Guided Tour

Yesterday, we hired a taxi to take us around Cebu to see the sights. Our driver, Marlon, was very good and while I had seen most of these things the last time I was here, there were places he knew about that we wouldn't have found.

The Taoist Temple was first. It sits at the top of a hill in a more upscale city development. I was impressed when I saw it in '95 and this time was no exception. Unfortunately Kyle wasn't quite as impressed, so we saw as much as we could before our next stop.

The entrance

Fisherman

Kyle & Jason (Kuan Yin is in the middle)

Tops is what our second stop was called. It's a flat observation area at the top of Busay hill fom where you can see the whole city and neighboring Mactan Island. When I was here with Fe on my first trip, we came at night which probably gives you a more spectacular view. Either way, the place is high enough up that it was less humid and I felt more comfortable.

Kyle and Jason at Tops

Next stop: Magellan's Cross. Actually the cross he put here is encased in the wooden one that is on display, so I don't know how much of the original is really left. There were a lot of souvenir sellers here looking for tourists like us, but we got a good deal, I think. More to the point, Fe did the haggling and said we did.

Magellan's Cross

The first Spanish settlement in the country was at Fort San Pedro, our fourth stop. Some interesting exhibits about what has been recovered from shipwrecks off the coast and the gardens inside the fort were well-maintained. Sort of reminded me of when I saw the Alamo in 1980 in that for all the build-up, there really wasn't much else here.

Fort Entrance

The shrine to Lapu-Lapu on Mactan Island was our last stop before lunch. This has changed a good bit from when I saw it the last time. They've made the place more of a park with trees and flowers which was a big improvement. They also painted the bronze statue of Lapu-Lapu which (IMHO) was not. Different tastes, I guess.

Jason And Kyle

Lapu-Lapu

I have to mention lunch. This was a place the driver knew about behind all of the souvenir shops that served seafood caught right off the island. We had steamed shrimp, garlic scallops, sweet and sour fish, fried calamari (squid) and tinola, a sort of stewed fish (called Lapu-Lapu of all things) with broth served in mugs. Everything was great, except I didn't eat the squid or finish much of the broth--I was too hot.

Our final stop was a hotel called Shangri-La. This was the driver's idea, probably because the hotel grounds had a kind of zoo with Philippine deer and ostriches. We walked around the place a bit, and it was very posh with several pools, a white-sand beach, full gymnasium and a kids play area. It was around $250/night so I won't be staying here anytime soon. As we left the complex, I saw a bunch of kids scrabbling around looking for scrap. I know this sounds preachy, but this bothered me for some reason.

Fe and the boys at Shangri-La

It's 86 F (30C) in Lilo-an, Cebu...