The Philippines: Cebu

We decided we wanted a beach vacation, and what better place to go than a tropical island? Cebu had been spoken of rather highly, so we made our choice and went. We flew in on an overnight flight and were picked up by our resort service for the two hour ride to the resort. This was my first look at the Philippines, and it was interesting. It's 2 AM, and there are people, young and old, all over the place. And not just hanging out in bars or something like that. They are walking and sitting on the edge of the road (and I don't mean side of the road, I mean the edge), playing basketball, hopping on and off the tricycle taxis. It's 24/7 here! I'm somewhat used to this in Seoul, but Seoul is a huge city, Cebu Island is not. I'm really not sure why I found this so surprising, maybe because there is nothing for them to be out doing like there is in a city, but I was really surprised.

tricycle taxi

We arrived at our resort after all this gawking, and Alegre Beach Resort was awesome! It was gorgeous with excellent service and I was glad we made a good choice. Of course we opted for an ocean view room and I loved sitting on our patio listening to waves.

our cabana

the view

On our second day in country we took a Cebu City tour, and it can best be described with pictures. A thousand words, you know.

Magellan's cross, planted by his crew in 1521. The original
is purported to be encased inside this one.

Basilica Minore Del Sto. Nino, 16th century. A "miraculous" religious relic 
was said to have been discovered at this site the church was
built on. 

inside the church

Fort San Pedro, date uncertain. Interesting history.

Heritage of Cebu monument. It's very large inside a 
small fenced area; difficult to take an all encompassing
picture of. It shows major scenes from the island's history.
Completed in 2000.

Chinese Taoist temple

Overview of Cebu City from the temple site.

During the two hour drive to the city, I was able to see quite a bit of the island. I can't speak as to all of the Philippines, but this part seemed very poor. I cannot describe how it made me feel. It was very humbling to see how little they had and think about how blessed my family is. I saw people bathing in a ditch, little children running around naked, a girl at a hand pump pumping water presumably to take back to her house, open air school houses, and in Cebu City we were accosted by this little girl begging who refused to let us close the van door until a policeman came for her. It was heartbreaking. After all this, we went to a big, American style mall for lunch and shopping. It was quite a contrast.

random roadside pictures

Most of our time in Cebu was spent at the pool or on the resort's private beach, so we didn't get a real feel for the community of Cebu, which I do regret. I did meet a family who lives in Cebu City and had come to the resort for the weekend and she told me a little bit of information. She spoke of how English was so prevalent in the Philippines now that many of the children barely speak the native language anymore, including her own, and how everything was becoming so Americanized and she felt like they were losing their traditional heritage. It was sad. I did get to try to some traditional Filipino dishes from the excellent hotel restaurant, one of them being kaldereta kambing, or goat stew. First time I've ever eaten goat meat. I think this may be popular in Cebu as I saw many goats during our riding time. My favorite was pancit sotanghon guisado, which is a noodle dish.

I immensely enjoyed our vacation here, although the heat is intense and I was glad to get away from it! We did some snorkeling around the resort's fabulous house reef where we saw giant clams and electric blue starfish, among many other tropical creatures. We visited a nearby sulfur hot springs and also took a boat ride and were able to see some amazing flying fish. And we relaxed, which is, after all, what vacations are for!

Times Square

Times Square is a very Western style shopping mall located in what looks to be an older section (Yeongdeungpo) of Seoul. Most shopping areas in Korea are still street market style, and underneath this mall there is also a massive underground shopping market. Street markets can be fun, but sometimes, at least as an American female, you just want to meander through the mall. This is a very wide open mall, and wide open anything is unusual in Korea. It contains several very upscale stores, such as Cartier and Louis Vuitton, but it also has an E-Mart in the basement level (like a Wal-Mart), and everything in between. It is also attached to a Shinsegae department store, which is a dominant name in Korea. I went with a friend one day just to check it out, and we had a great time. My favorite store, UniQlo, is in here, along with my favorite dessert place: Krispy Kreme! Later in the week I took the girls back to the playplace they have in the lower level. 

Main atrium of Times Square Mall.

There are tons of restaurants in the mall. The girls and I ate in the food court. I don't think I've ever explained in this blog how Korean food courts work. There is one line that has the menus for all the restaurants located inside the food court. This line is where you order and pay, then receive a number that will be displayed on a large central screen and also on a screen at the restaurant where your food is ready to be picked up. This particular food court gave me a pager for each restaurant I had an order from; they are upscale here! This may be done somewhere in America, but I've never seen it before.

"I like Dalki" playplace.

Play place game center. Notice the boy in the fountain.
This pose is quite popular in Korea.

A bouncy rabbit.

Sign for the bathroom. He's a poo-poo head.

Sky park. A nice area to relax, view a bit of the city. There was no
one else up here, and it was a bit odd to see the city skyline
(not so much in this shot),  yet still feel alone in Seoul.

Sorry for the blurry picture. I love these little coffee shops they have everywhere in Korea. This is one example that I thought was absolutely adorable!