The Last 60 Hours

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After another four hour bus ride we arrived back in Cebu City at around dinner time on July 7th. I knew my trip was winding down and this filled me with feelings of both anticipation and dread. Cebu City is not known for its culture or character, but we had come here looking for more excitement than tiny Malapascua Island could offer us. On Malapascua we had met an older Australian guy who offered to meet up with us in Cebu and show us the town. We met him for dinner and got our weekend in Cebu City started.

Cebu City is the second biggest city in The Philippines but is still fairly undeveloped and incredibly cheap. For dinner we each had two big racks of ribs with potatoes and vegetables, split a big appetizer platter, and had two beers each, and it came out to 800 pesos ($16) total. If your math skills are shaky that is approximately $5.33 each for a massive dinner and multiple San Miguel's (The National beer of The Philippines).

Our Australian friend was a nice guy but a little sleazy to say the least. He was 42 years old and had four ex-wives scattered across Asia. He explained to us how he used online dating websites to meet attractive young Asian women looking for a date/husband. He would then take them out to dinner a couple of times and one thing would usually lead to another. Like I said, kind of sleazy, but he was our only friend in Cebu so we followed him to something The Philippines is known for; bikini bars.

A bikini bar is essentially a strip club but instead of getting naked, the girls walk around in bikinis and challenge guys to games of pool. They also of course will eventually ask the guys to buy them drinks, but at first it seems like just a game of pool. Our Aussie friend admitted he had somewhat recruited us because two young and good-looking (His words) blonde guys would get a lot of attention. Boy, was he ever right. Almost every other guy at the bar was 50+, fat, and bald, so when we walked in we attracted a LOT of female attention. It was awkward at first, because we were just sitting and having a drink while lots of girls blatantly stared at us. Eventually some came over and started talking to us and we ended up having a good time. We played pool, bought some drinks, and left to check out some other bars after a couple of hours.

Our whole weekend in Cebu City might sound pretty sleazy but really there isn't much else to do in Cebu City. Put it this way, even the main disco is probably composed of 60% working girls so to put it crudely, don't hate the player, hate the game. I am always interested in seeing the true side of a city or what a city is known for, whatever that may be. If I go to Amsterdam I am going to smoke weed, if I go to Las Vegas I am going to gamble, if I go to Cebu City I am going to visit a few strip clubs. If anything, we should blame the U.S. military whose off duty soldiers helped turn the major cities of The Philippines into hotbeds of sex tourism. Alas, I diverge. So after a few bikini bars we went to a sports bar at 2:30 A.M. to watch the World Cup semifinal between Germany and Spain. We ended up watching a boring first half before leaving to check out the aforementioned disco.

The next day we took in the few sights that Cebu City has to offer. Cebu City is where Ferdinand Magellan was killed by local tribesmen after becoming the first person to circumnavigate the globe. This is commemorated as is Magellan's Cross, a large wooden cross that marks the spot where old Ferdinand initially converted The Philippines to Christianity. We also switched hotels on the night of the 8th, as our initial one was completely booked. We bought some souvenirs and then had dinner at Mr. A's , a restaurant on a hill that overlooks the sprawling city. The view was incredible and in Toronto would most certainly come with the cost of $30 plus entrees. In The Philippines, our panoramic view came with $3-6 entrees of generous portions.

The night of the 8th was fairly similar to the 7th in the beginning but we were tired and headed home relatively early. The 9th was relatively uneventful as it consisted of us killing time waiting for our 6 P.M. flight back to Manila. To fill in for these mundane days let me give you two other interesting quirks about our time in Cebu City.

1. In Cebu City there are guys on the street who sell Viagra and Cialis to people walking by. They seem unaware of the main demographics who need these drugs though since me and Sean were offered them several times.

2. In every bikini bar we went to we would hear that Baby song by Justin Bieber multiple times. This is undoubtedly the biggest strip club song in The Philippines at this moment. I found it ironic that a 16 year old from Stratford, Ontario is providing the soundtrack for every single seedy bar in Cebu City (A place he has almost certainly never heard of).

We flew to Manila and I bid Sean goodbye, and also decided to not spend the last night of my trip in a generic airport hotel. Even though I only had twelve hours before my next flight, I headed into another foreign city one last time. I didn't do much other than check out the famous Manila Hotel and enjoy a final Filipino dinner. I can't say much about Manila except that it is one of the few places on my trip where I did feel unsafe walking the streets at night.

And on the 134th day of my trip I woke at 3:15 A.M. and got in a taxi for my 6:30 A.M. flight. The taxi driver, noting that I was early, asked me if I would be interested in a girl for an hour. I laughed, told him no, and wondered when I would hear that again. Then I flew to Nagoya, Japan, Detroit, and finally home to Toronto. My first view of my continent was the snow capped peaks of the Rocky Mountains descending into the endless prairies.

Note: Although this is the last official entry of this blog I will be posting an epilogue in the next week or so. This will highlight some interesting statistics about my trip and give me a chance to reflect on it. I will also include my favourite fifteen pictures of the entire trip.

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Photos

Bearded in Cebu
My beard at it's lofty peak.

Fort San Pedro
Spanish Fort still standing in Cebu City.

Jail Cell
Sean is locked up.

Magellan Statue
Such a great man died in such an unremarkable place. Sort of like Kennedy in Dallas.

Magellan's Cross
The original cross is supposedly encased inside the wooden one that is on display.

Restaurant View
Overlooking the city.

Manila Hotel
Like many in Asia, Manila Hotel is a classic that these days seems faded. I think this picture encapsulates this perfectly.

The Champagne Room
The first time I have actually seen a "Champagne Room". I did not inquire as to whether sex is allowed inside.

Manila Hotel Entrance
The Philippines can be very dangerous so every hotel guest and visitor has to go through a metal detector each time they enter the hotel.

Japan
The only picture I have of my brief time in Japan.

Reunion
The three of us in my backyard, a couple days after I got home.

Comments

[taz]

more of the philippines!
There is more of the Philippines than bars. Too bad these you will remember about the country. You should have headed to Boracay. A 45 minute from Cebu. I agree nothing much to see in Manila and Cebu except for the churches and some historical sites. It really depends on your likes. El Nido and Coron in Palawan are the most interesting places. Diving with the whalesharks in Donsol and trekking the rice terraces in the north are well worth to visit and could be a memorable chance of a lifetime! Hope you can come back and see more.

[az]

good blog. am surely gona check the bikini bar.