The bounce through for Mary, Jude, Ollie and Amy. A lovely night in a suite at Radisson Blu in Cebu. It’s a lovely hotel. “We know, let’s just lay in the bedroom all day/night and watch TV!!!” said the kids… WIFI junkies!!!

They finally arrive after trains, planes and automobiles. Well, actually taxi, plane, taxi, ferry, tricycle. Oh yes!!! Uncle YanYan spoiling the gang with trips around the sub-division on his motorbike. Lucky little things!!! House looking good, but lot’s of work to happen these next few days.

Two days later I am on my way. Happen to be sitting on a great seat on the right of the plane, and as we start to descend to land at Cebu, bugger me we fly right over Panglao Island. See the new International Airport? Come on SQ/Scoot, start flying direct. South West, as you look at the Island, is where the house is. And West is where the two causeways are that connect Panglao Island to its big Mum, Bohol. Bohol is where the capital city, Tagbilaran, is, and also the Ferry Port where we come in from Cebu. Looking good Panglao, with you tomorrow.

And I am here. Finally. I have already been buying a few things. Mosquito zapper, getting the washing machine tap fitted, etc etc. Kitchen is looking good. Dining room looking large, as we have now moved the dining table on to the patio, now that we have the gazebo up. Nice!!!

There you go. Nice right? We now have bamboo roll-down curtains to shade from the sun. But I tell you it is just lovely sitting here having a cup of coffee 1st thing in the morning. One big job yet to start is the exterior surrounding wall painting, see it is still concrete grey. Watch this space. See too I have planted some new plants to cover up the aggregate messy bits against the house sides. Nice!

See what I mean. How lovely is this? Sitting having breakfast with the kids in the early morning sun. Beautiful sea breezes wafting through the gazebo, and the sun not hot yet. Yep this is nice, I really could live here!!!

Pictures now going up. Yeap Jude is modelling something here. Top left is an amazing piece of cross-stitching Mum did for us. This has come from the UK, to Singapore, to The Philippines. A well-travelled piece of art is this and it is perfect for the kitchen because it is pictures of fresh herbs. I love it!!! Thanks, Mum.

We go out for dinner Friday night, and when we come back – BOOM. Wow!!! Someone has been busy preparing for the house-blessing party tomorrow. Double WOW!!!

Next morning it’s off to the market and shops to get drinks, ice, and eski, beer of course, and some food for me to make at home for the party. But whilst walking through the market I spied these. WTF. Can you guess? Well, these are sea leeches, and yes they eat them in The Philippines. I am adventurous on food, but holy cow, I think I’ll draw the line.

Loving this. Major push in Bohol for lowering plastic usage. Paper straws everywhere, and no plastic bags at the supermarkets. In fact, for a small fee, you can buy bags that are recycled from old rice sacks, just a genius idea.

Whilst at the market I pick up a whole yellowfin Tuna for $10. Because of the Portuguese influence on The Philippines, I go with the Mediterranean as a style of dish. Loads of lemons, peppers, garlic, ginger and some lovely fresh herbs. Give this a bake and hey presto. It seemed to go down quite well with the family and friends.

A priest comes to bless the house now. Don’t know his name so I am going to call him Vic. It’s getting busy here now. Loads of family and friends have arrived for our little shindig.

Water being splashed everywhere. Bless this house, English version is very different. I wonder what Sid James would say. Candle wax everywhere too. But it’s a nice thing to happen I suppose, not my bag, but important for wifey and family of course.

Yeah, this was a lovely party. Happy, smiley faces all over. I am loving this. Everyone is.

Brother guarding the sacred Lechon. Quality food station to boot. I feel like a dignitary. King & Queen for a day.

Mum, Sis, family and friends.

Brother and BeBe chilling out. You know it’s lovely to cause an event which brings everyone together. And it’s at our new little abode. What a fantastic day.

Well, the Lechon was a big hit. That little bugger has been skinned to the bone. This gives you an inside view of what makes Lechon, Lechon. Check out those fresh herbs in there. An incredible dish.

She looks good in party mode, right? I feel a common theme coming on here. When’s our next party then wifey???

The lovely crazy ladies. And I mean crazy. These ladies are just the funniest ever. I had such fun with them, I’ll see if I can steal some of the million selfies they took with me.

Wifey, we must be doing more of these. Check the happy smiley faces. Love it.

My crazy, funny, happy, cheeky ladies. Love these ladies. I could have spent hours chatting and laughing with them.

More pictures up now. This is post-blessing, so hence the flowers. It’s looking like a really warm liveable house, isn’t it? Thanks for modelling for me Jude.

These are becoming our stock photos for AirBnB ha ha! Just showing off the living areas. We bought a new coffee table too, the other crappy one is now in the bunk-bed room for the fan to sit on. The new one is awesomely cool. Chromed with a glass top that looks like granite.

It’s open. Still some work to do as it has no changing room yet. That is being used as a storeroom behind that blue sign. Clubhouse is open and can be used for booking out for private functions. Yep, this is looking good. One little downside is that to get to the pool you do have to walk through a quasi-building site, with loads of new units being built/finished off.

We really have done such a great job with the house. Thanks to YanYan, Mae, Mum and Dad for all the support for us to use remotely. You have been amazing thank you. We could not have done this without you, thank you. Now we can sit and chill in cooling sea breezes, under the umbrella shade and chill and chat. Love it.

Final few bits of artwork a going up. Very proud husband and wifey home-owners. Love our little place. It’s so more than a holiday home. This is literally home #2 Philippines.

More progression. We bought some fake plants to break it up a little. Not bad right? A few more have arrived since and sit at the front. So funny though, we put these out, and literally the next day our neighbour had bought about 4 more potted plants. Is there a competition going on? Too funny!!!

Love you our little house!

We sit on our terrace and look down to check the kids as they mess about in the playground next door.

We pop for lunch to the multitude of gorgeous resort hotels on the island. That’s not a bad spot for a bite to eat, is it? All about 20-30 minutes TOPS away from the house. Boy have we chosen well here.

And here is day #1 of the painting of the walls. Oh man!!! Piss off rain!!!

But then it begins and our main man Romeo arrives. It’s a big job fella. “Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art my paint..”

He was doing such a great job, he even drew a crowd.

Then they got really moving when his Junior apprentice joined him. Two craftsmen at work!!!

The finished article. Wow, what a difference that makes to the house. Blown away actually. The one niggly thing is now gone. Perfect with the tiles we chose and the furniture too. Great work Romeo, love it.

A few bits for Romeo to finish off, but this is the last picture prior to wifey departure back to Singapore. I am so proud of our little place and how cool she looks. Can’t wait to get back to her.