It was time again to head out of Germany and explore the world out there. It was dragging me again into the east. Since I loved my past travels to Sri Lanka and Vietnam, I was starving for more Asian vibes.
On the 02.01.2023 it was time to fly. After a good start into the new year I left Germany in the afternoon, to arrive around 28h later and 7h further in time at the 4th of January in Cebu City. The trip included 6h layover in the night in Istanbul, where I slept a couple of hours in the multiple free nap zones at the new airport, and after a 11h flight to Manila a 2h stop there, where we just dropped most of the people while I was kept sitting on the airplane to fly to our final destination - Cebu City on Cebu Island. On the latter flight we were only around 30 people on a plane that can usually seat more than 300.
Cebu City with its nearly one million inhabitants was colonized in the 16th century by the Spanish in the name of Ferdinand Magellan, who also brought Christianity to the country.
The city has no specific architectural highlights apart from two churches and the Pavillion of the Magellans Cross which was planted during the first expedition of the Spanish that I pouted out.
When I arrived at the airport I met two nice sweedish girls which I shared my Grab (Asian Uber) with to reach our hostel - Mad Monkey. We arrived there around 3am and after check-in and still pumped with great anticipation we went to the hostels rooftop to get some beers and play a card game while getting to know some other hostel guests.
The next day I used for general preparations for my trip, like getting local currency (Philipinean Pesos: 1€ = P60), buying and activating a SIM card (always a pain in the ass - cheers to Sara and Sofia, who might still be struggling) and getting a first impression of where to buy groceries and snacks in the Philipines. For this you can just pop in any of the thousands of 7-Elevens which you can find and seriously every corner for your basic supplies.
After having a cheap lunch - beef stew with rice - at the street for around 1€ and a coffe, I met the two girls again and we headed out to the city center. We visited Basilica del Sto. Niño, Magellans Cross and Plaza Independencia which is a nice, calm park. The Basilica is named after a wooden figure of infant Jesus that Magellan gave to the chief consort after his baptism.
After this strawl and getting to know the lively and colorful but also really noisy and dirty Cebu City, as well as a quick stop for free drinks at the hostel rooftop, we went out for diner with some other hostel guests. We went to 8flix&Chill which was just a 10min walk from the hostel. The place offers a variety of finger food while serving one speciality: Tuslob buwa.
Tuslob buwa is a popular Filipino street food. Its chief ingredients are pork liver and brain, which get sautéed with garlic, onions, shrimp paste, and chilis. To eat it you get Puso which you dip into the sauce. Puso are rice cakes woven into palm trees, which are just used as a cover.
Also they served Siomai, which are dumplings, and Lumpia, which are a type of spring roles, and crab meat beyond other things. Everything was quite tasty and each dish was around 1€.
They day ended after some more drinks and different games at the hostel bar.
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