As far as holidays go, the Lunar New Year is the biggest holiday in Asia. While Christmas is skipped, everyone in Vietnam benefit from 5 working days off bridging over two consecutive weeks at the end of January. This year, Anita and I decided to spend our extended break in the Philippines. For the occasion, we were meeting up with my sister and her partner, as they were escaping the Canadian winter to enjoy the South East Asian tropical weather. They have flown all the way from Ottawa to meet us and join the adventure in Cebu.

If you have ever traveled through Asia, you probably noticed that the live music scene is dominated by artists from the Philippines. It is simply in their blood, Filipinos love to sing and they are proud of it. For one thing that we have noticed during our travel, every time there was music playing in a restaurant, a taxi, or a mall, it was always great hits from the 70’s or 80’s. To top it all, no matter where you are, it is almost guaranteed that you will come across someone singing or humming just for the fun of it. On Netflix, there is even a recent series called “Happy Jail” showcasing a prison in Cebu that has decided to implement a choreography program to help with the discipline of the inmates. Every when the water truck stops in the neighborhood to deliver potable water, music is playing while every household sends a family member to fill a bucket or two. Music seems to occupy a central role in the culture of the Philippines and there is nothing wrong with that. I won’t be the one to complain, as it changes from the extremely loud bad karaoke.

Cebu Pacific Air

While my sister and her partner had the luxury to enjoy plenty of baggage allowance on a fancy airline, Anita and I were limited to 7kg per person for having chosen the low-cost airline Cebu Pacific Air. This airline policy states that for any checked baggage, the traveler must claim it at the carrousel and then check it back at every segment of the journey. Having a very short 90-minute layover in Manila, it would have been impossible to pull off, considering we needed to get through the border control and security one more time. While I am sure the 7kg challenge would have been impossible to overcome for most tourists going on a two-week vacation, Anita and I are now experienced travelers and successfully accomplished it. And so, with a minimalist 14kg in total - including all of our photography gear - we flew to Cebu to begin the adventure.

Cebu City

We landed at the Mactan Cebu International Airport at 5:00 am. Despite a single hour time difference between Vietnam and the Philippines, we still reached our hotel completely drained from the redeye commute. While Sophia and Ahmad landed the night before, their jetlag was pretty much fixed. After a short nap, we were ready to take on the city and visits its few landmarks.

Jumalon Butterfly Sanctuary

First stop, the Jumalon Butterfly Sanctuary. At the entrance, we were greeted by a very young lady. While her appearance made us believe that she couldn’t possibly be over 10 years old, she evidently knew a bit too much about butterflies for it to be true. Not only this, but she expressed herself in flawless English. While the young lady recited her oral presentation, my sister - who doesn’t keep her mouth shut (it’s a family thing!) - couldn’t help but to satisfy her curiosity:

Sister: “Did you learn all of this in school?”, my sister asked.
Young Lady: “No, I’m in Senior year of social studies school.”
S: “How old are you?”, she said.
YL: “I am 19 year’s old.”

While the tour was rich in information, we didn’t see many butterflies. As it turns out, the sanctuary is an open-air garden which allows butterflies to come and go as they please. The reason for it is that the foundation doesn’t want to interfere with their natural traveling and mating cycle. That or it’s not a real sanctuary. In fact, it was more of a private museum slash art gallery ran by the founder’s descents. I remember that the butterfly garden Anita and I had visited in Kuala Lumpur was much more impressive as far as the number of butterflies and diversity of species we had seen. We learned nonetheless about the founder of the sanctuary, Julian Navarro Jumalon, and his passion for both butterflies and art. While butterflies were the main reason for our visit, the Jumalon Museum, Butterfly Sanctuary and Art Gallery is in fact a private museum, art gallery and nature reserve run by the Jumalon Foundation.

Taboan Public Market

Right after a very informative tour at the sanctuary, we hopped on a taxi to the famous Taboan Public Market. This market is well-known for selling many Filipino delicacies, including the almighty Danggit - a salted, sun-dried rabbitfish (or spinefoot), which is abundant and native to the island’s shallower waters. The fish are split open, cleaned, salted, and spread out on drying racks under the sun. Danggit is popular among locals as breakfast food, fried and paired with eggs, rice, and atsara (pickled unripe papaya), with a vinegar and chili dip on the side. Apparently, Cebu is quite well-known for it. One of my Filipino friends saw an Instagram story I had posted showcasing a basket full of danggit, and guessed immediately that I was in Cebu.

The smell of fried dried fish first thing in the morning might be off-putting to some, but judging by its popularity as pasalubong (“pah-sah-loo-bong,” gifts to hand out after a trip), Cebuanos love waking up to the pungent, sea-salty crunch of it. Unfortuantely, our cab driver didn’t share this thought, as he didn’t even want to trop us near the market’s main entrance. He dropped us a block away from the market and asked us to quickly open, exit and close the car doors behind us before the infectious smell go to his interiors. A bit paranoid if you ask me. To me, visiting a local market is the best way to get to know a local culture. See what they eat and you will understand a lot about their history. We must have spent an hour walking around the alleys and guessing what merchants had on display. Sophia, my sister, took it to the next level while interviewing the booth owners on what to use dried shrimp for in the local cuisine. As it turns out, it’s a condiment that is abundantly used on almost everything!

Fort San Pedro

After the market, we took a cab to Fort San Pedro - a military defense structure built by the Spanish under the command of Miguel López de Legazpi, first governor of the Captaincy General of the Philippines. It is located right in the pier area of the city, in front of the Independence Square. Before entering the Fort, we noticed a large crowd of teenagers occupying the square for what resembled a social activity. A closer look confirmed the thought, as we saw groups practicing different choreographies for who knows what competition. We enjoyed observing them for a while and noticing how serious these youngsters were to perfecting their dance moves. It must really be an important competition to sacrifice a hot and sunny Sunday for rehearsal. We evenexchanged a few words with them, and ended up taking a few photos with some of them who were brandishing props in the shape of the letters of their beloved city: C-E-B-U.

After the brief photoshoot, we entered the fort. The main entrance serves as a museum displaying some of the historical events of the foundation of Cebu. When in Cebu, it is almost impossible to pass through without being exposed to some sort of historical facts about the famous Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan and his influence on the city. Passed the main hallway bringing to the inner garden, there is nothing much to see or do, except walking around the stone mortar structure and its elevated terreplain where guns are mounted. It only took us a few minutes to visit the Fort. Then, we went for lunch to yet another proud landmark of the Philippines: Jolibee. I’m only half-joking, as friend chicken in the Philippines is a serious business. You will find it at every corner, and locals eat it with pride.

Tops Lookout

As the sun was about to set, we thought we’d climb up the highest point of the island to enjoy a wonderful view. We found a taxi that would bring us there at reasonable price. Nothing much to do up there besides contemplating the Cebu skyline. Although the fortress-like viewing deck is often advertised as one of the top attractions and the grand-kept secrets here in Cebu City, reality is that Tops Lookout offers nothing more than a view that could be outranked by a number of other Asian cities.

After the sunset, we had difficulties finding a driver to come down. Many taxi drivers waiting at the peak were asking unreasonable prices for a ride down to the city. Another affordable option was to hire two three-wheelers - the Filipino Tuk-tuk - but, the price difference was so slim that it only made sense to hire a car where four people would be seated comfortably. After a few rounds of negotiations, we found a driver. Only, on the way down, we understood why prices were so jacked up: traffic jam! It must have taken us 90-minutes to come back down on a ride that only took us 20 on the way up. The traffic was so bad that we even considered hopping out of the car and walk along the road.

Sugbo Mercado

At the time we got back to the city, it was dinner time and we already knew where we would spend the evening. Earlier that day, we had spotted a yet-to-open street food open air hall named Sugbo Mercado. How could we possibly go wrong with this? Choosing a street food market in the ways of a hawker center would ensure everyone would find something for their taste. We reached the market short before it opened, which allowed us to beat the queues, as the Sugbo Market is a very popular destination among local Cebuanos. As expected, moments after we had placed our orders, the place was packed! Although the market only operates from Thursday to Sunday from 5:00pm to 1:00am, wee had the pleasure to pay it a visit twice. We enjoyed it so much that we couldn’t miss on a second occasion to stuff our faces with that delicious fire-grilled tuna steak. On that second visit, the place was still packed while there was some sort of event going on. Did somebody say Trivia Quiz Night? Anyone who knows me also knows how much I love trivia games. My sister is no different than me. So, we teamed up and played against other tables. A few rounds later, we ended up winning the game with a grand prize of drinks vouchers to be used at the market vendors. Score! We felt bad to have beaten the runner up team on a tie-breaker. So, we offered them to split the prize. Though, they wouldn’t accept. Filipinos are very humble and hospitable by nature. For them, it was inconceivable to steal a prize away from guests in their country. What a refreshing behavior!

Lunch at Entoy’s Bakasihan

On the next day, only one thing was left to visit in Cebu City, and it was Entoy”s Bakasihan. The now famous thanks to Netflix’s Street Food episode on Cebu. We reached the coastal hut right on time for lunch to try out his famous Nilarang Bakasi (Sour Stew with Reef Eels). We found a free table among the 16-seats shack, but no menu. At Entoy’s, what you eat is what is prepared in bulk for the day. Nothing fancy, no special favor. On this particular day, the menu looked a little something like this:

Nilarang Bakasi (Sour Stew with Reef Eel)
Cebuano Ceviche
Pickled Octopus
Sour Fish
Plain Rice

Not everyone was convinced about the eel soup, so we decided to order a portion of each dish and test it out sharing style. To be honest, it was not our cup of tea. We didn’t really enjoy it, and didn’t understand what the fuss was about. The Netflix episode did mention that the shack was famous for helping impotent couples conceive with his magic potency potion. This is what made Entoy famous over the years in the local community. Today, the shack is operating by his progeny, as it evolved into a family business. Although we were not really head over heels with the culinary experience, we ended up meeting Entoy, who showed up to salute his family. We waited for all of his grandchildren to pay him respect, and then took a group photo with him. Apologies, Entoy, for not having candy with us! It would have been our pleasure to share them with you!

Moalboal

On Monday morning, we checked out of the hotel in Cebu City and took a coach bus to Moalboal. It took us about 3 hours of commute to reach the region that is known to have an outstanding marine life on the south-western tip of Cebu Island. Freshly out of the bus with our backpacks in our hands, a handful of tricycle drivers accosted us to try and get our business. Now, this isn’t my first rodeo! Before getting any further, let’s get inside the tourist information office before us and ask a few questions about the surroundings. The workers at the office informed us about the few spots to sightsee, what to do in the evening, and how much should we expect to pay in order to reach the Bed & Breakfast with had just booked while on the bus. It might stress a few people not to book every single night in advance before reaching the travel destination, especially on a high season such as Chinese New Year. Anita and I always booked as we traveled, and never really encounter any major issue. Sometimes, it actually served us well to be able to inspect the facilities before making a decision. After all, we have been cat-fished before! Our two travel buddies were surely not used to this kind of travel, but they did enjoy the flexibility it gave us. To be able to stay longer in an area if we enjoyed it, and leave earlier if we had done everything there was to do is simply priceless.

The weather hasn’t been great for our first two days in Cebu City. It was mostly raining, which got us worried about the rest of the trip. January is clearly outside of rainy season. So, it could only be a temporary situation. As expected, soon as we arrived to Moalboal, we could feel the climate difference with a clear blue sky and hot weather. Moalboal is a known tourist destination. Despite it being very small, it is frequented by quite a lot of backpackers in seek for the tropical experience. There is nothing much to do per se in Moalboal, but from there you can easily reach a number of exciting activities within a one-hour radius driving. Consequently, our first mission after checking into our bed & breakfast was to hire two scooters for two full days.

White Beach

While Anita and I are very accustomed to driving a two-wheeler in Asia, Sophia and Ahmad had never driver a scooter before. This made me a little bit nervous. We nonetheless paired up by couple and headed (very slowly) to White Beach to catch the sunset. Right from the start, I could see my sister’s nonexistent bike skills as she gave too much gas on the start and then tried to brake with both her feet. Uh oh…! Luckily, White Beach was just around the corner. It only took us a few minutes to reach it on an empty road. We reached the beach right in the golden hour. I might be biased, but this particular beach did not have anything special to offer. Just a nice sandy beach, that’s all. Now, I am aware many people would give it all to be able to enjoy beach time. I admit it, Anita and I are lucky to live in South East Asia. We left short after the sunset.

Panagsama Road

If you are looking for the “backpacker” experience, Panagsama Road is the place for you. It is the “hot spot” location where all mass-tourists gather after dark for food and drinks. You will find countless pubs serving overpriced western fast food and imported beer on tap. You will also find souvenir shops selling those elephant pants and be attracted to one of those tourist trap counters trying to sell you a “tour”. My experience in Asia taught me that Asia’s version of a tour only includes hiring a private driver to bring you from sight to sight, but still need to pay for all admission fees. Yeah.. Panagsama Road is pretty much the “ass hole” of Moalboal. If you are accustomed to my blog, you know well that I am no fan of such places, as they don’t allow for a true local cultural experience. IN other words, this is where you would find the tourists, not the travelers. We tried as much as possible to avoid this area, but truth is that it is the only location in Moalboal with actual restaurants. If not for Panagsama Road, we would have probably had cold sandwiches at 7-Eleven. Perhaps with an Ube-flavored soft ice cream cone. What is Ube, you might ask? While asking the very same question to the 7-Eleven clerk, he just repeated “It’s Ube! You don’t know Ube?” Well, thanks for the insightful definition. Later on, we found out that Ube is Tarot, the Asian purple yam. As said, Panagsama Road gets busy and ugly at night. Walking back from the road end, we could see masses of tourists getting smashed at Irish Pubs. Lucky for us, our Bed & breakfast was located a few kilometers away from Panagsama Road. Otherwise, I am not sure we would have slept much with the constant noise going on.

Kawasan Falls

I remember seeing several offers on Panagsama Road to go on a Canyoneering Tour at Kawasan Falls. As you can imagine, the asking price was ridiculous, and as we all know, only covered transportation. Since we already had our hired scooters, all we needed to do was to wake up early to beat the crowd at the falls. Better said than done… While Anita and I normally wake up early and hit the road with.our pre-packed bag from the night before, Sophia and Ahmad didn’t develop those reflexes yet. Slowly but surely, we left our accommodation around 9:00am and reached the falls around 10:00am. We parked the two bikes at the parking lot, paid the very cheap entrance fee and went on for a short 15-minute walk along the river until we reached its source. The first thing that struck me was how unnatural the sourroundings of the falls looked. There were restaurants, picnic tables and lockers all around the lake, and even a buoy cable to ensure no one would get too close to the falls. People started approaching to rent out one of the tables. Now, why would I pay to rent out anything at a natural sight? It had already started to be crowded at the bottom of the falls, so we decided to walk up to the a secondary smaller lake in an attempt to beat the crowd. Little did we know, the top of the fall was equally busy with large canyoneering groups. Although we tried to enjoy the falls, the peacefulness of the water flowing through rocks into the reservoir was disturbed every 3-minutes with a fresh group of noisy jumpers. We stayed for about two hours until it got overwhelming. We then drove off to a seaside restaurant for lunch. It was a small shack perched over turquoise waters. Beautiful view and delicious seafood. From there, we found a quiet beach where our quartet could enjoy a peaceful afternoon swim.

Boat Trip

Had this being our first rodeo, we would have probably ended up overpaying for transportation to the sights Cebu has to offer. Luckily for us, we didn’t fall for any of the traps, as we had our own scooters to drive around the peninsula. We found out that these tour counters act as middlemen between us customers and the tourist information office. We ended up dealing directly with the office and got ourselves the flat fee prescribed by the Ministry of Tourism. Joke’s on you, backpackers! The next morning, we drove off to the tourist information office to join a day trip on a boat. If only we knew that the course of the day would drastically change over an accident. Halfway through the drive, a motorbike three-wheeler driven by a local man and his friend signaled a left turn with his blinkers. Just when he started tilting left, I engaged to pass him from the right. And then… boom! The driver changed his mind unannounced, turned back right without hesitation and slammed us on the side of our bike. While I remained untouched, poor Anita absorbed most of the shock on her left foot that was placed on the passenger footrest. She was in pain. Instantly, the driver pointed to his blinkers showing he had signaled a right turn. We knew he lied and switched it to avoid getting in trouble. This sneaky bastard! Pretty clever, as I am sure most people wouldn’t have noticed. But, we did. Not only I, but Sophia and Ahmed who were following us on their own scooter. We started complaining, but there is only so much you can do while in a foreign country. Things can turn sour real fast if we lack respect or if locals feel attacked. So, we simply asked for an apology, which we got, and left the premise.

Anita, still in pain, had just been in contact with a rusty metal structure. While she assures me that she is up to date with her tetanus vaccine, I insisted on going to the nearest clinic clinic to administer an extra precaution shot. Better be safe than sorry! After bouncing from clinic to clinic, we finally found one that could help. We waited about two (2) hours before seeing the doctor. When our turn came, a family of locals still tried to pass us in line. These things happen all the time in Asia. For some reason, it always comes down to the locals coming before the foreigners. Unfortunately, we won’t change this. We just have to accept this reality. The doctor administered the shot, prescribed a few antibiotics and received the payment in cash. Fifteen (15) minutes later, we were on our way. Anita insisted on keeping the plan to go on a boat trip amid her recent injury. None of us had any issue with falling back our accommodation and chill all day. But, Anita wouldn’t have it. I am not sure if it’s because she would have felt bad to change everyone’s plans because of her, or because she wanted so much to swim with sea turtles. The whole group knew very well that this bad luck was not her fault, and none of us would have blamed her for it. There is nothing wrong with taking a rest day while on vacation. We would have been perfectly fine with staying at the Bed & Breakfast playing cards all day.

As you can imagine, once we reached the tourist information office, we got confirmation that the tourist booth prices on Panagsama Road were complete scams. The officer explained to us that the prices were fixed and that each boat has a tail number. The allocation of a boat is made following a sequence to ensure everyone has a fair chance of earning from tourism. With our group of four (4), we were able to hire a boat for ourselves for 2,500 PHP (compared to 2,000 PHP per person on Panagsama Road). Before embarking on the boat, the officers sat us in their office and ensured to brief us on marine protection. I was very impressed with that… until later in the trip.

Pescador Island

The boat trip offered different stops through the half-day expedition. First stop was at Pescador Island, an island located in the Tañon Strait, a few kilometers from Moalboal. the area was practically empty for us to enjoy snorkeling in clear waters. We were all geared up and ready to discover life under the sea. Beautiful bright colors on rare fish, Anita sure felt like one of the prides of Denmark - H.C. Andersen’s world-famous Little Mermaid. We must have stayed about 45 minutes enjoying the underwater views, but the main attraction that brought us to book this trip was the Sardine Run. So, we decided to shorten our stay at Pescador Island to have more time capturing moments at the main attraction. If only we knew…

Sardine Run

The sardine run was the most anticipated part of this boat trip. Unfortunately for us, it was the also the biggest deception of this experience. Don’t get me wrong, a sardine run is definitely impressive and it is hands down one of the most beautiful natural beauties I’ve ever witnessed. However, just like any other natural beauty, it is only as beautiful as how us humans treat it. I was naively expecting a virgin sight for us to enjoy in silence. How foolish of me! Instead, we found loads of boats with intertwined anchors, masses of scuba divers in shallow waters, and large groups of tourists who don’t know how to swim. But rest assured, if you don’t know how to swim, they will still bring you to the sardine run wearing a life vest and holding on to a paddle board. Yes, that’s right! Picture a group of ten (10) holding on to the same paddle board and looking down into the abyss… Except, it was not only one group. It was more like thirty (30). Basically, there was no way to swim more than two (2) meters in any direction (including up and down) without bumping into someone. This was very frustrating!

Sea Turtles

We managed to escape from the mayhem at the sardine run to favor a more peaceful area. Finally, we could enjoy turquoise shallow waters with no one around us. Short after throwing the anchor, one of the crew members yelled: “Sir, turtle!”. We jumped out of the boat with our fins on and swam in direction of the sea turtles. Everyone was so excited to be able to witness such beauty away from tourist masses, especially Anita for whom it was her first time see one swimming in its natural environment. Her first time was in Sri Lanka, when we visited a turtle sanctuary. It sure is impressive to witness a giant sea turtle laying eggs. But, nothing compares to actually swimming alongside one.

We came back from the boat trip and drove directly to our Bed & Breakfast. We checked out, changed, handed back the scooters and hired a three-wheeler to bring us back to town. Time was running out to catch the last bus to Cebu City. When we reach the town, the bus was already there and ready to leave. Our super driver had more than one trick up his sleeve, as he parked right in front of the bus, allowing us to unload our luggage from his vehicle and hop onto the next. The coach couldn’t leave without us. Not his first rodeo! We reached Cebu City at dawn. With an early departure to Bohol the next morning, we had purposely booked a hotel just around the corner from the bus terminal (only 5-minutes away by foot).