Just Back From Cebu City

If you noticed that I’ve not been very active in the last few days it was because I was in Cebu City. We left on Sunday afternoon and planned to return on Wednesday. Due to forgetting to take my passport and the battery charger for my camera and Jessie getting carried away shopping we stayed two extra days.

Busted Plans While In Cebu City

I’ll only partly blame Jessie because I needed to sleep till noon that day anyway. I didn’t get much sleep on Wednesday night and finally fell to sleep around 8am. Jessie and her friend Sheila left at 9pm to go buy groceries for the month. We don’t get everything in Cebu City but there are a few things we get from there. I also needed some medications from Chong Hua Hospital in Cebu City. Try as we might, we just can’t get them in Bogo City.

Problems with the pharmacy further led to our inability to check out by noon. So even if Jessie and Shelia hadn’t got distracted at the clothing store for two hours, we still probably wouldn’t have made it out. I only woke up at noon because the front desk called to ask if we would be staying one more night. Since check out time was noon, I said we would be. Jessie and Sheila were not back yet, in fact, they were still at the clothing store!

That explains why I ended up staying much longer and now on to the story. I’ll be posting several articles about this trip to the Philippines based mostly on places I visited. So now I’ll get on with it.

On Monday, I realized we had forgot my passport! It is time for an extension. It was a major reason for making the trip. I decided I would just return home on Tuesday.  Jessie suggested that instead she would return to Bogo City to get the passport and battery charger. I couldn’t take many pictures without the battery charger as the battery in my camera was dead. I didn’t wish to see the sights of Cebu City without my camera.

When we first arrived in Cebu City, we went straight to SM Mall to pickup a package from Johnny Air Cargo that I had shipped from the USA. What I wanted most was Effexor but I also really wanted a book I bought on how to use a Canon Rebel XT. I took two Effexor that night. The next day I was a total waste. I had no idea this stuff had such a powerful sedative effect.

I managed to get out of bed after about 13 hours of sleep. I didn’t leave the hotel room until around 3Pm when I hit the Cebu City streets to take pictures.  Jessie and Sheila were on a marathon shopping session which I wanted to participate in but just couldn’t not come up with the energy or brain function to do. I was pretty bored though alone.  No computer, boring TV so around 3pm I decided to walk around the block.

I thought I would be walking down Colon Street but as I discovered I was at the end of Colon Street just before it turns into Osmena Boulevard.  Colon Street is the oldest street in the Philippines and perhaps the most pick pocket rich street in the Philippines as well. On my walk, I had encountered quiet a few street vendors which I love to take pictures of.

Of course, I’m also found of tracking and photographing the common but sometimes elusive Filipina. After taking the picture above, I turned around and spotted these three common Filipina of uncommon beauty. Well not uncommon for Filipina but for most of the world.  These three mostly tried to pretend they didn’t notice but he one in the middle gave it away and the one closet to the camera also seems to be aware presenting her best posture. I say Filipina are often elusive as they are often shy. I saw them coming so I had time to get the camera up and snap the picture but just barely. They almost got away un-captured.

I didn’t have to walk much further before I encountered several vendors. My favorite of which is this simple picture of the peanut vendor. She had her head completely covered with the garment in her lap in the picture. I wanted to get it her all covered up but she was too fast for me. It is still a nice  photo of a Cebu City street scene.

I also ran into some flower vendors, I wanted to buy Jessie a rose but since I was afraid of the pick pockets, I left my wallet at home intentionally. I never managed to get back by there but I did buy her a rose on our last full day in Cebu City.

It was a very steamy day and I soon found myself completing the short walk. I walked around the block adjacent to CebuView Tourist Inn.

Not long after I arrived it started raining so I was glad I made it back in time. With the rain approaching it was even more humid than normal and I was soaking wet from my own sweat. Something that was pretty much normal for me the entire time I was in Cebu City this week.

While in the City I crossed off some of the Cebu City landmarks that I had not made it too. These are places many hit as soon as they arrive in Cebu but I was slow to make it to some of them. In the next few days I’ll be writing more articles. I’ll likely write an article about each location but I might combine some. It depends on what I have to say about the locations.

Cebu City Landmarks Visted

The Cebu City landmarks I went to see on this trip do include some that I’ve seen many times.  Some that I have never seen before. Here is the list:

• Colon Street
• SM Mall
• Fort San Pedro
• Taoist Temple
• The Tops
• Lapu-Lapu Shrine
• Basilica del Santo Nino
• Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral 

[View with PicLens]

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Tagged with: Cebu • Cebu City • In the Philippines

Filed under: Living in Cebu

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