A beautiful evening

Last night the Govender ship family decided to eat out on deck 8. It's one of the wonderful privileges of living on a ship, to be able to sit outside and look at the water and a beautiful sunset enjoying good food and good conversation with good friends.

L-R: Shay (Germany), JiYoung (Sth Korea), Eileen (Singapore),
Tessa & Carlien (South Africa)
 

Parents visit

While the Logos Hope was in Cebu, my parents came to visit. We spent four days on the little island of Pangangan at a beautiful resort and seeing Bohol before they came onboard for four nights. 

Mum gets to see how spacious my cabin
and bed-space is. 

Before we went off on our adventures,
I spent one night at mum and dad's hotel,
famous for the coaster at the top of
Cebu's highest hotel where you
overlooked the city by night... 

... and by night.

At the Chocolate Hills in Bohol.
Unfortunately, not actually made out of
chocolate, these hills are named for their
brown colouring. 

Somebody's house...

A small animal zoo of exotic animals - this guy
was beautiful and happy to sit on your hand,
arm, shoulders, head...

We went island hopping one day.

At monkey island dad had to learn how NOT to
monkey around

This monkey seemed inordinately interested in the
zinc cream on dad's nose, even tasting it at one point!

Mum and dad

Just hangin' around...

Dad snorkelling

We saw plenty of these pretty little blue fish

The scenery was so beautiful, I went a little
nuts capturing many different photos throughout the day.

Looks normal? Yep, I agree.

Mum gets friendly with the locals.

Mum checks out the island

Nap time after a yummy lunch

View of the resort from the water

Mum and dad experience ship life for a few days.

Family bowling

One ship family night, the Govender family decided that we would go bowling at the SM Mall in Cebu. So, we booked the van and headed off for a fun night together.

My ship dad, Seelan (South Africa)

Ship-brother, Shay (Germany)

me with ship-mum and sister Carlien and Tessa (Sth Africa)

Tessa learning how to hold the ball

Tessa throwing (also known as dropping) the ball by herself

At the end of the night, the girls beat the boys!

Nothing like a good cup of coffee after bowling

The whole motley crew :)

In the mountains of Cebu

When opportunity comes knocking, open your door!

Yesterday started off like any other off day - a nice sleep in, a quiet morning reading and catching up on correspondence before lunch. I had planned, after lunch, to visit a coffee shop with a friend to find some decent internet where I could skype with friends and download some resources for school


These well-laid plans fell through when a friend ran through the dining room looking for people to accompany her for a field trip. Dorine (from France) had previously visited a village in the mountains outside Cebu to play with the children there and wanted to return to visit them.


A group of seven of us ended up taking a jeepney (the most practical and economical mode of transport throughout the Philippines, with the one hour ride costing the equivalent of AUD 0.50). This landed us in Sunny Hills where we found a group of guys with motorbikes willing to take us to the village of Takan Salapac.

Once we reached the village, we were greeted by a pack of children who were very excited to see Dorine again and to meet the rest of us. We spent a wonderful afternoon with these children as they took us up to the top of the mountain to see the view. We didn't speak any Cebuano other than hello and thank you, and most of them didn't speak much English, but as I'm learning more and more, words are highly over-rated!


Just the fact that we made the effort to come and spend time with them, play their games, feed them lollies and meet the villagers meant so much to them and it was just as big a blessing to us, too.

Sliding down the hill on cardboard

Picked up a few kids and a chook
for dinner on the way, too!

As we walked up the mountain, we passed these women stripping wood

Village life