We went to Batangas for a weekend rife with all sorts of experiences, from encounters with the RUDEST people who blared their atonal karaoke singing at full blast at the expense of the other guests in a specifically no-karaoke zone, to the weekend being cut short because of prickly sea urchins resulting in a very swollen toe (not mine) that needed lots of vinegar and piss.  So vulgar warblers and spikey invertebrates aside, it was an interesting weekend (relaxing was NOT the word for it) — I learned to tweet and update FB on my mobile phone, we got to watch an ocean view lightning storm, learned that it’s no good going to the beach up to 3 days after a storm because the shores will be littered with TONS of garbage, and gathered some really quotable quotes:

Quote # 1: (Overheard on the beach) “Ay, kamukha niya yung DJ, si Chico, pero FAT version.”

Quote # 2: (Kids singing while catching dulong with a kulambo) “Ala eh pa pa pa pakerpeys…pa pa pakerpeys…”

Quote # 3: (Older lady to a little boy) “Usher! isuot mo na panty mo!”

Quote # 4: Old man: “Ano nangyari diyan, sea urchin? Wala yan, di ka mamamatay diyan. Ako nga malapit nang mamatay…”

It’s as if we were sucked into a vortex of weirdness, like a surreal “Through The Looking Glass” moment.  I almost half-expected to see the Mad Hatter or The Queen Of Hearts or Tweedledum and Tweedledee popping up from behind the bushes.  And to top the whole weekend off, we saw, amid all the trash, the silt and the other sludgy flotsam, something I’ve never seen before in the decades I’ve been going to the beach.  This slinky-like bunch of egg-looking things, strung together and then wound in a cylindrical manner.  For sure they’re eggs, but of what?  Here’s a picture from above the water:

The whole mass was about 1-2 meters long, and it looks as if someone took a really long string of pink eggs and wound them around a cylinder, then took out the cylinder.  Here’s a view from underwater:

And here’s as close as my camera could focus:

I’m pretty sure they’re just eggs of some fish, but they just look so bizarre and I’ve never seen anything like it before.  So any marine biologists out there? Kindly take me out of my misery and enlighten me with the true identity of these wonderfully odd-looking strings of pink eggs.  I can almost imagine some gay oceanic “hello kitty fish” emerging from those fushia orbs.  I’d love to know what they actually are.

Anyway, I’d like to have a more “normal” weekend getaway again soon, minus the garbage, the karaoke, and the catty comments regarding my weight, thank you.