Lonely fan

Event: Manny Pacquiao-Jorge SOlis bout
Venue: SM City Cebu Cinema 2
Verdict: boring (excpet for round 6)

There's something about sports that possesses people. Manny Pacquiao's bout with Jorge Solis turned a 1,000-seater cinema eerily silent, ignite it like a bomb. Sports halt traffic, stalls time, unites nations. This one was no exception.

I was alone (as usual) as I took my P500 ticket to watch the fight live at SM City Cebu Cinema 2. Z-15 is my seat number. Yes, it was way up there near the rafters. I chose the spot, to have a vantage view of everybody, to be on top of things. As I tread my way up, I noticed some vacant seats around.

It was nice to see the esnemble: an old couple already in their golden years, young people dating, a father and his two kids, young and old, men and women.

There are spoilers of course -- women who could have been cajoeld by use of force to watch a man's first wife (sports) were busier with their pop corns than the fight. They stand up and grind all the knees in the row for their soda or the restroom just as when fighters slug it out in the last 20 seconds of round 12.

A foreigenr several seats down me was almost jumping out if his seats everytime Manny was in the attack. Punching, weaving, shouting at Manny to press on as if he could hear him. Nobody laughed, everybody were in their own world -- grinding their teeth on every punch, grinning at every hit.

The first few rounds, the cinema was silent as Manny tried to get inside the 27-inch reach of his opponent. When the PInoy landed his first powerful punch in the round 5, the cinema erupted. The fight was on. Two round later, a bloody Manny pushed on. He was afraid his wounds would break bigger, Gotta end the fight fast. Knockout just two minutes into the round.

I spent P500 for three hours to watch a sports event. I was silent the entire time and there was no beer. Hardly worth it. But the fight was great. Manny was too good. If he only he could stay in the ring.

The announcer announces Manny as the victor. He calls him "congressional aspirant Manny Pacman Pacquiao." Everybody in the cinema laughs, then file out. Some good things just never last.

Stinky and delicious

TARGET: Pasil Fish Market
DATE: April 8
RATING: 5 stars

It is always gratifying to find treasures amid the rubble, the trash and the bad smell.

This was what I discovered one early morning as I took a sip of the famous broth from the "soup street" of Pasil Fish Market right in the bowels of Cebu City's congested, smelly and crime-prone market district.

At 1 a.m., the lack of lights and the many shirt-less men running around, pushing and pulling tubs of fish make the scene scary. A closer look, however, shows everything seems to be nice. The barangay tanod (in full uniform) acts as a traffic attendant and security guard in the street between the market and San Nicolas Parish Church. Asked for directions, the tanod was accommodating enough to give us tips on where to find the soup.

Facing the market, the soup heaven is on the right side street -- an array of women and their huge boiling cauldrons. I took a bowl of soup of a fish I could not pronounce (the name was a mix of the words stab, stone and dance in Bisaya).

The white meat fish tail was swimming in a reddish sea of light red tomato. Spicy, sweet and hot. Paired with a P6 Sparkle softdrink, the effects of several bottles of beers hours before seemed to dissipate with the steam.

Completing the experience was the loud-mouthed but funny group of boys sitting a few feet from me. They were talking about their love life and how they plan to raise money to buy a new shirt. In one corner, one kid put a little too much chili on his soup and was sweating feverishly, cursing on his hunger and his inability to devour his spicy fish. Somehow, these scene made me smile and appreciate the better sides of life.

The smell of the fish being traded in the market more than completes the ambiance. Definitely worth doing again.

Never again

TARGET: Bohol Tropics Resort
PLACE: Tagibilaran City, Bohol
DATE: March 31 to April 2
ACCOMMODATION: Super Twin Room
CONCLUSION: Won't be coming back

There is no beach in this resort. If that is not bad enough, here's more:

If you are not a white-haired caucasian or a chinky-eyed no-English East Asian, this place is not for you. Their staff only smile at foreigners. Their front desk people turn blind at brown-skinned working class can't-afford-a-tip Filipino like me. Yeah, their rooms and villas look great among the palm trees, but the service more than wreaks all your initial landing impressions.

Making an online reservation weeks before I was to stay (on business and a little pleasure) the hotel staff assigned me to a super twin room (four beds!). As if it was not bad enough, my room (room 254) was out in the wilderness, at the farthest corner of the resort. I was paying too much for a room too big and too far. I had to endure minutes of walk in a seemingly melting asphalt road under the super hot sun to get to the resort's jewel: the pool. For a time I forgot I was actually paying (big) for all these.

And yeah, they don't want their guests to use their pool too, which they close at 8 p.m., leaving my long-anticipated dip under the moonlight to tatters. The staff left one pool open though, a tub-sized puddle already packed by ten sweating men by the time I got there. Their poolside showers don't work and they charge use of the jacuzzi at P350 per hour. This resort robs you. With class.

There are always good sides to everything. Kudos to the night crew of Cafe Atanacio who promptly served my two 50-peso San Mig Light and several requests for ice. The band played great, but only until 11 p.m.

The best thing of all? The tricycles (P30 from Island City Mall to resort) can drive all the way up to the front lawn of your room. But still hope I would never return to this place again.

p.s. They boast of a wi-fi service but it only covers several square feet of their front desk at veeeerrrrryyy sloooooow speeeeed.