Scooby Dooby Cebu where are you?...

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...well you won't see Cebu in the pictures as we didn't take any. Our first blog with no pictures and the honest reason why is a combination of 3 things. The first being that where we were staying had a lot of dodgy people hanging around, the second being we were too lazy to take any and the third being that Cebu, like Manila, is not particularly photogenic and most of our time in Cebu was spent experiencing the Philippines various transport options!

Our ferry from Siquijor to Dumaguete was again a vomit-fest because of the rough seas and again we 'luckily' secured ourselves 2 benches to escape the nausea. By the time we reached Dumaguete, it was clear that both of us were coming down with a head cold. The 30 minute walk to the bus station (via Chow King of course for brekkie) did not help things and so when we were told by the unhelpful Ceres Bus Liner bloke that there were no air con buses leaving in the next 4 hours for Cebu we were pretty pissed off. So instead we hopped on a non-air con bus which was falling apart for the supposedly 4 hour journey to Cebu. On the bright side, it was 20p cheaper than the air con bus! What this bus lacked in air con was made up for by a speed-demon driver who'd certainly must have received a fresh supply of stimulants for the day. So we thought, great we'll get there in 4 hours no problem...WRONG! The bus took 2 hours just to be ferried across from Negros to Cebu and once at the other side the driver and conductor decided to have something to eat while all the passengers looked on hungrily. Despite our drivers attempts to speed up to Cebu at warp factor 9, he kept on getting stopped by wedding, funerals and cycling competitions (we made the mistake of travelling on a Saturday). Arriving into Cebu 3 hours late we had now been travelling for 11 hours via a trike - ferry - walk - trike - bus - ferry - bus - taxi combo. How is that for a journey? So the last thing Donna wanted was idiot transport porters pushing her around saying 'where you go, where you go?'. Yes, you guessed it, she used the good old swinging rucksack technique to clear a path.

Once getting into uptown Cebu, we were more than pleased to find ourselves a room at a luxury hotel which was listed as 'deluxe' rather than the usual 'standard'! After a week of very difficult travelling (as you have read on our previous blogs) we decided to treat ourselves and not only that, we knew of some good foot and body massage places which offered the massages at good prices 150 pesos (£1.50) an hour. In the massage place, Donna was quite taken aback when her pregnant massage girl asked if she was a missionary! Note that Donna, at the time was wearing a very short denim skirt and a strappy top, so we found this question hilarious. The same masseur also asked if there were vampires in London, yes we think her hormones were not making her think straight. Donna corrected her and said the only vampires in London are the taxi drivers and politicians! Apart from massages, Cebu offers 2 big shopping centres which of course we took a look at.

After the massages and a bit of retail therapy we made a quick exit for the island of Malapascua, located off the northern tip of Cebu. Again, however this would mean a 4am start and a taxi - bus - paddling boat - outrigger boat combo of a journey!

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