saw his picture she said " that is how we tie up our Baboy Tatay!"
Chester helps build the sandcastle!
One of the things I like about Victoria Beach House is the layout and bar/restaurant by the beach means its easy to meet other guests and chat. On this trip I met a lovely family ( Mum , dad and two boys) who lived in Singapore. As they used to have dogs they looked after Chester while they made sand castles and threw a bamboo stick for him. I took him for a long walk to one end of the beach and we went to bed at 6 pm and he slept till 6 am!
Chester takes a rest on his long walk
Another thing I love about Victoria Beach House is the fact they have an urn of hot coffee available from 6 am. Having showered and taken Chester for a long walk I came back and had coffee while Chester slept and then at 7 am they delivered my breakfast- fried egg and toast, which I ate by the sea.
The view from my breakfast table, the diving platform on the left is a new addition
My breakfast- don't worry, I did not eat the lettuce leaf!
At 8 am Chester and I went for our second walk, to the other end of the beach and he had a swim, and then we stopped for a fruit platter and Haywain Pizza at Turtle Beach on the way back. When I went to pay the owner recognised me ( I was last here 5 months ago) and gave Chester and I a warm welcome, which was very nice.In the afternoon Chester had a sleep and I caught up on emails and blogs under the trees with a carton of Orange juice and 2 cans of Sprite. During the day Chester's April calendar got a lot of positive feedback, as well as his Birthday Blog and Vlog. We also launched the TBK cooks vlog of Kevin making the dog cake for Chester's birthday. Hopefully people now realise the advance planning that goes into having all these things on line on 1st April , while I am driving to Alimanguan. If you missed them here they are:
Special thanks to Sarah Froggatt and her dogs , and Ann Marie and her dogs for their birthday wishes by email. Also thanks to all those people who sent messages on Facebook.
Chester's birthday Blog can be found here:
https://thebritishkabayan.blogspot.com/2023/03/tbk-news-chester-is-1-this-month.html
His Birthday Vlog is here:
and you can see Tito Kevin make Chester's special Dog Birthday cake here:
Thanks as usual to all those who made the above possible- Jhoanna and Julimar who came to Chester's birthday picnic and took the photos, Kevin for making the cake, Chester ( the Hooman) for turning the photos into our April calendar page and uploading everything while I was on the road and Elay for Chester's Birthday outfit.
After an exhausting morning Chester and I decided to have a nap in our air conditioned room. We will tell you about the second half of our day once we wake up and decide what to do. Yes, one year on, I have finally got the hang of a spreadsheet free retirement , Mr G!
Chester takes a nap
6.25 am Monday 2nd April
In the end Chester and I lazed all afternoon at the hotel, watching the sandcastle get bigger . It reminded me of Gaudi's unfinished Cathedral in Madrid as different people passed by and made various changes and addition. One an carved immaculate steps to the top and then a baby ran up them and they collapsed. Different chairs were added plus bits of coconut tree and finally the father and sun watched the sun set from the top of their grand castle while apologising to everyone for ruining their sunset shots!
The King watches the sun go down on his castle
In the afternoon I saw the lady giving a manicure to the receptionist and asked if she could give me a manicure and pedicure. In the end I had to wait until the next day as she also had to do the barmaid's nails and then the next day 2 customers before me!
Chester and I sat in the shade and I had my favourite dessert, fried sweet Bananas. Sarap!
Later on I had Pork Chops but substituted fried sweet potatoes for the chips. Again the food was tasty and even though they were busy did not take long to arrive.
My Pork chop and fried sweet Potato ( Camote)
After dinner we walked along the beach and bumped into a friend from PPC, Jayvee, who was taking sunset shots. As he had a new Cannon camera and I had left mine in my room he kindly sent me his photos for my blog:
Sunset over Alimanguan by Jayvee Bebit
After that it all went a bit "Groundhog day" , Early to bed, early to rise, walk on the beach and back for breakfast at 7 am ( Torta Talong with papaya!)
Later on I had a haircut, manicure and pedicure then Manok Tinola ( chicken soup) for lunch! After a nap we had another walk as the sun set and nearly got up to 10,000 steps for the day!
So this was me when we arrived in Alimanguan- even Beshy in Bahrain said my hair looked long!
After 3 searches and with help from the hotel staff, I found the hairdresser ( I was looking in the wrong place) and I had my hair cut:
New haircut and new Tee shirt from Jullymar- Salamat po
Then they told me I was next in line for my manicure and Pedicure. I decided to take before an after photos again- and you can see what a great job she did. It was very relaxing sat in the shade by the sea while one of the staff members children played with Chester!
The before and after pedicure shot
Before and after manicure
By then it was 1.30 pm so Chester had another sleep and I had Chicken Tinola and fruit salad for lunch before retiring to bed at 3 pm for a nap ( onset of old age!)
A quick review of the blog so far tells me there are tooo many food pictures and not enough of beautiful Alimanguan so here are a few pictures I took over the last 3 days:
My Sunday Sunset photo- eat your heart out Jayvee!
The fishermen's boats bring in their catches around 7 am
Chester plays fetch with the lady from Singapore
Finally I will end with two sunset shots from the final night:
So all that remains is to thank Mylene and her team here at Victoria Beach House for looking after Chester and I so well again . We will pack up now and head back to Puerto. But I shall return, in May , with Mark from Manila.
Working lunch at Victoria Beach house while updating my Blog
Hello, I am The British Kabayan! Feel free to read my stories.
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