day 3--getting out

a cool and rainy morning, like a sheep dog that had just finished the 400m breaststroke, greeted us after our unfitful night's sleep.
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though we missed the breakfast buffet because we wanted to sleep late, we did eventually get up in order to take our scheduled glass-bottom boat cruise. the seas were rough and the rain slanted into the shanty of a boat like the miniature spears from a threatened tarantula, stinging us with less poison and agony, but with just as sinister precision.

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the glass bottom afforded us with nice views of the colourful just below the surface of the boat, but these views were trumped later the next day. fortunately for seung-hee, since she didn't take her seasickness meds, we were only out on the water for a half-hour. when we got back to dry land, the rain was coming down hard enough to confuse us as to whether or not we'd actually stepped on the alleged "dry" land yet. still unsettled from a bad night's sleep and seung-hee's roiling stomach, we decided to head back to the villa and have a nap before lunch and the afternoon's frolicking at the spa.

locals fishing despite the elements, rough seas, and obnoxiously curious tourists

caught in the jaws of languor
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we had an after-lunch appointment at the resort spa, from 2p-4p, where we could use the sauna and Thalasso pools for relaxation. the sauna was your typical dry sauna, except it was perched right on the sea, less than meter above the gently lapping waves. these Thalasso pools were cool water pools that were constantly being fed by a natural waterfall from the springs beneath the island (the pools were built into the cliffs overlooking the sea and adjacent island). fantastic stuff. we frolicked for two hours between the insanely hot sauna and the refreshing pools. we were given ice water and warm ginger tea by the spa staff as we relaxed in the pools while taking in the amazing views of the lush, mountainous island across the water from us.

the view from one of the spa's Thalasso pools

my filipino queen with the korean name
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after the pools and spa, we had a bit of a rest (i as so relaxed that i couldn't be bothered to go down to the seaside bar for happy hour) before going back to the spa for our scheduled one-hour massage. after three hours of mental and physical therapeutics, we glided our way blissfully down to the beach for a waveside dinner. my stomach was still acting up, so i just drank a bottle of wine, ate a little of the delicious food, and took in some of the entertainment. our entertainment on this evening was a solo singer/guitar-player who sang a lot of mellow tunes to accompany our dinner (one particular song, though not mellow, was brilliant: it was "endless love", from the movie of the same name, and sung by richie and ross. as our singer began the song, it dawned on me that there needed to be two singers for this song and by what method was he going to negotiate this dilemma. well, i needn't have worried--i'd never heard one person sing both parts of the song because of the range of voice needed--because this singer somehow pulled it off. when he sang the first diana ross bit, i think everyone dropped their forks in utterness and looked up. he was damned good and got a standing ovation, everyone allowing their clapping to intervene their eating. it was remarkable), plus a group of locals dancing traditional dances to traditional filipino songs. typical resort fare to try and fool the tourists into thinking they're witnessing true filipino culture when each night of their stay costs more than a whole troupe of dancers make in a month of such shows at the resort. seung-hee and i knew better and, thus, booked a boat ride over to some of the neighbouring towns for a time of it for the day after next.