Shoot To Kill (Su Tu Kil)

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The Pool Bar

It's five o'clock in the afternoon in Cebu and I've been sleeping, on and off, for the last eight hours. My body tells me it's after midnight back in the Bay Area and so I struggle to get up and take a shower. I drag myself to the bathroom, looked at myself in the mirror, and felt discouraged by what I see. The effect of jet lag is evident in that ugly look in my face and I can't do anything about it. So I brush, shave, and take a shower. I felt a little better after the shower so I put a fresh pair of shorts, a clean shirt, and hiking shoes. I wear the shoes because I'm anticipating some walking in the streets and exploring the neighborhood.

I leave my hotel room and take the elevator down to the hotel lobby but then I realized that I don't know what or where to go. I don't have a map with me. My guidebook, the Lonely Planet, isn't very helpful as far as what I want to do, which is basically just to roam around in the vicinity of my hotel but outside of the confines of the Ayala Business Park. So I went to the pool bar of the hotel, which is just down on the ground level, one floor below the lobby.

It's nearly six o'clock in the evening but it's still hot, although the humidity has gone down a little bit. At least I'm not sweating like a dog like I did earlier in the day. There were a few kids, about six or seven of them, splashing themselves in the pool and having just a jolly old time. Their parents are lounging around in the lawn chair and sipping some cold drinks. The pool bar is just right, not too splashy, not over decorated, but comfortable and laid back enough to encourage me to hang around a bit and relax with a cold bottle of cerveza.

I order a bottle San Miguel from the bartender. It taste somewhat like Mexican beer, Tecate, Pacifico, or one of those watery types of beer from south of the border. I ask the bartender, a twenteish looking kid, what's going on this evening. He tells me there's an acoustic guitar trio singing traditional Filipino and Spanish songs. Well, how about in the city. He tells me there's a midnight mass, a tradition in the Philippines on Christmas Eve. I'm never in a mood for church but I thought this might be kind of interesting, a chance to explore and see something interesting. So I thought about going to the Basilica Minore de Santo Nino (tilde on the n - pronounced Ninyo) at midnight and witness this kind of spectacle, if I managed to stay up that late.

After a half hour of drinking two bottles of San Miguel I was ready to move on. I hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast so I thought about food and where I might get it. Again, I asked the bartender, and he recommends eating here in the pool bar, which has a nightly outdoor barbecue, along with the entertainment. I declined because I didn't want to be confined in this sheltered environment without having to step out into the real Cebu, with its gritty and grimy parts and all. The bartender was kind enough to give me some directions. He pointed to the pool bar entrance, then turn right and walk along Cardinal Rosales Ave until you hit Gorordo Ave. where you'll find many local eateries and barbecue stands.

I walk out of the hotel and into Cardinal Rosales. Adjacent to the hotel is a foot path that leads to the Ayala Center, a semi-circular looking building with a dome-like front structure. It almost looks like a capitol building but in fact it is actually a mall with the usual retail outlets like Tommy Hilfiger and Ralph Lauren. The parking lot is full and there are tons of jeepneys and buses coming in and going out. Just a few steps away from the mall are the designated waiting areas for these mass transport vehicles, and there are tons of people, kids and adults alike, either hopping in or jumping out of these gaudy looking transportations, and they always seem to be overpacked. Don't they have limits as to how many passengers you can cram into this boxy looking things? Probably not.

Gorordo and Gen. Maxilom Ave

I walk further down on Cardinal Rosales heading east and there's really not much to see. There's an open grass field with nothing but a lamp post but popular with young lovers who find nothing better to do but ass-grab at night away from their parents sights. Again, this amuses me because it's familiar and thus, comforting. The streets become grittier and grimier as I walk further away from the Ayala Business Park. Then I reach Gorordo Ave. This is where the real Cebu begins and fantasy island ends. I see kids and adults alike walking and running around shirtless, perhaps running errands or maybe just doing a daily chore. Sari-sari stores sit side by side barbecue stands, shanty like houses, and solid structures that look like legitimate business buildings. The air smells of both open sewage and the delicious aroma of

Litson Manok

, or barbecue chicken. It is exotic and nauseating at the same time, having those two extremes of smell, foul and delight, enter your nostrils simultaneously.

I browsed around in these rows of makeshift restaurants and eateries, most of whom are no bigger that a large closet, about eight by ten feet max. On a counter just outside these eateries are rows of covered pots and pans containing the local dishes. You just point at what you want and the proprieters will serve it up for you in some small table either inside or outside of these little places. There are also barbecue grills roasting up litson manok and other kinds of meats. I was tempted to try the food but resisted because I was suspicious of the meats, just from the look of the place. Instead I kept walking down until I reached General Maxilom Ave. From there I didn't know where to go but I was getting kind of hungry, the aroma of the street food working up an appetite in my belly. I had to do something, so I waved for a cab.

After five minutes of waving I finally got one and when I got in the cab I asked the cab driver to take me to a good, local place with good food. Not these touristy types but good authentic Filipino food, nothing fancy, but a good clean place where I can trust the quality of the food. He said " you like fish". I said I love fresh fish, the fresher the better. He said "do you want to go to a Shoot to Kill. What? Can you repeat that. He said slowly, "do you want to go to a Shoot to Kill. I said "not if I'm going to get killed. I just want to eat", ignorant that I am. My cab driver just laughed and assured me that no one was going to get killed, only the fish, and what he really meant was Su Tu Kil, short for Sugba, Tua, Kinilaw, which is grill, soup, and ceviche like raw fish, all in that order. I said sure, I'm all for it, so the guy took me to a good Su Tu Kil joint in Lapu-Lapu City, in Mactan Island, just across from the city of Manduae. It didn't take long to get there and the cab fare only cost me 60 pesos.

A Su Tu Kil is usually an open air dining type of place where you point to the fish that you want and tell them how you want it prepared; raw, roast, or stewed in tomatoes and other vegetables. It's usually a place where a large family will come to eat or groups of co-workers come to relax after work which turns into a drinking session late into the nights. Very seldom does a Filipino seen eating alone with no companion so I felt kind of odd, occupying a table for four with only me sitting to dine. I point to a large fish that looked like milk fish - bangus - and told the guy that I wanted one-half roasted, the other half marinated raw, or kilaw. I also got a bottle of San Miguel and a bowl of rice to go with it. It was the best meal that I've had in a long time. I can't remember tasting ceviche this good, not even in Mexico. It's not exactly ceviche, it 's got more of a local Filipino flavor to it, but I thought it was better, maybe because I think the fish was so fresh. It was caught maybe just a few hours before it was served. The roasted half tasted just equally fabulous, and even more so with calamansi juice and soy sauce. I ended up drowning three bottles of beer to wash away all that food. I was literally stuffed.

I ended up leaving the Su Tu Kil joint at ten in the evening. I flagged a cab and reached my hotel twenty minutes later. I wasn't sleepy yet so I hanged around the lobby bar, having a couple of drinks of scotch, before finally calling it a night. I totally forgot about the midnight mass.

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Photos

Lazy Sunday
Trying hard to get acclimated to the time change and the weather in paradise. It aint't easy.

Tight Security
Every hotel, mall, restaurant, etc. will have a security guard to search your bags and other pockets for weapons of mass destruction. A comforting thought.

Entrance to the pool bar
These steps leads to the palace of enlightment, or at least the Marriott's pool bar, which is basically the same thing.

All things Ayala
The Ayalas are multi-billionaires in this land where the gap between the rich and poor are as wide as the Pacific Ocean. They have a stake in just about every sector of the economy; telecom, electricity, real estate, transportation, etc. Naturally, they are non-native Filipinos, but of Spanish heritage, and have been carpetbagging in the Philippines since the colonial times.

Room with a view
This is the view from my hotel room. I'm sure it's disappointing for the dedicated readers and followers of this wonderful travelogue to see such pedestrian sights, but I did not want to walk around Cebu carrying a camera, looking like a dufus "Balikbayan", so you'll just have to settle for these pretty pictures.

Keppel Building
More obligatory shots, a beautiful picture of the Keppel building. I'm uncertain about the nature of their business.

Streets of Ayala Business Park
Last obligatory shot, I promise. The Ayala Business Park was developed by the Ayala Corporation, the carpetbaggers.