The Philippines: Part 3: Cebu & Bacolod City

Be Resort and Mactan Island from the wharf

I am not really sure why we stopped off in Cebu but I am glad we did as I was able to meet up with some friends and I also managed a short visit to the bird sanctuary on Olongo Island. As usual our dealings with taxi drivers and others were very unpleasant but here I learned that "Put the fucking meter on!" works fine! We stayed at Be Resort on Mactan Island, next to the Hilton, a very nice hotel but over  twice our normal budget. Other than robbery I am not sure I understand the logic of a taxi driver who says that there will be no customers over there so he proposes to dispense with the meter and charge us three times the normal rate. I told this guy he was in the wrong job! I mean why do they have meters!?

The tricycle taxis on Olongo were trying to charge 120 baht from the ferry to the bird sanctuary, about 7 kms. I apologised for being white, explained there was nothing I could do about it and said I would happily go back to Mactan Island and nobody would earn a peso from me.

Here you have the real problems of developing the Philippine tourist sector. Some of the people tourists are mostly likely to encounter and deal with are often crooked and dishonest. For me it has been the biggest downer of the whole trip.

Anyhow I had a lovely ride down to Boljoon on the south east coast of Cebu and met up with some buddies and we had a fine meal in a German owned restaurant. Cebu looks beautiful and worthy of serious attention. Easy access to Bacolod by air and good links to other locations. Must say I didn't really spend any time in Cebu City.

We hopped over to Bacolod on Thursday morning landing at the new airport and met Luna's father, Boy, her sister Nenen and nephews Jason, John and Paolo. The new airport is operational now and what a difference it makes. Our passage to Sum Ag, Luna's home, was much easier and they have surface the road.

On Friday we went to Nenen's wedding. An interesting ceremony to say the least with the Honourable Judge who presided over the gig telling us what a wonderful institution a civil wedding was in The Philippines because unlike in other jurisdictions only a man and a woman could get married. He was very proud of the fact that in the Philippines a man and man or a woman and a woman could not get married! So homophobia is alive and well in the institutions of this country!

Benedict and his lolo and cousins

Alas I am suffering from some excruciating lower lumber pain and I can only walk with great difficulty. Don't ask me what happened but I have had to cancel my plans and have been holed up in the hotel. It is very comfortable however and the staff are really great. If you ever visit Bacolod stay at the Circle Inn, it really is outstanding. We stayed at another pension with no water and power outages, a friendly cockroach or two and no service. The Circle Inn has everything including a little swimming pool and is clean and tidy and comes in at 20 PHP cheaper at 980 PHP. Highly recommended. The back ache explains why the blog has been updated. Let me assure you I am in real pain here!