CEBU CITY - PHILIPPINES

It was an early wake up call in Hong Kong at 5am to go to the airport. Cebu Pacific were good value for what I paid, had to wait a couple of hours to change flights at Manila airport. It was a great view out the plane of a load of very tropical looking islands just my luck to have left my camera in my check in bag as it was cloudy and raining in Hong Kong. Got to Allson's Inn in Cebu city without too many problems, it looked very safe clean and secure. My first impressions of the city however were not very good.

On my only full day there I went to explore the town. There was little in the way of things to see or do unless you are a fan of old Spanish churches.

During the day I didn't see any more than about 10 westerners and most of them were over the age of 50. The locals seemed friendly enough but there seemed to be an awful lot of armed guards everywhere even at cake shops. On the subject of food I could see why the Philippines has a reputation for some of the worst in Asia. Fast food outlets are everywhere, everything seems to be fried in animal fat. Even if you ask for just rice and vegetables it's swimming in fat and has the odd chunk of pork or chicken floating in it. As for Balut the thought makes me want to throw up!!!!!

At night I passed a bar with a few westerners in and joined them for a few. It was mostly middle aged men with their wives/girlfriends. Still it was good to talk to others and pick up some information on the country.

Headed off to Moalboal the following morning.