Philippines Beach Vacation
I finished off my trip to the Philippines with a three day vacation on the tropical island of Cebu, about an hours flight from Manila. On the way there I happened to sit next to a Chinese businesswoman on the bus and then again on the airplane. We talked for a good amount of time and I told her how it was my first time on my own and that I was a student at CUHK. She then offered to have her personal driver give me a tour around the city of Cebu and Mactan Island. I was shocked by her generosity and refused at first, but gave in after she said she would be resting for a few days because she was jet-lagged from Los Angeles and wouldn’t need him anyways. On the way to my hostel (my first hostel experience!), she was telling me about her family and mentioned that she is the aunt of Kim Chiu! Kim Chiu is one of the most famous Filipina actresses, so I asked her if she could tell Kim that I said “hi”. Basically....KIM CHIU KNOWS I EXIST! I feel so lucky to have run into her. She went out of her way to make sure I was safe and enjoyed my short trip to Cebu, which I am extremely grateful for. Everyone I encountered on my trip to the Philippines treated me like family and I will always remember all that they did for me.
Tour of Cebu City
The first place we went on our tour was the Taoist Temple, perched on the hills of Cebu City. The temple was beautiful and gave me a small preview of what I would see in China.
<><><><><><><
It wasn’t very large, but the architecture was very intricate and the landscaping was amazing. We actually were told not to take pictures of the specific shrines, such as the one on the left, but I managed to sneak it in before the guards noticed.
We then headed towards downtown Cebu City, where many relics from the colonial Spanish era still remained standing. On the way we crossed Colon Street, the oldest road in the Philippines. The traffic wasn’t as bad as Manila, but it was exactly easy to navigate because there were hordes of people in the streets. We stopped at Magellan’s Cross, which is dedicated to the early explorer Ferdinand Magellan, who died in nearby Mactan Island in a battle with natives. If you can recall, Magellan travelled all around the world before dying in a battle in the Philippines. His death and the defeat of the Europeans are a source of pride among locals because they considered the first battle between Asians and Europeans to be a victory for Asians. He was killed by Lapu Lapu, who was a warrior and is regarded as a national hero for stopping the European advance.
<><><><><><><><><><
Outside the monument there was a poster dedicated to the Hong Kong residents killed in the Manila bus hostage crisis. I noticed that most of the flower bouquet stands had been knocked down and picked apart, so I gave two begging children 20 pesos each to help me clean up the memorial. I h-a-t-e giving money to beggars, but I figured it was the right thing to do for the memory of the innocent people killed earlier in the week. Also, when I was outside the monument, some people asked to take a picture with me. They offered to take a picture of me in return so I accepted. However i didn't think they would jump in on the picture on my camera...
Fort San Pedro, a very old spanish fort, was right down the street so that’s where we headed next. I showed them my student ID and i got 10 pesos off the admission price (25 cents- yay for being cheap). It only took about 10 minutes to walk around the perimeter wall of the fort and I managed to get some pretty decent pictures as well.
<><><><><><><>
It was interesting how many Koreans visit the Philippines and it seemed that the fort was full of multiple Korean tour groups. After Fort San Pedro, we headed a few blocks inland to the Basilica del Santo Nino, a very old Catholic church. Since it Sunday on a three day weekend, the church was packed full of people. There were even people in grandstands outside for mass. Santo Nino is basically the same as any other basilica, except the church complex had a really wide plaza for outdoor services.
<><><><><><><><>
I didn’t stay at Santo Nino for too long because of the crowds, plus I was pretty tired and felt like going back to the hostel. When I finally checked in, a young woman from Poland invited me to tour the city on foot so I joined her on a really long trip downtown. We stopped by a couple of malls and bought some sweets, which included chocolate cake from Goldilocks and dried mangoes. We also tried to get into a casino, but were too underdressed. By the way, the Abercrombie and Fitch shirt I was wearing, I purchased for $3 at a market.
<><><><><><><>
We walked around downtown for a while and then ate dinner at Jollibees, where I showed her how Filipinos eat.
Tour of Mactan Island
On my second day in Cebu, I decided to travel to nearby Mactan Island. Mactan island is the adjacent island to Cebu where the airport and most of the nearby beaches are located. The most famous resort is the Shangri La, which is this really fancy hotel with a private cove. I was able to pass off as a guest and went down to their beach. The water was really warm and there was an abundance of tropical fish.
><><><>
Since I hadn’t really spent much money on food in Cebu I decided to go all out and eat lunch at the Shangri La. The buffet was $30 and most items on the menu were around $20, so I bought the cheapest thing possible- a club sandwich. Although it was a really good, I don’t plan on spending $12 on a sandwich again any time soon. After lunch, we headed to the other famous resort on Mactan Island, but stopped by the Lapu Lapu Monument for a photo.
<><><><
As I already mentioned, Lapu Lapu was the famous warrior that killed Magellan in the battle between the europeans and the natives. Next was the Plantation Bay resort, which is famous for its lagoon-like atmosphere. The entire hotel is placed on or next to man-made lagoons that are clean swimming pools. The lagoons are large enough to accommodate kayaks and had small sand islands.
<><><><><><
Many of the hotel rooms even had docks to tie up the canoes and stairwells to get into the lagoon. The nicest suites were place in the middle of the lagoons! After Plantation Bay, I went back to my hostel and relaxed for the remainder of the trip. Although I was only there for less than three days, I’m really glad I made the trip to Cebu because it was good to relax and see the natural beauty of the Philippines.
