I was looking through my archive and in my personal files and I was surprised to find out that I didn’t have any spreadsheet on my first Cebu trip’s expenses. I’m pretty certain I wrote down all my expenses, but I guess after tallying it, I passed out because it was pretty darned expensive. I *am* quite a high maintenance traveler. I can rough it out, but as long as I’m traveling with people who doesn’t mind splurging, my weekend jaunts will always be over 10K >_<
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The great thing about traveling with friends is that you have more energy and motivation to go out and explore. I remember the first time I went to Cebu. It was my first solo travel, and I was exhausted and I found the heat intolerable. I didn’t have the energy to explore Cebu, checking out only one or two landmarks. This time though, with two avid travelers as my companion, I was determined to see the places I missed the first time I was in Cebu.

Three icons of the Chinese culture: the 8-sided pagoda, the lion and the dragon

 
First in the itinerary was the Taoist Temple. There’s a huge population of Chinese and Chinese-Filipinos in Cebu, and the influence of the culture can be seen where ever you go. The temple is not easily accessible — located inside the posh Beverly Hills subdivision, you’d have to take a taxi to go there. From the area of the Fuente-Osmeña Circle, the fare is around Php 80. The Cebu Taoist Temple is best visited early on in the day or in the late afternoon, when the sun is not too hot. There are 99 steps to climb to reach the main temple, and from there you are rewarded with stunning views of the city below, as well as the islands of Mactan and Bohol.

The Cebu Cathedral

 
From the Taoist Temple, we took another taxi to the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral. Since it was a Sunday, the cathedral was packed with people hearing mass. We only took some outdoor shots and made our way to the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño de Cebu. The two churches are within comfortable distance from each other. Like the Cebu Cathedral, the Basilica was likewise packed. The church was located in a main thoroughfare, so most public utility vehicles are driving by. There are tons of street vendors outside the church, selling clothes, flowers, balloons, and even prayers.

Burning candles outside the Sto. Niño Basilica

 
Right beside the Basilica of the Sto. Niño is the Magellan’s Cross. The shrine is filled with tour groups filing in and out at intervals. There are ladies milling around the shrine. For a fee, they will perform the traditional Sinulog — a prayer done while dancing and waving a bunch of candles.

The Oriente at Colon Street

 
From the Basilica, we made our way down the road to Colon street, the oldest street in the Philippines. I was getting pretty tired and hungry at this time, and I just wanted to breeze through Colon. It turns out that there is plenty to see in Colon. Like the rest of Cebu, there are plenty of beautiful architecture that’s just begging to be photographed and restored to its full glory. Unfortunately, the traffic, the banderitas and the powerlines made for an annoying photoshoot, so we cut it short and hopped on a SM-bound jeep.

Cebu’s CNT Lechon

 
SM wasn’t really our destination — it’s what’s across SM that we’re after. CNT Lechon’s restaurant across SM was our target. It was already 1pm, yet the restaurant was still packed. This is not a fancy restaurant, mind you. The place was not airconditioned, and it’s like a glorified turo-turo wherein you go up to the counter and point at the dishes you want to order. A trip to Cebu isn’t complete without a taste of the local lechon, and CNT delivers with the cripy skin and flavorful meat that doesn’t have you reaching for that bottle of Mang Tomas.

Guitar from Guitar Master

 
Our Cebu lechon craving satisfied, we headed out to Mactan, to look for a Cebu guitar factory or store. We ended up at Guitar Master, and after a passionate sales talk from Mr. Ronie, we headed back into Cebu to look for danggit. Tabo’an Market is the place to go for anything dried: they have danggit (rabbitfish), dilis (anchovy), pusit (squid), and every variation of daing (dried fish).

Daing at Tabo’an Market

 
We were welcomed with mini mountains of every variety of dried seafood. After a round of photos, it was down to serious pasalubong shopping. While everyone is busy buying danggit, I opted to buy some Cebu chorizo, something I just discovered and tried the night before. A kilo of danggit goes for Php 400+, while the chorizo goes for Php 190 per kilo. Apart from the chorizo, I also bought some packets of Guadalupe brand dried mango strips, a brand I read about in other blogs, and something I am longing to find in Manila because it’s so good.

University of San Carlos

 
With our plastic bags tightly sealed (the dried fish tastes good, but it has that strong smell when uncooked), we jump into a taxi and headed back to the hotel to freshen up before meeting the Cebu bloggers. By the time we changed our clothes and headed out, the sun was almost setting, casting a fine soft light on our hotel’s neighboring building, the University of San Carlos.

Meeting the Cebu-based bloggers was an experience. It was great seeing and meeting new faces. Fresh new faces at that… they were all so young! To Arnold, McBilly, Jorich, Wilhelmina, Aileen, Empress, Xerxes, Kevin, Rodel, Sinjin, Maibe, Winston and Mark, thank you for meeting with this weird group of Manila travel bloggers

Apart from fresh and dried mangoes, otap and danggit, one of Cebu’s other major product is its guitars. Filipinos know that when you want the best quality local-made guitars for the best value prices, you go to Cebu.

Being avid travel photographers, going to a Cebu guitar factory or store is in the itinerary. We hopped on a cab and told the driver to take us to Mactan island, where most of the guitar shops are located in Cebu. We ended up at Guitar Master, and was met by Ronie, a passionate man who believes in making good quality guitars without the expensive price tag. The conversation turned technical, so I resorted to playing around with the Canon Ixus’ video feature and patched together this little piece.

I’m not a music expert, but that guitar sounded pretty nice.

Guitar Master
Quezon National Highway
Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu
Philippines
Phone: +6332-495-2412
Mobile: +63920-224-3767
Contact: Ronie Pangatunan

How to get there: From Cebu, take the Mandaue-Mactan bridge to cross to Mactan Island. At the first intersection, turn left. Guitar Master is on the right side.

Last Saturday, I flew into Cebu with Eric and Melo to participate in the Pasigarbo sa Sugbo. This is a festival of festivals — contingents from all around Cebu are converging in the big city to show off to the rest of the province what their town’s festival is like.

Here’s a very short video clip, a tiny sampling of the contingent’s street dancing perfomances during the Pasigarbo sa Sugbo. I was anticipating that I’d be taking a lot of photos and videos for this trip, so I bought an extra 2GB SD card. Unfortunately, my foresight didn’t extend to my camera’s battery — it died shortly after the contingents started dancing their way from Mandaue City Hall to the CICC.

While researching about Cebu, I came across countless raves about Cebu’s Pochero, particularly from the restaurant called Abuhan. Ever the fan of scrumptious food, I listed down Abuhan’s address in my little notebook.

After the heat of walking around the city and feeling the fatigue settling in (I had the grand idea of working and NOT getting any sleep before my 5am flight), I decided to have an early lunch at Abuhan’s.

It was pretty pricey for one person, I thought as I look at the menu. At Php 260 per bowl, it better be worth it.

And it was. The bowl was HUGE. One serving was enough for 2 – 4 persons, so the price of one bowl can go as low as Php 65 per person.

I was pretty dehydrated by this time, and a big soup fan, I happily sipped the broth. It devine; the beef was very tender, the veggies crisp and the soup was very tasty. Abuhan’s pochero is unlike the pochero we know in Manila. While our pochero is red with tomato sauce/paste, their is more like a bulalo. It is served with a small knife for cutting off beef still attached to the bone and a popsicle stick for digging out the marrow. Mmmmmmmmm.

I read somewhere that there are two Abuhan branches in Cebu, Abuhan 1 and Abuhan Dos. I went to Abuhan Dos, which is at F. Ramos, near the Fuente-Osmeña Circle. It’s also less than five minutes away from Robinson’s by foot.