Blogs from Cebu, Philippines, Asia - page 3

18 - 19 avril "This could be Heaven or this could be Hell" Hotel California, Eagles De retour à la capitale, je passe la journée à contempler les aquariums de l'Ocean Park, grand centre thématique sur les fonds marins. Spectacle de phoques savants et danse des méduses phosphorescentes. Ça occupera le temps à Manille cette visite... avant de quitter en avion ( avec Cebu Pacific) pour Cebu City plus au sud. Le trajet séparant le Z Hostel de Manille à l'aéroport prendra 1 heure de mon temps, prit en otage encore une fois par l'éternel trafic philippin. La route aérienne d'ici à Cebu City, elle aussi me volera 1 heure. C'est fou comment le rapport de temps vis-à-vis la distance parcourue est complètement déréglé ici. "Crazy trafic" que m'ont lancés presque tous les chauffeurs de taxi ... read more

Okay..for the 2nd part of my Cebu Trip, here's the complete details of my close encounter with whale-sharks. It was a dilemma between a day tour at Bohol or Whale-shark watching at Oslob for us on our 3rd day at Cebu. Of course we took in consideration the fact that most of my squads are not a swimmer. (Ahmmm..wait.. not sure about it maybe I'm just talking about my self?. Lol). But then again, due to limited time we decided to proceed to Oslob for a once in a lifetime experience. We have this joke about our trip that it was all about pushing yourselves to the limits.Push pa more! LoL( Did I got it right?) It was a very early morning travel for us since the 1st bus trip to Oslob is 3:30 AM. We ... read more

Sunday. A day of rest. But not when you're on a tight travel schedule. After a brief pit stop at the breakfast buffet (the highlights being cucumber lemonade and pumpkin pasta), Dean had us outside amongst the sights and smells of the city to go to the English mass at a nearby church! A taxi driver told us that the church was a short walk away. So off we went, obediently following the directions: straight through the first traffic lights and a right turn at the second set of lights. That plan was a spectacular fail. Hot, sweaty and bedraggled we found ourselves back at the hotel after jumping out of a cab that wanted to drive us around the city for a day. Our third attempt at finding a driver to take us succeeded. I ... read more

A 12:10am flight from Tullamarine to KL began this year's adventure. The pilot did the usual greeting then says something about turbulence and four hours. Was that turbulence for four hours? Turbulence in four hours? Eleanor didn't care, she had already contorted herself into a somewhat awkward looking sleeping position. The comfort pack, entertainment pack and meal arrive within minutes of each other and the cabin crew have also left behind chilly Melbourne and its pesky heating needs and switched to tropical mode; adjusting the air conditioner to what feels like the same temperature I just left in the carpark! And then the lights go off and we're expected to sleep for the next six hours or so. I'm basically awake for the entire duration waiting for the turbulence. Just a few little bumps but it ... read more

We flew into Cebu's tiny, one tarmac strip of an airport around 530pm. After collecting our bags we stood outside, in 90 degree heat, in the taxi line. Which was a nice change of pace. Usually we have to brave the swarm of drivers crowding us, shouting "TAXI! Where you go? TAXI! TRIKE!" However the line was moving awfully slow. We met another American, Ryan from San Francisco, and decided to share a taxi to our hostel Tropical Budget, located in the neighbourhood of Cebu City. Our 11km drive ended up taking over an hour due to the ridiculous amount of traffic going over the Marcelo Fernan Bridge. Across the bridge is where the children came out to press their sad dirty faces against the windows of our cab. Those devastating frowns ripped my heart to ... read more