After I returned from my holiday in Cebu in the Philippines I thought I’d write a little bit about my driving experience there.

Driving in Cebu city is a great experience, but you need a strong heart, an ear for adventure, and a horn that works well!

There are positives and negatives, and to start with the latter; negatives can be summed up in one word:

JEEPNEYS

These guys are just unbelievable. They go left, go right, have no brake lights, some have no side mirrors; some have no mirrors at all. To me it feels like all drivers have some kind of tunnel vision and all they can do is look in front of them. So the key thing to avoid any accidents here is to try and anticipate every naughty move they might make.
Unfortunately this makes driving less then relaxing and basically you got to be suspicious of every damn Jeepney near you. Interestingly, Jeepneys I think are more well behaved in Cebu city than outside. If you go slightly outside the city (say towards Talisay) suddenly the Jeepneys seem to have no manners at all and appear from nowhere in front of your car.

Turning to the flipside now, fortunately there are a lot of positive sides to driving in Cebu. Firstly I really enjoy the luxury of being allowed to have a more personal view of what is legal and what is not. In two weeks in Cebu I’ve not seen a traffic police officer at all, and when I did, they did not seem to be paying much attention to traffic. So one can permit oneself to ignore the occasional “no left turn” sign allowing for a more efficient route from a to b. (and only if no other traffic in sight of course - I’m not anti-social!)

Secondly, it’s a great thing to notice that traffic laws and specifically those in the area of who gets right of way are relative to the size of your car.
Being lucky to drive around in a rather large SUV this meant I’ve actually seen traffic stop to let me on the road! It’s like it’s part of the law or something, “Thou shall yield to any vehicle on your left, right, front, rear, top, bottom, as long as it is bigger than the vehicle you are driving yourself”.
What a difference from the cold Holland where I grew up; there you can wait for ages for a gap? no matter what size your car is.

Thirdly, the parking dudes. I don’t know what to call them but it’s great having a dude running around your car blowing a small whistle and risking his own life holding up the traffic to let you back it up on the street.

As you see, I liked driving in Cebu and look forward to my next trip!

Milestone today.

One year ago I quit smoking while on a hiking trip in Nepal. Didn’t smoke a single cigarette ever since, although I like the occasional cigar…

Quitting wasn’t that difficult actually. Makes me think that if it’s that easy to quit, why not start again?

Calculating quickly - I saved myself abt. a thousand bucks US… Lost revenue for Philip Morris Inc, but for the most part lost revenue for the Hong Kong tax authority…

Sunset on White Beach, in Moalboal, Cebu, Philippines

We spent our holiday this year in Cebu in the Philippines. A great difference from last year when we spent two weeks in Nepal and hiking every day. Instead, this year, we’ve been spending it on the beach, in the pool, at our friends’ house and with Nadine’s family.

Here are the pictures, and if you feel like reading a bit more, keep reading…

www.marcdelange.com/cebu

We first spend a few days in Cebu city and stayed with friends in North Town. On Good Friday we drove up to Balamben, crossing the Cebu inlands and hills. Great scenery along the way. In Balamben we stayed in Binghay Marine Park, a typical local resort where many families stay a couple of days.

After that we stayed one night at Tambuli beach resort back at Cebu (Mactan Island). Overpriced and nothing too much around here. But at least we had a nice afternoon on the beach and Nadine’s brother brought in a case of Red Horse beer (local stuff - much higher alc.% than the regular beer). Thanks bro

The plan was to drive to Moalboal straight after this, but since Nadine caught a fever, we opted to stay with our friends in North Town again, and we chilled out in their pool and have been driving around town in the Expedition a few days.

Wednessday we drove to Moalboal. A three hour drive and once you’re out of the big city Cebu, the views and surroundings are really amazing. Via Carcar, Barili, Dumanjug, Ronda, and Alcantara, we finally reached the town of Moalboal.

Moalboal is a small, laid back town with exactly one bar and one restaurant in the ‘center’. The reason to go to this place are the two beach areas, Panagsama Beach and White Beach. They are both very popular among divers as the coral reef starts just 30 meter from the shore.

Church in Moalboal

After looking at a few resorts (including one managed by a Dutch guy) we opted to stay in “Serena Resort”, because that one had both a beach and a pool. A tiny place (six cottages) but all very tastefully decorated. As there weren’t many guests at all, Nadine and I felt like the only people there, and it gave the feeling of staying in your own ’second house’ on the coast.

So we relaxed in this place for four days and filled them by swimming, walking along the beach, sleeping, eating (banana fritters for Nadine), and drinking San Miguel beer (Marc).

After this we both had a seriously dark tan, something we hadn’t experienced in some time!

From Moalboal it was back to Cebu on Saturday, and we met-up again with our friends in Cebu. Had some lunch in Tinderbox, and in the evening went out in the city (The Wine Shop and Ralph’s). This was a great evening and night out!

Last few days we opted for the beach again and checked into the new Hilton Beach Resort in Mactan Island. We liked this new hotel as it’s got a smaller set-up that resembles closer that of a small hotel where the staff know you. The service and staff was really great, but the location of the hotel is still somewhat shaky as it is pushed between a shanty town on the left and some other local houses on the right. The hotel built a big wall to the left to close of the view, but the result is that the beach feels a little cramped. See the picture below.

Beach in the Hilton in Mactan - Cebu

The hotel is not officially opened yet and time will tell how succesful it will be over the next years. At least the number of tourists landing in Cebu seem to rise every year so the potential is there.

Check out more pictures below:

www.marcdelange.com/cebu