Cebu's Water Shortage, April 2016

It's been two days without water for us. In my 10 years of living in this subdivision, this hasn't happened yet. Did I mention this water shortage isn't a result of El Nino? That's right. This is because the village water pump needs repair. And we're lucky, I really know that. But it's been two days and counting for us. Three days and counting for those that live up the hill. I'm starting to feel desperation creep in. We've started catching faucet drips for hours on end -- it's that bad.

When news of the water shortage in Cebu circulated a few months ago, I thought little of it. Cebu always had a water shortage. And besides, a few hours of water interruption wasn't a huge torture. I could easily survive that.However, the two day waterless situation I find myself in now reminds me that water is a huge deal. it's actually THE Deal. And life's pure misery without it.

The one fun thing that happened as a result of this shortage was me bathing outside with my clothes on. It seemed cleaner than the bathroom. And the water outside felt cleaner (perception). I vaguely have an unverified memory of doing this once in a river. I was a very young kid, less than 7 maybe. At that time the village where one of my parents grew up had no plumbing yet, so we needed to bathe in the river. Today's little endeavor felt scandalous though! Trying to wash my behind in open space in broad daylight was a tad nasty! But it was fun haha!

On the whole, though, there's nothing fun about having no water! Case in point:

• Suspicious cleanliness of the downstairs bathroom. The entire household needs to use this one bathroom to make it easy to clean. With two brothers who remind me of Pigpen, it's a struggle. My other brother let out a "splatter bomb" earlier too. *Shudder*  

• Bathing restrictions

• If I get diarrhea or my period, I'm doomed.

• Dying plants

• Stinky pets

• Less pooping (seriously) 

• Limited use of paraphernalia that need washing (eating and drinking utensils mainly)

• THE CONFIRMED DIRTY BATHROOM!!!

I love you water, please come back!! Sob.

Tao Yuan Chinese Restaurant, JCenter Mall Cebu

My mom has a Chinese friend who's been raving about Tao Yuan Seafood Restaurant  since last year. Since my favorite Chinese restaurants are already fixed (see previous post here), I was never particularly interested to try this place. However, after going to JCenter Mall with every intention of buying Cebu's Original Bellychon, we ended up here. The bellychon on display looked a day old and sad. It wasn't like their Parkmall branch where the bellychons moved fast and always looked freshly cooked, so we ended up passing on the purchase.

At Tao Yuen, we were surprised to find that the place was huge. There were not too many waiters for a space so big, so we had to walk all the way to the end of the room (ballroom?) to find a server. He then led us back to the entrance for our table -- hahaha, quite funny.

Anyway, in all it was pretty good. The Fujian style rice (tasted like high-end Ding Qua Qua seamed rice with bigger shrimps and meat) was super good. It was perfectly balanced in taste. And I couldn't help but mouth "mmm" with my first mouthful. They also have a Sticky Dumpling which was really interesting since it tasted like bicho-bicho siopao or bicho-bicho empanada. The vessel was sticky rice but the filling was savory. It was a nice food surprise, especially since I've not been surprised for a while. The texture of the fried sticky rice coat is so perplexing but enjoyable nonetheless. The xiao long bao is not worth getting -- the wrapper was rough, uneven, and holey. It didn't hold the soup well at all. The pork belly dish, I forgot the name, taoshin-something, was okay. The texture of the meat and tofu was nice but I found it too salty for my taste.

Ambiance: 4/5
Service: 4/5 (one you get your waiter, it's smooth sailing)
Price: Mid-expensive (P1,000 for all four items, two of which was dim sum)
Food: 3.5/5
Overall rating: 3.6/5

So while my top Cebu Chinese restaurants still stand: (1) Ding Qua Qua, (2) Luy's Seafood Restaurant and (3) Tsay Cheng; Tao Yuan can be number 4.

Try the sticky dumpling! :)

Laser Hair Removal in Cebu

It's been more than 3 years since I had my last laser hair removal session. My first session being approximately 4.5 years ago. Today I'm still 98% hair free in the armpits and 70% hair free in the upper lip area. In all, it was money well spent. I'm glad I went ahead with it despite a long deliberation process. Bottom line for my concern was the possibility of getting burned, especially for the upper lip since my face could be compromised.

I tried three laser hair removal places in the entirety of my quest to being hair-free. And here they are in order of services availed:

1. Care and Cure Hub, Ayala Center Cebu Basement 2

Area: Armpits

Pros: Dermatologist-handled, very competent dermatologist that explains the process well, armpit whitening (consequence of laser)

Cons:
- After six sessions, I lost only about 40% of my hair. Granted I had thick hair, it was still a disappointing result.
- The cost was expensive, although admittedly reasonable compared to other dermatologists, at P10,000 for the package.

2. Skin Zone, i2 Bldg Cebu IT Park, Lahug

Area: Upper lip

Pros: Dermatologist-handled

Cons:
- After 3 sessions, I hardly saw any results. I also did not like the strong burning smell I inhaled when I did my sessions. I dropped out of my 5 session package because of these two reasons.
- The cost was approximately P6-7k for the set.
- I am not saying Skin Zone had a defective product. Perhaps it takes more time for my coarse hair to see effects. And since the upper lip is directly under the nose, it makes sense that the smell would be jarring. At the end of the day I was just uncomfortable.


3. Skinstation, 3rd floor SM City Cebu

Area: Upper lip and Armpits

Pros:
- Cost. They have packages that are very attractive, especially if you chance upon the 1 year unlimited session ones. My underarm package was P7,000 and my upper lip package was P5,000, both unlimited for a year. In case you miss a promo, getting a membership will allow you to access past promos.
- The machine they use is the most gentle I've experienced of the three. I don't fear getting burned because of the explanation on the technology it uses (top of the line). There was less burning smells and pain with this machine as well.
- Nationwide locations. I bought my promo in Cebu but availed of the last 4 sessions in Timog in Manila. It was easy and hassle-free.

Cons:
- Technician-handled


I am almost due for a touch-up on the upper lip as I'm already getting regular threading there. And when I do, I might as well do a maintenance session on my armpits. I hope Skinstation opens in Ayala! If not, I'll be braving the harrowing trip (Mandaue chaos) to SM to get this done.

Laser removal was my best beauty-related decision so far. For those thinking about it, do some research on where you want it done. And when you're satisfied with credentials and technology used, go for it :)