We kicked off the Chinese New Year with a celebration at the Mango Terrace in Guimaras. The Mango Terrace Pension Hotel, the former Shirven Hotel, is under new ownership and management. The establishment featured an all-you-can-eat buffet at 400 pesos a head, 8.50 U.S. Dollars, this past Monday evening to ring in the Year of the Monkey.
Read moreChinese New Year Celebration at Mango Terrace Pension Hotel in Guimaras
Snakes. I’m not fond of them. My asawa hates them. She has good reason. The backyard of her childhood home in Guimaras, our island province home, had banana trees that held dozens of pythons. But, thankfully, she has never been bitten by a slithering serpent. The same can’t be said for her dumb ass husband, the crusty old expat. I get my first snake bite in the Philippines.
I’m a simple man. I like my beer cold. And I like to drink in pleasant surroundings with a fan blowing a cool breeze on my fat face. I can have all of that and more, at the brand new Shirven Hotel in Guimaras, our mango island home province.
I was schlepping over to “The Compound” to visit our niece and nephew last Saturday. A scorching sun was handing me a shellacking but I had my trusty bottle of tubig (water) with me. Along the way, near The Shirven Hotel, I encountered a Philippines road construction crew on our island province of Guimaras. The guys took a break to mug for the camera as they saw me taking photos of the new highway improvements being done in our area. Here’s a few members of the crew in the following photo, one of the workers pretending to bash in the heads of his fellow co-workers with a shovel. Talk about violence in the workplace!
Read morePhilippines Road Construction Crew in Guimaras Mug for the Camera
The Kano’s prognosis? Fatty liver disease. Two weeks when the doctor over at the Centri Clinical Laboratory in Guimaras went over my abdominal ultrasound, which I had taken as a result of a recent kidney stone attack, I was clueless on what “fatty liver” meant aside from guessing I had fat in my liver. At the time. I was more focused on the doctor’s information about my kidney stones.
If you’re thinking of visiting the picturesque island province of Guimaras, consider a stop at The Shirven Hotel, pictured below, in San Miguel, Jordan. You’ll find affordable rates and a friendly staff ready to serve you. 
My patient and loving asawa and I haven’t gone out to celebrate the past four Valentine’s Day we’ve experienced since moving to the Philippines almost five years ago. But finally this year, we spent Valentine’s Day at The Shirven Hotel in Guimaras.
18 Candles. 18 Roses. 18 Treasures. My wife and I had been invited to the 18th Birthday celebration for Cousin Emma’s daughter, Kristine Ann. But when I saw the invitation and my name listed under the “18 Treasures” category, I asked my wife what was going on. 
Regular readers of this website, and those that have been with me since the early days of “The Rooster Crows at 4am!,” will know that I was a fairly regular visitor of The Shirven Hotel in Guimaras.
David, far left, Paul, and The Kano
Read moreRebirth of The Shirven Hotel in Guimaras in the Philippines