Scribbles Abroad

It was an 8hour bus ride back to Manila.  Personally I don’t mind riding the bus, it’s actually a great way to see the countryside and mingle with the locals.  As long as they make a bathroom stop every couple of hours, I’m a happy camper.  From Manila we flew to Cebu on Cebu Pacific Airlines.  There was no charge for our boards as long as we were under the 15kg/person weight limit.

Cebu Pacific Airlines

After getting our bags we headed outside to catch a cab into town.  The airport cabs are always way overpriced.  They charge a standard price of 450pesos ($9) for a ride into town.  We only had to walk a few meters past them to find a cab that would take us into town for 300pesos.  Lonely Planet recommended Hotel De Mercedes in Downtown Cebu, but our driver told us that wasn’t a very nice hotel and that it was a little pricey.  He took us just one block up the street to Hotel Tuxedo.  Our room was small but comfortable and the price was right.

Hotel de Mercedes

Downtown Cebu is not the nicest city, especially not the area we were staying.  Our hotel was located in the red light district of Cebu.  We were definitely not the typical tourists for this area, which were usually older white males in search of a much younger Filipina.  Everyone seemed to stare at us as we walked around the town that evening with the look of what the hell are you doing here?

Cebu night market
There was some sort of night market that had taken over one of the main streets.  They were selling all sorts of strange foods including Balut (fertilized duck egg), strange meat on a stick, fish, shellfish, fruits, and blended juices.  The blended juices looked really good so we gave them a try and were instantly hooked.  You could pick from fresh mango or cantaloupe blended with crushed ice.  They were so delicious and at only 10pesos each we had to get two.

Juice lady in Cebu

The next day we headed to the Carbon Market, Cebu’s oldest and largest produce market.  It was suppose to be a short jeepney ride from our hotel but we had no idea where it was and got a jeepney that was leaving the market instead of going to it.  Not a big deal though.  We just got off, crossed the street and got on another jeepney going in the opposite direction.  We were there in no time.

Carbon Market

Rows and rows of stand after stand selling different types of vegetables, rice, live chickens, fish, meat, clothes, fishing supplies, street food, slippers, shoes, and purses to name a few.

Houses near by the Carbon Market

Our lunch: stir fried green beans, pork adobo, pork guisado, vegetable lumpia, and fried eggplant
Next we caught a jeepney to a mall and had a look around for a little while.  It was more like a five story department store than a mall.  Each floor selling men clothes, women’s clothes, kids clothes, furniture, hardware or food.  We were ready to head back to the hotel and decided to catch a cab because we really had no idea where we were.  When we told the cab driver where we were going he chuckled under his breath and started driving.  He drove us around for 10 minutes and ended up dropping us off a block away from where we got in.  Then he wouldn’t give me my change.  I was a little pissed off at first but it was only a dollar or two and in the end it was pretty funny.

The next morning we were more than ready to get out of Cebu and continue or journey to Siargao.