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"The world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page"
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cebu
The ferry from Bohol to Cebu took two hours and then we managed to get a metres taxi fairly quickly to our second couch surfing hosts house. Kim Castro had kindly offered to host us for the two nights, allowing us to stay in his spare room. Atila, a Spanish guy from Salamanca, was also staying in his living room so we had some nice company. Kim took us to Yakski BBQ restaurant for nice cheap BBQ food and ended the night in bar for a salsa dancing couch surfing event. We had never heard of one before as we are new in the couch surfing world but apparently there are organised couch surfing events where hosts and couch surfers go to meet others. We also met the couch surfer administrator of Cebu. We spent the night having 2-4-1 mojitos and dancing salsa (if you can call it that).
The following day we explored the city of Cebu with Atila. Right from the beginning we realised the city was nothing like the hectic dizzying streets of Manila. Food can be so cheap here, both of us having lunch for 65 pesos (£1) and discovered that you are able to refill your water bottle from a water dispenser for only 1-2 pesos! To be fair there is not much to Cebu in relation to sight seeing and all the sites were located at walking distance from each other so we were able to visit them all within a few hours. Kim had given us a little introduction to the history of the Philippines. Magellan, a Portuguese ... had been killed by Lupa lupa before completing his round the world trip. The cathedrals and Fort. The Basilica
The Fort, being the oldest and smallest fort in the Philippines was triangular shaped and made from stone and coral. We were given a free guide with our entrance fee which was very useful and walked around the grounds learning the history.
On our way back we hopped off at a very local area and walked through the fruit and fish markets. I desired to try Mangustin, apparently the tastiest fruit in the world, but unfortunately it was not the season for it. The fish markets were interesting. They sell certain fish like Parrot fish and Sting Ray along with many shell species that are not available back home so we enjoyed walking around. We were watched intensely whilst we walked through the local streets, spotting smiling faces staring and waving. Children played basketball in middle of the streets as the basketball hoops were funnily located in the centre of the street so vehicles had to drive round it, crazy. Crossing a bridge over a rubbish filled river was shocking to see, water did not flow because of all the junk stuck in it and houses overlooked this river. This just showed how people live and accept this way of life.
That night Kim took us to another BBQ restaurant which served delicious chicken dishes on a banana leaf. Trivia night was another event couch surfers participated in on Thursdays at Politics so we joined and ended the night at Mango Avenue, a street known for it's bars and clubs and prostitutes/lady boys. We drank at a bar overlooking the Main Street where girls/lady boys get picked up which was our main source of entertainment.
Our flight out of Cebu to Singapore was at 12:55pm which gave us plenty of time to say our goodbyes and get a taxi. We had been pre-warned by Kim that the airport charges a 750 pesos terminal fee each for every individual flying out on an international flight. We still cannot get our head around the fact that every ferry port and airport in the Philippines charges a terminal fee, especially such a high one like this.