Cebu Adventures

Mabuhay! Finally documenting our Cebu trip in May 2019. Cebu is a beautiful place for lots of water and mountain-related activities. Canyoneering at Kawasan Falls was the highlight of the trip, but there were also some other activities to make the trip complete. We had to visit different parts of the island, namely the City, Moalboal, and Bohol. 

Here are some of the main places explored:

 -Moalboal-
Pescador Island
Kawasan Falls
Osmena Peak 

-Bohol-
Alona Beach
Chocolate Hills
Tarsier Sanctuary
Sipatan Twin Bridge

Day 1 was spent in the Cebu City Centre, chilling around and walking around the mall and watching some movie. Nothing significant about the city centre.

Day 2 - Pescador Island

To get to Moalboal from the city centre, we had to take a 1.5h car ride. But it was well worth it.

First activities were snorkeling and exploring the sea area at Pescador Island.

First up, we were just snorkeling around this area the boat brought us to.

Then we were brought to another nearby area to see the Sardine Run! There were SO MANY sardines swimming around this area it was surreal!

Next, we went to watch huge turtles swimming near the shore. But only saw one though. It was almost as big as a human! More details of this in my Cebu Vlog here.

Day 3 - Kawasan Falls, Osmena Peak

The next day, our itinerary consisted of the highlights of the trip: Kawasan Falls and Osmena Peak.

To get to the Falls, we were driven to a tourist center where we had to change into the appropriate canyoneering outfits and shoes - swimwear and canyoneering sandals. The tour guide provided them, but I would suggest you get cheap ones from Decathlon prior to the trip if possible!

First was a motor ride to the starting point of the activity, then trek up a distance so that we get to the area where all the wonderful rock formations are.

After that, it was a series of climbing over rocks and dipping into waters to get to different jumping points. For those like me, who are not wearing long pants, should be careful of knocking into the rocks while walking through the shallow waters as I got a few bruises from them!

There were a few significant jumps, namely the jump after lunch, the 10m jump, and the final 12m jump. I guess the first few ones were really to let us get used to jumping and honing our skills. 

Pro tip: jump straight, as free-falling into water means slapping against your thighs or butts. AND IT IS SUPER PAINFUL especially when falling from a great height!

Another pro tip: don't think, just jump. The more you hesitate, the scarier it will be.

I assure you, the first jump is hard, but everything is well worth it! Canyoneering details in my Cebu Vlog here.

After a fulfilling morning, we went to Osmena Peak thinking that it might be an easy climb since it is not very tall. But the terrain was pretty hard, and considering that I wasn't in proper footwear, and it was around noon (hottest time of the day!!!), it was such a tiring climb to the peak!

Had to take lotsa photos to make up for it you say? Well, think we were too tired to take much.

Day 4 - Bohol

Onwards to our next destination - Bohol. We had to take the ferry from Moalboal.

And because we had a tour plan for the whole trip, the guide actually brought us to a cave called the Hinagdanan Cave, pretty useless one I would say.

We thought that we would be able to see a nice beach or sandbar, but we were brought to Alona Beach. This was so crowded with tourists, and nothing much about the sand and sea we were more focused on the food the area had to offer.

Day 5 - Chocolate Hills, Tarsier Sanctuary, Sipatan Twin Bridge

Woke up bright and early today to visit a few Bohol attractions.

First up was Chocolate Hills, where it was quite underwhelming. We had to climb a flight of stairs up to the little hill, and from there, could see a view of the chocolate-looking nuggets, which gave this place the name.

After this touristy place, we were brought to the Tarsier Sanctuary which, is another touristy place in my opinion. Tarsiers are the world's second smallest primate, and it was my first time seeing one up close. Well, at least this activity gives people from Singapore a chance to look at other rare creatures that we otherwise would not normally see.

Next up, it was a short drive to Sipatan Twin Bridge, where we walked these 2 seemingly scary bamboo bridges. Quite fun I would say, but there wasn't much to do here actually, so this marks the end of our Cebu Adventures.

Would do up a next post on the FOOD in Cebu. Stay tuned!

Cebu Vlog here

Kudos by Headlines Hairdressing Review

It has been a while since I last went to the salon, and the frizzy unruly hair is really irking me. Therefore, time to look for Ken to save my tresses!

I went to him last year for a Mucota Algana Straightening with C-curls, and he has since moved to another salon this November - Kudos by Headlines Hairdressing.

Mucota Algana Straigtening with C-curls

This time, I decided to do Mucota Algana Straightening with C-curls once again as this really helps with the frizziness of my hair.

Just to let everyone see the disastrous state of my hair before the treatment:

Benefits of this treatment:

• Softer, smoother hair with a healthy shine
• More natural looking, not the usual rebonding flat and straight type of hair
• No harsh chemicals
• Tames frizzy hair
• Lasts up to 6 months or longer

In summary, these were the steps for my whole session at the salon:

1. Wash
2. Snipping off 6 inches (because a shorter hair length is more suitable for C-curls, and I wanted him to snip off my bleached hair ends)
3. Blow dry 
4. Apply the treatment prep cream
5. Leave the cream on for 20 minutes
6. Wash and blow dry
7. Straighten hair with flat iron
8. Put on curlers at the hair ends
9. Perm the hair ends for 20 minutes
10. Apply a liquid to finish off the straightening treatment and set hair
11. Leave them on for 10 minutes
12. Wash and blow dry

So there you have it. Look at what my hair looks like after the treatment:

My hair is so silky, frizz-free and easy to maintain now!

*For my hair length, the whole treatment costs $280 (incl. cut) + $70 (c-curls). Do check with Ken for your hair length and whether this is the most suitable treatment for your hair.

And if you are wondering if my hair still looks the same post-salon? 

Yes it does, although blow-drying your hair of course gives it more shine. But on days that I don't blow-dry, it looks nicely maintained as well. Just in time to celebrate the Holiday season!

Mucota Hair Products

And having tried Mucota shampoo before, I can attest that their products really does wonders to my hair. So I decided to buy a set of Mucota Little Forest series from the salon. There is 20% off their hair products now, and I even get a free Mucota pouch!

• Smoothing Botanical Scalp Shampoo
• Moisturising Botanical Treatment
• Botanical Veil for Wavy Hair

I absolutely love the scent from their hair products by the way. Makes me want to smell my own hair more lol.

Buying from an authorised shop will prevent you from getting fake ones online. I heard that some shops selling these cheap on Carousell have the exact same packaging, same colour, same smell, but effects are vastly different. Knock-offs are so commonplace nowadays we can't even tell the difference!

Do look for Ken f you need to get your Mucota products, or to create some magic to your tresses!

Kudos by Headlines Hairdressing

531 Upper Cross St, #02-08 HongLim Complex, Singapore 050531

Facebook

Instagram

How to look at Sapphires

I love all things bling. So when there was a chance to attend a Sapphire Appreciation Course conducted by Caratell, I was delighted and signed up straightaway. 

This post is not written by a gem expert, but rather, someone who has had little or no prior knowledge about gemstones, so just a disclaimer to experts out there, what you read on below might be more layman and brief!

Caratell is a Luxury Jewellery Store located at 20 Handy Road, Singapore, and have many prestigious accolades under their name, one of them being named the Top Ten Best Jewellers by Singapore Tatler. They specialise in bespoke jewellery design services and of course, Diamonds, Jadeite and Gems.

There are many different types of gems, categorised into precious and semi-precious: Sapphire, Ruby, Emerald and Diamonds fall under precious gems, while Spinel, Opal, Garnet, Peridot fall under semi-precious gems... the list goes on and on. There are various characteristics and factors in play when looking at different types of stones.

However for this session, we focus on what might be the most fascinating yet difficult gemstone to look at: Corundum, specifically Sapphire. 

Sapphire Appreciation Course

So the course starts with a theory session conducted by Archillea, followed by a practical session with Michael, both, founders of the store.

Colour

When you think of Sapphire, you might be reminded of the iconic Sapphire Engagement ring of Princess Diana (now Kate Middleton's), known as the Royal Blue.

Another colour which gem connoisseurs would love, would be the Cornflower Blue. Got this lovely picture of the shade of cornflower blue off the internet:

There's a misconception that Sapphires refers to blue gems, but Sapphires actually come in a spectrum of colours:

• Blue Sapphire
• Pink Sapphire
• Padparadscha (some sort of orange-pink colour)
• Yellow Sapphire

and so on.. A Sapphire in red colour isn't called a Red Sapphire, but rather a Ruby. 

Varieties

If you look around, there might be people talking about some specific varieties of Sapphires like the Star Sapphire, where you see an asterism in the stone.

There is also the colour changing Sapphires which exhibits 2 (in rare cases, even 3!) colours in different lightings.

These are 2 examples that Michael showed us under different incandescent lights. See the blue and purple?

And then for this: blue and pink!

Tools needed

First up, you need to learn how to differentiate 2 main things when examining a gemstone:

Synthetic or Natural.

2 very important and basic tools are needed for examining your stones:

• Refractometer 
• Microscope

A refractometer allows us to see the Refractive Index (RI) of a stone, and this can be a powerful tool to tell straightaway if a stone is a Sapphire. Just to give examples, Diamonds have single RI while Sapphires have double RI. If the RI falls into a specific range of 1.768 to 1.772, then it would definitely be a Sapphire!

And to further determine whether a Sapphire is synthetic or natural, a microscope will enable us to magnify and check for certain inclusions or characteristics.

Synthetic

There are a few ways that synthetic Sapphires are made:

• Flame Fusion
• Flux Growth
• Hydrothermal
• Pulling Method

Shall not go into details for that as this post might be super long by the time I'm done elaborating everything about Sapphires!

Inclusions

One of the easiest ways to identify a synthetic Sapphire, is to look out for Curved Striations in the stone.

Tried very hard to search a good picture off the internet but this was the best I could find. If you see somewhat curved lines like these in a stone, it is synthetic. However, I must say, it was difficult to find traces of curved lines in a stone, all the more so if it can only be found in certain areas of the stone, whereby you have to really twist and turn the angles to scrutinize every bit of the stone.

Natural

Majority (almost 95%) of natural Sapphires you see in the market are treated, as some sort of treatment enhances the colour or clarity of the gems. 

There are a few ways to do so:

• Heat
• Diffusion
• Glass filled

Sapphires which are glass filled can be seen as the lowest quality of them all.

Inclusions

There will be specific types of inclusions that give evidence to whether a stone is an unheated specimen more easily. 

These includes:

• Needle 
• Colour zoning
• Crystal
• Snowball
• Bubble
• Crack line

Here are some reference photos I found off the internet to let you understand how inclusions look like under the microscope.

Needles, crystals and bubbles are quite easy to spot, while sometimes I might mistake dirt or fingerprints on the stone itself as inclusions. Therefore, it is very important to clean the stone properly before examining it!

So there you have it, this is really just a simple summary of what I went through during the Sapphire Appreciation Course with Caratell.

And here's a cert I got from passing the test from them. Michael gave 1 blue stone to each of us and we had to determine whether that stone is a Sapphire, and if so, whether it is synthetic or natural.

My thoughts and opinions?

There is just so much more to gem appreciation, and I'm glad Michael and Archillea were so accommodating to educate us all about it. Found it very difficult to look at inclusions and differentiate them, especially so if the inclusions look ALMOST the same. 

The engagement ring of Princess Diana also opened the world to Sapphires and paved a whole new way for Royal Blue instead of the coveted Cornflower Blue. 

For the rest of us however, I believe that we look more at the overall design of the Sapphire jewellery piece rather than how little inclusion the stone has, or how it is cut perfectly etc. 

One thing's for sure, we must first learn how to differentiate between a synthetic or natural Sapphire in order to prevent buying knock-offs by inconsiderate sellers out there. Got a friend who almost got duped into buying a Sapphire at a price of a natural, but through the course, found out that the Sapphire the seller was offering turns out to be a synthetic.

And with more experience, we can learn to appreciate the many fascinating things from examining a gemstone. Am glad that Michael is one of those who is passionate on educating to ensure that the Jewellery Industry retains its lustre.

Do visit Caratell's website or social media to get more information on any other gem appreciation courses in time to come!

Caratell

20 Handy Road, #01-01, Nomu, Singapore 229236

Website

Facebook

Instagram

YouTube