Cebu City

My introduction to Cebu City was through the docks which are not her best side. I hopped in a taxi and asked for a certain hotel (I forget the name) he said it was no good and that I should stay at another. Getting in this taxi was my first mistake and my second was taking his advice. When we showed up at the Hotel de Mercedes the jerk wanted 150 Pesos for the taxi ride. I looked at him and asked “What does the meter say?" “No meter sir.” I told him that it was a rip-off and that he should be ashamed of himself. He was suitably shocked, and I paid him. (Truly it was a rip off… should have been a third of that.)

The Hotel de Mercedes is a block off of the main drag of downtown (not uptown) Cebu City: Colon Street. I don’t have any photos of Colon Street because I did not feel comfortable walking around with a camera. It has to be one of the most (if not the most) disgusting places I’ve been. Dilapidated, unpainted cement buildings covered in grime, dirty smelly air, sex industry establishments, dirty begging people following and touching. I had set out to get on the Internet and get some food, but I gave up. Not because I could not find either… I just could not handle either. I saw the sign for the Internet access place, but could not bring myself to go down that ally. I spent a day at the hotel with the air con on and Hollywood movies. I took my meals down in the hotel restaurant with the older European men and their younger Filipino girls. I only stayed here one night. It was truly a strange experience.

The next day I was able to meet up with Jeff Hopp, a friend from my days at Microsoft. Jeff, Melissa, Keri and Jay were in Cebu City for the opening of a new call center there. It was so great and strange to see familiar faces in such a place. They were staying at the Shangri La Resort on Mactan Island, which is the site of Magellan’s death in the Battle of Mactan on his way around the world. It was fun and relaxing to hang out with Jeff et all by the pool and on the beach. Jeff and I took a snorkeling trip, which was amazing. Jeff has photos, which I hope to be able to share at some point in the future. For now, some photos of us drinking will need to suffice:



View towards Cebu City from the Shangri La:

Bundok

The word boondocks (see http://dictionary.reference.com/search?r=2&q=boondocks) became a part of the American lexicon after GIs returned from the Philippines post WWII. In most Filipino languages bundok means ‘mountain,’ and in the Philippines there are many mountains. In Alaska boondocking means to go to uncharted country; trekking off to where nobody else goes. Portions of the Philippines, I have been told, have yet to be mapped properly… they are the domain of the jungle; monkeys are still kings in some places. Some of the islands are so rough that tribes on opposite sides of the islands speak different languages that are incomprehensible to the other tribe.

I wish that I could write to you about some true boondocking, but I am truly not ready for that. Perhaps after I’ve got some Tagalog under my belt, and don’t feel like a fish out of water when out and about in the Philippines I’ll go off for some rural Philippines experience. For now my trip from Boracay to Cebu City will need to suffice.

I took a pump boat from Boracay to Caticlan and jumped on a bus to Iloilo. This six hour bus ride cost me just over $6, it was one of the best investments I’ve made while in the Philippines. The grossly underpowered bus chugged along gorgeous beaches, rocky cliffs, jungle and terraced rice paddies. Green everywhere!

The trip was like a venture into many of the movies depicting Vietnam. Most of the movies regarding the Vietnam War are filmed in the Philippines, a fact which Filipinos are quite proud of. Scenes of rice terraced carved out of the bamboo, palm and vine jungle from movies seemed to be displayed before my eyes. The only thing missing was the big beige hats on the bent workers in the patties; Filipinos wear old shirts over their head.

I had thoughts of staying the night in Iloilo along the way, but as soon as I was there I knew I wanted to move on. I arrived in Iloilo at 4:30 and was on the over night ferry to Cebu by 6. The ferry was not entirely uneventful: I got a massage onboard. At the end of the message the woman asked me if I’d like a ‘happy ending.’ I looked at her, apparently my confusion was evident… she grabbed my nethers and shook them. “You want?” She shook her head, my eyes grew large and I shook mine – the opposite direction she was shaking hers.

I arrived in Cebu the next morning rested and knowing which way to shake my head after a new question.

Rice patties along the road:

Boracay

The day after Thanksgiving David, Kellie, Matt and several other expats from Manila meet in Boracay for the weekend. We flew from Manila to Caticlan on Panay Island, which is not much more than an airport and boat terminal, then got on a pump boat to Boracay. When you arrive in Boracay be sure to be wearing shorts because the boat drops you off about 15 feet from the water’s edge.

Boracay is a little island: a couple hills several kilometers apart with a narrow strip of sand and jungle running north-south between them. White Beach is on the west (leeward) side of the island, and is probably the best-known beach in the Philippines. Clear, shallow, blue water bordered by fine white sand stretches for 3 kilometers. At the top of the beach, behind several meters of palm trees, is the sand path that is the pedestrian thoroughfare running by resorts, restaurants, dive shops, etc.

While in Boracay we did things appropriate for a tropical island: read books on the beach, swam, sunbathed, ate, drank cocktails while watching the sunset, etc. Matt finished up his scuba certification, princess 1 (Kellie) and princess 2 (Rachel) had a day at the spa, and I had three days of kite boarding lesions. For the five days spent there I have the following: a bit of a tan, scars on my knees from being dragged across coral by a big kite, a higher chance of developing skin cancer, a card that says I still need kite boarding lesions, and some very nice memories.

When it was nice out I was not towing my camera… so there aren’t allot of pictures of my stay in Boracay:

Sand castle on White Beach:


The sunset reflected in clouds:


Rainstorm from my hut:


White beach: