Cebu - First Impressions

I’ve come to Cebu in the Philippines for a few days. I made plans a few times last year to visit the country, but never quite got around to going. I was always put off by horror stories about how vile Manila was. These stories were usually told to me by people FROM Manila. Instead, I’ve come to Cebu. It’s an island in the middle of the country jammed full of beaches and tourists. Just the thing to recover from my adventures in Indonesia and Myanmar.


Flying into the airport, I could see the island of Cebu. It’s long and narrow. So narrow, that from the air, I could see the sea on the other side! It looked quite hilly, with lots of development. The sea though. Oh my god! Such an amazing blue colour.

Getting through customs and immigration was relatively straightforward. The only odd thing was that after you go through immigration, the customs man makes you put your bag on a bench for inspection. Well, not really. I put my bad on the metal bench, he then pushed it and probed it a few times and asked me what was in it. I said “my luggage”. He seemed happy at that and let me go, without actually looking inside. The country is in good hands under his watch!

Getting outside, I went to get a taxi. This bit was quite efficient. An official taxi lady came straight up and asked me where I wanted to go, assigned me to a taxi and wrote the price on a piece of paper. Taxi drivers in Manila are renowned for being some of the biggest scam artists on planet Earth, so I was relieved this was so simple.

We were then off to my hotel! The airport is actually on a small island off the coast of Cebu, called Mactan. My hotel was also on the same island, so it was not a very long taxi ride. What I saw, impressed me.

Unlike most South East Asian countries, the streets were actually well maintained, clean and looked after. It actually looked like the locals cared about how their community looked. All the houses looked well tended, there was a lot of little corner stores and a lot of happy people goofing off. I’d go so far as to say that only Singapore is cleaner! Mind you, this is a well touristed stretch of road, so perhaps it’s better looked after than most. I’ll find out more on a later trip.

The day I arrived, the local and regional elections were being held. There had been quite a bit of violence in the previous weeks leading up to the election, but I can’t imagine this tourist area saw any dramas. It was just nice to see the locals so enthusiastic about the election. There were posters everywhere. Hanging from trees, in the tree, by the road, over the road. It gave the area a very festive atmosphere. It was also good to see people actually voting. Having just been to Myanmar, I think a violent election is better than no election at all.

Arriving at my hotel, I continued to be impressed. I’m staying at the Shangri-La, which is meant to be the nicest hotel, I mean resort, on the island. Very nice indeed.

So, after the first afternoon in the Philippines, I’m impressed. It seems like a proper, real, functional country. I’m impressed.