A tale of two cities

Cebu City

The second day of the year would be a good lesson in not taking a city at first glance. Cebu City, where we found ourselves, is the second biggest and oldest city in the Philippines. And it's so much more chilled out than Manila!

The city is divided into roughly two areas - downtown and uptown. We stayed in downtown, naturally, which was the seedy part of town.

Thus formed my view of the city - beggars, pimps, lady(boys), dealers, users, street bums, urchins, shotguns and the typical assortments found in the cracks and alleys of a big city.

For once it was time to indulge in a western activity - shopping. On a corner, we found what would become a love affair: the Metro mall. Those who know me know that I hate shopping. I hate it with a passion. My idea of shopping is to know exactly what I want, to be in the store for as short a time as possible, and have as little interaction with the staff as I can. Well, within minutes of stepping inside the store, a new man emerged. Stylish clothes were everywhere, and they were cheap, and to top it all off there were loads of very attractive Filipino ladies at my every beck and call. They were surely amused by the tall white guy; I personally hadn't seen a white guy - other than Swags (okay, so now we'll refer to John as "Swags") - in days. Over the course of the trip (there are over 400 of these malls in the Philippines) I would buy more clothes than I've cumulatively bought in my entire life. I even had to send a few boxes home.

We spent most of the day touring the city sights - San Pedro Fort, San Magellan's cross - and other historical sights. Cebu was about 400 years old, founded by the Spanish a very long time ago. Like good tourists, we took lots of photos.

Near the day's end, we strolled along the water, watching fishing boats come in, and making nice with the security guard and some of the other locals. They were surely somewhat confused by our presence, but nonetheless were very friendly. We were becoming better travelers, mixing with the locals a lot better.

This would become a reoccurring theme. In the Philippines I felt like an adventurer, a traveler, in other places, I would feel like a tourist.

We went down a few dark streets for dinner ("you wan lady?"), getting a quick bite and a few odd looks, before beating a hasty retreat back to the hotel, child beggars and street urchins aside.

It was good to have a rest that night. The past week had been an intense week of activity, and knowing we'd have five days in Cebu, we welcomed the opportunity for some downtime.