Amazing Philippines
Trip Start
Dec 03, 2012
1
38
Trip End
Jan 09, 2013
Where I stayed
Cebu City, Cebu, Visayas, Philippines
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Last day in the Philippines. Slept in and watched cable TV in the morning. Checked out at 12 pm an headed out to SM City Cebu, intending to watch a movie. Flight was at 9 pm, plenty of time to kill. There was a selection of pinoy films and The Hobbit at Imax but I went for an extended lunch at French Baker instead. I learnt about a viewdeck at Crowne Regency Hotel, located near my hotel in uptown, so I checked it out, hoping to get some sunset shots of Cebu on Level 38. It was 250 php for entry but the clouds were unkind with an overcast. The viewdeck actually caters for an adventure ride where you strap yourself to a 2 seater rollercoaster that tilts you out at the tower's edge.
Farewell Philippines
Getting out of Cebu to the airport posed a problem in the evening peak hour traffic. It took the taxi nearly one hour to crawl out of the city traffic before we sped to Mactan Island for Cebu International Airport. Actually that hour in traffic allowed me to reflect on my last six weeks navigating from smoggy Manila to majestic Banaue, to the amazing Mount Taal in Tagaytay, rode through Mindoro to Romblon, soaked in the waters of Boracay, stranded by Quinta at Iloilo, serenaded by the scenic sights of Negros, braved the rain and mystic of Siquijor, annoyed by trike drivers in Tagbilaran and even attended mass twice in Cebu.
As that hour stretched, I watched the unfolding of street life outside my taxi like a nostalgic film. Those daily scenes looked familiar yet strangely unreal at the same time. Scenes that are now permanently part of my memories of the amazing Philippines.
