Kumusta, Cebu!

* Pardon the dates on this blog, totally off since I'm blogging subsequently a few days after these events have happened and opened earlier posts on blogger then updating here.

So exhausted!

After leaving Baguio at 12:15 in the morning on the 10th, being on a bus for 5 hours, waiting at a bus station and spending a few hours collecting myself for departure for Cebu, the lethargy hit me hard on this last (ah! sad!), overseas adventure throughout Cebu and Bohol.

Our first day in Cebu was spent lounging around and exploring the 500 meters surrounding our hostel, Sugbutel. This place is actually one of the nicest places we've stayed while traveling that we've actually paid for.

... yea, the view's not quite the best but hey, for $5, come on!

Our beds

The house rules. Guess I can't parade around in my undies.

SM mall was basically the only place we went to on our first day, where we had our dinner and went travel agency prospecting for a day tour spent in Bohol, a nearby island. I hate to be naive about the Philippines as if I've never seen poverty and dodgy areas before, but I felt somewhat scared to be walking to and from the mall. I know on the surface people may appear threatening or areas may feel that way when in fact, they may exude the opposite, but sometimes I can't seem to shake this conditioned feeling when around such places. The constant beeping from the Jeepneys, random people peeking through gates and "shhhhhhhhuuuth"-ing us and overt onlookers made me feel a tad bit nervous. And although Lara and I have tried very hard to blend in, there still seems to be the letters, t-o-u-r-i-s-t visibly written all over us.

Our second day, Lara and I had breakfast at SM (it's seriously hella close, about 500 meters and we didn't want to bother getting hustled by taxi/jeepney drivers when trying to eat elsewhere) and discussed our itinerary for the next few days. We were specifically trying to figure out how to go about our Bohol trip since the tourism here isn't as easily accessible and well-developed like Thailand's. During our breakfast, the universe spoke to us in matching white tourist shirts that read, BOHOL worn by a couple passing by. We decided to talk to them and inquire about how they organized their trip to the island...

Within a few minutes, we were looking through helpful maps and exchanging numbers with Shane and Mark, our new friends! They were so kind enough to hook us up with an English-speaking tour guide they met while they were on their own tour there. At that moment, I had to give my thanks to how awesome the universe works in attracting the right people into our lives... especially those who help save us $$$!

After finishing the tour arrangements over the phone with our Bohol tour guide, Shane and Mark were keen on letting us join in on their excursion for the day on Mactan Island (a smaller island very close to Cebu). I felt incredibly relieved as my Tagalog or Cebuano (the dialect spoken in Cebu... that's somewhat motor-sounding to me) for that matter could be embarrassingly incoherent and tragic, really. Haha. There was only one sight that we visited for the day which is the Lapu-Lapu shrine and spent the remaining going back to SM and another mall called Park Mall. Lightweight mall-ratting, I guess.

Pictures from our day:

Meet our friends! Shane & Mark, a lovely couple from Baclaran near Manila

Lapu-Lapu, the courageous warrior who killed Magellan (ahem, who is known to have "discovered" the Philippines and Christianize it)

The girlies

After we roamed through the Lapu-Lapu memorial park, we spent a few hours at a nearby restaurant, sharing travel stories, eating tasty Filipino snacks packed in our bags (hopia, Chippy and Rasinettes!) and looking through old pictures on their laptop and Lara's. I still could not believe how genuinely helpful these two were. I love how helpful people are to total strangers, seriously...it really further reinforces good karma, in my opinion. =)

Ah and to add to the positive energy, a man with a beautiful harp came up to play a few tunes.

Take a look at this:

That's all for our adventure today. Stay tuned for tomorrow's craziness!