Day One

Finally we are here, the Philippines, Cebu to be exact. The flight from Perth was hell, seats dont recline, no leg room, it was horrible and no one got any sleep.

We arrived in Hong Kong early morning but we had no time to see or do anything. Exit the plane, walk across the airport (which is huge) and as we found out gate, they announced they were seating us. We just had enough time to go to the bathroom and freshen up slightly.
The view around the airport was fantastic, mountains that start where the runway finishes and they are steep, straight up and then covered in cloud. We arrived and it was sunny and nice, by the time we found our gate and boarded our plane to Cebu, it was pouring with rain.
Because of the rain we were delayed but eventually we were off again and before too long we landed in Cebu.

We passed through customs very quickly, everyone was polite and friendly and didnt give us any grief at all. The customs guy broke out in a huge smile when he saw I slipped him a Aussie ten dollar note in my passport, hahaha, straight through, he didnt even care that we had a bunch of stuff to declare, hahaha.

We got picked up from the airport with my wife's Auntie (who we are staying with in Cebu) and we were off into the Cebu traffic. Now I heard that the traffic can be crazy, and I have seen footage on YouTube but it didnt prepare me for just how crazy it is. There is no true speed limit, you dont need seatbelts, and everyone has right of way, you dont indicate or use your mirrors when turning or changing lanes, you just toot your horn, first one in the first one to move forward, its a little crazy, but I think I could fit in here, ask my friends, I could addapt to just racing through the streets tooting as you go and rule the roads, hahaha.


The streets are a mix of new shops and run down shacks, people dont need a permit or anything like that so they just setup shop anywhere.

Thats a pharmacy

We arrived at the Auntie's house in Minglanilla, which is situated behind a petrol station, which they own. They have a guard at the station like we do but he is carrying a pump action shotgun and I heard just last week he fell asleep and accidentally fired the weapon and shot one of the station attendants in the leg and they had to rush him off to hospital. Crazy.
The birds here are a little disappointing in the early stages, in these suburbs there is only sparrows, nothing else, I saw one fantail and some kind of swift but that is it. mmmmm.

Lunch was awesome, food I have never heard of but really tasty none the less.

The restaurant - Cafe Laguna

Fresh Lumpia (tastes just like Pad Thai)

Baked Scallops, yum, with a seaweed salad... not so much!

Sisig - this is so nice, saw it on TV and had to try it,
I think it is just pork belly and stuff cooked on a grill
and served on a sizzling plate so the bottom caramelises, so yummy.