Greetings from Cebu

So the trip to Banaue was a doomed one. For various reasons(weather, accomodations, transportation) and mishaps in planning, our dream of seeing the rice terraces may never come to fruition - at least for now. We also wanted to see Palawan, but we aren't going there either. It's crazy how fast time flies, especially when you take 10 hr bus rides. I guess we could probably see the rice terraces, but then we'd cut out time for seeing family. And that's just not nice. Also, we had to make sure we had enough time to buy pasalubong aka gifts for you people back in the states.

So our "last" trip here is Cebu. People kept telling us we have to go to Cebu. So we went to Cebu. I really didn't know what to expect from Cebu, but I was excited nonetheless. Quick history note, Cebu is where Magellan first landed in the 1500's and the one and only Lapu Lapu is from Cebu. (there is actually a Lapu Lapu City) Anyway, I found (at first) Cebu to be much nicer than Metro Manila. It was less crowded, less polluted, and the cab drivers seemed less asshole-y. Carlos said it reminded him of Hawaii.

Cebu has white sand beaches and we went in search for one or two. We hired a driver ($20 for three hours) The front desk recommended a place called White Sands and another called Tamboli. When we got to White Sands, we found that it was resort and only had a little beach area...the water didn't look very tempting a far cry from the blue-green water we saw in pictures. We were disappointed, but the awesome pool there made up for it. After being hot, sticky and uncomfortable for two and a half weeks, this pool was heaven. I think I may have had the best burger to date there at the resort. It may have been because I was hungry or because I used banana ketchup instead of regular ketchup, but I swear the best burger that I've had so far is ironically in Cebu. Tamboli was also, to our disappointment a resort as well. It did have more of a beach and had more picturesque views of the water. I guess we were looking for a public beach paradise but we found that most of the beaches within reasonable distance are resorts.

Random stories from Cebu....There's a lot of Koreans in Cebu, so seeing the Koreans made us want Korean BBQ. We randomly and chose a restaurant and stayed with the safe choice of bulgogi and what looked like kalbi. The kalbi was fine, but the bulgogi was a different story. We're used to seeing bulgoki as a generous heap of thin strips of meat. This time, it was thin strips of meat in a soup with noodles and vegetables. Pretty weird but it is what it is. Carlos was playing poker at a hotel nearby and Manny Pacquiao walks in. I was jealous he saw him and I didn't and furious he didn't take a picture. We went to a spa and got these aromatherapy massages...the massages were great but what the highlight was, was that Carlos got violated by the masseuse (or so he thinks)

The last two things we did in Cebu was go to Carbon Market and the Taoist Temple. Carbon Market came recommended as a destination for Cebu City. And man was it an experience. I'm not sure what we were expecting, but Carbon Market was a simply a ghetto, open air market. On top of the deathly heat, there was lovely mixture of fish and sewage smells. I'm pretty sure we were the only tourists there. There was really nothing out of the ordinary sold at that market.. I tried to get Carlos to eat balut at one of the stands but he really didn't want to try balut for the first time in that crazy market. We left, empty handed, before the heat and/or smell killed us. The Taoist Temple was huge and pictureseque - for some reason you can use your camera, but you can't use a tripod. There's also a huge Chinese community in Cebu, so this place solidifies the establishment of the community. It was very peaceful there and we enjoyed watching people pose for their new Friendster profile pictures.

We wished we would've seen more of the beaches in the area, but alas we didn't. We made a promise to ourselves that when we return to the Phillippines, we will definitely come back to Cebu, but we will do it right...

Another random note, as a kid growing up in 90's, I didn't have the pleasure of going to a mall show. But at the ripe old age of 24, I went to my first mall show. And the star of the show was none other than Hansen. Me, Carlos, Hansen, and Hansen's merry band of superfans packed into a van and headed to Imus, Cavite for the mall show. It was nice knowing the star, because you get to walk around with security, stay backstage, and watch people get excited to the point of convulsions at the mere sight of their idol. Yes, for a couple of hours on Valentine's Day in a random town, Carlos and I were fame whores...