My Time in Hong Kong: Philippines Trip

Juan, Jo and I took a late night flight from Hong Kong to Cebu, on Cebu Pacific airlines. Cebu is a province in the Philippines and consists of Cebu Island (which is long and narrow island and surrounded by 167 smaller islands). Cebu has a rich historical tradition. Ferdinand Magellan, the circumnavigator, arrived in this area in 1521 and established a period of Spanish exploration and colonization. He tried to convert the natives to Christianity, but it eventually backfired. Magellan participated in the Battle of Mactan, where the natives defeated the Spaniards. Magellan never made it back to Spain because he was killed in this battle. The natives were lead by Lapu Lapu and throughout the city, you see tributes to Lapu Lapu. There is even a fish called Lapu Lapu, which we tried on this trip.

We arrived in Cebu at 4 am on Tuesday morning. I was exhausted- I didn't much sleep Saturday or Sunday night, so by the time we got to Cebu, I was a zombie. In addition, my left shoulder and the left side of my neck was full of knots. Needless to say, I wasn't doing too well. We took a taxi to our hotel, called ALTA Cebu Hotel. The hotel was on Mactan Island and I booked it because it was closer to the airport. However, it still took about 20 minutes to reach the hotel. The cab driver said it would take 5 minutes. The hotel allowed us to check in early so we took advantage and slept for a couple of hours in the hotel room. The hotel was pretty nice. It had a relaxed atmosphere, comfortable rooms and a nice pool. It even had a mini-zoo, with monkeys and birds.

Once we had more some sleep, it was time to explore. We set out for the beach, but it proved difficult. The hotels that did have beach access (ours was not one of them) made visitors pay handsomely for it. We did find a public beach but it wasn't that nice so we ended up finding a nice lush place to eat. Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel. We all had schoolwork to do, especially me, so we spent the rest of the night doing work. We ate dinner at the hotel, which was okay. The highlight of our meal was the popular Filipino dessert, Halo Halo. I've included some pictures of our adventures and the dessert below.