This morning, I headed over to the clubhouse around 8am for breakfast! Romel came in, shortly after, and told me he had arranged for me to go horseback riding!! YAY! I could hardly contain my excitement and scarfed down my pancakes and pineapple slices!
The horse was literally waiting for me just outside the front door of the clubhouse! My own private horse trainer was standing beside it and said, "Good morning madam (which I love being called), let me help you on your horse." It was just me and him the entire ride... none of this horseback riding where there are 20 horses, all lined up, butt to face! It was just me, Black Dunes, and the trainer! How trendy are my horse's bangs?! He would totally fit in in Korea! ***
The trainer walked about 30 feet ahead of me, and the horse did whatever he did! If he ran, the horse would gallop (which was slightly terrifying!) If he stopped, the horse would stop! It was incredible how well this animal was trained! We walked along the resort's golf course path for a while...
... and then went up to the highest point on the resort's grounds (where the zip line is) so I could take some pictures! These Philippino women were about to ride the zip line and asked if they could take a picture with me and the horse! They were sooo sweet and welcomed me to their country!
The trainer could tell I loved flowers, because I kept saying how beautiful they all were along the golf course, so he started picking one off of each plant we walked by! haha!
It wasn't long before I had a little bouquet going!
I asked the trainer if it would be alright if I rode Black Dunes on the beach, as this has been a dream of mine since I was a little girl! His response of, "Of course madam! We can go wherever you'd like" nearly made me giggle like a school girl!
It was as if Black Dunes and I were the only ones on the beach (actually, I think we may have been!) We galloped, all up and down the shoreline! Definitely a highlight of my trip!
After saying goodbye to Black Dunes and the trainer, I headed for the Butterfly Farm with Romel!
The butterflies were gorgeous....
...but it was the bat that caught my eye! The man running the farm told me I could hold it if I'd like! I can assure you that I've never "dreamed" of holding a bat, in fact I always thought they were bitters... but I do love experiencing new things, and being adventurous, so I decided to give it a try! I'd be lying if I said I didn't let out a few childlike squeels though! (Enjoy the video!)
After exploring the butterfly farm, Romel and I hopped on a tryke and headed for White Beach! As we were walking through the front gate of the resort, we stopped in to say hello to the woman working and noticed she had an adorable puppy!
I had told Aaron that I would skype with him at 12:20pm, so I stopped into an internet cafe at D'Mall and got to introduce Aaron to Romel over skype... Then Romel went back to work, and I headed to White Beach! I plopped down here...
... under these 2 gorgeous palm trees!
... and spent the next couple hours in the water!
A storm cloud started brewing, so I headed for the hotel, so I could hang in the clubhouse if it stormed, but luckily when I got there, the clouds had passed, so I decided to take another little dip in the water!
And for those of you who wanted to see my pedicure... here you go!
There are tons of Koreans here, so I feel right at home! I befriended this 10 year old girl at the pool today, and got to give her an English name! Lynzi, I named her after you! :) Her mom said she's going to be a professional golfer one day! They chose the Fairways Resort so she could practice golfing! At $100 a round, I happen to think that's CRAZY!!
After the pool, I went back to the clubhouse to get a ride to my hotel room, and saw Romel, who motioned for me to follow him to the bar! He reached over the counter and presented me with 3 boxes of Philippino butterscotch cakes and another box of black forest cupcakes!! He told me to bring it back with me to Korea for my friends! Lucky you, if you live in Korea!
I showered up and headed over to meet Olga and Marco for a drink. Unfortunately, Olga had an emergency work meeting, so Marco and I grabbed some fancy juice at a beach bar. We had a really interesting conversation about his life, all 60+ years of it! They invited me over to their home for dinner tomorrow night, which I'm really excited about!
After drinks with Marco, I headed down the beach in search of some "yummies" as I like to call it! (Dinner in case you weren't following!) As I was walking along the shore, I heard a guy's voice and a very John Mayer style guitar in the background! So, I walked over to see what was going on. In front of the Astoria Hotel (a gorgeous, very modern, way out of my budget hotel) was serving a buffet with a live concert! I immediately fell in love with this kid's voice and decided to stay for dinner!
When his set was over, I immediately walked up to shake his hand and tell him how fabulous I thought he was! I walked away with a $4.00 CD! Hope it's good!
After his set was over, he stepped off stage to grab some dinner and I invited him to come sit with me! We had a nice chat about his life here in the Philippines and a new opportunity he was just given to record his own album (professionally)! I toasted to his success, and then headed to the internet cafe so I could write about my day! Hope you all enjoyed it... I know I sure did!
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