Friendship Journey to the Philippines: Sept 16 to 20, 2014
1. Introduction. My last trip to the Philippines was a quite a few years back when I was still working. It was to the city of Zambaonga around 1998. My first visit to the Republic was in the mid 1970 when I was sent for a short training course held at an agricultural training center in the province of Neuva Ecija, central Luzon and on that visit I traveled to the hill resort of Baguio Subsequently, I made a number of visits to Los Banos to participate in the various courses and meetings organised under the aegis of Research Management Asia, a project of SEARCA. Since then, although destinations in the countries of ASEAN have been high on the list of favourites, the Philippines was not in the picture for a number of reasons - safety and security as there are many reports of security associated problems; secondly, it is the food as many of the local dishes are pork based. However, on this occasion it is my involvement in the World Malay-Polynesian Organisation and the number of new friends that we have made in the country and the fact that I need to know more of the Malay-Polynesian connection, that rekindled the interest to visit the country. During the planning stage, two destinations were considered - Cebu and Puerto Princessa and Cebu was subsequently chosen as, from the internet search, Cebu has many more attractions from the places of interest to the entertainment. The friends that have decided to join the trip were Abd Rahim Abd Rahman, Zakaria Md Saad and Adnan. We booked out tickets with Air Asia which has a direct flight from Kuala Lumpur to Cebu. We departed on schedule at 10.40 hrs on Tuesday Sept 16 arriving in Cebu 3 hrs and 50 mts later. There is no time difference between Kuala Lumpur and Cebu. We stayed at Mandarin Plaza Hotel.
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The Philippines Island Archipelago
the Spanish colonialists
2. Places of Interest Visited in Cebu-Mactan
We decided to tour the city on the second day of our trip i.e Wednesday Sept 17, renting
a taxi which we paid P 4000. Only Rahim and I were on the trip as Zakaria and Adnan
decided to go on their own program.
2.1 Basilica Santo Nino which is made up of the Church and Convent, was built by the
Augustinian Brothers in 1565. It is a popular pilgrimage destination of the Christian
Visayas.
We decided to tour the city on the second day of our trip i.e Wednesday Sept 17, renting
a taxi which we paid P 4000. Only Rahim and I were on the trip as Zakaria and Adnan
decided to go on their own program.
2.1 Basilica Santo Nino which is made up of the Church and Convent, was built by the
Augustinian Brothers in 1565. It is a popular pilgrimage destination of the Christian
Visayas.
Basilica Santo Nino
2.2 The Carbon Wet Market
The wet market is another favorite place that I visit any city, as it provides me the type of fruits and vegetables grown in the area and also the species of fish harvested and the type of meat consumed by the population. The no of species caught appears to limited
and they are small. From the display pork is the most popular meat, even chicken appears to be consumed less.
The Chapel is new, built by the developer who is in the process of constructing a
huge shopping mall nearby.
The chapel
The nearby shopping mall. The photo was taken from the nearby chapel
2.4 Museo Sugbo - Brief History of the Philippines
The museum provides the history of Cebu and the Philippines. The country has been under the influence of Thailand and trading with the Chinese and the Arabs in the early days in gold, rice, millet and sugarcane. The Spanish influence started when their armada led by Ferdinand Magellan landed in Sugbo (present day Cebu) in April 1521 and converted the then ruler of Sugbo, Rajah Humabon and his wife to Christianity.
However, soon after, Magellan was killed by Panglima Lapu-Lapu on April 27, 1521 at
the Battle of Macatan. The Spaniards withdrew from the country in 1898 as a result of
the fight for independence led by members of La Liga Filipina founded by Jose Rizal and in June 1899 independence was proclaimed with Emilio Aguinaldo as its first President of the Republic. The independence was short-lived as the Treaty of Paris among European powers resulted in the country coming under the influence of the American and for a period (1941 - 1945) the Japanese. It regained back the sovereignty in July 1946.
However, soon after, Magellan was killed by Panglima Lapu-Lapu on April 27, 1521 at
the Battle of Macatan. The Spaniards withdrew from the country in 1898 as a result of
the fight for independence led by members of La Liga Filipina founded by Jose Rizal and in June 1899 independence was proclaimed with Emilio Aguinaldo as its first President of the Republic. The independence was short-lived as the Treaty of Paris among European powers resulted in the country coming under the influence of the American and for a period (1941 - 1945) the Japanese. It regained back the sovereignty in July 1946.
At the monument of Lapu-Lapu in Mactan
2,5 Shopping and Entertainment. We spent the third day (Sept 18) at the Ayala Shopping Mall just across the street from the hotel we stayed and the Mango Avenue. Ayala Mall is huge shopping area. Rahim and I spent some time at the sports
shops looking particularly at the the mountain bike models on display and the riding accessories,as I was keen to buy a pair of hand gloves. I observed that prices of many items are more expensive than those at home. Considerable time was spent at the book store browsing at various publications particularly on the various aspects on the history, culture, food, health etc of the peoples of the country. Purchased a few books, among them on Jose Rizal and History of the Philippines. Disappointed that I did not come across publications on the herbs and traditional medicines, religious affiliations particularly Islam in the Philippines. We then took a taxi to Mango Avenue.
The Avenue is the entertainment centre of the city. After a fish sandwich light lunch, as we passed Rajah Hotel we noticed an advert board in English and Korean on the massage rates. The rates appeared attractive and we opt to go for a one hour 15 minutes
body massage plus sauna at P200 (around RM16). We stopped at an Irish Restaurant for a drink and around 5 pm walked around stopping at a few entertainment centres but all of them were closed and were informed by the security guards that these places come alive only around 9 pm and last until the morning. Realising we were too old to
stay that late we decided to call it a day and headed back for an early rest as the next
day itinerary- the trip to Bohol- was scheduled to start very early in the morning.
At the Ayala Shopping Mall
Street scene near Mango Avenue
Hotel Rajah at Mango Avenue
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| The jeepney is a common transport of the people |
3. Places of Interest Visited in Bohol
Among the tour packages offered, besides the city tour which we covered on the second day of
our trip, are inter-island hopping and the trip to Bohol. We opted for the Bohol trip, incurring
P 4000 (around RM 308) per pax on the fourth day (Sept 19) of our visit. We woke up at 4.30
am and took a taxi from the hotel at 5,30 am to Ferry Terminal 1 for the scheduled 6.30 am
departure for Tagbilaran, the capital of Bohol. It was a two-hour ferry ride in the Ocean Jet in a relatively rough sea. After visiting places of interest in Bohol, we headed for the ferry terminal around 4 pm and saw long queues at the ticket counters. A few of the ferry services were cancelled due to the turbulent sea and our scheduled 6.30 pm ferry was listed as tentative. We waited and felt relax as we feel that the weather appeared good at where we were. However, it
appeared that the sea remained turbulent and all ferry services from Tagbilaran to Cebu for the day were subsequently cancelled. Fortunately earlier while waiting for the ferry to Bohol we befriended an official working in Tagbilaran by the name of Riki Narona, who on realising our unfortunate plight came to our rescue and assured us that he would help us until we are safe
on the return ferry trip to Cebu. On his suggestion and in his car, we drove to Talibon (?) a small town around 54 km north of Tagbilaran, which is closer to Cebu and takes only one hour
ferry ride to Cebu. We attempted to get the scheduled midnight ferry but the tickets were sold out. We had no choice except to try to get the early morning rides the following day (Sept 20) to ensure we get to Cebu and onwards to Malaysia as our flight was at 3.05 pm. We stayed at
a small hotel and were up early (4.30 am again) and headed for the ticket counter. The queues were still long and the good network that Riki has subsequently paid off as he successfully
obtained the two tickets. We boarded the ferry which departed Talibon at 8.45 am, arriving in Cebu one hour later, packed, check out of the hotel at 12.15 pm and departed on schedule at
15.05 hrs from the Cebu-Mactan International Airport
The Ocean Jet Ferry to Bohol
In the ferry
3. The places visited in Bohol include:
3.1 Tarsier Conservation Area
The tarsier is a nocturnal primate and sleeps during the day
3.2 Habitat Butterfly Farm. There are more than 1000 sp of butterflies in the
Philippines. Butterflies feed on the nectar of flowering plants, the favorite
is the lantana
Entrance to Habitat Butterfly Farm
A female butterfly kissing the handsome man
When in Rome.....flying like them
3.3 Chocolate Hill
3.4 Various scenarios on the river cruise
3.5 Python and Wildlife Zoo
3.6 Bohol Church and Museum
historical places and museums which provide information of many aspects of the people which are linked to the Malay-Polynesian roots. We found and we were also told by our friends in the Philippines that Cebu is still not very safe to be moving around particularly to a foreigner. We managed to resolve our food by patronising a Mikado Japanese Restaurant not far from our hotel. Sporting goods, clothing apparels and books are comparatively more pricey but entertainment is relatively cheap.
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