Disclaimer: No psychedelics were involved. 😅
In my last post, I showed the sunset in Malapascua Island which served as a backdrop to my reflections on reaching our highest potential as the ultimate goal in life. I went in a bit deep but now we're going the fun route as we explore a very lively spot on the island.
My girlfriend and I had so much fun during our Island Hopping experience and although we did a lot of swimming, we still had a lot of energy to expend.
When we arrived at the island, I remember two locals telling us that there was a place where live music played every night. The name of the place was Villasdandra. When we went to our resort, we saw a sign that said Villasandra Guest House Vegan & Veggie Restaurant. We didn't know where to eat dinner and since Villasandra was near our resort, we decided to go there even though we're not really a fan of vegan food.
After freshening up, we headed to the restaurant. There was a flight of stairs going inside the place and the first thing I noticed was that it was so dark and there were so many things hanging from the ceiling. I was having second thoughts about going in but then when we went further inside and stayed in their foyer for a few minutes, they turned on the lights. The place was like a set from a movie!
The colorful neon lights and the dream catchers gave the place a hippie psychedelic vibe to it. All the furniture was wood and there were paintings everywhere. Their walls were covered in murals. There was a jellyfish painted on a wall with the words, "Dream high as the sky and deep as the ocean." Paintings of an enlightened monk (or maybe it was Buddha) and Lapu-Lapu were hanging on the wall near their comfort room. There was so much stimulation for the eyes!
Although they turned on their neon lights at their entrance, the place was still quite dark. We looked for a table and sat down and a waitress brought us an oil lamp for better illumination. The place was so weird and interesting at the same time. I felt like I was in a witch's den! We were the first people who came in and as more people arrived, I grew more comfortable and at ease.
Their tables were low and we had to sit on the wooden floor. They gave us pillows to make it more comfortable and then the musicians started to get on the stage and assembled their band.
The band started playing and the mood was set. This was a tropical island party! They had wooden drums and chimes, and the vocalist was good. I was glad we decided to go there.
The waitress gave us a menu and we had to use our phones as flashlights in order to see their food selection. They all had vegetarian food and honestly, we just wanted to have our fill after doing so much from the day.
I ordered their vegetarian sisig. It tasted good and juicy. It was far from the original pork sisig but on its own, it was enjoyable. Eating in the dark was difficult and I just trusted my other senses and my hands in getting the food to my mouth. For my drink, I ordered their spirulina lemonade. I couldn't really appreciate the color because it was dark but I knew what spirulina looked like. The drink tasted, well, healthy.
After finishing my dinner, I ordered some beer. The band was playing music we could sing along to and I was sitting there with my girlfriend while enjoying my drink. This was a real vacation!
An announcement was made that there was going to be a fire dancer performing. The band stopped playing and the fire dancer brought a stick burning in each side. I went in front and recorded him performing.
The video below shows the start of his performance. He had little space to perform but he was able to execute his moves well.
He took off his clothes and changed his prop to two 'whips of fire.' Shockingly, he lost hold of one and threw it to one side of the restaurant. No one was hurt though but I was a bit scared he was going to mistakenly throw the fire at us.
He was able to recover and continue with his performance. Watching him and how he handled the fire was hypnotizing. The music picked up its pace and so was the performer.
He changed his prop again and walked through the crowd while holding it.
The highlight of his performance was how he made the 'staff of fire' turn on its axis while moving it around his body. It was exciting to watch.
As a finale to his performance, he donned a blindfold and did his moves again without seeing anything. I've never seen a fire dancer up close before and I was so impressed by his performance.
After the fire dancer was done, a DJ replaced the band and announced that the dance party has started. The people were hyped up from the fire dancer and from their drinks. Many were dancing around and enjoying themselves. I think we just stayed at our table. The dance party ended so soon because the place had to close already.
My girlfriend and I were pretty tired and we were glad our resort was close by. We took our well-deserved rest after doing so many things on our first day.
That's it! I'm really enjoying writing about Malapascua and all the things that we did. The trip is still not over and in the next one, I'm going to share my favorite beach on the island. Stay tuned for that.
See you in the next one. Cheers!