We took Monday off and had a long weekend in Cebu. It is that time of year in HK where it is stinking hot and even more humid so most people either take extended summer holidays, generally in their home country (it coincides with the end of the school year here so it’s like the Christmas holiday break in Australia) or have weekends away.

As this was an escape rather than a cultural holiday, we didn’t leave the resort for the entire time. It seemed like it was quite empty so we asked one of the waiters if this was their low season. We were informed they were at capacity. Noticing our surprise, given we didn’t see very many people at all, he said that 70% of their target market are Korean honeymooners and they tend to either stay in their rooms (no surprise there!) or go into town to shop (very similar to HK tourists).

I passed my PADI Discover Scuba accreditation which can be used toward the ‘real’ scuba licence, which Mr Shallot and I are both keen to do. This one allowed me one dive after a couple of hours training.

Aside from the coral, I’m a bit flippant about that after many snorkelling trips at the Great Barrier Reef, we saw some amazing fish and giant clams. When we were about 8 metres under, we had a whole school of fish circling around us. It felt like I was a part of a National Geographic documentary. We even saw three barracudas. They really do look like lean mean carnivores. At some stages parrot fish started to peck on my body which was a bit painful at times. Apparently they thought I was coral which they eat.

My broken wrist related challenge was the fantastic dinner on Sunday night. I have been very mindful to only order food that I can eat with one hand / fork or that I could cut without needing to stick a fork in it. With this in mind, I ordered a dish that was ham, wrapped around ricotta cheese with eggplant.

When the dish was presented, I realised this was a two-handed task. Thinly sliced prosciutto was used and each of the four rolls was tied together by the eggplant. Great presentation but it rated an eight on the one-hand eating scale (unless I just picked each up with my fingers). I struggled through cutting the first one only to ask Mr Shallot to cut the others. Without his help, he would have finished his main while I was still on the entrée!

My countdown continues to the Opening Ceremony or The Cast Off as it has become known by friends and colleagues here. It is on the front page of the South China Morning Post everyday. Six days to go…

* Thanks to The Beatles (or more specifically, Ringo) for the title to this post. Wikipedia provide the story behind the song.