Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Say what? Say Boo! Yep, this weekends trip was to Cebu.

Day 1:
We flew into Cebu after work on Friday. There were threats of bad rains from a Typhoon in Japan so our flight was delayed forever. We finally arrived though and stayed at a darling little surfer-type hotel. Jeanette and I had our own beds and we thought we were in heaven.


Day 2:
We woke up, ate a gigantic traditional Filipino breakfast, and jumped on the ferry to Bohol. Bohol is a nearby island with lots of tourist attractions. After arriving from a long ferry ride we took the craziest bus ride i have ever taken. We were crammed into this bus with a million other people and the bus driver was out of control. Seriously he was driving so fast and a lot of it was off-road. I felt like we were pre-running for a Baja race, but in a bus full of people and luggage. I couldn't stop laughing, even though I should have been terrified for my life.

We finally arrived safely to the Chocolate Hills. There are over a thousand small hills that look like mounds of chocolate. However, they were more like mint chocolate hills this time of year. It was still absolutely beautiful. We hired some motorcycles and some guides and road around to see the scenery. It was really cool to see the people out working in their rice fields and farms along the way. We even convinced one farmer to let us ride his Caribou (cow). Good times.

That night we stayed at the Chocolate Hills Resort up on a hill with a great view of the area. The next morning our guides with motorcycles picked us up and took us on a whirlwind tour. We visited the Butterfly Conservation Center, the local underground caves, the logos river, and the Tarzier monkeys. These monkeys are the smallest monkeys in the world. You can see, they are small enough to hold in your hand.

That night we headed back to Cebu.

Day 3:
We spent the day visiting the local markets and walking around the beautiful city. Cebu is the second largest city in the Philippine, next to Manila. We visited a Buddhist Temple, it wasn't the temple we thought we were visiting, but it was still beautiful. We got to the airport that night and saw a postcard of the Taoist Temple we thought we went to, it was definitely a differently temple! Oh well. We also visited the Santo Nino Church and the Magellan's Cross. Cebu is home to the earliest Christians in the Philippines. Magellan was a Spaniard that travelled and spread Christianity among the Philippines. He erected this cross after the conversion of 800 (I think) new Christians.
At last our crazy weekend came to an end. We saw lots of things and met lots of interesting people. I think my favorite thing is just driving around and looking at everything. It's entirely different from anything I've ever experienced in my small little world. It's too difficult to describe everything I saw and felt in this small little blog. There are additional pictures under "My Pictures" though.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

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Flinders Family said...

Did you happen to see my brother in Cebu? Well, he's actually not in Cebu right now, but that's his mission. Sounds like you are having an amazing time and getting to experience so much! Can't wait to see you again though!